This is why I prefer to solo the first 6 levels

Soido

Because the level progression with a full party is just so slow. And the enemies can easily kill weak low-HP characters.

I find it much faster and easier to start with a barbarian or berserker and quickly solo up to 32 000 XP. Then add a full party. Then it is much more enjoyable playing with a full leveled party without constantly throwing dice if your character will survive or not throughout each single encounter in Chapters 1,2 or 3 because you see his HP is so low.

Rik_Kirtaniya

Well, you may play as you like, but there sure is fun in challenge of survival.

jsaving

I think this really, really depends on how you define the word "enjoyable." If you aren't into buffing/prepping/scouting and prefer to handle encounters by simply being more powerful than the devs intended, then getting yourself to 32K XP ASAP and then recruiting other party members is the way to go. People would have different views on the appropriateness of that playstyle but to each their own!

Soido

Yep, I find it actually more tedious and grinding with a full-party startup than with a solo. Here I just hit the 32K XP mark, took me about 2-3 hours. For me the real game starts now with a nice party of level 5-6 characters.

Oh by the way, my party will be among Branwen, Coran, Edwin, Kivan, Dorn.

Zaxares

Maybe I'm a bit masochistic, but I kinda liked that super-fragile, "OMG, it's wolves RUUUUN!!!" feeling at the early levels. XD It's the only time in the series when you generally feel vulnerable and on edge when you're exploring maps, knowing that a chance random encounter might end you. Once you start to gain some levels, that sense of grave peril disappears, and even at higher levels difficulty tends to come down to "gotta make sure I can strip the enemy buffs and blow them apart before they can do the same to me" tactics. That kind of "one lucky critical from a gibberling" death risk just isn't there any more. You'll want to move past it eventually, of course, but it's a part of your adventuring career that you'll never be able to experience again.

Soido

I have to admit that going into Nashkel mines with level 6 full party is just no challenge. Way overpowered party for that generally easy area. I agree that BG is meant to be played with full party for maximum challenge of survivability.

Not to undermine the solo enthusiasts. Try soloing with monk and you know how hard that would be, if not tougher than full party. But yeah I admit that these 2 particular classes, the Berserker and the Barbarian, are capable of soloing very easily, and somewhat break the game.

dunbar

Funnily enough it was this 'tactic' (I was trying to get a head start for a multiclass character) that got me into soloing - I thought "I've got this far, why not try to go all the way on my own".

ilduderino

In the original version, the npcs would level with you (i.e. if you were level 6, they would also be level 5-6 when you first met them, with pre-rolled hp) and most would have much less hp than maximum rolls, I recall Yeslick, Coran and possibly Branwen and a few others being exceptions and therefore you could easily add them later. I think I had Ajantis join late and he was my weakest npc. The new system is cool in that it allows you to swap members late with less penalty but it does make going solo early much more appealing - if you do the basilisk garden with Imoen you can get to level 5 or so, then go and recruit a team

jsaving

Soido wrote: »

I have to admit that going into Nashkel mines with level 6 full party is just no challenge. Way overpowered party for that generally easy area. I agree that BG is meant to be played with full party for maximum challenge of survivability.

The main issue isn't whether you play solo, but whether you exploit random encounters to gain so much XP in the early game that you are severely over-leveled throughout the critical path. Electing to hit Nashkel at level 6 makes it a breeze whether you have only one character or a full party (though admittedly a full party makes it even easier).

Pokota

I've tried doing Solo No Grinding, Solo With Grinding, Party No Grinding, and Party With Grinding.

I think my preferences are Solo With Grinding (the Nashkel Mines can hell for low level solo players, with so many archers in tight quarters to avoid) and Party No Grinding (because Quest EXP is so much better for party play even in BG1 where it's divided up).

DinoDin

I absolutely love the slow burn of BG1 while playing as intended. Most veteran players know you can cheese the basilisks with a certain temporary NPC and boost your level, right? So if you want to boost your level, there's always an easy exploit in there. And I'm fine with that existing in the game.

But, personally, I love having to take on things like kobolds in the mines, the xvarts, gibberlings and gnolls in the wilds when they present a challenge.