Questions from a newbie...
NeveroddoreveN
Member Posts: 193
Hey everyone! I just started playing Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, and so far, I am loving it!! I am not far into the game and have some questions for the more seasoned players. First, is the gameplay much like Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition. It seems so. Second, I have gathered a couple quests, but my journal page shows them but not the details of those quests. How do you guys keep track of what quest requires what, who is involved, etc.? I saw that there is a page for my own journal notes, is it possible to have the quests and journal notes pages open simultaneously? I am trying to figure out the best way to both receive a quest as well as take notes for it (so I don’t forget what the quest requires). Also, if I want to look at previous conversations, how would I go about doing that? Is there a way to slow down the scrolling of past conversations? I tried to roll back the dialogue screen and the comments flew by! I hardly had a chance to read what was said!! That’s about it for now! Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
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Comments
On looking at recent conversations, you can resize the log - down to just a few lines if you want to see all the action, or up to most of the screen if you want to examine recent events. Just grab the top right corner and move it. When it's large, scrolling doesn't make things fly by so fast anymore.
You can also tweak what's recorded in the log from the options screen - say, if you want to know exactly what all those kobolds are rolling on their attacks when they miss you.
On party composition, your party should work. All sorts of parties can work. For a new player in BG1, I would lean toward a warrior-heavy party that still covers each role (warrior, cleric/druid, thief, mage/bard) at least once, and has most of the party using ranged weapons (bows if possible).
I would recommend using the companions you meet in-game for most of your party, rather than creating a full party at character creation. The companions you meet will have things to say to each other and to the various folk you meet during your adventure, while a companion you make at character creation will be silent.
Also, the way things work in this ruleset, multi-class and dual-class characters tend to be more powerful overall than single-class characters. You're just not giving up very much when you halve a class that way. In BG1, you can be a fighter 8, a cleric 8, or a fighter 7/cleric 7 at the 161K experience cap. Giving up one level in order to get a second class at nearly full strength is a very good deal.
Mage versus sorcerer? A mage can learn all of the spells (with sufficient Int, even if that's only temporary from potions) and put them in the spellbook, but can only use those spells if they go to the effort of memorizing them in one of their limited slots for the day. If you plan to fight a basilisk today, it's a good idea to memorize a Protection from Petrification spell. On the other hand, if you have that Protection from Petrification spell memorized and you don't encounter any basilisks, then that spell is useless. You don't get to turn it into a Magic Missile.
A sorcerer, on the other hand, has a very limited list of spells known and a fairly generous number of times they can cast those spells each day. Each time they cast a spell, they can choose any of their spells known for that level. If your level 4 sorcerer knows Sleep, Magic Missile, and Identify, they can cast Sleep 6 times, Magic Missile six times, Identify six times, or each of them twice - and you don't have to plan which one it is in advance. You can just cast whichever spell is most useful at any given time, until you run out of spell slots for the level.
Sorcerers progress slightly slower than mages in terms of the highest level spells they can cast, but can cast more spells per day overall. A sorcerer at the level 9 cap can cast 6/6/6/4 spells per day of levels 1 through 4. A specialist mage at the same level can cast 5/4/4/3/2 spells per day of levels 1 through 5.
Until you have more familiarity with the game, and understand which spells are useful better, it's probably a good idea to stick to mages. If you try out a spell on a mage and it turns out to be useless, you can always memorize a different spell the next day. If you try out a spell on a sorcerer and it turns out to be useless, you're stuck with it for as long as you play that character, and can't ever replace it with a useful spell of that level.
1- It is mechanically the same because it uses the same game engine, which is Infinity Engine. Mechanically yes, but tactifully it may be quite different, not to mention all other aspects such as joinable npcs, more dialogues and a very different pace.
2- Try clicking on the line that briefly describes the quest , it should open up and reveal more info. Still, if you feel that you haven't got enough information about a quest I suggest you check it on the internet, there are dozens of walkthroughs available.
3- I dont think you can simultaneously check quests along with your own notes.
4- It may be a little tricky, specially if you reload the game then the dialogue history is no longer there, but it shouldnt happen very often so once again I suggest you simply type the quest's name on google followed by "baldurs Gate" that a walkthrough should pop up.
5-Yes. A balanced party consists of two fighters for tanking and consistent damage, a cleric or druid for healing , a mage or sorcerer several uses such as crowd control, area damage, paralizing enemies etc, a thief for disarming traps and opening locks (that should be their main focus) and you got a sixth slot for extra flavour such as archer , a bard , a dual or multiclass...
6- Mages learn spells from scrolls into their spellbook (your mage needs high intelligence for that) , that makes them versatile since you can change your tactics by memorizing different spells according to the occasion .
Sorcerers can't learn from scrolls but they *gain* new spells every level ,do not need to memorize them (that can cast whatever is available on the spellbook) and they can also cast more spells before resting. The sorcerer's disavantage is their limited spell selection , so a sorcerer needs to pick spells that he will use throughout the whole game . There are guides to playing a sorcerer if you need.
I guess thats it, cheers!
1- Multiclass characters: The most effective multiclass for beginners is fighter/x and thief/x .
