Time of game

[ebayles]

OK...one more question. Thanks to all that answer. My biggest problem with BG and BG2 (what I have played) is that I feel like I should go straight to the big quests. And I dont spend much time cruising around the other areas. Then I get in over my head, because I dont have strong enough characters. For instance, I need to go down and clear the mines (I think). But I havent really explored any other areas besides the friendly Inn, the Gnoll Fortress, and the areas on the way from F. Inn to the town due south. It takes usually a day to travel to the other areas, plus a rest here or there...means I won't go to the mines in at least a week of game time. But if I go there, I'll leave a lot unexplored. Should I be concerned about time? Or should I go explore all the other areas before I head down?

Thanks!

[Larry_OHF]

I personally like to explore every nook and cranny of the area that I in before moving on. I talk with every person and usually kill every rat in the area (and kick every dog) just to see if there might be some hidden treasure or item of business that I can conduct. The mines will still be there when you are through.

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Devoted member of the Ironworks
Loyal guardian of the OHF
Member of the Ancients' club
Faith beset in The Rocks
(they show the way, you know...)

[Lemernis]

The first and only time I played BG1 all the way through was by making a beeline towards plot resolution. I was eager to play BG2 but felt that I should play BG1 and Tales first. So I did one or two sidequests, but otherwise pretty much followed the cues of the plotline. I completed the game in 74 days (game time) and enetered the final battle with the party at level 5-6.

I had a great time! It still took me three or four months to do it that way. Of course I had to reload a lot, and tried all sorts of various strategies for winning battles that at first seemed next to impossible. But I was always able to find a way to win eventually.

Then I played another version from the save right before the final battle and took the party through all of the Tales quests. I never did finish that one, though, because I decided I wanted to leave a large protion of the game still unexplored for MP games with other players. For example, I have done almost none of the quests in BG city. Now in a rolplayed MP campaign I recently started which includes a player who has played very little of BG1, and another who has also done very little in the city, three out of four of us will be playing the city quests for the first time.

If you're finding yourself getting bored I would suggest sticking closely to the plotline, post here for hints, tips, spoilers when you're stuck, and get a complete game under your belt. Then find some other players who want to MP and get a game going. Play it in 'no-pause' mode, i.e., with only the host being able to pause (and doing so only in the most dire of circumstances). Combat in MP becomes very challenging and intense, and it demands that you work as a team, coordinating your attacks in real time, covering each other's backs, etc. Also, you realize what a relief it is to only have to control your own character; and how much more 'realistic' (if you were actually in such a fantasy universe, lol!) it feels to be trapsing around as just one person with other people in 'real time'. MP is even better if you roleplay your characters--roleplaying is an absolute blast. (It's a good idea to limit the party size to four for a roleplayed campaign because of all the dialogue--it gets a bit much with six people all trying to talk at once; also you level up faster with four). The only downside to MPing as such is that playing solo may feel very flat afterward.

Edit: LOL! I'm still having my coffee! I thought your topic said "tired of game" not "time of game"! A bit of projection on my part, I guess, lol. Oh well, the suggestions above are still worth considering. But the answer is no, there is no time constraint. By all means take your time and do as many sidequests as you feel comfortable with. Again, for what it's worth, I personally found the game to be very exciting and rewarding when I followed the plot cues directly and ignored most of the sidequests.

[This message has been edited by Lemernis (edited 08-23-2001).]

[Kaz]

There is no time limit, i believe.
I spent over 100 (!) days between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, explored every part of the map, finished all the subquests i could find except spider forest (after reloading 70 times in 25 minutes or something like that you just dont want to anymore) and the basilisks (didnt want to). It is IMPORTANT and part of the game that you dont just hop from one big quest to the other but spend some time exploring. The subquests are fun, I really love the one where
SPOILER about a kid whos looking for his dog named Rufie
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you find a little kid standing beside the path who is looking for his dog named Rufie. Me, im a nice guy, I say "Ok little guy ill help you"
You find Rufie, a werewolf in front of a big pile of bodies I think it was and go back to this kid. He says something like "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou for finding Rufie. Rufie, lets go back home to the Ninth Hell. its so cold here."
WHOOSH a giant demon is standing where this kid stood before. He casts dimension gate and teleports away (i really DONT want to know where he went...)

[Axterix]

If you like diving straight for the bigger quests, then use a smaller party. It'll take a bit more care, but you'll level faster, and that's more important than having 6 people in the party. Then add the others later, once you've got some bigger muscle to take the brunt of the fighting. The low levels will catch up pretty quickly.