Baldur's Gate

[King_Ghidra]

So anyone play this? Like it?

I really got into this again recently (now that i've replaced my burnt out athlon). I used to play a lot of AD&D back in the day, so i was slightly presupposed to enjoy it. (Actually i really liked Eye of the Beholder on the amiga back in the day too.)

I think it's a really nice implementation of the RPG. Nice graphics user-friendly, hard, and occasionally frustrating, but also very rewarding. The whole thing just exudes a lot of care and effort in its making.

Now i'm talking about the original here, not Baldur's Gate II (which i seem to remember seeing Rachel play round at MikeH's when she was on her grand tour ) I plan to carry my party forward into Baldur's gate II when i'm finished but i want to get full enjoyment out of the orginal first.

[Beta1]

Then you should realy get the tales of the sword coast add on for the extra experience points if not the fantastic story line.

On the down side you can only carry the player character into BG2 and teven then you lose all your equipment (part of the story I'm afraid).

[Funkodrom]

Originally posted by King_Ghidra
Now i'm talking about the original here, not Baldur's Gate II (which i seem to remember seeing Rachel play round at MikeH's when she was on her grand tour ) I plan to carry my party forward into Baldur's gate II when i'm finished but i want to get full enjoyment out of the orginal first.

You might not believe this but for brief periods of her time here she wasn't playing Baldurs Gate II, she was sleeping.

[King_Ghidra]

Originally posted by Beta1
On the down side you can only carry the player character into BG2 and even then you lose all your equipment (part of the story I'm afraid).

curses!
it doesn't say that on the box

[Venom]

I'm in the middle of playing BG2. Of course I'm in the middle of playing like 3 other games too.

[Funkodrom]

Having seen the start of Baldurs Gate 2 that does make sense.

Actually I started playing it. Got round about three corners or something before one of my party nearly got killed. Not my fault I didn't think, he got a couple of criticals on him but apparently that means I'm the worst Baldurs Gate player ever. *shrug* Personally I blame my teacher.

Aside from that few minutes I've never played any of this kind of RPG as a computer game which is weird because I'd probably quite like them bearing in mind the amount of time I've spent playing real RPGs in my time. Might borrow Shakey's BGII disks, I've got my save game on my PC still and I should be able to heal whoever it was that was nearly dead somehow I think. Actually I never really understood why Rachel thought things were going so disasterously. To be honest I really didn't have a clue what was going on though.

Only problem with it for me really is that I find the AD&D magic system quite unintuitive, and annoying. Well in the real RPGs I do anyway, and the system looks pretty much identical. Having to sleep to memorise spells etc just seems so absurd. What do they do? Put learn as you sleep cassettes into their Walkmans at night? I'm not sure I'd be able to avoid all spellcasting in a full game of BGII so I'd probably have to learn it. I have a quite strange dislike for magic users as PCs as King_Ghidra knows.

[Beta1]

Then play as the new scorcer class - when you gain a level you get new spells automaticaly, a bit like a priest but you dont have to memorise them and can cast them repeatedly. the down side is you dont get any choice of which you get (like a druid) and dont get a lot and cant learn more through scrolls. Also cant double class them.

[DaShi]

You can choose Sorc. spells. But you only get to choose a few per level. I think up to 6 in each level, if you have Throne of Bhaal. The Sorc. is my favorite for the very reason that he doesn't have to memorize spells. But I usually keep one minor spell caster for the variety in my party (Imoen or Jan), but I rarely keep up with them or use their spells unless its a big battle or needs a special spell my sorc. doesn't have (ie. invisible stalkers for Mind Flayers).

[Greg W]

Yeah, played BG, skipped TotSC (the expansion - Tales of the Sword Coast), started a new character for BG II SoA (Shadows over Amn) as I really liked the idea of an Undead Hunter (or whatever they're called), finished SoA, bought ToB (Throne of Baal), and never got around to playing it for one reason or another.

IMHO, and taking into account that I haven't played either expansion, BG II is much much better than BG, mainly due to a much better storyline. BG gets a little hack and slash-ish, you seem to spend all your time wandering through endledd variations of wilderness areas for no purpose other than to get to the next wilderness area, so that in the end you can get to your goal. BG II is much more focused in that regard.

And of course there's the romance subplots - they're rather ammusing.

NPCs are also much better fleshed out in BG II - they actually have spats between themselves, which is cool, and much better interaction with the PC.

