Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition

[Cespenar]

Originally Posted by Winthur

Due to how the game is programmed there is more than one Imoen character file. Like all characters (if you haven't had them in the party and then abandoned them by yourself), she adjusts her levels to your own. I always do everything there is to do in Athkatla with the possible exception of the final boss of the Windspear Hills and then rescue Imoen. Especially since it makes Underdark easier.

And really, I can't say there's a way to screw it up so hard that you end up in an unwinnable situation.

I do this as well, including Windspear Hills. Never mind breezing through Chapters 4 and 5, I've never had a problem with a low level Imoen as well. She comes pretty leveled up, as far as I remember. Though perhaps not as leveled up as Anomen, but meh.

[Kish]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

I got Celestial Fury, I don't really need much else at the moment with my protagonist dual-wielding CF and FOA+3.

The question is at what point C4+5 become 'impossible' instead of 'harder than that would be'...

You're more than powerful enough if you've gotten Celestial Fury as well as completing the de'Arnise Hold. More powerful than I generally am when I go there.

Imoen2 (that is, post-Spellhold Imoen) has only two character files*. She will be a level 7 thief and level 11 wizard, or she will be a level 7 thief and level 13 wizard.

Note that most of the non-named enemies level up with you. Firkraag will always be Firkraag and Irenicus will always be Irenicus, but if you go to Spellhold early and the Unseeing Eye quest late, the former has a group of normal (non-greater) mummies and the latter has a lich; if you go to the Unseeing Eye quest early and Spellhold late, the former has a group of mummies and the latter has a lich.

*Not counting "if you import her in a new ToB-only game," because um yeah.

[mangosta71]

If you're really worried about it, you can get ShadowKeeper and adjust Imoen up to your level when you retrieve her.

[Johnny Blade]

Originally Posted by Morty

Hmmm. What's everyone's opinion about throwing daggers as a weapon? I thought my possibly-modded fighter that I intend to play once the Enchanced Edition arrives could use them, but I'm not sure how effective it will be. I remember they worked pretty decently for Shar-Teel in vanilla BG1, though.

Near Infinity tells me there aren't even Poisoned Throwing Daggers in vanilla BG1, so they'd be a pretty bad ranged weapon I guess.
But getting the Dagger of Venom isn't the worst consolation prize.

Originally Posted by Kish

Note that most of the non-named enemies level up with you. Firkraag will always be Firkraag and Irenicus will always be Irenicus, but if you go to Spellhold early and the Unseeing Eye quest late, the former has a group of normal (non-greater) mummies and the latter has a lich; if you go to the Unseeing Eye quest early and Spellhold late, the former has a group of mummies and the latter has a lich.

That Unseeing Eye Lich is a bastard. I got him once and walked into that battle completely unprepared because I didn't even know there was a spawn point there. Fun!

Originally Posted by mangosta71

If you're really worried about it, you can get ShadowKeeper and adjust Imoen up to your level when you retrieve her.

Seriously, just do that. It makes sense that Imoen doesn't get much studying done while in Spellhold, yes, but it makes more sense to play the game the way you want to without agonizing over when to do which quest or recruit which companion.

[Morty]

Originally Posted by Johnny Blade

Near Infinity tells me there aren't even Poisoned Throwing Daggers in vanilla BG1, so they'd be a pretty bad ranged weapon I guess.
But getting the Dagger of Venom isn't the worst consolation prize.

Like I said, maybe the Enchanced Edition will add some. If not, I guess I'll manage anyway.

[Johnny Blade]

Yeah, you'll be able to do the Bandit Camp with a ranged weapon and a shield equipped, for instance, that alone counts for something.

[Squark]

For that matter, you can find mods that transfer Yoshimo's Experience to Imoen, if you don't want to use shadowkeeper (But I would, personally. Saves the time of rolling stats when you can just set them to what you were aiming for).

[mangosta71]

If you feel you must have a shield and a ranged weapon, use a sling.

[Morty]

Like I've already said, I want to use throwing knives for the novelty of it. If it's not as effective as other weapons, so be it.

[Johnny Blade]

Originally Posted by mangosta71

If you feel you must have a shield and a ranged weapon, use a sling.

Talking BG1 only now, I'd say darts are best. You can get a nice number of Darts of Stunning and Wounding in the game, and those things are brutal at lower levels.

And putting points into daggers is pretty nice because the Dagger of Venom is one of the best melee weapons in the game, and the proficiency also lets you use a ranged weapon as a bonus.

Originally Posted by Morty

Like I've already said, I want to use throwing knives for the novelty of it. If it's not as effective as other weapons, so be it.

Wait, so is this going to be a knife fighter, or throwing knives only?

[Morty]

Greatsword + throwing knives, probably. Possibly with a kit of my own making, depending on whether or not I manage to make it.

