Baldur's Gate 20: Imoen's Back!

Whew! So I survived the poison. Actually it wasn't a terribly difficult quest.

My Kirkus books were delayed in the UPS system due to the former tropical storm Ivo. They are stuck in Barstow. So I have one fewer day to get all that work done, but gained a day to play Baldur's Gate!

At the advice of the FAQ, however, I took a few chances in slaughtering people. I slaughtered the high priestess at the Water temple. She was surprisingly easy to slaughter. Did that because I wanted to keep and use the Tome of Wisdom that I was supposed to give her. Also she had some other nice loot.

I slaughtered both of the poisoners, including the mostly innocent one who was geased into trying to kill me. Did that because he had some more boots of speed. That's my second pair. I put them on Imoen.

And during all those quests, dear Imoen FINALLY got her thief abilities back! She can't advance in thievery--she'll stay at level 6 for that. But she can use a sword and a shortbow. During the course of the quest I also acquired a very nice shortbow for her.

Once I completed all that slaughtering, I headed back down to Beregost to retrieve the stuff I had stashed in Kagain's shop. Coran got some Ankheg armor--yay! I guess Imoen can't wear that any more, but her Robes of the Good Mage are better armor anyway.

Somehow I've lost or sold or stashed her really good bastard sword. I thought I had a special one for her, but maybe not.

Well, now that hurdle has been leaped, I'll have to get back to Baldur's Gate City and see if I can find more quests to do. I can't get into the Iron Throne headquarters yet, so obviously there's more going on there.

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Baldur's Gate 19: Action Tomorrow! (or maybe next week)

So I returned to the game tonight, determined to get Imoen up to Level 7 and get her thief abilities back.

And then I couldn't find much to do. Problem is I was away so much I'd forgotten what I'd done. I can't do Quinn's quest because apparently I sold the dagger he wants. Drat.

I was unable to get the thief guild quest going because the guy didn't meet me at the inn to give me instructions. I really think I would have remembered doing that, because you can only send your thief, at night.

I did manage to get the Ghorak skull quest off my list, however. You have to find the guy and let him say thanks. Luckily, I was able to mostly remember where he was. So that was nice, but it didn't add any experience points.

However, finally I found something in the quest list and got lucky enough to find the house you need to do the quest. So, goody. I had to find Shandalar's daughters and get their stuff. Alas, this involves massacring them. They go down easily, but at first I made the mistake of choosing the wrong dialog option, and threatened to kill them. When I did it, several members of my party started complaining and threatened to leave. I am playing with good aligned characters, after all.

OK, went back and let the girls attack me. That worked, but I didn't quicksave and got caught downstairs.

Back for a third time and this time I got the stuff. Better than that, when I exited the house, an important character approached me to tell me I'd been poisoned. I know from the FAQ that this is part of the main storyline. So finally, I'm back on track! Yay!

However, tomorrow a major package from Kirkus arrives, and I'll have four days to get it all done. So, no more Baldur's Gate until that happens.

But I'm glad I returned to the game. Imoen is so close to Level 7 that I'm sure on the next round I'll get her leveled up and cooking on all burners!

So that will be an incentive to get back to playing!

Hooray!

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Baldur's Gate 18: Back to Adventuring!

At last I've returned to the game. Been very busy with Kirkus books (and that obstruction is returning tomorrow) and with just trying to get the house finished so I can open my business. (Actually, I have a part-time client! So I am officially open, earning a little bit of actual money.)

I had to return before I forgot how to play. In fact, I had to be sure which button was the QuickSave! Before, that was just automatic.

I finally completed the "steal the telescope" quest. Turned out to be super easy. That gained me about 5,000 experience points, which puts Imoen just yards away from upgrading to Level 7 Mage and getting her thief abilities back. I'm going to try to play tonight and get there!

I must admit that I'm having trouble with these Baldur's Gate City quests. First, it ain't all that easy getting around in the city. Second, it's hard to find people. I completed the find-the-skull quest, but apparently there's still something I need to do because it hasn't cleared from my quest list in the journal. I will consult the FAQ to see what's left. Whatever it is just might get Imoen over the line. Failing that, I'll have to go out and kill something. I mean, she's less than 1,000 points away. 

So with that incentive, I'll keep going!

Till tomorrow!

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Baldur's Gate 17: I Forgot to Mention the Rabid Chickens

I forgot, yesterday, to mention the rabid chickens.

So you walk into a shop somewhere in the city of Baldur's Gate, and there is this flock of rabid chickens.

They attack you.

I suppose one of my characters might have been poisoned, but actually it was a pretty easy fight.

Comedy.

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Baldur's Gate 16: Plans for Tomorrow

Finally got my reputation back to 20. I used the Google machine to find out what reputation rewards were still available in the game. Found another one just south of Nashkell--a bunch of kobolds were bothering a cow. I also got two points back for cleaning out the Cloakwood Mines. That got me up to 15.

