leeux

They could add a delay between dialogue parts, to help in being able to read them as the character talks.

Thank you for all the replies! There are some awesome posts too I've started a new character last night, a paladin, and rushed through the start of the game to reach Gilded Vale inn to try hiring a few adventurers there. I created one rogue and one druid (I hope I've chosen correctly...) For now it seems to be working, got to L3 now and will proceed to try to clear the area where you find Durance, and then move south, to be in the stage I was before. got into some fights in the process, and everything worked ok so far. Reading back through the thread, wanted to answer some of the points made: W.r.t. to the fights inside the keep that I couldn't beat: that was because of the self-healing. Took me some time to realize that they were healing themselves, so I used all my spells and abilities, maybe was able to take out one of the squishier ones, but in the end the paladins/champions were at full health and I had no other move left than wack them with my weapons, which is a slow process and prone to get you damaged. I took the "side" entrance to the keep (the one that requires a tool ) While inside the keep, I avoided most fights by taking the route up from where you land to the upper levels... then fought some easy fights with priests and acolytes to reach the guy behind locked doors (don't remember his name...). It was at that moment that I realized that I could have used the disguise thing to avoid fighting... but it was already too late for that. And yes, I used the rest option to be ready for what's coming. After that, when your set, what happened was that in my fumbling around trying to find the way to go I stumbled upon more NPCs that I could handle... twice Example, first time, I opened the big door to the south of the area... immediately got aggroed by a group of 4-5 npcs, at least 2 paladins, a magey type and a priest. I tried to beat those guys... but i was badly positioned at the start, and their healing made difficult to be able to take them down. I let the fight go ahead after using my spells, and I beat them but ended with two of my guys damages (knocked down.) So I reloaded and then avoided opening that door Second time tried a different route through a narrow corridor going exactly south/west-ish from where I was -> same thing, several paladins and mages, extended fight, etc. After all that, I finally found the sneaky door I was supposed to use hidden in the corner of the map, in a area I already visited. Went through that, and got to face him... but after the dialog turned all of them red... ahem, I was having trouble defeating 4-5 npcs before, so there was no way I could handle 7/8 of them at the same time But that's all in the past, now I know what to do... And I've got several really good points to put to use from this thread, thanks to you! So, thanks again all! Specially @Xosmi, @luzarius, @PrimeJunta, and @Monte Carlo for those great posts full of tips!

Uhh... There's not really a wrong way to do it. One of my friends walked in through the front door and slaughtered everything. On hard. Ah, gotcha. Yes, I understand him now (meaning @Mungri)... sadly, I realized too late that I could use the... things... to avoid fighting. Let's avoid spoilers in this, but yes... when I realized, I tried to put them on, but they enemies were already 'red' by that time and there was no turning back from it (meaning, had no prior save to go back... the ones I had were too far behind.) so I went along, trying to fight only the fights I could win, and avoided the areas where enemy density was too high.

Thank you for your very helpful post, @Monte Carlo! (I'm still under post limit, so it'll take a while for this to appear...) I'll get to use your suggestions for my next try And now that I know that I *need* to make companions at the inn, I'll be sure to plan things accordingly. Best regards, Leeux.

Thank you for the reply, @Serdan As I said... I already deleted that char, no way to go back to that. I'm looking for tips on creating a more viable char in the future. Tried googling for strategy guides (not walkthroughs or spoilery things...) more like, general guidelines, or do/don'ts. There was a great YT video like that for Divinity: Original Sin, for example that help me greatly to avoid common mistakes. I'm perusing some of the character builds in this forum, but very carefully... as they tend to be a bit spoilery, and I don't want to *know* everything storywise before playing the game. Thank you again!

