Since it started snowing yesterday long before they said it would, I knew that I would be snowed in for a while. I started Baldur's Gate which I have had for quite some time and could never play. Just a couple of questions please. What is the minimum amount of people you should have in your party? I'm not good with handling a lot and having them fight around me. I tend to lose track of them and all of a sudden they're dead. Can I just have Imoen with me and complete the game? Also, is there some trick with fighting? I keep whacking people and things with my sword and I keep getting an identifying sign telling me what or who they are and it's very hard to kill them. I'm really at the beginning of the game (I just got to the Friendly Arms Inn) but I don't find it easy. I may just play this game until the snow melts.

Hi, Fildil. You don't have to have other party members, but it's recommended, as the combat gets more challenging. Imoen's good to have for thief-type duties, but you'd be hard-pressed to complete the game with just her and your main character. But it's a big game with a number of recruitable characters here and there, so there's no rush on fleshing out your party. I'd recommend using a walkthrough, and, if you need it (like I did), there's a character editor available that helps. Can't remember the gameplay well enough to give you any fighting tips, but I think you have to take enemies' resistances and vulnerabilities into account to make your attacks more effective. It's a real good game, but you sorta gotta sink your teeth into it, if you know what I mean.

Like Sig said, the game is considerably harder with a smaller party, especially for the bigger fights along the main storyline.

Baldur's Gate is a complicated game, I'm not going to attempt to explain everything here, but just a reminder to always hit the spacebar to pause the game for every fight to issue commands to your party members. Even better, you can go to the main menu, click the Gameplay button, hit Auto-Pause, and check out the options for pausing. I highly recommend choosing auto-pause when enemy sighted (I think that's what it's called) so the game will pause automatically when an enemy is within sight of any of your party members.

Your chances of hitting an enemy involve a bunch of factors, like how proficient you are with that weapon type, and the armor factor of the enemy. Low level characters just starting out will miss often just because you're low level and your THACO (chance of hitting) is a high number, but that will improve over time.

Read the manual if you haven't already, and also check out THIS GUIDE for lots of good info.

And yes, you will be playing until the snow melts, I spent months finishing it my first time.

I'm actually re-playing with a cleric and an evil-aligned party and have just finished Chapter 4. Feel free to ask questions!

Fildil,

This is game that I played that taught me to use
parties..and you will not regret it.
I may put my game on board and play along if I can..
that way we can help each other. The number in the party...we want a royal flush + one

Ingie

Thanks everybody, this gives me hope. I'm really going to try to play this game this time and hope that I won't lose too many people in the undertaking. ;)Ingie, I'm assuming that you mean 6 party members in all (my math skills leave a lot to be desired). I'll just wait a while to see who's available. I guess I'll need a mage but I've always had trouble with magic spells. In Planescape Torment I could never figure out how to use all those scrolls I picked up.

Oh you're right I didn't make that clear..I count me as 1 and then those 6 folks in the puter..

I loaded and ready to go...don't worry about the mages..not now; unless you want to be one?
I would like to play as you are..I already played a bit so it would come back to me..just let me know..I'm so picky..it takes me a test run of all my choices before I decide. drives me nuts..but I think half the fun is picking "me" out

Ingie

Well Ingie, I was playing last night and I got Imoen killed. I stopped playing and will pick up later today. Jeez, I only had her in my party, can't wait until I have more. I'm playing like I always do as a Paladin, I really don't like magic (except in DD when it was so easy). If anyone else is playing with me, I'm afraid you're all going to leave me in the dust since I'm probably going to have to keep going back to old saved games because of fatalities.

I'll just devote enough time to it to keep up..no race; I have many others I'm playing right now..

I shall do a Paladin also..at least we can heal ourselves and maybe others..

Ingie

Fildil, there is no shame in reloading because a party member dies!

Seriously, though, even a veteran BG player finds the first part of BG difficult because even a tiny little kobold can kill your level one characters.

Learn to hit and run - no shame in that, either. If both of your party member can use bows, shoot, and then run away, shoot again, etc.

