I always use a tomato to explain dnd stats Strength is being able to crush a tomato. Dexterity is being able to dodge a tomato. Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato. Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad. Charisma is being able to sell a tomato based fruit salad.
humm...intelligence would be the ability to adapt and learn. Knowing things would be more related to wisdom. So that intelligence example is the only one I would not approve.
@@MM-dm4xj Aaaaand there it is. A year late "AcKsHuAlLy" comment. The cherry on top would be if that 1 like was from the same guy who posted the comment. RUclips, please never change lol
My favorite class is Wild Mage, but I mostly do solo playthroughs. Post-starting dungeon you can buy a Limited Wish scroll right after you get out when you sell the dungeon loot, at which point you're basically a few quests away from a reliable infinicaster with infinite duration alacracity cast on you, due to how Nahal's Reckless Dweomer works. There's surges screwing you over sometimes, yeah, but gating in a demon, casting flesh to stone on yourself and a cow falling on ya are trivial, when Protection from Evil is a 1st level spell, you're a wizard with decent saves against petrification and you have a constant stoneskin on ya, because... You're playing an arcane caster and if you don't have constant stoneskin on, you're doing it wrong. And the best thing - max level Wild Mage feels like a DnD crazed NPC archmage in battle. You pop off several 9th level spells with a 1st level spell slot, there's crazy chaos magic floating about everywhere, butterflies are coming out of your rear while your enemies disintegrate, turn to stone, run around in confusion, turn into squirrels and get eaten by demons you summon by accident. Out of slots? Time to Wish/Limited Wish for more. And then you decide to cast Imprisonment for the fun of it, get a wild surge of AoE effect and watch as everything on screen, including your sorry self gets yeeted into a magical sphere of suspended animation deep underground. 11/10 gameplay, would break reality again.
I love this game with all my heart it made me realize the fun of REALLY roleplaying in an rpg and not just playing it as any old game. I love that this video shows how much you love BG2 by just not telling us any story bits and it'd be a disservice if you did. Keep up the good work friend.
Tip for new players: Once you get invisibility, cast it on your thief in dungeons. Thieves can't hide in shadows and find/disarm traps at the same time, but they can while invisible. On entering a dungeon, make your thief invisible and make them scan the whole dungeon methodically by advancing half their sight range every three seconds (they detect traps in their sight radius every six, but three seconds is easier to count and half the radius gives you a slight margin in case you count too fast). Disarm any traps as you find them, they can do so without breaking invisibility. Once the floor is clear (and all enemies scouted) you can engage them safely. Later on some mages like to cast True Sight when your thief approaches. Just give them a cape of Non Detection, or cast Spell Immunity: Divination on them.
I remember there was a OP ring of invisibility in the original game and I do believe it was nerfed in the EE remakes. I ALWAYS gave that thing to my rogue because it made them invisible permanently until they attacked basically.
@@dragoneye6229 Ring of Gaxx I believe? There are plenty of rings with a cast invisible ability though. And the endgame thieves hood. For important fights though, use Any Item + Mislead scroll and send the mislead clone far away = enduring invisible and never ending backstabs.
You can also just hide in shadows and then go look for traps. After you’re out of the shadow you stay invisible for 2 rounds, giving you 12 sec to look for traps and find a place out of sight to re-shadow.
I loved the strategy of walking into a room with a mage and getting him to pop his protection spells, then immediately waking out of the room and just waiting for them to wear off... For really tough guys I'd summon some low level animals and send them in to soak up the damage spells. I even did this on Irenicus himself, I had a random summoned wild dog who resisted a power word: death, some other high level spell I can't remember, who was then mazed. Eventually he came back and soaked up another spell before dying. He was my hero and goodest boy.
Irenicus must have malded when a fkng wolf absorbed his high level spells. Also you can use staff of summoning for the same effect, but it's a bit cheesy.
Nerdfact- the illusionist gnome you kill to free the circus is Charlie Alder. So ... You just killed Buster Bunny. I really love the voice cast of the infinity engine games. So many classic actors
@@skantilyklad When I first heard that "NOOOOOOOO!", I nearly had a heart attack. I did NOT expect such a loud... noise coming out of that beastly little gnome.
My favorite character class… half elf fighter/mage/thief. At high levels, you get the “use any item” skill as a thief. Give the fighter/mage/thief two proficiencies in Two handed swords, and even if he is an evil character, you can wield Carsomyr. Put a few other items on you, and your magic resist hits the game limit.
Minor point to add about the Cowled Wizards right at the beginning, if you have some time and enjoy violence, you can repeatedly cast a spell to summon them and wreck the group that shows up. The groups get tougher and tougher but after I believe 15ish groups they have a special group show up declaring they have sent the grand Master of the order. Wreck them up and bam, freedom to cast in Athkatla unmolested for the rest of the game.
I love how the first big showpiece scene of the game is Irenicus getting arrested by the cops, and then pretty much exploding their magic in a fit of wrath. ...and then you can do the same.
Flail of the ages is simply the best weapon in the game, it makes sense to just make a fighter/mage with proficiency in flails just because of that item. Elemental damage interrupts spellcasting, crushing is best type of damage, if you slow someone they are basically dead. Also non-EE/SCS have a ton of broken shit. melfs meteors is insane (I think it hits as a +7 weapon?) , insect plague is aoe confusion, spell failure and eventually death with no saving throws.
Bg2 is one of the best games ever made, but if I'm being honest I do think the game is at its best in the first half before magic gets ridiculous. The opening stages of the game are a perfectly balanced series of encounters where you need all your party members working in unison, utilising all their abilities to win battles. Once you have a decent levelled up mage and understand the spell system, most of your party members become simple bystanders. The last chunk of the game you're really only playing it for the story, the first part of the game it's the story PLUS wonderful intricate battles.
A comment for the algo god. All hail the allmighty algorithm to shine upon this video for good views and high ad revenue. May RUclips for once love you and shower you with its trending page. Great video by the way.
- Dual is widely regarded as stronger than multi, though fighter + literally anything else as any race is going to be a solid choice. People should just pick what they like/want to play, max strength/dex/con, and meet min requirements otherwise (or more if you're willing to reroll a bunch). Yes, even for mages and clerics. - Yikes on carsomyr being the most powerful weapon, lol. It's a good swap though. The dispel on hit effect is gimped by the fact that protection from mwep also blocks the dispel effect. If target is a caster without protection from mwep, it's going to get interrupted like crazy and crapped on by pretty much any good melee weapon. - Lavok is using horrid wilting (level 8 spell), it's pure magic damage. If you're fighting there at low levels, you can't really buff to resist it, though you can stay out of melee and gank him with skeletons. They have high MR, but more importantly summons sponging damage is damage you don't take. Even "good" clerics can spam skeletons, and skeletons with a simple chant/bless/haste combo will crush most of SoA. Good for when beholders, mind flayers, or other crap is being annoying. - You can break the game immediately after stepping out of the starting dungeon by using potions of master thievery to boost pickpocketing and rob shops blind. If you want, you can even steal/sell from a fence so you can just buy stuff. Whether you buy or steal it, you can get lots of +3 to +5 gear and amazing equipment right away (can further buy stuff from watcher's keep shop right away). - Neera + circlet + chaos shield also almost immediately breaks BG2, though you have to put up with her writing and understand how the wild surge table works. She basically has improved alacrity HLA on at all times when casting using Nahal's.
" Yikes on carsomyr being the most powerful weapon, lol. " Personal opinion, but I also think Celestial is the best comboed with Dakkons for mage berserker, so you may not agree with me. The thing I like about this game is that nothing is objective when it comes to these epic weapons. It's down to play style. But how are you gonna yikes a +5 two hander 1d12? Bruh. "The dispel on hit effect is gimped by the fact that protection from mwep also blocks the dispel effect." That's why you always lead with a strip. Never expect Car to do all the work, just the clean up after strip. "You can break the game immediately after stepping out of the starting dungeon " I broke it by soloing and dual classing. It's insanely, stupidly overpowered. "Neera + circlet + chaos shield also almost immediately breaks BG2" Insteresting. Have to check that out.
