Baldur's Gate - Blathering

[HiddenX]

RPGWatch member Lilura started an article series about Baldur's Gate a few weeks ago.
Even if it is called "Blathering" it is more a well written comprehensive analytical review.

So I decided this belongs into the news - 3 parts out of 10 are already released:

Baldur's Gate Blathering - Part I

Baldur's Gate Blathering - Part II

Baldur's Gate Blathering - Part III

Baldur's Gate Blathering

Welcome to my Baldur's Gate review thing-a-mee! The following comments, criticisms and pro-tips pertain to BioWare's first RPG - Baldur's Gate (1998) & Tales of the Sword Coast (1999), patched to 5512; so, what follows is based on the original release and expansion only. While fixes, tweaks and various ambitious mods have long-existed that address glitches, bugs and change the game-play, my concern is just with Baldur's Gate (& TotSC) as BioWare released it, "warts n all". Much of what I write here is from a somewhat fuzzy memory, so if I get something blatantly wrong please don't hesitate to jump down my throat, so that I can correct it before I mislead too many... ok, let's get on with this! [...]

More information.

 

[HiddenX]

Thanks for telling us about this article series Lilura - a good read.

 

[Brumbek]

Thanks for the post. Ah, the memories.

YOU MUST GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE VENTURING FORTH - Conjures up rage even years later.

 

[mbuddha]

Very enjoyable gaming experience when it first came out. Finished it to completion and the expansion as well which dragged on. Tried the enhanced version recently, and it barely holds up. Wanted to get to the enhanced BG2 and complete it this time. I hacked and slashed my way through the game, excited to get to the city in BG1, my favorite part of my original playthrough. Lo and behold when I arrived at Baldur's Gate, I completely lost interest in the game.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Those word from Xzar when Montaron kicks the bucket, always make me laugh
Montaron! I've...never loved you!

 

[Lilura]

Thanks for telling us about this article series Lilura - a good read.

No probs, HiddenX - thanks for posting!

 

[Notorious]

Thank you Lilura for the great articles. They give lots of insights to a newbie like me. I started playing vanilla Baldur's Gate on my netbook recently. First time I play it, even though it is a famous classic. I've just made it to Beregost and the battles seem to be tough for my low-level party. Should I spend time grinding in the wilderness? Killing gibberlings feels like it won't level my party at all. Then when I need to heal, I seem to spend more money on healing potions that I have earned on the quests. I've read your advice on resting and healing, so I'm going to try that.

 

[Lilura]

Hi there Notorious - glad you enjoyed the articles!

The early stages can be difficult for new players, that's for sure. It's hard to give tips without knowing exactly what's causing you problems, or your party composition, what they're equipped with and what level they are; you certainly shouldn't need to farm experience points in order to tackle Beregost, but there are indeed one or two difficulty spikes in that town (Silke and Landrin's spiders) that can kill off unprepared parties, so perhaps leave those for now.

My sections on archery, arcane-spellcasting and tanking contain pro-tips that you might find particularly helpful for combat. Also, the section on scouting for pre-combat.

Much of the early combat boils down to:
Scout for the enemy -> tank the aggro -> cast Sleep on the aggro -> fire projectiles on the aggro = enemy dead (well, hopefully).

Perhaps set the game to "pause on enemy sighted", too!