Baldur's Gate Noob Questions

Thanks again for the quick responses! Helps a lot.

One more quick question on Speed Factor. I looked it up in the manual but it still isn't clear to me. What exactly does a Speed Factor of 5 mean? I know it's on a scale of 1-10, but I'm just not sure what it means.
 
quote
Speed Factor: Each type of weapon has a Speed Factor, which determines at what point in the round the attack will actually be made. A Speed Factor of 4 means that at the start of each round of combat, the character will wait for 4/10ths of the round to pass, and then attack. Cumbersome weapons such as Flails and Crossbows have the slowest Speed Factors, and small weapons like Daggers have the quickest. Note that the Speed Factor of your weapon does NOT affect how rapidly you can attack with it (that is determined solely by your Attacks per Round), it simply reflects how long it takes between the time you issue the Attack command, and when the attack is actually made. It is important largely only for characters attacking from Stealth, where a quicker Speed Factor can give you a second chance at a Backstab (before you become visible) if you missed the first time.
 
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Thanks again for the quick responses! Helps a lot.

One more quick question on Speed Factor. I looked it up in the manual but it still isn't clear to me. What exactly does a Speed Factor of 5 mean? I know it's on a scale of 1-10, but I'm just not sure what it means.

p. 75 of the manual. :smartass:

Do yourself a favor and read the manual.
Do it!
 
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Thanks!

p. 75 of the manual. :smartass:

Do yourself a favor and read the manual.
Do it!

I know, I know, heh. I just don't have the patience sometimes to read a huge manual. I'm a bit ADHD and sometimes it takes a miracle to get me to focus on reading :p.

I think I have a great grasp of the rules now, though.

I love the die-rolling aspect. Very pen-and-paperish.
 
I know, I know, heh. I just don't have the patience sometimes to read a huge manual. I'm a bit ADHD and sometimes it takes a miracle to get me to focus on reading :p.

I think I have a great grasp of the rules now, though.

I love the die-rolling aspect. Very pen-and-paperish.

I understand. Np. I'm like that myself too but trust me, it doesn't take much time to find them answers in there. You just have to read the sections that require an answer.
Furthermore, you cannot fathom the beauty of the wealth of information found in that manual that makes Baldur's Gate even sweeter to play.
 
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I suggest reading two pages before you start playing then. Then when you go to get a drink, another 2 pages and when you finish playing again 2 pages.
This way, you would get through he manual slowly but surely.

Unless you finish the game before you finish :D
 
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I'm browsing the manual now, hoping to find some information that I was unaware of.

I did find something. I didn't know that priests will offer rumors if you donate. Cool!

Also, 5 or so alcoholic beverages causes intoxication. Good to know.

This manual is definitely useful. Going to scour the rest of it now.

More Impressions

I was talking with a friend about Baldur's Gate, and he explained to me that he couldn't get into it (due to the controls - he is a console/controller type of guy) even though he heard it was the ultimate RPG.

That got me thinking. Is Baldur's Gate the ultimate RPG?

I've played 35 hours of it thus far, and I think it's safe to say that, at least to me, Baldur's Gate is the ultimate computer role-playing game.

Now, I haven't played all of the classics yet, so there may be some game out there that would top BG in terms of RPG-ness, but I don't know (maybe Arcanum? Ultima 7?). I think this game is pretty much the high point of computer role-playing games, based on my experiences.

When I say ultimate RPG, I mean the truest of the true RPG. There is no doubt that this game is an RPG. It's not like Mass Effect or some other modern game where you wonder, "Is this game an RPG? A shooter with RPG elements? An adventure game with dialog choices? A hybrid?" etc. No, Baldur's Gate *is* an RPG, through and through. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

I think my biggest surprise with the game has been the tactical side of combat. I wasn't expecting a truly tactical affair, but they really pulled that off well. Some of the more challenging encounters demand tactics to be used, and that's a great thing.

I still think Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is the best game I've ever played, but BG is up there, too. I'd say BG is a bit more of an RPG than even Bloodlines, hence the "ultimate RPG" title.

What do you guys think? Do you think Baldur's Gate is the ultimate cRPG? Is there a game that tops it?
 
What do you guys think? Do you think Baldur's Gate is the ultimate cRPG? Is there a game that tops it?

Boy oh boy.

Whait until you play BG II.

You will fall off your chair.

Every body here can and will say the same.

Ask Purpleblob. She's like not a Fan of the game… :D
 
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What do you guys think? Do you think Baldur's Gate is the ultimate cRPG? Is there a game that tops it?

Gotta agree with enodenroH.

I will say this about how awesome BG is. The first time I played it, with zero AD&D experience whatsoever, I made it all the way to the end, but couldn't win. I'm just not that good at tactics/strategy in combat, and still wasn't that familiar with the AD&D system anyway.

So I just up and started over to make a stronger character (mage this time instead of paladin), and it did not bother me one bit. In fact, I'd say it made me happy because I now had another 40+ hours of gaming coming!

That time I got through and won. However, I had purchased TotSC thinking it was something you played after you finished the main campaign, which of course it was not.

