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Hello. Just finished Baldur's Gate (non-EE). First experience ever with these games.

sluckerssluckers Member Posts: 280
edited July 2015 in New Members Welcome Area
Greetings all.

I am a total virgin to these parts.

Only just finished BG1 today. Despite it's age, it was a new and fantastic experience for me. Had no idea what to expect when I started it but I would go so far as to say it was the best game I've played in years. Though frustrating, at times soul-crushing, and somewhat similar in addictiveness to crack-cocaine, it was still loads of fun and freaking huge on top of it. It took what seemed like ages to finish, and I mean that in a good way. Most games today can be measured in hours.

Also just found this forum after searching 'How to kill Sarevok'. A shameful deed, I know, but I was at my wit's end. If it improves your opinion of me, then know that I found all of the advice here more or less useless. I don't mean that it was bad advice, however. I just mean that as a first-time and stunningly ignorant and incompetent player, I was too ill-equipped or lacking the right party members to make use of what were very smart suggestions on your parts. In my defence, though, Sarevok should have had a gift shop in his temple for hasty purchases. A temp staffing agency that could provide party members of various classes on-demand would also have been a nice touch. If I ever return to the Undercity for another visit, I will not be booking my rooms there again.

Anyway, I ended up finding my own way to beat him and finish the game. To me, it seemed rather clever, though with a game as old as BG1 I'm sure a description of my victory will not be new to very many of you. Lots of people probably did what I did long before I'd ever played. If, however, you are interested in hearing a long winded explanation of this particular D+D/BG virgin's first time playing Baldur's Gate, then read on.

If not, then see you around the forum.

Emphasis on long winded. Truly sorry.

Here now is the tale of my fumbling journey through the Sword Coast on my path to destiny and a final battle with Sarevok that didn't end so much like Shawn of the Dead's 'beating of the zombie with pool cues' as it did a rendition of Dance Step 2000. That last bit will make sense by the end of this, I promise.

Throughout the--at times mind bogglingly frustrating--playthrough of this game, I learned the value of helmets, learned that lower THACO numbers were better than higher ones*, re-united with a long lost friend from the Hitchhiker's Guide in the form of a depressed elven wizard and fell in love with the strategic use of the 'Deathray' in medieval combat.

I don't know anything about dungeons and dragons. Don't know anything about role playing games. All I wanted was to play something new, and the idea struck me to try out an RPG. I had never played such a game before, and I figured 'how hard could it be?' I installed the game, rolled a few die on the character creation screen and off I went.

Oh god... the pain! I lost count of how many times I got trounced by hairy purple skinned monkey-things, forest bears and yappy dog-demons with flaming bows. As it turned out, helmets are important for any adventuring warrior... this was news to me. I suppose in hindisght that if you have swords and arrows flying at your face, it makes sense. Once I started wearing a helmet the old 'one hit kill by a kobold' thing didn't seem to come up so much anymore. I can only assume critical hits were what was taking me out during my first ill-fated attempt at exploring the lands of Faerun. I would just be walking around minding my own business when WHAM... dead. Talking to someone when they got angry and WHAM... dead. Walk into a hotel to find a WHAM... dead.

So I tried again. This time I chose not to be a thief. Had I known that the first, second and fourth recruits I would meet in my journey were going to be thieves, I would have chosen something else. I restarted and went with fighter, rolling some good numbers after what felt like two hours of re-rolls. 18/50-something, 18, 18, 10, 15, 8. That was after a bit of rejigging and diverting 7-8 points from charisma. I wanted someone who could fight and would have enough lore to identify arrows (the lore thing didn't pan out... still can't ID arrows with 18 wisdom, so i must have mis-read about that one).

I did better the second time.

I actually started doing pretty well. I began to notice something: I'm an archer. I am not a spell caster. I am not a brawler. I am I'm still not up on my spells or equipment and knowing when to use what in this or that situation. For the most part I used terrain, well placed doors and room furniture to keep myself and my people away from swinging swords, all the while pouring on the fire, piercing and acid. Like King Arthur and his merry band of knights, there was also a lot of 'Run AWAY, RUN AWAY!'. Enemies can't hit you if you're not around, after all. Arrows, I can understand those. Diversionary tactics and running around like a headless chicken while party members rain arrows from afar, that's definitely my style. Using the environment rather than the right sword, that's what I can do. Once I came to grips with this I stopped a lot of the dying and rage-quitting. I mean, I was only playing on normal, but it still felt like the game could be ludicrously difficult at times until I could find some trick to get around something, seeing as direct firepower and spell-savviness just wasn't my forte.

