So I decided that I needed to start over.
I may yet indeed vanquish the Demon Knight with my original party. However, I see that I started the game over a year ago and was absent from it for long periods. Also, since I found Haeravon's fantastic FAQ I realized that I had a very weak party (well, I didn't have a cleric and I had Neera the Wild Mage). My choice of Neera was very very bad. She may be the most annoying character ever created, and she isn't even a good mage. Also, I passed up Minsc, who is a sequel character and supposedly provides great entertainment. And Minsc has a hamster, or something.
I've lost the flow of the game by now. People replay this game many times, usually, so there's no harm in starting again.
I will accept Neera when I meet her for just a moment in order to get her gem bag, which is an incredibly useful item. (In fact, that might be a good option for every character I meet. Loot 'em, then kick 'em out.)
I will take Minsc. I will also get a cleric, probably Viconia even though she's evil, because she comes in early and reputedly has good banter with Ajantis. I'll stick with Jahiera, who is a good druid (but not a cleric--turns out that druids are not clerics), and kill off Khalid. I'll also keep Imoen and dual class her when I can. And I probably will take Haeveron's advice and dual class my protagonist into a fighter-mage, eventually. I wish I could get Kagain this time, even though he's evil, because I really liked him, but I don't think there's room. I will certainly get Ajantis because I need his charisma. I think that's pretty much the standard party, with most of them sequel characters.
I'm going to follow the FAQ because I want to suck the marrow out of the game.
Nice picture! The Friendly Arms Inn
I will not post as much with this playthrough, because the thread is already too long. I'll just jump in here with some updates on how things are going. But I really think starting over is the best idea, as I've been away from the game for so long.
This is the classic of classic RPGs. This is probably the best video game ever made. It deserves a dedicated playthrough, not just starting and stopping all the time the way I've been doing. I don't mind following the FAQ this time because I've already made lots of my own decisions in the previous playthrough, so I can just simply do things better this time.
And plus, I love the music in this game (especially in the inns), so I will enjoy that again!
And off I go!
Update: Well isn't that nice! I emailed Haeravon with some questions and he answered quite promptly! Now I think I've got a really good start. I am a half-elf fighter/mage, true neutral this time. I have given myself Identify and Magic Missile as my first two spells (I almost picked Lohroch's Minor Drain, which is good, and/or Sleep, but I can get those soon. The Identify spell saves me money at the start and I'll use that throughout the game.) I rolled a 91 after 45 minutes of trying to get a 92. Pfft. So my Wisdom and Charisma took hits, but I don't need 'em, and I have 18 in everything else. This makes me simply awesome. At Haeravon's advice I don't have any ranged weapons, but with my strength and constitution, I probably don't need that at first. I can get throwing axes maybe.
Up-Update: Ha ha. I read over some of my early entries, and found myself dismissing some of the FAQ's statements. Silly me. I really only glanced at it when I needed it before. Now I'm following its advice, and it is quite excellent.
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