A thief is mandatory, there are many deadly traps in the game, especially if you go to Durlag's Tower thief is the single most important member there, with very good find traps/open locks skill you will have an easy time looting. Open locks is important as well, otherwise you will need to prepare a knock spell for every important lock in the game.
Depending on the thief level you have dualled, Imoen can still reach the maximum lvl attainable for a mage in the game. I personally dual at lvl 5, after maxing open locks/find traps as best as I can. However when she is dualled you will need a replacement thief until she hits lvl 6 as a mage, at which time her old thief abilities will be back. Or you should avoid trap/lock heavy areas. Hint:Don't dare enter Durlag's Tower with at least 90 points in find traps or even more, or you will die...a lot of times.
As others say, I am so envious that you have this experience in front of you
When I started there was hardly any internet, so limited q&a and power gaming.
Keep Imoen as a thief....you could dual her BUT she can NOT use her thieving skills until her mage level is higher than her thief level. This is fine when you have played 1976366y3 times and try to maximise and try tricks back and forth, but NOT on your first play through...keep Imoen as a thief and she will still be effective.
I suggest you pick one character of each class and learn as you play. A second and 45th time in the future I am sure you will try a party of just thieves, or only mages for the heckofit. I am on a run with "little" people right now You need all classes and all classes are useful in one way or another so.........go @Zerimo, go
As others say, I am so envious that you have this experience in front of you
When I started there was hardly any internet, so limited q&a and power gaming.
Keep Imoen as a thief....you could dual her BUT she can NOT use her thieving skills until her mage level is higher than her thief level. This is fine when you have played 1976366y3 times and try to maximise and try tricks back and forth, but NOT on your first play through...keep Imoen as a thief and she will still be effective.
Have fun
Yeah i'm having a good time playing
I'm trying to grind in the surrounding wild areas before the Nashkel mines and there are some powerful enemies everywhere, like the wolf-flock with 2 vampiric wolves or the 2 Black Talon Elite who are just ripping my party to shreds!
Do i need to grind before the Nashkel mines and if so should i just keep clear of those strong enemies for now?
@zerimo You'll get plenty of XP in the mines without grinding. Vampiric wolves can only be harmed with a magical weapon, and Black Talon Elites are insta-death for low-level parties, but you'll be higher level and in possession of a magical weapon or two by the time you exit the mines, no grinding necessary.
Yeh, the enemies in the Nashkel mines are some of the easiest in the game, so a low-level party should handle them just fine. You might have some trouble with the boss, though, since he calls in reinforcements when his health is low and can cast spells that can shut down some party members for a time. Ideally bring a thief, because in the lower levels traps are occasionally in your way.
Listen to Gorion, go to Friendly Arms inn and pick up 2 friends, then just go straight south to Nashkel and do the mines, after that you are better prepared to explore the surroundings
Running away is also an option. If the enemy has "Vampiric" or "elite" in it's name, take it as a hint. They are mortal but very tough.
I like to have a tank with a plate armor and a large shield as that provides nice protection vs arrows. Even a group of kobolds with bows can turn your party to dog food really fast...Flee with mages, attack with the tank.
And ofcourse collect friends as you go, the more the merrier, just keep in mind that some of them have their own motifs that you might have to do to not upset them and have them leave. So listen to them, they may actually have something important to say
Do NOT read any walkthroughs and be moderate in this forum until you really need it. There are soooo much stuff that will happen, both good and bad, and it takes away all of the fun if you know in advance.
And ofcourse collect friends as you go, the more the merrier, just keep in mind that some of them have their own motifs that you might have to do to not upset them and have them leave. So listen to them, they may actually have something important to say
Do NOT read any walkthroughs and be moderate in this forum until you really need it. There are soooo much stuff that will happen, both good and bad, and it takes away all of the fun if you know in advance.
Yeah, i have Khalid, Kagain, Imoen and Jaheira on my team now, i'm pretty much standing next to Minsc on my last save, i think i'm gonna kill of Jaheira.
I totally agree with you, i'm going to play completely blind and if i think i'm stuck i'm gonna think about it and then think about it again.
When i played Arcanum though i really couldn't figure out alot of stuff, that made me feel stupid actually.
