48 réponses à ce sujet

[BaladasDemnevanni]

Hey all, just hoping to get some help here on the Bioware forums. Just recently bought Baldur's Gate and have been making my way through it. Initially all was going pretty well. Aside from the occasional enemy crit, I wasn't doing too bad. However, ever since the start of Chapter 3 and now Chapter 4 I've been having some difficulties.

In general I've noticed my death rate go up substantially and my kill rate go down. A big issue I've noticed are ranged attacks. I run with a level 3 Mage, Imoen, Xzar, Montaron, Jaheira, and Khalid. I do have a few items which help with this, but often times I find my casters/Imoen dead within seconds and no way to prevent this even with crowd control spells. Another problem is random encounters in between zones. I often come across 7-8 archers at a time with no way to control them effectively.

I know that my party doesn't include the best available npc's, but is my party make-up really what's killing me? Does Baldur's Gate really involve this much trial and error early on? I'm no stranger to Advanced dnd rules so I don't think that's the problem. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

[Slyx]

I'm not a BG1 expert, but I understand the sleep spell is VERY effective in BG1. I'm unsure if Xzar is able to scribe/use that spell or not, though. Perhaps your mage can.

Also, give your weaker members items that have bonuses to AC versus missile. The boots of avoidance, which you may or may not have currently give +5 AC versus missile (bow/crossbow/etc) attacks. This should help quite a bit. Also, make sure your mages run around with the Armor spell running. It sets their base AC to 6, before any dex bonuses, and lasts a LONG time (9 game hours, will usually last until you need to rest) so this should help a good bit too (base AC normally being 10).

Also, I think your party is a bit light on tanks. I suppose Jaheira is a so-so tank in BG1, along with Khalid. Try sleep out if you haven't already, it may become your new best friend =)

Modifié par Slyx, 06 août 2010 - 01:25 .

[Enuhal]

Slyx' advice is pretty good. In fact, spells like Sleep (Really, in the early game, together with Blind THE spell to go for with every mage. I would at least scribe a total of 6 Sleep spells with your current lineup, propably even more), Horror (if you are evil, you will have this ability anyway), Hold Person, or later Emotion: Hopelessness, Chaos etc. are very important for controlling battle (Xzar should be able to get sleep pretty easily, and it pretty much always works on those bandits). Alternatives for other characters are the very useful Wands of Sleep (and there are a lot of those in the game - and anyone can use them!). Also, there are Wands of Paralyzation which even work on some of the strongest enemies in the game. And let's not forget the Wands of Fear, another way to control big crowds.

For single targets, the really powerful early game spells are Blind for the Mages and Command for the Clerics (well, you don't have any clerics, but you have two mages - and later, Jaheira will be able to summon Forest Beings who are pretty much another powerful spellcaster added to your party if you summon them, focused on powerful disabling spells).



Next thing to controlling magic is nuking magic. Especiall the Wand of Fire is quite powerful and easily accessable. Just instantly destroys those archers.

Also, get these amounts of archers your self. Especially in the early stages on the game, one or two melee fighters are enough. You usually don't have the equipment for more tough frontline fighters anyway (not a general rule, but it is really far more easy to play with mass ranged weapons in BG1).



By the way, I notice that you have the Xzar/Monty and the Jaheira/Khalid pair. Do you have any kind of mod installed, or why didn't they attack each other yet?



Short version: If you get ambushed by ranged bandits, use sleep or wands of sleep/fear. With two mages, even the nasty "we surround you and you can do nothing against it" ambushes should be controllable.

[Irrbloss]

Use the second level mage spell Invisibility on your weak characters when you travel.

[Slyx]

Irrbloss wrote...

Use the second level mage spell Invisibility on your weak characters when you travel.

Good suggestion.  It lasts 24 game hours, so it should be essentially permanent until you need to attack something.

[BaladasDemnevanni]

Much appreciated on all the replies! Just to address a few concerns I'm having

1) With the invisibility spell does the effect end when I physically attack or when I activate any other spell?

2) Most of these items that I have seen mentioned I have not come across which could be because of my playstyle. Besides a wand of magic missile and boots of avoidance, I haven't come across the wands of fear, sleep, or paralysis. As a general rule when exploring, should I be exploring every last inch of terrain to complete quests, find magic items/scrolls, and collect xp? So far I have mostly bum rushed the main quest.

