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730 hours yet still haven't beaten the game on hard :^[[[[ ................

THE TIME TO COMPLETE THIS GAME HAS COME AFTER 7 LONG YEARS
But I need assistance, I cannot do this alone fair viewer please lend me your aid so that a old young 25 year old hardcore gamer's greatest sin can be forgiven!!!!!!!

Have always played many many many runs experimenting with builds, and generally getting too sidetracked and will abandon runs then come back to them weeks or months later and start all over again...

But I have made a holy vow this day to put a end to this madness! Please help me to overcome some of the hurts and hangups I've experienced over the years so that I can finally move onto Siege of Dragonspear and BG2 (The later of which I've yet to even leave the starting town XD).

Problems such as such as:
1. What order and levels to visit each area and complete all major main quests and side quests?
2. What's the most balanced party composition for a Good Spellcaster main?
3. Should I bring a save over to BG 2?
4. Should I just start BG 2 with a fresh save?
5. Should I carry over a save from BG1 > Siege of Dragonspear > BG2?
6. Should I carry a save just from Siege of Dragonspear > BG2?
7. What skills should I prioritize with a thief?
8. Which screens have super tiny hidden items? (like the diamond and evermemory ring)
9. What characters, quests, dialogue trees, and encounters are really easy to miss out on that all players should run into?
10. At what level should I end the main quest and continue onto BG2? Or should I continue onto Siege of Dragonspear?
11. Which party members are worth it the most to keep in my party when finishing the game?
12. Does it matter which members in my party I keep when I finish the main game?
13. If I bring a save file over to BG 2 or Siege of Dragonspear do any events or actions I take in the first game have a effect a new save file wouldn't have?
14. General tips and tricks I might have missed out on?

I await yalls replies with baited breaths...
JuliusBorisovArvia

Comments

  • SBlackSBlack Member Posts: 32
    edited August 2021
    Most that is a matter of taste and preference. A lot of compositions and builds can work. Classes can be built and played in different ways. For example you only really need a thief for trap detection and lock picking. Stealing is a matter of taste and roleplaying. You could also put the rest into detecting illusions.

    The game is forgiving enough that you can try out some characters for a while and see if you like them.
    What order and levels to visit each area and complete all major main quests and side quests?
    Anything can work. For BG1 I'd recommend mostly sticking to the main story until you get to Baldur's Gate. You may want to do some sidequests around Beregrost and Nashkel to level up a bit for the mine. But don't go exploring all of the wilderness before continuing with the main quest. Many of those areas are extremely boring for very little reward. Almost all of the really good side quests are in the city itself.
    What characters, quests, dialogue trees, and encounters are really easy to miss out on that all players should run into?
    There is a lot of stuff in Baldur's Gate (the city, not the game) that you only get by walking into random unmarked houses.
    At what level should I end the main quest and continue onto BG2? Or should I continue onto Siege of Dragonspear?
    Just play the game. If you do everything you'll probably hit the level cap with most characters before you're done with BG1. Which is fine. Don't add a mod to remove that. And don't worry about not having enough XP. By the end of SoD you'll be around level 10 for most classes, whereas a new BG2 game starts at level 7/8.
    If I bring a save file over to BG 2 or Siege of Dragonspear do any events or actions I take in the first game have a effect a new save file wouldn't have?
    Only killing joinable NPCs like Minsc matters to some degree. And even that isn't universal as BG2 assumes a specific party at the start and some of the BG1 NPCs have cameos.
    But aside from that imports are only about levels, stats and items. Decisions aren't carried over like in more modern games.
    Does it matter which members in my party I keep when I finish the main game?
    No. SoD has a bit of a transition intro where your final BG1 team carries over for one map. After that you'll build a new party (possibly with some of the old crew depending on who you had along)
    Post edited by SBlack on
    ManFromTheFizz
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    Have always played many many many runs experimenting with builds, and generally getting too sidetracked and will abandon runs then come back to them weeks or months later and start all over again...

    ...
    Problems such as such as:
    ...

