a BG3 player that appreciates BG1? WHAT???? You have my attention.

@shodan2002

4 ай бұрын

Well it’s nice to see that bg3 makes people curious about the classics bg2 especially is the best

Now only 90 parts left, lets fucking go.

43:00 Sarevok's original voice actor is Kevin Michael Richardson, he is also the narrator of this game, and he voiced Cleveland Jr. from Family Guy, and more recently he voiced Kamek from the Super Mario Bros. Movie.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

broooOOOO NO WAY I THOUGHT IT WAS CLEVELAND JR AND I EVEN SAID IT IN THE VIDEO THEN CUT IT OUT BC I THOUGHT I WAS JUST IGNORANT NOO 😭😂

"Feel the BACKHAND of JUSTICE! ... Right, Boo?"

A tip for the early game, the sleep spell is absolutely ridiculous. It hits all enemies, no allies, within its very large range, and will work on most enemies you encounter up to the last third of the game. Once an enemy has been knocked out, all attacks hit until it can get up. You want to get sleep asap. Sorcerers are pretty weak in bg1, but in bg2 they are walking nukes that can trivialize the games hardest encounters, I was blowing up liches before they had a chance to do anything. The thing with sorcerers is that you can’t swap spells, so if you pick poorly you’re screwed.

Thank you Meru - very informative and fun :D

Definitely make more, it's fascinating to see someone coming at the original game blind (in 2024)

As a fan of original BG, i hope that you will have fun on this journey ! I personally love the real-time combat when compared to bg3, it makes it really dynamic

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

I really like it too! I like how you can pause and readjust I have a feeling I'm going to really love it later on when I have more spells/abilities in my hands. Thanks for watching!!

@Obsiduction

4 ай бұрын

@@Merurudesu the strategy is really different from DOS or BG3 but yeah it can quickly become really deep (and sometimes hard), i hope you will like it

Amazing job on this video meru!! Havent ever seen BG1 gameplay before so its super cool to watch this and see how far the games have come all the way up to BG3!

I'm soooo excited to watch this playthrough. This game was my gateway into gaming as a little kid

@PumpkinStorm03

4 ай бұрын

I haven't finished watching so idk if you figure any of this out but I thought I'd give you some tips for this game because combat can be very hard in this game, esp early game- you're going to want to get a ranged weapon for all of your party members. Don't be shy about micro managing. Pause often and plan your actions and save often. There's no shame in cheesing tactics. Kite your enemies in early game! Also there's a setting that you can enable that replenishes all of your health when you rest. Party members can and will leave you if you don't do what they want in a timely manner.

@PumpkinStorm03

4 ай бұрын

Another useful tactic is if you know a hard fight is ahead of you, you can still target them with area of effect spells before you see them if you throw it just before you reveal the enemies on the map

okay finished watching, thank you Meru for this awesome video!

I have played BG1+2+all the extras since they appeared. Absolutely love them. Thanks for taking them up here 🙂

There are settings for combat so you can get the game a little closer to tabletop play, by setting the game to auto-pause after certain circumstances are met. Ones I like are when a target is killed, when a character completes an action, and other stuff like that.

Alright, coming from an old dude that played the game way back when, this is super fun to watch. At this point you might be better off though loading a save from when Imoen is still alive because iirc Resurrection spells are pretty darn expensive. Forget Xzar. Then head straight for the Friendly Arms Inn to get some strength in numbers. Exploring every little corner of the map isn't top priority rn because (like every character you've met is trying to tell you) you're in danger. Also save.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

I took a lot of your advice for my next part! I didn’t have a close save for Imoen but Xzar is bye bye bye 👋🏼 Luckily I managed to make all my money back fairly quick and also trying to remember to save more 😂

Great job, Meruru, keep up your enthusiasm and best wishes for your career

So excited for this playthrough🙌

Life is so hallooeoowww LMAO mood Xan

Lovely video mate! Can't wait to see more! Loved the clap transition at the end lmao, great editing overall this was a great watch

I. FEEL. Your. Pain. The dice, they are cursed.

something about these older pc games that are so comfy to watch other people play. Im in the middle of my Baldur's Gate 1 playthrough and I love it!

The party ai will sometimes put the squishy characters in the front which is why I never played with the party ai on. I preferred to put my people with low health in the back and try to keep them out of close combat. Just letting them use spells and bows. That also let me pick which spells I was casting and when I didn't want to waste one on an enemy that my others could finish off easily enough. Also instead of selecting the whole party, you can hold the mouse button down and drag a box around the ones you want to select and move them without the others following.

the castle in the middle is a vast library. you're not so much a princess as a librarian.