3) As of now, my mage and Xzar are both level 3. Even specialized, is it possible for them to have armor, sleep, hold person, and invisibility all simultaneously? Or should I be resting frequently every 2-3 fights so they can recharge spells and adapt to different situations? I also feel that my spell selection is pretty limited past first level, so I'm not certain where I can find/buy these scrolls.

4) Finally, as far as tactics go, how difficult would you say most players have starting up Baldur's Gate? I've had experience with Dragon Age and a little Advanced dnd, but I feel unprepared. I feel fine with tactics, but from some of the respones I have seen, I feel as if I am missing most of the necessary magic items and spells which I should have by this point. Should I constantly be reading walkthroughs on what to expect by way of enemies in each chapter?

Thanks once more, everyone. Sorry to be a bother.

Edit: To answer your question Enuhal, I actually have no idea why they haven't attacked each other yet with no mods installed. My rep is around 8 so that might be related. They occasionally threaten each other but that has been it so far.

Modifié par BaladasDemnevanni, 06 août 2010 - 05:05 .

[SometimesSpring]

BaladasDemnevanni wrote...



Much appreciated on all the replies! Just to address a few concerns I'm having



1) With the invisibility spell does the effect end when I physically attack or when I activate any other spell?



2) Most of these items that I have seen mentioned I have not come across which could be because of my playstyle. Besides a wand of magic missile and boots of avoidance, I haven't come across the wands of fear, sleep, or paralysis. As a general rule when exploring, should I be exploring every last inch of terrain to complete quests, find magic items/scrolls, and collect xp? So far I have mostly bum rushed the main quest.



3) As of now, my mage and Xzar are both level 3. Even specialized, is it possible for them to have armor, sleep, hold person, and invisibility all simultaneously? Or should I be resting frequently every 2-3 fights so they can recharge spells and adapt to different situations? I also feel that my spell selection is pretty limited past first level, so I'm not certain where I can find/buy these scrolls.



4) Finally, as far as tactics go, how difficult would you say most players have starting up Baldur's Gate? I've had experience with Dragon Age and a little Advanced dnd, but I feel unprepared. I feel fine with tactics, but from some of the respones I have seen, I feel as if I am missing most of the necessary magic items and spells which I should have by this point. Should I constantly be reading walkthroughs on what to expect by way of enemies in each chapter?



Thanks once more, everyone. Sorry to be a bother.



Edit: To answer your question Enuhal, I actually have no idea why they haven't attacked each other yet with no mods installed. My rep is around 8 so that might be related. They occasionally threaten each other but that has been it so far.

1) AFAIK you can cast defensive spells while invisible. Attacking, interacting with your surroundings, and casting offensive spells will break the spell.



2) It would help to look around a bit more, talk to more NPCs and check out the stores and dropped items. Make some time for sidequests. They give you some nifty items and a good bit of XP.



3) Scrolls can be bought (not sure which NPCs specifically) or are dropped. You can split the spells between Xzar and your PC. Give one the Sleep-Blindness combo and the other Invisibility and Hold Person, or whatever combo you wish. And yes, preparing spells as per the situation's demand is part of being a mage.



4) I find reading a walkthrough as you play a game to ruin a lot of the surprises. Most of them are spoiler-heavy and give away plot info besides the actual game info, and moreover very few walkthroughs give you tactics you can apply to your character (because each class has different strategem available to them). As a mage, you need one more spellcaster to help you out and two frontline tanks to draw fire. Use summons to your advantage. Have Imoen hide and stab people. Remember, you can always pause to issue commands so don't let that stop you. If you find yourself really stuck, take a look at a guide just to get an idea of what you might be doing wrong and then try to overcome the obstacle yourself. It's much more fun and you feel a sense of accomplishment, especially if it takes you a few tries.



If I were you, I would take out Xzar and Montaron for Minsc and Dynaheir, but that's just my personal choice. I find Dy a capable mage and Minsc a great tank. Imoen can handle your thieving and also stab. Jahiera is a so-so tank and Khalid is a great fighter to pair up with Minsc up front. Still better would be a total party rehash, save for Imoen. Bring in Minsc and Dynaheir for Xzar/Monty and Kivan and Yeslick/Kagain for Jaheira and Khalid. I find an archer to be absolutely essential in BG1. A dwarven fighter also has great saving throw bonuses to soak up all those enemy spells without suffering too much.

