Baldur's Gate 10: Try it Again

So I read the FAQ and realized that because I didn't loot the body of the boss in my first Nashkell Mines quest, I missed out on a couple of good magical items, especially a ring that gives my Druid an extra spell per level! That was too important to miss. Also, I wasn't happy with how tough I found everything in that wilderness area outside of the mines.

So, I reloaded my old savegame, fortunately after I'd cleared out level three of the mine, but had not yet vanquished the boss. I did it again, and this time used some strategy. Had far less trouble, and remembered to loot the guy. Not only did I get the letters and the ring, but some nice boots too. I'm still looking for a few pairs of magical boots for my party.

I also rested in the boss's lair, apparently the only safe place to rest in the mines. So I was charged up and ready for the wilderness area this time.

After that I redid the wilderness area. First I tackled the really tough fight, the bounty hunter. I gulped down some potions as my first act in that fight, and although it was still a tough fight, only Kivan and Jaheira took any real damage. Everybody else was pretty well protected. I got off more spells because I gave Neera a potion of speed. Had to pay attention to it, but I think it helped a lot.

I healed up Kivan and Jaheira, and marched off to the west side of the map, looking for the tombs. This time I knew there were three, not just one. Plus, the first one you find says there are three. It did take awhile to find all of them, as one was on the right side of the map, but I dispatched the revenants in short order and looted everything of the good stuff there. Plus, I realized that I could rest in the tombs. That worked nicely.

Three tombs. They're not this close together on the map. Great for sleeping!

The only really tough fight after that was the mage with the poisonous slimes. I tried a different strategy this time: I hit the mage with plenty of fire power and took him out early. The slimes are immune to most attacks, including magic ones. So I bunched up on them and took 'em out with melee attacks, which were the only things that worked. It took quite awhile to get 'em, but being up close they couldn't spit their poison out at me. I actually got out of that unwounded. 

After that it was just the usual skeletons and a few gnolls and some war dogs. Took those out and cleared out the whole area. Nice!

Back to Naskell. I identified all this good stuff and divvied it up amongst my party. Only mistake I made was taking the bounty for the emeralds, then unfortunately hit the wrong button and quicksaved instead of reloading, so I'll have to wait for my next game to find out if I got more money from the bounty than the emeralds would have brought. Still, after selling a buncha short swords + 1 and other items I don't need, I have almost 13,000 coins again! Nearly enough for Neera's mage robe.

Also, I sorted through all the scrolls and found a dispel magic, plus some other good level three spells for Neera. She can't cast them until she gets another level (the Google machine says you have to reach level five to cast level three spells . . . whatever . . .), but I've got 'em.  Also got some good potions that should protect from magic when I really need it.

All in all, that was well worth the replay!  I learned much more about fighting and using the stuff I've got. That's always been my downfall in my Avernum games. I collect all this good stuff and never use it. Use it! You're gonna find it all the way through the game. No point in hoarding it (although you don't want to use your major potions on just anyone). 

Tomorrow I will continue with the regular questing (not Neera's wild mage quest--I can't do that one just yet).

Onward!

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Baldur's Gate 9: Easy Peasy, and then . . . Not

So I did the Nashkell Mines, and indeed it was easy peasy. I did spring some traps, but I quicksave a lot so I was able to go back and fix that. You don't get hurt very badly when you spring one, at least not there. At any rate, I've got Imoen up to 100% trap detection thanks to the FAQ, and she was able to find most of them.

As expected, the mine quest was a snap. You're really supposed to do that around level two, but I'm at four. Made one mistake. The dialogue said the "letters" were in the chest when I found the bad guy. Alas, in the Enhanced Edition they're on the guy's body. I spared him in the dialogue, but apparently he gets killed anyway during the battle. Got great loot out of the chest, but didn't take the letters. Went back to get them later. The body was gone, but the letters were still there, enabling me to complete the quest and therefore the chapter. Well that would have been awful game design if they let us make that mistake.

