BG II - newbie thoughts

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Well, we ended up going to Umar because that was supposedly where the wizard was hiding. We've bought some beer for some little kids and we've helped some weedy guy get together with some girl. At the moment we're wandering around in some old temple fighting shades and collecting funny gems.

We've also picked up some halfling archer called Mazzy so now we're a whole party of six (in order of XP: Arya, Minsc, Anomen, Jan, Viconia, Mazzy).

Mazzy only seems to be any use as an archer but I don't have very many magic arrows so most of the time she stands around doing nothing (although I note she has some useful special abilities, like Courage). We'll probably end up ditching her once this quest is over.

Jan seems to be quite useful as he has good thief skills and his magic crossbow is pretty cool. I'm not sure what we'll do if and when we find Imoen again.

Having Anomen and Viconia has been handy as well because they can both sit behind Arya and Minsc healing and buffing continually. Viconia is probably not going to be a long term option in this good party so we should probably think about an exit strategy for her before long.

Oh yeah, we need to find some magical maces before long as well.

 

Didn't you search the entire map of Umar? You should have found #f.
That guy is a better NPC than Mazzy.
Tell her to crawl back to whichever tiny hole she crept out of.

 

Seriously magical maces are rather scant, you will have to make due with +1 ones for quite some time. Those are plentyful though. If you keep Mazzy you will find lots and lots of arrows for the future, they tend to litter the place if you keep it in mind. Did you do the Copper Coronet quest? There you can get a wicked short bow. One of the main differences between bg and bg2 is that in bg there were "pointless" areas where not much happened, in bg2 you need to go through every area completely as there are many important things cramped into them.

 

When you go through the door at the end of the hall, make sure Jan has 2 Lower Magic Resistance spells, 1 Greater Malison, and 1 Chaos spell.

Standard procedure for low-level BLANK fighting.

 

Um, I don't think Jan has ANY of those spells. Que sera sera.

 

A general good tip is to buy every spell you dont have memorised if you can afford it. Even if you dont plan on using it so is XP always nicer than gold.

 

@Harbourboy and others ... please don't post too much spoilers. I'm also virgin in BG2 and so far it was fun reading your comments. I'll have to finish BG1 first in order to begin the game with my chaotic good fighter/mage. But I have even less time than Harbourboy and also have to divide it between BG, Fallout and Heroes of MM 3 & 4.

Is playing the evil way more fun than in BG1? I also wanted to start another game with chaotic evil thief.

And Harbourboy, good luck in your adventures.

 

Playing evil is rather pointless really in both BG1 and 2. I have done so but you have tie yourself into knots to try to do any evil stuff which isnt "kill everyone you see".

 

Great recap of the action HB. As for a good starter magic mace, go to the bartender in the Copper Coronet. He can sell you something called 'Mauler's Arm', which is a great mace in the beginning.

 

Mistral - sorry about the spoilers. I'll try and keep them to a minimum from now on.

Anyway, we've now dealt with the "problems" in Umar. We've also left Viconia to hang out in the Adventurers' Mart as she didn't really have a long-term future with this party, which is now back to five members. Arya has just reached level 10 and is becoming a powerful melee fighter (especially as she is now carrying a sword with her that can caste haste on her for a short period even if she is not using it). She took on a bone golem all by herself when the rest of her party were stuck at one point.

Next step is to finish the quest given to us by that government guy.

 

@Harbourboy, did you find anyone special in the Umar hills?

 

No, not yet. We went back to the Adventurers' Mart to sell our booty and drop off Viconia first. We do still need to go back to Umar (maybe via the D'arnise Keep).

 

righto, check the rest of it out, you may like what you find there.

 

Heh heh heh

 

Yeah, just quickly finish off that government guy's quest. It shouldn't take that long.

 

Good idea... I think you'll very much enjoy this and be frustrated as hell at the same time (though for very different reasons).

Glad to hear "The Bride" is coming along well and making mincemeat of everything foolish enough to stand in her path.

 

Right, we've found Valygar but now he has joined us and we're visiting the sphere thing. We've also subbed off Minsc and Mazzy so we're back down to 4 people (Arya, Anomen, Jan, and Valygar). But no sooner had we done that when we ran into Minsc's 'favoured enemy' (typical - never encountered any of them before) and they gave us a bit of grief (especially as Jan can't use arcane magic out in the street.....).

 

So, ahh, any "issues" with Anomen yet, or did Arya Thurman nip that one in the bud? Had a visit to his family house in the govt district?

 

Not really. The only 'issue' is how to finish this damned 'Planar Sphere'. Jan and Anomen don't seem to have good enugh spells to defeat the various enemy spellcasters in this area. The enemies seem to be able to cast all their defensive spells (most of which I've never heard of) instantaneously, after which, they become immune to everything. It's impossible. If I don't find some sort of solution soon, I'll have to give up and start again (maybe as some sort of sorcerer who can cast all those kick-ass 'immune to everything' spells himself..............)

 

I think early in the game with only 4 people for a "newbie" the planer sphere might be way to difficult.