Baldur's Gate

D3lirious

D3lirious

D3lirious

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29 Apr 2004
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I played Baldur's Gate 2 to death back in the day, and absolutely loved it, but I've never played the first so have recently picked it up.

My initial reaction is one of disappointment, so pehaps someone can tell me where I'm going wrong...


After doing a couple of quests in candlekeep, I have moved to the next section which seems to consist solely of countryside with nothing in it? Am I supposed to explore this area? I've not found anything of interest and my level 1 fighter gets creamed if I try to take on any of the local wildlife (even with some good stats rolled, str 18/90, con 18, etc).

I then decided to avoid hostilities and managed to find my way up to the next town and find the inn where I'm supposed to find some companions but the guy outside who attacks you is able to take me out with just one magic missile every time. I found that I could run past him into the inn and then take him out when I had some help from the two guys in the inn but I can't help but feel the odds are very much stacked against me in any hostile encounter.

Have I missed some experience somewhere (I'm still level 1) or is the idea to build up by taking on the wolves/bears in the countryside? I think this would probably take days since I'd give myself a 1 in 10 probability of killing a bear and I'd have to re-load whenever I lost and I'd probably needs to kill 10-20 of them before going up to a level 2, lol.
At one point, when I was 'way layed by enemies' I didn't even stand a chance - 5 guys vs me, and I died after the first hit from one of them:mad:
I will stick with it, but I'm not too impressed so far and why are there no location names marked in my local maps?
 
Yeah its difficult to begin with, fighter is the easiest to play with as well
I recommend getting a program bg1 tutu

It changes the engine to that of bg2, much better
Iv played through bg1, then sword coast, bg2 then throne of bhall with the same character imported through each game

Best Rpg series ever
 
You've missed something mate, but it's been such a long time since i played through BG1.

Try finding a guide online or something. PlanetBaldursGate or something. Dont read spoilers though!
 
BG 2 was miles better than BG1, its no surprise you are finding it a little weak.
I would suggest installing the mods mentioned above that allow you to use the BG2 graphics engine.
Then make sure you install Tales of the Sword Coast and all the various mods that add game content.
If I remember rightly BG2 tutu makes BG1 and 2 one whole game too - which is pretty cool.
 
Err... the inn is the place where you meet Jaheira and her hubby, right? I remember that being a very short way from Candlekeep, I'm surprised you have any trouble getting there. Is Imoen with you at this point or did you send her away? Anyway, try wondering around killing some weak little critters, a single level-up could make all the difference to you :)

And yes I would also reccomend you use BGTutu, the BG2 engine was much better. Thing that annoyed me most about BG1 was the game unpausing when you were in the inventory screen. Having played BG2 first it took me ages to figure out why my people were dying as I was equipping them with potions! :D
 
you could reach lvl 2 before leaving candlekeep i think :S I played a mage character and remember the 1st 3 lvls being rather difficult. Fantastic game however, keep trying :D
 
Played BG through a few times. If you get "waylaid by enemies" on the first zoning then you may as well give up and restart from the last save point lol. I remember the assassin at the inn being very tough as well - but doable, though it's that long ago I can't give you any tips :( By that time you should have at least 4 people in your party mind.

Stick with it, it's a great game. Might play it again now I know I can play it with the BG2 engine :)
 
http://www.dudleyville.com/bg1/index.htm
That's quite a useful website for BG1 if you're getting stuck. Try not to use it too much though as it can obviously spoil the experience.

http://forums.bioware.com/forums/
These are about the only BG1 forums still fairly active.

And it shouldn't just be you alone. You get the chance to take Imoen with you once you leave Candlekeep and then in the first wilderness area you can take along Xan and Monteron if you like.

As for the wildlife killing you easily. One of the reasons I like BG1 so much is the fact that you are vulnerable. You aren't an all conquering warrior, you're just some wee guy out in the middle of no where alone so you have to do what you can to survive. You are always close to death in the early stages of BG1 so you always have to be careful and ready to fight at any moment. Love it!
 
Bows and arrows, they'll make things easier for you in the beginning.

The first game is a grower, once you get further into it and open more areas you'll enjoy it much more. Travel south to Nashkel and pick up Minsc if you're having trouble.
 
Minsc for the win!!! he is one of the best NPC's to pick up, purely coz he's bonkers :) also his partner is a handy spell caster :)
 
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For the assassin at the inn make sure Imoen is with you, and then I make sure some of the guards are near me and they normally help you out as well.
 
ive got the chance of picking up BG1 + expansion and BG2 + expansion for 15 quid new, sshould i get it? is it worth it? and also, which should i start on? BG1 and work my way through? edit: i have icewind dale, but i find it quite difficult without at least 4 members in my party. does this help with an answer to should i get the BG pack? i found it rather difficult!
 
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I've had a fair few problems with the 4 in 1 pack.First issue is that BG1 doesn't load and gives an error about it being a USA and Canadian version only. A fix for that is to install the latest Tales of the Sword Coast UK patch.After installing the BG1 expansion, I also have problems with it asking to swap discs. It's weird, if you load BG1 in the normal way, with BG 1 disc in, it will ask for the TOTSC disc to load, then it asks for the BG 1 disc when loading a saved game, or travelling between areas. It's a pain, even though I chose full install for everything.I tried the BG Tutu mod mentioned earlier in the thread (I used the Easy something version which does it all for you) but it fails to install giving a list of missing files.So I just have to put up with swapping between two discs just to play BG1 storyline.
 
Do every possible mission in candlekeep you can, explore all the buildings so you gain as much experience as possible before you leave. Other than that just have a go several times until you get lucky, as said before the first few levels when you only have a dozen hitpoints are the hardest.

The CD rom version I had of the original had 5 discs, it made it so much easier having 2 drives!! :p

PK!
 
D3lirious said:
I've had a fair few problems with the 4 in 1 pack.First issue is that BG1 doesn't load and gives an error about it being a USA and Canadian version only. A fix for that is to install the latest Tales of the Sword Coast UK patch.After installing the BG1 expansion, I also have problems with it asking to swap discs. It's weird, if you load BG1 in the normal way, with BG 1 disc in, it will ask for the TOTSC disc to load, then it asks for the BG 1 disc when loading a saved game, or travelling between areas. It's a pain, even though I chose full install for everything.I tried the BG Tutu mod mentioned earlier in the thread (I used the Easy something version which does it all for you) but it fails to install giving a list of missing files.So I just have to put up with swapping between two discs just to play BG1 storyline.
Click to expand...

gah that sounds frustrating. can anyone else confirm this?
 
-Tauren- said:
gah that sounds frustrating. can anyone else confirm this?
Click to expand...
The part about the patch is correct. When BG1 installs it has the latest patch applied but it is to the north america localisation. Just install the expansion and apply the latest UK patch to that and its fine.

As for the cd swapping, I never had anything like this happen to me - I just had to have the ToSC disk in the whole time (after doing a full install). And I managed to get BGtutu working no problem.

And yes, it was a tenner I paid for the 4 in 1 pack so don't pay £15.
 
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