So I started over AGAIN! (and this time for shits and giggles, I decided to play a female and only take female party members).

I played that game three times straight through and loved it each time, and unlike BG2 (or other cRPGs since), there's not a lot of variability available in each play through (the last time I did add in Dark Side of the Sword Coast for some extra fun, though I didn't care much for it).

I can not think of any game, before or since (and that includes BG2 which I've played probably a dozen times now), that I could play through 3 times in a row and love it every time.

Maybe it was just the lack of cRPGs I'd played (the last one had been U7:part 2, since I couldn't get U8 to run) and I needed a fix badly, but I don't think I've ever gotten as much out of one game in such a short time as I did with BG.
 
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That got me thinking. Is Baldur's Gate the ultimate RPG?

It's great, but since I started playing games ~31 years ago, there were RPGs before BG that had a greater impact on me.

If I were to think about games in terms of time of release and overall impact, I'd say Pool of Radiance was *my* ultimate RPG - as it was the game that ultimately cemented the RPG genre as my clear favorite. Before then, games like Bard's Tale and Phantasie III had already started something major - but it was PoR that changed me forever ;)

It was right around that time that I started playing PnP roleplaying games as well, so everything kinda culminated with the Goldbox games.

But if I were to ignore time of release, I'd say Skyrim is more "my style" - and it would be much closer to my own personal ultimate RPG of today. That's because I prefer immersion and "losing myself" in a world and role of my own design to party-based stuff with a relatively linear structure. Oh, I know there's a lot of sidestuff in Baldur's Gate, but you have a very clear objective from beginning to end - and you don't really have an opportunity to make your own story, so to speak.

If you add mods to the mix, it's as close to the perfect singleplayer RPG as I've gotten, so far.

But Baldur's Gate is a fantastic RPG - and it's definitely one of the best partybased games out there, if not THE best.

I never cared too much for BG2. Well, that is to say I never bothered to get very far in it, because the beginning was dreadfully linear - and my impression is that it's much more linear overall. Not really my style - and again, it's less about immersion - and more about combat than I generally care for.
 
Gotta agree with enodenroH.

I will say this about how awesome BG is. The first time I played it, with zero AD&D experience whatsoever, I made it all the way to the end, but couldn't win. I'm just not that good at tactics/strategy in combat, and still wasn't that familiar with the AD&D system anyway.

So I just up and started over to make a stronger character (mage this time instead of paladin), and it did not bother me one bit. In fact, I'd say it made me happy because I now had another 40+ hours of gaming coming!

That time I got through and won. However, I had purchased TotSC thinking it was something you played after you finished the main campaign, which of course it was not.

So I started over AGAIN! (and this time for shits and giggles, I decided to play a female and only take female party members).

I played that game three times straight through and loved it each time, and unlike BG2 (or other cRPGs since), there's not a lot of variability available in each play through (the last time I did add in Dark Side of the Sword Coast for some extra fun, though I didn't care much for it).

I can not think of any game, before or since (and that includes BG2 which I've played probably a dozen times now), that I could play through 3 times in a row and love it every time.

Maybe it was just the lack of cRPGs I'd played (the last one had been U7:part 2, since I couldn't get U8 to run) and I needed a fix badly, but I don't think I've ever gotten as much out of one game in such a short time as I did with BG.

That's pretty impressive, playing the same game 3 times in a row like that. That is something I just could never see myself doing. It's hard for me to go back after a few years of not playing the game to play it again, let alone multiple times right in a row!

It's great, but since I started playing games ~31 years ago, there were RPGs before BG that had a greater impact on me.

If I were to think about games in terms of time of release and overall impact, I'd say Pool of Radiance was *my* ultimate RPG - as it was the game that ultimately cemented the RPG genre as my clear favorite. Before then, games like Bard's Tale and Phantasie III had already started something major - but it was PoR that changed me forever ;)

It was right around that time that I started playing PnP roleplaying games as well, so everything kinda culminated with the Goldbox games.

But if I were to ignore time of release, I'd say Skyrim is more "my style" - and it would be much closer to my own personal ultimate RPG of today. That's because I prefer immersion and "losing myself" in a world and role of my own design to party-based stuff with a relatively linear structure. Oh, I know there's a lot of sidestuff in Baldur's Gate, but you have a very clear objective from beginning to end - and you don't really have an opportunity to make your own story, so to speak.

If you add mods to the mix, it's as close to the perfect singleplayer RPG as I've gotten, so far.

But Baldur's Gate is a fantastic RPG - and it's definitely one of the best partybased games out there, if not THE best.

I never cared too much for BG2. Well, that is to say I never bothered to get very far in it, because the beginning was dreadfully linear - and my impression is that it's much more linear overall. Not really my style - and again, it's less about immersion - and more about combat than I generally care for.

Hmm. I'm a bit disappointed to hear the beginning of B2 is linear. I am still excited to play it, though.

In BG1, I'm having a blast just exploring every map thoroughly and finding all the unique stuff. It's not as open as a game like Skyrim in terms of creating your own story, but it's open enough to be interesting and never feel cramped.