I also found a back way out of the mines, but you can't get back in that way if you take it. Fortunately I quicksaved just before going through it. Once I finished the quest, though (or thought I had), I went out into this new area. There I encountered another bounty hunter, the most powerful one so far. This was quite a battle and Kivan got pretty badly wounded, but I won it. Got more plate mail out of that, and some really nifty magical weapons and plenty of magic scrolls. Worth the fight!

After returning to the mines to get the letters I took that "door" again and had some fun stuff, but one battle I couldn't win against a mage creating slimes. Fortunately I'd quicksaved just before I met him, so I circled the area and left him alone in the middle. Did have a nice battle with some skeletons and a "revenant" in a cave. Guy passing by said to return the dagger. I did, killed the revenant and got excellent stuff from his tombs.

Yes, we always rob tombs in these RPGs. We rob everybody, if we can, especially in the beginning when we need the cash.

Alas, I think I must have sold "Jospeh's" greenstone ring, so I can't complete that quest. Probably put it in Imoen's gem bag (a very handy item that keeps your inventory unclogged. I've also got a scroll case and a potion carrier.) I went back to look for it but it seems to be gone. That's what you get for waiting so long to do the quest, you forget the minor stuff.

Slept and slept until Neera got everything identified. Sold lots of good stuff. I already have short swords +1, and you get a pretty penny for stuff like that. So now with the reward finally in hand for the Mines quest, I've got over 11,400 coins. 

But after that I went to the new area that Neera had talked about, looking for the other wild mage. That took me to a fun little area populated with goblins. One took me to the master guy, who attacked me. I didn't have much trouble with him. Used my new web spell.

However, after that, we get into a battle with several nasty mages, and I got slaughtered. Clearly, I'm not ready for this area yet. Loaded the autosave game and got back on the proper path, back to Beregorst.

I mean, I got eaten alive.

I must hie myself to High Hedge and buy a dispel magic scroll. I've had magic used on me three times tonight, with no defense. Ajantis got charmed in the final Mines battle and attacked Imoen. The bounty hunter got me somehow too, and the nasty mages in that new area just controlled me completely. So, I've got to learn how to deal with that.

All in all, a productive two nights! But the game, as it should, is getting tougher. So are my little characters, but I need to learn strategy.

Till tomorrow!

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Baldur's Gate 8: Back to Questing

Whew! I finally finished off the Ankhegs. I really think I got all of 'em, and found some nice loot with it. I got at least 18 of the things, and had my suit of armor made too. And ha, there is no penalty at all for exceeding the limit. I got my 75 coins for the quest, and the NPC said she "trusted" that I hadn't exceeded the limit. Probably because of my fantastic reputation and charisma. 

Nice, in the Enhanced Edition you only have to wait three days for the armor, instead of the ten days the original version required. While I was waiting I stole the smithy blind. He isn't there at night.

Also, I have had my encounter with the character Dorn. Looks like an interesting fellow. Should I want him he's at the Friendly Arms. Maybe next time I'll take the guy. I'll just have to go to the Naskell mines earlier than I'm doing this time.

I'm mostly Level Four now, but oddly, Neera still can't cast a level three spell that I really need. She "knows" it, but I can't get the thing into her daily spellbook. Perhaps we need to get a spell at level four before the level three daily stuff becomes available? Stupid, if so.

I also went to the mines and circled all around it. Got a fantastic longsword for Kivan, supposedly one of the best weapons in the game. I also finally got a +1 version of one of my Japanese weapons. Still haven't found another scimitar. 

Anyway, the FAQ says that at my level the mines should be a piece 'o cake. 

I'll do the mines tomorrow! Back to questing!

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Baldur's Gate 8: Screw the System

OK, so I've made some bones with the Gnolls, and got the Knock spell (which has already earned me considerable loot, even if the loot is still in bitsy pieces at the moment). Now it's time to make some money.

I headed north to tackle the Ankhegs. These are enormous bugs that live underground in this area. Slaughtering one and getting it's shell, plus whatever little goodie is buried with it, can rack up the cash. Ankheg shells sell for 500 coins apiece in Beregost. 

