Together Retro: Baldur's Gate

[Jmustang1968]

well, you heard 'em Dave. Back to Phantasy Star II...

While I love me some phantasy star, you are doing yourself a disservice by not playing this classic. Such a great game.

[ExedExes]

Played this game for another 5 hours or so today. It's time for the next

Adventure Log! (with spoilers, of course)

When we last left off, our intrepid adventurer out of place in an RPG, ExedExes, cleared the Nashkel mines and became the hero of Beregost. It turns out I missed a few sidequests, so that was where the majority of my time was spent.

Dryad Falls

Dryad Falls was our first stop. We ran into a Dryad who was concerned about two scoundrels who had designs to destroy a tree held dear to the local population here. We approached them and showed no mercy as we brought justice to the people. We picked up some EXP and an item. Along the way, we saw a girl whose cat was playing near the waterfall and alas, it has passed away, but upon its return, we were told her dad could raise it from the dead, *again*. Must be nice to have that kind of power! We also ran into a bunch of Gnolls who claimed that this area was theirs, and we wouldn't pay a 50gp toll to pass. We took on the strongest of the bunch, and earned their respect and passed through to the Valley of the Tombs.

Valley of the Tombs

I was in such a hurry to sell the spoils and heal my party that I forgot a whole mess of stuff in the Valley of the Tombs (where the Nashkel mine exit is located). We encountered a mage by the name of Narcillicus who was working on a special spell in this remote location. We kindly asked for a way to obtain it as we are fellow adventurers, but he did not want any part of it seeing how we'd just take his hard work for free. He attacked us and also sent some Mustard Jelly x 2 after us. After a tough fight, realizing that bows and arrows would not hurt the Mustard Jellies, we switched to our melee weapons and took them all out. It was very well worth it; 5400exp and a few items! After healing a bit, we proceeded to clear out a few small caves and raided sarcophaguses for more items. We also encountered a gentleman that stole a dagger and took it from him, where we ran into a Revenant who claimed it was his. We returned it and got 1000exp. Afterwards, we went up north to find a band of Amazons who were sent to kill us for interfering with some sort of activities further past this area. They had fire arrows and other long range weapons, but we quickly dispatched them for more EXP and many unique magical items. From there, we moved on to Ulcaster.

Ulcaster

Ulcaster offered much in the way of quests. We ran into a band of Hobgoblins in the central valley, and they dropped some Boots of Stealth which we equipped. Further west, we needed to rest, and as the night fell, a band of Kobolds and a creature named Icharyd rudely informed us that we were not welcome here. We took him out quickly. Exploring the nearby ruins, we ran into the ghost of Ulcaster. He was hoping that we could perhaps retrieve a special book that was somewhere in the underground tombs. Being adventurers, we were more than happy to go explore. In the tombs, we ran into MANY Dire Wolves (hint: be prepared!) and got a whole mess of experience, but we also had to be wary of very dangerous traps which launched fireballs at our party, killing many of them (before saving, of course!) Imoen's Detect Traps ability was very useful here. After the twists and turns of the tombs and fighting off more Dire and Vampire Wolves, we found a pile of bodies right in the middle, with a thin strip of traps, we had to go along the wall, and found the History of the Darkness book. On the way back, more Dire Wolves and even some Mustard Jellies from earlier, but we made it out with the important book. It appeared to bring a slight comforting effect to the apparition, and we earned 1000exp for our efforts.

Housekeeping & Returning to Beregost

We had a LOT of loot to get identified at the Temple near Beregost and sold what we didn't keep and got tons of gold. After selling most of it at the Nashkel carnival, I reloaded our Rangers with more arrows. On the way back to Beregost, many of the townspeople regarded us as heroes. Reading the letters we took from the Nashkel mines, we found Tranzig staying at one of the local inns. We let him talk, and after we found out he was working for the bandits further north, we showed him no mercy. We obtained a location for their camp near Baldur's Gate farther north. We were also informed that an Officer Vai wanted to see us a bit further south. Her army has been resigned to stay here in Beregost a while but has a hunger for vengeance against the Bandits. We had 10 bandit scalps when we were waylaid by a band of them earlier, and received 50gp per scalp and we also dedicated ourselves to the cause of the people.

