BG2: What am I doing wrong?

[purpleblob]

The planar sphere quest? The one where you're told there's an insanely powerful planes-travelling mage/lich when you talk to Valygar? How was that hint too subtle?

exactly... don't say you haven't been warned!

But yes those tanaris are pretty hard to fight. But you only need to fight one! So I'd say try to kill other monsters like imps and so on as much as you see tanari then try to lure tanari out.... that's how I usually do it.

 

[Prime Junta]

The planar sphere quest? The one where you're told there's an insanely powerful planes-travelling mage/lich when you talk to Valygar? How was that hint too subtle?

The trouble is that the hints are *all* like that.

Consider the Umar Hills quest -- something pretty manageable. Rumors include talk of a 500-year-old, invisible, terrifying witch; you find out that something is disemboweling and skinning not only people but gnolls and ogres without ever even being seen; an experienced ranger has disappeared without trace; an adventuring party has disappeared without trace; a werewolf reports that a Shadow Lord has taken possession of her entire pack and turned her woods into a dark place of shadow and terror.

How are *those* for hints? If it weren't for Zakhary's suggestion that this is a feasible low-level quest, I wouldn't have dared touch it with a ten-foot-pole. It sounds far more terrifying than the Planar Sphere one.

 

[Guest]

How are *those* for hints? If it weren't for Zakhary's suggestion that this is a feasible low-level quest, I wouldn't have dared touch it with a ten-foot-pole. It sounds far more terrifying than the Planar Sphere one.

Yup. You're right.

I want to encourage you to keep playing. Keep doing as many quests as possible to build up your xp and gear before chapter 3 (I'm sure you've figured by now when that is gonna start..) That way you won't have a hard time with the game later.

The game really is worth the trouble. Really.

From chapter 3 onwards, the game is pretty much linear. So you won't have those kinda problems then.

 

[Prime Junta]

That's what I'm doing; I'm also following your suggestion of not letting my cash reserves grow too big too early.

 

[purpleblob]

Yup. You're right.

I want to encourage you to keep playing. Keep doing as many quests as possible to build up your xp and gear before chapter 3 (I'm sure you've figured by now when that is gonna start..) That way you won't have a hard time with the game later.

The game really is worth the trouble. Really.

From chapter 3 onwards, the game is pretty much linear. So you won't have those kinda problems then.

That's a good suggestion. I usually finish all quests available in Athkatla as well as Umar hills, De'Arnise Hold and TradeMeet.

From chap3 onwards it is linear yes, but it also gets more fun... especially Sauhogan city.........(spectator!) And I loved Drow city missions.

Probably best to keep away from Watcher's keep for a while if you have ToB installed. Lots of awesome items but incredibly hard battles + puzzles.

 

[GothicGothicness]

Is the game a lot better with ToB installed? One of the things that annoys me the most is the items dissapearing behind a wall, in one quest for example I needed to collect dog meat from killed dogs, and the meat was hidden under the wall, I had to spend 10 minutes scaning the screen from top left, to button right, until I got the dog meat highlighted ( not my idea of fun ) but I heard recently this problem is solved if you install ToB ??

 

[Prime Junta]

I've got ToB installed; I can highlight the loot with the tab key, just like in NWN, and it shows up even if it's behind a foreground wall. If this was not possible, it would be insanely annoying.

 

[GothicGothicness]

It is not possible with vanilla BG2,, hehe, ok I guess I will give it another try with ToB installed, if they can convince you to like it,,, maybe I can be converted too...

 

[Prime Junta]

As I said, I'm still sort of on the wall about this. The good news is that after squeaking through that really tough quest, the one I took next felt really easy.

But it really does seem to be that this game needs "meta-instructions" -- things you should know that the game doesn't tell you. Such as, which quests to pick early on, what to do, or not to do, to prevent the story from jumping forward too soon, how to handle certain specific enemy types, etc. If you don't know about them, you die, and die, and die again. If you do, it's becomes a pretty nicely balanced, quite challenging game.

This would be a so much better experience with just a bit more hinting and guidance -- quest descriptions matched with the level of the quest, NPC's or books or what not with suggestions on how to deal with tough enemies, that sort of thing. I prefer open games to linear games that railroad you through stuff in a predetermined order, but open games *do* need something to guide you. It would even add to the believability of the world.