Definately some of the best RPGs I have played, along with (in no particular order - and just in case anyone is after alternatives):
Planescape: Torment - great storyline, even if I did get bored with it
Darklands - roleplaying in medieval germany as they perceived it back then - brilliant even if it is old
Ultime IV, V, VII & Underworlds I and II - one of the best series
Icewind Dale - nice little hack and slash, even if the story was a bit thin. Uses the BG engine from memory.

[Mightytree]

Good taste, Greg.

Ultima Underworld 1 was actually the first computer game I really got addicted to. I played it 24/7. And Underworld 2 was even better. Too bad a 3rd part was never released. Darkland was really cool too, although it didn't get any good reviews back then IIRC. I liked it a lot though. P:Torment was excellent.

Some other RPGs that were/still are pretty cool:

Fallout 1/2
Wizardry 7 (another old timer ... )

[Shining1]

If you're enjoying BG, then definitely finish it, because you'll enjoy BG2 so much more.

Sorcerors are good for two reasons - firstly you don't have to memorize spells carefully at the end of each day, and secondly you get a lot of flexibility with what you cast during the day. So if, for instance, you have 4 first level spell castings, you get a choice of casting Identify 4 times, or Magic Missile 4 times, or each spell twice, instead of having to memorize a pre-decided number of each and possibly end up not using them all.

[Foetus]

I've completed Balders Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast, Balder's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, Trials of the Luremaster and Planescape: Torment. They're all very good, with only IWD: Heart of Winter being a little thin and short. The best of the lot in my reckoning is Planescape Torment. Fantastic plot and a real sense of intrigue, plus a great game to boot.

I'm currently working through Balder's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal, which is shaping up very nicely as well.

Also worth considering are Fallout 1 & 2, though sadly for me, they crash my machine every 5 minutes even with the patches, so I've never managed to get very far with them.

[Greg W]

Originally posted by Mightytree
Good taste, Greg.

Ultima Underworld 1 was actually the first computer game I really got addicted to. I played it 24/7. And Underworld 2 was even better. Too bad a 3rd part was never released. Darkland was really cool too, although it didn't get any good reviews back then IIRC. I liked it a lot though. P:Torment was excellent.

Some other RPGs that were/still are pretty cool:

Fallout 1/2
Wizardry 7 (another old timer ... )

Thanks.

Old games, yeah, I have played a few.

Exodus: Ultima III was the first game I got hooked on, back on Apple IIe computers back at school. Played the Ultima's pretty much from 1 thru IX in varying terms of completedness. And Underworlds I and II. Loved them all, though VIII was a bit of a lowpoint. Underworlds was the first "true" 3D game, before Doom and the like. I do remember hearing vague rumours a few months ago that the blokes that made Underworlds (the original company - it wasn't Origin) were making a sequel of sorts, though I can't remember any details.

Wizardry 1 I played a lot of as well as Bane of the Cosmic Forge (IV, V?), but not a lot of the others - meant to but never got around to it.

Might and Magic 1 I played way back when, and I have played a bit of VI and VII.

Anyone ever play a text-based game called "The Hobbit"? Man, that rocked.

Fallout 1 & 2 I got bored with after a while, I think I'm more a fantasy style roleplayer, goes back to my days of PnP AD&D, MERP, Rolemaster, Warhammer, etc...

[Funkodrom]

Originally posted by Greg W
And of course there's the romance subplots - they're rather ammusing.

Especially if you are a female character and your only option for romance is the retarded paladin wannabe Anomen.

[Beta1]

planescape is definately the best of the series as far as story line goes. The setting allows so much variety and the characters are so bizarre that it just takes off brilliantly. (and it has ammusing romance subplots too!)

[Funkodrom]

I asked Shakey if I could borrow his Baldurs Gate II disks but he said "No, I don't want you turning into the kind of sad loser who would play that kind of game."

[Mightytree]

Exodus: Ultima III was the first game I got hooked on, back on Apple IIe computers back at school. Played the Ultima's pretty much from 1 thru IX in varying terms of completedness. And Underworlds I and II. Loved them all, though VIII was a bit of a lowpoint. Underworlds was the first "true" 3D game, before Doom and the like. I do remember hearing vague rumours a few months ago that the blokes that made Underworlds (the original company - it wasn't Origin) were making a sequel of sorts, though I can't remember any details.

I only started with Ultima 7, loved it. Ultima VIII was a disappointment, I agree. It was short and easy and you couldn't interact with the world as much as in VII. Ultima IX was very impressive, I never finished it though. The guys that made Ultima Underworld 1/2 were Looking Glass, the same that made System Shock. Would be cool if there was a third part some time.