By the way, I envy you starting your first BG game. The whole saga is great. Enjoy.

Thanks for the encouragement hagatha. I need all the help I can get. I've made it to Beregost with three party members. Seems as though I should've progressed a little farther than this but I've been exploring every little bit of the areas I've been in so far. I think that I'll be playing long after the snow melts. My golf league starts on April 13. I wonder how far along I'll be by then.

BG is a long game. It took me three months to play it through the first time. Exploring every area is the smart thing to do, because there are goodies stashed all over the place.

Do you have the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion and BG 2 and its expansion? If not, try to get them. With Ingie to keep you company there's lots of fun to be had. BG 2 is one of the finest games I've every played - I still load it up every now and then (played it three times in a row last year - my ninth, tenth and eleventh go round, or something ridiculous like that).

Yep, I just had her get killed...
Sadly..did I save NO....make sure you save very often..don't do as I do, but as I say..wish I would listen to my own advise..rats, and I did all the quests with this one.
I'm going to be a female human fighter this time around I think..or I thought

Will start over again today, fil let me know if y'all live..dang wolf killed her..sigh

Ingie

Well Ingie, those spiders in Beregost have gotten me or my party quite a few times so far. I keep drinking antidotes but they don't seem to work fast enough. I'll keep trying. A question please. I've read the manual (well parts of it) and I can't seem to find how you drop a party member, do you know how? Of course, at the rate I'm going, I can get them all killed off. Hagatha, I bought these games about three years ago on ebay. I got Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II Throne of Bhaal and Shadows of Amn. I bought them all separately so I don't if they're the expansion or not. I should have played Baldur's Gate before I bought the other two seeing how much trouble I'm having in the first big town I've come to.

Fil, the normal way to drop a party member is to select your character, click the "head" button on the left side of the interface, and click the Reform Party button, click on the member you want to ditch, click OK, yada yada, then the character says something to you ("Nuts to you!") and either leaves forever or stays put in case you change your mind.

Who did you want to get rid of? Be aware that many NPC's are paired up with other characters (Khalid & Jaheira, Xzar & Montaron) and if you kick one out the other automatically leaves too. There are ways around this, though, such as trapping the one you want to ditch inside a building and then removing them from the outside, or getting the person killed on purpose, then removing them.

Those spiders are tough, I like to use Jaheira's entangle spell to immobilize them, then using spells and ranged weapons to pick them off. The house is small, though, so inevitably someone will be too close to them for this to work, try leaving some people outside the house to make room inside.

I ran into a problem yesterday where the game would crash when we tried to enter Baldur's Gate city for the first time. I emptied the cache, temp, and tempsave folders, and did a de-frag and now we are back in business, so watch out Iron Throne!!

As per usual Schwab, right after I asked the question I found the answer when I went into Character. I was thinking of dropping Kagain. Is it normal to keep switching between Disc 2 and 3? I've done it about 6 times already. I've stopped playing for the night since I got Imoen killed again. I'm really not so good at this.

Unless you did a full install (something you would have done outside of the normal installation), the game will keep asking for the different discs. It's a pain, I know.
Do you have the first version or the one called "Original Saga" with the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion bundled with it? I have the bundle and it has 3 cd's. I think the original version had 6.

Anyway, you can get rid of Kagain, he's not paired with anyone, and he probably isn't too happy travelling with you, the Paladin, since he's evil.

Sorry fil, went to sleep ....
Oh, those horrid spiders, I didn't do them right away, well I did and realized, hey they kill..think I waited for a few more to join us and went back.

Don't feel bad, I think we all when first trying this felt the same way..but; since I heard the
"we all" made me feel a bit better.
My second Imonen got killed too..this time by some very bad guys, so I've got another one and character and fingers crossed that this time I remember to SAVE when she first pops out at me...make sure you look at your world map..go into the normal one click at top right to see world map, it will show you where you are and where your foster Dad got killed. It will be North from where you are now..go back and pick-up everything you can..
Oh, I'm going to be a fighter..good at sword and axe.

