Category: Joshua Packard

Game Daze #5: "Baldur's Gate" Final Entry

3/30/2016

by Joshua Packard, Fullness of Happy

I have occasionally been playing Baldur's Gate but this time cheating using a Save Game editor called "Gatekeeper". It allows editing of stats and other attributes of characters in your party in the game. At first, I just edited my characters hitpoints, or life, so that I could actually get into fights without getting killed everytime. Eventually, though, I came across some enemies who had the ability to kill with one hit, and I realized I needed to edit my Saving throw stats so that I would not die from these attacks. I also gave my characters the best weapons they could carry. I have now reached a point where even with all this cheating, there is still an enemy I cannot defeat, and I have apparently edited my characters such that the game crashes when I engage in a certain battle. I have officially decided that I am quitting this game for good, and will now give some final remarks on what I think of the game in general.

This game is far too difficult to anyone who is not very skilled at strategy and computer roleplaying games. Even with cheating I still could not defeat a fairly early boss enemy in the game. If you are a roleplaying game fanatic, you don't need me to tell you about this game. You probably have already beaten it. The story is immersive, but if you can't get into fights without dying, you can't progress in the story. I ultimately cannot recommend this game to any one who is not a hardcore computer RPG fanatic. It is far too difficult and frustrating, and even when I tried cheating so that I could continue in the game and progress through the plot, it still was too difficult, and then the game started crashing. So if you can find a way to cheat and get through the game, go ahead and try it. In the end, I cannot recommend you spend your money or your time on this game, unless you are prepared to die a lot, and get frustrated, and are hardcore in this type of game. The only way I would play a game like this again would be if there were a simple cheat which did not allow any of your characters to die, essentially a "God mode" or invulnerability cheat.

Game Daze #4: "Baldur's Gate" Day 4

2/15/2016

by Joshua Packard, Fullness of Happy

Fighting Ogres in Baldur's Gate. Screenshot (c) Joshua Packard.

I haven't played for a few days, having been feeling a bit under the weather. But I did make some progress since the last time I have written one of these gaming entries, or logs, or whatever you want to call these things I am writing. As far as Baldur's Gate is concerned, I have travelled to Nashkel where apparently something or someone is tainting all of the iron ore, thus making all metal instruments such as weapons, shields, armor, etc. brittle and completely useless. Also, miners are being killed by dog headed creatures who are called kobolds. These are the easiest creatures to kill and give out hardly any XP. They are really only a threat in large groups, and usually when they attack you, it is in large groups.

I remember Nashkel Mines from the last time I played, which would honestly be over a decade ago. I made it down through the maze of tunnels and tracks to the lowest level. There I found a mage just standing there, waiting for me to have him join my party. My party was full, at 6 characters. So I had to ask one of my fighter characters to leave in order to allow the mage to join. Then I proceeded to the next lair or tunnel and was attacked by whoever it is who is bringing kobolds into the mines. He apparently has something to do with the contaminated iron ore. In the process of fighting him, the mage whom I had just recruited was killed, and I was attacked by skeletons, kobolds, and possibly other kinds of monsters.

A lot of my characters were heavily wounded, but except for the mage, all very much still alive. I was somewhat glad the mage had died, because I really wanted my other character back. He is named Minsk I think, and he has a pet gerbil or something named Boo. I think he had an accident with a brain injury somewhere, and he talks to his pet gerbil. But I like the character. He is a good fighter.

Song of the Morning Temple in Baldur's Game. Screenshot (c) Joshua Packard

My party is full at 6 characters, and leveling up is going to be more difficult, tedious, and long drawn out. In order to level up any of my characters, I have to earn double the experience points that each of my characters already has. So I basically have to do what I have already done with each character. I am going to have to find ways to gain more experience more rapidly if I am going to progress in the game further. But my characters are pretty strong and experienced. Hopefully random encounters with enemies will have more experience for me when I defeat the monsters that try to attack me.

As far as the story goes, I am on Chapter 3, and am not sure what I am supposed to do next. The mayor of Nashkel has provided me with a reward for clearing out the mines, but I don't know what is next. I have never gotten this far in the game before, and will have to look through my game journal or quest log or whatever to figure out what I need to do next.

Game Daze #3: "Baldur's Gate" Day 3

2/13/2016

by Joshua Packard, Fullness of Happy

I have finally been making some progress beyond just level grinding in Baldur's Gate. I decided to dismiss Garrick the bard from my party because he just was getting killed too many times, because he has so few hitpoints. My party was down to three, my character named Ragnarok, Imoen the thief, and Kivan the Elf Ranger. After leveling up to about level 5 for each of my characters, I decided to try going to the Friendly Arm Inn to see if I could defeat the mage who tries to kill me when I approach the inn. Usually he kills me in less than 3 seconds. This time the tables were turned. I had equipped a Long Sword +1 for Ragnarok, and Imoen and Kivan fired arrows rapidly at the enemy and he was killed in a couple of seconds.