Hey there, I'm very disappointed and frustrated ATM. Just recently got the game on GoG, and started playing as I'd play Baldur's Gate (tbh, I have to say that I don't really like the first game too much, but I *love* BG2.), So, I created my first char (I always start as a ranger, traditionally) and got to a point of no return when I reached the Raedric keep fights. They were undoable/completely out of my reach/impossible to pass. This was on Normal. I have just deleted all the saves, and looking to try starting from scratch again, maybe with a better class/better choices along the way. I had a party of four + familiar (Me, Eder, Durance and Aloth) all level 4 at that point, just recently leveled up, and I didn't have enough damage to be able to deal with the paladins and priests in the keep. They kept healing themselves (each has like three heals? more?) and they came in numbers in every fight. Aggroed 1/2 and from the back came three more. I sneaked past almost all fights and got to face Raedric himself... and tried to look for an option to avoid fighting, but I couldn't. That fight would have been impossible to me... just for the LOLs, I enabled cheats and set GOD mode on, and sit there arms crossed watching the game do its work... it took almost 15 mins to finish (hadn't any spells at that time... I had recently rested but had to use all I had in a fight with four NPCs prior to this last one...) Don't know what should have done differently, I felt like I did the expected progression... from the starting area to Gilded Vale... did all the side quests I could find there. Completed the Shore area to the south and the cross roads area where Durance is located... etc. I also abandoned the quests for the Temple since it seemed out of my league too. I feel like the fights in the keep were like the fights in BG1 when you reach the city area at the end, but with a L4 party. Imagine that. One thing I can say is that I felt my char as very weak (the same class on BG1 was a beast either on bow or dual wielding...) and with very very very limited options. I mean... I get to use an ability 2 times per fight.... and...... that's all? (Sidetrack: Also, seems strange that the animal companion has NO active ability whatsoever... no strategy involved in using it... just click at the bad guy and he charges and that's just it. In comparison, BG familiars could cast spells and had some active abilities to use... limited to wizards ofc, but... meh, I always used the glitch that allowed to have a familiar in any class, seemed appropriate that a ranger or druid would have one.) I'm rambling now, sorry. My point is not only restricted to the ranger class... seems that combat in general is very very limited in options. Each fight was a tricky decision about using those few wizard spells I had (i.e. only, like, 4 of them? the same for priest spells...) and have to rest? Or do not use them, and have a character be damaged in the fight and also have to rest? I try to play this games for the story and follow the story of my character, trying to do always what it's correct to the type of character I'm playing. As that, it doesn't seem appropriate to abandon a quest midway... if I come to that, it means that something is not right. Then I prefer to abandon the saves altogether and rollback to a point before taking the quest and do something else instead. Like a story would, I think. I feel that is not clear what is the path the game expects you to take along the zones... you have no clear indication of expected level for quests. I imagine the thing to do is to skip the Raedric quest and go forward toward Caed Nuad? Or Other? That seems somehow against the standard in this kind of games, that seem to want you to complete all quests in the area before you move forward... I don't know. Ok, just to close this... since I don't think it's clear what I'm asking at this point... What should I do? Can the game be played with a Ranger without being a full-time expert (like I'm sure some you are, at this point...) Or else, what class should I choose? Do the game expects you to *create* hirelings at the inn to be able to advance past Gilded Vale with a full party? Really? If that's the case, that seems *really* really weird to me :S Also, please, don't say "Play a Cipher"... I /hate/ overpowered gimmicks with passion. And it seems every game I touch recently has one ridiculous OP thing in it! I've saw someone on youtube playing that class before buying the game, and for the look of it and what he was able to do, seemed completely ridiculous... really. (For that reason I'd never play a kensai on BG or a Ranger/Cleric :D) Thanks for any tips, and sorry for the long post. I guess a TL;DR is in order... here it's: Don't know what to do, anyone has tips on how to form a successful party without having to master all the ins and outs of the combat system first? (I mean, I'll get there eventually I suppose... just seems a tad strange you have to be a master of it playing on normal while on L4!) Best regards, Leeux. EDIT: fixed minor typo