Skyrim is a good choice, though. It's definitely an ultimate RPG in the sense of the huge scope the game gives you and the immersion level of a world that you can simply get lost in. I would say Morrowind would be closer to my ultimate RPG in that style, simply because I like the idea of more hand-placed loot, but Skyrim is definitely a worthy game. I can see why people rate it so highly, and I rate it quite highly myself. Playing around with mods as well is pretty amazing. The game can become very different.

I think in terms of "nerdy RPG-ness", I'd still take BG over Skyrim. Skyrim is great, but doesn't have stats, and the rule system is more player skill based rather than stat-based. There are some stats in the way of perks and stuff, but if given the choice, I'll always choose a system that has deep stats and a fuller character sheet. I also prefer dice rolling combat over player skill combat, but that's just me.

I'll also say, the lore of TES is some of my favorite, right behind Lord of the Rings lore. I love the Daedric gods, Daedric realms, races and factions of Tamriel. And in terms of in-game books drawing you into that world, TES does it like no other.

I've heard the name Pool of Radiance a few times now, usually with glowing praise for it. How can I play the game today? Is it still accessible enough or will it require a huge investment on my part to get into? I don't mind investing myself if I feel the end result will be worth it, but I have to psych myself up to do so :D.
 
I've heard the name Pool of Radiance a few times now, usually with glowing praise for it. How can I play the game today? Is it still accessible enough or will it require a huge investment on my part to get into? I don't mind investing myself if I feel the end result will be worth it, but I have to psych myself up to do so .

Well, it's a very old game (1988 I believe) and it looks like ass, basically.

I'd say the least ugly version is probably the Amiga version, and you can use the Amiga Dungeoneering collection from the link below (pick Goldbox 2 collection):

http://www.indieretronews.com/2013/10/amiga-dungeoneering-collection-over-60.html

Baldur's Gate can be considered a spiritual sequel to any of the Goldbox fantasy games - as it shares a very similar feature set.

I'd say the biggest difference, beyond the visuals, is that GB games use turn-based combat and they have a primitive first person perspective, instead of the isometric one used in BG.

I don't know if you'd be able to get into it, but I found a youtube version of some Amiga gameplay (no in-game sound for some reason):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3JSx2BczKA

You should be able to figure out if it would be something for you from that :)

Alternatively, I believe there's a relatively faithful recreation of the game in the form of a Neverwinter Nights 2 mod.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2ModulesEnglish.Detail&id=63

There might be a NWN1 mod available as well, but I don't know for sure.
 
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Beware that the manual is not entirely accurate. It was written before the game was done, and while most information in it is more or less true, there are a couple of things that are flat out wrong, like resistances.
 
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Well, it's a very old game (1988 I believe) and it looks like ass, basically.

I'd say the least ugly version is probably the Amiga version, and you can use the Amiga Dungeoneering collection from the link below (pick Goldbox 2 collection):

http://www.indieretronews.com/2013/10/amiga-dungeoneering-collection-over-60.html

Baldur's Gate can be considered a spiritual sequel to any of the Goldbox fantasy games - as it shares a very similar feature set.

I'd say the biggest difference, beyond the visuals, is that GB games use turn-based combat and they have a primitive first person perspective, instead of the isometric one used in BG.

I don't know if you'd be able to get into it, but I found a youtube version of some Amiga gameplay (no in-game sound for some reason):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3JSx2BczKA

You should be able to figure out if it would be something for you from that :)

Alternatively, I believe there's a relatively faithful recreation of the game in the form of a Neverwinter Nights 2 mod.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2ModulesEnglish.Detail&id=63

There might be a NWN1 mod available as well, but I don't know for sure.

Thanks! It actually looks pretty cool. I will add it to my endless backlog of games to try someday :).

Beware that the manual is not entirely accurate. It was written before the game was done, and while most information in it is more or less true, there are a couple of things that are flat out wrong, like resistances.

So, how do resistances actually work?
 
Hmm. I'm a bit disappointed to hear the beginning of B2 is linear.

It's an exaggeration imo and nothing to be concerned about. You start out in a dungeon that's maybe about an hour long. The game opens up as soon as you exit the dungeon.
 
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Fighting against Wyverns, resistance is indeed fuile! O_O

It's an exaggeration imo and nothing to be concerned about. You start out in a dungeon that's maybe about an hour long. The game opens up as soon as you exit the dungeon.

That's cool. Divine Divinity is sort of the same thing. I don't mind starting in a dungeon or having a long dungeon crawl in the beginning of the game, as long as it opens up afterwards.
 
Boy oh boy.

Whait until you play BG II.

You will fall off your chair.

Every body here can and will say the same.

Ask Purpleblob. She's like not a Fan of the game… :D

I can talk about BG2 all day long... ;) That's why I wrote the review for Felipepepe's book.
 
Whew! Just finished a deep dungeon crawl. The end boss was worth the effort and loot all over the place. Wow. Amazing game!
 
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