Thinking of playing BG2 again

[Valmy]

Well it works for me... There is even a 1,5 GB workaround for the water-is-green, or you could try to turn off the 3D accelleration.

I already corrected the water-is-green issue but that had nothing to do with Vista at all, the problem existed in XP.

I think it had to do with transferring my saved games and such over, but I am not starting over again just for Vista.

[saskganesh]

you can delete BG1 as the files you need are now in the TUTU directory.
keep BG2 though. those are not copied.

Can I do an uninstall, or just delete the folder?

I just delete it. If you uninstall, make sure you uninstall from the right directory (Blackisle/bg ..or whatever). There still will be files you will need to delete after uninstall.

[Zanza]

Hmm, maybe I should play it again too. Playing both games from start to finish sounds tempting. IIRC, using bows was really powerful in BG1 though while it is almost useless in the later stages of BG2. So that would be an interesting choice to make.

The evil characters in BG2 (Korgan, Viconia, Edwin) are much better than their good counterparts somehow. Going evil doesn't really work well in the game though, which is a bit sad. There is a mod that allows you to keep them with a good reputation though.

[Berkut]

I always thought that a Fighter with the Sword Saint kit that was immediately reclassed to Sorcerer would be an interesting choice for the main character.

You end up with a sword wielding mage that has pretty decent hitpoints, and the no armor is no loss, since the sword saint cannot wear it anyway.

[Lucidor]

It's possible to make a whole set of characters from the beginning and then play with them through the game, right?

Is it recomended? I was a bit surprised, and a little unhappy when Kaled killed my necromancer and halfling thief-fighter, since that left me without a magician, and I've just only gotten an invoker, or a wizardwoman of some sort. Perhaps it'd be easier to have a party with either evil or good characters? The bickering and the randomness in the default group is fun, though.

What's a good mix of characters? 4 or 5 in total? One or two warriors that can bind the enemy in a melee, 1 ranger, one druid/priest and one magician?

[Berkut]

IIRC, you really, really, REALLY need a thief of some kind.

[Lucidor]

IIRC, you really, really, REALLY need a thief of some kind.

For the find traps and lockpicking, or something else?

[Berkut]

IIRC, you really, really, REALLY need a thief of some kind.

For the find traps and lockpicking, or something else?

Yeah, traps and lockpicking.

[Zanza]

I always thought that a Fighter with the Sword Saint kit that was immediately reclassed to Sorcerer would be an interesting choice for the main character.

You end up with a sword wielding mage that has pretty decent hitpoints, and the no armor is no loss, since the sword saint cannot wear it anyway.

I tried that for a solo game once and it is an unbelievably powerful combo. You rise in level so quickly that before long you can cast time stop which means you can just annihilate everybody with your swords while they don't hit back. I played through half of BG2 with that IIRC.
But you should not immediately dual to mage, but wait until level 9. That would give the Kensai (that was the name of the Sword Saint IIRC) a +1 to hit and a weapons specialisation IIRC.

[saskganesh]

It's possible to make a whole set of characters from the beginning and then play with them through the game, right?

Is it recomended? I was a bit surprised, and a little unhappy when Kaled killed my necromancer and halfling thief-fighter, since that left me without a magician, and I've just only gotten an invoker, or a wizardwoman of some sort. Perhaps it'd be easier to have a party with either evil or good characters? The bickering and the randomness in the default group is fun, though.

What's a good mix of characters? 4 or 5 in total? One or two warriors that can bind the enemy in a melee, 1 ranger, one druid/priest and one magician?

Xzar always dies in my games. All it takes is one Kobold arrow. I replace him with either Edwin or Dynaheir, who are both better mages. Xan is not.

All good or all evil (with some neutrals along for the ride) probably easiest. the game is designed for a good party. if you get too bad, bad things happen. it's trickier.

My ideal number is 5.5. So fighter tank, magician blaster, thief trap and lockpick specialist, cleric protector/healer and a second fighter type (archer). The number six slot is filled by whoever's subquest I am doing (NPC project mod adds sub quests for most of the NPCS).

if you have multiclassers or doubleclassers in your 5 you get a lot of flexibility of roles, which is good.

[ulmont]

But you should not immediately dual to mage, but wait until level 9. That would give the Kensai (that was the name of the Sword Saint IIRC) a +1 to hit and a weapons specialisation IIRC.

Also gives the Kensai maximum hit dice.

[Zanza]

Based on BG2, I would try to get Imoen, Jaheira, Edwin, Viconia and Khaled into my party in BG1.

[saskganesh]

Based on BG2, I would try to get Imoen, Jaheira, Edwin, Viconia and Khaled into my party in BG1.

decent party. I like to dual Immy to magician around level 3/4. or you could go canon and have Minsc/Dynaheir instead of Edwin/Viconia.

why? because then you get Boo...

There's lots of great combos. Like, having both Kivan and Coran in the group makes for a killer archer tag team.  And archery in BG1 owns the Sword Coast.

I've played BG1 fairly regularly this year and I am at the stage where I experiment with weird combos.

like how about a Xan (we are doomed!), Garrick (wow!), Alora (neat!), Faldorn (kill humans!), Safana (I'm too sexy to have a personality or a romance!) party? The PC then should really be a priest of Ilmater, the crying god, who is suffering for his sins.

Of course, with the right gear, this weak, neutralish group could still be pretty buffed.

[Josquius]

I always just went with the canon (before I knew it was canon) of Jahera, Khalid, Imoen, Minsc and Dyranhir.
Sometimes I'd dump Khalid for Alanis (or whatever he was called...the paladin)

[Sahib]

I hate Vista.

I worked for me without problems