Dhuraal: IGNORE ALL OTHER POSTS!!!! I don't mean that as an insult to everyone else but, you are about to play one of the seminal RPGs of all time ... in fact THE rpg series of all time as far as I'm concerned... and guess what that means? It's an rpg as in role playing game... play the role you want because if you don't you will have robbed yourself of one of the greatest experiences in storytelling you could ever have... otherwise you will have lived someone else's vision of the story... at least in part... This isn't a game.. it's a story that you have the opportunity to live... go with your gut and what you feel (or your character feels)... there are actually more possible companions in this game than any other game and you can use them all and as for character generation this is pretty close to d&d, almost anything is viable... take who you want and do what you want... Honestly I cant tell you how many times in rpgs i have looked online for some mundane thing and some fuck decided to add some type of spoiler in there (no matter how small) that forevered ruined some small mystery or chance to experience the game myself for me. So play your own game, however you want, please.

flynn238: Greetings fellow GoGers, picked up BG1 on advice from a friend, have played bits of BG2 so I am somewhat familiar with 2nd edition rules, however I could use some tips on character generation, party building in regards to background chatter versus combat efficacy. Thanks in advance guys. Looking forward to setting foot in Fauerun once again.

kmonster: One Advice:
Most BG2 players are powergamers who consider BG1 as work to be done in order to be able to get a more powerful character in BG2. (If there was BG3 they'd consider the goal of BG2 the ability to start BG3 with a stronger character too.)
Don't be one of those. BG deserves to be played and enjoyed as the great game it was, even if you're a powergamer try to get your character powerful in BG1, not after the game is over.
If you want a strong BG2 character just use an editor on your starting character then, it's easier and has the same effects, don't spoil your BG experience for it.

Grombart: As for the rolling: A total score around 80 should be way enough to enjoy the game without too many difficulties. Remember, it shouldn't be about the perfect character, it should be about YOUR character. :)

robobrien: I like BG a lot to and played through it a few times, i love all the easter eggs and enjoy the atmosphere of the game...having said that i do think you sound like a guy who is drinking way too much coffee and not getting enough sleep.

Dhuraal: ]hehe

robobrien: And he actually LOOKS like a guy who has being working the Baldurs Gate nightshift :)
If you haven't already you should enter it into the meme contest.

Dhuraal: IGNORE ALL OTHER POSTS!!!! I don't mean that as an insult to everyone else but, you are about to play one of the seminal RPGs of all time ... in fact THE rpg series of all time as far as I'm concerned... and guess what that means? It's an rpg as in role playing game... play the role you want because if you don't you will have robbed yourself of one of the greatest experiences in storytelling you could ever have... otherwise you will have lived someone else's vision of the story... at least in part... This isn't a game.. it's a story that you have the opportunity to live... go with your gut and what you feel (or your character feels)... there are actually more possible companions in this game than any other game and you can use them all and as for character generation this is pretty close to d&d, almost anything is viable... take who you want and do what you want... Honestly I cant tell you how many times in rpgs i have looked online for some mundane thing and some fuck decided to add some type of spoiler in there (no matter how small) that forevered ruined some small mystery or chance to experience the game myself for me. So play your own game, however you want, please.

muninn: Well spoken. I'll have to remind me on that, when I'm going to play another RPG.
I played Baldurs Gate a few years ago and I played it on Multyplayer-Mode. Alone. Shame on me. I may have lacked a worthy experience. But: in that way you have the opportunity to begin with a full party, play with every setting of characters you wish to. And you can use the main inventory interface while pausing the game. (Shame on me - I used it a lot.) (Beside you are able to create god-like charakters of all variations while finding those rare books. But thats on the edge of cheating.) Maybe I'll replay it as it was meant to be sometime.

broether-eros: just maybe a few things i thought i would mention, that could be applied to many classes - as a few people have said, this game is such a beautiful example of the RPG that your best choice of class will be one that you enjoy the idea of the most.

Multiclassing is strong here btw, 2 or even 3 classes can easily reach only a level or two behind what one would in a single class, especially if you train your character - there are some mountains in the south west which are good for this. You will need to remove the level cap to do this with 3 classes successfully however.

There are tomes in the game which will raise all your stats by +1 to everything except wisdom which is +3; keep this in mind, for instance as a fighter there is no point worrying about exceptional strength when you will reach 19 anyway. A 19 int will allow a mage to scribe all spells. If you are planning on importing to BG2, wisdom is also useful to mages for wish spells -fortunately there are several places to raise this in BG2 also, so a starting score of 14 in BG1 would probably be fine.

Dex is useful to everyone for AC if you have the points to spare, but expensive as it's only useful at the highest levels. For non-fighter classes there is absolutely no use in a con over 16 (unless you can get to 21, which you cannot). If you have need of points elsewhere it is better to just try and get maxhp on a lvl-up.

There are items which can raise your charisma to 18 when worn, although this will mean the loss of a potentially powerful ring/cloak slot. Unfortunately cha is not extensively implemented so you can probably easily get away with a lower score here, affecting only store prices- unless a high cha character is one you like the idea of [ personally i try not to min/max too much for rp reasons, although i will spend many hours to get a high roll :) ]

As the others have said, the Minsc/Dynaheir combo is a powerful one and a good choice, both for fun, roleplaying, and party strength. A bit of a spoiler; there are ways to keep edwin around with these two, but you probably will not need the extra mages, personally i enjoy xan's company more anyway, and usually playing a fighter/mage myself i start needing spots for clerics and thieves :)

You will always need a thief (unless you are one yourself), imoen could last the whole game but there are plenty of choices throughout, go with whoever's personality you enjoy :) There are some interesting banters so it's good to spend some time with all party members, and usually thieves of a lower level can get by fine with your higher level party easier than the other classes.

Someone else mentioned Viconia and she is also my favourite cleric, hard to juggle at times with a high rep but arguably worthwhile. Healing spells are very useful if you have more than one but not essential as you can just rest -which you will need for your powerful mage spells anyway. Most clerics, like thieves, are not in pairs - with the exception of one of each- so are easily mixed and matched, so to speak.

Hope this is useful to someone starting out at this, it's really a great game and a powerful and engaging storyline.