Latest Poll Results - Party Size

Oh, I believe it. Solo is the way I prefer to play, and is arguably the easiest in the BG games. Myself, I fall into "varies with each game" crowd, as I enjoy playing solo, or 'semi-solo' with a main character and a thief for traps and locks, and of course you can't ignore the advantages of party play, whether it be banter in BG2 or party strength in IWD1. Though truth be told, by the time I've exhausted my current planned party ideas, I'll have played with every number of characters between 1 and 6.

 

Ah, but soloing is highly rewarding in other areas. You end up with more XP and GP than you can shake a stick at (though I'm not sure how or why you would do that ), and manuevering is much more simplified (trying to get a party to move in formation isn't always easy). With a party you can only very rarely quit a battle once it's joined, but solo you can skip out of there with Boots of Speed and prepare to re-enter combat at your leisure. Add to that whatever feeling you get from soloing (challenge w/ hard mods, singular power, or just a general RPing attitude of not endangering anyone else for your purposes) and soloing makes a very enjoyable alternative to party play.

Now, I can't really imagine doing only soloing, but for someone else these advantages might overwhelm the disadvantages of a party's broader skills and banter. Plus you did ask for "usually", so I imagine some of those who voted for solo play a party every now and then for the banter, but after the years that these games have been out I bet more than a few have gotten tired of the same old banter and just want to play the game.

 

"Only playing solo" does not have to mean that you never played the game with a party. It could mean that you have played with a party but stopped doing that years ago.

 

Well, I have never played solo on BG, and I don't think I ever will, as Tal points out, the beauty of this game is all the interaction that you can do with the NPC, wether that is romances or just banter.
It might make it slower to go thru the game, but the benefit of party interaction outweights it. And if you play multiple times and find the normal NPCs boring, you could always download one of the great NPC mods out there, there is many ways to make the game more interesting than just soloing.
But the again, that's just me

 

I, too, have never played solo in BG and doubt I ever will. The interactions of the NPCs are an important part of the game to me and contribute to what makes BG unique. In fact I add the Banter Pack to make it even more interesting.

 

Only being able to control one type of character leaves me feeling too bored, too fast. I love the variety of being able to control several different characters with different classes (and different alignments perferably as well).

The only way I can do one player is if I have extensive RP choices to show all the personality facets of my character, something I generally can't do in BG, BG2, IWD, IWD2 or any other computer game. Having multiple characters helps me seal RP holes (which typically tend to encompass my chaotic characters).

 

I like to use different characters as well. It is much more fun and gives the player a more personal touch to his party. Which is also why I like IWD more than BG because you get to create and develop your own characters with your touch and not have some pre-developed party.