Blasphemy I Know - Baldur's Gate City...

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My first time playing BG I actually stopped once I reached the city. I was overwhelmed, confused and just burned out. I put the game on hold for a week or two but when I came back fresh I was ready to open every door and fully explore the city.

 

Because it is so hard to work out what the heck is going on and you get overuse injury from trying to open every door and box to see if it has something relevant. Especially that one quest where you have find something that someone lost. It could be anywhere!

 

My biggest problem was the first few times through the game I did nothing but power through the first plot and by the time I made it through all the Scar and Elton quests I was too weak to finish the game. The skeleton archers did me in everytime!

So one month I finally decided I was going to do the ENTIRE thing. I grabbed a hint site that told me where all the quests were (though not how to finish them) and I did every last one. There's some pretty funky stuff in there, but you need a lot of patience to finish it.

On the other hand I was ready for some serious Sarevok butt kicking action after that.

Piece of advice if you try that though...do all the small questions in the city first. Doing them after coming back was a pain to say the least.

 

I've never tried that actually. So you can technically reduce chapter 5 to a 30-minute affair (or less). Interesting.

I can't really compare them and say I like one better. Their structures are too different. Athkatla is very well ordered, with specific splitting between which area of the city has what (very much like Sigil now that I think of it). Baldur's Gate is far more chaotic, as if the city had sprung up at one point and simply expanded in all directions. There is some kind of division (the docks to the south, the central market square, the rich area in the northwest...) but it feels more like one unified city, rather than little areas that are completely unrelated (which is what I dislike about Athkatla). The structural differences fit very well with the quests too: in BG you've got loads of little quests all over the chaotic city, while in SoA you've got fewer but much more detailed quests. I think each design has its flaws, but I like both

 

@ Harbour,

That's why I love it! There's so many things to do which keep you occupied! And going through the entire city is supposed to be fun!

 

To tell the truth, my character was as good as they were gonna get by the time I got to the city so I just did what I had to and nothing else I'll have to go back later and take on all these millions of side quests some other time

I just buffed up my solo paladin and went charging into combat!...I can't stand parties, it gets too complicated.

 

I enjoyed the city, and look forward to getting there again. I think it was a great idea to make it so big and complicated. Tedious? Maybe, if you're the "Charrge!!" type of player. But if you can take pleasure in method, there are many rewards in Baldur's Gate,

 

If you're someone who likes a straightfoward melee then go buy Diablo. This is a RPG and as such there's alot of role playing to do, in tha city included.

 

I liked the city too. Bashing is not my style.

 

Going through and looting all of the houses in BG was tedious and repetitive (and as I later found out unnecessary). I sure got my money's worth.

Many of the quests found were interesting but there were also lots of tedious ones (fetching or delivering). Finding that poison cure was a pain as were a few others. The main plot quests were great in BG, there was just too much uninteresting fluff in the side quests. Sure it made for a more immersive environment, but it made it less fun for me.

On the other hand, in BG II there aren't too many empty houses to explore, and the quests there are much more interesting. I prefer depth over quantity (i.e. more epicness).

 

Oh so now I'm a hack and slasher because I didnt love the city? Hmmm... I've played Temple of Elemental Evil to completion, Gothic 2, most of this game, Icewind Dale, most of Morrowind, most of POR2 so please...I won't even say it.

BTW, I'm in Chapter 6 now. I did the Seven Suns, the Child Body recovery and the Poison quest. It took a few times to kill the 4 or 5 ogre mages in that building near the Iron Throne - it was actually harder than sacking the Throne itself. Also, I noticed in the text bar that I was cured as soon as Merek attacked - so I still havent taken the potions. That certainly seemed odd.

I'll admit I stopped by the travel agent and picked up a map of BG City. It was obviously quite helpful. I didnt feel too bad about it since realistically, who would wander aimlessly around a city, loaded with quests, and not pick up a basic map???

It made up for silly things like NPC's saying "...I can't tell you where in the temple the body is, but its there!". Umm... thanks. How about telling me where the temple is? Or... "All I can tell you is that Merek is in the Blushing Mermaid. I can't say anything more!". Um... how about where that is??? My all time favorite though - "You need to see Scar in the barracks. Its in the South West of the city." Oh... you mean the one right behind you 200 yards away to the NORTH west of where I'm standing? Clearly your scripted to tell me this as I exit the Seven Suns so how about something a little less misleading? You know, I do love the game but that's just plain silly.

 

Quoting Harbourboy:

This is an incorrect approach, and unfortunately many if not most of the players think in this way.
You don't *have to* open every door if you don't want to -- normally in a city, you don't break/go into private houses/buildings (in BG commoners often ask you to leave). So it's realistic in this way. I agree that maybe more quests should be connected to these places, but then it would be not be so realistic. It would not give the feeling: I'm in a huge city, and maps locations that can't be known normally are not marked (xy's house, like in BG2). And the idiot attitude of BG2 by pumping quests into you, you run into quests everywhere -- unrealistic. Well, BG1 is not for BG2 lovers.

 

Now we know at least where the long gameplaying time BG is famous for comes from.

 

I was also a bit "put of" from the town itself. But i just do as my usual ranger does, look inside, turn around and return to the wilderness.

Didn't know i could skip all those Scar quests though, good idea for next time.

 

I'm on my way out of Candlekeep, on the verge of Chapter 7. Finished the tombs and I'm in a cave, just killed a bunch of folk waiting for Saverok. I can taste it now - I'm going to FINALLY finish BG1. Its been 8 years in the making LOL. I bought this thing the day it was released...

 

Hey Todd!

What about ToSC? You don't want to miss Durlag's Tower. Except for the final chapter in BG, it was my favorite part.

 

I have it, but I forgot to install it before I ran the BG1Tutu conversion. I think I'll pass on Durlag's Tower at least for now.

EDIT:
So I almost had a premature end to BG last night. The game kept crashing while I was fighting Kristen in the Undercellar. Turned out BG1TuTu had a bad spell file related to either Dispel Magic or Minor Globe of Inv.

So the MAJOR bugs I've encountered so far are that and Cloakwood #3 (Area 2100) when I entered that map.

I'm at the coronation now, hopefully I can finish this thing without any more crashes. I'm glad I did BG1Tutu overall, but the two showstoppers I've stumbled on should be better documented. I've seen references to them in the Pocketplane forums but the Devs havent even posted FAQ workarounds for them. I know people are busy but that seems like a necessary action - as it stands the users are more or less sorting out workarounds. Oh well.

[ March 01, 2006, 14:56: Message edited by: ToddMcF2002 ]

 

Ugh, glad I'm not the only one get disheartened by the City.
The journal and map don't help much. I was really surprised when a random bastard showed up and told me I got poisoned by Marek, who I have no clue either. And after that I had to spend 30 minutes to find out the Blade and Sword inn >__>

I'm busy for now anyway, hopefully I will get back the mood in a week or two.

Btw, excuse me if I miss anything. I didn't read all your posts for keeping spoilers at minimum

 

Not a Spoiler - just grab the annotated map of the city from the BG resources on this site. If you think about it, when was the last time you visited a city having absolutely no clue where things were? Even tourists arent that dumb - and your an experienced quester

I used it and I make no apologies

 

Personally I liked the city - because there was so much to explore there, which to me is probably the best element in BG (and is where BG2 fails) - it's very free-roaming - and getting hopelessly lost is part of the experience .