He may be a mean muther-fuck (that thread a while ago had him tearing some new holes for a few people), but he writes one hell of a strategy guide.

Seriously, that shit's much appreciated. Thanks, Desslock

Heh heh -- yeah, he's got it going. Something like 138 pages for an expansion. That's some serious strategy.

No wonder he has cut back on the updates to his site!

>Thanks, Desslock

Thanks, "Anom". You're a fuck too, by the way, heh heh.

"Balder's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal"

Everytime I read the title to this game, all that comes to mind is the god of murder sitting on the "throne" reading Playdemon:-)

Serious question:

I purchased BG2 when it was released but haven't had a chance to play it yet. The length of the game and the detail in the manual are somewhat intimidating. How quickly does it take for a BG newbie to get up to speed on managing his party? From everything I have read it is a great RPG and want to experience something in the genre beyond Diablo 2 (or as my wife and daughter call it, "That Game", e.g. in "Would you stop playing That Game and take out the trash!").

-DavidCPA

> The length of the game and the detail in the manual are somewhat intimidating. How quickly does it take for a BG newbie to get up to speed on managing his party?

Not very. Pause the game constantly to consider your commands - There's a decent tutorial too. The hardest aspect of the game is using spell-casters effectively, and that can be intimidating, because there are hundreds of spells. But you can do well with a group consisting primarily of fighters. It's worth trying out for a few hours, at least, to judge your own interest in continuing.

I've found that playing through BG... which I'm doing right now... is giving me the handle on the spell system I was missing when I tried to start out BGII awhile back. That was the single most daunting task in BGII when I first got it (it was $29.99 at Compuexpert like the week after it came out, I couldn't resist). Also, things like thieving and special abilities fit into the spell casting thing. They're abilities I think you'll rely on in BGII that you don't understand fully without that initial game background.

I'm glad I've gone back to play BG first. It's filling in the story and teaching me what I think will be crucial to REALLY enjoy BGII. I'm in love with the Infinity Engine. They could make games on this engine for years and I wouldn't care. I'd love to see other AD&D settings done this way.

--Dave

My advice? Don't get bogged down with sub-quests in Chapter 2. By all means do your class-specific sub-quests early, but you'll have a chance to go back and hit the others in Chapter 6. I believe this gives you more flexibility to shorten or lengthen the game to your liking. After all, if you start to burn out, better to skip the optional quests rather than the main plot.

- Alan

A further bit of advice: Set the options so that the game pauses whenever an enemy is sighted. This gives you time to consider all your options before the action starts. You can fiddle with the other options to make the game as close to turn-based as you want (or don't want).

Also, since it doesn't look like you're a fanatic for D & D rules, I'd advise keeping the difficulty slider on "normal" instead of "core rules." The only effects are to give maximum hit points on all level ups and to prevent party members from being "permanently" killed, i.e, you can ressurect them. This just cuts down on the reload frustration factor.

Desslock - Thanks for the pointers. I'll give it a whirl.

Dave - I thought about doing that same thing but balked due to my Diablo experience. When I bought Diablo 2 last year, I also picked up Diablo to see how the original stacked up (it was $10 or so). After playing D2 for awhile, I didn't like playing the original at all. The D2 interfaces are much better. So for BG2 I just thought I would start with the sequel and see how it goes.

I am the same way with Compuexpert. Their deals are hard to resist. Wife:"What did the FedEx guy drop off?" Me:"Oh nothing." :-)

Alan - I don't worry so much about getting bogged down. I am not bogged down in D2 even though I am going through parts of Act 5 in nightmare many, many times to build experience and find items. No hurry to finish BG2 once I start either as evidenced by my one year delay in even starting the game.

All - Thanks for your help. Hope to be loading the game up soon (all 2+ GB's worth).

-DavidCPA

"But you can do well with a group consisting primarily of fighters. It's worth trying out for a few hours, at least, to judge your own interest in continuing. "

How difficult is it playing an Evil character?

>How difficult is it playing an Evil character?

Pretty easy, unless you want to be a psychopath and attack every peasant you see. The original BG had "evil" solutions to a few quests, but generally heavily favoured good characters (that was partially due to the influence of TSR's then relevant "code of ethics"). BG2 was designed from the outset to be equally playable by good or evil parties.

You'll definitely have a few additional fights though, and the evil-aligned NPCs aren't generally as powerful as their good counterparts...until the expansion pack, at least.

Stefan

I'll second the recommendation to play through Baldur's Gate first. And while BGII is superior in a lot of ways, it's not so blatant (to me, at least) that after playing BGII you just can't stand playing through the original again.

Plus, the expansion pack to the first one gives your character a head-start on BGII, by giving you more experience points...

"You'll definitely have a few additional fights though, and the evil-aligned NPCs aren't enerally as powerful as their good counterparts...until the expansion pack, at least."

Well, I'd say the good-aligned NPCs tend to be more versatile, because several of them are multi-class characters. Aerie, for example, being both a cleric and a mage can learn a tremendous number of spells. However, the best pure NPC cleric, Viconia, who is evil-aligned will have access to more higher level cleric spells faster than Aerie will. In fact, the best pure fighter (Korgan) and pure mage (Edwin) are also both evil-aligned.

So it's pretty much takes-your-choice. Besides, the most fun is to mix evil and good characters in your party. You get the best scripted conversations that way. Especially if you have both goody-two-shoes Aerie and world-weary, evil Viconia. =)

>However, the best pure NPC cleric, Viconia, who is evil-aligned will have access to more higher level cleric spells faster than Aerie will. In fact, the best pure fighter (Korgan) and pure mage (Edwin) are also both evil-aligned.