However, a snag occurs: we are warned that we can only take four (4) Ankheg shells per party. In the old game it used to be ten. Fuggidaboudit. I'm taking as many as I can get. I'm tired of being poor in this game, and the two mage robes I need are going to cost upwards of 30,000 coins, not to mention a buncha spells and enhanced equipment.

I saved a game at the four Ankheg limit, but I have pressed on. I've also stashed one shell in Kagain's shop for my Ankheg armor. Once you order the armor you can't sell any more shells according to the FAQ. So far, nobody's stopped me and my reputation remains at 20. I suspect (just suspect) that unless you're stopped with more than four Ankheg shells in your party at one time you're OK. I can't carry more than two at a time anyway (they weigh 100 lbs each). I think I'll test that theory next time I play. 

I've got ten of 'em now. Am planning to get as many as I can before I have the armor made. Am racking up the cash.

They are, however, fairly tough fights:

Big Bug. Intimidating.

However, Ajantis is such a tank now that he's rarely injured. Neither is Emerald, thanks to that incredible 92 score I got for her during her character creation. It happens occasionally, but they're both pretty tough characters now, both at level four. Kivan gets hurt more often if I let him get into the fray instead of shooting arrows, so I want to get him some Bracers of Defense and some plate mail. That ought to help.

I continue to be impressed with the level of detail in this 15-year old game. Fish jump in the river. Butterflies flutter around flowers. Squirrels and chickens and cats and dogs wander around. Bald eagles and hawks fly overhead. Rain and snow falls, and lightening strikes. Kivan complains, "Why do we crawl about underground like Dwarven folk?" only when we're in a cave (as in the above pic). 

Another interesting thing happened. Neera stopped Emerald and said that she needed help with the wildness of her spells. She knows of an old wild mage in another area that can help her, and bingo, that area is automatically added to the world map once I say we'll go there. 

Plus, I finally got a fun wild mage surge on one of Neera's spells. It turned her into a wolf for a brief period. That was fine. She helped kill the Ankheg.

So now I'm glad indeed that I kept Neera in the party. 

Tomorrow, more Ankhegs. It's getting a bit tedious, but it's worth the money.

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Baldur's Gate 7: Gnolls! And Spells!

At last I have conquered the Gnoll Stronghold. Actually it really wasn't that tough. Yes, the Gnolls looked quite nasty indeed, but they fell to my Sleep spell like little babies. Once asleep, I slaughtered them rather easily.

So I found Dynaheir, the mage the guy on the videos likes so much. I looked at her spells. Practically nothing. Neera already has much more. Yes, she's annoying, but she's good aligned and, I learned from the Google machine, because Neera is a Wild Mage she isn't limited to any mage school. She can cast anything. That makes her more valuable.

Plus, she can cast Sleep, and Dynaheir can't. Ergo, I decided to keep the silly little thing. 

At some point I do want to try her Chaos spell just to see what might happen. The Google folks thought that the random stuff that occasionally happened was quite entertaining. There. My FAQ guy obviously only looked at her stats and decided he hated her. He hasn't tried playing with her at all. Betcha.

So! After the Gnoll stronghold, I found another area just south of Naskell, the one with the waterfall. I have to fish out a poor dead cat, but the little girl says her daddy can just bring it back from the dead again, so it's all fine. Also ran into a dryad who gave me a nice reward for saving a couple of trees from some louts. I got some nice weapons from the louts.

Mostly, though, I struck serious good luck. One of the monsters I slaughtered had the coveted Knock spell. The FAQ guy keeps saying to just use Knock to open locked stuff, but I looked it up. You can't buy it until you get to Baldur's Gate, which happens late in the game, I believe. He says it's really really lucky to get the scroll from a victim.

Even better, I scored the Gauntlets of Dexterity (called something else in the game, but they ought to be called "Gauntlets of Dexterity"). I put those on Ajantis and gave him the Ring of the Princes (Protection) as well, and the Girdle of Bluntness (saves from crushing hits). I now have made him into a serious tank. The guy's indestructible. Doesn't need ranged weapons unless he's just too far away from the enemy to stab it. Also, because of my incredible luck in creating my character, Emerald is pretty well a serious tank too.

