I go around the Friendly Arm Inn and Beregost and pick up all the quests for each and complete them before I head down to Nashkel (well as much as I can). As at @Shandyr said, I normally don't want them left waiting. The extra XP is just a bonus.
HA! Once I waited till chapter 4 to get that chick at the friendly arm her flamedance ring back! I carried it all through the mines and banding camp :P and remembered not to sell it:)
Haha I actually like robe/cloak + helmet look that Aerie rocks, it makes her look like Magneto. I guess it doesn't really fit her but damn if it isn't cool. You gotta find the right helmet for her though, some of them are awful (the bat wing one especially).
And I agree, Nalia's paperdoll is really nice. I love the way the hooded robes look. Very mysterious.
@Belgarathmth Actually, Jaheira is still a decent front liner, on core rules and down anyway, if you constantly keep ironskins on her, even if you restrict her to leather. Not saying I send her in to tank the mob at the beginning of a group fight, but she can generally still hold her own under the restrictions I play with for her
Most of my CHARNAME single-class mages end up being Necromancers... Kind of feels like it makes most sense for a son of the god of murder to study magic related to death... Not necessarily by a conscious choice but still...
I go around the Friendly Arm Inn and Beregost and pick up all the quests for each and complete them before I head down to Nashkel (well as much as I can). As at @Shandyr said, I normally don't want them left waiting. The extra XP is just a bonus.
HA! Once I waited till chapter 4 to get that chick at the friendly arm her flamedance ring back! I carried it all through the mines and banding camp :P and remembered not to sell it:)
I never have too much of a problem sending Aerie to the front if need be (it would have to be a pretty desperate situation, but with the right buffs obviously she can be quite effective up there). Mainly because I think it's in character for her; if her friends are in trouble, she would rush in to try and save them, and then probably get a lecture from Jaheira about how she should hold back, pace herself, and be more frugal... anyway, she knows she's less experienced and not as strong or tough as other characters, but she wants to learn to protect herself and others.
Although it appeals to many, I find it very hard to play evil characters in games. I mean, I do, but it's always less enjoyable somehow. Maybe because I really immerse in the world so it's hard to imagine just going around being an arsehole all the time. In some games, like Fallout 3 for example, and to a lesser extent Baldur's Gate, you've got the background of your father figure (and Imoen in BG), and again I find it very hard to betray them by turning out to be a jerk.
I actually like arie in a helmet, the bg2 style ones, with the open face and cheek guards. One of the few things a appreciated about the paper dolls in vanilla bg2.
1. I never dual class. 2. My charname is never a cleric. 3. I avoid using cheese and cheats as much as possible. 4. I try to role-play as best as I can. 5. When creating a mage, I try to choose and use spells that would fit his/her specialization and personality. Lawful good mage will not use Gate, for example. 6. I almost always have Imoen, thought I can live without her. 7. I play only on core rules. 8. Never re-load just to get better hp rolls.
I won't steal from poor folks, and give a coin to pretty much every beggar I see. I can't seem to play evil even though it sounds kind of fun after a really bad day. When they have space, my thieves always carry my gems, just because I think that would keep them happy . And whenever possible, I try to keep them with helmets that look proportioned with whatever armour they have.
I never adjust the party formation: we always use the standard standing format, and on the interface my party remain in the order they joined me (so protagonist always as the leader). This means that if Jaheira has to leave the party to go to the Harper Hold, when she rejoins she will still 'appear' as though she was the last to join my party, when realistically she's probably been there the longest.
I don't dual-wield on everyone (or anyone, really), with the exception possibly of my protagonist, or characters such as Valygar and Haer'Dalis who were initially trained in it. It feels unrealistic and a bit too game-abusing to have a whole party of people knocking around with a god-slaying weapon in each hand. Plus shields look good.
I have a Bag of Holding exclusively for keeping around the quest items I pick up: the hand of Dace; the tooth of Sekolah; a lock of Jaheira's hair; the Shadow Dragon wardstone, all have life-time membership to the Bag of Holding.