Ingie

Schwab, I bought the game in bits and pieces, Baldur's Gate is on three discs, Baldur's Gate II is on three discs and Throne of Bhaal is on one disc. Another question I blew Garrick off the first time he talked to me about helping Silke, now he won't talk to me and neither will she. He's blocking the way to the Red Sheaf Inn and I can't go in. Do I have to start from an old save again?

Whoa, you really got down and played, can't remember that part but will try to be caught up soon..Have you tried threating him?

Ingie

Unfortunately, in BG1, you can only accept quests the first time you are approached by the NPC giving it to you. The same way, some people will not talk to you if you have too low a charisma. That took a lot out of the game, and is something they reticified in BG2. So yes, you will have to do so. There is probably some variable for the console to make Garrick appear and approach you again, but I do not know it. There is a list of them at certain web sites, such as www.cheatcc.com. Try looking for a cheat code that says "spawns indicated character", and then simply write "Garrick". I tried that a few months ago while helping Alice with spawning Officer Vai, and it worked fine.

The Gamebanshee site has great walkthroughs. Just search your game in their drop down menu and then click on Walkthrough. I usually read up about each area before I do anything to see if I should avoid something if I am not ready for it. It also helps you find some obscure treasures that I walked right by when I played without it. It also gives you some strategies with dealing with certain fights.

Oh Phooey! I really have to go back far in order to trigger Garrick again. Guess I'll have to keep checking the walkthrough to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Devoting today to BG to hopefully catch up with fil..
We're at the friendly arms..of course I need to talk a bit and mosey around a bit
..before getting crunched..

Ingie

Ingie, I'm sure you'll catch up to me soon, since I have to load up old saved games all the time because I keep losing people in my party. Sometimes it seems like more trouble than it's worth, but since I have to have people along with me, I guess I just have to do it.

Fil, if you would let us know who you have in your party and a typical fight situation that doesn't go your way, we may be able to give some specific pointers.

As for me, my somewhat evil aligned party was tooling around the first few zones of the city, when I saw on the map that I had missed a couple of outdoor areas, so last night we hit the eastern-most sectors and got lots of xp from those nasty basilisks. Let me tell you, summoned skeletons are a great shield against their deadly gaze.

I've got a cleric travelling with Imoen, Kagain, Shar Teel, Edwin, and Garrick. I had Eldoth for awhile but he wanted to rescue his friend Skie, the thief, but when I looked at her thief abilities, I decided keeping Imoen was better, so goodbye Eldoth.

Well Schwab, I have Imoen, Branwen,, Jaheira and Khalid in my party. I lost Minsc back in the mines trying to get Mulahey. I tried so many times that I thought that sacrificing Minsc wasn't so bad. The thing is I don't have a mage in my party so I have no one to cast any good spells so I have to wade in with melee combat and since I'm not so strong, I lose a lot. I was thinking of starting over because I feel that I missed a lot along the way, but then I figured what the heck I'll just stay with it and hope that I get smarter along the way. I hate to admit, but I'm using the First Aid cheat (I need those healing potions)

Fil, it sounds like you should be saving your game more often so if someone dies you can just reload. Or, if someone does, you can go to a temple and pay to have them resurrected. They don't have to stay dead.

Minsc had a quest that he would have given you when you first met with him. If you read your journal, you will find that he wanted you to rescue a mage named Dynaheir. She's great. But so far you have a good solid party - you just need a mage to round it out. There are other fighters you can pick up, too, as you walk around.

The other thing you should do is get all of your party members to be proficient in ranged weapons like slings and bow and arrows. When you are cruising around in the country, go slowly. Often you can stop your party just when you see one enemy instead of running smack into a whole nest of them. As soon as you see one enemy, hit the space bar, tell all your party members to aim at that one enemy, then inch forward and kill the next one you see, and so on.

Melee combat is far too hard on your low level party and will always be a disaster for your mages and thieves. Stay back, used ranged weapons, and then move your fighters in for the kill only if you have to.