It's funny that you mention the gameplay being like Dragon Age, real time with pause, since Bioware made Dragon Age Origins to be the the spiritual successor to their Baldur's Gate games. I hope you enjoy your playthrough of BG1! One thing to note when you play through this game is that alot of things that are in more recent Bioware RPGs may be missing in this game, only because this was the first CRPG that Bioware ever made. There are alot more companion interactions, personal quests and the first official romances for characters in Baldur's Gate 2, but I feel that this game is definitely still worth playing. I think the biggest barrier for new players getting into the game would probably be the old Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rules (Baldur's Gate 3 uses 5th Edition). There are alot of aspects of 2nd Edition that are very tedious, but eventually you get used to them.

@volourn9764

2 ай бұрын

Nothing tedious about 2e.

I'm so happy that the last save was made at that exact point. For no reason in particular. :>

Bg1 being based on old hybrid ADnD and 3rd/3.5 edition rules vs bg3 on 5th means conditions, etc don't translate quite exactly, but it'll put you light years ahead of things!! 😊 I hope you have as much fun as i did back in the day.

@volourn9764

2 ай бұрын

Bg is 2nd edition.

Love this playthrough immediately.

Xan is my new spirit animal.

I love to see it I thought to myself when I get my honor dice I’m done. All achievements later I’m getting ready to head into moonrise towers 😂

Your reaction to the game start is nice. I hope you fully play both bg1 and bg2.

Heheheh. I feel you. I was kinda "meh" on BG3 when I first started seeing stuff about it. ( I played the original when it was released. Yeah. I'm old ) Then I started watching some play videos and it really caught my interest. But still put it off because my computer is a potato. Then a group of friends between them got me a GeForce Now sub and a copy of BG3. Yeah, I've got like...580 hours in. I just keep rolling new starts because I have character ADHD. I had to force myself to finish my first playthrough without starting a new one, but it was worth it. ;)

@Leonnie13

4 ай бұрын

lol. I have this problem too.

When the game gave you your ability scores du ring character creation, it was in fact random rolls and not optimized stats for your class ! If you wish to do another playthrough one day you could probably rearrange them a bit (or reroll until you're satisfied with it)

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

This is so good to know!! Thank you! If I can rearrange them at any point again I will, but if not I'll look out for this in the future and try to reroll for better stats for maybe other characters!

@Obsiduction

4 ай бұрын

@@Merurudesu You can't really rearrange them but there are a few items that can boost your ability scores ! You would have a easier time with higher Wisdom as it would give you bonus spells as a cleric, but it's fun to go with random too (your high charisma will reduce all the price from merchants)

@Kadmilos3310

Ай бұрын

Also your rolls where quite low. This charter might strugle.

Baldur's Gate is such a great game. I played all the Infinity Engine games back in the day - you're in for a treat. If you really love them, you can go back with mods to really help the experience. Baldur's Gate Triilogy mod - available for both original and Enhanced Edition, and others - some full expansion sized - to smooth out the gameplay and add a ton of great content. They've even made automated installers that download and install everything in order for you.

