Minor spoilers for Baldur's Gate 2
Butch:
Ah. Back to D&D. I forgot what a pain in the ass core rules is. I might switch to normal. Got into it with all these duargars who kept kicking my ass. But the talking and the creepy and the mood. We'll talk. Later.
Got out of Irenicus' dungeon, so that's where I am. I'm sure y'all have thoughts. I turn the open over to you.
Loothound:
Got started last night. Why the hell do they make you choose your character portrait before you've chosen race or class? It's pretty amazing how all the 2E rules used to be just about second nature, and now I'm so confused about even basic stuff.
"Oh, right, a LOW THAC0 is good."
Decided to be boring and play a human fighter. Still in the dungeon. The management and combat controls are super clunky and non-intuitive, and the fact that people won't just target the next enemy automatically is BS. Still, though, it had a familiar flavor. I'm sure that I'll get the hang of it.
Also got to say, the quality of the voice acting in games like this has come a loooooong way…
Butch:
You get used to the controls. I heartily recommend playing most of it in cursor mode, even moving. But then, I played this on PC first.
You can tinker with party AI, but I pretty much turned off party AI. I micromanage. I forgot to turn off party AI for a while and was all "Imoen! Why the fuck are you throwing spells???" Wasting all her spells, she was.
Minsc's voice acting is legendary. I will not hear otherwise.
Where in the dungeon are you? And you, Femmy?
Wait, I'm AHEAD????
Loothound:
I haven't made it out of the first area yet. Goblins, mephits or various kinds, and some golems that I don't have to fight (yet). Already realizing that inventory (and ENCUMBERENCE) management is going to be a bit of a grind. Which, my character has a 17 strength, and can carry 170 pounds. Meanwhile, Hamster Boy ranger can carry 320 pounds? Nice to have a pack mule and all, but no sense.
Butch:
Hey, V2 rules be V2 rules.
Resign yourself to just not being able to take every bow, every short sword, every everything out. And fret not, there are bags of holding and scroll cases and potion cases soon enough.
(Femmy is going to read "resign yourself to not being able to take every bow" and say "hold my beer.")
So very many mephits.
Another tip if you haven't figured it out already: Set as many auto-pauses as you can. Autopause is the way. Makes micromanaging so much easier.
In narrative analysis (and this is more towards Femmy), Minsc sure did shrug off the death of Dynahier, didn't he? There was that one line "They killed her in front of me." Contrast that to...the other thing. Some inconsistencies there.
Feminina:
Yeah, Butch is ahead at the moment. I am still wandering around the dungeon collecting keys to various doors. No news about anything outside the walls!
It's convenient that these are the same mechanics as BG1, but I am really having to work on remembering how to do things with this quirky system. Like make the party members travel with me. Or have Imoen check for traps. Would have been nice to have been a thief myself about now. Imoen doesn't seem to be holding it together terribly well.
I did quickly turn off party AI so people will stop using all their powers and rushing headlong into danger. You rush into danger when I TELL you to rush into danger!
Very much looking forward to the spell cases and so forth. Inventory management is such an issue here.
Butch:
Select all. Both triggers. Boom. And I have Imoen detecting traps by default.
She does not seem well, does she?
I take it you haven't gotten to level 2 of the dungeon (through the teleport portal)?
I had the sewer golem open everything for me. Very convenient. Thank you, sewer golem.
How am I ahead? I'm never ahead. And I was gone for a night this weekend!
Feminina:
I'm going with "you're cheating – you've done this before." Ha.
No, we are still wandering around on the first level. Gotta check out everything and talk to/kill everyone, you know how it is.
Butch:
I remember very little of it, actually, save for the beginning bits and who to romance. And one thing in a side quest that pissed me off both times cuz trolls.
Ah, you're being thorough. I spent quite a large amount of time ignoring loot and saying "Well, don't know what the fuck that is. Best move on." See, for example, some portal or other I couldn't figure out and some room with a cambion in it I couldn't damage.
