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Have not played for a few years (Chapter 5) - continue or start all over?

AlequeAleque Member Posts: 149
edited February 2018 in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Hi

I have a save game that is a few years old. I am in Chapter 5 (Underdark area). I slightly remember the way I treated some of my companions: Aerie and Jaheira, especially. But most of it is a blur. The problem with Baldur's Gate in general, imo is: most NPCs look alike (graphically) and all of these character names just become one big mess - in my head, anyway.

I don't feel like starting all over again because of the time and energy invested. But at the same time, it feels like the rest of the game will be a rather gimped experience, considering the fact that I forgot many of the events, characters and lines.

I have read the highlights in my Journal and I have considered watching some "let's play baldur's gate 2" videos on 2x speed on Youtube to refresh my memory.

Any thoughts?

Maybe there are some resources on the internet to remedy my situation? Some "recap of the story so far" kind of tool? To help refresh the memory of: who the important (main story related) characters are, quest items, etc.

Thanks for reading

Comments

  • Humanoid_TaifunHumanoid_Taifun Member Posts: 1,055
    If you don't like the portraits of the NPCs you can simply replace them. I am personally working on that too, though there are a few characters that I can't find any pictures for that really satisfy me.
    As for your question, I think I would start anew. Yes, you will lose progress. But this is a roleplaying game. It's not just about the big story events that you get to see. It's about how your main character reacts to them personally and what kind of personality they develop. (otherwise I wouldn't keep coming back to the game)
  • BorekBorek Member Posts: 513
    Yeah i tend to agree, starting over means you get to build your narrative from scratch and to be fair once you have reached Underdark then you're kinda into the linear storyline part of the game where you have minimal character developments left to experience.
  • AlequeAleque Member Posts: 149
    Then that means, that I probably have to replay entire BG1 as well..
    and then import my save game to BG2 - just to get the full effect of the story - even thought some of those starting characters in BG2 don't treat me in accordance with, how I might have treated them in BG1. So that aspect of the BG1-BG2 transition feels a bit forced. What are your thoughts?

    Oh well - I gotta recharge my motivation for that, as well :) to replay the whole BG1 before BG2.

    I am not sure about difficulty, though. A part of me wants to play on easy but I also don't want everything handed to me for "free". What are your opinions here?

    Regarding BG1 and BG2 gameplay and quality of life (convenience) mods. Are there any good mods you can recommend? For instance: is there a way to Auto-Loot all the surrounding items on the ground using one button? Or maybe force the items to be auto-looted after each kill? Because I remember that being an issue. Especially when looting a couple of arrows, bolts and... gold from tons of little monsters.

    And another nitpick thing. To be honest, I am not so crazy about the characters that Beamdog implemented into the main game. IMHO, they just don't seem to belong. Maybe I am just being judgemental, but... There is no way to eliminate them entirely from the game?


    Again, I appreciate all input.

  • BorekBorek Member Posts: 513
    I play with Tweaks Anthology Mod pack, which is a huge list of mods that deal with many areas of the game and allow some pretty good customization including letting potions, scrolls, missile weapons stack up to 999. You can turn on the quick loot bar that lets you pick up stuff without needing to move right to the items, but it will not automatically pick stuff up and will only deposit items into empty bag slots, not into a bag of holding/scroll case/potion bag etc. It's actually an issue even modern games don't deal with very well, most still require exhaustive inventory management, bag slot purchases etc, so whilst it's annoying it seems to be something developers uniformly suck at solving lol.

    I am not aware of mods that remove the EE NPC's, but nothing to stop you from ignoring them once you've got passed the initial forced encounters.

    As for Difficulty then i usually play on Insane or LOB, but depends on many factors and you'll have to work out what combo suits you.
  • AlequeAleque Member Posts: 149
    edited February 2018
    Do you mean this? http://www.gibberlings3.net/tweaks/

    I am looking to get a replay experience that comes as close to the vanilla experience back in the days, but just with the streamlined gameplay of killing, looting and bag sorting.