Current levels:

ExedExes - Fighter - Level 4
Imoen - Thief - Level 5
Kivan - Ranger - Level 4
Minsc - Ranger - Level 5
Branwen - Cleric - Level 4
Dynaheir - Invoker - Level 4

Unfortunately, I'm going to be busy the next couple of days, but I hope to return to this on Thursday!

Finally, don't forget you must gather your party before venturing forth! I see that message a bit more than I care to

[RyaNtheSlayA]

So, mix of level 1s and 2s, very close to getting level 3 on Mr. Goldfish and a few other party members. Lost Minsc and Boo, ran out of time to help them. Loaded an earlier save and removed him so he wouldn't be dead. Perhaps if I go to the Kobold stronghold and work my way through it, then add him, that would work?

Picked up Kivan. Was having trouble finding some stuff to do at my level so I'm moving into the mines. So far, seems to be going okay.

[Flake]

How do you pick pocket?

[Jmustang1968]

How do you pick pocket?

Click the thief skill button at the bottom and then select your victim.

[Nemoide]

All right, I finally feel ready to venture into Cloakwood. It's been 50 in-game days since I started the game and everyone's level 4 or 5. I'm pretty sure I'm doing all right when it comes to playing lawful good - my reputation is at 18.

I'm curious - what alignment does everyone else like to play? And does anyone have a steady technique for exploring maps? I kind of just WALK AROUND and eventually go to the next area; it's pretty tedious to explore every square inch of every area, I'm pretty comfortable if I miss a few side quests.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

All right, I finally feel ready to venture into Cloakwood. It's been 50 in-game days since I started the game and everyone's level 4 or 5. I'm pretty sure I'm doing all right when it comes to playing lawful good - my reputation is at 18.

I'm curious - what alignment does everyone else like to play? And does anyone have a steady technique for exploring maps? I kind of just WALK AROUND and eventually go to the next area; it's pretty tedious to explore every square inch of every area, I'm pretty comfortable if I miss a few side quests.

Yeah. I just kinda walk along the paths in a circle. I don't venture off the roads too much. I'm playing Neutral Good.

[MrPopo]

All right, I finally feel ready to venture into Cloakwood. It's been 50 in-game days since I started the game and everyone's level 4 or 5. I'm pretty sure I'm doing all right when it comes to playing lawful good - my reputation is at 18.

I'm curious - what alignment does everyone else like to play? And does anyone have a steady technique for exploring maps? I kind of just WALK AROUND and eventually go to the next area; it's pretty tedious to explore every square inch of every area, I'm pretty comfortable if I miss a few side quests.

The BG series unfortunately is pretty terrible when it comes to how it handles alignment. There isn't much in the way of "evil" options to quests. There are some encounters where there is an "evil" option of you being a dick and killing people, but Bioware didn't really figure out moral choice until KOTOR. Additionally, it's really hard to not get your reputation up to high levels, which becomes a problem if you have teammates of evil alignment. Good teammates leave if your rep gets below 2, and evil leave if your rep goes above 18, which is a pain because the (arguably) best cleric in the game is evil aligned.

[Nemoide]

Got to the third part of Cloakwood. OKAY, BG, THAT'S IT FOR TODAY.

I'm pretty sure I've gotten about this far with my last playthrough. But this time I'm determined! I'M GOING TO GO ALL THE WAY TO BALDUR'S GAAAAAATE.

[MrPopo]

Got to the third part of Cloakwood. OKAY, BG, THAT'S IT FOR TODAY.

I'm pretty sure I've gotten about this far with my last playthrough. But this time I'm determined! I'M GOING TO GO ALL THE WAY TO BALDUR'S GAAAAAATE.

Heh, yeah, the game's starting to pick up the difficulty through the options your enemies get to use against you. Then when you get to Baldur's Gate I had a big "Whoa, it's that voice!" moment when I found out Sarevok is voiced by the same guy who voices Principle Lewis in American Dad.