    I await yalls replies with baited breaths...

    At a glance ... you're not addressing the real issue. Your problem is "restartitis"; that you start a run and then get distracted and start another one instead of finishing the current one. Planning an exact route, or an exact party, isn't going to help.

    So, we need to come at this from another angle. What will help keep your interest?

    For me, the most important technique is logging runs, especially with intent to post. Themes help too; I've done a werewolf run, a no-spellcasting run, a fire run, and others. It's all about getting invested in this party so you stick with them rather than rolling up something new.
    All right, all those themes come with planning. The fire-themed party included planning for how I was going to make all of them fire-immune, for example. But that planning is specific to each run - how to optimize within the theme's restrictions. Planning that could work for any character ... well, that's not much of an incentive to stick with the current one.
    DinoDinManFromTheFizzArvia
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    If you have never finished the game I wouldn't play on hard. Just play on core rules until you know the game better. I think playing on hard when you don't know the game inside out is likely just to make things frustrating.
    ThacoBellManFromTheFizzStummvonBordwehrArvia
  • Allanon81Allanon81 Member Posts: 327
    Import your save and throw all the other questions away.
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    edited August 2021
    sarevok57 wrote: »
    If you have never finished the game I wouldn't play on hard. Just play on core rules until you know the game better. I think playing on hard when you don't know the game inside out is likely just to make things frustrating.

    that depends actually, back in the good ol' vanilla days in the 90s when i played this game for the first time, the person that owned the game had the game set on the hardest difficulty and i had no clue there was even a difficulty setting at the time, and i was still loving this game, despite the fact i was constantly getting messed up even by the most pitiful of baddies

    man did i ever make temples rich back in the day haha

    Even so I think playing on hard does make the game more of a grind and makes battles take longer (it takes longer to whittle down the extra hit points - and then even more time when you have to go to a temple and get party members resurrected and re-equipped). If the OP is finding it hard to get to the end of the game then adding an unnecessary extra layer of difficulty doesn't make much sense to me.

    Personally I play on core with no re-loads and I still find it almost impossible to beat the game.
    ThacoBell
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,567
    A jmerry said, the best advice is to have some sort of plan or theme and stick with that. Maybe spend alot of time thinking about what highest end gear you're going to use in ToB for example.

    As others have said, core rules is a solid and fair difficulty. Giving enough challenge and consequences to feel fair. I don't think you need to set it much higher than that if you're struggling to beat the game.
    ManFromTheFizzStummvonBordwehrArvia
  • ManFromTheFizzManFromTheFizz Member Posts: 18
    SBlack wrote: »
    Most that is a matter of taste and preference. A lot of compositions and builds can work. Classes can be built and played in different ways. For example you only really need a thief for trap detection and lock picking. Stealing is a matter of taste and roleplaying. You could also put the rest into detecting illusions.

    The game is forgiving enough that you can try out some characters for a while and see if you like them.
    I remember when going into Durlag's Tower that there is a Dryad there who has a one of a kind spear/staff weapon that can't be found anywhere else in BG 1.

    But you have to steal it if you don't want to kill her, how am I suppose to know who has these extremely valuable items in the game when there are practically 100's of NPCs????????????????????
  • ManFromTheFizzManFromTheFizz Member Posts: 18
    Allanon81 wrote: »
    Import your save and throw all the other questions away.

    Wow Allanon what amazing wisdom you have learned!

    WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS SOONER? HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,262
    edited August 2021
    SBlack wrote: »
    Most that is a matter of taste and preference. A lot of compositions and builds can work. Classes can be built and played in different ways. For example you only really need a thief for trap detection and lock picking. Stealing is a matter of taste and roleplaying. You could also put the rest into detecting illusions.

    The game is forgiving enough that you can try out some characters for a while and see if you like them.
    I remember when going into Durlag's Tower that there is a Dryad there who has a one of a kind spear/staff weapon that can't be found anywhere else in BG 1.