And I'm now at 20 reputation, which is the highest you can get. I know this because I got another two more reputation points and it wouldn't go over 20. The Google machine says that evil characters will leave the party when you reach that level, and that you get a 50% (half!) discount when shopping. So, Kagain would have left me anyway. I did right by replacing him with Ajantis.

So tomorrow, I'm off to make some money. I've turned in two winter wolf pelts for $1000, sold one of the lout's hatchets for another grand, and now I've got the Knock spell! 

Serious money ahead. Then perhaps I can get one of those lovely mage's robes, and maybe even the Dagger of Venom.

Yum.

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Baldur's Gate 6: Going for the Gnolls

So I'm still trying to find the Gnoll stronghold, but I've gained quite a bit of experience on the trek. My reputation is now up to 19. I am, as the game says, "heroic." But it's early days yet. 

I've run into some interesting characters along the way, most of whom I have slaughtered. Reading the FAQ later, it seems I did the right things. The idea is to get 'em to attack you, slaughter them and take their stuff. I've got some interesting items from them.

I also saved a kid in a lighthouse. That was nice. Kivin was quite pleased with that "noble deed." 

I think I need to be heading south to find the Gnoll stronghold from where I am, because I encountered some enemies I wasn't nearly capable of defeating. They charmed me and seemed immune to my attacks. Ergo, I turned around. We will tackle those guys when we're stronger.

I have decided to dump Neera in favor of Dynaheir once I find her. The guy writing the FAQ hates Dynaheir because she just isn't in the right class of wizard and she doesn't have the Sleep spell. I must admit, I will miss that Sleep spell. It is awesome. He also hates Neera because her spells have a 5% chance of going wrong, sometimes in our favor and sometimes not. He thinks that's too risky. Actually, I've had no problem with it at all, but she is just so annoying! I know that Edwin is by far the best mage in the game, but he's "evil" and I'm playing "good" this go-round.

But Neera is really getting on my nerves. My choices for a good-aligned mage are pretty limited. Eventually I'll switch to only Imoen once I dual-class her--but I can't do that for another five levels. So Dynaheir it'll have to be. Other longtime players like her just fine. I may dump her mid-game for another fighter. We'll see. It's my game and I'll play like I wanna!

Had a very nice end-of-playing scene tonight. I decided to rest in that cave above the xvart village. First time I've rested in a cave, and there was a different graphic for it (with a spider!). Best of all, when I woke up, there were bats flying around and squeaking in the cave. For a 15-year old game, that's pretty impressive detail.

Anyway, till next time!

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Baldur's Gate 5: Advancing in Wizardry

I'm certainly not a wizard yet. I grow ever more irritated with Neera, the Wild Mage. She's got spells I need, but man she's annoying. Everybody has made it to level three now except Neera, but she's close. When she get that she ought to be able to cast "Hold Person," which the FAQ tells me I'll need to defeat a nasty evil villain, for $5,000 gold pieces, which I sorely need.

I mean, how am I ever going to be able to afford her Archmage Robes until she can do Hold Person?

Well. I went wandering to other areas. I get killed just occasionally. I sure wish I could get a ranged weapon for Ajantis. He can only do melee right now, and that leaves him vulnerable despite his plate mail.

I did have one really fun encounter: a talking chicken named Melicamp. Melicamp, it seems, was a student with the mage at High Hedge, our one-stop shopping place for all items magical. I was able to get him returned to human form, but fortunately the FAQ said to save before you tried that. Good thing.

I'm not really following the FAQ as much as it seems here. I normally go there for general advice, but occasionally remember some specifics I've read. 

Once I get this area done, IF I can do it (that's a heavy reward, and you don't get heavy rewards for easy fights), I'll head on to the Gnoll Stronghold, and then to the Naskell Mines. You have to be able to detect traps there and I've only got Imoen up to 95% trap detection, but I also have a spell that Neera can do to find traps, so I don't have to rely on just one character. Alas, that spell is at level three, so I don't know if Neera will be able to do it. We'll see.