Yeh, the enemies in the Nashkel mines are some of the easiest in the game, so a low-level party should handle them just fine. You might have some trouble with the boss, though, since he calls in reinforcements when his health is low and can cast spells that can shut down some party members for a time. Ideally bring a thief, because in the lower levels traps are occasionally in your way.
Okay i'll head there now
I like building characters in RPGs but i mostly play for quality-plot and storytelling, dungeon-crawling and fighting isn't all that important.
I already have alot of RPGs on my computer with praised story-lines, so i probably wont be buying games soon.
Where i'm getting at is if you think Icewind dale is a game for me, or is it more fighting and dungeon-crawling than necessary?
Yeh, the enemies in the Nashkel mines are some of the easiest in the game, so a low-level party should handle them just fine. You might have some trouble with the boss, though, since he calls in reinforcements when his health is low and can cast spells that can shut down some party members for a time. Ideally bring a thief, because in the lower levels traps are occasionally in your way.
Okay i'll head there now
I like building characters in RPGs but i mostly play for quality-plot and storytelling, dungeon-crawling and fighting isn't all that important.
I already have alot of RPGs on my computer with praised story-lines, so i probably wont be buying games soon.
Where i'm getting at is if you think Icewind dale is a game for me, or is it more fighting and dungeon-crawling than necessary?
IWD has a great story but there is more fighting and dungeon crawling than strictly necessary.
There is tons to figure out, but you can have tons of fun anyway. Took me a loooooong time to figure out how to find traps with my thief. The first 2-3 times I used cleric's solely for healing and mages for damaging spells. Now I use both mostly for buffing and debuffing.
But what I try to say is you can have fun with any character you make, do not try to maximize everything as that doesn't nessecarily translates to fun.
My experience tells me that a lot of people like IWD better than BG, but I'm not one of them, mainly because of the NPC's. They are by no means perfect, but then again perfdct is boring
There is tons to figure out, but you can have tons of fun anyway. Took me a loooooong time to figure out how to find traps with my thief. The first 2-3 times I used cleric's solely for healing and mages for damaging spells. Now I use both mostly for buffing and debuffing.
But what I try to say is you can have fun with any character you make, do not try to maximize everything as that doesn't nessecarily translates to fun.
My experience tells me that a lot of people like IWD better than BG, but I'm not one of them, mainly because of the NPC's. They are by no means perfect, but then again perfdct is boring
Okay, but is IWD worth playing simply for the story? Because if it isn't i'll just leave it alone.
I think the iwd storyline is quite good. The fate of the places you go to and through is very well written to a whole story with interconnects but if you do not follow up on some of the leads you get throughout you can miss that. The route through the game is linear but when the story develops you will soon find out why. I think for iwd this was a good choice. For bg2tob it was not (but I know that tob was rushed so yeah...).
I know that i should just play the game but i have another question.
I'm right after the Nashkel mines and in that area at the exit i'm simply to weak to kill all of the enemies, especially that big insect thing that comes from the ground.
So what do you guys usually do right after the nashkel mines to level up?
I want to grind the surrounding areas but the enemies are stronger than me.
Yeh, that area can be a death trap for low-level parties. There are certain groups there that require either an experienced party or an experienced player. I would advise going back through the mines, though you'll need an earlier save because the exit to that area is one way. Failing that, you could also go straight west from the exit to reach the nearest border that isn't guarded so you can leave. You can always come back when you've gained more experience.
It's harder to find manageable battles at first because of the lack of hit points for your characters. There are weaker areas closer to the main path where you could have better luck. Generally, the farther away from the main path you go, the stronger the enemies get, with a few exceptions. Also, if you fail once, don't give up! Chances are, you just got some unlucky attack rolls, and you could fare much better in the second attempt, though if you fail again you may want to consider either trying something different or leaving to find something easier to gain levels before trying again. The path in this game is as open or linear as the player is willing to make it. There are time limits on some quests, but they generally last several days in-game even then, and none of those require fighting any overly difficult battles, so feel free to take your time and explore. And, like I said earlier, if one area proves too hard, no worries, just try another until you get stronger.