The reason for going to the Friendly Arm Inn is because Gorion, the person who was my characters guardian, told me to go their to meet two of his friend, Khalid and Jaheira. I guess I should describe some of the story from here. In the beginning of the game, my guardian, Gorion, tells me to get equipped because we must leave Candlekeep, where my character has lived since youth. Apparently, there is someone intent on killing myself and others for some reason, which I do not know as of yet. As Gorion and I leave, we are ambushed by a man and his cohort. They kill Gorion but I escape. I do not know the reason why I have been targeted, but apparently there is a reward for anyone who can kill me.

Now that I have recruited Khalid and Jaheira to my party, I am going south to Nashkel, where something is wrong with the mines. Apparently all the iron produced in the region is tainted and most metal weapons and other items break very easily. So that is where I will be headed next time I play Baldur's Gate. I might do some more leveling in areas where the monsters are more difficult and provide more experience points, but we will see when I actually play. I will let you know in my next entry. If anyone has experience playing Baldur's Gate, don't hesitate to let me know.

Game Daze #2: "Baldur's Gate" Day 2

2/11/2016

by Joshua Packard, Fullness of Happy

Beregost from Baldur's Gate. Screenshot (c) Joshua Packard

Gamer's Log: Stardate who the hell knows...

I am into my second day of trying to get through the entire Baldur's Gate series. I really don't know any easy way to gain lots of experience real quick. I have found that the more member of my party there are, the more enemies attack me when I am ambushed or run into monsters. I have basically been going to a nearby forest and resting over and over until I get ambushed by bandits. When I had 2 members of my party, I would get ambushed by one bandit. Then I ended up letting another character join my party, and I noticed I would get ambushed by 3 bandits. Being asked by another character if they could join my party in order to gain revenge against bandits who killed one of his friends or something, I found that I would now be ambushed by exactly 5 bandits each time I rested. Each bandit gives my party 65 experience points when I kill them. They also drop arrows, some gold, and I can also take their scalps, which I have discovered I can sell at a nearby tavern and inn for 10 gold pieces each. The bandits are easy to kill, but 65 xp is not very much.

Hunting bandits in Baldur's Gate. Screenshot (c) Joshua Packard

I think my strategy is just going to be grinding through as many battles with these relatively easy to kill bandits. That is, until I level up each of my characters to where they won't be killed by everyone else so easily. I have tried going to other places where there are more powerful monsters, who give more XP for killing. But I find I die tot frequently for this to save me more time. I need to level up enough that I can more easily survive and kill more powerful enemies. But right now, my characters are way too inexperienced to face more dangerous creatures. My goal is to try to gain at least one level for all my characters every day I play. And then I will get sick and tired of grinding out these levels, and wait until next day.

Feldepost's Inn from Baldur's Gate. Screenshot (c) Joshua Packard

Yesterday, I was almost going to quit playing, because leveling up is so tedious and repetitive. I just want to be able to continue on in the game, which has a great plot and characters, without dying. In order to continue on the quest, I will need to kill a magician in the entrance to the Friendly Arm Inn. This one magician can kill my entire party easily. I need characters with more hitpoints (hp meaning how much damage I can take before I die) and who can deal more damage to enemies. Magic is also involved in this game, but I am horrible with magic. Hopefully, I will be able to learn to use it effectively.

Every time I get attacked by bandits, they say "So I kicked him in the head until he was dead, hahaha!" I've heard that repeated over and over and over. But again, my strategy is to basically just go in a forest area and rest, and hope to get ambushed by bandits so I can kill them. Then I take their gold and jewelry, as well as their arrows and also their scalps to sell for money. Right now I am going to start playing again, my goal for the day to at least gain one more level up for each of my 4 characters. My main character, named Ragnarok, is a level 4 fighter. Imoen, a thief, is also level 4. Garrick, a bard, and Kivan, a Ranger, are also level 4. Pray for me that the randomly generated dice rolls treat me well.

If you're interested in purchasing this version of the game, the 4-in-1 DVD box set, you can purchase it here on Amazon.

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Game Daze #5: "Baldur's Gate" Final Entry

Game Daze #4: "Baldur's Gate" Day 4

Game Daze #3: "Baldur's Gate" Day 3

Game Daze #2: "Baldur's Gate" Day 2

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