Really, I think 95% probability is pretty good. I'll just quicksave a lot. I can't see the point in waiting any longer. But the Gnolls first.

So the Gnolls and the mine ought to be exciting! 

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Baldur's Gate 4: Fighting Monsters!

Wow! So I'm playing with Ajantis in the lead and I'm really liking him. His automatic responses to my clicks are far, far less annoying than Emerald's. My difficulty with him is that he doesn't have any ranged attacks, he always uses a sword, and that leaves him vulnerable even with the plate mail I got for him. I also stole Kagian's really nice helmet and gave it to him. 

The game uses "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" rules for all of these statistics. Complicated stuff! I understand why so many folks enjoyed playing that game decades ago, before they were available on computers.

However, we've had some good fights. The enemies are getting tougher, as they should. This time I even killed a couple of dire wolves! I'll have to go back to the Temple area and try that again now that I'm stronger. But my spellcasters are stronger now too, at level two, so that gives them more spells per day. I'm really liking the Sleep spell. Everybody's leveled up, and Emerald ought to hit level three tomorrow. 

Of course, eventually I'll give both Emerald and Imoen dual roles ad mages (only humans can do that), but the FAQs all say not to do it before the characters reach level nine. You lose all your advances in your other levels until you also hit level nine as a mage, and then you get them all back, but you can't advance in your original role. Hence, waiting until level nine gives you good fighting stuff while you continue to advance in your magery.

My reputation is now at 15, which is really good, and you can get as high as 20. With Ajantis's charisma and such a good rep, prices for equipment will be lots lower.

I have to admit that I'm not really missing Kagian, but I'll welcome him back in a playthrough with an evil party, heh heh. He's fun.

So, tomorrow I'll attack the Gnoll stronghold. Should be lots of experience points there!

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Baldur's Gate 3: Going Good

Aha! The Great Google has told me that there is no time limit in this game. Ergo, I decided to just go to the areas I'd been to before and clear 'em out. Found the Boots of Stealth and had not terrible fights with various enemies, until I tackled the dire wolfs in the Temple section. They got me several times before I gave up on my different strategies. Encountered my first bandits and remembered to collect their scalps. A couple of my characters are close to leveling up!

I also found the updated version of the FAQ I've been using. The guy recommends having a party that's either aligned to good or evil, but not to mix. I really like my dwarf fighter Kagian, but he does have an evil alignment, so I dumped him and recruited a Paladin, Ajantis, who has a charisma of 17. I put my special cloak on him to boost it to 19, giving us the best possible prices in the shops (prices rise or fall according to how the shopkeeper feels about you--one of the many reasons this game is so special). 

For a supposedly evil guy, Kagian certainly took it well. Everybody else I've kicked out has whined about it. Kagain just said he liked us and will rejoin the group if we ask him. Sadly, it's clear that Ajantis is the better choice for me this time. 

I definately will use Kagian again when I replay with an evil alignment, but the FAQ says that the party alignment matters when you import your characters to the sequel. Anyway, I put Ajantis, with his cloak, into the lead. I like his voice, and now when I click on the party to move, I get his voice instead of Emerald constantly saying "Don't worry about me." That's a relief. Sheesh.

So, that's all for now! I look forward to tonight!

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Baldur's Gate 2: I Will Make Time!

Yes yes, I have no time for this game. Foo. I will make time. Except when I have a deadline looming so close I can barely sleep, I watch Netflix in the evenings. So, I'll replace Netflix with my game (until that deadline starts to loom: I have two more book deliveries coming next week).

When I set up my character ("Emerald," of course, in honor of my good kitty) I chose "scimitar/ninjitode/wasta . . " as my primary weapon(s) of choice. I thought scimitars were kinda cool, and it gave me the chance to dual wield. Once I was into the game I realized that might have been a bad idea. I realized it when my scimitar broke due to the iron crisis on the Sword Coast. Nobody else seems to sell scimitars. I have got one each of the other weapons, but there don't appear to be many replacements out there for those either, and they could break too. Plus, in these fantasy games you always eventually find magically enhanced longswords, but I've never seen a magically enhanced scimitar. 

