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Darkman · 10-04-2001, 03:26 PM

Well I'm no expert on the BG2 storyline, as I haven't played past Ch 2 yet... but I would imagine the makers of BG1/2 designed the game so that you could use any class as the PC and the story would still make sense and the game still be relatively balanced. There's pleanty of various NPC's you can have in your party, and unfortunately I would like to see a little more variety (2 thief/mages bah), but still you have alot of options. Yes there are a few NPCs that are more crucial to the storyline than others, but that doesn't mean you have to use them for the entire game. It's just like in other cRPG's like Ultima. You start with some familiar faces in your party but you don't have to use all of them or even any of them to finish the game. Perhaps this is different from PnP?

As for the PC in BG1, I used a Cleric and had alot of fun. He was a tank though, with 18 str and dex, used a hammer +2 and kicked some butt. Incidentally, I used the "default" party that the game seemed designed for consisting of me, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, and Dyanara. Between me and Jaheira we had tons of healing and clerical/druid spells. Khalid and Minsc kicked butt up front, I acted as a middle line fighter, and the three ladies stayed back and fired off missiles and spells. It worked really well, but I bet a PC of any class would have fit in just fine. Two thieves might be over-kill, but one could specialize in stealth and backstabbing while the other does traps and locks. Two mages would be very cool to have. You'd never have to pay to ID, and you'd have pleanty of spells to go around. Two clerics (which is basically what I had) was cool because we had more than enough healing powers which allowed me and Jaheira to cast some cleric/druid spells that we ordinarily wouldn't have used. Another fighter would have been cool too, just means more butt kicking up front. Same with having another archer, just more butt kicking from the rear. Basically, my point is that the core party of Jah, Khal, Minsc, Imoen, and Dyna, was very balanced allowing the PC to choose whatever role he wanted. And if you don't like that core party, there are a bevy of other NPC's just waiting to join up. The game was designed to be flexible so that the PC could beat the game using any class and practically whatever party members too.

10-04-2001, 03:26 PM	#3
Darkman Avatar Join Date: July 11, 2001 Location: Austin, Texas Age: 44 Posts: 525	Well I'm no expert on the BG2 storyline, as I haven't played past Ch 2 yet... but I would imagine the makers of BG1/2 designed the game so that you could use any class as the PC and the story would still make sense and the game still be relatively balanced. There's pleanty of various NPC's you can have in your party, and unfortunately I would like to see a little more variety (2 thief/mages bah), but still you have alot of options. Yes there are a few NPCs that are more crucial to the storyline than others, but that doesn't mean you have to use them for the entire game. It's just like in other cRPG's like Ultima. You start with some familiar faces in your party but you don't have to use all of them or even any of them to finish the game. Perhaps this is different from PnP? As for the PC in BG1, I used a Cleric and had alot of fun. He was a tank though, with 18 str and dex, used a hammer +2 and kicked some butt. Incidentally, I used the "default" party that the game seemed designed for consisting of me, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, and Dyanara. Between me and Jaheira we had tons of healing and clerical/druid spells. Khalid and Minsc kicked butt up front, I acted as a middle line fighter, and the three ladies stayed back and fired off missiles and spells. It worked really well, but I bet a PC of any class would have fit in just fine. Two thieves might be over-kill, but one could specialize in stealth and backstabbing while the other does traps and locks. Two mages would be very cool to have. You'd never have to pay to ID, and you'd have pleanty of spells to go around. Two clerics (which is basically what I had) was cool because we had more than enough healing powers which allowed me and Jaheira to cast some cleric/druid spells that we ordinarily wouldn't have used. Another fighter would have been cool too, just means more butt kicking up front. Same with having another archer, just more butt kicking from the rear. Basically, my point is that the core party of Jah, Khal, Minsc, Imoen, and Dyna, was very balanced allowing the PC to choose whatever role he wanted. And if you don't like that core party, there are a bevy of other NPC's just waiting to join up. The game was designed to be flexible so that the PC could beat the game using any class and practically whatever party members too.