35:50 words to live by

I don't know if you need these kind of advices, but here are some that came to mind while watching, if you want to check them out, and I hope they help. Skip these if you want to discover these things yourself. 1) Always check what spells you have in your spellbooks. Write the most useful scrolls you have in your spellbook with your wizard. Like in BG3, there are a lot of spells and they are extremely useful, especially later in the game. Scrolls and potions are also super useful. A beginner's party definitely needs a wizard and a priest, it makes it so much easier. The wizards get really strong later in the game. You need spells to both cause and take away status defects and upgrades from you and enemies. Many battles start with enemies using a truck load of spells to boost them. There are a lot of battles in this game, and it's often impossible or at least very difficult to avoid bloodshed. 2) Have a ranged weapon and a close combat weapon on hand in quick weapon slots with all of your characters for a quick change during combat. Buy and carry a lot of ammo. Use fighters, paladins and such as close combat tanks. Use wizards, thieves and others mainly ranged (except if you use the thief for backstabbing or something). As you saw with Xzar, it's better to give a weaker character like him a ranged weapon he is bad at than put him into the front line with something he can use a bit better. He will be minced meat in no time in close combat. The battles will get more difficult with time, and you need to pause the game often. It takes a while to get used to the rhythm. 3) In my opinion, slings are great ranged weapons. They're quick, cheap and have a lot of ammo lying around. Bows are also very good. Save better bullets, arrows, bolts and such for boss fights and other difficult encounters, at least at first. 4) Check all the items and what they do. Some enemies need +2 or +3 weapons to get even damaged, so if it seems you can't hit something no matter what you do, it's possibly because of this. Many weapons also have a lot of side effects. Even if d10 weapon seems to on surface make more damage than d6+1 weapon, the latter can still be better. 5) Unless you really mean to roleplay the game through, if someone dies and you don't have resurrection spell on your cleric or druid, just load the game from the last save. Save often and not just with quick save. It is possible to save at a wrong moment in the game (a second before a horde of enemies attacks you) and if you use just quicksave, it can be incredibly infuriating. 6) Unlike in BG3, evil and good party members mix badly and they will eventually fight with each other. If your actions are too evil (killing innocents does this very quickly) some good party members leave or even turn against you. The opposite is true with the evil ones. Neutral party members only leave if you get too evil. 7) It's more difficult to play an evil character in BG1 and 2 and it doesn't give you a lot of advantages compared to playing a good character. The game is not very well written in this regard. 8) Use quick item slots with your potions and such. 9) The party formation matters, put the weaker ones in the back so they don't get attacked immediately. When you walk around, make sure that a weakling wizard is not the first one to venture forth. 10) Always check the stats of your companions to see what they're good at. There are a lot of companions that can join you in BG1, even near the ending of the game, and some of them are great and some are just totally useless. There is a "canon" group of companions but I won't spoil it for you. 11) Many of the gems and other things are of no use and can be sold freely. The game makes it pretty clear what items are actually important. You get enough money selling jewels and other stuff without dragging every ordinary shield, armor and sword with you, especially after the very beginning. Different gem bags and such are very useful to carry around because they save your inventory space. 12) Always, ALWAYS check for traps. Cheers and happy gaming!

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

This is such helpful advice thank you! A lot of this I wish I had read before I filmed the second part that I’m editing now 😂 The party formation is really good to know! Same with ranged weapons on wizards, I definitely hoped when I started that the staff would be ranged 😅 I’m definitely gonna start keeping an eye out for companions that are weaker than others. I met a few new ones in my next part that I need to look at! Thanks for all the advice!

@Koiranpaeinen

4 ай бұрын

@@Merurudesu Happy to help! I'm waiting eagerly for the next video.

@LadyDoomsinger

4 ай бұрын

To be fair to #7, this is a general problem for many RPGs: A lot of writers just struggle to write a "good" evil narrative. Even BG3 kind of leans towards the player being good, even if you have the option to choose otherwise.

@Koiranpaeinen

4 ай бұрын

@@LadyDoomsinger You're absolutely right, though I always felt that in BGI and BGII it was made even more difficult by having the Flaming Fist attack you and people shun you if your reputation stoops too low. The game mechanic essentially guides you to be good, so to speak.

@LadyDoomsinger

4 ай бұрын

@@Koiranpaeinen That only happens if your reputation drops below 2, though (or 3, I can't quite remember) - essentially only if you go full "murder-hobo" on the game, which isn't really a sensible way to play, even if you are an evil character... The most notable downsides to a low reputation, as long as you don't go too low, is that your charisma score is effectively lowered: shopkeepers will demand higher prices, and NPCs will react to you as if you have low charisma.

Hell yeah. I’m on SoD now! Have fun

i loved the snack break... also i hope the pessimistic mage, and even more the guy with boo, the hamster, come back during the game

More Meru content! So happy you're playing Baldur's Gate 1.

i love the vibes and the energy and you got the cutest nerd girl aesthetic

I love the portrait mod, it looks so good, used it for my playthrough

Also played it for the first time last year after Baldur's Gate 3. It's a really fun game even if mostly of the time the game is hard because of the dated mechanics and lack of possibilities in combat.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

Its such a fun game I agree! The mechanics are a little dated but if you get past that there’s so much charm! I’m enjoying it so much! I’m glad you had fun with it!

omg, those voice lines, im already invested... im not sure if i played bg1, i did play bg2 for sure though

not far into the Video, but love your voice and energy. Will come back for more :-D edit: the slow combat at the beginning is something typical for bg2 as well. Thought they did a better job on this with icewind dale

“Im going to get killed by the blue man group” 😂 you’re so cute

I would love to see the original BG saga redone with a newer ruleset. I played a lot of old D&D in my youth, but I like many of the rules innovations in more recent editions. Anyway, have a good time with the game.