For example: a fighter/mage can attack with a longbow when he runs out of spells , and can use his spells to give him the kind of protection that a single class warrior is not capable of. Another example is mage/thief , he can perform the important role of disarming traps and picking locks while also being able to do magic damage.
Fighter/cleric is also an excellent choice because he can use all cleric and fighter abilities to his advantage. The thing about multiclass is that they will always be one or more levels below , but the sinergy between the classes makes up for it.
Dual Class- Dual class can only be achieved by humans and you need 15 in the first classbmain stat, and 17 in the second class main stat. Example: A fighter dualed to mage needs strength 15 and intelligence 17.
Things you should pay attention to:
-You'll only be able to use the abilities of both classes once the second class reaches one level above. Example: a fighter who duals to mage at level 7 needs to reach level 8 as a mage to make use of his previous fighter abilities.
The disavantage here is that reaching that one level above may take quite a long time at mid to higher levels. My tip is that you should try doing it during chapters 2 and 3 because untill the end of it a full party might earn about 40k xp each, for example a fighter 4 dualed to mage will have regained all its abilities.
- My advice for noobs is to dual at level 4 from fighter to any other available class, by the time you reach level 5 in the second class you'll enjoy 60% of the game with both abilities combined.
- Dont dual spellcasting classes because their spells need to progress at higher levels, but dualing from a non spellcasting one to a mage or cleric is a great tactic.
2-The premise of BG is that you have one protagonist and the others are joinable npcs. They're part of the story and theres a mod called "NPC project" which gives them more dialogues and depth in the story . There are over 25 npcs in the game, suiting all tastes so I suggest you create one character and give the npcs a chance.
This.
If you give any credence to posts like this, you're reading wrong.
Play the way you want to and do not think that a small group of promiscuous posters knows any more about having fun than you do. I cannot stand using NPCs in BG. I love to create my own parties, for any number of different reasons, and see how they perform at every stage and level throughout the whole series. This gives me far more enjoyment than listening to a canned set of 15 or 20 responses that simulate the personality of a petulant teenager. Petulant teenagers, I assume, might beg to differ.
Play through with the party you chose, then play the game again and change some things up depending on what you enjoyed. Did you need a full cleric really? Or a thief? Maybe mix in some multi classes for these roles. Maybe you don't even NEED a cleric, cause hey, clerics come in bottles. That's just me and there may not even be a single player out there who agrees with me. It doesn't matter.
There is not a right or wrong way to play this game. Spend less time here and more time playing, then come back and start a thread on custom party makeup where you can weed out the hamster lovers and get down to the serious business of how to create the tightest, smallest group of stone cold killers. First, never use more than four in a party. Second, clerics come in a bottle. Third, well, you get the picture.
Have fun your own way.
So, clerics are......... genies???
But powergaming does not necessarily means more fun. As stated above (in a somewhat aggressive manner
Your first post said that you like single class characters. A party of 1-2 fighter classes (Fighter/Ranger/Paladin), a Divine Caster (Cleric/Druid), a Thief and 1-2 Arcane class (mage/sorcerer/bard) is very balanced and will allow you to cover all needs.
Plus, in the Enhanced Editions, you have access to the kits making a single class characters a bit more specialized.
In general, as a first playthrough, I would suggest NOT looking for what is most powerful/best party composition, but just play the game as it is thrown at you.
Start with your main character, whatever class and race appeals to you, and just go adventuring, recruiting NPCs as they come along, exploring with those you like, ditching the ones you don't.
In fact, in just the first few maps (1st area after prologue, Friendly Arm Inn and Beregost), you can recruit:
- a girl-next-door thief
- a halfling fighter/thief
- a crazy necromancer
- an elven wild mage
- a stuttering fighter
- a bossy fighter/druid
- a dwarven fighter
- a disappointed and somewhat disappointing bard
If you explore a bit here and there, you will find a Paladin, an elven ranger, a drow cleric, a fliratious thief, a feminist fighter, a petrified priest of Tempus, a wandering monk, a very very powerful yet very very arrogant mage, a very very hard hitting yet very very crazy ranger.
I think you should be able to make whatever group composition you want with this already, and they are all available in just one or two hours of gameplay (if you know where to look, may take a bit exploring for some of them).
HALF-elf!
HAHAHA. Yeah, my mistake ^^ She would be pissed
Also, sometimes the conflicts between opposing alignments can be interesting, and they can certainly cause issues if a fight happens in the wilderness. Most people probably pick up the three NPCs in the first area after the prologue, but they are all of different alignments. That said, getting to where you need to go is a lot easier with help, even if that help is of a rather dubious nature (depending on your PC alignment).
The good news is that the vast majority of NPCs have zero issue with you switching people out. Some may not be recruitable if you dump them on the first meeting, so keep that in mind, but otherwise, you are free to swap NPCs out as you will. (BG1 has this issue of pairing a few, which was always a PITA, but still)
So venture forth and find some adventure, and don't worry about creating the perfect party. It doesn't exist.
However, it's your game, so the best way to play it is the way you enjoy it.
Regarding party make-up, I'd agree 2 warriors, 1 rogue, 1 each arcane and divine caster, then fill the gap(s) to suit your style.