Baldur's Gate is still awesome.

[WindupAtheist]

Went ahead and reinstalled BG1 and the expansion, and I'm having quite a bit of fun.  It's been so long that I've forgotten a lot of it, particularly regarding the later stages of the game.  Decided to play on the dark side, so I made a lawful evil fighter and recruited Xzar, Montaron, Shar-Teel, and Viconia.  I kept Imoen just because I want a thief besides Monty, and Safana is a pain in the ass to get in the early game.  If I do things like I believe I did years ago, I'll spec Monty for stealth and traps and use him as a scout and backstabber, while Imoen gets pickpocketing and lockpicking and does all the actual thieving.

If I go with a good party at some point, I don't know who I'll take.  Main character, Imoen, Branwen, Minsc, Dynaheir, and... someone.  Don't know.  Khalid and Jaheira both piss me off in the extreme, not taking either of them.

Anyway, what was your lineup when you played this?  Who's a good sixth member of the good party above?

[Fabricated]

I got the itch to play Baldur's Gate 2 again this week and I've discovered a wonderful variety of unstoppable crash bugs thanks to running it in XP.

I've tried pretty much everything including compatibility modes and all the solutions listed on Bioware's forums, and no go.

I always went good since the more evil party members were a pain in the ass to keep happy and some of them flat out suck (Xzar sucks ass IMO) compared to their good-guy counterparts. Jaheira and Khalid I keep around since Jaheira isn't too bad and won't stay without Khalid in the party.

[Riggswolfe]

When playing the good side Jaheira is actually quite useful. So I'd drop Branwen and take Jaheira and Khaleid.

[Strazos]

Jahiera isn't nearly as good at healing as Branwen is, though they're both prone to complaining when you have max reputation (but don't actually Leave the party).

My first playthrough was: Main character Paladin, Khalid, Jahiera, Branwen, Imoen, Dynaheir. I had Minsc for awhile, but he got bugged or something and turned on me, so I killed him. I was still able to get Dynaheir though, who I think is the best mage in the game.

I had an aborted evil side run with: Main Character mage, Xzar, Montaron, Sharteel, Viconia....and I probably had Imoen for awhile, until I could get Safana.

[MrHat]

This has almost inspired to me to reinstall Planescape, since I never finished it.

[Yegolev]

For some reason I never got into it.  Probably because I kept getting my party wiped out by that first asshole with the magic missiles.  Not fun.  I am sure it was my fault somehow, since everyone else loved this game.  I think it is actually installed on my machine, waiting for the day when I suddenly realize what my error was.

I spent most of the weekend playing Symphony of the Night.  We can't remember where the Alucard Shield is.

[WayAbvPar]

Go for the eyes, Boo!

[WindupAtheist]

I basically come up with an idea of what general classes I need in my party, then fill out those slots based on alignment and personality.  Edwin is the best mage in the game, in terms of intelligence and constitution, but Xzar is way more fun.

"I wanted infravision like the elves, but 'tis more than just taking their eyes.  Muahahaha."

One thing that pisses me off is the prevalnce of the Good Thief.  The game is positively packed with them, with a couple of neutrals here and there, and NO evil thieves except Montaron and Tiax, both of whom are split-classed.  Enough with the Robin Hood shit and the thieves who just "steal for the challenge" and just give me a dirty bastard who likes stealing for the money.

And Jaheira... no.  I just constantly want to punch her in the face.  I don't care how leet she is. 

[WindupAtheist]

Chopped Imoen to bits and recruited Safana now that my party is a little more competent.  Nothing amps up the evilness like murdering your "little sister" so you can add a total slut to the party.  So now my party consists of...

My fighter, the sister-murdering prick who reacted to Gorion's death by shrugging and going off to have adventures
Shar-Teel, the man hating angry lesbian
Viconia, who can't stop screaming "THE LIGHT! IT BURNSSS!"
Montaron, the homicidal backstabbing midget
Safana, the skanky whore
Xzar, the raving lunatic necromancer who hints at being a cannibal

Screw powergaming, in terms of putting together a fun evil party, this is the perfect lineup.

[Strazos]

Sometimes, I liked playing the IWD series more, if only because I had complete control over the makeup of my party. I had already discussed this in Eve, but I'll repost anyway.

Bard, Fighter, Dual Class Fighters -> Mage & Thief, Cleric, Paladin (to use the Paladin weapons that are always included somewhere).

[WindupAtheist]

I've given myself the peripheral goal of murdering all the potential party members who are either good guys or who just plain piss me off.  I used Algernon's Cloak to charm everyone in the Friendly Arm Inn, so I could kill Khalid and Jaheira without all hell breaking loose.  Khalid got gibbed.  I've whacked Minsc and Garrick as well.  I'll kill the rest as I meet them, though I may have to go out of my way to get to Dynaheir.