Normally, if someone dies I reload. Although after several games realising I end ToB with 2 fully charged rods of ressurection, I've been trying to amend that behavior.
Recruit ALL the BG2 NPCs and complete their quests before moving on: the protagonist touches the lives of all these characters throughout his quest. Especially necessary if you use the statues in ToB to call characters to you and they have distinct memories of traveling with you (even though I never actually do use these statues). It just feels right.
When a character is kicked from the party, the best they get is +1 stuff, but I don't leave them for dead. Sometimes I equip characters like Minsc or Anomen with chainmail because I think it looks good but you never need it for your party, so at least you get to see it when you are strolling back through the Copper Coronet on a Saturday night bonding session with the new party members :P
Oh, and I never play nor invite a Cleric/Thief into the party. I don't care how mechanically effective it may happen to be, the day my rogues are running round beating people over the head with maces and quarterstaves is the day I retire, thankyouverymuch.
I'm a hoarder, in real life and in games. I have a scroll case just for keeping all the notes and letters I find through the game. You never know when they might come in useful... well, never for most of them, but I still keep them.
In BG:EE I tried to collect all the joinable NPC's in the Friendly Arm Inn (I always leave NPC's with at least some basic equipment as well). I think it was just Rasaad and Baeloth who won't go there, which annoyed me. I started figuring out how to mod the game just to fix that really.
I'm a bit of a timekeeper, and will CTRL-T my way through.
My days begin at 6am. Stores only open at 9am. Government District bureaucratic dealings should take hours. An hour lapses when you move from one district to the other. We set up camp or head to the inn by nightfall. We may pull all-nighters in dungeons because we're dying to get out, when anticipating boss fights or when we have random quest stuff to do at night.
Okay this is super lame of me to admit, but I always give the best equipment to the romantic interest, because my Bhaalspawn wants to make sure they are safe. In my first complete playthrough my Undead Hunter paladin gave Anomen the Defender of Easthaven as an off-hand weapon despite specializing in flails. Aerie gets all the best defense items. Jaheira gets the best armor available always. That kind of thing.
I always reload when a person dies, unless I have a way of bringing them back right then and there. I just can't imagine, say, Dorn taking a bad blow, keeling over, and being a-okay after a trip to the temple. The bastard would kill me in a heartbeat for letting him die on the battlefield. So... RELOAD! Didn't happen! XD
Lol... I've started three games, all good hero PCs so far, and I spoke to Dorn the first time to see what he says. In my first game I then reloaded and killed him on sight, without a word. My next two I didn't even bother talking. My Chaotic Good Cleric/Ranger just attacked him and killed him, and then left his sword in the sewers.
It was probably the weirdest random reload I ever did, since I felt it made the most sense from a role playing perspective.
a lot, merely every minute. It doesn't mean I reload a lot, in fact I prefer to minimize the number of reloads. I just press Q often.
lol @Bengoshi I do the same. Its funny I jam Q as fast as possible after every conversation. The computer always reads "you cannot save during dialogue" and I'm like "WHAT????? we finished like two split seconds ago! hurry the hell up before my character dies!"
When they have space, my thieves always carry my gems, just because I think that would keep them happy .
Haha, me too.
When I boot NPCs, I try my best to take them to an inn and put them at a table with other NPCs I think they'll like. Like Imoen and Neera hanging out at the FAI, Dorn and Viconia on a blind date, and Garrick... well, Garrick got a corner to himself at the Jovial Juggler.
Speaking of thieves, when I have Montaron or Safana in my party I don't let them carry *anything* other than their weapons. Because they are THIEVES and they will STEAL my stuff!
I kinda wanna have Alora and Kagain in the same party with BG1NPC Project. I think her pickpocketing him would be a fun dynamic, like my Nalia pickpocketing Edwin thing.
I've adopted far too many of the habits in this thread, and I think that may be why I can never get very far in the game now...