[aries1001]

I've always found the spells Magic Missile and Chromatix Orb to be very usefull, since Magic Missile will interrupt a spell caster and Chromatic Orb will do damage, and at higher levels even stun people and monsters.



Haste and invisibility are very nice spells, too. For low level mages sleep, blind or some of the spells, which are mentioned here are very helpfull. Also, have Jaheira use entangle a lot.

[Enuhal]

2) Most of these items that I have seen mentioned I have not come across which could be because of my playstyle. Besides a wand of magic missile and boots of avoidance, I haven't come across the wands of fear, sleep, or paralysis. As a general rule when exploring, should I be exploring every last inch of terrain to complete quests, find magic items/scrolls, and collect xp? So far I have mostly bum rushed the main quest.

You might want to visit the High Hedge west of Beregost. There, you will be able to get certain useful wands and scrolls - if you have the money (and are nice enough to the mage).

Exploring the whole maps is what I would recommend for the first playthrough. There are lots of hidden sidequests and items, also, you will gain the needed experience for the later parts of the game. If you just continue persuing the main quest, you will propably run into trouble sooner or later because you lack experience and equipment. You are missing some great parts of the game if you ignore the "unimportant" maps BG1 has a lot of exploration to offer, and this is one of the elements where it is definetly superior to BG2.

[HoonDing]

Having recently replayed both Icewind Dale & Baldur's Gate, there's an interesting difference in the aspect of difficulty between these games.

Baldur's Gate makes it very hard to acquire powerful weapons and equipment, so that groups of lowly enemies like gibberlings might even pose a threat in the beginning... and remain a threat if you're not careful (think of the kobols in Firewine ruins).

Icewind Dale, though, kind of bombards the party with magical weapons & equipment, but compensates for this with hordes and hordes of enemies (not to mention, the occasional lame ambush).

Modifié par virumor, 06 août 2010 - 11:32 .

[wise grimwald]

Nobody appears to have mentioned the girdle of piercing which gives +3 AC against ranged weapons.

Available VERY early on and not TOO difficult to get. Easy at the stage that you've got to.

[BaladasDemnevanni]

Thanks to everyone for the great responses in this thread. I think I'm getting a better idea of how to go about Baldur's Gate now. I think I might make a fresh start just so I can understand the mechanics better from the beginning. One problem is that I gave my Mage staff proficiency to start instead of bow.

SometimesSpring wrote...

4) I find reading a walkthrough as you play a game to ruin a lot of the surprises. Most of them are spoiler-heavy and give away plot info besides the actual game info, and moreover very few walkthroughs give you tactics you can apply to your character (because each class has different strategem available to them). As a mage, you need one more spellcaster to help you out and two frontline tanks to draw fire. Use summons to your advantage. Have Imoen hide and stab people. Remember, you can always pause to issue commands so don't let that stop you. If you find yourself really stuck, take a look at a guide just to get an idea of what you might be doing wrong and then try to overcome the obstacle yourself. It's much more fun and you feel a sense of accomplishment, especially if it takes you a few tries.

This is very true and is something I was hoping to avoid resorting to so I thought I'd come ask here. As a brief point, would you say overall it's better to have my thief backstab most of the time or attack from ranged with a bow?

Enuhal wrote...
Exploring the whole maps is what I would recommend for the first playthrough. There are lots of hidden sidequests and items, also, you will gain the needed experience for the later parts of the game. If you just continue persuing the main quest, you will propably run into trouble sooner or later because you lack experience and equipment. You are missing some great parts of the game if you ignore the "unimportant" maps BG1 has a lot of exploration to offer, and this is one of the elements where it is definetly superior to BG2.

This is definitely good to know. My only question on this is there a definite way of knowing what areas might be too difficult for me to explore? Or is trial and error the best approach to finding out?

Ex: In transit to the Nashkel mines. Should I explore 100% only the areas which I pass through on my way there and eventually I'll make my everywhere by doing this? What's a good method of indicating if I'm exploring an area I shouldn't be at my current level? That should be it as far as questions go.

[aries1001]

A good indication of you're exploring an area you shouldn't is that the enemies beats you every single time, or that you spells don't do any damage at all. I remember going to Durlag's Tower very early in the game, not good. I also remember running into some High Talons with fire arrows very early in the game, not funny at all. Later, I had leveled up :evil:



If you're going to Nashkell, be sure to visit Beregost (if you haven't done so yet) as there are a lot of sidequests there - which will level you up at least one or two levels, I think?It is always a good idea to explore every area before moving on, and also a good idea to explore evert nook and cranny an barrels as well.

