/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.4773485]

Mage, Sorcerer, or Cleric? Let me ask you that.
I never played Cleric before, is there a destructive skillset for that class?

For he is God's minister to thee, for good. But if thou do that which is evil, fear: for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is God's minister: an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil.

[Anonymous No.4773529]

>>4773485
I find the magic users, besides cleric, all very shallow and limiting to play for 90% of the game. Most of the time they're just in the corner with a slingshot, or running away from danger, saving their spells for a big encounter.

I never enjoyed using one as my main character. Cleric is a bit more dynamic of an option, and there are fewer good clerics in the game than mages.

[Anonymous No.4774141]

>>4773485
Don't play singleclass cleric, he has only 1 apr.

[Anonymous No.4774153]

Beamdog is a guilty of a number of different crimes. Here are the major ones.

1. The Enhanced Editions are essentially a collection of free mods that had existed for nearly twenty years. Beamdog gathered them all up, slapped "Enhanced Edition" on it and resold it as a new product. There's very very little in the Enhanced Editions that wasn't already out there, and most of it is stuff you don't want (like obnoxious character outlines).

2. The games didn't sell so well and the originals were still far outselling them, even twenty years after their release, so Beamdog had EVERY digital distributor stop selling the originals and ONLY sell the Enhanced Edition. If you want to buy a digital copy of the originals now, they're "bundled" into the Enhanced Edition. Now these scumbags can claim sales from people just wanting to buy the originals as their own.

3. The infamous 600+ bugs on launch. The game is still riddled with bugs (as even a perfunctory glance over their forums show) but the fact that it took nearly two years for them to get a game that had been working fine for 20 years to reach playability after launch is telling of their wild incompetence.

4. This is where we get to the ones that really piss people off. Beamdog couldn't just remaster the game, they had to fuck with the content too. New dialogue for existing NPCs like Jaheira, Viconia, Safana, Kivan, et cetera was written in to make the characters more progressive and leftist friendly. Beamdog shills will argue that "adding content isn't changing content XDDD" but it is when the new content changes the core personalities of the existing characters. This is in addition to adding a slew of their own LGBT (hitherto there were none in Baldur's Gate) NPCs, all flooded with OP attributes and magic items to encourage people to play them despite their cancer.

5. Siege of motherfucking Dragonspear.

[Anonymous No.4774170]

play as a fighter of some sort if you wanna beat the game
playing as a caster is only for the added difficulty

also you will never be able to put your character as 1st leader if they are caster since they usually just stay back and shoot shit, he will always run in front if you put a flimsy mage as lead and get killed

[Anonymous No.4774181]

>>4774153
I played both the original BG and BG2, and the EEs. I noticed no substantial differences in SJW-ness or whatever, and I thought the new charcaters were integrated well. This sounds made up.

That said, play a Fighter/Mage. Great synergies between the classes. I probably wouldn’t play a straight Mage, as Edwin ends up almost being better than what you could make anyways due to his stupid amulet, and Baeloth is a good Sorcerer if you’ve got the EE.

[Anonymous No.4774341]

Assuming a whole trilogy run with one character with special distinction for each game:
>Mage
Great class, arcanists are always in demand for any party. They're way better dualled or multiclassed. Even a Human Mage with just 3 levels in kitless Fighter benefits from being able to fire a bow and bonus HP. Wild Mage is your best choice, esp. if you don't mind reloading, due to Nahal cheese. Arcanists can insta-win encouners even from level 1 thanks to Sleep and Blind.
>Sorcerer
Superior to single-class Mage, but only if you know what the good spells are. Get a backup spellcaster to fill any gaps you might have.
>Cleric
Fantastic throughout BG1, Command is an insta-win spell against many annoying encouners like Silke or Greywolf. Also solid throughout BG2, but the power really "caps" at level 14. Still, it has some solid destructive options, like Harm. Vanilla Clerics are worse than any multi or dual Cleric since their melee capabilities are halted by raw Cleric staying at 1 APR.
>Druid
Atrocious early game in BG1, but the Totemic Druid kit on the other hand has ridiculously useful summons throughout the entirety of the trilogy, semi-broken in BG1, solid throughout SoA. BG2 makes them worthy of inclusion solely because of Insect Plague, Call Woodland Being, Elemental Summoning, Nature's Beauty and Ironskins. Fighter/Druid is very solid. Totemic Druid and Avenger are the best kits, with Shapeshifter not worth considering without the kit tweak.

You can also go Mage/Cleric due to some synergy between self-buffs and being a walking library. It's good.
NPC Clerics are better and more numerous than Mages in BG1; Edwin and potentially Imoen and Quayle are the only guys to stand out as mages, whereas Cleric-types have fairly excellent Jaheira, Branwen, Viconia and Yeslick.

[Anonymous No.4774371]

I recommend Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric.

Used to get all Cleric and all Druid spells plus Fighter skills due to a bug. In EE still has Druid spells up to level 3, it's still worth it. One of the most useful characters in any situation.