@@StratEdgyProductions The problem for Carso is that it's 2h, and while it's dispel effect is excellent when you need dispelling, its on-hit is otherwise just a solid weapon hitting. Compared to stuff like flail of ages (slow on hit, tons of damage procs, still good damage overall) or celestial fury, both of which can have +APR weapons in offhand and hit cap of 10 with improved haste, carsomyr is more of a swap tool to tank magic hits with the MR, and a swap tool to break defenses if you already get a breach through or stalled mwep protection. It's a fine weapon, but you're leaving a lot of damage on the table if you have it out all the time, especially since paladins can't GM in it or anything else, and will have to take at least some proficiencies elsewhere. There's no reason the pally can't be holding other stuff and switch to it when target is helpless + beat down fighters/monsters etc faster. You have the proficiency points for it. What makes Neera busted is that at BG2 levels as soon as you get ICS, with both ICS + circlet, the wild surge table can no longer roll anything that changes your target when you use Nahal's, and Nahal's casts are all done with improved alacrity. If you don't use her to target own party, Nahal's also can't nuke your gold or do almost any negative thing other than making her dizzy or polymorphing her, which is Neera-only (you can give her cloak of sewers to end polymorph too). You can use this to fire off very high level magic back to back long before HLA, or you can just do ruby rays (if needed) --> lower resist --> blind spam (put it in sequencer for Jan and have Neera spend remaining 1s to Nahal's it) stuff to end boss fights in like 2 rounds. This is ignoring that many wild surge outcomes are positive, too, like "target gets no save" or "casts 2x". It is possible to use her effectively in no-reload style runs, but if you're willing to scum bad outcomes she's obviously even more broken, because you can constrain RNG enough that you only have to reload her shenanigans occasionally while getting access to more of her spell book.
About powerful character combos, I was a fighter-thief, prowling invisible with a speed of wind thru hallways, backstabbed enemies would explode in a mist of blood and then I would hide in shadows again. No casting, no resting, no limitations, invisible backstabbing ninja.
I did a run with a build like that. Had some side-dude with me, that allowed to detect traps, but I did several runs at that point, and knew where most traps were. Also I was lucky and if I tripped some, the spell/missile/bullet/arrow missed me or I dodged or something. Traps aside, being a ninja that can strike first is a vibe. Potion of speed and Scroll of speed to read (use any item skill), or a gear that allows constant speed turbo, and the encounter was scripted: Backstab, dead enemy, run away, hide, return, backstab another, repeat until needed. Mindless fun really! >:3
I remember making a monk main character, and wanted to test how effective quivering palm (aka One Punch Man mode) is against tough enemies, so I saved the game right before Firkraag and, after many attempts, I managed to land a killing blow. Yeah, I managed to kill a dragon with one punch.
Very fun fact about Carsomyr sword... I don't know if EE has fixed this, but Thief's later ability "Use Any Item" kinda does exactly that. I don't remember if it's locked to a specific subclass or you just get it from thief. If you want to turn your sneaky bugger to a whirlwind of doom, that is one way to do it.
@@chillhour6155idk if you know what adhd is they took that out because it’s just an annoying game mechanic that’s not an interesting challenge it’s just big f you to the player there’s smth being hard but engaging and then there’s just being hard because it’s a nuisance
I've beaten Baldur's Gate 2 about 30 times in the last 15 years. The most broken team build ever is to have Korgan dual-wield Crom Faeyr+another hammer with improved haste and regeneration on him, going up to 10 attacks / second with the best THAC0 which is basically a constant Whirlwind buff and he hits up to 48 dmg which is 480 dps. And everybody else just buffs Korgan and Debuffs the enemy, clerics/wizards as many as u can get. In the last act, Korgan can kill the Black Dragon in 3 seconds. In fact, Korgan gets so strong there is no point to have another fighter do like 2 attacks/sec for 20-30... There are tons of other broken builds but this is the n1.
Vanilla monks are so freaking good. The dragon boss theme is so good. Lavok casts Abo Dalzhim's, which deals magic damage. Only magic resist works. The demons outside the sphere are actually tougher unless you have the Greenstone amulet.
Back in high school, a friend gave me this game. It came with a whopping 4 discs. There's a bug that will ask you to insert disc 5 during the install if you selected a slave drive. I remember playing for an hour exploring only to come across a dragon and got owned instantly.
@@jasonmoskowitz246 I dunno. Anomen is an OK guy once he passes his knight trial. And Viconia has one of the best romances, a possibility for redemption and a bittersweet romance epilogue with the main character.
To be fair mage/sorcerer anything is broken being able stack spell immunities was broke. Time stop horrid wilting shenanigans almost make melee feel obsolete(I still love melee though). Like weirdly I want to see a hardcore run as like solo bard none of the dumb items like amulet of power, cloak of mirroring and robes of vecna.
Just berserker dual into caster at 7 or 13 op as hell. Especially when playing hardcore no reload, you get so many important immunities for free on your main, I can’t think of anything better really
Facts. Berserk is the single most op ability in the game. Not only it gives you immunity to like 10 status effects which is basically 3 defensive high level spells in one (negative energy protection, mind effects immunity and freedom of movement) but it's also an ability meaning it can't be dispelled plus it works in antimagic zone. The best defensive ability anyone can get especially for mages (berserker/mage). It's obvious this isn't from DnD rules because the idea that a mundane ability like this can give you immunity to things like 9th level imprisonment is just stupid.
True, but even playing on core rules, I just didn't need it. The game is stupidly easy. Thinking of doing a solo run next. Probably use the robes for that, no doubt.
@@sixmillionsilencedaccounts3517 idk, berserker is basically just fighter with some immunities and +2 buff, I actually never played berserker without going into Druid mage or cleric. I don’t think I did even did fighter, I was more thinking ranger paladin or rogue. I mean rogue solo is probably the easiest after a caster, it’s pretty fun but can feel a bit cheesy after a while. Just don’t go shadowdancer or abuse traps and you’ll have a good time. (Even with shadowdancer you’ll have fun but after a certain threshold you’re able to cheese just with hiding through 90% of enemies)
What you said at the beginning about it not sticking for some people because of those reasons that's from what I've heard what DND was like back in that day and it was awesome
Man. I used about 100 mods on this game to make it harder, including making demons summon demons that summon demons, and buffing the dragons, and improving the ais. I had a blast. The Irenicus fight took me days. And I won with sticks and stones cause that was all i had left. Used every potion, every wand, staff, magic sword, or random magic item. And still won by the skin of my teeth...
@@curious_dude2811 oh they are 15 odd years old now. Doubt they'd work on EE. But. The only mod i removed for how insane it was was Improved Sahuagin City. So if you want to check that out. I will look with a friend if we still had the old compiler. We had to make a compiler to instal all the mods, old infinity engine gunk. If i find it I will upload the list to a google docs and share it here.
@@bavettesAstartes Thank you for your time. It wont be necessary. I was curious if you had a list available. I will look for mods for extended edition. Thank you for your answers. It will help me in starting my quest for mods.
@@streetstroller as tedious as climbing a mountain. You can become a real powerhouse in the base game, and some mods will give you even more in items and such. So mods that raise the difficulty of the game were common. It is like strat said. It is a game of chess. It is a puzlle, and pnce you master its mechanics you feel wanting more.
Always love your video's dude, rewatched some of them a bunch of times. Can't afford to back on Patreon but if liking and commenting helps in someway more than happy to do it. Keep up the good work!
This reminds me of being a mage in Dragon Age - Origins. In previous playthroughs, you can unlock subclasses to use in your _current_ playthrough. So make a deal with a demon in playthrough A, quit, and in playthrough B start your apprentice wizard off with Blood Magic at level 7!!! Then take Arcane Warrior (heavy armor) at level 14 and you're a tank with area stun & mind control (blood magic) and barrier & melee damage buff (arcane warrior) Even so, nothing beats Mana Clash. Wipe out all your magic to do the same to the opponent. Oh and they take damage equal to the mana lost. Enemy spellcasters explode like pop tarts. And then just switch to blood magic to use your HP bar as a mana bar. Or just whack stuff alongside your tank. This heavily incentivizes a constitution-heavy mage. Which is bad. Deliciously bad. Also, your healer and Morrigan can also learn blood magic :D The former becomes an infinite mana generator, the latter becomes vaguely useful :v
Mages in baldurs gate 2 quickly become Jojo characters with their time stop abilities. Especially if you like stop time, then cast a bunch of Melf's Minute Meteors. Oh, dude. Yeah. Totes a Dio move right there.
one thing i remember about this game is that using the multiplayer function you can create a full party of custom characters. so i would make 5 or 6 characters and then trade the NPCs in and out to do their storylines. then the second thing i remember is that we had to fight a dragon at one point and the way i beat it was by loading up my mages with spell triggers containing magic missles. the dragon had some spell resistance but he had to roll against every individual missile and he didn't have enough HP to take 1d4+1 70 or 80 times no matter how much MR he had. the third thing i remember is that my main was a pure fighter that had very high fire resistance from armor and i would send him in to tank and then throw multiple fireballs in after him.
Vhailor's Helm was not added by the EE. It was a bonus item added via the Collector's Edition. I was using the free simulacrum from the helm long before Beam Dog was even a thing. Though I can thank them for ensuring it is includded as part of their version of the game.