Think I'll save the encounter with Drizzt until I learn of some way to kill him too, so I can take all his leet shit.

[Megrim]

"Tell us a story Monty, something with bears and gold."

I loved that game.

[Sky]

My last runthrough in BG2 was a badass paladin. I beelined for the paladin in the sewer (forget his name). It was a cool interaction and just great for the frontline. I gotta play more BG2.

Having a Githzerai in Planescape rocked my world in a geekster way, because we ran a few campaigns centered on Githyanki when I was a kid (we used Fiend Folio like crazy).

[Strazos]

I've given myself the peripheral goal of murdering all the potential party members who are either good guys or who just plain piss me off.  I used Algernon's Cloak to charm everyone in the Friendly Arm Inn, so I could kill Khalid and Jaheira without all hell breaking loose.  Khalid got gibbed.  I've whacked Minsc and Garrick as well.  I'll kill the rest as I meet them, though I may have to go out of my way to get to Dynaheir.

Think I'll save the encounter with Drizzt until I learn of some way to kill him too, so I can take all his leet shit.

Drizzt may be nigh unkillable, especially because of the low level cap (level 8 or 9, depending on class).

But I would definately steal whichever weapon he has that flagged as "stealable."

[WindupAtheist]

You underestimate the appeal of phat lewtz and ingenuity of players who've had six years to figure out how to get them.  There are threads on other boards about how to solo Drizzt.  Think careful pre-positioning, crappy pathfinding, and a shitload of arrows or that magic axe that returns to your hand.

[Strazos]

Yeah, bows were WAY overpowered in that game....I didn't use ranged weapons much though.

[Polysorbate80]

Yeah, I definitely killed Drizz't, but it's been so long I don't remember how.  And then the cockmunch has the effrontery to go and be alive again in the sequel, and be a bad sport about the whole thing.

Oh, and I considered it cheating on the part of the game to demand I return the little slug's stuff in the sequel as well.  I fired up an editor just to give myself the loot back after it got confiscated, just to thumb my nose at that BS.

[WindupAtheist]

Can you kill him in the sequel?

[Polysorbate80]

I loaned Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal to a friend who's never returned it so I'm again hazy, but I think you can.  If my memory isn't faulty, it was my possession of Drizz'ts junk that pissed him off at me in the sequel.  Iif you kill him again, then in addition to pissing off the goody-goods like Jaheira if she's around, the game later sends a repo man around specifically to take the stuff away from you.

Or something like that.  Anyone remember for sure?

[Lantyssa]

You underestimate the appeal of phat lewtz and ingenuity of players who've had six years to figure out how to get them.  There are threads on other boards about how to solo Drizzt.  Think careful pre-positioning, crappy pathfinding, and a shitload of arrows or that magic axe that returns to your hand.

Boots of Speed (or something like that, it's been a loooong time) while the gnolls are pounding on him and a bow.  I killed him fairly early in the game for yelling at me for not helping him kill the gnolls.  I was like, "They're not even scratching you and you're getting all prissy that I won't act as your cannon fodder?  Screw you."

And it was definately solo.  I camped my party far away so he wouldn't wander by during the chase and shred them.

[WindupAtheist]

With a bunch of peeps stuffed full of ammo and firing away from the other side of the water, even relative newbs will eventually crit enough to bring him down.  Monty likes his new mithril armor, and my main character is owning asses with the +3 frostbrand.  Unfortunately the +5 defender can only be wielded by good-aligned characters, so I had to sell it.  What the hell, it paid for the temple donations needed to get my rep back up to a survivable level.  And the +2 longsword was freed up for Shar-Teel to use, so I'm still pretty well armed to the teeth.

Meanwhile I've put Xan to the sword, and I'm going out to kill Dynaheir next.  Edwin forced me to kill him, too.  I'd have just as soon given him a pass since he's one of the badguys, but whatever.  Think I'll go after Kivan next.

EDIT:  Also, as the commandant of Drowschwitz, it pleases me to no end to have punked Drizzt "Oh my God I'm so fucking leet!" Do'Urden with a level 4 fighter.  Eat that, you bitch.

[Broughden]

LOL....WUA are you actually doing any of the story line or just on a murderous rampage?  :-D

[WindupAtheist]

I'm following the storyline intermittently, but basically I'm on a Terminator mission to take out everyone who pisses me off, which is almost everyone.  Like Kagain can live, and Edwin could have if he hadn't felt like attacking me, because those are guys who I'd have put in the party if I didn't like Shar-Teel and Xzar slightly better.