I also enjoy reckless and near suicidal tactics. Imoen, with 9 strength, probably saw more combat than anyone in my party. She's my favourite character by far, versatile and a great scout. Not being too skilled with group micromanagment, I often sent her ahead and alone, ready to quaff a pint of invisibleness if she got into trouble. She picks locks, she finds traps, she steals. She and Xan saw me through Durlag's tower. And I had never been so rich as when she was going pocket to pocket in baldur's gate city. I soon happened upon a favourite setup for her, which included boots of speed and a good stock of potions of invisibility and absorption, which was often traded around with my other front line fighter who was--wait for it--Xan. Oh, lovable Xan, he will always be Marvin to me. Never had much use for his spells, but his ability to wield wands suited me just fine. Give him boots of speed, potions of absorption, a lightning rod and baby, you've got a stew!

Now, when I first used a lightning wand, I think I thought it was the most useless, stupid weapon in the whole game. There's nothing quite like that first time when you read the description of something, think it's a mega-weapon, unleash it with childish laughter only to choke on your joy when the bolt you fired--that ripped your enemy to pieces--is now flying directly back at you**. It was probably a good month into the game when I saw a potion of absorption and I put 2 and 2 together. Suddenly a poorly armed and armoured wizard with boots of speed could run in circles around cramped dungeon rooms with relative impunity, while lasers are literally bouncing off walls. I overcame some very difficult battles with Xan going all 'Leroy Jenson' and barging into crowded rooms. Mind you he still died sometimes (it didn't take much, the elite merc archers in the mine by Friendly Arm were almost too quick to let him get a bolt off) but most of the time he made it out with at least one hitpoint.

Imoen, sadly, could not wield wands, but potions of absorption were still a staple of her kit as well. I was running into a lot of traps that she couldn't disarm (neglected her find traps percentage for the first few level-ups), and it seemed that more often than not the high level traps were the dreaded lightning bolts. Rolling the dice on trapped chests or trip wires, most of the time they would be lightning bolts and she would get shocked for zero damage, or be hit with a far less lethal instrument (so who cares, right? That's what the two clerics were for). In the right situation, you could use her to trip a trap that would devastate nearby enemies too.

There is a point, I promise.

All of this would prove to be of considerable consequence by the end of the game. I didn't understand at the time, but I was unconsciously developing a strategy that favoured using my characters alone or in pairs, rather than clumsily trying to manage a whole group. It seemed a pattern in how I solved a lot of difficult moments, with one or two of my party members out there using some ability while everyone else hangs back, just in case Imoen or Xan or Branwen comes running back with arrows landing at their heels.

Let's fast forward. So there I was, the big bad skull on the floor between me and Sarevok. I had seriously gone all 'Edge of Tomorrow' on this one. Live, die, repeat. Probably 50 times. I had traded Xan out for Coran, and entered the field with an almost entirely 'direct fire' ranger/fighter/thief team. I could wield plenty of bows, but they were mopping the floor with me via magic. The door to the temple would close and I couldn't run away. I was low on ammunition, potions and holy hand grenades (though they wouldn't have helped me against the charging Sarevok anyway, as I had learned not to blow myself up in earlier close-quarter battles). I was practically spent but on the verge of victory. I tried everything, even random crazy tactics, watching and seeing how the enemy attacked. I could pour on the damage but was helpless against the charge of my magically protected enemies. It was the same story everytime; as soon as they got close, it was game over. I did have some good swordsmiths, but even they fell quickly when held, terrorized or just sliced in half with a single soul-rending swoop of Sarevok's sword, who seemed to be dealing over 20 damage a hit. My 80 hitpoint character could survive only three blows, it seemed. A serious deficiency in my team setup had appeared; I lacked the ability to hold enemies at a distance. My usual Entanglement spells didn't seem to work too well, and there was not enough trap-free floor space for me to employ my usual diversionary runner to race in circles and flail arms.

My faithful friend, the environment, was now my worst enemy. I was hemmed in.

Imoen proved unable to disarm the traps on the skull or the right side of the room, but the left side provided a corner for me to hide as soon as she had those traps taken care of. Hiding down there and using a single party member to lure the enemy in, sometimes one by one or en-masse, worked a lot better than anything else. Semaj the teleporting bastard-wizard was proving to be the biggest problem. I just couldn't seem to damage him, and his area effect spells were mauling me.