Awesome video btw! Did a full playthrough of BG1EE with a created party (for a change) just to be ready for when this video dropped after seeing the live-streams on the other channel. Love the game series. Need to think about what to do for a new BG2 playthrough. Would love to hear Strats thoughts on other older CRPG games as well. Just helped a buddy out with his first playthrough of Arcanum the other week.
The first time I went through BG2 it was with a monk and my god was that a slog, then my second playthrough was as a dual-classed thief-mage and by comparison that was a cakewalk when my character could just be pure bullshit with those higher level spells and toys.
The helm from adventurers mart that casts simulacrum isn't exclusive to enhanced edition, it was (if I remember correctly) also in the collectors edition of BGII. I am pretty sure it has been in all versions of the game I owned, which coincidentally are the collectors edition and the enhanced edition.
You are %100 correct. There was a 5th bonus disk in the collectors edition which contains the extra merchant deidre and the other dude right up the front of the pub. (he sells one of the best defensive weapons in the whole game - a mace called Defender of Easthaven.)
Thanks for the tips. Good stuff, especially the Feeblemind! Umberhulks are very easy to deal with Stinking Cloud or with Cloudkill. Just use wand (or spell) and close the door. And it may pay to pay a visit to Watcher’s Keep before the De’Arnise Keep to get for instance the Firetooth crossbow, potion case, gem bag and the Foebane (if one dares to clean the first level).. and other goodies.. before hooking up with Nalia. But you need some gold.. Firetooth and Foebane will help a lot.. 😅
The whole Jeremy Irons gag is hilarious because I knew even when BG2 was originally released that Irenicus was voiced by David Warner, because I'm a huge Star Trek fan and he played Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, my favorite of the Star Trek films.
I simply use the Helmet of Opposite Alignment on Viconia to solve the whole issue she normally has with good-aligned characters. Even cursed items have their uses!
Loved the video. Currently 80% through BG1 with a Dwarf Berserker solo )managed a 95 roll at the start and currently lvl capped with 120hp). Specked specifically for Drizzt gear so was slow to start but now I have his Scimitars I can put him on auto pilot and he will destroy groups. So overpowered. I'll pass him over to BG2 and see what he does.
You can carry around 3 weapons for particular situations, go kill Mendar Pebblecrusher for his full-plate.. and fail, and fail again.. and come back later, juggle around spellprep, hunt down spells.. Or you can play a Monk. All that time you would be micromanaging and moving slowly you can now spend killing.
My favorite Jeremy irons bit is when he said he had no opinion on gay marriage, then went on a shirt tangent giving his.... interesting opinion. Then reiterated that he had no opinion on the matter. Also the DnD movie. Classic.
Once you realize you can build your own custom team from the start of the game, you can increase the difficulty and it becomes a totally different experience. You no longer have to carry a weak thief to open your chests, make a half orc warrior/thief with 19 STR, 17 DEX, 19 CON and no more weak spot behind your group. Just go in multiplayer and create your own game.
@@flogzer0 I don't know mate. Solo builds are never totally OP imo. You always have a weaker character in your team to fill a spot. In multiplayer, you can build your dream team exactly like in Icewind Dale 2. This allows you to give each one of them the best weapon possible, the best stats, etc. Having a priest with 19 wisdom from the start of the game feels different.
@@Emrico35 Before playing that way, I experienced the game in solo many times. So yes, better do it once you did all the side quests for each character.
This is great, I was looking for a video like this a while ago. I just wanted to see how bad I was at this game when I was 13, but honestly it turns out I was playing pretty well. I'm sure feeblemind would have helped hah. Also I had a crush on Viconia's portrait.
David Warner was actually a pretty cool dude some interesting roles in fantasy-sciencefiction, the Jeremy Iron thing is undetstandable since he was in a DnD movie also with a iconic voice.
1:04:50 I had similar issue, I had Edwin and Keldorn in one team close to each other (one behind others back), never had any problems with them being in same party before, but this time Keldorn shouted that he fears being backstabbed by the red mage, and eventually they fought to the death :( suprised me after all these years
I bought BG2 as an 11 year old when it just came out during the time I had my leg broken. Never finished it, because I couldnt read most of the stuff (not a native English speaker). Now, because of this video, I'm going to try it again. Download has started
Humans can dual class - which has probably been said before with almost 700 comments but fuck it; Dual classing at the RIGHT time can leave you with a very powerful Munchkin that can handle more in versatility than a core class character would manage. While also not being as SLOW to level (or as costly for EXP since there is a cap on how much grinding you can do I believe) as a multiclassed character. Which often puts them at a higher level than the multiclassed ones would be. The problem being if you don't pick the right classes and specifically at the right times, you are definitely going to bork your build. There's also only certain classes that can be dual classed into, and I believe you're bound to the 2nd class' weapons and gear up to matching the previous class' level. You'll also lose access to spell lists if you go magic class first, and then dual into melee. So it's better to use melee as straight HP gain, then magic so you're less squishy but can still cast spells. Then again, what do I know... I main unarmed in just about any game that will let me. xD [Yup, Fallout 4 was REAL fun with every enemy shooting me from the 2nd or 3rd floor, and molotovs up the wazhoo to infinity and beyond. Fallout 3 wasn't much better... and I really hate archers, and wizards!] May need to repurchase this two-fer on Xbox one. I did try it, alongside the icewind dale games... and frankly both of them handed me my arse. Sometimes with traps... sometimes because I main monk lmao. Apparently they are better in this one, but I tried to play in order, including the DLC so, yeah. That didn't go well. I spent more time looking up how to do what I wanted to get the ending I liked in both games, than actually doing... what I wanted, to get the ending I liked in both games. : / Also, personal taste but: Viconica > Jaheira > Aerie. [Which is weird for me, because you can knock the last one up on the first shot... so normally I'd be all cool beans, it's my power fantasy. BUT she's also supposed to be a pain to not screw up] Personally I think a cleric is probably more useful overall than a druid. (Druids have a later gained spell list and don't get higher level spells that clerics do in AD&D - but I don't recall offhand if that applies to this game) There's also the point Jaheira is married to start, so that's a bit of a problem. I mean, I know what happens by 2... so really, I'm not saying it's a complete no. But then we have big bird. I'm not really into snuggleupagainstus ; )
sometimes you would open a door or go and kill a boss, and you would just get wrecked, like 2-3 times in a row, and think this is impossible! but actually once you start knowing the spells and skills and use all your tools you can obviously get through anything. This is why i enjoyed those games, 2 more than 1, but actually this mod i got back in the day let you play through baldur's gate 1 using the bg2 interface, which was a little bit more polished.
Baldurs Gate 2 is my favorite game of all time. I still play it from time to time but with many addons to make it harder and I also start over if my main char die to make it a little bit more challenging.
How to be a god in BG2? Dual class at 9 from Bereserker to mage with grandmastery in dual wielding weapons, use Skull Traps, Chaos, Greater Mallison, Breach, Cloudkills, Incendiery clouds, Horrid Wiltings, Time-stops for offense, Stoneskin, Greater Invisibility, Mirror Image, appropriate resists for defense, a lot of hastes and Planetars once you get there. Never play with pure thieves, they suck until you get the brokenly OP epic traps, use dual/multiclass thieves like Yan/Imoen/Nalia. Bring a Druid with you (Jaheira, not the other one) that can cast Insect Plague for a "I win" bottom against most foes. Cast Lower Resists on dragons. Its only if you play with Sword Coast Stratagems is when you have to actually think hard. I like Keldorm with Carsomyr, but he doesn't hold that well in ToB where Fire Giants pummel him into the ground. Pure fighters (and their lesser offshoots like Rangers and Paladins) just aren't that strong there, you need spell-casting to tank, preferably arcane.
You could go Berzerker 1 then rest of your levels in mage or sorc, still get grand mastery, and level 10 spells much faster. I'm thinking of a solo build for the same thing using katanas with dakons and celestial fury.
@@StratEdgyProductions I am pretty sure you have to be at least level 2 to dual class, and if we are talking BG2 specifically, it makes no sense at all not to get to level 9. The difference in XP requirements between a level 10 mage and any level below that is pretty trivial, and getting an extra 3 pips will get you to grandmastery right out the gate, not having to reach level 18 as a wizard. As a dualed mage, its worth noting the black blade of disaster gives 5 pips in longsword when cast.
It was so much fun to exploit the game systems and become a god. People keep whining now on how the game is hard and there's even a written manual. Make a perfect party with 6 custom characters. Make a dual-wield Kensai with Celestial Fury and Crom Faeyr. Make a sorcerer and solo the game. Exploit invisibility, backstab everyone, backstab their mages. Lay in ambush, throw traps everywhere. Cast cloudkill in rooms, close the door. It's a game where debuffs, buffs and countermagic are actually useful.