Fil, to help you with the battles, how are you controlling your party? I found that too much frantic clicking got me into more trouble than when I let the characters finish their moves. I learned to pause then I would click on (select) my character, click on my wepaon or spell, click on enemy target. Then repeat next character, weapon, target, and then cycle through all your party members - character - weapon (spell) - target. Then release the pause and give the party a chance to carry out the planned moves. If the battles is not going as planned just pause and try a different weapon (spell) or different target. I also found it worthwhile in some cases for all or several members to target the same enemy. If you start clicking after these given commands you are actually undoing your fight commands.

Also to save potions I would only drink during a battle if I got too unhealthy. After a battle I would prefer to use a heal spell or sleep if there is an opportunity. Another strategy is to save then sleep. If your sleep gets interrupted you can always reload until you don't get attacked. Getting attacked while sleeping is random and doesn't happen each time.

Hope this helps.

To have a dead party member resurrected (Minsc in this case), you have to pick up all their armor & items, then head to a temple, like the one next to Beregost. The cost to resurrect is relative to your level, I think.

As Hagatha pointed out, Minsc joined your party on the proviso that you would help him on a quest to rescue Dynaheir from the gnoll stronghold, which is the zone to the far southwest of Nashkel. Do that first before going back to Nashkel, mainly because Minsc will leave your party if you don't do the quest in 10 days game time. Plus, you then get a mage in your party.

Or, forget Minsc and try to get Mulahey again, there is actually another mage in that very area you can pick up for your party after killing Mulahey.

Branwen is your cleric and should cast buffs like Bless and Chant, and she should be able to summon undead helpers, or at least use her Turn Undead ability to confuse the skellie army that Mulahey conjures. Jaheira can also heal, but as a Druid should also be casting Entangle and/or summoning animals or turning into one herself through her special abilities button. Khalid is your fighter so you fight up close with him and Imoen can shoot arrows from the back.

As Hagatha mentioned, ranged weapons are awesome, particularly in outdoor areas. I know that Jaheira and Branwen have missile skill, so they can hurl bullets with a sling. Imoen has her arrows, I'm not sure that Khalid has any bow skill, check his character sheet for that.

Rowan plays like I do, it's too time consuming to cast healing spells during combat, so have potions in everyone's quick item slots to drink and cast any healing spells needed after combat.

Okay, the Mulahey fight is tough, he IS the boss of Chapter 2 so don't feel bad about multiple attempts, I've been there. I suggest using Jaheira's Entangle spell on the kobolds he summons then concentrate on Mulahey, shoot arrows and/or bullets to interrupt his spellcasting while you and Khalid engage in melee combat.

Hagatha, I guess I should have read my journal a little better and I could have picked up a mage. I didn't know that you could have a party member resurrected but I'll do that in the future. I do save often but I just read Rowan's advice and I see that I've just been hacking away when I really shouldn't. I guess I'm just used to using a sword. In every RPG I've played so far I've never used a bow and arrow. I guess I'm going to have to get used to it. Rowan I'll take your advice and try to control my clicking finger. Thanks to both of you for your help (I really need it)

I was thinking of starting this game over. I can't seem to find a mage anywhere and after going through the Gnoll Stronghold (by the way I guess since I lost Minsc in the mines, Dynaheir wasn't there) no other areas or woods have opened up. I really hate to start over since all of my party members have leveled up a few times (all except my character who only leveled up once), but I don't know where to go next. Do you have to complete all the areas, I couldn't get past some dead thing in Ulcaster and I just started the Tower one?

Dynaheir should be in one of the pits on the upper level of the stronghold.

You can open up a new area by going to the edge of the map in the direction you wish to open up, then exit to the map and the new area should show.

As Rowan pointed out Dynaheir is in one of the pits. You have to find the staircases leading down into the pit - and walk as far into the pit as you can, because Dynaheir is not immediately visible. She will join you even if Minsc is dead.