However, reading a FAQ about the game tells me that there is an enhanced scimitar somewhere in the game, and that in Baldur's Gate II there's a major scimitar to be had.

I can't do anything about it anyway. Fortunately, I put an equal amount of points into longbows, and that's doing better for me anyway. I really prefer ranged attacks. I finally found a buncha throwing axes for Kagian, so now everybody's got ranged weapons.

When I decided to go with the new character, Neera the Wild Mage, I was taking a chance. She is a good-aligned character, and except for Kagian I'm trying to play a good party (I'll try evil later). Gad, but Neera is annoying. She's apparently got an emotional age of about twelve, and constantly rushes into the thick of the battle and gets nearly killed, forcing me to use my rather limited healing spells on her. Finally I got her a slingshot, and she's staying back. I found her a wizard's ring, so she now gets two more spells per day. Plus, she comes with the Sleep spell, which is majorly nifty. Also, she comes with Identify, which is saving me lots of money, but I'm not sure it's worth the accumulated rest time. I don't know how time works in this game, whether it's unlimited or whether you need to finish within x-amount of days. We'll see.

So I finally got to Naskell and went everywhere there, although my FAQ says that there's some hidden plate mail there. I'll be off to get that as soon as I load up tonight. I also went to the carnival, which was fun, but I passed up getting Branwen, the war druid. Lots of people like her in place of Jaheira, but I've decided to stick with Jaheira, who's supposed to be awesome in the sequel (you can import your characters, or some of them, anyway).

I have finally leveled up, as has Imoen. That just happened, so I have to see what new abilities I have. That makes about half my party level two.

I sure wish I could turn off the character comments every time I click, but apparently I can't. Glad I chose the least annoying voice for my character, but it's beginning to grate. I turned off the "always comment" selection in the Options menu, but that didn't stop Emerald from saying things like "Don't worry about me" or "You want it, you've got it" every freaking time I single her out (or Imoen saying, "I've done had enough of this" Sheesh).

I've had some fights, but really nothing terribly tough yet, which is why I haven't leveled up faster. I must say that the Sleep spell is the best ever, and Neera appears to be an excellent mage, despite her mouth.

So tonight I'll be getting more into the wilderness, after I get that plate mail and fetch a few things from Beregost.

Really, this game already is turning out to be super fun. It could be as addicting as my Avernum games, and to me, that's really something!

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http://adventuregameplays.blogspot.com/2013/06/baldurs-gate-3-pretty-well-set.html

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition 1: Couldn't Resist

I don't have time to do this, but sometimes I just insist. I have wanted to play Baldur's Gate, reputed to be the best RPG ever made, for close to 15 years. I got a copy of the original Mac game and tried to play it years ago, but didn't get very far, because I just could NOT learn how do to spells. 

I've been waiting for the game to be ported to Mac on GOG.com, even though I could have played their PC version it in my virtual XP machine. But I wanted a Mac version, drat it.

So I learned that there is this brand new version of the game, the Enhanced Edition. I looked it up on YouTube and found some really interesting playthroughs and decided I wanted this game. According to the YouTube player I was watching, many great new features have been added that streamline the game quite a bit, yet it's still Baldur's Gate! They have added a few characters and some new encounters. 

And it turns out that the Mac App store has it! For Mac! Although one of the commenters said the right-click didn't work, I've kinda learned that some people post stupid stuff in those comment areas. I decided to take a chance. (The right-click works just fine.)

So. I was only going to play the new tutorial section, before the Candlekeep section at the beginning of the actual game. That, turned out to be really necessary for me. I learned all kinds of new stuff, not only how to do spells (finally!) but also how to set and disarm traps. So that was more than worth it.

But I clicked on the actual game and created a character. Lo and behold, I hit maximum luck. I immediately got a score of 92 for the abilities! I was able to max out strength, dexterity and constitution, with plenty left over for decent charisma. The only category I had to skimp on was intelligence, because I wanted to play a ranger, and they don't need intelligence. So, just by chance, I wound up with a really strong character right out of the box! W00T! I didn't even have to roll the dice.