One detail: Vhailor's Helm and the other items from Adventurer's Mart like the Robe of Vecna weren't actually added in the Enhanced Edition. Originally they were part of the Collector's Edition as a separate CD-ROM. I guess EE added it as a base game thing. Now where the hell is my Baldur's Gate 2 collector's edition T-Shirt that thing made me the coolest kid in middle school...
My fave class is kensai. Basically ultimate swordsman at the cost of not having ANY armor. Makes your fights a bit of challenge, but it pays off when you outdamage Korgan and Minsc combined!
You can kill all the other golems one by one before opening the statues, and there is a +3 weapon in the last statue, but if you picked up lilicor there should be a +3 weapon already. Also the +2 maces say +3 on the damage so it might count too.
Played this game an unknown number of times. One way I like to play it is by making players in ToB and then importing them into SoA, they should be at least double the normal starting level.
The "smoky cloud" with the death face in it is probably Cloudkill, if I remember my D&D correctly. Will cause damage to everyone in it, every round, at minimum. If the character's level is below a certain one ( under level 7 ? ) then they have to make a save every round or die.
@@MrHuyche Nah, it's really cloudkill. BG2 has both, the one Lavok uses is Cloudkill, the 5th level evocation spell. It instantly kills creatures with 1 to 4 HDs. Creatures with 5 or 6 HDs save vs spell or die. Creatures that make the save or have more than 6 HD take 1-10 poison damage every round, no save, for as long as they remain in the cloud. Horrid wilting (8th level, necromancy) just does a ton of damage instantly (1d8 / caster level, save vs spells for half). The animation is similar.
I loved casting cloudkill on the umber hulks, closing the door, amd letting the good times roll. Well it was good times for me. Not the umber hulks though
This is why the crom faeyr is under rated to me is you don’t get more damage to melee outside of str and apr is entirely class locked. Also I still love cleric/thief albeit it’s like the least viable dual class but it’s the only non arcane casting option that gets robes of vecna.
Oooh i Never did a cleric/thief but robe of vecna, never thought of that. Makes for a good roleplaying opportunity too, the very quick and shadowy in and out Thievy cleric! Idk about the faeyr, I’d even say he’s overrated. I mean when you start the game he’s gonna be good in your team or for yourself but as you get better and better he goes from mainhand on main char to off-hand or even switch weapon on one of your other characters. It’s just that there are more important main hand effects and usually you don’t use more than 2 dual wielding melees and dps is usually better with 19/20/etc str from belts + extra apr or you want the survivability from defender of easthaven
Recently got back into this game and discovered your videos. Really enjoyed this one, I'm most of the way through these quests in the game, thanks for sharing, awesome content.
Every time I see BG2 come up, it makes me feel bad for not getting into it yet. Every bit of that intro sounds like exactly the kind of unnecessary detail I love Tactics Ogre for.
The biggest issue with a non-warrior having a CON higher than a 16 is that you don't get any further HP bonuses. The CON bonus that the Dragon Disciple provides is so random and almost entirely useless. Furthermore, the regen that you get at 20+ (23 - the best you can get - gives you 1HP/30 seconds) is nothing crazy; it definitely won't be saving you in a fight.
Great analysis. Definitely one of the best RPGs ever made. I'm just surprised that you made no mention of being a solo Fighter-Mage-Thief and maxing out pickpocket skill with thief potions so you can keep stealing from the fence in the SE corner and selling his own stuff back to him until you have 50k+ gold and you can buy out the stores with some of the best gear, then hit the Slums for the first time with enough gold to skip all over chapter 2. Metagamey, I know, but it's a great way to power through the game.
I feel the Kensai-Mage is a legit way to become overpowered. If you use a gold exploit like the one you suggest you might as well just save time and use a editor like eekeeper and just give yourself 50k.
As somebody introduced to Baldur's Gate through a longtime friend, who in turn played it with coaching from his dad, may the man rest in peace... I enjoyed this vid and the preceding Baldur's Gate vid. I *did* beat the final encounter in the first taking advantage of the unexplored segments of the final room and *LOTS* of Fireball Wands. Good times. I regret choosing Barbarian Fighter, though. Sure, they get *Rage*, but good luck (for me) surviving a lot of physical damage to take advantage of it. XD
The idea that any class/race combo could even be considered to rival the absolute perfection of human/conjuration specialist mage is simply inconceivable. This is what peak performance truly looks like. (This post was made by Edwin gang)
@@BVasquezp He would have been a gimp throught the most fun part of the game. Never understood why people are so adamant about dualing and sucking out the fun from SOA when you straight up bully the game as a pure arcane caster even with mods.
I always use a tomato to explain dnd stats
Strength is being able to crush a tomato.
Dexterity is being able to dodge a tomato.
Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato.
Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad.
Charisma is being able to sell a tomato based fruit salad.
Nicely done.
humm...intelligence would be the ability to adapt and learn. Knowing things would be more related to wisdom. So that intelligence example is the only one I would not approve.
@@MM-dm4xj Aaaaand there it is. A year late "AcKsHuAlLy" comment. The cherry on top would be if that 1 like was from the same guy who posted the comment. RUclips, please never change lol
@@BL00DYME55 And there it is, a completely unrelated comment to the topic. RUclips, please change.
@@MM-dm4xjAs it is described in DnD intelligence is mostly how much you know, wisdom relates more to your adaptability and common sense.
You must gather your party before venturing forth.
Baldurs Gate II is a best game I ever played. Period.
It is on my top 10 thats for sure. I replay it every few years.
My favorite class is Wild Mage, but I mostly do solo playthroughs.
Post-starting dungeon you can buy a Limited Wish scroll right after you get out when you sell the dungeon loot, at which point you're basically a few quests away from a reliable infinicaster with infinite duration alacracity cast on you, due to how Nahal's Reckless Dweomer works.
There's surges screwing you over sometimes, yeah, but gating in a demon, casting flesh to stone on yourself and a cow falling on ya are trivial, when Protection from Evil is a 1st level spell, you're a wizard with decent saves against petrification and you have a constant stoneskin on ya, because... You're playing an arcane caster and if you don't have constant stoneskin on, you're doing it wrong.
And the best thing - max level Wild Mage feels like a DnD crazed NPC archmage in battle. You pop off several 9th level spells with a 1st level spell slot, there's crazy chaos magic floating about everywhere, butterflies are coming out of your rear while your enemies disintegrate, turn to stone, run around in confusion, turn into squirrels and get eaten by demons you summon by accident. Out of slots? Time to Wish/Limited Wish for more.
And then you decide to cast Imprisonment for the fun of it, get a wild surge of AoE effect and watch as everything on screen, including your sorry self gets yeeted into a magical sphere of suspended animation deep underground.
11/10 gameplay, would break reality again.
I'm a big Jeremy Irons fan. I'm happy to see him reprise his role as Jeremy Irons.
lol fantastic comment.
"David Warner IS Jeremy Irons AS Jeremy Irons"
David Warner IS: Jeremy Irons
umm akshually, jeremy irons doesn't voice irenicus, david warner does!
RIP David Warner, your godly voice will be missed.
How many lights do you see now?!
@@livelikeus4980 Nipples for men!
THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!
@@tomhodges1552 No. There are five.
I love this game with all my heart it made me realize the fun of REALLY roleplaying in an rpg and not just playing it as any old game. I love that this video shows how much you love BG2 by just not telling us any story bits and it'd be a disservice if you did. Keep up the good work friend.
Tip for new players: Once you get invisibility, cast it on your thief in dungeons. Thieves can't hide in shadows and find/disarm traps at the same time, but they can while invisible. On entering a dungeon, make your thief invisible and make them scan the whole dungeon methodically by advancing half their sight range every three seconds (they detect traps in their sight radius every six, but three seconds is easier to count and half the radius gives you a slight margin in case you count too fast). Disarm any traps as you find them, they can do so without breaking invisibility. Once the floor is clear (and all enemies scouted) you can engage them safely. Later on some mages like to cast True Sight when your thief approaches. Just give them a cape of Non Detection, or cast Spell Immunity: Divination on them.
I remember there was a OP ring of invisibility in the original game and I do believe it was nerfed in the EE remakes. I ALWAYS gave that thing to my rogue because it made them invisible permanently until they attacked basically.
@@dragoneye6229 Ring of Gaxx I believe? There are plenty of rings with a cast invisible ability though. And the endgame thieves hood. For important fights though, use Any Item + Mislead scroll and send the mislead clone far away = enduring invisible and never ending backstabs.
for traps, i find that theyre never really that much of an issue and normally will just walk through and then heal them up
There is a thief script that hides in shadows and scans for traps in a cycle, keeping the thief hidden constantly.
