Baldur's Gate 1 Advice

[Mr Unoriginal]

Ok, so I know everyone seems to have a huge hardon for this game. I've tried playing a few times and never got very far. For some reason the combat was very difficult for me. I like fantasy and D&D and western RPGs like Fallout, but for some reason I can't sink my teeth into this title. Does anyone have any starting advice that I could try that might make the first few hours go by easier, or do I just need to slog through them to get to the 'good stuff'?

[DragonClaw]

The first few hours of the game are by far the hardest. The enemies do not scale with your level so they are often much more powerful than you. This is compounded by your terrible AC, Saving Throws and HP In order to combat them you must pick your fights wisely and come back with a few levels in your favor.

At the beginning most quests lack good rewards so try to stick to the main storyline. The nashkal mines quest is easy and gives a huge bonous to exp, so do this quest right away.

Damage spells are not very good because they are based off your level so try to stick to status spells such as sleep, buff spells such as bless and healing spells.

Summons are ridiculously overpowered because you can summon unlimited amounts of them if I recall, so that is one method to beat the game perhaps.

Bows are very effective as well in this game, so try to have at least one or two people with proficiencies in bows.

Try to at least have one tank with AC reducing armor, buffs and massive HP. Make him take the lead. This will direct the enemies efforts to a place were they are least effective.

[DragonClaw]

One more set of tips before I go about my day. You may already know these tips but I will reiterate because they are so important to your success in this game.

Pause the action often to issue orders and assess your situation. This can be done by pressing the space bar. There is just too much going on for one to issue orders in real time.

Save often! this is a low level D&D adventure. Your players will only take a few hits starting out and enemy spells land with resounding success. This may be done less when you gain a few more levels and gain a safety net against enemy attacks.

Perhaps the most annoying enemy in the game are mages and priests. This is because their ability to inflict status effects such as confuse and hold person which will generally result in your death.Target them with your bowmen. If a attack lands their spell will usually fizzle out. Sleep works well to disable their minions for the time being.

[AnubisRW]

Try to at least have one tank with AC reducing armor, buffs and massive HP. Make him take the lead. This will direct the enemies efforts to a place were they are least effective.

i.e. Minsc :)

I used to have someone cast invisibility on Imoen, then use her to scout the map before the party would move out.

[Mr Unoriginal]

Ugh, thanks for the tips, but it sounds like the game is just slow and plodding the whole time. It's a shame because there is so much love, support, and community for this game. Maybe I will try a trainer to get started and experience it.

[AshesofWake]

its a grind at the beginning but once you get past that part the game really grabs hold of you, i still need to get back to playing the second one <3

[kube00]

Ive got an idea you know in the first town you can practice fighting with a group well you can force that group to drop all their items and pick them up with your main and export him as a saved character. You can do it over and over and over, just restart the game and import him and he'll come with the stuff

Its a good game, saving often and figuring out what you need in a character. Ive used a mage/thief..that was okay, a tank might be better since the NPC tanks are jokes. Cleric/figher?

One tip I highly suggest at the end of Chapter 2? when you are in the mines find the secret exit and track down the wand of monster summoning it will make the later big fights in Cloakwood and in the end a lot easier.

Whose in your party currently?

[Indigo_Streetlight]

Ugh, thanks for the tips, but it sounds like the game is just slow and plodding the whole time. It's a shame because there is so much love, support, and community for this game. Maybe I will try a trainer to get started and experience it.

I dunno how it compares to Baldur's Gate 2, but I remember in that game A) Camping after every battle to restore the strongest magic spells I had, and B) Running through the entire Drow underworld. There was just so many bullshit encounters in that game it wasn't even funny, like having your bounty hunter with his 4x backstab surprise a master wizard to do 1 Hp of damage due to the magic shielding. Sure, it was like I had 4 million in gold from abusing my pickpocket skill, and the best equipment money could buy, but that still didn't stop the AC of my party from being paper-thin.

I'd advise playing Neverwinter Nights if you haven't yet, in that game it's actually possible to play as warrior-mage dual class with a thief hireling, and guess what, life doesn't suck! The game is still long, but much of the combat and inventory systems are simplified; more like Diablo.

[Yanksfan]

Ugh, thanks for the tips, but it sounds like the game is just slow and plodding the whole time. It's a shame because there is so much love, support, and community for this game. Maybe I will try a trainer to get started and experience it.

Nah man, it is not like that the whole time. There is so much love for the game for a reason and being slow and plodding is not it.

Follow the tips, get into the game and you will likely *really* enjoy it, based off of what you have said you like.