[Wuxia]

I would change the party if I were you - you seem to have alot of 'softies' (mages, thieves and a druid). Try picking up some Rangers or Fighters. Kivan and Minsc are excellent Rangers (probably best archer and tank in the game) and are both available before the mines.



Be warned though, Minsc's quest is on a time limit and involves having another (excellent) mage join the party (they are a pair like Jaheira and Khalid).



Also if you want some more healing you can pick up Branwen (Cleric) in Nashkel.

[Irrbloss]

BaladasDemnevanni wrote...
This is definitely good to know. My only question on this is there a definite way of knowing what areas might be too difficult for me to explore? Or is trial and error the best approach to finding out?

Scout ahead (the spell Invisibility is great for this) and use caution.

Banon Loire wrote...

(excellent) mage

Considering Dynaheir can't use the most powerful school of magic in BG1 I'd hardly call her "excellent". She's certainly serviceable, but she's essentially half a mage.

[Wuxia]

Irrbloss wrote...

Considering Dynaheir can't use the most powerful school of magic in BG1 I'd hardly call her "excellent". She's certainly serviceable, but she's essentially half a mage.

 True, Dynaheir may not be the best specialisation but seeing as the PC is a mage as well, I would say it doesn't really matter.

[BaladasDemnevanni]

Sorry for the delayed reaction everyone. I appreciate all the responses and having thought about it, I'm definitely going to start over as far as my character goes. Thanks for the detailed responses. Gotta love the Baldur's Gate boards.

[Chebby]

In my opinion the problem here may be your
level. It's also worth noting that unless you're playing with BGTuTu,
you'll have to save before you get enough experience for a levelup and
load that game over and over again until you get the maximum hitpoint
roll. I'd say the biggest challenge the game provided was keeping the melee classes alive, but it is possible to have the squishy npcs one-shotted at that low level, as you described; you'll just have to be careful.

Try taking the single-file party formation; it provides a bigger distance between the foe and your squishies.

[SometimesSpring]

If I may interject one last time, when you start over I suggest Coran as an archer instead of Kivan. Just remembered the guy has 20 DEX and 3 bow points, so he makes a wicked archer.

[Chebby]

virumor wrote...
Icewind Dale, though, kind of bombards the party with magical weapons & equipment, but compensates for this with hordes and hordes of enemies (not to mention, the occasional lame ambush).

Oh, isn't that just 3rd edition games through and through? :>

[jaxsbudgie]

I see a lot of people here have already given some really good advice, when I'm lower level and exploring the wilderness, I'll use Montaron or Imoen (or my PC if I'm playing a thief) to scout out before me. If I come across bandits, or ranged enemies (like kobolds or hobgoblins), I'll send my thief right up to them still in shadows and attack them. They'll have no choice but to turn to melee, in which I find they're a bit useless, then just send the rest of the team in as backup.

Modifié par jaxsbudgie, 11 août 2010 - 05:27 .

[corey_russell]

While Coran is a good archer, you don't get him until you are in the Cloakwood. I have used Kivan many times as a primary archer and he does great. He always has the most kills in my party.

[HoonDing]

Chebby wrote...

Oh, isn't that just 3rd edition games through and through? :>

Icewind Dale 1 is 2nd edition.

[Chebby]

virumor wrote...

Chebby wrote...

Oh, isn't that just 3rd edition games through and through? :>

Icewind Dale 1 is 2nd edition.

Blarg.
Somehow got it into my head that it was talking of IWD2.
My bad.

[fantasypisces]

I just got the 4 in 1 pack to relive the good ol' days (well mostly for BG2). I've started BG1 and I swear I spend more time reloading then I actually do playing.



Had a kobold commander one-shot crit imoen with a fire arrow, that was funny.

But any random encounter "your party has been waylayed" I have to run because I can't fight it, but one or two party members always die while running.



My memory may be fuzzy, but it seems BG2 was much more balanced (BG1 suffers the low level problem, where any crit kills you), so I'm kind of forcing myself to finish BG1 because I'm getting tired of reloading constantly. If it was a real adventure, my character would have never made it to friendly arms inn! (one-shot crit by wolf).