You can also just hide in shadows and then go look for traps. After you’re out of the shadow you stay invisible for 2 rounds, giving you 12 sec to look for traps and find a place out of sight to re-shadow.
I loved the strategy of walking into a room with a mage and getting him to pop his protection spells, then immediately waking out of the room and just waiting for them to wear off... For really tough guys I'd summon some low level animals and send them in to soak up the damage spells. I even did this on Irenicus himself, I had a random summoned wild dog who resisted a power word: death, some other high level spell I can't remember, who was then mazed. Eventually he came back and soaked up another spell before dying. He was my hero and goodest boy.
Irenicus must have malded when a fkng wolf absorbed his high level spells. Also you can use staff of summoning for the same effect, but it's a bit cheesy.
This is a heart warming story of: "A boy and his dog" but with less rape.
@@StratEdgyProductions I'm sorry but explain the "rape" part of this? It is quite concerning.
@@cjdziesiuta1995 check the movie "A boy and his dog". A post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, comedy drama about a boy and his telepathic dog
@@cjdziesiuta1995 it is a short story by harlan ellison
RUclips wants engagement, let's give it to 'em.
-CV11- Stratedgy, the algorithm, requires, engagement.
No
Wait he's looking to get engaged? I will have to talk it over with the wife, but I think we could swing it.
Peepeepoopoo
praise our Lord and saviour, the algorithm
How to be a god... Get a helmet and be immune to critical hits.
Nope, immunity to crits will NOT save you especially if you play on insane difficulty
Nerdfact- the illusionist gnome you kill to free the circus is Charlie Alder. So
... You just killed Buster Bunny. I really love the voice cast of the infinity engine games. So many classic actors
Yep, Planescape especially.
Also, the cow in the show cow and chicken lol. That's all I think when I hear that "NOOOOOOOO!"
@@skantilyklad I haven't thought of Cow and Chicken in years! Thanks for the reminder and immediate nostalgia lol.
@@skantilyklad When I first heard that "NOOOOOOOO!", I nearly had a heart attack. I did NOT expect such a loud... noise coming out of that beastly little gnome.
My favorite character class… half elf fighter/mage/thief. At high levels, you get the “use any item” skill as a thief. Give the fighter/mage/thief two proficiencies in Two handed swords, and even if he is an evil character, you can wield Carsomyr. Put a few other items on you, and your magic resist hits the game limit.
Minor point to add about the Cowled Wizards right at the beginning, if you have some time and enjoy violence, you can repeatedly cast a spell to summon them and wreck the group that shows up. The groups get tougher and tougher but after I believe 15ish groups they have a special group show up declaring they have sent the grand Master of the order. Wreck them up and bam, freedom to cast in Athkatla unmolested for the rest of the game.
Wow! I didn't knew that! Guess it's time I do another run. Good thing, that it's an early event, so I can test it out early. Good stuff...Ty!
Nice. You can also pay some asshat in the town council to cast spells unmolested
I love how the first big showpiece scene of the game is Irenicus getting arrested by the cops, and then pretty much exploding their magic in a fit of wrath.
...and then you can do the same.
Flail of the ages is simply the best weapon in the game, it makes sense to just make a fighter/mage with proficiency in flails just because of that item. Elemental damage interrupts spellcasting, crushing is best type of damage, if you slow someone they are basically dead. Also non-EE/SCS have a ton of broken shit. melfs meteors is insane (I think it hits as a +7 weapon?) , insect plague is aoe confusion, spell failure and eventually death with no saving throws.
Bg2 is one of the best games ever made, but if I'm being honest I do think the game is at its best in the first half before magic gets ridiculous. The opening stages of the game are a perfectly balanced series of encounters where you need all your party members working in unison, utilising all their abilities to win battles. Once you have a decent levelled up mage and understand the spell system, most of your party members become simple bystanders.
The last chunk of the game you're really only playing it for the story, the first part of the game it's the story PLUS wonderful intricate battles.
In Enhanced Edition, the Inquisitor class is a godsend for beating mages. It's a bit cheesy, but it's very fun too.
Strat! This is a hell of a Christmas gift. Thanks for a year of amazing vids.
Those ridiculous epic level abilities in late BG2 were so awesome...ten attacks per round.
A comment for the algo god.
All hail the allmighty algorithm to shine upon this video for good views and high ad revenue.
May RUclips for once love you and shower you with its trending page.
Great video by the way.
- Dual is widely regarded as stronger than multi, though fighter + literally anything else as any race is going to be a solid choice. People should just pick what they like/want to play, max strength/dex/con, and meet min requirements otherwise (or more if you're willing to reroll a bunch). Yes, even for mages and clerics.
- Yikes on carsomyr being the most powerful weapon, lol. It's a good swap though. The dispel on hit effect is gimped by the fact that protection from mwep also blocks the dispel effect. If target is a caster without protection from mwep, it's going to get interrupted like crazy and crapped on by pretty much any good melee weapon.
- Lavok is using horrid wilting (level 8 spell), it's pure magic damage. If you're fighting there at low levels, you can't really buff to resist it, though you can stay out of melee and gank him with skeletons. They have high MR, but more importantly summons sponging damage is damage you don't take. Even "good" clerics can spam skeletons, and skeletons with a simple chant/bless/haste combo will crush most of SoA. Good for when beholders, mind flayers, or other crap is being annoying.
- You can break the game immediately after stepping out of the starting dungeon by using potions of master thievery to boost pickpocketing and rob shops blind. If you want, you can even steal/sell from a fence so you can just buy stuff. Whether you buy or steal it, you can get lots of +3 to +5 gear and amazing equipment right away (can further buy stuff from watcher's keep shop right away).
- Neera + circlet + chaos shield also almost immediately breaks BG2, though you have to put up with her writing and understand how the wild surge table works. She basically has improved alacrity HLA on at all times when casting using Nahal's.
" Yikes on carsomyr being the most powerful weapon, lol. "
Personal opinion, but I also think Celestial is the best comboed with Dakkons for mage berserker, so you may not agree with me. The thing I like about this game is that nothing is objective when it comes to these epic weapons. It's down to play style. But how are you gonna yikes a +5 two hander 1d12? Bruh.
"The dispel on hit effect is gimped by the fact that protection from mwep also blocks the dispel effect."
That's why you always lead with a strip. Never expect Car to do all the work, just the clean up after strip.
"You can break the game immediately after stepping out of the starting dungeon "
I broke it by soloing and dual classing. It's insanely, stupidly overpowered.
"Neera + circlet + chaos shield also almost immediately breaks BG2"
Insteresting. Have to check that out.
@@StratEdgyProductions The problem for Carso is that it's 2h, and while it's dispel effect is excellent when you need dispelling, its on-hit is otherwise just a solid weapon hitting. Compared to stuff like flail of ages (slow on hit, tons of damage procs, still good damage overall) or celestial fury, both of which can have +APR weapons in offhand and hit cap of 10 with improved haste, carsomyr is more of a swap tool to tank magic hits with the MR, and a swap tool to break defenses if you already get a breach through or stalled mwep protection. It's a fine weapon, but you're leaving a lot of damage on the table if you have it out all the time, especially since paladins can't GM in it or anything else, and will have to take at least some proficiencies elsewhere. There's no reason the pally can't be holding other stuff and switch to it when target is helpless + beat down fighters/monsters etc faster. You have the proficiency points for it.
What makes Neera busted is that at BG2 levels as soon as you get ICS, with both ICS + circlet, the wild surge table can no longer roll anything that changes your target when you use Nahal's, and Nahal's casts are all done with improved alacrity. If you don't use her to target own party, Nahal's also can't nuke your gold or do almost any negative thing other than making her dizzy or polymorphing her, which is Neera-only (you can give her cloak of sewers to end polymorph too). You can use this to fire off very high level magic back to back long before HLA, or you can just do ruby rays (if needed) --> lower resist --> blind spam (put it in sequencer for Jan and have Neera spend remaining 1s to Nahal's it) stuff to end boss fights in like 2 rounds. This is ignoring that many wild surge outcomes are positive, too, like "target gets no save" or "casts 2x". It is possible to use her effectively in no-reload style runs, but if you're willing to scum bad outcomes she's obviously even more broken, because you can constrain RNG enough that you only have to reload her shenanigans occasionally while getting access to more of her spell book.
>How to be a god
>doesn't play through ToB expansion where you become the new lord of murder
>Pepega
I thought this was going to be about that too
its weird since there's really no need to be a god in SoA, on the contrary you have to be extremely careful not to overlevel and snooze through.
About powerful character combos, I was a fighter-thief, prowling invisible with a speed of wind thru hallways, backstabbed enemies would explode in a mist of blood and then I would hide in shadows again. No casting, no resting, no limitations, invisible backstabbing ninja.
