I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

[Caciss]

but I hate games with D&D rule sets.

how do I make this fun?

[Ryner]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

Play Baldur's Gate 2 instead, it's so awesome you won't even care about the D&D rules.

[Caciss]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

but won't that ruin the experience :O

[Red Dragon]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

No.

Boo says No as well.

Boo is very smart.

[John Mora]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

No, I'm extremely ignorant of D&D rules. What do they entail?

[Big Country]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

No, I'm extremely ignorant of D&D rules. What do they entail?

Rule 1: Ye shall speaketh as I

[marcus]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

but I hate games with D&D rule sets.

how do I make this fun?

Read the manual.

[Karim]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

I agree you should probably just skip BG1 since honestly it's pretty rough without knowing any rules simply for the fact it starts off at level 1. (A single lucky magic missile can randomly kill you for the majority of the game, and the game throws a lot worse things at you than that.)

As for BG2; You can very easily just ignore a lot of the rules by powergaming a bit. For example, if you make your player character a Paladin or Fighter-Cleric or another Fighter-hybrid and fill your party with the stronger fighters and fighter-hybrids (IE, Minsc and Jaheira) you can pretty much steamroll over most encounters without having to actually micromanage spells and worry about the rules behind them. The first time I played BG2 my character was a Paladin that ended up being so powerful she could kill mindflayers on her own, despite the fact that they could kill her in two hits, or decimate my entire party if anyone else got close to them.

You also might want to turn the difficulty down a notch or download a patch that removes some of the ****tier rules. There's a couple ones the game has turned on by default that ultimately serve no purpose other than to frustrate you; like people dying permanently if critically hit without a helmet on.

[Dallas Alvis II]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

I agree you should probably just skip BG1 since honestly it's pretty rough without knowing any rules simply for the fact it starts off at level 1. (A single lucky magic missile can randomly kill you for the majority of the game, and the game throws a lot worse things at you than that.)

As for BG2; You can very easily just ignore a lot of the rules by powergaming a bit. For example, if you make your player character a Paladin or Fighter-Cleric or another Fighter-hybrid and fill your party with the stronger fighters and fighter-hybrids (IE, Minsc and Jaheira) you can pretty much steamroll over most encounters without having to actually micromanage spells and worry about the rules behind them. The first time I played BG2 my character was a Paladin that ended up being so powerful she could kill mindflayers on her own, despite the fact that they could kill her in two hits, or decimate my entire party if anyone else got close to them.

You also might want to turn the difficulty down a notch or download a patch that removes some of the ****tier rules. There's a couple ones the game has turned on by default that ultimately serve no purpose other than to frustrate you; like people dying permanently if critically hit without a helmet on.

Play it on Insane difficulty No, I'm kidding, I'll give you that, Karim. Some of the rules are pretty hardcore (but for D&D enthusiasts, that's the point though) But, she's right; if you don't want to feel bound to D&D rules this is one way of eliminating it. There are also mods (like at Sorcerer's Place, Gibberlings Three, etc.) that give custom add-ons or tweaks to rules to either make the game less constrictive to D&D (or some to make it more challenging). Hell, even custom portraits can be found at those sites if you don't like the ones the game has. Let me do some searches and I'll produce some links. I've even made a few of my own portrait edits if you or anybody want them.

One more thing I want to point out though that Karim forgot to mention. In BG1, turning down the Difficulty Slider will affect the amount of experience points your party gains. BG2 does this as well to some extent, if I remember correctly (haven't carried my BG1 character to it yet and haven't played BG2 in a while). For example, taking the difficulty down removes the rule "Permenant Death From Massive Damage" for the whole party, and makes the enemies not do as much damage but they aren't worth as much experience points. I don't remember if quest experience points are effected or not (as I'm playing with the Default Ruleset) but I want to say they are. I'd say take the slider down by just one, so it takes some of the AD&D feel and you can still have some challenge factor. This also won't hurt your potential character growth as much (Trust me when I say that you want to be at least a 6th level party before you fight the final boss.)

Edit: Here's the links:

http://www.gibberlings3.net/
http://www.sorcerers.net/
http://www.forgottenwars.com/dudleyfix/bg1_tweaks.htm - Thought I'd include this because it gives a few mods and tweaks that don't change the entire game but most just make small changes. (Maximum Hit Points per level, etc. may make it easier and takes the Hit Dice rule and chucks it out the window)

There's also an "Ease of use" mod that I keep hearing about, it may be at the sorcerer's place, but I should warn two things:

1. Some will take the challenge factor from the game (and MAY hurt the experience, depends on your preference and taste), which is why I tend to use mods that just add flavor or quests and whatnot. Also be careful not to download like 20 freakin mods, too many mods like with most games can clash with others and may crash your game.
2. Read carefully before you download, you may need to patch your game before you download that mod. Which brings me to say that, read Bioware's information on their patches too. If you have 'Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga' I don't think you need a patch. But vanilla BG and 4-in-1 Boxset (which I got) do need to be patched.

Hope this helps. I understand this game isn't for everybody, but I hope you enjoy it

[Caciss]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

Read the manual.

I went to like 5 stores looking for it, but couldn't, so I pirated it.

Everyone else thanks.

[Dallas Alvis II]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

There isn't a manual on the CD? (in Acrobat??). Unless you got the original 5-disc game, it should have an Acrobat format manual on the CD. But I could be wrong there.

[John Mora]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

Doesn't Amazon have Baldur's Gate? Or is this like Gloomy and no credit card company will have you?

[Caciss]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

I don't have any money in my checking account and I don't wanna wait for it in the mail, when I don't have a definite address at the moment.

[Dallas Alvis II]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

Yes Mora, I got my 4-in-1 boxset of Baldur's Gate off of Amazon. It was $19.88 for a new copy. I didn't get it express though...

[John Mora]

Re: I want to enjoy Baldur's Gate

I don't have any money in my checking account and I don't wanna wait for it in the mail, when I don't have a definite address at the moment.

Then I guess that gives you the right to do whatever you want!