So, FWIW, here's a list of the low-level quests I've found reasonably manageable but fun and challenging at the same time:

* Circus
* Slavers
* Umar Hills
* Cult of the Eyeless (with a caveat: there are monsters there that'll kill you unless you use a particular tactic; even so, it's nicely challenging)
* Planar prison (*not* Planar Sphere, which was way too tough)
* Flayer murders

 

[GothicGothicness]

hehe, ok I will wait, it looks like our taste is so simular, let me know whatever you get converted or not in the end

 

[Guest]

The d'arnise keep is nice and easy too. I always go there right after the circus.
The big troll fight right at the end can get a bit challenging but it is doable.

 

[woges]

Is the game a lot better with ToB installed? One of the things that annoys me the most is the items dissapearing behind a wall, in one quest for example I needed to collect dog meat from killed dogs, and the meat was hidden under the wall, I had to spend 10 minutes scaning the screen from top left, to button right, until I got the dog meat highlighted ( not my idea of fun ) but I heard recently this problem is solved if you install ToB ??

You can just hold down alt and all the objects that you can pick up light up.

 

[woges]

You might need a code for it but I'm sure you can do it.

 

[KazikluBey]

Consider the Umar Hills quest -- something pretty manageable.

Well, there is a shadow dragon there that will attack if you don't find/carry the shadow dragon charm thing.

to prevent the story from jumping forward too soon

There's no need whatsoever to follow Zakhary's advice about not gathering the big amount of gold too soon. Nothing gets blocked off (when it does, you'll know), and you can continue the casual questing instead of following the main quest even after the gold thing is triggered.

 

[Guest]

Nothing gets blocked off, yes. But I still prefer to do the quests first in peace.
It feels better from the atmosphere/rp/immersion point of view and I seem to recall that you start getting attacks & encounters and that kinda stuff after it's triggered.

So I disagree with your "no need whatsoever" statement.

 

[Prime Junta]

Well, there is a shadow dragon there that will attack if you don't find/carry the shadow dragon charm thing.

Sure, but it's not exactly easy *not* to find the shadow dragon charm thing, if you're paying attention at all.

There's no need whatsoever to follow Zakhary's advice about not gathering the big amount of gold too soon. Nothing gets blocked off (when it does, you'll know), and you can continue the casual questing instead of following the main quest even after the gold thing is triggered.

That's a relief, 'cuz I just went over the limit again and I'm nowhere near done doing these random quests. Thanks.

 

[KazikluBey]

Nothing gets blocked off, yes. But I still prefer to do the quests first in peace.
It feels better from the atmosphere/rp/immersion point of view and I seem to recall that you start getting attacks & encounters and that kinda stuff after it's triggered.

So I disagree with your "no need whatsoever" statement.

The vampire/thief attacks/meetings and such start before you make your choice.

I don't see how it's better from an atmosphere/rp/immersion point of view. You either hurry to follow Imoen/Irenicus or you don't, and I don't see how wandering about all over Amn while making sure to buy all the expensive equipment in the Adventurer's Mart to make sure you stay below 15 000 gold would somehow be more "in-character" than just dealing with things as they come up. Your suggestion had instead seemingly lessened PJ's enjoyment of the game, since it gave the impression that one would be blocked off from content when reaching the gold trigger.

 

[Guest]

The vampire/thief attacks/meetings and such start before you make your choice.

I don't see how it's better from an atmosphere/rp/immersion point of view. You either hurry to follow Imoen/Irenicus or you don't, and I don't see how wandering about all over Amn while making sure to buy all the expensive equipment in the Adventurer's Mart to make sure you stay below 15 000 gold would somehow be more "in-character" than just dealing with things as they come up. Your suggestion had instead seemingly lessened PJ's enjoyment of the game, since it gave the impression that one would be blocked off from content when reaching the gold trigger.

Don't post spoilers

And again, I disagree with you.

 

[GothicGothicness]

You might need a code for it but I'm sure you can do it.

What code?

 

[DeepO]

This may be a little bit too much on the spoilerish side, so read carefully
Two humble advices regarding your possible future progression follow:

Spoiler

I would strongly recommend you to have Yoshimo in your party, he'll make chapter 4 probably MUCH more convenient to run through. In chapter 3 don't let him leave your party, he'd vanished forever.
Also, storywise, the "more evil" route of getting the ship is more fulfilling. You get to know main villain much better and chapter 6 will be less repetitive. If some of your party members would leave because of that decision, simply let them wait for you before the decision somewhere and recruit them afterwards.