I did a run with a build like that. Had some side-dude with me, that allowed to detect traps, but I did several runs at that point, and knew where most traps were. Also I was lucky and if I tripped some, the spell/missile/bullet/arrow missed me or I dodged or something. Traps aside, being a ninja that can strike first is a vibe. Potion of speed and Scroll of speed to read (use any item skill), or a gear that allows constant speed turbo, and the encounter was scripted: Backstab, dead enemy, run away, hide, return, backstab another, repeat until needed. Mindless fun really! >:3
I remember making a monk main character, and wanted to test how effective quivering palm (aka One Punch Man mode) is against tough enemies, so I saved the game right before Firkraag and, after many attempts, I managed to land a killing blow. Yeah, I managed to kill a dragon with one punch.
Very fun fact about Carsomyr sword... I don't know if EE has fixed this, but Thief's later ability "Use Any Item" kinda does exactly that. I don't remember if it's locked to a specific subclass or you just get it from thief. If you want to turn your sneaky bugger to a whirlwind of doom, that is one way to do it.
It's not supposed to be fixed it's a feature but yes it work. You just can't backstab with it unless mods.
Vampires that drain levels... 5e players would never let this happen
New players have no idea of the horrors the undead from older editions.
ADHD ruined DnD
@@chillhour6155idk if you know what adhd is they took that out because it’s just an annoying game mechanic that’s not an interesting challenge it’s just big f you to the player there’s smth being hard but engaging and then there’s just being hard because it’s a nuisance
I've beaten Baldur's Gate 2 about 30 times in the last 15 years.
The most broken team build ever is to have Korgan dual-wield Crom Faeyr+another hammer with improved haste and regeneration on him, going up to 10 attacks / second with the best THAC0 which is basically a constant Whirlwind buff and he hits up to 48 dmg which is 480 dps. And everybody else just buffs Korgan and Debuffs the enemy, clerics/wizards as many as u can get. In the last act, Korgan can kill the Black Dragon in 3 seconds.
In fact, Korgan gets so strong there is no point to have another fighter do like 2 attacks/sec for 20-30...
There are tons of other broken builds but this is the n1.
Vanilla monks are so freaking good.
The dragon boss theme is so good.
Lavok casts Abo Dalzhim's, which deals magic damage. Only magic resist works. The demons outside the sphere are actually tougher unless you have the Greenstone amulet.
Back in high school, a friend gave me this game. It came with a whopping 4 discs. There's a bug that will ask you to insert disc 5 during the install if you selected a slave drive. I remember playing for an hour exploring only to come across a dragon and got owned instantly.
beserker duelled to mage is even more powerful than kensai duelled to mage
Berserker-Cleric let’s you avoid having to drag around one of the NPC clerics :)
@@jasonmoskowitz246 I dunno. Anomen is an OK guy once he passes his knight trial. And Viconia has one of the best romances, a possibility for redemption and a bittersweet romance epilogue with the main character.
To be fair mage/sorcerer anything is broken being able stack spell immunities was broke. Time stop horrid wilting shenanigans almost make melee feel obsolete(I still love melee though). Like weirdly I want to see a hardcore run as like solo bard none of the dumb items like amulet of power, cloak of mirroring and robes of vecna.
Just berserker dual into caster at 7 or 13 op as hell. Especially when playing hardcore no reload, you get so many important immunities for free on your main, I can’t think of anything better really
Facts. Berserk is the single most op ability in the game. Not only it gives you immunity to like 10 status effects which is basically 3 defensive high level spells in one (negative energy protection, mind effects immunity and freedom of movement) but it's also an ability meaning it can't be dispelled plus it works in antimagic zone. The best defensive ability anyone can get especially for mages (berserker/mage). It's obvious this isn't from DnD rules because the idea that a mundane ability like this can give you immunity to things like 9th level imprisonment is just stupid.
"to be a god in BG2" (as sorcerer) - doesn't mention robe of vecna
True, but even playing on core rules, I just didn't need it. The game is stupidly easy. Thinking of doing a solo run next. Probably use the robes for that, no doubt.
@@StratEdgyProductions do a non mage class for solo, it’s way more fun and actually a challenge at some points
@@maomaeramnon3870 Berserker? :D
@@sixmillionsilencedaccounts3517 idk, berserker is basically just fighter with some immunities and +2 buff, I actually never played berserker without going into Druid mage or cleric.
I don’t think I did even did fighter, I was more thinking ranger paladin or rogue. I mean rogue solo is probably the easiest after a caster, it’s pretty fun but can feel a bit cheesy after a while. Just don’t go shadowdancer or abuse traps and you’ll have a good time. (Even with shadowdancer you’ll have fun but after a certain threshold you’re able to cheese just with hiding through 90% of enemies)
@@maomaeramnon3870berserker into mage gives dragon disciple a run for it's money
You are a treasure bro. Don't stop ever if you can help it. Wishing you well strat.
Thanks, strat. I didnt think you'd get to this one as quickly as you did
What you said at the beginning about it not sticking for some people because of those reasons that's from what I've heard what DND was like back in that day and it was awesome
Man. I used about 100 mods on this game to make it harder, including making demons summon demons that summon demons, and buffing the dragons, and improving the ais.
I had a blast. The Irenicus fight took me days. And I won with sticks and stones cause that was all i had left. Used every potion, every wand, staff, magic sword, or random magic item. And still won by the skin of my teeth...
Do you have that list of mods nearby?
I am so curious now.
@@curious_dude2811 oh they are 15 odd years old now. Doubt they'd work on EE. But.
The only mod i removed for how insane it was was Improved Sahuagin City. So if you want to check that out. I will look with a friend if we still had the old compiler. We had to make a compiler to instal all the mods, old infinity engine gunk. If i find it I will upload the list to a google docs and share it here.
@@bavettesAstartes
Thank you for your time.
It wont be necessary. I was curious if you had a list available.
I will look for mods for extended edition. Thank you for your answers. It will help me in starting my quest for mods.
that sounds...tedious.
@@streetstroller as tedious as climbing a mountain. You can become a real powerhouse in the base game, and some mods will give you even more in items and such. So mods that raise the difficulty of the game were common.
It is like strat said. It is a game of chess. It is a puzlle, and pnce you master its mechanics you feel wanting more.
Always love your video's dude, rewatched some of them a bunch of times. Can't afford to back on Patreon but if liking and commenting helps in someway more than happy to do it.
Keep up the good work!
A good thing to help about pathfinding is the 3x2 formation (either the rectangular one or the more clustered one;i prefer the latter)
19:26 the part you're here for
As much as I love the forgotten realms setting I wish black isle would have done a krynn campaign as well.
I imagined you as my dad but older and cooler. Now I still do!
You can't have a face kskkskks
Wow, the amount of game content you got through in this amount of time is truly impressive. With some fun along the way no less.
This reminds me of being a mage in Dragon Age - Origins.
In previous playthroughs, you can unlock subclasses to use in your _current_ playthrough.
So make a deal with a demon in playthrough A, quit, and in playthrough B start your apprentice wizard off with Blood Magic at level 7!!!
Then take Arcane Warrior (heavy armor) at level 14 and you're a tank with area stun & mind control (blood magic) and barrier & melee damage buff (arcane warrior)
Even so, nothing beats Mana Clash. Wipe out all your magic to do the same to the opponent. Oh and they take damage equal to the mana lost.
Enemy spellcasters explode like pop tarts. And then just switch to blood magic to use your HP bar as a mana bar. Or just whack stuff alongside your tank. This heavily incentivizes a constitution-heavy mage. Which is bad. Deliciously bad.
Also, your healer and Morrigan can also learn blood magic :D
The former becomes an infinite mana generator, the latter becomes vaguely useful :v
Mages in baldurs gate 2 quickly become Jojo characters with their time stop abilities. Especially if you like stop time, then cast a bunch of Melf's Minute Meteors. Oh, dude. Yeah. Totes a Dio move right there.
Irenicus is unusually muscular for a wizard, hmmm I wonder was someone at Bioware a JoJo fan?
Had the opposite feeling, BG1 was more fun while BG 2 was just..more and more killing
one thing i remember about this game is that using the multiplayer function you can create a full party of custom characters. so i would make 5 or 6 characters and then trade the NPCs in and out to do their storylines. then the second thing i remember is that we had to fight a dragon at one point and the way i beat it was by loading up my mages with spell triggers containing magic missles. the dragon had some spell resistance but he had to roll against every individual missile and he didn't have enough HP to take 1d4+1 70 or 80 times no matter how much MR he had. the third thing i remember is that my main was a pure fighter that had very high fire resistance from armor and i would send him in to tank and then throw multiple fireballs in after him.
