- Have patience when determing abilities: When "rolling" the die to determine your
character's ability have patience. You want the largest number
you can get. A standard large number is an 86, but I have rolled
a 92. One saturday after 120 rolls, I got a 102!
- Alignment can make a difference: I have played many games, often my character was
evil, or neutral, or chaotic. However, I have had the easiest
game using a Lawful, Good, Woman, say a Paladin. Remember she
needs to keep her charisma and reputation high.
- Save Often:
Not only should you save your game after every battle or major
dialogue, I also recommend keeping several saved game files for
each of your games. This will allow to backtrack several saves
if you, for instance, find yourself in an area that is too dificult
or you don't like how a subquest you are involved with is turning
out. I usually have one save game from the beginning of the current
chapter, one save game from the last safe area (e.g town) I was
in, one save game from the beginning of the current area I'm
working on, and then one or more in the current area. I often
make temporary saves if I want to experiment somewhere but don't
want my experiments as part of my main game.
- Ranged Attacks:
In Baldur's Gate ranged attacks are quite powerful. I recommend
that most if not all your fighters have some sort of ranged attack
available. You can usually take out quite a few of the enemy
before they come into melee range. Ranged weapons are also useful
in taking out enemies one at a time as I will explain in the
next hint.
- Take out enemies one at a time: A strategy I use for nearly all difficult battles
I encounter is to take out the enemies one at a time. As you
approach the area where the enemies are, take one step at a time.
When a single enemy appears, stop and take him out either with
ranged weapons or with melee weapons when it reaches your party.
Once the enemy is dead, take another step forward until the next
enemy appears. This way you will take out each of the enemies
in the group six-on-one instead of being outnumbered. You can
even save between enemies. This works well against normal enemies
and NPC parties.
- Leaving NPCs
can be a risky business under any circumstances. I have left
Xzar and Montaron in one game and they remain where I put them.
If you edit them using any of the edit programs, they have a
greater likelihood of disappearing. I left them just north of
the bartender/innkeeper and they stayed.