Baldur's Gate - Basic tips for new players

[Sheinfell]

Originally Posted by Bytebrain

@Sheinfell
Amazing effort, man! Respect.

Thanks I did not find anything good on the Black Pits on the official BGEE forums, and alot of the information I looked up (like experience tables) is quite spread around.
And I made notes and did some heavy thinking on what would make BP easier (some of the fights are quite tough, others are impossible if you are not prepared).
So why let all the good info go to waste?
I am halfway through my second BP playthrough, found some more neat tricks, and hope to update more later today.

[TrentO]

Agreed @Sheinfell great write up.
Sounds like you enjoyed the Black Pits. We're pretty anxious to keep going on the concept.

Best,
-Trent

[Sheinfell]

Originally Posted by TrentO

Agreed @Sheinfell great write up.
Sounds like you enjoyed the Black Pits. We're pretty anxious to keep going on the concept.
Best, -Trent

Hi Trent, nice to see one of the developers show up here.
Black Pits were a great start for me - instead of diving heads-on into BG again, as I can normally only play in small time chunks (family and job don't leave much room for hours-long sessions). I would welcome it, if the thing got expanded at some point.
It would even make for its own action RPG - "Escape from the Underdark" - if properly fleshed out. Adding something like it into the main game (e.g. finding an entry to the Underdark, where you can participate in the pit fights) might be nice, too.

Still need to do some finetuning and finish the writeup, got that planned for tomorrow.

Some things I would appreciate if you take a look at them:
1) What is with the dualclassing I mentioned? Does it not work in BP as in the main game? As I wrote, I only managed to dualclass a Thief, everything else failed, the button just stayed grayed out.

2) Armor & equipment prices: On my 2nd playthrough (Core difficulty), I had no need for armor past the basic ones. Some difficulty finetuning might be appropriate; however, I guess on the higher difficulties armor becomes more of a neccessity.
Also, equipment prices: I enjoyed that money was limited - unless you put in some serious grinding - and forced me to make choices on what to get and what to skip. The prices are the same as in the main game, correct? Would you folks consider upping the rewards a bit, then? Just enough to make it possible to get highend equipment for everybody without having to replay battles for hours? Maybe giving higher rewards on higher difficulty levels could be a solution.

3) There is no twohanded crushing weapon on offer, which seems a gap in weapon selection to me. Paper AD&D has those, if I remember right; e.g. twohanded warhammers. Twohanded flails and maces would make sense, too, and are real medieval weapons as well.

[jackbear]

wow great tips !! thanks for the post...
I play neverwinter before, but at baldurs gate's I feel my charactesr are soo weak =\

[Sheinfell]

Originally Posted by jackbear

wow great tips !! thanks for the post...
I play neverwinter before, but at baldurs gate's I feel my charactesr are soo weak =\

Well, you start at level 1, and you are supposed to be weak. Even more so in paper AD&D. Even small beginner monsters could kill most characters in a hit or two. Forces you to play a bit more in character (e.g. "Ambush on our caravan? RUN!"). Unfortunately AD&D didn't get the balance that right for higher levels...

[Sheinfell]

By the way: Does anyone here have experience with Wiki editing? I wouldn't mind having the Black Pit guide on the BGwiki (once I feel it is finished), for example, but I don't feel like figuring out wiki syntax and formatting...
If you should be so inclined, feel free to add it there, or anyplace else. Just give credits, please.

Useful Links:
Also, good for everyone: I found excellent maps at Mike's RPG Center:
http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate/index.html

Might have been mentioned already, but Gamebanshee also has a ton of material, including maps:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursga...alkthrough.php

[TrentO]

1. We're currently looking at a dual-classing bug. It seems to have two cases, no allowing dual classing and corrupting characters if you start dual classing and then exit out of the screen. Hopefully have it resolved soon.
2. We wanted to keep the balance such that a party could never be fully maxed-out without replaying quite a few fights. The goal was a good player could win most fights on the third attempt. Early on it is the first attempt, but later on you need the extra loot to afford the needed equipment. We wanted it to be challenging and it is.
3. That comes down to a Bioware technical decision to not render two handed blunts. We can look into it, but your two handed warhammer might look a little sword-like in game if we can pull it off.

Best,
-Trent