He looks about what I expected. Nice and handsome.
Vhailor's Helm was not added by the EE. It was a bonus item added via the Collector's Edition. I was using the free simulacrum from the helm long before Beam Dog was even a thing. Though I can thank them for ensuring it is includded as part of their version of the game.
This. Simulacrum + Time Stop scroll / Protection from Magic scroll was always a thing.
Vhailor? Wasn't that some NPC from other D&D game released shortly before/after BG2?
@@SpecShadow Planescape: Torment is where he is from. I don't remember whether BG2 or PS:T came out first.
@@SpecShadow Yes. Also Dakkon's Zerth Blade is a reference to Planescape Torment as well and a few other items too.
now that you mention those items - wasn't there similar shop in Icewind Dale or its expansions?
great video
More Baldur’s gates in the future plz
I already wanna do a solo run, no joke.
@@StratEdgyProductions Solo sorcerer run is possibly the most fun I've had in a singleplayer game.
Awesome video btw! Did a full playthrough of BG1EE with a created party (for a change) just to be ready for when this video dropped after seeing the live-streams on the other channel. Love the game series. Need to think about what to do for a new BG2 playthrough. Would love to hear Strats thoughts on other older CRPG games as well. Just helped a buddy out with his first playthrough of Arcanum the other week.
The first time I went through BG2 it was with a monk and my god was that a slog, then my second playthrough was as a dual-classed thief-mage and by comparison that was a cakewalk when my character could just be pure bullshit with those higher level spells and toys.
Yeah early monk is a fucking terrible experience. They get powerful near the end of shadows but it's a painful journey.
emergency thumbnail fix much appreciated.
It’s weird how BG 1&2 video always make me want to play Planscape Totment.
Btw, you should do a How To Planscape Torment.
Yes, agree it doesn't really need one but I'd watch it, give Planescape more love.
The helm from adventurers mart that casts simulacrum isn't exclusive to enhanced edition, it was (if I remember correctly) also in the collectors edition of BGII. I am pretty sure it has been in all versions of the game I owned, which coincidentally are the collectors edition and the enhanced edition.
You are %100 correct. There was a 5th bonus disk in the collectors edition which contains the extra merchant deidre and the other dude right up the front of the pub. (he sells one of the best defensive weapons in the whole game - a mace called Defender of Easthaven.)
Thanks for the tips. Good stuff, especially the Feeblemind! Umberhulks are very easy to deal with Stinking Cloud or with Cloudkill. Just use wand (or spell) and close the door. And it may pay to pay a visit to Watcher’s Keep before the De’Arnise Keep to get for instance the Firetooth crossbow, potion case, gem bag and the Foebane (if one dares to clean the first level).. and other goodies.. before hooking up with Nalia. But you need some gold.. Firetooth and Foebane will help a lot.. 😅
The whole Jeremy Irons gag is hilarious because I knew even when BG2 was originally released that Irenicus was voiced by David Warner, because I'm a huge Star Trek fan and he played Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, my favorite of the Star Trek films.
I simply use the Helmet of Opposite Alignment on Viconia to solve the whole issue she normally has with good-aligned characters. Even cursed items have their uses!
Mind-control thine Waifu!
Loved the video. Currently 80% through BG1 with a Dwarf Berserker solo )managed a 95 roll at the start and currently lvl capped with 120hp). Specked specifically for Drizzt gear so was slow to start but now I have his Scimitars I can put him on auto pilot and he will destroy groups. So overpowered. I'll pass him over to BG2 and see what he does.
Is you dual class him to mage, you will be unstoppable. I am currently doing the same solo right now in BG 2 and it's a cake walk on Hard.
Can’t dual class with a dwarf
Baldurs gate 2 will forever be one of my two most favorite RPGs, together with ff7.
Thanks for this.
Great choices, both of 'em.
For me it is BG2 and MGS3 or FF9
Love your vids Strat, you have a unique channel and I think that's what I love most. Thanks for the content!
You can carry around 3 weapons for particular situations, go kill Mendar Pebblecrusher for his full-plate.. and fail, and fail again.. and come back later, juggle around spellprep, hunt down spells..
Or you can play a Monk. All that time you would be micromanaging and moving slowly you can now spend killing.
*Stares at Rassad* Why did Beamdog make you so shit? A Monk with 16 Str, 16 Dex and 14 Con is hot garbage.
Its not a very hard game, and you can certainly beat it with a monk. But monks are not a strong class at all.
My favorite Jeremy irons bit is when he said he had no opinion on gay marriage, then went on a shirt tangent giving his.... interesting opinion. Then reiterated that he had no opinion on the matter. Also the DnD movie. Classic.
Once you realize you can build your own custom team from the start of the game, you can increase the difficulty and it becomes a totally different experience. You no longer have to carry a weak thief to open your chests, make a half orc warrior/thief with 19 STR, 17 DEX, 19 CON and no more weak spot behind your group. Just go in multiplayer and create your own game.
Once you realize solo is the easiest way...
Yea I did this 20 years ago but decided in my most recent replay, I chose the default characters to get the most out of role-play
@@flogzer0 I don't know mate. Solo builds are never totally OP imo. You always have a weaker character in your team to fill a spot. In multiplayer, you can build your dream team exactly like in Icewind Dale 2. This allows you to give each one of them the best weapon possible, the best stats, etc. Having a priest with 19 wisdom from the start of the game feels different.
You miss all plot dialogues npc fun that way. Better create a character and hire npcs more fun
@@Emrico35 Before playing that way, I experienced the game in solo many times. So yes, better do it once you did all the side quests for each character.
46:03 - Kuh-TANN-uh
46:06 - Kih-TAH-nah.
I know you did that on purpose.
This is great, I was looking for a video like this a while ago. I just wanted to see how bad I was at this game when I was 13, but honestly it turns out I was playing pretty well. I'm sure feeblemind would have helped hah.
Also I had a crush on Viconia's portrait.
Bioware was based for that portrait.
David Warner was actually a pretty cool dude some interesting roles in fantasy-sciencefiction, the Jeremy Iron thing is undetstandable since he was in a DnD movie also with a iconic voice.
1:04:50 I had similar issue, I had Edwin and Keldorn in one team close to each other (one behind others back), never had any problems with them being in same party before, but this time Keldorn shouted that he fears being backstabbed by the red mage, and eventually they fought to the death :( suprised me after all these years
I bought BG2 as an 11 year old when it just came out during the time I had my leg broken. Never finished it, because I couldnt read most of the stuff (not a native English speaker). Now, because of this video, I'm going to try it again. Download has started
Thanks for the content! Love this game, will have to go back and try it out with this style.
Humans can dual class - which has probably been said before with almost 700 comments but fuck it; Dual classing at the RIGHT time can leave you with a very powerful Munchkin that can handle more in versatility than a core class character would manage. While also not being as SLOW to level (or as costly for EXP since there is a cap on how much grinding you can do I believe) as a multiclassed character. Which often puts them at a higher level than the multiclassed ones would be. The problem being if you don't pick the right classes and specifically at the right times, you are definitely going to bork your build. There's also only certain classes that can be dual classed into, and I believe you're bound to the 2nd class' weapons and gear up to matching the previous class' level. You'll also lose access to spell lists if you go magic class first, and then dual into melee. So it's better to use melee as straight HP gain, then magic so you're less squishy but can still cast spells. Then again, what do I know... I main unarmed in just about any game that will let me. xD [Yup, Fallout 4 was REAL fun with every enemy shooting me from the 2nd or 3rd floor, and molotovs up the wazhoo to infinity and beyond. Fallout 3 wasn't much better... and I really hate archers, and wizards!]
May need to repurchase this two-fer on Xbox one. I did try it, alongside the icewind dale games... and frankly both of them handed me my arse. Sometimes with traps...
sometimes because I main monk lmao. Apparently they are better in this one, but I tried to play in order, including the DLC so, yeah. That didn't go well. I spent more time looking up how to do what I wanted to get the ending I liked in both games, than actually doing... what I wanted, to get the ending I liked in both games. : /
Also, personal taste but: Viconica > Jaheira > Aerie. [Which is weird for me, because you can knock the last one up on the first shot... so normally I'd be all cool beans, it's my power fantasy. BUT she's also supposed to be a pain to not screw up] Personally I think a cleric is probably more useful overall than a druid. (Druids have a later gained spell list and don't get higher level spells that clerics do in AD&D - but I don't recall offhand if that applies to this game) There's also the point Jaheira is married to start, so that's a bit of a problem. I mean, I know what happens by 2... so really, I'm not saying it's a complete no. But then we have big bird. I'm not really into snuggleupagainstus ; )
sometimes you would open a door or go and kill a boss, and you would just get wrecked, like 2-3 times in a row, and think this is impossible! but actually once you start knowing the spells and skills and use all your tools you can obviously get through anything. This is why i enjoyed those games, 2 more than 1, but actually this mod i got back in the day let you play through baldur's gate 1 using the bg2 interface, which was a little bit more polished.