Wizardry 1 I played a lot of as well as Bane of the Cosmic Forge (IV, V?), but not a lot of the others - meant to but never got around to it.

Bane of the Cosmic Forge was VI I think. I only played that a little. Crusaders of the Dark Savant (VII) was the first part that had VGA graphics, much more appealing to me back then. I can only recommend it, even nowadays, although it's HARRRRRRRD as hell. Never finished it.

[Funkodrom]

Anyone think it'd be a problem playing BGII with no computer RPG experience? Are there going to be things that people who've played RPGs forever will just know about that I won't spot?

Like, say, in football games, fighting games, RTS etc. that I've been playing forever there are loads of things that you just kind of assume about how you play.

[Funkodrom]

If there are what are they?

[LadyRachel]

Originally posted by MikeH
Especially if you are a female character and your only option for romance is the retarded paladin wannabe Anomen.

Shutup.

[Funkodrom]

But he's such a twat.

[Funkodrom]

Unfortunately I get a protection error trying to play with Shakey's CDs after installing with Rachel's CDs. So I need to reinstall. Still it's only 2 gigs on 4 CDs.(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek :!)

[Funkodrom]

Should I be playing on Normal or Standard AD&D rules?

Normal mode looks like it's really an 'easy' mode from the description, all damage rolls are max and you automatically learn spells but if it is then why is it called normal.

[Fistandantilus]

The game is not so difficult that you need to play with 'easy' settings. Standard AD&D rules are pretty balanced.

Besides, you can change the difficulty level later in the game if you find certain fights get frustrating.
I'm sure it won't happen though..

[Funkodrom]

That's what I figured but I wasn't sure. Thanks.

Just finished the tutorial. I actually have some idea what's going on now.

[Greg W]

I was just about to say that if you played thru the tutorial that you should get an idea of what was going on. It's hard for me to say if you're going to be able to get used to it though - I have been a roleplayer on and off since I was about 10, and can still rattle off old AD&D rules even though I haven't played it in about 10+ years, so I'm not the person to ask.

[Funkodrom]

AD&D rules aren't a problem. I remember stuff like that too well.

Would have been nice if you could pull up all the bonus tables etc. during the character creation process rather than needing the book. Also the labels that come up over the control icons take ages. I kept getting asked to hurry up doing the training tasks as I was mousing over the icons to find out which one was which. I guess that won't be such a problem when I learn what they all do but at the moment it's a little annoying.

Is there any way to find out what a spell does from the select the spell you want to use bit in the character profile thing when you are in combat or do you have to go back to the spell book? Right clicking in the window at the bottom where you choose the spells doesn't seem to do anything so I guess you can't.

I probably need to pause more often but it takes a fair bit of a concious effort pausing the game at the moment. That's certainly something that isn't instinctive for me. Just slip into RTS mode and try and do everything as fast as possible. D'oh.

Right at the moment I've saved at the very begining of the game, I wanted to go and watch the first episode of Enterprise but I can feel this is going to be very addictive by the fact that I feel if I start playing now I won't get any sleep tonight.

And I really didn't expect an answer to the what's instinctive question. If you could think of something it probably wouldn't be instinctive.

[King_Ghidra]

Originally posted by MikeH
I asked Shakey if I could borrow his Baldurs Gate II disks but he said "No, I don't want you turning into the kind of sad loser who would play that kind of game."

turning into?? and you think you really know someone...

i'm still plodding through BG, but every time i go into town i have to desperately resist the urge to buy the BG II and Throne of Baal double pack. The promise of 800x600 and actually using some 3d acceleration keeps drawing me back - i just stand in the shop looking at the back of the box for minutes at a time. ho hum...

i agree with what you said about the silly ad&d rules about remembering spells. I always thought that was a weird part of the game. I guess that's game balance for you - it doesn't make sense conceptually but it makes for a better game.

re: the romance, etc. i thought that the way the characters in your party interact is one of the coolest bits of the game, and shows the effort and care that went into making this series. Anything which makes you give a damn about your characters is a good thing.

[Funkodrom]

I think the turning into comment was a joke.

I'm playing in 800*600 with 3d acceleration and all the max graphic settings. It looks really nice. It also has some higher resolutions which is has a big red UNSUPPORTED! label next to so I haven't tried those yet.

It might be good for game balance but I prefer the kind of system where you have a certain level of magic points that you can use each day or until you rest or whatever. Memorising and then 'forgetting' a spell is just ridiculous.

