Newbie - very confused

[HelmsDeep]

OK I will have to admit that I am not very good at any of the Baldurs Gate series but god loves a trier! I got to Chapter 7 of the original BG and have just started BG2 - however I am a bit confused about some of the terminology used on the forums such as CTRL-Y and CTRL-J etc etc - managed to get through the starting dungeon and have done the circus tent and just started in the slums.

My main question is I am not sure about party makeup (not lipstick) - I have my own character who is a Paladin and right now also have Minsc, Jaheira, The bounty hunter and just picked up Aerie.....what is a good balanced party of characters.....I must admit I don't particularly like Jaheira!

Thanks in advance for any help.

[andrewas]

Any keycode involvin CTRL is a cheat. You can find directions on the IW cheat page. Also theres the CLUAConsole cheats, directions in the same place.

And finaly there ShadowKeeper (SK), a cheat program that edits save files. You can find that in the net somewhere.

A pretty good, although not perfect, party for a paladin would be:

You
jaheria (I know, I know, but shes not that irritating)
Minsc
Aerie
Yoshimo/Imoen
Nalia

Thats a bit magic heavy so wont be very kind on a newbie, but used properly it will be extremely powerful.

Or you could go for something lke

You
Keldorn
Anomen
Yoshimo/Imoen
Nalia
Aerie

Which has more fighters in it and is thus easier to use. You lose out on the druidic spells though, not a massive loss. Also Keldorn & a PC paladin may be a bit much. So you could replace Keldorn with Minsc or Mazzy for some ranged firepower.

[Morgeruat]

I tend to replace Jaheira with Jan (in the gov't district), and Minsc tends to be replaceable so I can do other NPC's quests

[HelmsDeep]

When you pick up NPCs such as Nalia (who everyone seems to think is good) is there a time limit whereby if you don't do her quest she will get the jump and leave?

[whodoyouthinkyouare]

for right now, drop Aerie and take Anomen. He's a better choice in my opinion (but only if you do his quests). Leave Jaheira since you're good, but drop Minsc for Keldorn at the first opportunity. The ideal good party is: Yourself, Jaheira, Yoshimo, Nalia, Keldorn, and Anomen. Plenty of power, good thief, and decent magic.

If you were evil, i would suggest yourself, Jan, Haer'Dalis, Korgan, Viconia, and Edwin. I'm having a better time with this party than with my Paladin party.

[Sazerac]

Originally posted by HelmsDeep: When you pick up NPCs such as Nalia (who everyone seems to think is good) is there a time limit whereby if you don't do her quest she will get the jump and leave?

I think about 5-7 days, if you haven't done her quest, she will leave the group and head to De'Arnise hold. You can find her there, though, at the palisade just southwest of the hold.

-Sazerac

[Zarr]

Originally posted by HelmsDeep: When you pick up NPCs such as Nalia (who everyone seems to think is good) is there a time limit whereby if you don't do her quest she will get the jump and leave?

Yes there is a time limit but I'm not sure how long it is though. If you don't go within a few days she will start complaining and say for you to hurry up. If you still don't go after a certain amount of time she will leave the party(although you can pick her up again at her keep). You should have time to do all the quests in Waukeens promanade,the slums and the government district. Then head for the gate district and leave Athkatla and head for the keep Nalia shouldn't have left your party at this stage.
Party suggestions:Here's my suggestion for your party this party will be very hard to kill as four of the members can wear full plate mail so it's ideal for a beginner:

Minsc-ranger
You- Paladin
Anomen-fighter/cleric
Mazzy-fighter(not a melee fighter but a bow woman as she has five points in short bow)
Nalia-thief/mage
Jan-illusionist/thief

[ 10-24-2002, 11:59 AM: Message edited by: Zarr ]

[HelmsDeep]

OK thanks guys much appreciated - last question (for now I promise)

where can you pick up Mazzy and Anomen and Jan?

Oh and one other thing - I just noticed that some characters can wield 2 weapons - is there any advantage to this or should I keep with one weapon and a shield and hence better AC?

[ 10-24-2002, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: HelmsDeep ]

[andrewas]

Mazzy - Umar hills quest. Not easily either, have a good party before you go or youll get nowehere near her.

Anomen. Copper Coronet. Hes the loud irritating one to the north.

Jan. Govt district. Like all salesmen, hard to miss.

[McHaggis]

Originally posted by HelmsDeep: Oh and one other thing - I just noticed that some characters can wield 2 weapons - is there any advantage to this or should I keep with one weapon and a shield and hence better AC?

Since you're paladin, I suggest you to keep sword and shield or two handed. If dual wielding, you get penalties to THAC0 (especially to your off-hand) if you have not put profiences to Two weapon fighting. If you have to points in it (that's max, atleast I thinks so) [img]smile.gif[/img] , then you get no penalties and -2 to AC. Good part of dual wielding is that you get more attack, of course, since you fight with two weapons. In my opinion, dual wielding is one of the best features in BG2. [img]graemlins/happyteeth.gif[/img]

I'm currently playing as bard and I have thought to dual wield Celestial Fury and a good long sword. Perhaps Equalizer or something.

[ 10-24-2002, 11:17 AM: Message edited by: McHaggis ]