Comments
Depending on the thief level you have dualled, Imoen can still reach the maximum lvl attainable for a mage in the game. I personally dual at lvl 5, after maxing open locks/find traps as best as I can. However when she is dualled you will need a replacement thief until she hits lvl 6 as a mage, at which time her old thief abilities will be back. Or you should avoid trap/lock heavy areas. Hint:Don't dare enter Durlag's Tower with at least 90 points in find traps or even more, or you will die...a lot of times.
When I started there was hardly any internet, so limited q&a and power gaming.
Keep Imoen as a thief....you could dual her BUT she can NOT use her thieving skills until her mage level is higher than her thief level. This is fine when you have played 1976366y3 times and try to maximise and try tricks back and forth, but NOT on your first play through...keep Imoen as a thief and she will still be effective.
Have fun
You need all classes and all classes are useful in one way or another so.........go @Zerimo, go
I'm trying to grind in the surrounding wild areas before the Nashkel mines and there are some powerful enemies everywhere, like the wolf-flock with 2 vampiric wolves or the 2 Black Talon Elite who are just ripping my party to shreds!
Do i need to grind before the Nashkel mines and if so should i just keep clear of those strong enemies for now?
You'll get plenty of XP in the mines without grinding. Vampiric wolves can only be harmed with a magical weapon, and Black Talon Elites are insta-death for low-level parties, but you'll be higher level and in possession of a magical weapon or two by the time you exit the mines, no grinding necessary.
Running away is also an option. If the enemy has "Vampiric" or "elite" in it's name, take it as a hint. They are mortal but very tough.
I like to have a tank with a plate armor and a large shield as that provides nice protection vs arrows. Even a group of kobolds with bows can turn your party to dog food really fast...Flee with mages, attack with the tank.
Do NOT read any walkthroughs and be moderate in this forum until you really need it. There are soooo much stuff that will happen, both good and bad, and it takes away all of the fun if you know in advance.
It's simple and effective and quite powerful in BG1.
I totally agree with you, i'm going to play completely blind and if i think i'm stuck i'm gonna think about it and then think about it again.
When i played Arcanum though i really couldn't figure out alot of stuff, that made me feel stupid actually.
Is BG like that? Figuring shit out i mean.
ST 18.98
DEX 18
CON 16
INT 11
WIS 18
CH 14
I'm pretty happy with it
I like building characters in RPGs but i mostly play for quality-plot and storytelling, dungeon-crawling and fighting isn't all that important.
I already have alot of RPGs on my computer with praised story-lines, so i probably wont be buying games soon.
Where i'm getting at is if you think Icewind dale is a game for me, or is it more fighting and dungeon-crawling than necessary?
But what I try to say is you can have fun with any character you make, do not try to maximize everything as that doesn't nessecarily translates to fun.
My experience tells me that a lot of people like IWD better than BG, but I'm not one of them, mainly because of the NPC's. They are by no means perfect, but then again perfdct is boring
Because if it isn't i'll just leave it alone.
I think for iwd this was a good choice. For bg2tob it was not (but I know that tob was rushed so yeah...).
But in my eyes every game is fairly uninteresting compared to BG.....maybe with the exception of Warcraft II and Starcraft + Brood Wars
I'm right after the Nashkel mines and in that area at the exit i'm simply to weak to kill all of the enemies, especially that big insect thing that comes from the ground.
So what do you guys usually do right after the nashkel mines to level up?
I want to grind the surrounding areas but the enemies are stronger than me.
It's harder to find manageable battles at first because of the lack of hit points for your characters. There are weaker areas closer to the main path where you could have better luck. Generally, the farther away from the main path you go, the stronger the enemies get, with a few exceptions. Also, if you fail once, don't give up! Chances are, you just got some unlucky attack rolls, and you could fare much better in the second attempt, though if you fail again you may want to consider either trying something different or leaving to find something easier to gain levels before trying again. The path in this game is as open or linear as the player is willing to make it. There are time limits on some quests, but they generally last several days in-game even then, and none of those require fighting any overly difficult battles, so feel free to take your time and explore. And, like I said earlier, if one area proves too hard, no worries, just try another until you get stronger.