- I've never played through the whole saga with anything other than a vanilla fighter or vanilla paladin. - Barring my first playthrough, I've never had anyone in my party other than Branwen, Kivan, Minsc, Dynaheir and Imoen in BG1, and Minsc, Keldorn, Jaheira, Nalia (who must be replaced by Imoen) and Valygar (who must be replaced by Sarevok) in BG2. - Imoen has to do her thieving alone, as my PC would never tolerate it...but I have her steal everything that isn't nailed down. - I collect every useful potion I can find...and never use them. - My PC must dual wield. No one else can. - No one can die. Ever. - My PC has to be polite. I tried to be mean once, and I beat myself up for days afterward...
It's gotten to the point that I'm going to have to force myself to do something differently. If you haven't read any of the incredibly well-written and considered playthrough by @Lemernis, check it out! I think I may end up having to do something similar to break these habits...
Whenever I catch my NPCs being rude or screwing up in some way, I give em more stuff to carry as punishment. Yeah, I hear you mumbling over there Edwin, how about you carry the plate mails for a while?
I play no reload, and if a battle goes sour and party members get killed, my pc and the remaining survivors try to make an escape. However, if we escape succesfully I boot the dead party members out-their corpses were left behind to the ravages of the enemies, and I count them as lost forever. Their items are also gone. If we win the battle and there are casualties, we can bring their bodies to a temple to be raised, no problems. Also if an npc gets chunked, he/she is gone forever.
A rule I have for games in general is that if they cheat I cheat. If a game uses tactics that go against it's rules such as an Illusionist being able to use necromancy then I see no reason why I shouldn't do the same. It's not because they make the game more difficult it's because it shows a lack of respect to both the player and the game. If a druid is able to dual wield katanas and wear a breastplate, then there had better be a good reason.
Of course all games cheat a little, just as all gamers are given an edge over enemies and that's understandable. It's games which do it blatantly without any explanation that will often result in me turning off my computer in disgust.
2. Can't use metal weapons. Metal????????? dafuq?? they are nature warriors, refuse to use metal that is mined deep underground but love using WOOD weapons??? that are made by 'killing the forest' and everything that is good and just on god's very very very green Earth?!
*sigh* Are you aware of how much coal (made from chopping down trees) you need to mine ore and produce metal objects? There's a reason why more or less all of Britain's forrests are less than 200 years old. Think before you sepak, will ya?
Okay this is super lame of me to admit, but I always give the best equipment to the romantic interest, because my Bhaalspawn wants to make sure they are safe. In my first complete playthrough my Undead Hunter paladin gave Anomen the Defender of Easthaven as an off-hand weapon despite specializing in flails. Aerie gets all the best defense items. Jaheira gets the best armor available always. That kind of thing.
That's not lame at all! Totally realistic. I love how my party is reaching epic levels together in Throne of Bhaal, and everybody felt genuinely useful throughout the saga, cos I didn't just roll an OP min/max'd Charname and then give him all the best gear, which would make it feel as if I've got superman dragging along deadweight.
In fact as he repeatedly defeats far more powerful individual enemies like Sarevok, Irenicus, Yaga-Shura, Sendai etc... I am starting to feel that the reason for his successes is precisely because he has equal friends and allies by his side, those willing to literally follow him to hell and back! I think that's kinda epic!
Literally my first major purchases in BG 2 were for Aerie (Robe of Vecna and Bracers AC 3). She also got the Cloak of Mirroring until pretty late in SoA, when I found the Staff of Magi in Ch.6. In fact Charname was so generous with sharing equipment, he got owned in the first pit fight in Ust Natha vs the Drow cleric. Of course once he 'borrowed' the Cloak of Mirroring, Ogre Power gloves etc, he dominated every duel afterwards with relative ease.
I try to get rid of as much fog of war on every map I can, it used to bother me so much when I would explore a whole map just to have some inaccessible blackness that couldn't be gotten rid of. I'm mostly over it now, one too many extra playthrus has me just beelining through one area to get to the next, or totally ignoring spots I know contain nothing but perhaps some random enemies.