There is another mage that you can pick up quickly - and he is arguably the best one in the game, even if he is evil-aligned. In Nashkel, near a bridge at the south end of the city, is a man in a red robe. He may still be willing to join your party. As long as you keep your reputation at under 18 he will stay with you. He hates Dynaheir, though, so watch out if you try to have them both in your party.

Rowan and hagatha, my profound thanks. I went back to that stronghold for the 3rd time and finally found her. I can't believe I missed her twice!! Rowan, I've been using your method of attacking and found it to be just the thing. I was always clicking away like crazy and kept getting killed. I'm going to continue now that I've gotten a mage and I'm sorry that this game is so big because I've made a lot of mistakes so far and maybe one day (if I finish it for the first time) I'll go back and see if I can do it right.

I'm not sure if the red robed mage from Nashkel will like to be with a paladin led party.

I'm glad the fighting has improved for you, Fil. It took me quite a while to figure it out myself.

I should have realized the fighting technique because I just finished playing Planescape Torment by Black Isles and it's basically the same. I just figured out how to memorize spells too after I've been playing this game for a week, , but then again I never figured out how to cast spells in PT. Thanks for all the help. I'm sure that I'm not finished asking questions yet.

I knew I'd be back asking questions. Do you have to go to every area on the map? I'm getting my head handed to me in the tunnels under Gullykin because the area is so small, I keep running into the other members of the party. I tried to skip this part but I can't seem to access Cloakwood Forest. I'm going to try going back to the Friendly Arms Inn or some other area and see if I can get it to light up then.

Well, you don't have to go to every area of the world, but some places (such as Cloakwood) is crucial. You have to go there from an adjacent area though; you can't go straight from Cloakwood from e.g. Firewine Ruins (unless you have been there before).

About Gullykin, you don't have to, as it's only a side quest, but it gives you rewards, as well as valuable XP points. Same as every side quest.

Thanks Drizzt, I might have to skip some side quests. I'm playing the game on "easy" so I'm not getting as many experience points. By the way, did you get your name from this game? I'm using his sword right now.

Hey Drizzt good to see you back..

Ingie

I'm back with another question. How do I get Imoen to disarm traps? I let her take the lead and she can find them but I have no button that lets her disarm them. Does she just have to trigger the trap or go past it to disarm? On her character page there is no disarm ability, just pickpocketing, stealth and backstabbing (which I don't know how to do either). Thanks.

It's the same button on the bottom of your interface as the one to pick locks, it has the symbol of a mask on it. Click that and then mouse over the red trap area, you will see a beartrap kind of symbol indicating you can disarm the trap.

Thanks Schwab, I'm finding this game hard going because of all the spellcasters you meet along the way. Guess I too used to just wading in with my sword. Now I have to replay many a battle and use some strategy (forward planning is not my forte ), and it's so hard to level up and you don't seem to get any stat points at all. I'm really going to try to finish, but I've left a lot of side quests out so that I can.

fil,

Once you get use to the game and the way things work you'll think it's just ordinary playing
I don't think starting over is a bad thing. You learn, or at least I do; by the mistakes that are made. I think you're more able to make good decisions based on your past experience. Save where and what you are on one save and begin again. Start another character if you so chose. A good party of 6 for me are a thief and ranger, melee; wizard, clerec and whoever I chose to be; a fighter or perhaps a mage..it's fun to try the different characters.
If you like combat, then try a paladin. Iomen is a good thief and give her a weapon she'll fight..bow or dagger...now choose the other's as you like the skills they bring..some come together as a set.
You'll be able to do this, and I think you'll really enjoy the game once the tension and stress
leave you.


Ingie

You know Ingie, I'm just so far into the game that I hate to start over. I'm across the bridge in Baldur's Gate. I realize that the experience points I get are lower because I'm playing on the easiest level, but I've never played an RPG that didn't give you stat points when you level up. When I think of the battles that I've had to fight over and over again I just can't face having to do them all over again. (Just think of how hard they'd be if I played on a harder level) Maybe one day if I ever finish I'll start over , but then again I have two expansions left to play.