    And thanks for guiding me :)
  • Humanoid_TaifunHumanoid_Taifun Member Posts: 1,055
    @Aleque I personally do not start every game at Candlekeep. The games are sufficiently independent for you to start spinning your tale in Chez Irenicus and, as you have said, your BG1 experiences are completely dropped in Baldur's Gate 2 anyway.
    As for the difficulty, you can change that whenever you want, in-game, unless you pick "Legacy of Bhaal", which does not sound like your cup of tea anyway. Why don't you pick core difficulty and then start moving the slider to the left when the game starts frustrating you? It may feel like cheating if you keep playing with the slider to make particular fights easier, so don't do that. Instead, try to have the difficulty reflect your overall impression (and then get help for the really hard battles on the forum).

    Mods. I think a good start is the Tweaks Anthology by CamDawg. That'll cover most bases. Other mods would depend on what exactly you want to accomplish. As for the autoloot button, I don't think that such a mod exists.
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  • BorekBorek Member Posts: 513
    Aleque said:

    Do you mean this? http://www.gibberlings3.net/tweaks/

    I am looking to get a replay experience that comes as close to the vanilla experience back in the days, but just with the streamlined gameplay of killing, looting and bag sorting.

    And thanks for guiding me :)

    Yeah that's the one, hundreds of options to pick from, just read the website whilst you go through the install process so you make sure you end up with the changes that tailor the game as close to your ideal as possible.

    I will say that i personally quite like the EE NPC's, their quests are pretty good and can be quite challenging/rewarding.

    I will add that it's highly advisable to make sure you get the Tweaks Anthology installation right 1st time, in theory you should be able to just re-run the installer to add/remove components, but i have had issues when doing so.
  • GarrusN7GarrusN7 Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 155
    edited February 2018
    Aleque said:

    Then that means, that I probably have to replay entire BG1 as well..
    and then import my save game to BG2 - just to get the full effect of the story - even thought some of those starting characters in BG2 don't treat me in accordance with, how I might have treated them in BG1. So that aspect of the BG1-BG2 transition feels a bit forced. What are your thoughts?

    Oh well - I gotta recharge my motivation for that, as well :) to replay the whole BG1 before BG2.

    I am not sure about difficulty, though. A part of me wants to play on easy but I also don't want everything handed to me for "free". What are your opinions here?

    Regarding BG1 and BG2 gameplay and quality of life (convenience) mods. Are there any good mods you can recommend? For instance: is there a way to Auto-Loot all the surrounding items on the ground using one button? Or maybe force the items to be auto-looted after each kill? Because I remember that being an issue. Especially when looting a couple of arrows, bolts and... gold from tons of little monsters.

    And another nitpick thing. To be honest, I am not so crazy about the characters that Beamdog implemented into the main game. IMHO, they just don't seem to belong. Maybe I am just being judgemental, but... There is no way to eliminate them entirely from the game?


    Again, I appreciate all input.

    Avoid BG1, sadly it's one of the most boring of the BG games considering it is story only with no party banter. Tho, if you haven't played SOD, then you can make that exception.
    BTW, you can import BG2 char to BG1 with a bit of nitpicking, in case you like your char or something. That's what I always do ;D. I have yet to not romance Neera in BG1 tho....I always end up with her even though my CHARNAME has a crush on Jaheira :D
  • UnderstandMouseMagicUnderstandMouseMagic Member Posts: 2,147
    What level did you play on before, easy, core or even harder?

    Because I find the easier the game becomes, the more it becomes a chore to actually play. The fights become as non involving as the inbetween playing between fights.

    Inventory management, picking up loot ect. is a welcome reprieve when a fight has been challenging. You get the chance to catch your breathe. And when a fight has been really hard, won by the skin of your teeth, it takes a bit of time to appreciate how you did it and you appreciate what loot you do get a lot more.
    Plus you need the loot, you need the equipment, you need the gold.

    It's only late game when you begin to get over powered that everything starts to feel "samey". You breeze through fights easily, picking up loot takes as long as the fight if not longer. And does it really matter getting an item that benefits your saving throws by 1 for instance, when you have been nowhere near needing the benefit.

    And on a harder difficulty, you have to use the NPC effectively and then they really don't become indistinguishable. Their strengths/weakenesses start to really matter.

    So my recommendation would be to restart, not necessarily BG1 just 2 and up the difficulty.

    And just don't take the new NPC if you don't like them.

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