One time I fucked up on directing Imoen and walked her right into a lightning trap with a misclick. I had stumbled upon it several attempts before and been slaughtered by the bouncing beam of electricity, so I knew it was there. I was actually intending to disarm it, and knowing that some traps can go off when Imoen attempts to disarm them, I had her drink a potion of absorption.

She cried out as she was shocked for zero damage, and the lightning bolt flew up into the upper reaches of the map.

But the trap was still showing. Running over it hadn't made it go away.

So I did it again, thinking consciously about where I walked Imoen over the line.

Another lightning bolt was loosed, this one 'aimed' by stopping Imoen on the trap line or just beyond at a certain point. The bolt hits her, but then continues on that trajectory to whatever lays beyond.

'Ugh!'.

Sarevok showed for minor damage in the message bar. Tazok was not so lucky.

I hadn't yet moved up far enough to initiate dialogue or see my enemies, but I could still hear their grunts of pain.

I sent another one up there.

Again, 'Ugh!', then 'Ugh Ugh!' and possibly even "Oh god, it burns with the power of lightning!'.

I sent her across the trap line again and again.. Pew! Pew! Pew! I'd done this before with repeating lightning bolt traps. Pretty sure I shocked some unlucky spiders in the Candlekeep dungeons this way. Anyway, bolt after bolt shot out from the skull emitter. Some went wide, but pretty soon I had the angle of attack down and knew exactly where Imoen needed to stand to fire a bolt in the desired direction. My favourite thief had become the gun sight of my very own aimable deathray.

And so, I eschewed the normal combat and finished Baldur's Gate like a Dance Step 2000 arcade machine. Step to the left, to the right, now go up, then down, left, left, right, up, right, down... each movement of the dance adjusting the angle of fire.

Semaj and Tazok went down quickly. Angelo was admittedly harder to hit until I saw his name pop up for an insane amount of damage after having Imoen run over the top right corner of the trap box. He died soon after. After that I just kept hitting Sarevok. When I started feeling like a real jerk and I felt he had been suitably weakened, I rushed in for the kill.

He went down so fast that half my party hadn't even caught up to swing a sword or fire an arrow. It was a photo finish between Imoen and my character; Imoen with her boots and my fighter with oil of speed. Sarevok had time to halve Imoen's health but not much more.

The battle was less than dramatic or heroic.

I still won, though, right?

And so ended my first experience with Baldur's Gate.

I just so happen to also have BG2... will definitely install.


*Once kept a party member because I thought a THACO of 24 was freakin' awesome. A bit of confusion, on my part, with better weapons having +2 or +3 etc.
**In real life electro-shock therapy is used in some treatments of chronic depressive symptoms, but I saw no improvement in Xan's temperament.
Post edited by sluckers on
Ravenslightmoody_magedunbarkcwiseWilburmlneveseThalamond[Deleted User]woowoovoodooSmilingSwordNonnahswriterPibarosarevok57KilivitzJuliusBorisovproccoSionIVlolienArcalianEadwyn_G8keeperJames_M

Comments

  • stepbergstepberg Member Posts: 16
    Ha, then you are in for a treat with BG2. Enjoy!
    kcwisesarevok57JuliusBorisovlolien
  • moody_magemoody_mage Member Posts: 2,054
    A few Arrows if Dispelling make Semaj a wee bit easier. Assuming you've already used all of those though :)
    kcwiseWilburJuliusBorisovlolien
  • dunbardunbar Member Posts: 1,603
    Welcome, and thanks for bringing back memories of the old days!
    WilburJuliusBorisovlolien
  • mlnevesemlnevese Member, Moderator Posts: 10,214
    Welcome to the forum and have fun :)

    It's always nice to hear about the experience of someone who is discovering BG for the first time. That's something we all remember fondly :)
    RavenslightkcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • WilburWilbur Member Posts: 1,173
    Welcome and congrats man, Sarevok can be a real pain in the ***.
    RavenslightkcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • billbiscobillbisco Member Posts: 361
    edited July 2015
    Here's a video of someone who killed Sarevok in a similar manner to you:
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • LeloLelo Member Posts: 60
    COOL!
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • GenryuGenryu Member Posts: 372
    sluckers said:

    Deciding I needed a bit of rest I headed for one of the closer pubs.

    Got killed in a bar fight. :blush:

    Was it Mencar Pebblecrusher and company, by any chance? :smiley:
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovSionIVlolien
  • SmilingSwordSmilingSword Member Posts: 827
    Genryu said:

    sluckers said:

    Deciding I needed a bit of rest I headed for one of the closer pubs.