Then it turned out that the first quest in Baldur's Gate gave me another two points. The Google machine had told me that I'd need an angel skin ring for another one, so before I went to the city I bought one back from a merchant. And bingo, right there in the Flaming Fist headquarters, right after I'd got my two points for the Seven Sins headquarters quest, there was a guy wanting the ring. So, another point and I'm back to 18.

Then I had a choice. I ran into to more of the quests right next to each other. The first was a difficult choice and I probably made the wrong one. A character wanted me to find her magical gauntlets. I searched everywhere and finally found them. I could have donated to a temple for the price of the things, no doubt, but I wanted that rep point and all my characters already have gauntlets, so I gave 'em back and got the point.

The last point was also fun. A diseased fella wanted me to find a skull in the Three Kegs Inn and give it to the Lady temple. Problem was, where was the inn? At least I got into all the rest of the city, but I finally found it, and it turns out to be the nicest inn in the city, so far. I easily found the skull, and got my final rep point back. 

Hence down to High Hedge and I finally bought Imoen her Robes of the Good Mage. Also stashed stuff in the barrel at Kagian's shop.

Then I did one more quest in BG, retrieving a body from the Water Queen's temple. There I met the little girl I had helped outside the BG bridge. She brought me the body, but was not nice. Not nice at all. Hmm.

I made one mistake. Upstairs at the Sorcerer's shop I got into a fight with three mages and they killed Ajantis. Now, I could have just picked up Ajantis's stuff and got him resurrected at a temple, but at the time I didn't know where any temples were in BG. So I loaded a quicksave and avoided the fight. Should have fought them again though, because they had good loot. I did, however, manage to pickpocket a nifty cloak from the store's proprietor--the first pickpocket Coran has managed. It's another charisma cloak, which I'm going to need, because it turns out these charisma cloak have charges, so you use them up eventually. My original one only has one charge left. (Hmm. I should sell that and get a protection cloak instead--and I know who sells one, and I'm freaking rich now.)

Now I think I'll go back south and finally do Durlag's Tower. My party is up to level six with a few at seven. Imoen only has about 10,000 points to go to get her thief abilities back.

However, I'm glad I dumped Kivan for Coran. Coran isn't much of a fighter but he's a great archer, which is what I mainly used Kivan for anyway. Plus, Coran has 100% lock-picking abilities. I've only found one door I can't open, so I'll need the knock spell for that. But I've been able to loot a lotta houses in BG, and I was able to get massive loot from the Cloakwood Mines because of that ability. (I would have had to sleep all the time in those mines to keep the knock ability charged, then sleep again to get offensive spells--and you just can't sleep very often in a hostile dungeon, as I found out by trying. So without that 100% ability I would have missed out on massive loot.) I've got his detect traps ability up to 49% and that seems to be enough if I remember to quicksave lots. Once Imoen gets her abilities back, she's got 100% trap detection. All I'll need is to bump the pickpocket abilities of them and I'll have it all!

One thing I'm missing though. Thieves have a backstab ability. I've yet to figure out how that works.

So, on to Durlag's Tower!

Update: Or not. The FAQ says to wait until Chapter Six for Durlag's Tower. So, I'll just keep doing quests in the city. I've still got that clean-out-the-sewers quest from Scar. I'll do that.

And, there's plenty more to do in the city!

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Baldur's Gate 15: Won the Coakwood Mines!

Ha ha! I have conquered the Cloakwood Mines and have advanced to Chapter Five! I am taking over the world!

This was no small feat. First, you've got five levels of the Cloakwood Forest to get through, and a few of those fights are fairly epic. You don't have to do them, of course, to beat the game--not everything is in the plot line--but you get experience, loot, money and sometimes reputation for doing all this stuff. Plus, hey, I want to play the whole game, not just parts of it! (Although no doubt I have missed a few things. You always do. But that's why they're replayable!)

I defeated giant spiders in a giant web. I got the Spider's Bane sword, which I gave to Emerald, who already has spiders as her "racial enemy." That ought to give her complete domination over the pests, giant, magical or otherwise (well, they're all giant in this game). Plus, after vanquishing one nasty wizard I got Boots of the Cheetah. These I put on Emerald because she didn't have boots. This gives her double speed, and she is now just blowing enemies to teensy bits with little trouble. It's an amazing advance. The only problem is that she walks way ahead of the rest of the party. I'm going to have to watch that.

Ha. I almost missed those boots and a couple of other good items. I thought I'd looted a buncha bodies I dispatched in the Cloakwood Fort, but missed the mother lode. Fortunately Emerald looked again, and found the goodies.

The Cloakwood Mines were just a whole lotta fun, until I got to the Boss on Level Four. I was able to rest a few times. Plus, I gave Imoen the Wizard Ring. Not sure that was a good idea. I think I'll have to give it back, because Neera seems to have more spells with it than Imoen does. Plus, Neera has hit level seven, but I've been giving all the new spells to Imoen. This leaves Neera a bit bereft of spells that she ought to be able to cast now. I'm beginning to see that I won't be able to get rid of her after all. She knows too much. Fortunately, I have access to the city of Baldur's Gate now, so I can buy all the spells I want.