    But you have to steal it if you don't want to kill her, how am I suppose to know who has these extremely valuable items in the game when there are practically 100's of NPCs????????????????????

    That was a succubus, a demon. Nothing wrong with killing demons is there?
  • ManFromTheFizzManFromTheFizz Member Posts: 18
    DinoDin wrote: »
    A jmerry said, the best advice is to have some sort of plan or theme and stick with that. Maybe spend alot of time thinking about what highest end gear you're going to use in ToB for example.

    As others have said, core rules is a solid and fair difficulty. Giving enough challenge and consequences to feel fair. I don't think you need to set it much higher than that if you're struggling to beat the game.

    For my first Main Quest Core/Hard run I just want the best all around guys. (Maybe to carry into BG2)

    I don't really care about themes at the moment, maybe down the line once I've just beaten the bare bones game XD.

    There are sooooooooo many playable party members in the game, how am I suppose to know how good all of their end game builds are without hacking or playing the game over and over and over again?
  • ManFromTheFizzManFromTheFizz Member Posts: 18
    Tresset wrote: »
    SBlack wrote: »
    Most that is a matter of taste and preference. A lot of compositions and builds can work. Classes can be built and played in different ways. For example you only really need a thief for trap detection and lock picking. Stealing is a matter of taste and roleplaying. You could also put the rest into detecting illusions.

    The game is forgiving enough that you can try out some characters for a while and see if you like them.
    I remember when going into Durlag's Tower that there is a Dryad there who has a one of a kind spear/staff weapon that can't be found anywhere else in BG 1.

    But you have to steal it if you don't want to kill her, how am I suppose to know who has these extremely valuable items in the game when there are practically 100's of NPCs????????????????????

    That was a succubus, a demon. Nothing wrong with killing demons is there?

    Ooooohhh she's a succubus my bad. I mean still she never wronged me and I don't believe any creature is biologically predispositioned into evil and can always choose a righteous life.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    For my first Main Quest Core/Hard run I just want the best all around guys. (Maybe to carry into BG2)

    I don't really care about themes at the moment, maybe down the line once I've just beaten the bare bones game XD.

    There are sooooooooo many playable party members in the game, how am I suppose to know how good all of their end game builds are without hacking or playing the game over and over and over again?
    They're all good enough. They've all got their own tricks. And they all have disadvantages.

    Faldorn is the best NPC healer in the game - the only one with access to 5th level spells, and she gets a 5th level healing spell at 4th level with Call Woodland Beings. You can throw around spells like Insect Plague and True Seeing in the endgame, when nobody else gets them at all.
    Quayle, uniquely among BG1 NPCs, gets both arcane and divine spells. Cleric/Illusionist multiclass. It'll be a long time until he runs out of power.
    And those are two NPCs generally considered weaker options. I've played with them, and completed the game (in the same party, no less), but I don't disagree. They're very much squishy casters, they come late... outside their narrow specialty, they're not worth much. Most of the time, I'll get much more out of, say, Coran with his superior archery and thieving skills.

    If you keep looking for the very best options, you'll keep changing your mind and restarting. There are so many different ways to play, and if you ask a dozen people you'll get a dozen different answers. What you really need is some way to get invested in this particular run, so you stick with it all the way. I do that with theming and keeping logs. Some people do it with roleplaying. The specifics depend on your personality, but there needs to be something there that makes it more than "Attempt #46 at perfection". (And even then, some no-reload types will count the runs until they succeed)
    StummvonBordwehrenergisedcamel
  • SBlackSBlack Member Posts: 32
    how am I suppose to know who has these extremely valuable items in the game when there are practically 100's of NPCs?
    None of that stuff is essential. Even with BG1's somewhat limited weapon selection there are plenty of choices. Some may be nice to have, but you can do without them.

    And most cases of stealing items are more about getting all the possible rewards from a quest. Usually it's more of a choice between let's say the item are more XP/gold. But you can do a kind of double cross and get the XP reward and then steal the item. So if you want the item then you can resolve the quest that way too.
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