I cheerily said "fuck that noise" and moved on. You can let me know what I missed when you inevitably figure it out.
Feminina:
Dude, if you're ignoring loot and locked doors, no wonder you're ahead. That's madness, and I will have no part of it.
Butch:
It wasn't a door! It was a portal. And I didn't ignore it! I stared at it for a good three, four minutes.
As for loot, there are many a goblin short bow and leather armor that are just going to have to be left behind. I'm keeping anything I have to identify!
Speaking of inventory, and of me forgetting things, I noticed Imoen has a belt on that she doesn't remember putting on and that can't be removed. Did you notice that? I honestly have no idea what that is, but it's suspicious.
Loothound:
For the time being, I am carrying ALL the goblin axes. ABL may at some point die here, but it is not this day. I did run into the golem who offered to open everything up, but I want to make sure I've fully explored this level first.
Because thorough…
Butch:
My friends! Abandon the axes! Don't do this to yourselves! Remember, you're level, um, what level are you, anyway? Where do you start if you make a character? I imported mine.
Whatever. You're too strong for the axes!
Loothound:
Sure, but can we sell loot at some point. Surely WE don't need the axes, but axes can be exchanged for money (which, of course, can then be exchanged for goods and services…woo hoo). So, you see the dilemma…
Butch:
True. You do have a point.
But man, that's a lot of axes. How are you even doing it?
Loothound:
Like I said before, the raging ranger with a hamster friend can carry 320 pounds for some reason. No idea why, but I'm not going to turn down a porter.
Butch:
Yeah, but you only have so many slots in the inventory. I have plenty of pounds left I can carry (My character is also Str 18) but all the little squares are full up.
Feminina:
The limited slots is where it gets really brutal. I'm back to making people wear random useless jewelry, just so we can carry it around without using a slot on it. Surely we'll be able to sell it later!
Butch:
Oh for sure. You meet a new character, they're all "Hi I'm..." and I'm all "Yeah, whatever, here, dress like a drag queen."
Feminina:
"You look like someone who enjoys large chunky jewelry! Here you go! BTW, I'll need that back as soon as we meet a merchant."
Spoiler: I will forget to take it back, and they will probably wear this useless jewelry for the rest of the game.
Butch:
What were you playing as, anyway, Femmy? I forgot.
Feminina:
I am a wizard.
Seeker of mystical knowledge. Skilled in the arcane arts.
Prone to lobbing fireballs at everything, including doors that we forgot to open first. Sorry, party members who are now on fire and suddenly trust my leadership much less than they did before.
Butch:
Oh, right. And I'm a wizard slayer, for some reason. I forgot I did that, then wondered why I couldn't use potions last night.
Still, baddie is a wizard. It tracks.
Also, we going "core rules" or did Looty amp up the difficulty just because?
Oh, and Looty, important tip:
When you do find a merchant (there are merchants, don't worry), anything you have equipped won't show up as something you can sell. Thus, if you do what we're talking about and equipping stuff you want to sell just to save space, make sure you unequip it before you go to sell it so it shows up.
Loothound:
Valuable tip, since that's the point of lugging all the axes around. Guess I just haven't maxed out all of my slots yet, and now I'm entertaining myself with thoughts of a party of drag queens.
"To Baldur's Gate, Thanks for Everything. - Elminster Aumar"
Good tip on the unequipping, thanks. Do merchants have a GP limit, or can they sell forever? I hate it when the merchants run out of money.
And Core Rules it is. I don't enjoy the extra difficulty as much on turn-based stuff. Too clerical (in the non-D&D sense for once) and not actiony enough.
Feminina:
They do sometimes run out of money! It's annoying.
And sometimes you'll find people who only buy weapons and won't take your extra scrolls, or whatever.
It can be challenging trying to unload all your loot in a town.
Butch:
Yup. Good luck selling a sword to a cleric.
A D&D Julie Newmar joke. God, the internet misses so much not following us. We should be burning it down.
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