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[Mrbob]

Good job Interplay! Opened the box. 6 CDS, no instruction manual at all! Why not just sell this in a big jewel case? I guess they figure we all should know everything about Balders Gate?! At least I get the full version of BG2 with the expansion for the low, low price of 20 bucks. But a tiny nugget of a manual, SOMETHING, would have been nice. I've only played through a couple PC RPGs, Fallout 2 and Anachronix. I'm not a huge fan of PC RPGs so hopefully this doesn't suck! I've constantly heard good things about this game and expansion.

I hope I don't need to play the first one to follow the story of part two. Don't have the willpower to try and find part one.

 

[BuddyC]

IIRC, the manual is on one of the CDs.

In order to keep costs down or something, becuase I think the manual was pretty beefy.

 

[Semjaza Azazel]

II flows well enough that playing the first isn't necessary... but obviously adds to the experience.


I loved II, personally. I am sure you'll enjoy it.

 

[Mrbob]

Is there an online source with a detailed strategy guide for this game and expansion (Something better than gamefaqs)? I hear this game is so open ended I may get lost. I may have to suck it up and buy some strategy guides.

 

[epmode]

i'm actually playing through that game right now.

i know you'd like to avoid it, but the gamefaqs guide is pretty good. it's decently organized, and i haven't had much trouble reading it when i needed to. and like someone else mentioned, the manual is on the game discs.

what's strange is that for all its length, the manual is strangely incomplete in parts. ability descriptions, in particular. the gamefaqs guide is good for that, too.

 

[MoccaJava]

You shouldn't worry about getting lost. You have a journal for your quests and you always know your goal of the chapter.

I would not read the GameFAQs guide right off the bat. It's a game where you're going to complete it, check the guide out, realize how much more there was to the game, and do a second game getting everything you can.

One thing:

Play a male, and romance with Viconia when you get her. Brilliant character (and good cleric). This means you'll have to blowoff Jaheira and/or Aerie, though. (You can have em in your party you just have to kind of tell them to shut up when they start flirting with you.)

 

[botlite]

Don't bother with any strategy guides. GameBanshee has a good guide and also be sure to check out Sorcerer's Place for a heap of BG2 (and other D&D games for that matter) goodies.

 

[yacobod]

http://gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/

great website

has walkthroughs (with full color maps), strategy guides, quests, equipment, the whole business

tips for
Kangaxx the Demi Lich
The Twisted Rune
the 4 or 5 dragons that you will encounter
Cromwell's Forge
Cespenar's Forge
and anything else you would want to know


and the forums on GameBanshee are really great, used to be incredibly active when the game was first released and when TOB was released, i used to post there frequently, im not sure if the forums are still pretty active, but might also be worth checking out

people used to solo through the entire game, speed runs, try to create best parties and all kinds of crap, there is a lot to do in the game, u should really enjoy it

i prolly played through BG2 like 7 or 8 times, and finished the expansion once
it's easily one of my favorite games ever, you should really enjoy it, the game is very open ended in Act 2, since there are so many side quests and other adventures to do.

i went through the game solo twice, once with a Monk and once with a Kensai/Mage

it's also really cool to play through the game once with an Evil Party, and once with a Good Party, lot of variety, try different classes, experiment with spell combinations, there is so much to do in the game


Best Evil NPC Party would be
Elven Swashbuckler (so u have your thief for traps and what not)
Korgan (dwarven beserker - equip him with 2 axes and set him loose, best tank NPC)
Viconia - (cleric, once you equip her with the flail of ages and crom faeyer she can tank decently as well)
Edwin (the mage, has some aweseome lines)
then u can add Sarevok in the Expansion - give him a 2 handed sword and set him loose

you have more freedom if playing with a good group, since there are so many combinations

i like Minsc - his lines are great and he's got Boo
Keldorn - the paladin, get him some strength gloves and Casomyr

 

[Mrbob]

Cool. I'll check them out.

Unfortunately it looks like BG2 has problems with ATIs Open Gl driver. I get a black screen when I use 3D accelleration. When I run the game in software mode everything is fine. I guess I'll just have to run it in software mode as the game isn't that graphically intense.

 

[JackFrost2012]

Here's a post from the Something Awful forums that's VERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY informative.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1099621

 

[MoccaJava]

I, again, would recommend not looking at the guides.

Whoever told you you would get lost is kidding themselves.

The dungeon you start in is linear enough, and then you come to a town. Essentially, you have one goal, with many ways to get there.

That's really the game it is. There's many ways to get the ultimate thing done, but everything is fairly straightforward enough in terms of you knowing what you should do. You'll have a more fun experience if you don't worry about going to find every little secret that would require a guide to find and save it until the second time through.

What I would do though is look at a guide in terms of what class you'd like to play, and the only remotely spoilerish things I would look at is your party, but even that can contain major spoilers.

Here's my advice:

To avoid spoiling yourself of a major plot point when you want to investigate party choices, complete the first dungeon (it's not that long; for a newbie should take two hours tops if you explore every nook and cranny), and then go look at party choices, because once you get to the town you have several party choices and there's no need to look at it any earlier.