The mine was really fairly easy, especially with Emerald's speed. She's my strongest character. I could have her in the lead now, but I just can't stand the lines she says. I like Ajantis's lines and voice, so he's staying there. However, I've got to get down to High Hedge and buy that Good Mage Robe for Imoen. I've got over 30,000 coins now and jumped my rep back up to 15 (it was 20, humph. I still think I lost all those points because I stayed away from the city for too long. People forgot who I was. There's just no other reason for the reputation hit).

I have to admit that the Boss Mage on Level Four almost defeated me. I had to think ahead. The FAQ says to just hammer him with melee hits, and with Emerald's new prowess in that area, once I got rid (somehow) of his mirror image, it was pretty easy. Before the fight I loaded up on potions of magic resistance, and invulnerability, and strength on all my characters, with the magic users casting good shields on themselves. That finally worked. They guy couldn't touch me, and somehow I missed all the traps (or, they didn't hurt me because I was too strong with all the buffs). Anyway, that was a nice puzzle to solve.

So I got two rep points and plenty of loot out of that venture. Earlier I also did a few areas to the south. Finished the Firewine Bridge. Actually, there was almost no loot there, but lotsa traps, as the FAQ said. It wasn't too difficult. 

I'm resting in the royal suite at the Friendly Arms Inn with it's great music.

Inside the Friendly Arms Inn. Do not get caught doing damage here.

Now it's time for the city of Baldur's Gate! At last! Till tomorrow!

So I am satisfied tonight. Golly, but this game is fun. This really is the best game ever made. No doubt.

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Baldur's Gate 14: Personnel Change

So there I was wondering just how much longer it was going to take Imoen to get her thief skills back, when I realized that it was going to take at least half of the rest of the game.

Am I sorry I dual-classed her? Well, it really is nice having two mages. Really nice. But there I was wandering through the lovely Cloakwood Forest when I met Coran, who just happens to be a good-aligned thief/fighter and reputed to be the best archer in the game. On the spur of the moment, I let Kivan go and took Coran on. So far he's more fun than Kivan, I must say, but he has a fairly weak constitution, so it doesn't do to let him take too many hits.

The problem with Coran is that he doesn't have much trap-detecting ability, which is why I need a darned thief! I just managed to level him up as a thief and got his detecting abilities to 49%. The FAQ wouldn't even let me go into the Naskell Mines until I got Imoen up to 100% trap detection. It's going to be a long time before Coran hits level seven as a thief. So I'll have to work with the 49% ability.

Well, I'm going to head on to the Firewine Bridge anyway, and I'll just have to quicksave a lot. Coren does have 100% lock picking abilities, though, so I guess I don't need the Knock spell any more. Can't get rid of Neera just yet, though, because she's the one with the dispel magic, and hold person, and another nifty magic displacement spell. Until I get Imoen equipped with those things I'm going to hang on to Neera.

At first I couldn't get Coran to pick any locks. Finally I experimented and discovered that he can't wear Ankheg armor and have his thief abilities. He can wear it and fight in it, but not pick locks in it. Took that off him and gave him Imoen's thief armor, which she can't use right now anyway, and solved that problem. I'm keeping the armor though. Never know when I might want to get Kivan back, or somebody else to replace Neera. Really Neera has kinda used up her entertainment value by now. I'm going to give Imoen her wizard's ring. Imoen is now a level five mage. She has to get to level seven before she gets her thief stuff back, though. That's a looonnng way off.

I discovered wyverns. These are dragons that come in adult and baby sizes. Coran is hunting them. The heads sell for a lot, the first one goes for 2,000 coins at the temple outside Beregorst. Nice.

I do not know what happened to my reputation. I looked at old savegames, and it seems I went back down to average long before I joined the bandits. I'm beginning to suspect that it just reset itself because I took so long doing things. Alas, I haven't found too many rep-gaining quests recently. It basically sucks, because having a 20 rep saved me piles of money. Imoen's Good Mage robe is going to be nearly 10,000 coins more now. However, I'm making money hand over fist and I have most of what I want, including that poisoned dagger for Jahiera, so maybe I ought to just go buy the thing.

I came to a conclusion today, however. Baldur's Gate is reputed to be the best game ever made, and has been so reputed for the last 15 years.

It is. With all my complaints, it is.

The writing is fabulous, even better than Jeff Vogel's, much as I adore his stuff. The imagination goes on forever in this game. The music is fabulous. The gameplay is fun, with all kinds of new encounters everywhere you go. There is a plot, of sorts. 

And it's really, really long.

All in all, I'm glad I waited this long to play it. See, I'm having the fun NOW, and not being nostalgic. Plus, the replayability is immense. Many people have played this gave over and over, with all different parties, good and evil. The personalities intermingle differently with each party. 

Really, it is the best game ever made. 

Wow.

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