Listening this later at work thanks for the great content
Another great video Strat
Very good guide. Been playing this game on and off for 20 years and still wasn't aware of mustard jellies being immune to dragons 😮😂.
Baldurs Gate 2 is my favorite game of all time. I still play it from time to time but with many addons to make it harder and I also start over if my main char die to make it a little bit more challenging.
Oh man, there are definitely more than 20 Drizzt books. I stopped at 26, and that was about ten years ago.
How to be a god in BG2? Dual class at 9 from Bereserker to mage with grandmastery in dual wielding weapons, use Skull Traps, Chaos, Greater Mallison, Breach, Cloudkills, Incendiery clouds, Horrid Wiltings, Time-stops for offense, Stoneskin, Greater Invisibility, Mirror Image, appropriate resists for defense, a lot of hastes and Planetars once you get there. Never play with pure thieves, they suck until you get the brokenly OP epic traps, use dual/multiclass thieves like Yan/Imoen/Nalia. Bring a Druid with you (Jaheira, not the other one) that can cast Insect Plague for a "I win" bottom against most foes. Cast Lower Resists on dragons. Its only if you play with Sword Coast Stratagems is when you have to actually think hard.
I like Keldorm with Carsomyr, but he doesn't hold that well in ToB where Fire Giants pummel him into the ground. Pure fighters (and their lesser offshoots like Rangers and Paladins) just aren't that strong there, you need spell-casting to tank, preferably arcane.
You could go Berzerker 1 then rest of your levels in mage or sorc, still get grand mastery, and level 10 spells much faster. I'm thinking of a solo build for the same thing using katanas with dakons and celestial fury.
@@StratEdgyProductions I am pretty sure you have to be at least level 2 to dual class, and if we are talking BG2 specifically, it makes no sense at all not to get to level 9. The difference in XP requirements between a level 10 mage and any level below that is pretty trivial, and getting an extra 3 pips will get you to grandmastery right out the gate, not having to reach level 18 as a wizard.
As a dualed mage, its worth noting the black blade of disaster gives 5 pips in longsword when cast.
It was so much fun to exploit the game systems and become a god. People keep whining now on how the game is hard and there's even a written manual.
Make a perfect party with 6 custom characters. Make a dual-wield Kensai with Celestial Fury and Crom Faeyr. Make a sorcerer and solo the game. Exploit invisibility, backstab everyone, backstab their mages. Lay in ambush, throw traps everywhere. Cast cloudkill in rooms, close the door.
It's a game where debuffs, buffs and countermagic are actually useful.
One detail: Vhailor's Helm and the other items from Adventurer's Mart like the Robe of Vecna weren't actually added in the Enhanced Edition.
Originally they were part of the Collector's Edition as a separate CD-ROM. I guess EE added it as a base game thing.
Now where the hell is my Baldur's Gate 2 collector's edition T-Shirt that thing made me the coolest kid in middle school...
Yo you rock, thank you for how you approach these and all of your videos
Much love strat but I have to get back to work. Merry Christmas or some such shit
My fave class is kensai. Basically ultimate swordsman at the cost of not having ANY armor. Makes your fights a bit of challenge, but it pays off when you outdamage Korgan and Minsc combined!
You can kill all the other golems one by one before opening the statues, and there is a +3 weapon in the last statue, but if you picked up lilicor there should be a +3 weapon already. Also the +2 maces say +3 on the damage so it might count too.
I think mace base dmg is 1d6+1 that’s why the +2 weapon has a dmg modifier of +3
Also Minute meteors can hit the admantites. Only takes a couple casts to kill them that way.
@@Diceman82 shhhh, don’t tell them the op spells, once you know you can never go back to the struggle
Shoutout to Emotion:Hopelessness as well for mages, it has no friendly fire and enemies affected are basically free kills.
This video made me get the enhanced edition with 1 and 2 for 49.99 I am excited to play thanks
Been a year now, how'd you enjoy them?
Played this game an unknown number of times. One way I like to play it is by making players in ToB and then importing them into SoA, they should be at least double the normal starting level.
The "smoky cloud" with the death face in it is probably Cloudkill, if I remember my D&D correctly.
Will cause damage to everyone in it, every round, at minimum. If the character's level is below a certain one ( under level 7 ? ) then they have to make a save every round or die.
I think that'd be Horrid Wilting. The damage is instant but the animation takes about a round to play.
@@MrHuyche Nah, it's really cloudkill. BG2 has both, the one Lavok uses is Cloudkill, the 5th level evocation spell. It instantly kills creatures with 1 to 4 HDs. Creatures with 5 or 6 HDs save vs spell or die. Creatures that make the save or have more than 6 HD take 1-10 poison damage every round, no save, for as long as they remain in the cloud.
Horrid wilting (8th level, necromancy) just does a ton of damage instantly (1d8 / caster level, save vs spells for half). The animation is similar.
Humans are the strongest race, because they can dual class.
This is a master piece, if you know how to play you can be a god in this game.
I loved casting cloudkill on the umber hulks, closing the door, amd letting the good times roll. Well it was good times for me. Not the umber hulks though
This is why the crom faeyr is under rated to me is you don’t get more damage to melee outside of str and apr is entirely class locked. Also I still love cleric/thief albeit it’s like the least viable dual class but it’s the only non arcane casting option that gets robes of vecna.
Oooh i Never did a cleric/thief but robe of vecna, never thought of that. Makes for a good roleplaying opportunity too, the very quick and shadowy in and out Thievy cleric!
Idk about the faeyr, I’d even say he’s overrated. I mean when you start the game he’s gonna be good in your team or for yourself but as you get better and better he goes from mainhand on main char to off-hand or even switch weapon on one of your other characters. It’s just that there are more important main hand effects and usually you don’t use more than 2 dual wielding melees and dps is usually better with 19/20/etc str from belts + extra apr or you want the survivability from defender of easthaven
Recently got back into this game and discovered your videos. Really enjoyed this one, I'm most of the way through these quests in the game, thanks for sharing, awesome content.
Each quest acts like a one shot campaign... Man I wish modern games would follow that template.
right?
Every time I see BG2 come up, it makes me feel bad for not getting into it yet. Every bit of that intro sounds like exactly the kind of unnecessary detail I love Tactics Ogre for.
The biggest issue with a non-warrior having a CON higher than a 16 is that you don't get any further HP bonuses. The CON bonus that the Dragon Disciple provides is so random and almost entirely useless. Furthermore, the regen that you get at 20+ (23 - the best you can get - gives you 1HP/30 seconds) is nothing crazy; it definitely won't be saving you in a fight.
Dont forget the "shorty"-bonuses.
Gnomes, dwarves and halflings get maxed up saving throw-bonuses with 18 con
@@mistcutter9215 True...except for the fact that none of those three races can be a sorcerer anyway.
Listening to this sounds like talking with my friends. Love the page, all your posts are bangers
Great analysis. Definitely one of the best RPGs ever made. I'm just surprised that you made no mention of being a solo Fighter-Mage-Thief and maxing out pickpocket skill with thief potions so you can keep stealing from the fence in the SE corner and selling his own stuff back to him until you have 50k+ gold and you can buy out the stores with some of the best gear, then hit the Slums for the first time with enough gold to skip all over chapter 2. Metagamey, I know, but it's a great way to power through the game.
I feel the Kensai-Mage is a legit way to become overpowered. If you use a gold exploit like the one you suggest you might as well just save time and use a editor like eekeeper and just give yourself 50k.
As somebody introduced to Baldur's Gate through a longtime friend, who in turn played it with coaching from his dad, may the man rest in peace... I enjoyed this vid and the preceding Baldur's Gate vid.
I *did* beat the final encounter in the first taking advantage of the unexplored segments of the final room and *LOTS* of Fireball Wands. Good times.
I regret choosing Barbarian Fighter, though. Sure, they get *Rage*, but good luck (for me) surviving a lot of physical damage to take advantage of it. XD
The idea that any class/race combo could even be considered to rival the absolute perfection of human/conjuration specialist mage is simply inconceivable. This is what peak performance truly looks like. (This post was made by Edwin gang)
lol
If only Edwin had dualed to mage after leveling in berserker.
@@BVasquezp He would have been a gimp throught the most fun part of the game. Never understood why people are so adamant about dualing and sucking out the fun from SOA when you straight up bully the game as a pure arcane caster even with mods.
Love this approach to talking about older games