Baldur's Gate 2 Complete Walkthrough
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1 BALDUR’S GATE 2 COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH (Including THRONE OF BHAAL) Introduction This is a complete walkthrough for Baldur’s Gate 2, including the Throne of Bhaal expansion. I intend to use a somewhat different approach to writing this walkthrough than from what I have seen on the Internet and in the official strategy guides. There may be truth to the assertion that everyone has their own approaches, and that there is no such thing as the ‘perfect party’ or the ‘perfect strategy’. Nonetheless, I do have deeply entrenched viewpoints on the best of way of doing things. The walkthrough will be written on the basis of those viewpoints. It takes the reader through the game as I have played it. This is not so much to force feed my own views upon the reader, but in the hope that the reader will gain insights into the game through the perspectives that I provide. A brief description of the format of the walkthrough now follows. The first sections focus on how best to construct the party to adventure with, starting with the protagonist. What will be advanced is the perfect ‘Heroic Party” and the perfect ‘Evil Party.’ Indeed, it can actually be quite enjoyable to play the Baldur’s Gate games as a bad guy. You get to indulge in some of the ‘jerk replies’ in conversations that you were afraid to use as a good guy. You get to take alternative paths in the game that the good guy wouldn’t touch. You also get a whole new experience from travelling with the evil NPC’s, enhancing the game’s replay value. Bear in mind that even as an evil party you still want at least a good reputation so that the game’s items remain affordable, and so that you don’t have law enforcers hounding you. As long as you do not exceed 18, your party will stay together. The next section will relate the order in which I do the various sections of the game, and the reasons why. It will also address a few miscellaneous issues, such as NPC romances, my timing for installing Throne of Bhaal, and the new Solaufein and Ascension Modules available on sorcerers.net. The main sections then take the reader through the game as I have played it. The walkthrough will for the most part be written with reference to the Heroic Party, but will diverge when it is necessary to address how things are done differently with the Evil Party. Note that I won’t provide a separate section to combat strategies. Combat strategies will provided in the main section as the party encounters new foes. In any event, an index has been provided at the end. One final note, at no point will reference be made to cheat codes. The fun and challenge of the game is to finish it within the rules. Certainly cheat codes may have a legitimate place, such as repairing an inadvertent screw-up. In any event, there should be no trouble finding out how to use the cheats on the Internet. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS What’s New – p. 3 The Perfect Heroic Party - p. 3 The Perfect Evil Party - p. 10 An Alternative “Best Evil Party” – p. 13 Other NPCs and Why They Weren’t Included - p. 13 The Order in Which to Do Quest, and Other Issues - p. 15 Chapter 1 - p. 20 Chapter 2 - p. 27 Chapter 3, the Good Party - p. 35 Chapter 3, the Evil Party - p. 46 Chapter 4 - p. 49 Chapter 5 - p. 67 Chapter 6 - p. 86 Chapter 7 - p. 150 Throne of Bhaal - Special Abilities - p. 159 Chapter 8 - p. 163 Chapter 9 - p. 201 Chapter 10 - p. 215 Appendix 1: Item Reference Chart for Shadows of Amn - p. 223 Appendix 2: Item Reference Chart for Throne of Bhaal - p. 226 An Alternative Item Arrangment for the Good Party – p. 228 Index - p. 228 What’s New 3 - besides fixing some grammatical and spelling errors that made me cringe with embarrassment .. - Suggestion for an alternative “Best Evil Party” that includes Sarevok. - Includes advice on Improved Ilyich, part of the Tactics Mod. - The Tactics Mod used to be included in the Solaufein Mod. The contents of the improved battles and the Solaufein romance have both grown since then. As such, they were split apart into separate downloads. This walkthrough is updated accordingly. In a few instances, I thought some creatures were modified by the Tactics Mode when in fact they weren’t. Those mistaken notes have been removed. - A suggestion for an alternative inventory arrangement for the Good Party, found at Appendix 1. - I know have my evil Fighter/Thief dual-wielding Hindo’s Doom and Angurvadaal. - I now consider Wish to be too random to be of any real help. The Perfect Heroic Party As with any other RPG, your chances of success in Baldur’s Gate 2 are greatly increased if you invest more time and effort into deciding who will be in your party. Once you’ve played the game a few times, you’ll also realize that the party should be composed with a view towards taking the best advantage of the equipment that is available in the game. What follows is my theory of what constitutes the best party possible in the game, for good or evil. Each character, starting with the protagonist, is examined in detail. For each character, an explanation for why he or she is included, how to effectively use that character in that game, that character’s weaknesses, how to overcome those weaknesses, and how to allocate the character’s weapon proficiencies, will all be provided. The rest of the walkthrough will proceed on the basis that it is the good party that is in action. I will diverge when I need to note how I do things differently as a bad guy. The Protagonist: Gildor, Male Elf Fighter/Mage Why He’s Included When you are creating the main character, you should really be thinking about bringing something to the party that the NPCs cannot provide. For example, in both BG1 and BG2 there is an NPC Paladin available. The same goes for a Ranger, a Cleric, a single class Mage, and so on. A Monk comes readily to mind as the protagonist. But I can’t create one in BG1, and since I wanted to play both games with the same character, that idea was out. A single class fighter seems just plain dumb. The paladin and ranger NPCs are themselves decent fighters, and can do a few other things besides. A multi-class combination recommends itself. In fact, the most awesome multi-class combination of all, the Fighter/Mage, is for choice. The Fighter/Mage is arguably the hardest character to get off the ground. In BG1, I had 4 to reload my game a significant number of times in the early going because of the lower number of hit points compared to a single class fighter, and the inability to wear armor and still cast spells. But once he’s off the ground, it is probably the most powerful combination of all! There are so many ways to have the abilities of one class compliment and augment the abilities of the other. In a sentimental way, it is also very consistent with the type of character the protagonist is supposed to be. Surely it befits a Child of Bhaal to be able to command both the prowess of a warrior, and the awesome power of sorcery. How to Use Him Effectively There are many spells in the game that will enhance his power as a fighter, which include Mirror Image, Stoneskin, and Fireshield. At the higher levels, he can combine all three into a Spell Sequencer, which makes him a true machine of death. This also allows for some nice tactical possibilities against particularly dangerous foes. For example, he can prepare himself with his own magics while the priests also cast defensive spells on him. He can then step up to the fore to have the monsters concentrate their attacks harmlessly on him. Meanwhile, the rest of the party can blast away with missile weapons and spells at a distance. He will also work well in tandem with Imoen, the party mage. For example, he would cast Slow and she would cast Chaos and the fight is pretty much over before it has even started. Likewise, a double shot of Chain Lightning can be really devastating. His Weaknesses, and How to Overcome Them He does not gain levels as quickly as his single class counterparts in either class. Nonetheless, he can gain a useful spell repertoire even in the early stages of the game. Besides which, Imoen is there to gain quick access to the high level mage spells. If you roll this character with high enough stats in BG1 and improve him even more with the Tomes in BG1, the slower advancement as a fighter is actually negligible. The other concern is that he cannot wear armor and still cast spells. The way to overcome this is to buy the Bracers of Defense A.C. 3 from Ribald’s shop as soon as you can (you’ll find something better in the late stages of the Shadows of Amn), and of course, to use your defensive spells to best effect. How to Allocate His Proficiency Points Upon importing him, I spend two points on Katanas, two points on Long Swords, and two points on Two Weapon Style. Despite the game’s warning against the rarity of magical katanas, one of the best weapons in the game is a katana and can be found early on! In the other hand, he will use a second weapon, usually a long sword or another katana.