Okay, tried to get into this a wee while ago, but sort of lost interest upon reaching Chapter 2. However, I've been playing Arcanum lately and really enjoying that, so I might give it another go. What's the best way to play the game if I want to have the most fun first time around (but not necessarily have the easiest time). Also, what's some good advice for combat?
>>3204315
If you want the most fun, you might want a lot of spellcasters. Multiclasses seem useful too. You could also try dual classing, say at level 4 or so, but you'd really want to look at the experience tables, druids and thieves have that working to their favour for dualing *to*.
For combat, bows are highly advantaged, they work particularly well for rogues. Though of course there's many classes who can't use them, but then they have slings. Spellwise:magic missile, animate dead for clerics, image and blur for fighter mages.
>>3204370
I actually quite fancy doing Cleric, is it fun? Also, what would be best to multiclass with?
>>3204378
Best to multiclass with is illusionists.
Clerics and druids, besides being kinda crucial to have at least one of the two, are very enjoyable to have more of, they cast spells, and large amounts, but won't put a strain on the scroll supply, because they don't need to find spells to learn them.
I personally had the most fun using the bgt mod and playing as a solo Blade (doing character quests but dumping them right afterwards). It makes combat varied since you're mixing bow kiting, short intense bursts of melee with offensive spin, and heavy abuse of wands/amulets/rings with offensive effects. Then you get polymorph self which can also be abused in all these funny ways (mustard jelly tanks everything, blade spider + offensive spin and dual weilding turns you into a meat grinder etc).
Anyway in a normal party you can't go wrong with warrior/ranger focused on archery. Makes combat easier and more fast paced.
I never really had much fun with pure casters in eternity engine games. Sleep is a vital spell to have though, but there are wands for that.
In Baldur's Gate 1, the easiest way to roflstomp everyone is to outfit everyone with bows and slings and have a mage on standby for casting Sleep, and then buy a ton of wands and spam their charges. Bows also come with a variety of magic arrows that really make your day easier.
Cleric isn't so fun on its own because their spells often encourage you going into melee as a backup fighter, but Clerics are locked into a meh weapon selection and a single attack per round and bad THAC0, so it's better to have a multiclass with Fighter, maybe like a Dwarf Fighter/Cleric - this will rock.
The most bread'n'butter party is at least three frontliners, one mage, one thief and one cleric - this will defeat all the obstacles in a steady manner. Adding mages/bards can lead to some really cool spell combos and every spellcaster can be a great wandbitch, and wands in BG rock. Adding clerics is a tiny bit redundant to me, because BG1 has a ton of temples and spells and you can rest pretty much as much as you want. You can definitely not have a cleric in your party and just go with a bonus archer; clerics are mostly for convenience. So are thieves - opening locks and disarming traps are very welcome features, and you will definitely want trap detection in Cloakwood Forest if it's your first time around - but you can force locks open.
So my advice would be to just go for a balanced party and if you'd like to take the game for a second spin, go with Coran/Kivan/Khalid/Imoen (dual her to mage)/Minsc and yourself as a fighter, outfit everyone with bows and simply murder everything effortlessly.
>>3204378
But okay anon, let's build you a super OP cleric. It comes in five flavors:
1) Cleric/Mage. It's a total powerhouse of a class that has a very extensive spellbook and can combine spells in various ways. It's kinda like FF's Red Mage. It really comes into its own in BG2, though.
**Fighter/Mage/Cleric is a variant, but it eats XP like a mofo and is suited for solo or small party play
**Gnomish Illusionist/Cleric is a variant: get more mage spells and can't use Necromancy. Necromancy isn't great in BG1, but it's semi-decent in BG2 if you want to import (but on the other hand, BG2 has a ton of joinable NPC mages, so they can just cast those spells for ya). Gnomes are also more resilient due to saving throw bonus from being a shorty race.
2) Ranger/Cleric. If not playing Enhanced Edition, these guys have access to the entire Druidic *and* Clerical spellbook, which is an oversight, but still. Kinda cheesy, I guess.
3) Dwarven Fighter/Cleric. No druid spells, but you are super-tanky and have better saving throws. Due to David Gaider being a virulent racist, Dwarf characters have no romantic interests in BG2 (get a mod to fix this if it bothers you).