[mangosta71]

That reminds me - I hope they use the quick weapon interface from IWD2 because it was so much easier to switch between dual wielding and sword-and-shield and two-hander (and everyone, no matter what class, got 4 sets instead of half the classes only getting 2). Even better if they allow us to use the same item in multiple sets so we can switch weapons without also switching shields and vice versa. If it's just the old vanilla BG/BG2/IWD setup, you're probably better off using a one-hander so you don't have to take your primary weapon entirely out of your quickslots to put on a shield when you switch to ranged combat. If you go with daggers you can put all of your proficiency points into the same weapon and style, which has a dramatic effect on your ability to survive early on.

I also hope they import Mordenkainen's Force Missiles from IWD, since it's the only good offensive 4th level mage spell.

[ThiagoMartell]

That would be awesome.

[Morty]

While that would be great, I'm pretty sure they won't be making this sort of changes. Unless I'm misremembering, the interface will stay the same.

[mangosta71]

That's a shame. Especially since the IWD games were on the same engine, so making that change is not only doable, but has already been done before.

[Morty]

I'm not sure, but I think it's due to legal reasons. They made a list of things they legally can and cannot do.

[Calemyr]

There's a reason Bioware very quickly wanted nothing to do with other peoples IPs - they went through this exact same line of bull.

[Jeivar]

So now I'm considering dual classing as Berserker/Sorcerer. Is that a viable build? Do you lose control of the Berserker like with Minsc, or can you still cast spells?
I know Kensai is considered the default choice for fighter/spellcaster, but I'm twitchy about going through BG1 without armor or defense spells.

[Winthur]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

So now I'm considering dual classing as Berserker/Sorcerer. Is that a viable build?

Hard to tell; the only legal combination is Berserker/Mage in the base game.

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Do you lose control of the Berserker like with Minsc, or can you still cast spells?

You don't lose control. Can spellcast.

Originally Posted by Jeivar

I know Kensai is considered the default choice for fighter/spellcaster, but I'm twitchy about going through BG1 without armor or defense spells.

I prefer Berserker/Cleric myself for tank goodness and lots of self-buffs.

[The Glyphstone]

So one thing that's been bugging me, and one that I just thought of:

I hadn't known about the 'monsters level up with you', but now that I do, I'm wondering what the point of making a solo character is? I thought the idea was because you'd effectively be getting 6x the experience, the game would become easymode, but if the enemies will always scale to you, that won't work. Is it just the Nuzlock Mode of Baldur's Gate, or is there something I'm missing?



Other thing - I've decided to clear Watcher's Keep in SoA before I take out Irenicus, just for fun...2 levels down without a hitch so far. If I clear it to the bottom, finish SoA, then import my party into ToB, will the game detect that Watcher's Keep has already been completed, or will I be able to do it again?

[Winthur]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

So one thing that's been bugging me, and one that I just thought of:

I hadn't known about the 'monsters level up with you', but now that I do, I'm wondering what the point of making a solo character is? I thought the idea was because you'd effectively be getting 6x the experience, the game would become easymode, but if the enemies will always scale to you, that won't work. Is it just the Nuzlock Mode of Baldur's Gate, or is there something I'm missing?

To put it simply, they don't scale nearly as much as you do; if your character gains access to high level stuff like the ones from Throne of Bhaal or 9th level spells then you'll still outstrip the enemies. That plus their base stats will increase but the AI will remain the same, and AI spellcasting strategies aren't too impressive.

Basically solo character is there for both challenge (managing early levels is troublesome sometimes, and sometimes you can get KO'd by certain effects that you could manage if you had a party (getting stunned without someone to dispel it is one such idea); besides, the game has a level cap, once you reach it with a solo character you don't need XP anymore) and simplicity (not having to deal with party interactions and itemizing other characters). Dunno how else to say that.

[Kish]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

So one thing that's been bugging me, and one that I just thought of:

I hadn't known about the 'monsters level up with you', but now that I do, I'm wondering what the point of making a solo character is? I thought the idea was because you'd effectively be getting 6x the experience, the game would become easymode, but if the enemies will always scale to you, that won't work. Is it just the Nuzlock Mode of Baldur's Gate, or is there something I'm missing?

Not sure what "Nuzlock" is, but if it means hard, yes, soloing is harder, not easier, than playing with a full party. People don't do it because they want an easier game.

Other thing - I've decided to clear Watcher's Keep in SoA before I take out Irenicus, just for fun...2 levels down without a hitch so far. If I clear it to the bottom, finish SoA, then import my party into ToB, will the game detect that Watcher's Keep has already been completed, or will I be able to do it again?

Watcher's Keep is accessible from both SoA and ToB chapters, but there is only one of it. Some people stow items they want to retrieve during the ToB chapters in chests in Watcher's Keep during the seven SoA chapters, I remember.