Like I said, the journal you have is very handy for keeping track of quests and how far you've progressed in them, and it's not like you might get lost in the world. It's a town. A very large, six-area town, but nothing mind boggling. If you're not one to like using strategy guides for RPGs, don't make an exception for Baldur's Gate. It's a fantastic game.

Sorry for the long post, but one more piece of advice:

There's nothing wrong with playing an evil character (I did not play an evil character myself but I don't tend to like playing goody two shoes paladins), several people do. But my advice is to not deliberately go around choosing the worst thing to say in a situation that you know will piss people off. It *really* can hamper your game, because there will be party members (even evil ones) that will leave if you piss them off enough, and quest NPCs won't talk to you, etc. Like I said, you don't have to be good, but try not to be TOO bad.

 

[JackFrost2012]

That's really the game it is. There's many ways to get the ultimate thing done, but everything is fairly straightforward enough in terms of you knowing what you should do. You'll have a more fun experience if you don't worry about going to find every little secret that would require a guide to find and save it until the second time through.

I think that's the problem I had ... I was like OMG TOO OPEN-ENDED NOOOOOoooooooooo and had a brain aneurism and stopped playing like 10 hrs in. If I gave it another try, I'd be much more laissez-faire about the whole thing.

 

[MoccaJava]

I can see how one might feel that way at one point. When you first step into the town, you have so many things you could do. But just explore first, all the areas, and then pick a quest to concentrate on. You only have to do two or three big quests to complete what you need to complete, and it helps with the overwhelmed feeling.

I just don't think strategy guides are good for this kind of game because the dialogue is so witty, the plot is great, the characters are fantastic, the rewards are worth it, etc. It's not worth spoiling it with such in-depth walkthroughs.

Hey, there were a few times (not too many times - usually it was a "duh, how could I miss that" thing) I checked a FAQ for help with it, but once I found the answer I closed it. It really can damper the experience if you use one.

That said JackFrost, I recommend giving the game another try. It's really fun.

If you're so concerned about it, once you complete your goal in the town, the game is not ever that open-ended again. It doesn't suddenly become linear per se, though there's LESS ways of completing the goal.

I probably would have done the same thing if I tried to get every single thing done. However, because I didn't, I had a fantastic time (a better time, even) playing through the game a second time.

 

[golem]

here's yer manual beyotch!

 

[MoccaJava]

By the way, I'm not sure why you would have a problem installing it. =/ It tells you exactly what you need to do when you install on the first disk.

 

[pilonv1]

It's a shame theres no manual because the one you get with BG2 is huge and very useful.

 

[Teknopathetic]

I don't see *how* you can get lost in BG2. Sure, it doesn't hold your hand, but it's not exactly a giant free-to-traverse world.

 

[MoccaJava]

Exactly. It's not like Morrowind.

 

[keeblerdrow]

NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO MAKE A BALDUR'S GATE II THREAD FOR ANOTHER 6 MONTHS.

Every time one of these gets made, I end up playing the game through again. Stop making these threads.



And yes, the manual is super-beefy. You got the game on the cheap, you get what you pay for.

 

[Gattsu25]

i got both the original (with manual) and the collection, so I'm pretty happy

anyone else have a problem with Disc 2, though? one of the cinematics give me an error...and THREE different disc 2 CDs and TWO seperate computers...makes it so I can't view any CG movies until the expansion pack or face a game freeze...but it happens on 3 seperate CDs so I'm guessing it's a problem not just limited to me...and if it is, then it's a pretty fucking weird coincidence

 

[epmode]

Here's a post from the Something Awful forums that's VERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY informative.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1099621

Can anyone help me with fighting against magic users? They never cast any generic damage spells, it seems. Any ones I meet are always casting:

"You fucking Suck" -Drains Levels, cost about 750 gold to get them back...
"You're fucking Dead" - Oh fuck, one spell just killed you!
"You fucking loose!" - All 6 of your adventurers start milling around aimlessly free of your control while they get picked apart by the mages minions.

yes. it always seems that your enemies are much more effective with magic..

 

[Fularu]

here's yer manual beyotch!

IAWTP!

 

[Kiriku]

I didn't get any jewel cases or manual when I bought Planescape Torment, but there was a manual included on one of the discs.

 

[Mrbob]

Am I suppose to install the patches for both BG2 and the expansion or just the expansion patch?

 

[epmode]

install the expansion, then patch the expansion. that's it.

 

[DrM]

one of the greatest games ever made.

Spoiler

First red dragon encounter is just awesome - he will kick your ass, even if you are well prepared. Liches are also cool.

Throne of Bhall is also very fun.

 

[Sinatar]

Am I suppose to install the patches for both BG2 and the expansion or just the expansion patch?

Also, if your having problems with the OpenGL, dont use it. 3d Acceleration adds absolutely nothing to the graphics. Nothing.

 

[epmode]

Also, if your having problems with the OpenGL, dont use it. 3d Acceleration adds absolutely nothing to the graphics. Nothing.

it makes the spell effects transparent. and gets rid of the dithering over unexplored areas. still, nothing worth getting excited about.