Don't know why this was suggested to me, but I clicked on it. Some advice: The stats during character creation are random rolls and not fixed values. You can reroll & redistribute the numbers as much as you like. Meaning: If you reroll your stats a lot, you get sometimes lucky rolls, which will allow you to max out several stats and have a stronger character

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

thanks for clicking on it and watching it! hope you enjoyed

@Namenlos555

4 ай бұрын

@@MerurudesuThe next opportunity to change it is in Baldurs Gate 2 :D (if you don't import your character there). I don't know how good the stats of your char are for your class, but you seem to struggle with the low strength (you are overencumbered all the time) And another hint: You don't need to push that button to select your whole party, you can just select them by dragging (don't know whether this is the right word in English here: I mean you can click on an empty space -> hold the mouse button -> move your mouse around -> a selection square will appear) Good luck with your channel, you seem to be a person, who is enjoyable to watch, so I guess you can get quite bigger here :)

Nostalgia. Nostalgia everywhere!

Xan is such a favorite wizard from that game. lots of enjoyable characters

@volourn9764

2 ай бұрын

Can was one if the least popular bg1 characters, but I personally thought he was great.

This got recommended to me randomly and I gotta say I really vibe with your commentary and personality + it's a nice way to experience the og Baldur's Gate because I kinda struggle getting into older RPGs. Any way I can watch your BG3 playthroughs from the start, by any chance?

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

I’m so glad you found me and liked this video 🥹 Makes me really happy to hear thank you! I struggle a lot with older RPGS and Baldurs Gate is the first one I’m really pushing myself to get into so I really understand! As for my BG3 Playthroughs, My current Honour mode has all my vods up still on my Twitch channel so you can start from the beginning over there, My past Dark Urge is only partially on my channel as I haven’t uploaded it anywhere else yet but planning to upload in the future! 👍🏼

to be honest its not just that bg1 and 2 are so old, with graphics, user interface and so on beyond what most people are willing to deal with today. those games are based on a rule set so complicated that you need to study it. i played hundreds of hours BG2 without D&D knowledge and i have to say i still dont understand the higher levels of magic. there are like 20 different spells to counter spells and every spell works different. there is magic resistance, different types of immunity, saving throws and so on. If i cast or hit something and nothing happens i usually have no idea why. then i try to remove protective magic which often fails to and i dont know why and so on. i cant recommend bg3 fans without D&D experience to play the older games. dont understand me wrong, both games a great, the best of their time, highly immersive. basically everything you love about bg3, bg1 and bg2 are on the same level. but they are from a different period of time.

@TheSzellin

4 ай бұрын

I played BG around the same time I was getting in to D&D as a kid. What a fucking mess that ruleset was. Magic resistance, spell reflection, spell countering, spell *sequencing*, omfg. Fuck wizards. Right in the butt. Martials all day every day.

@volourn9764

2 ай бұрын

There's nothing complicated about the older dnd rules. I and many others managed it when we were kids. Imagine having to think. It's not like 5e/bg3 doesnt have a lot of crap like this. Lol

good luck with the save or die mechainics

AoN stands for Adventures of Neverwinter. I think it was something that was included in like a “complete” or “deluxe” edition of BG1

Like Dragon Age, you can have some control over the parties AI. There are scripts, and there are mods which improve them.

Really enjoyable, you're very charismatic. I hope you continue. You mentioned Minsc and Jaheira, are you aware of the other BG3 character who can be a companion in BG1 and 2? I don't want to spoil anything.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

This is so kind thank you so much! I have plans to continue! I’ve already filmed the second part now just need to edit! I think I know of one other companion (Viconia?) But that is it! I’m so excited!!

If you like the BG 1 and 2 games there are also similar games Icewind Dale 1 and 2. I played them all back when they first came out and loved every one of them. Can't play BG 3 yet because my pc is crap.....

that identify mechainic is old school dnd mechainics, actually its easier in this game than regular 2e because normally identify would take days

How do you only have 307 subs your production quality and persona is hitting way above its pay grade

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

Thank you for saying that 🥹 I also stream on Twitch! So most of my camera/mic gear upgraded bc of that. I also majored in animation and video editing and I’m just starting to post on youtube so still new to the whole thing!