The in party interactions I've seen are really good, it's just annoying if you are a female and don't get any choice who to go through the romance scripts with. Surely they could have let you choose Minsc.

[Funkodrom]

Speaking of D&D Top Ten Least Used D&D Classes

[Fistandantilus]

Also the labels that come up over the control icons take ages.

IIRC you can set in the options the amount of time to wait before the text shows. Also, pressing <tab> should immediatly display it.

[Funkodrom]

Excellent! I haven't explored the options yet but you can't normally customise that type of thing. Thanks.

[Sirius Black]

Oooh, enjoy! I loved BG2... great fucking game it was!

I started with new characters (didn't know what I did with my BG1 guy). First a Cavalier and then a Swashbuckling thief (I think). The game was just very fun, with the different quests and ways to complete them, and the story was nice, unlike BG1, where you'd be out searching forests forever.

[Funkodrom]

Well I just spent an hour and three quarters playing. Pretty long spell of gaming for me. Very addictive this game. Haven't used a spell yet. I'm still saving them for when I really need them... dunno when that might be yet.

Played with the auto pause as well, started with it pausing everything and now I've cut it down to a smaller set.

[Sirius Black]

Yeah, just have auto-pause for when you sight an enemy (so you don't walk right by one) or when a character dies, or when the weapon is unusable.

Just use the spacebar for all the rest of the pauses. It really is a good system at work, and addictive as crack!

[Shining1]

I'm a fan of using mass defensive spells and then just hacking everything to pieces, with a bit of healing.

If you have a mage, get them to learn and cast the level 5 spell Breach, which takes combat protections off enemy mages so they look really really stupid surrounded by 3 huge fighter types with huge swords.

You can also use elemental damage weapons to disrupt the spell casting of mages under stone skin, since the SS doesn't protect against elemental damage. Sometimes a +1 sword of flame can be worth more than a +4 Two handed sword.

This is nice as well because there are some very cool looking weapons and armor in the game, and wandering around with a glowing flail or Halberd is just cool. Mages get some cool looking defensive spell effects, but it's just not the same.

Good defensive spells are Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Protection from Evil 10' radius, Remove Fear, and the shorter duration Free Action. which you should cast against mages that stun or hold you. Berserk or Enrage (Berserker and Barbarian classes) are also very good for ignoring nearly all bad magical effects, and the combat bonuses are pretty good as well.

[Funkodrom]

One problem is that I don't really know what spells I've got or what they do at the moment. I've obviously got Jaheira and Imoen who can cast spells just need to spend some time working out what spells they have. You don't get that many memorised at the start so I don't want to use them all up when I don't need them. Don't know when I'll be able to rest to get them back.

[Beta1]

heres a novel idea mike - save the game, find out what the spels do and then load again!

Shining - agree on the defensive spells, chaotic commands and free action are ,ore or less essential. Esp when theres mind control spells around. I seem to remember a ring of free action being on of the most useful things I found - if you can keep your mage moving then you can de-freeze/charm your buddies back.

[Funkodrom]

Originally posted by Beta1
heres a novel idea mike - save the game, find out what the spels do and then load again!

Yeah, I wasn't complaining about the spells. I was just going to read about them in the book but there are a lot and I'm lazy. Trying them out's not an entirely bad idea but some spells the effect wouldn't really be obvious if I wasn't using it in combat would it? I met a giant pool ball ball with triffid arms in the dungeon just before I stopped playing last night. It was a bit like a stuck to the ground tomato head from Doom2 with arms. It did some horrible stuff to my characters and for some reason they kept running away from it. Pussies. Killed it in the end but it'd have taken half my healing potions to get people back to normal so I didn't save that. Think I'll investigate the defensive spells I have before I go back there.

Another funny thing also was that Imoen seems to have a few level 5 spells but she hasn't got any slots to memorise any of them what's the point of that?

[Greg W]

Er, that sounds like a Beholder Mike, and they can be very dangerous even to a fairly well equipped party. I remember the easiest way to get past them is via a ring of spell turning - let it kill itself basically. Only problem is you probably won't have one right now.

Spells - yeah, you can write them in your spellbook long before you can actually cast them.

Healing potions? Man, I forgot the game even had healing potions (assuming it does of course, and Mike is not just hallucinating ). As soon as possible, go into Jaheira's spells, and learn some healing spells. Thay come in danged useful. I can't even try and imagine trying to get through the game without ever casting healing spells, unless you want to save and reload every fight you have until you get a result where nobody gets hurt much. And there are some fights where people are going to get hurt, regardless. I usually found that it was healing spells that made me sleep to recover spells, not mage spells. You learn to use them regularly though, they are danged useful to have.

