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Minimal reload ideas?

BGLoverBGLover Member Posts: 550
in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
For a few years I've been playing Baldurs Gate with a strict no reload rule - If I die, the game ends. I can finish BG1 with relative ease, unless I get cocky or lazy or forgetful, and apart from the occasional mishap I can get through Dragonspear fine too.

But here's the problem - I always die in BG2, sometimes early, sometimes a little later, and because of limited time I don't play as much as I'd like so I don't play BG2 often, I don't know the game inside and out like BG1 (I quite like not knowing), and I can't see any of this changing.

So I'm toying with the idea of dropping my strict reload rule, but I'm worried that the ability to reload will significantly reduce the risk and alter how I play.

So how do others in a similar predicament reach a satisfactory compromise? I suppose I'm looking for some ideas for hard and fast rules that will preserve what I like about no reload gameplay, whilst giving me at least a chance of actually getting to the end (or at least further than I've managed thus far!). Is it just a case of x number of extra lives?

Comments

  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    I too suffer from being a no reloader - which basically means that all my games are doomed to end in failure. I've been trying for ages to get a character through BG1 so I can continue into SoD and BG2 but I keep getting myself killed. And the truth is, even if I could get to BG2 I would die very quickly because I don't know the game very well and so I am bound to run into a situation I can't handle.

    A couple of suggestions that might help:

    1. If your character dies but most of the rest of the party is still alive and you honestly think they could still win the encounter then you could argue that they would be able to resurrect you so you could reload in that situation.

    2. You could turn down the difficulty level when you are dealing with unfamiliar encounters and then turn it back up again when you are in more familiar territory.
  • PingwinPingwin Member Posts: 262
    Return to the start of the chapter perhaps?
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    No-reload run-throughs aren't easy. My first suggestion would be to dramatically change your builds, equipment, and spell selection to emphasize durability rather than DPS. Second would be to change your strategies to emphasize scouting, invisibility, and disabling to make sure you are properly prepared for nearly every encounter and able to end those encounters without your foes taking any actions at all. Third would be to keep your MC out of harm's way as much as possible when you aren't sure what you'll be facing, so that a TPK leaves you alive to resurrect the rest of the party and then regroup. These suggestions will slow your run-through considerably but should help minimize reloads.
  • Mantis37Mantis37 Member Posts: 1,177
    edited December 2019
    I would suggest that you develop an ingame rationale for your minimal reloads and stick to that. For example you could use a Necromancer character or similar, who consumes the lifeforce of their companions to 'rewind' time. In other words each time you die you can reload at the cost of one of your companions' getting chunked.
  • BGLoverBGLover Member Posts: 550
    Thanks for all the suggestions. I especially like the idea of developing an ingame rationale, as this kind of gets to the heart of the matter (namely that, for me, if I have to reload it sucks the life out of the game and I just cannae enjoy it after that)
  • BluddyBluddy Member Posts: 20
    I'm wondering how you deal with BG's thief mechanics. Since a bad skillcheck on a pickpocket leads to aggression by the NPCs, do you just not pickpocket anyone?
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