    Got killed in a bar fight. :blush:

    Was it Mencar Pebblecrusher and company, by any chance? :smiley:
    That's a bedroom fight, damn now it sounds way more sexy than it actually is. :wink:
    mlnevesekcwiseJuliusBorisovAedan
  • PibaroPibaro Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 2,989
    Amazing tale!!!!

    But be aware. BG2 is not going to be so easy :D
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovAedanlolien
  • GenryuGenryu Member Posts: 372
    sluckers said:

    I didn't take names, but if you're referring to a loud mouthed dwarf in the Den of the Seven Vales, then yes.

    Haha yeah that's the one! Hes kicked my butt a few times too, he can be pretty tough if your fresh out of Irenicus's dungeon.
    sluckers said:

    Supposedly he's recruitable, but I guess I'll never know.

    Yeah he is, I'm not sure why he attacked you, did you provoke him at all? Hes a pretty cool and funny character, and a bit of a front line powerhouse, but unless your playing an evil aligned party I wouldn't worry too much about his loss.
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    hahahahahaha, that bg experience you had was great, hope you enjoy the rest of the series
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • sluckerssluckers Member Posts: 280
    Genryu said:

    sluckers said:

    I didn't take names, but if you're referring to a loud mouthed dwarf in the Den of the Seven Vales, then yes.

    Haha yeah that's the one! Hes kicked my butt a few times too, he can be pretty tough if your fresh out of Irenicus's dungeon.
    I got my revenge. Went back later (after restarting because Korgan died) and beat him to a pulp, with a timely one liner from my shiny new talking sword. A TALKING SWORD. I'm keeping it forever.
    Genryu said:

    sluckers said:

    Supposedly he's recruitable, but I guess I'll never know.

    Yeah he is, I'm not sure why he attacked you, did you provoke him at all? Hes a pretty cool and funny character, and a bit of a front line powerhouse, but unless your playing an evil aligned party I wouldn't worry too much about his loss.
    No provocation that I could see. I fought a ruffian in Surly's ring, defeating the challenger with Sword of Chaos, so there was no stray fire that I saw. When I appeared back at the front door after the fight he had turned red and charged me.

    Only got 8 days into that game before deciding to restart. I went back to the Copper Coronet and his body was still there, causing to me wonder what I missed out on. He's back now and I did his quest. Mouthy little mother, he is.

    kcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • wubblewubble Member Posts: 3,156
    just remember to check all pubs for secret doors.

    *cackles evilly*
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovSionIVlolien
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    Just make sure you're at a pretty high level first. :wink:
    wubblekcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • kristaokkristaok Member Posts: 51
    I just started playing the original myself. :)
    lolien
  • FrdNwsmFrdNwsm Member Posts: 1,069
    >>A TALKING SWORD. I'm keeping it forever.<<

    Ah, good old Lilarcor! An extremely useful item; I used it until later on in ToB. The quips are amusing, but the real draw is the immunities it grants. You can stare Umber Hulks in the eye and snicker. Dire charm? Fuggeddabout it!

    Oh, and btw, you can initiate conversation with Lilarcor on your own, and get an entirely different set of dialogues.
    lolien
  • FrdNwsmFrdNwsm Member Posts: 1,069
    Oh and a number of weapons have useful properties; you may want to have several in your collection, and grab the one with the abilities most appropriate to the current situation
    lolien
  • sluckerssluckers Member Posts: 280
    edited September 2015
    I finished BG2 with Lilarcor. Never got tired of that sword, and I think I only found one great sword that was better (but my character couldn't use it on account of not being evil). I was really really really hoping that he would make a wisecrack timed with when I took down Irenicus. Sadly, Irenicus cast another Protect from Magical weapons and I had run out of Breach spells. Lilarcor was taken out of the game.

    Imagine Irenicus' surprise when--thinking that he had me--I introduced him to 'Thelma' (right) and 'Louise' (left). An anti-climax for the game's prime antagonist, but almost as insulting as being laid low by a wise-cracking sword. I was still pleased.
    lolienKilivitz
  • FrdNwsmFrdNwsm Member Posts: 1,069
    sluckers said:

    I finished BG2 with Lilarcor.


    I'm going to assume that you mean SoA, since there are a fair number of weapons in ToB that outperform Lilacor; although, sadly, none of them talk :wink:

    lolien
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