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good playthrough challenge

Heya, I've played through Baldurs gate 1 and 2 a few times and am looking for a challenge for my run through to make encounters harder but a bit more planning orientated. I originally bumped up the difficulty, but this just meant I was resting more so I could spam healing spells. any suggestions on resting and saving limits as a guideline to make the game more interesting?

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  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    I thought you meant 'good' as in alignment, lol.

    Well I am playing blind in my first BG 2 playthrough, but obviously you cannot erase your memory of the game. So some principles I try to stick to (not always possible) for RP purposes.

    1) Don't use godly characters with what I'd consider cheesy stats. My simple rule is a warrior should either be fast and accurate (High Dex), or strong and tough (High Str and Con). He should never be both, and he should only have one stat at the maximum of what is allowed for his race/class. A non-warrior does not need good physical attributes, so he/she shouldn't have them. Essentially I want my characters to be about the same level as the ingame NPCs, and not a godly superhuman who just carries a bunch of NPCs for banters, romance and utility roles.

    2) Only apply long term protections and buffs before a battle. E.g. Protection from Evil and Stoneskin, but not Mirror Image, Chant and Defensive Harmony.

    3) Try to do each area in one go without rest. Don't just rest because you've just used the only Time-Spot in your party and you want to open every battle with Time-stop. This isn't always possible in particularly tough/large areas, but I do my best.

    The way I see it, there is two ways to make the game more difficult. You can artificially jack up the difficulty by setting it to Insane, and use SCS and other mods, or you can set personal challenges for yourself by abstaining from metagamey and cheesy strategy and tactics. I prefer the latter, and usually try to set objectives that I am reasonably confident is possible, but not 100% sure. The uncertainty adds a level of excitement and danger to a game which I know I can definitely beat if I resorted to cheese and checking a walkthrough to discover all the tricks and op strategies and builds.
    Lemernis
  • BrudeBrude Member Posts: 560
    Turn of the "rest until healed" option.
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    Core rules - no pre-buffing - reload only on PC death (set a limit on the total number of reloads allowed if you want to crank it up a notch) - do not use unidentified items - try to RP any dialoge encounter as you see your character doing it regardless of what effect it has on the outcome. Have fun!
    Heindrichlamperta
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited December 2013

    ... The way I see it, there is two ways to make the game more difficult. You can artificially jack up the difficulty by setting it to Insane, and use SCS and other mods, or you can set personal challenges for yourself by abstaining from metagamey and cheesy strategy and tactics...

    This sums it up well. The biggest thing that I've found to make the game more challenging and interesting is to avoid metagame knowledge, and act according to what the party would know of their world (versus what you know as a player). For example, they don't know that there's an ambush just around the bend statically placed there by the game engine--although after being ambushed repeatedly it would wise to always send a scout ahead in stealth mode to check. That a particular foe casts x, y, and z spells isn't knowledge that they possess--but based on their experience from previous battles in general, they will likely develop a standard strategy to try to disrupt enemy spellcasters' incantations, and to employ various buffs.

    The party doesn't know where all the most powerful items are found. And would they really compulsively "sweep" every square inch of a map area looking for encounters with hostile creatures? It depends on CHARNAME's personality and what motivations the protagonist has, I guess. But if you want to make the game more challenging and interesting, play a character who wouldn't.

    Imho, this is mainly what "roleplaying" amounts to for a game like the BG series: limiting decisions, actions, and strategy to only what characters would or could know, or reasonably surmise (versus what the player knows). I've developed a form of this basic approach where I turn playing cards (red suit = yes, black suit = no) or use a digital die roller to determine various things by chance; and to also roleplay independent reactions, decisions, actions, relationships, etc., of all the various characters as well. This can lead to some very surprising developments. (That said, I'm sure I'll continue to play some games in the future where I just metagame/cheese away. That's a blast too in it's own way.)