At first I picked a character portrait dressed all in red, but then realized that I wouldn't be able to see the red coloring when my character got wounded. Fortunately, you can change that in the customize menu, although I believe you can never change the ability levels. I switched her portrait, so that was solved.

I wasn't going to play, but I thought I'd just do that area in Candlekeep. Got caught stealing a potion. Reloaded. Was smarter about it and got not only my stolen potion, but the one given to me too.

However, the final quest in that area doesn't work. The character who has a scroll you're supposed to find never gives it to you.

I am thrilled that the music has been left intact. I love the music in the inns. It's the same music in every inn, but I like it and I want it. Wouldn't be Baldur's Gate without the music, and I know some versions have left that out. I don't want to play this game without the music in the inns! (We've all got our little peculiarities.)

The Candlekeep Inn, with great music

But, did I quit after Candlekeep? Oh no. I kept playing and wasted the entire day. I've been to the Friendly Arms, I've got Khalid and Jaheira and the evil mage Xzar and his nasty friend. I'm about to dump the latter two to pick up a new character, a "wild mage" called Neera. Isn't easy, actually. She keeps getting killed because I'm not doing the fight properly. I did find out that she has the Identify spell, which will save gobs of cash, so I want her, even if I dump her later on. Also, I found an Identity scroll, so I can give that to a new mage, should I decide to go that route.

Ha. Turned out that all the characters have different colored little circles that they live in. Normally, enemies are red. Neera's circle is red. I was killing her thinking she was an enemy. Anyway, she's got the identify spell, but only two spell slots per day, so far.

Montdrain got killed in the fight for Neera, and I recruited Kagain the dwarf, reputed to be the best fighter in the game,  and got rid of Xzar (he complained). Then I bipped over to High Hedge and deliberately got Khalid killed off (Jaheira only complained once) and recruited Kivin, another ranger, like me. I may stick with this party to the end. I'm not going to get Minsk and his hamster this time, even if he is a sequel character and entertaining because he's completely nuts.

(I know about all these characters due to a wealth of information about this game on the web. It's far too complicated to go in there blind. You need advice if you're going to be able to enjoy the game fully. I can play again later with different characters--perhaps an evil group!)

Anyway, I have completed the nasty spider quest and am back at the Friendly Arms. Jaheira is complaining that we need to go to Naskell now, so that's where we'll go next time I fire up the game.

And I am having way too much fun to wait too long!

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Oakhaven 4: Endgame with Forbidden Love

Had to stop playing for awhile due to massive workload, but I grabbed the time to finish today. Anyway, I had reached the logic puzzle, which I remembered was my favorite. It didn't disappoint, as I'd completely forgotten it from the first time I solved it years ago. 

And thus we see that puzzle games indeed are replayable. Wait long enough and they all become new again!

Alas, I had a freeze when Dominic tries to pick up an item in the gazebo. Worse, I'd solved not only the logic puzzle, but several more without saving. Fortunately I was able to minimize the game (have no idea how I did that), opened another copy and played up to that point again, but without music (???). Anyhoo, I solved the logic puzzle again, and the few others (a little slider, that simple postcard one and Dominic's visit to the swamp). Saved all along the way, and saved again. Quit that and (somehow) about three other copies that opened up, got back to the original one that had frozen, and it opened right up with music, all sound effects, and unfroze.

Whew!

And there are nice swamp scenes for Dominic too:

Plus, I belatedly learned that you can get out of any puzzle any time simply by right clicking.  Even better, the puzzle picks up where you left off when you click into it again.

So that's good game design!

I admit that I find the reading load rather severe for an end-of-game resolution, but we do get another nice location!

Anyway, aside from my rather scary freeze, I once again enjoyed this simple but fun little game. Also, I have saved a game at the ouija board screen, so whenever I want to, I can consult the Game Gods for free advice.

Much fun! And it's selling now for less than $5.00 as a digital download. That's way beyond worth it! 

Thanks Cindy!