How do you do it?

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I've been playing BG2 and decided I should play BG1 so I really have a clue of the background. I've since decided that ignorance is bliss. First of all, I found the whole game rather slow, in movement, experience gain, pretty much every aspect. So, I plod along and grab Minsc for my party, skip whatever side quests there were, needed the extra tank. The first gripe I had was with the AI scipts, even though I had a fighter aggressive selected both tanks just stood there while the mobs advanced to right on top of the party before they decided "hey, maybe we should hit these guys back?". Ok, got past that by just force attacking, back to being peachy... or so I thought. I decide to hoof it to go get Dynaeir, didn't want Minsc to get antsy on me, plow through the gnolls, grab her and bam! She's dead right out of the pit. Longer story shorter, I spent 3 hours mostly resting and dragging corpses around to get raised and at the end of that 3 hours my hero was still only level 1. Needless to say, I packed the game back into it's nifty little box and it will now live happily ever after collecting dust on a shelf. So I don't have a clue about what happened to the hero before heading to Amn, I can live with that, which is more then I could say for my party. To those of you who actually finished the game, I applaud you and boggle at how you could do it.

 

The game is annoying until you're about level 2 or 3 - you keep dying. Still, it gets much better after that.

 

I still adore the game. Leveling up really isnt that hard, you just have to have patience, and get experience where you can. The 'crappy' side quests are really good for this. It is probably harder going to BG after playing BG2, but then it is a different sort of game. The areas are much more open, and the quests are more sporadic, and need to be found. I still play it, and will continue to do so because it still is an excellent cRPG.

 

If you want to reach level 2 quickly, the simple answer is to kill the black bears on the map where Gorion dies, they're down the West side usually...they respawn, and you get 225 xp each I think, but don't attack them up close, shoot them.

Once I found this out it was easy.

 

just do the side quests and completely explore every map you enter, I was level 4 before hitting the nashkel mines, then you level up in good time. this game requires you to be more tactical, having tanks to 'plow' through the opposition may be a good idea in BG2 where they can do it, but in BG1 you really need to look at it from more then 1 angle.

 

Ranged attacks are your friend!

I even had Minsc using a longbow long before he was proficient with it (you find so many arrows).

 

I actually liked BG1 over BG2. It's not really hard or anything, it's just sort of frustrating, especially the large outdoor areas. However, tasks like Bandit Camp and exploring Baldur's Gate itself really outshine BG2.

 

I began with BG1, so I wasn't biased or expecting too much. True, the AI is slow, you'd better give direct orders. It was en error to rush to the gnoll stronghold, it's not meant to be an easy place. You should be level 2 before you try.
I'm still playing BG1 and think it's a great great game. In the beginning be careful to avoid hard fights, you're not a semi-god like in BG2. A wolf could kill you.
It's not easy to rack up xp for first levels, but killing bears or drow rangers is cheesy.
Don't be afraid to travel a lot in order to find easy quests.

 

I wouldnt dismiss BG1 so quickly, especially as with BG2 it gives you the opportunity to take a character through his/her entire career from novice to god. As the others have said, you just need some different tactics. Lots of missile weapons and divine magic are the way to go

 

I do not think that the XP gain is slow at all. Of course, if you are not exploring or doing any side quests, you will gain nothing and your characters will not level up. The AI is not brilliant, granted, but I prefer micromanaging my party, so it never bothered me.

 

If you want to level up fast. Stock plenty of arrows, Memorize protection from petrification head east of the temple of Beregost, Chat with Ghorax and clean up the map. You will be level 4 in no time.

 

I've recently started playing a new game and have progressed to a level 6 fighter, Im currently running round Durlags Tower (spl?) before I decide to run off to BG. I seem to enjoy the difficulty in BGI to BGII purely because it demands more thought about puzzels, battles and spending of gold on items. I am only a couple of days away from finishing this amazing game for the fourth time (or fifth cant quite remember) then I will take my fighter and take him through BGII

 

Basilisks are the XP givers, man. I killed some basilisks and was amazed how quickly my hero got to level 4 or 5. Just get some "Protection from Petrification" scrolls, get ranged weapons and talk to Korax the "good dog" for some major buttkicking!

 

I went through the game with two tanks(my PC,a fighter, and Khalid), and four ranged characters( Imoen, Jaheira, Dynaheir and the elf who wants to kill ogres). I had no problem.

 

The game does get better once you get to Baldur's Gate though, everything is kind of slow before that.

The combat in this game isn't very good (most of the time you are depending on your dice rolls), but once you get over it, everything is on par with BG2 (or even superior in some areas).

 

I imagine you wouldn't like BG1 if you had come to it from BG2.

 

Not entirely true, most people want to go back to BGI (if never played) after playing BGII due to the lack of knowledge of the roleplaying aspect for the stories history, regradless of the tone-downs in gameplay.

 

Use TUTU and the BG1NPC mod, it makes BG1 even better

 

I have played both BG1 and BG2 extensively, and I can honestly say BG1 is still my favourite. It might not have the high resolution of the fast paced fight sequences but in my eyes it is every bit the pioneer of fantasy RPGs. When you have played it through a number of times you learn the ways and places to get high XP and the best equipment to become strong quickly, making the game that much more interesting. Perseverance is the key with BG1, after all, Waterdeep wasn't built in a day...