Baldur's Gate rambling...

[pyrephox]

Bar none, the most twinky combo in the game, the combination that allows you to play the most merry hell with the game balance and destroy all in your path...a thief and three potions of master thievery.

Am romancing the lovely (if vicious and touchy) Viconia, at the moment. And Aerie. And Jaheria. We haven't yet gotten to the point where they demand you choose, although the catfight quotient is becoming amusingly high. I'm going to choose Viconia, though. Although Jaheria's side quests are the most elaborate in the game, I /like/ Viconia, as bitter and arrogant as she happens to be. Plus, I really want to see if there's any good Solufein/Viconia/Protagonist chitchat. Amazingly enough, I haven't picked up any of the extra NPCs I installed, yet. I'm really enjoying the core ones. But I'm going to have to start making some hard decisions, soon. *sniffle*

Comments

[cpip.livejournal.com]

So true.

TOSC has some good side-quests in it; some very pain-in-the-tuchus dungeons. And, because it has all that, if you install it, Sarevok gets boosted in power.

This causes me much Unhappiness, because therefore I HAVE to go on some of these quests or Sarevok will smite me but GOOD. And I am so not a fan of the side quests... must be my Goal Oriented nature. :p

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

See, I adore side-quests. I've been known to do every fricken' quest in Amn before haring off to do the main plot quest. If Imoen's life /really/ depended on my being quick about this whole 'rescue' thing, she would be so very dead.

[cpip.livejournal.com]

See, in one way, I like the side quests. They're often interesting, they're useful, you gain nifty items and experience.

But from an in-game perspective... the major quest often overshadows the others. How could I have time for the other quests when there's lives on the line? (Mine in BG1, Imoen's in early BG2, I gather). It just ends up feeling slightly artificial.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

It does. Although I didn't feel as rushed in BG1 to head for the main quest as I do in BG2, from an IC standpoint. In BG1, you're this little low-level twerp, and things just /happen/ to you, without you knowing why or how or what you can do to stop it (aside from following the advice of your elders) for a large part of the beginning. So there's more plausibility for wandering around.

In BG2, you know right up front who the ultimate bad guy is, and at least the start of what you need to thwart them. So it's a little more focused, from an IC perspective. On the other hand, a fair amount of sidequests just throw themselves in your path.

[cpip.livejournal.com]

It depends on when in BG1 we're at. For instance, early on, there's no problem in clearing the iron mines, or that stuff; but after you've visited Candlekeep for the 2nd time, it's really a matter of moving directly towards the conclusion.

(Not, it occurs to me, that I didn't have OTHER gripes... the doppelganger thing is one, but I've been holding out hope that it'll be explained by the end of BG1.)