4) Cleric/Thief. Stupid-ass cheesy build that relies on you buffing your Strength to 25 and backstabbing with Staff of Striking. Can one-shot people with hundreds of damage in BG1 if you use this correctly. Otherwise, the character is a toolbox of sorts - patches your team up and finds shit for them, but Cleric levels make this competent in melee. Can be Gnome.
5) Paladin. Kind of a cheap option, but it seems like a lot of people I know pick Paladin for their first time playthrough. You get some cleric-like powers and perhaps low-level cleric spells at the very end of the game. You retain the holy theme, except you get to swing a sword. It's simple and fun.
Pure clerics are cool, 'sjust that you want fun, and fun means choices, and multiclasses give them. While being stronger.
>>3204669
>Due to David Gaider being a virulent racist, Dwarf characters have no romantic interests in BG2
Dajuq, and why shouldn't they be excluded? Anomen would look like an absolute creep doing that, Aerie is way too frail and all sorts of things like that for a burly dwarf, Viconia is said to be a fairly normal drow and is viciously picky(she isn't even an option for ELVES!), and Jaheira's a druid, naturally repelled from those prone to digging their Hammers, Picks and Axes through their whole environment.
>>3204425
I did IWD that, it was actually really fun.
I played a fighter/mage/thief though I had to change my race to human because I just couldn't live with playing an elf
>>3204669
>Gnomish Illusionist/Cleric is a variant: get more mage spells and can't use Necromancy. Necromancy isn't great in BG1, but it's semi-decent in BG2
Now that's just silly talk, ANY specialization would be worth it for a mixed class.
If Safana was a dual class from an enchantress, she'd actually be a reasonable choice, if it didn't sharply lower her hitpoints, likewise for Skie if she was similarly dualled to from a transmuter and available earlier. Same thing if Xan was a fighter/enchanter, though that's against AD&D rules, and perhaps not doable in the infinity engine. Or Xzar dualled to from a cleric, even at a really low level.
>>3204315
best way to play? you turn cheats on
this game is nothing but a relationship discussion amongst your party
>>3206874
Doubly wrong, that banter doesn't happen until BG2, unless you use a BG2 engine mod and install the banter pack.
>>3204425
Archery is useless in Throne of Bhaal. Doesn't make enough damage.
Honestly the characters are such shit in BG, all of them
if I ever replay I'll probably roll like 4 different customized characters, and use the mods that enhance difficulty and AI.
>>3209386
Eh. The good ones can all fire a weapon from a distance and some have some cool shit. Coran, Kivan, Khalid, Edwin and such are really good.
>>3209386
No they're not, the game just abnormally lets you roll munchkinny characters, way beyond anything possible with any normal AD&D rolling methods.
Though they are uneven and it had this dumb concept of spare characters later in the game in case you lost those before, though I think there might be a mod floating around somewhere that puts all the NPCs in chapter 2.
Hmm, I'm interested in starting a game myself on the Enhanced Editions with the new expansion and whatnot as well. Are there any mods that you guys would recommend? In particular, I love things that make the game more difficult (D&D rules own) or expand the characters or content of the world, so long as it isn't terrible content.
>>3211805
Luckily for most parties you do not really have a lot of contest for those items, i.e. Khalid hogs the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength while Ajantis picks up the Gauntlets of Dexterity.
>>3213142
>In particular, I love things that make the game more difficult (D&D rules own)
Accept no substitutes for Sword Coast Stratagems.
>expand the characters or content of the world, so long as it isn't terrible content.
...Meh, honestly. BG1EE won't let you play North Tales of the Sword Coast, and most of the bonus content mods like banter and stuff are pretty awful. There are some downloadable NPCs for BG2 that aren't completely annoying like Kelsey. I'm not sure if BG2EE lets you download that one component of Tortured Souls that lets you save Yoshimo and expand his story. Unfinished Business might be a good mod to go for.
i should really return to this game sometime. maybe ill be able to finish it this time. ps fuck swapping disks to enter new areas, especially if you have to turn around and swap again because you left something behind
>>3204315
bump
>>3213206
If you don't like swapping discs all the time, then don't be swapping discs all the time!
I played this ages ago, when I had a computer that couldn't even carry me through the rest of the series. And I still didn't let myself get bothered by disc switching, because I installed 2 discs to the hard drive, and had two CD drives.