    But anyway, the things mentioned already by @Heindrich1988, @Brude, and @Wanderon are good ways of self-limiting to increase difficulty. I guess I would just add to it by emphasizing that the gear that you gather can be based on a non-metagame RP approach, and that too will add to the challenge. You use what is dropped or looted from encounter areas, and what you can buy in stores (or burgle or pickpocket if a rogue is involved). I also roleplay (i.e., use imagination) or use a card flip to decide whether a NPC that might leave the party takes certain items, either as a reward for their service or because they feel entitled to keep it.

    When it comes to how often to rest... because resting is required to renew spells, and spells are so vital to survival in that incredibly hostile environment, from a roleplaying standpoint it would actually make the most logical sense to risk rest often. So as a pretty hardcore RPer, I do rest a lot.
    Post edited by Lemernis on
    Wanderon
  • BigfishBigfish Member Posts: 367
    No reloads, barring bugs. You die in the game, re-roll and start over. So far its been great to see just how dangerous some of these encounters can be if you don't stun lock them or insta-win with a critical or two.
  • LJingLJing Member Posts: 16
    edited December 2013
    Hi, since I am playing right now Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced, i can give a few tips for a more challenging game:

    1) I would definitely recommend to keep the party level low. You can keep your level low by doing following things: Get straight to Chapter 3 when you have 15.000 gp ready to save Imoen. Only do one or two necessary sub-quests. By doing this you are low-leveled and automatically encounter harder opponents who are not easy to beat.

    2) Do not collect the best weapons and items used in the game that are balance breaking. Examples are: Cloak of Mirror, Holy Revenger and Githiyanki Sword. Also Seven-miles-boots should be banned from your list. They are strong motivators - but without them it can be quite motivating for Baldur's Gate 2 Veterans.

    3) Only play with less than 5 party members

    In my Let's play Video (german), I tried to follow those rules and had close fights like in the druid quest


    Edit: link changed
    Post edited by LJing on
    lelag200Ogaburan
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    @LJing
    A non-Powergamey LP?! Man I wish u did it in English!

    ...cos, despite my username, I don't understand a word of German. :(
    Ogaburan
  • LJingLJing Member Posts: 16
    @Heindrich1988
    That is really sad. Next time i will try to do it in English.

    I underline Wanderon's recommendation to set a number of maximum death which is also very challenging. For example 10 lifes for Shadow of Amn only. It makes you think twice whether you want to battle dragons or better save the life for better purposes
  • OgaburanOgaburan Member Posts: 83

    @LJing
    A non-Powergamey LP?! Man I wish u did it in English!

    ...cos, despite my username, I don't understand a word of German. :(

    Same here, despite having german origins I never got to learning german.
    You also seem to have a really good casting voice, at least in german its kind of melodic, you should give it a try in english...

    Also like it because I recently stopped being a powergamer and started enjoying limiting myself during my playthroughs. :D

  • AxtonAxton Member Posts: 2
    Honestly, go in and play the character you would normally make for a DnD game. If I want to crush through some mods, sure, I'll make a the cookie cutter Charname TN Kensage, so it's powergamey and rp-wise feasible to see ALL the content.

    But if I want to play for the shear Baldur's Gate experience, I'll roll an actual character who feels like he represents who I would be and what I would say/do in that situation. It completely changes the feel and experience of the game, usually in the most ballbusting, soulcrushing ways imaginable lol
    Bigfish
  • AxtonAxton Member Posts: 2
    Axton said:

    Honestly, go in and play the character you would normally make for a DnD game. If I want to crush through some mods, sure, I'll make a the cookie cutter Charname TN Kensage, so it's powergamey and rp-wise feasible to see ALL the content.

    But if I want to play for the shear Baldur's Gate experience, I'll roll an actual character who feels like he represents who I would be and what I would say/do in that situation. It completely changes the feel and experience of the game, usually in the most ballbusting, soulcrushing ways imaginable lol

    Oh, and only pick npcs you actually like, and would want to hang out with/entrust your life to. It sounds stupid, but it makes everything more involved and immensely more difficult.

  • The_Potty_1The_Potty_1 Member Posts: 436
    There have been plenty of challenges in BG. One you might like is hitting Durlag's tower at level 1. You have to walk straight there, without fighting anyone or doing any quests. Enjoy.
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