But Minsc?  I just don't find his act as amusing as the rest of the world apparently did.  "Go for the eyes, Boo!  Go for the... BLARGH!" followed by a shower of gibs was intensely satisfying.  Jaheira was a cunt and Khalid was a weenie, charming Bentley Mirrorshade and making him help me gank them was a hoot.  Oh, and Imoen.  "Puffguts would always tell me a story!"  The fuck?  You look like you're about 23 years old, stop talking like that.  Better yet, just die.

And anyone who can click on Xan three times in a row and not want to murder him is some sort of robot.

I wish I could kill Elminster, but whereas Drizzt is just a really powerful character who still plays by the rules, Elminster apparently isn't even theoretically vulnerable.  Pity, I bet he has phat lewt.

[Broughden]

Wow for being such a huge long time D&D fan Ive never actually played BG.
Would you recommend I try both BG and BG2? or just 2 or what? I also didnt know there were such notable figures in the game.

Having given up on DDO I loaded NWN back into the ole HD but having only a 2 person party is boring the hell out of me.

Also did you play ToEE (Temple of Elemental Evil)? If so how would you compare it to BG/BG2?

My question being...is it worth buying for me? and if so should I buy both or just #2?

[MrHat]

Both, they're worth it and you're character transfers.

[WindupAtheist]

Yeah, eminently worth it even after all these years.  In BG1, Elminster turns up a handful of times to blather at you cryptically and then vanish.  I'm always rude as hell to him.  Drizzt shows up exactly once for a cameo and is then never seen again, but if you can whack him at the time the loot is well worth it.  I guess he and the whole Salvatore crew turn up in BG2, and if you splatter them you have to either exploit a bug or outright download a mod to be able to keep all their loot.

[Polysorbate80]

I guess he and the whole Salvatore crew turn up in BG2, and if you splatter them you have to either exploit a bug or outright download a mod to be able to keep all their loot.

Think of it as "outwitting crappy DM plot railroading" instead :)

Edit: to point out that running roughshod over your DM's plot NPCs is a fine, time-honored D&D tradition.  Nay, virtually a requirement, even.

[Strazos]

Also did you play ToEE (Temple of Elemental Evil)? If so how would you compare it to BG/BG2?

My question being...is it worth buying for me? and if so should I buy both or just #2?

Along with Planescape: Torment and the Icewind Dale series, the Baldur's Gate saga is one of THE examples of what a great PC RPG is. It may be a bit rough around the edges by today's standards (especially the low res in BG1 and that damn border, like damn), but I think they gameplay can still stand on its own.

[MrHat]

I remember pickpocketing him one time for the hell of it, and turning up with some sword of pwnage for a while.

Good times.  Damn, you guys make me want to play that really bad, never did finish BG2.

EDIT: I def. agree with Strazos on that one.  I wish that there was an easy way to just update the graphics in those games.  I'd buy them for $29.99 a piece if the graphics were sexy.

[Strazos]

They let you mess with the UI in BG2...I wish someone would go back and do it for BG1...also, IWD.

[MrHat]

They let you mess with the UI in BG2...I wish someone would go back and do it for BG1...also, IWD.

I picked up IWD1/2 a bit late and never could get into them just because of the gfx.

Shame on me and my whoreness.

[Strazos]

Well, here's a shot I had posted somewhere years ago. I think it looks alright. The UI can be obtrusive, but I can live with it. (Note: I generally left the text box big so I could see things. It goes smaller)




Also, I really wish some of these games would make Battle Modes, or something, where I could pit my party against yours. Kind of like in FFTA (I guess, never tried ii).

[Margalis]

I think I speak for everyone when I say:

Shannon Elizabeth?

Lot's of games from yesteryear are great, just some updated graphics is all they need. Someday when I'm rich I'll finance remakes of tons of old games.

[WindupAtheist]

If you haven't played these games before, it's worth it to just suck it up and deal with the crappy little sprite graphics.  They're artfully drawn crappy little sprites, and the gameplay is simply unparalleled.  I love the way your party members occasionally bicker with each other or remark upon their surroundings.  I select my crew based as much upon personality as anything else.

Anyway, Dynaheir and Ajantis have both tasted poor murdered Drizzt's sword, bringing my tally of slaughtered good guys up to nine.  I'll go deal with Kivan, and then I'll start getting to the point where my recollection fails me.  I know I have to go waste a bunch of bandits in the woods, and drown a bunch of miners, but once I get to Baldur's Gate itself, I'm lost.

[Strazos]

I think I speak for everyone when I say:

Shannon Elizabeth?

lolz

I always feel the need to have a good mix of genders in my parties....and you have to name them Something, so I figure I might as well give them names I like. Cori Nadine, Shannon Elizabeth, and Jeri Ryan. The guys were Strazos, Tizor (I think), and Perinod Von'Suvar.

Edit: Damn quote function.