Memorable experiences from those early play-throughs.
waardenius
Member Posts: 58
I know that there is a similar thread somewhere, and my original intention was to bump that one. I was not able to locate it however, since I can't remember the title. If it shows up maybe a merge is in order. For now, however:
A significant part of the magic with ones very first play-through was that element of basically knowing nothing about anything in terms of what challenges awaited you and how you were supposed to overcome them in the most efficent manner. First of all there was no opportunity to meta-game in any way, since what you knew about the world was on par with your character would know, i.e no fire balls cast blindly in to the fog of war. Secondly you simply didn't have any idea of what weapons, spells, etc to utilise. You generally had to improvise as you went a long. As well as reload. A lot. Of course, twelve years ago, there wasn't a myriad of online walkthroughs and forums to guide you, either.
The thing is: these playthroughs were the best, since the immersion was so much greater than in later play-throughs were it became much more a question of trying new ways to beat the game. The game took months rather than days to complete, and the experiences offered were a lot richer.
From my first (or maybe not very first, but the first where I was actually getting places) play-through, my most memorable moment was without a doubt the fight with Davaeorn. I just literally COULDN'T beat him. I tried again, again and again, to no avail. In hindsight this was most likely down to my next to non-existent tactics and generally carefreee attitude towards things such as traps, buffs, and debuffs.
When I finally managed, the circumstances where dramatical, to say the least: after an initial melee charge that involved the flinging of countless canisters of flaming oil in the general direction of the evil wizard and his minions, my main char (a fighter) subsequently found himself beeing the sole survivor of the group. At this point he had already run for his life, and found himself in that chamber in the bottom right of the screen, with the chest. After a while Davaeorn caught up, determined to finish the job; however at this time his minions were gone as well as his magical protection, and a few swings with Graywolf's sword won my fighter the day before he was turned to toast.
When the dust had settled I counted five dead companions, of which three where permanently gone. And here's to the big thing: rather then promptly reloading (once again) I simply went on frow where I was. I had just won the impossible fight, it was well worth the lives of a couple of companions! My fighter simply gathered up the most valuable equipment he could carry, flung Ajantis and Kivan's relatively intact bodies on a mining cart, and began the long, cumbersome retreat back to civilized lands. After som much needed rest and some bloody expensive ressurection, my party, now a three-piece, set of for the first time to the grand city of Baldur's Gate, where their ranks would soon be bolstered by a pair of interesting gnomes...
Please share some of your memories of the very early Baldur's Gate experience!
A significant part of the magic with ones very first play-through was that element of basically knowing nothing about anything in terms of what challenges awaited you and how you were supposed to overcome them in the most efficent manner. First of all there was no opportunity to meta-game in any way, since what you knew about the world was on par with your character would know, i.e no fire balls cast blindly in to the fog of war. Secondly you simply didn't have any idea of what weapons, spells, etc to utilise. You generally had to improvise as you went a long. As well as reload. A lot. Of course, twelve years ago, there wasn't a myriad of online walkthroughs and forums to guide you, either.
The thing is: these playthroughs were the best, since the immersion was so much greater than in later play-throughs were it became much more a question of trying new ways to beat the game. The game took months rather than days to complete, and the experiences offered were a lot richer.
From my first (or maybe not very first, but the first where I was actually getting places) play-through, my most memorable moment was without a doubt the fight with Davaeorn. I just literally COULDN'T beat him. I tried again, again and again, to no avail. In hindsight this was most likely down to my next to non-existent tactics and generally carefreee attitude towards things such as traps, buffs, and debuffs.
When I finally managed, the circumstances where dramatical, to say the least: after an initial melee charge that involved the flinging of countless canisters of flaming oil in the general direction of the evil wizard and his minions, my main char (a fighter) subsequently found himself beeing the sole survivor of the group. At this point he had already run for his life, and found himself in that chamber in the bottom right of the screen, with the chest. After a while Davaeorn caught up, determined to finish the job; however at this time his minions were gone as well as his magical protection, and a few swings with Graywolf's sword won my fighter the day before he was turned to toast.
When the dust had settled I counted five dead companions, of which three where permanently gone. And here's to the big thing: rather then promptly reloading (once again) I simply went on frow where I was. I had just won the impossible fight, it was well worth the lives of a couple of companions! My fighter simply gathered up the most valuable equipment he could carry, flung Ajantis and Kivan's relatively intact bodies on a mining cart, and began the long, cumbersome retreat back to civilized lands. After som much needed rest and some bloody expensive ressurection, my party, now a three-piece, set of for the first time to the grand city of Baldur's Gate, where their ranks would soon be bolstered by a pair of interesting gnomes...
Please share some of your memories of the very early Baldur's Gate experience!
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Then the first time I saw Firkraag I jumped again because I thought "Bloody hell! That's a dragon!"
and after many many reloads figuring out to use a potion of haste to have one NPC dance around graywolf while the rest of team peppered him with ranged weapons. that was my earliest grasp of "tactics". oh and interrupting the evil wizard trying to kill the other mage at nashkell carnival and desperately trying to save her before realising that actually i got more when i let her die. if it's a choice between loot and being good, i'll be good, but if it's a choice between loot and not being quick enough with the pause button...i'm sorry but i'm going to have be a second too slow to save you!
@HaHaCharade...I've found the BG games to be a great tool for my p&p d&d...especially as a DM...
Epic.
I would sometimes spend hours just creating new characters and write background stories. And then I discovered that if I start a multi-player game in BG2, I can make all 6 characters myself! I must've spent at least 2 evenings creating my perfect party the first time.
I was attacked! A ghost/spirit came charging at me. I laughed... one enemy against my experienced party of six! I was a fool; I quickly discovered that my party would soon be overpowered. But it is rarely the stronger side that wins, it is the smarter one and I was not without my tricks. Jaheira managed to get a lucky entangle spell that bound him in place and I swear he was bound for what seemed ten minutes. During this time I had her and Edwin unleash their entire arsenal of spells. When the dust cleared it was still there... looking at me, eyes of hate.
I equipped my party with whatever bows or crossbows that were in my packs and didn't give the order to cease fire until we ran out of ammo. It still stood (although it now resembled a porcupine). I had no idea what to do now. My party was bloodied from the earlier fight and out of healing spells or potions. It was looking ominous. Even though it was entangled it could still attack if I came within range... but I had nothing else to throw at it. Searching in my pack once again, praying that I had overlooked a few arrows or anything that could help me, I came across the answer. It was a crude weapon, rusted and a prime example of shoddy workmanship but it might just be what I need.
I handed the spear to one of my fighters and had him impale the spirit time and time again, safely out of the spirit's range and finally it fell. We all breathed a sigh of relief and began our march back to Beregost.
I also have fond memories of fighting the people at the Iron Throne, Nymble (I think his name is), the two assassins who poisoned Scar and also fighting that Balor during the expansion.
And the, like, 3 in-game years I spent culling winter wolves for profit. I used to camp out through the seasons waiting for them to turn up again.
I don't think I succeeded in finding her until the third time I went back and it finally occurred to me that I should send someone into the pit, at which point she appeared as if from nowhere.
Then on the way out she got killed by a Xvart.
Yeah Amaunator. Or should I say, "dormant"?