I also tend to assign specific party members to carry specific gear. Mage carries all scrolls, Cleric carries all potions, Fighter/Paladin carries all weapons & armor, Thief carries gems & jewelry, etc. I don't really ever quickslot items since the inventory is paused I just open the appropriate person's inventory and toss someone a potion. This can all really suck if I lose control of my mage or cleric in battle of course.
Also if an NPC starts with a special piece of equipment, I have a really hard time replacing it, even if it becomes outdated. At very least I'll keep said item in their inventory permanently.
I have never seen the evil dream sequences in Baldur's Gate as I keep my char's reputation high. I usually try to play smart evil and being loved pays more than being feared.
You're not missing much. Having a low rep doesn't mean you embrace the Bhaalspawn mojo. You still tell the voice to bugger off, but because you believe in yourself instead of some sense of good. The evil powers are also generally lamer.
- almost always (not if I just restarted after a crash etc) sit in BG2 main menu until the song went through once. i love the main theme
- watch the intro movie about 50/50 when I start the game. not really the EE ones however for BG1. I modded in the originals but that is currently disabled because of an MP game
- i also tend to outfit my LI most. i don't usually have a conflicting charname so I can outfit both of them well. also with Jaheira being my favorite and using her frontline she needs to be ready anyway
- never let people die. if i win a battle with someone dead I will save and reload. i will just continue if it takes forever to win without casualties. this generally is things like firkraag. strangely enough I beat firkraag this playthrough without taking any damage by using 2 full level 2 spellbooks of acid arrow
- always Imoen, Jaheira, and Minsc. in BG2 add Khalid to that, though I actually don't take Dynaheir and just RP her as part of the group (I want another party member tbh, pretty much Neera in the EE, kinda random in vanilla)
- always wait for romance music to end. I love all of the themes, with Jaheira being the best. the EE has a tendency to skip them if you just switched areas though and that makes me sad
- i tend to have each Jaheira, Viconia and Aerie for at least a while in the beginning just to have them interject
- if Minsc tries to make Aerie his witch I reload. it can be more trouble than it's worth sometimes
- i do not rest in dungeons unless it is just that urgent. i need to be out of pretty much every spell, or sometimes not have removals and need it for a mage fight. unfortunately rested twice in spellhold because warriors become pretty useless with their gear stripped, so Neera and Imoen did most of it until I got that plate armor for Jaheira to tank
- I do listen to rules of cheese. if i feel a beat a battle through cheese I reload. I used cheese in spellhold unfortunately with not much choice. I took too long so Bodhi came and I had no chance without it. charname stealthed away then ran back when they appeared and we tossed fireballs at them off the screen.
- only pre buff when it is absolutely obvious that we are going to battle a tough opponent. for example I would pre buff before firkraag but I would do it out of sight
- Yoshimo always comes to spellhold. it isn't as awesome without him there to betray me, so I pick him up and get Imoen to replace him. so he isn't a pushover and so he is useful for what little time I had him I gave him experience to match us this playthrough because I didn't take him in the main group
- I try to make the conversations make sense. damn it Jaheira I am not in the mood for sleeping with you in spellhold! (I reject her anyway because I do feel a little too soon for that. they have time when the crisis is over)
- I always try to justify things RP wise. If it is absolutely impossible then I will leave it be. For example I get into many fights just over an insult because the Bhaal blood makes me aggressive and want to prove dominance, even if I am good aligned.
can't really think of anything more right now but I just know that there is more than that
Comments
@booinyoueyes, you mean like this?
And I agree, Nalia's paperdoll is really nice. I love the way the hooded robes look. Very mysterious.
Although it appeals to many, I find it very hard to play evil characters in games. I mean, I do, but it's always less enjoyable somehow. Maybe because I really immerse in the world so it's hard to imagine just going around being an arsehole all the time. In some games, like Fallout 3 for example, and to a lesser extent Baldur's Gate, you've got the background of your father figure (and Imoen in BG), and again I find it very hard to betray them by turning out to be a jerk.