Fil, when I first played (some years ago) my first character was a mage, but since I didn't quite understand the D&D rules he was a little underpowered. I didn't really realize this until Chapter 6 because the other characters in the party were pretty much carrying him, but I wanted a better character so I started over with a fighter and played ALL the way through again to the bitter end.

What I'm saying is, it actually helped to start over because I knew more and rolled a better character and it went a lot faster since I already knew the lay of the land and whatnot. I did the same exact thing in BG2, stopped my first character in the second to last chapter and started over. What's great about these games is you can play a little differently each time, so it's not like you are doing the exact same things or using the same party members.

Schwab, I think you're right. I'm going to start all over. What I really miss in this game is the ability to carry a lot of stuff in my inventory. There are no magic bags, none of the people in my party can carry any more weight than they did at the start and I'm always having to juggle around inventory to carry things. I'm leaving the game right after I had to carry four bodies out of the sewer and had to keep switching inventory items so I could carry it all. Maybe in the next run through, I'll manage everything better.

Fil, perhaps you can catch up on points by doing some of those side quests you are avoiding. Every encounter gives you points. To get more points I would go to options and increase the difficulty slider to normal. That way you get more points for everything. If you do run into an "impossible" fight, then lower the slider for that only then raise it again. You can catch up on the points you have missed also by not reloading when you get random attacks, such as when you sleep in the outside.

Thanks Rowan, I didn't know that you could adjust the slider back and forth. I'm back in Beregost again after picking up Khalid and Jaheira again. I don't know if I'll use Branwen this time though. I'm going to try to get the mage a little earlier this time. I'm not crazy about her spells but I love the wands.

I think Iomen can use the wands..put one in her quick spot and check.

I do think, as Schwab has said; starting over is just to your advantage. Doing all the side quest are to your advantage and actually most are doable at your level as you take them. Which means more xps.
If you're over the level, then usually so are the mosters or whatever greets you and the xps are so low..you'll never level up.

Practice does help..look how fast you got to the Village this time

Don't be afraid to venture outside and take a look at what's out there, you could be missing something good!

Ingie

I knew I would be back. I'm in level 2 below Durlag's Tower and my thief, Imoen, can't disable the traps so I can't get the books for the first door warden. Is there another way to disable traps besides using your thief? I don't have a cleric and the mage and druid don't have a spell to disable traps. I tried running through the traps very fast but got killed every time.

I actually never did the tower, so can't help you here, but have you checked the TOSC guide at GameBanshee ?
There may be some trick to removing the trap.

Thanks Schwab, there doesn't seem to be a trick for disarming those traps, so I think I'll just leave. Can I use the warding stone to leave or will I have to use an old save game before I went there? I found a good weapon for Jaheira on the upper levels and I hate to lose it.

Durlag's Tower is the part I remember the least...probably because I only went there once. You should be able to backtrack your way all the way to the surface. Which level was the second one again?

Try the Gamebanshee site for some great hints and maps. The tough traps are usually outlined. I think there are some puzzles associated with the doors and traps on this level. You may have to walk your party individually around some of the traps but if they are puzzle related your best bet is to find out how to solve them.

I really couldn't find a way to disarm the first series of traps or how to get around them. Drizzt, I couldn't backtrack because there is no exit from the tower except if you complete all the levels. I just went back to a saved game before I left for the tower. I just finished going through the sewers in Baldur's Gate. I like this game but I'm having a hard time handling the six people in my party. They keep walking into each other and in tight places they just jam together in one space.

Hmm, as far as I remember, I think it is possible to exit the tower...ah, yes, it should be possible to exit without exiting...that is, unless you are currently in the chess room.

Check out http://membres.lycos.fr/shenaion/bgs2.html

Good maps and walkthrough of each level.

Thanks Drizzt, the maps are great. They'll come in handy if I ever decide to play this game again. For now I think I'll give the Tower a miss. I have Baldur's Gate II, but I don't know if I'll have my fill after I finish BGI. I'll have to wait and see.

Alright. Good luck, in any case. I feel as though I should start another round of Baldur's Gate, all the way from the beginning...hmm...