[Shining1]

My favourite spells:

Healing
Cure Light Wounds (C1): *sigh* Well obviously...
Cure Medium Wounds (C3): This actually works a bit better...
Call Woodland beings (D4): The Dyrad you get can cast both hold monster and mass cure, so this is kind of like getting two level 5 spells for the price of one level 4 one.
Cure Critical Wounds (C5): I don't use this much, but if you have taken a massive amount of damage, dump all level 5 spells and just learn this a few times. At 27hps, its much better than the other cure spells.
Heal (C6): This is FANTASTIC. Removes all damage in a single touch, which is really handy for those 150hp frontline characters.
Raise Dead (C5): I keep a copy of this normally at higher levels when I start getting spare level 5 slots - there's just so many ways to die so fast, so if the bad guys are going to cheat, you should too.
Ressurection (C7): Using up level 7 slots on healing spells is just WRONG. But, like for Cure Critical wounds, if you get in a very bad situation, just dump everything and store a couple of these.


Passive Defense:
Berserk (F1): The absolute best defensive spell ever. It even protects against Imprisonment, a level 9 mage spell. Sadly, you can only get this on two characters - your own (if a Berserker), and Korgan.
Protection from Evil 10' radius (C4): Useful because it makes you harder to hit by Evil creatures, and improves your saving throws against them. Also, you can ignore summoned demons. And you glow blue.
Chaotic Commands (C5): This prevents all Charm, Domination, Confusion type spells - essentially anything that stops you from controlling your characters. It's also essential against the Mind Flayers.
Death Ward (C4): This prevents anything that can kill you in one go - very nice. Death Ward and Chaotic Commands are both good because you can cast them at the start of an adventure and they will last most of the way through - 1 turn per level duration.
Free Action (C4): Less of a duration, cast on anything that can't Berserk when you meet a Wizard. Free Action looks really really cool when you also have a glowing golden weapon.
Stone Skin/Iron Skin (M4/D5): A brilliant spell which gives mages and druids far longer livespans in close combat.
Remove Fear (C1): Cast this quick before facing mages or especially Dragons. Cavaliers can cast thing whenever they want.
Protection from Magicial Energy (M6): A high level spell, but it lasts a long time, and completely prevents all damage from that annoying Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. Might also work on Beholder rays...?

Active Defense:
Remove Paralysis (C3): Store a couple of these to fix up anything that wasn't worth putting a Free Action on that got stunned.
Zone of Sweet Air (C3): Removes cloud kill spells. These are usually very annoying, so this is good.
Detect Invisible/True Sight (C3/C5): Good against Wizards and Thieves. True Sight is much more effective, has a longer range, and keep going for a turn.

Buffing:
Bless (C1): Not very nice, doesn't last long enough. Cast during a battle, or immediately before.
Chant (C2): About the only good level 2 Cleric spell, so you can store as many copies of this as you can use. Lasts twice as long as Bless, but stacks with it, for a good +2 +2.
Draw upon Holy Might (C2): The other good second level mage spell, once you have at least casting level 6. Rangers and Paladins particularly will find this good once they reach casting level 9, since +3 to all your combat stats is a nice boost. Lasts a turn, but takes a long time to cast, which makes it a bastard to use in surprise battles. Combine with a potion of Fire Giant Strength and you have a temporary Str 25 to play with. Fun.
Strength(M2): This is a very good mage spell. It lasts for ages and improves any fighter it's cast on to 18/00, so that's at least a boost of +1 +1 in damage, and usually better.
Haste (M3): Gives your whole party boots of speed and a bonus attack, if only for a short time. The Ranger Valygar can cast this once he gets level 3 spells.
Defensive Harmony (C4): Short duration, but the +2 to AC can push your fighters to insanely high levels of defense (-12AC, anyone?). It's also very fast to cast, which helps a lot.
Improved Haste (M6): Level 6 mage spells in general are a bit of a disappointment, with the exception of this spell. Improved haste can turn one of your fighters into a death machine, doubling their number of attacks. It's not hard to get 6 attacks per round with this spell, for a good turn of combat. A useful Dragon killer spell.