2. My charname is never a cleric.
3. I avoid using cheese and cheats as much as possible.
4. I try to role-play as best as I can.
5. When creating a mage, I try to choose and use spells that would fit his/her specialization and personality. Lawful good mage will not use Gate, for example.
6. I almost always have Imoen, thought I can live without her.
7. I play only on core rules.
8. Never re-load just to get better hp rolls.
I don't dual-wield on everyone (or anyone, really), with the exception possibly of my protagonist, or characters such as Valygar and Haer'Dalis who were initially trained in it. It feels unrealistic and a bit too game-abusing to have a whole party of people knocking around with a god-slaying weapon in each hand. Plus shields look good.
I have a Bag of Holding exclusively for keeping around the quest items I pick up: the hand of Dace; the tooth of Sekolah; a lock of Jaheira's hair; the Shadow Dragon wardstone, all have life-time membership to the Bag of Holding.
Normally, if someone dies I reload. Although after several games realising I end ToB with 2 fully charged rods of ressurection, I've been trying to amend that behavior.
Recruit ALL the BG2 NPCs and complete their quests before moving on: the protagonist touches the lives of all these characters throughout his quest. Especially necessary if you use the statues in ToB to call characters to you and they have distinct memories of traveling with you (even though I never actually do use these statues). It just feels right.
When a character is kicked from the party, the best they get is +1 stuff, but I don't leave them for dead. Sometimes I equip characters like Minsc or Anomen with chainmail because I think it looks good but you never need it for your party, so at least you get to see it when you are strolling back through the Copper Coronet on a Saturday night bonding session with the new party members :P
In BG:EE I tried to collect all the joinable NPC's in the Friendly Arm Inn (I always leave NPC's with at least some basic equipment as well). I think it was just Rasaad and Baeloth who won't go there, which annoyed me. I started figuring out how to mod the game just to fix that really.
My days begin at 6am. Stores only open at 9am. Government District bureaucratic dealings should take hours. An hour lapses when you move from one district to the other. We set up camp or head to the inn by nightfall. We may pull all-nighters in dungeons because we're dying to get out, when anticipating boss fights or when we have random quest stuff to do at night.
Quick save
Quick save
Quick save
a lot, merely every minute. It doesn't mean I reload a lot, in fact I prefer to minimize the number of reloads. I just press Q often.
It was probably the weirdest random reload I ever did, since I felt it made the most sense from a role playing perspective.
Buttkicking for Goodness!
The computer always reads "you cannot save during dialogue" and I'm like "WHAT????? we finished like two split seconds ago! hurry the hell up before my character dies!"
When I boot NPCs, I try my best to take them to an inn and put them at a table with other NPCs I think they'll like. Like Imoen and Neera hanging out at the FAI, Dorn and Viconia on a blind date, and Garrick... well, Garrick got a corner to himself at the Jovial Juggler.
I kinda wanna have Alora and Kagain in the same party with BG1NPC Project. I think her pickpocketing him would be a fun dynamic, like my Nalia pickpocketing Edwin thing.
- I've never played through the whole saga with anything other than a vanilla fighter or vanilla paladin.
- Barring my first playthrough, I've never had anyone in my party other than Branwen, Kivan, Minsc, Dynaheir and Imoen in BG1, and Minsc, Keldorn, Jaheira, Nalia (who must be replaced by Imoen) and Valygar (who must be replaced by Sarevok) in BG2.
- Imoen has to do her thieving alone, as my PC would never tolerate it...but I have her steal everything that isn't nailed down.
- I collect every useful potion I can find...and never use them.
- My PC must dual wield. No one else can.
- No one can die. Ever.
- My PC has to be polite. I tried to be mean once, and I beat myself up for days afterward...
It's gotten to the point that I'm going to have to force myself to do something differently. If you haven't read any of the incredibly well-written and considered playthrough by @Lemernis, check it out! I think I may end up having to do something similar to break these habits...
Of course all games cheat a little, just as all gamers are given an edge over enemies and that's understandable. It's games which do it blatantly without any explanation that will often result in me turning off my computer in disgust.