I'll agree with you on Edwin, but Keldorn is more valuable than any evil NPC, including Korgan, who's no better than Mazzy when she's equipped with a couple of items. Annoying Anomen is better than Viconia too.

The NPC conversations and conflicts are one of the best things about the game, that's for sure.

Stefan

Yeah, unless you're playing a paladin yourself, ol' Sir Firecam is definitely THE primo choice for an NPC, thanks to a certain sword.

Keldorn's stats are also up there, assuming you can find a way to raise his DEX statistic. *wink wink* In Korgan's defense, he can specialize up to grand master while Keldorn cannot. Sadly, grand mastery was nerfed in BG2, as you don't get the additional 1/2 attack per round.

I might as well pre-emptively mention that X-Wings are better. (heh)

- Alan

"Annoying Anomen is better than Viconia too."

Stefan, you may be right about that. You're certainly right about the annoying part. That character's conversation scripts are so damned insufferable that I found him more irritating than Imoen in the first game, and that's saying something. I booted his ass out of my party right quick.

Yes, Keldorn's the best NPC, if you're not playing a paladin yourself. He's also the hardest to keep in your party if you want to try mixing some good and evil NPCs together. Just watch what he does with that Holy Avenger if Viconia's in your party.

And, Alan, we all no Y-Wings are better. =)

. Sadly, grand mastery was nerfed in BG2

What does that expression mean, "nerfed"?

Hey DavidCPA, I fired up the BG II demo I had, and now I'm thinking about buying it. I think if I completely blow off studying for the cpa exam again, I could finish this thing by busy season.

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I think if I completely blow off studying for the cpa exam again, I could finish this thing by busy season.

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I'm playing a paladin as my main character, so I have Anomen in my party as the primary cleric. He may as well be a pure cleric. He's only what, a 7th level fighter? That is a drop in the experience bucket once you get up to the very high levels.

He is an indispensible asset to the party. I'm now most of the way through Watcher's Keep, and I think The Big A just made 23rd. Most of my pen & paper D&D was with mid-level characters, and it was downright shocking to watch him blow away vampires by turning. I also gave him a Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, the Flail of Ages, and some good plate, and he serves as my rear guard in a pinch. He is clearly more powerful than Jaheira, whom I find to be a bit of a slouch, but I keep around for role-playing reasons.

I barely played the expansion (it just sits collecting dust as i horde more playing time with OFP), but I always found Jaheira and Viconia in the original BG2 great npc's for the fact of there summoning. Wisdom class summoners have no delay and dont have that role for control that the mages had... I killed DRAGONS this way. Also, Viconia had that magic resistance that did help at certain times, and Anomen ... well he was the least played of NPC's I had... even less than that Druid dewd. Plus I made Anomen go the revenge path... maybe that wasn;t the wisest thing ...

When I do replay BG2 from beginning again, I'm making sure to make Mazzy one of my mains... and have Korgan as well... two shorty fighters. BTW, I think Mazzy is HOT as a JALAPENO. I love her voice. Whoever did her voice... SEXXXY.

etc

I liked Mazzy as well, but doesn't her portrait look a lot like Shannon Doherty?

Anyway, don't discount the druid. I am replaying through right now and used him extensively. The key is to cast his druid buff spells (iron skins, death ward, chaotic commands, summoning, etc.) and then shapeshift. Once he is a greater wolfwere, his fists hit at +4 and his 25 con gives him automatic regeneration.

>I barely played the expansion (it just sits collecting dust as i horde more playing time with OFP), but I always found Jaheira and Viconia in the original BG2 great npc's for the fact of there summoning

Druids are even better in the expansion pack, because of their summoning abilities. They can summon Elemental Princes, which are incredibly powerful allies.

Stefan

I like Jaheira's summoning ability even at the lower levels in the main game. Those two big, brown bears are quite handy in a lot of fights.

Does Baldur's Gate 2 have separate endings based on your good or evil actions? I just finished Planescape: Torment for the second time as Lawful Good, and I was peeved that my fate wasn't any different than when I was Evil.

BG2 doesn't have seperate endings for good n' evil (I could be wrong about that) but I know the expansion pack, Throne of Bhaal, does.

BG2 does have a wide variety of quests that can be completed differently by an evil party, and a few that are available exclusively to evil characters.

-Andrew

I spent the month of July starting and finishing BG2 and the expansion. I'd picked up BG2 last year when it came out, but then the PS2 came along and I never got around to getting into BG2.

Suffice it to say, I loved my BG2 experience, though the very end boss of the expansion was just insane. Highly recommend it (and playing as a Wild Mage is just wacky!)

"I liked Mazzy as well, but doesn't her portrait look a lot like Shannon Doherty? "

I guess i like that Doherty, shes purty hot! and I feel Halfling women have been misrepresented in DnD gaming. They deserve a right to be as nubile and luscious as those elf women!

etc

"What does that expression mean, "nerfed"? "

When, in a MORPG, a patch changes something: a class, a spell, etc, - and makes this less powerful in some way, then it's said to be "nerfed".

Anyone know how "nerf" came to mean that? I'm sure it's a mystery, but I'd be curious to learn why.

-Andrew

Nerf as in nerf football. I think Mrs Brady invented the stuff after Peter was caught playing ball in the house.

From a conversation in irc, on the recent Diablo 2 patch that 'nerfed' the sorceress' power. Not my definition - someone elses .. "took away her l33t spellka5tz0r skillz ... and gave her a nerf gun. (lessened her power to the point of rendering her useless)"

Since Diablo seems like it is dead to me and my machine, I just installed Baldurs Gate 2. I am very, very excited.

CPA exam? What CPA exam?

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I liked Mazzy as well, but doesn't her portrait look a lot like Shannon Doherty?

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