Not Pony-Related: Gushing on Baldur's Gate

As the title says.

Gushing. On Baldur's Gate.

As The Fiery Joker once briefly covered, it is not a game for everybody. He himself said, IF I am recalling a posted vid correctly, that while he gave it a chance, it just wasn't for him.

For me... I have a blast playing it, especially in recent days.

See, I kept underestimating Warrior classes (Fighter and its kits in BGEE, specifically) because of how... simple they were. And I never played the Mage (again) because of how methodical the player has to be when your character will no matter what die in one or two hits, and I was... basically impatient about gathering Scrolls for my character to learn spells. So, I usually played Clerics or Rangers. Then, after watching a certain recent episode of Samurai Jack, I decided just to be silly and make a Barbarian named "Scotsman".

Then in this game I find fun... it became more so (and less frustrating). Still, my party alas does not include Minsc, because like Minsc, my Barbarian carries a big sword and a longbow.

I also came to realize that recruiting either Montaron and Xzar or Jaheira and Khalid is a "peer pressure" trap for inexperienced players. You do as they say and rush to Nashkel... You're going to die. A lot. Roam the countryside and do sidequests, then by the time you finish chapter two you will be ready to go.

Instead, I started out with Imoen and Scotsman, then went to Beregost and got Neera, and then killed Silkie and recruited Garrick. And then we wandered around the countryside and avoided the mines until we were... well, my Barbarian was level four or five, and we curbstomped the Nashkel Mines. Also, before that, un-stoned Branwen the Cleric and recruited her to heal. Even got her that lightning hammer from a quest. Oh, and Rasaad too, because monks and needing somebody else for melee that wasn't paired with anybody.

Garrick comes in handy saving a spell slot for Neera because of his high Lore as a Bard, and saves me money usually so I don't have to get magic items ID'ed at a temple. Also, I realize Bard Song comes in handy.

Branwen is an example of an AI that knows how to be a Cleric better than I do, outside of my occasional calls to remove poison.

Imoen's lockpicking and hiding are nice for scouting. Same for trap disabling. Never have gotten off a backstab though.

Rasaad is a glass cannon, really. He doesn't do as much damage per hit as Scotsman, but he can still keep up he still hits faster... until he gets hit too many times and falls dead. Still, he can't use and doesn't need much, so he can be a secondary pack mule to Scotsman as well.

Neera can either be really good... or really bad. Comes with being a Wild Mage. Usually, however, she's good. Just need to be careful with my favorite spell because Fireball has a wider explosion range than I thought.

Scotsman, I got lucky and then min-maxed from there, thematically giving him 9 Intelligence and being able to raise his Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution to 18, with the Strength even getting the highest possible value of 18/00 for a Human character. Made the mistake of choosing Shortbow as an initial proficiency, but making up for it. Also, love having the Spider's Bane two-handed sword. It helps. A shame he can't wear Ankheg Plate Mail, though. At least Branwen benefits from it.

So, yeah, this was nothing more than a post to gush and maybe open up conversation with anybody else that likes this game.

I have BGIIEE, so when I beat this one, that's a port over. :D

Happy days, folks.