That's not lame at all! Totally realistic. I love how my party is reaching epic levels together in Throne of Bhaal, and everybody felt genuinely useful throughout the saga, cos I didn't just roll an OP min/max'd Charname and then give him all the best gear, which would make it feel as if I've got superman dragging along deadweight.
In fact as he repeatedly defeats far more powerful individual enemies like Sarevok, Irenicus, Yaga-Shura, Sendai etc... I am starting to feel that the reason for his successes is precisely because he has equal friends and allies by his side, those willing to literally follow him to hell and back! I think that's kinda epic!
Literally my first major purchases in BG 2 were for Aerie (Robe of Vecna and Bracers AC 3). She also got the Cloak of Mirroring until pretty late in SoA, when I found the Staff of Magi in Ch.6. In fact Charname was so generous with sharing equipment, he got owned in the first pit fight in Ust Natha vs the Drow cleric. Of course once he 'borrowed' the Cloak of Mirroring, Ogre Power gloves etc, he dominated every duel afterwards with relative ease.
I also tend to assign specific party members to carry specific gear. Mage carries all scrolls, Cleric carries all potions, Fighter/Paladin carries all weapons & armor, Thief carries gems & jewelry, etc. I don't really ever quickslot items since the inventory is paused I just open the appropriate person's inventory and toss someone a potion. This can all really suck if I lose control of my mage or cleric in battle of course.
Also if an NPC starts with a special piece of equipment, I have a really hard time replacing it, even if it becomes outdated. At very least I'll keep said item in their inventory permanently.
- watch the intro movie about 50/50 when I start the game. not really the EE ones however for BG1. I modded in the originals but that is currently disabled because of an MP game
- i also tend to outfit my LI most. i don't usually have a conflicting charname so I can outfit both of them well. also with Jaheira being my favorite and using her frontline she needs to be ready anyway
- never let people die. if i win a battle with someone dead I will save and reload. i will just continue if it takes forever to win without casualties. this generally is things like firkraag. strangely enough I beat firkraag this playthrough without taking any damage by using 2 full level 2 spellbooks of acid arrow
- always Imoen, Jaheira, and Minsc. in BG2 add Khalid to that, though I actually don't take Dynaheir and just RP her as part of the group (I want another party member tbh, pretty much Neera in the EE, kinda random in vanilla)
- always wait for romance music to end. I love all of the themes, with Jaheira being the best. the EE has a tendency to skip them if you just switched areas though and that makes me sad
- i tend to have each Jaheira, Viconia and Aerie for at least a while in the beginning just to have them interject
- if Minsc tries to make Aerie his witch I reload. it can be more trouble than it's worth sometimes
- i do not rest in dungeons unless it is just that urgent. i need to be out of pretty much every spell, or sometimes not have removals and need it for a mage fight. unfortunately rested twice in spellhold because warriors become pretty useless with their gear stripped, so Neera and Imoen did most of it until I got that plate armor for Jaheira to tank
- I do listen to rules of cheese. if i feel a beat a battle through cheese I reload. I used cheese in spellhold unfortunately with not much choice. I took too long so Bodhi came and I had no chance without it. charname stealthed away then ran back when they appeared and we tossed fireballs at them off the screen.
- only pre buff when it is absolutely obvious that we are going to battle a tough opponent. for example I would pre buff before firkraag but I would do it out of sight
- Yoshimo always comes to spellhold. it isn't as awesome without him there to betray me, so I pick him up and get Imoen to replace him. so he isn't a pushover and so he is useful for what little time I had him I gave him experience to match us this playthrough because I didn't take him in the main group
- I try to make the conversations make sense. damn it Jaheira I am not in the mood for sleeping with you in spellhold! (I reject her anyway because I do feel a little too soon for that. they have time when the crisis is over)
- I always try to justify things RP wise. If it is absolutely impossible then I will leave it be. For example I get into many fights just over an insult because the Bhaal blood makes me aggressive and want to prove dominance, even if I am good aligned.
can't really think of anything more right now but I just know that there is more than that