Anti-defense:
Breach (M5): Removes stone skin and Mantle protections from Mages. Great if you can get it off at the start of a battle when the mage is casting other random protection things - all of a sudden you get a mage surrounded by three big angry fighters, with no melee spell defenses. This is a seriously good spell, since fighter characters generally struggle a LOT against stone skin protections, wasting one or more critical hits in removing the skins.
Lower Resistance (M5): Lowers magic resistance on the target. You'll need at least two copies of this spell for it to be effective, and a further casting of Pierce Magic won't hurt as well. Takes a long time, but once you've done it, you can unleash a hail of fireballs, lightning, magic missile etc against the previously invulnerable target. However, many combats won't even last this long, so this tactic works much better if you have two highish level mages (e.g Edwin and Imoen). Put this on a Sorceror and you are really in business. And if you are in a party that depends a lot on its Mages to do damage, this spell is essential.
Pierce Magic (M6): Slightly crap, since it doesn't dispell the highest level of protection like Ruby Ray, but this often doesn't matter because the target in question won't be using more than two. It dispels one Anti-Magic spell, and lowers magic resistance at the same time.

[Greg W]

Oh, I can't believe you forgot Silence 15" radius - excellent spell.

Would throw a few more in (esp as you haven't covered offensive spells), but it's been a good 6 months since I played...

One tactic I do remember is throwing Web, Entangle, Stinking cloud, and any other Area of Effect (AoE) spell at a bunch of enemies. Works great at killing off the magic users opposing you.

[Shining1]

I found Silence 15' (foot, Greg, 15 inches isn't really that much use) radius to be almost completely ineffective against enemy mages - it delayed them for an entire round while they cast vocalise and then went back to casting spells. Assuming it didn't bounce off whatever magic resistance they had in the first place.

The level 5 Druid spell with the insects was much better for that.

I'd also include Animal Summoning II and the Animate Dead spell as useful additions, although Animate dead isn't especially useful until level 15 - those skeleton warriors are great, though.

I also really like the 7th level Cleric spell Sunray (or something like that) for those times you are surrounded with Undead. Everything just dies.

And my all time favourite spell (so far, and not including time stop) - GATE. Being able to summon a huge fireball hurling demon is just so much fun.

[Funkodrom]

Originally posted by Greg W
Er, that sounds like a Beholder Mike, and they can be very dangerous even to a fairly well equipped party. I remember the easiest way to get past them is via a ring of spell turning - let it kill itself basically. Only problem is you probably won't have one right now.

Apparently it's an Oilypant or something like that Rachel knew what it was. Takes magic weapons and spells to hurt it.

Originally posted by Greg W
Spells - yeah, you can write them in your spellbook long before you can actually cast them.

Hmmm...

Originally posted by Greg W
[B]Healing potions? Man, I forgot the game even had healing potions (assuming it does of course, and Mike is not just hallucinating ). As soon as possible, go into Jaheira's spells, and learn some healing spells. Thay come in danged useful. I can't even try and imagine trying to get through the game without ever casting healing spells, unless you want to save and reload every fight you have until you get a result where nobody gets hurt much. And there are some fights where people are going to get hurt, regardless. I usually found that it was healing spells that made me sleep to recover spells, not mage spells. You learn to use them regularly though, they are danged useful to have.

What I didn't realise is that you can rest at any time!!!!! That makes all my worries about spells totally pointless as I can use them all up then just rest and get them back. I assumed that you'd need to get to somewhere safe before you could rest but apparently you can rest at any time you aren't in combat. Which seems totally ludicrous but it'll make life a hell of a lot easier.

There are healing potions in the game and you can use them in combat if you keep them in the character's quick items. Means you use an action of the injured character rather than an action of the wizards.

My character actually started with 91Hp so he can take a lot more damage than the guys I started with, and he's got AC-1 at the moment. Bad guys seem to realise that and concentrate their attacks on the other party members.

Shiny: Some of those spells make sense but some of them I don't get because I'm not familiar with the spells they are countering.

It's sounding more and more like I'm going to have to learn all the bloody spells, even if it's just so I know what people are using against me. Wizards are gay.

[Funkodrom]

It was an Otyugh, knew it was something like Oilypant.

http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/ima...con_otyugh.jpg

[Resource Consumer]

Beware the Beholder cavern - that is really nasty.

Unless, of course, your main character has AC -10 and a cloak of spell turing (IIRC). Means you clean out all the beholders with ease.

Just had to send my main character in alone and keep the others out of the way.

[Funkodrom]

Yeah, I'm still in the first dungeon so hopefully won't meet anything that nasty yet.

[Resource Consumer]

There are still some real nasties there, though.

[Funkodrom]

Like the oilypant?

[Resource Consumer]

Nastier - but I'm not telling.