Note, however, that none of your party members will comment on anything in Watcher's Keep if you go there before Chapter Eight. If you have party members. If you're soloing, then there would be no one there to comment anyway.

[Johnny Blade]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

I know Kensai is considered the default choice for fighter/spellcaster, but I'm twitchy about going through BG1 without armor or defense spells.

Don't believe the hype.
I have played both a Kensai/Mage and a Berserker/Mage. The Berserker/Mage is better. It gets boosts to attack, damage and AC that rival or equal those of the Kensai when it needs them, and can be immune to nearly everything when you stack Rage and buff spells.
The Kensai, meanwhile, only gets to hit harder and lets you feel like you tricked the game by getting around the "no armor" restriction with robes.

That being said, pretty much any kind of warrior/spellcaster multi- or dual-class is going to be very powerful. I'd say even a Wizard Slayer/Cleric would be a good enough character.

And while a Kensai is pretty weak in BG1, you can still get around its issues to some degree. You can get a Shield Amulet early on (Nashkel Carnival, I think), and with Potions of Stone Form, Defense and Invulnerability all available to the Kensai it can perform really well when it counts. There will be times when you don't want to waste Shield Amulet charges or potions, though, and then the character will either be a dead weight or need a lot of healing.
So you kind of need to plan your group composition with that in mind and bring in an extra warrior or have a cleric/druid dedicating a good amount of spell slots to healing.
Luckily, there are a couple of multi-class clerics and fighters around to still give you a lot of freedom, so it's not that restrictive, just something to consider.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Kish

Not sure what "Nuzlock" is, but if it means hard, yes, soloing is harder, not easier, than playing with a full party. People don't do it because they want an easier game.

Nuzlocke is slang from the Pokemon community, for a voluntary hard-mode game using self-enforced rules (i.e., fainted pokemon are permanently dead, can only catch one pokemon per 'zone', limits on items, etc.). The general gist is the normal game with changes that only serve to make the game harder for the sake of making it harder.

Watcher's Keep is accessible from both SoA and ToB chapters, but there is only one of it. Some people stow items they want to retrieve during the ToB chapters in chests in Watcher's Keep during the seven SoA chapters, I remember.

Note, however, that none of your party members will comment on anything in Watcher's Keep if you go there before Chapter Eight. If you have party members. If you're soloing, then there would be no one there to comment anyway.

So by doing it early, I"m missing out on dialogue? Darn, I wish I had realized that before I cleared the first two levels...I'll probably abort now.

[Calemyr]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

NSo by doing it early, I"m missing out on dialogue? Darn, I wish I had realized that before I cleared the first two levels...I'll probably abort now.

Well, it's a trade off. Those are some awesome items early on that can be pretty darn handy.

[GloatingSwine]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

I hadn't known about the 'monsters level up with you', but now that I do, I'm wondering what the point of making a solo character is? I thought the idea was because you'd effectively be getting 6x the experience, the game would become easymode, but if the enemies will always scale to you, that won't work. Is it just the Nuzlock Mode of Baldur's Gate, or is there something I'm missing?

In vanilla BG1 the monsters didn't really level up, just the packs got bigger, and when you're level 5 or so 30 gibberlings is not significantly different from 3.

Solo games are mostly limited by the scripted "boss" encounters, because some of those are pretty damn hard, especially early on.

[Seharvepernfan]

Originally Posted by GloatingSwine

Solo games are mostly limited by the scripted "boss" encounters, because some of those are pretty damn hard, especially early on.

BG is hard during a solo your first time through because

Spoiler

of all the damn encounters that show up at the edge of your vision with "you die" effects that are undodgeable.

For instance:

The assassins that come after you. Freakin' magic missile is so cheap.

Basilisks.

That damn water sprite chick on the pirate treasure map with the unavoidable kiss of death.

Traps.

19 kobolds with firedeatharrows.

and so on.

[Kish]

...Who solos their first time through?

(Bonus question: Who solos their first time through a party-based CRPG and expects sympathy for "it's hard"?)

[Seharvepernfan]

Originally Posted by Kish

...Who solos their first time through?

(Bonus question: Who solos their first time through a party-based CRPG and expects sympathy for "it's hard"?)

Nice attitude.

I noticed we have at least one first timer in this thread, and people have been talking about soloing the game. I was going to say that the game is hard solo, but that's only really true if you haven't played it yet, because most of the reasons its hard solo are because of nasty surprises (that aren't surprises if it's happened to you before).

[Cespenar]

It's true, though. Soloing is usually done after the first playthrough. The reasons are obvious, and the game goes out of its way to assign party members to your group in both games. Soloing in first time is the thing for Let's Plays or some such - where people would watch your frustration and laugh.