Go for the eyes Boo, go for the eyes!

I wish bg3 had real time and party ai the dragon age combat was pretty good I know it came before dragon age but you know what I mean. Real time would make it stand out even more from divinity

Picks the Vicky portrait and picks Cleric. Too bad you can't pick Shar

Oh man, so close to those last 2 party members dying too.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

I was fighting for my life truly 😂

@Smrt927

4 ай бұрын

@@Merurudesu not quite what i meant but it will make sense eventually. The first handful of levels on any edition of DnD are the most dangerous/deadly, and 2nd edition more so then 5th

I had a hard time with the old D&D AC and THAC0 rules. I hope you get an easier time.

I play bg3 and bg1 simultaneously, hehe, I like to compare :) still amazing game

I am interested to hear what you think because I grew up on BG, icewind dale, and planescape torment so those games are second nature to me. But I know that someone coming from 5th ed is going to be so confused. AD&D rules are pretty bad in my opinion but that's what we had back then lol. Also if you do like CRPGs you should really try Tyranny and Pathfinder: WOTR because in my opinion they are better than BG3 just not as good looking. Also that VO for the tutorial guy is also like a tone of characters in Skyrim.

Embrace being the healer. DnD is about teamwork; classes were created to make players depend on each other. Healer is the least chosen role by far, and almost no one makes a true tank, but parties cannot function well without them

I will be the last... but you will be the first. MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

5:24 Tempus is not a god of nature (the most important gods of nature are Silvanus and Chauntea). Tempus is the god of war and battles. Faerun has a lot of gods - the Faiths and Pantheons source book describes 144 gods. 7:26 You need to look into the attribute scores - there are huge differences in the way how attribute bonuses are applied and what scores you need for the different bonuses. BG1 and 2 don't use D&D 5e rules, they use AD&D 2e. The stats are rolled randomly btw and can differ in the total amount of attribute points - your character only has 76 points in total which is very low. To determine the attributes the game rolls 4d6 for each attribute, dropping the lowest number. Example: The game rolls 6,4,4,2 - this would mean the score is 14 (6+4+4 - the 2 doesn't count). You can reroll as often as you like. I usually roll until I get at least a total of 90 points before adjusting the attributes. Drows are elves (and in AD&D almost exclusively evil, treacherous and murderous) but most elves are not Drows. Elven subspecies in Faerun include Sun Elves, Moon Elves, Wood Elves, Sea Elves (an underwater subspecies), Wild Elves, Ariel (winged elves) and Drow. 29:30 Of course not. You lowered your strength to 9. That means you get a malus on both your attack roles and your damage - not to mention the drastic effect on your carrying capacity which is really bad for clerics since you're supposed to wear plate armor and a shield which is heavy. And yes, without a weapon you cannot deal lethal damage. PS: Are you sure that you have only installed 1 mod? Your character has 24 HP - that is impossible for a level 1 cleric. The maximum HP you can have with a con of only 10 on level 1 is 8 as a cleric. This means your HP are 3 times as high as they can normally be. Imoen has too many HP as well - she can only have 7 HP. And Montaron got way too many HP with the level up as well. Someting is really off with the HP. Magic users get 1d4 per level, thieves and bards 1d6, clerics and druids 1d8 and fighter classes 1d10. Montaron is a multiclass character which means his HP gained are halved. The HP of your characters should be at the moment: Main char 8, Imoen 7, Xvar 4 and Montaron 12.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

Hi! I'm just a new player going into this so It is all very new to me. Thank you for all the information, I guess I'm going in with it being a bit tougher on my cleric! I don't really mind as long as I have fun tbh. I only have the character portrait mod installed I didn't know how to install others or want too. I thought it was odd too that my HP was higher than the rest of my party but I don't think the portrait mod is causing it? I will just have to see as I go along.

@HH-hd7nd

4 ай бұрын

@@MerurudesuIf there is no other mod then it seems that this portrait mod also messes around with the HP. This will make the game much, much easier as it normally is. I just tested if the HP increase happened because of the lower difficulty but that's not the case - it has to be the mod.

you do actually start with the staff so its not cheating to use the one you had

7:26 You missed out on a huge part of the original experience. I have spent almost as much time re-rolling abilities as I have in the rest of the game combined.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

So I've heard!! and I've also heard I rolled really low too!! I wish the game had given me a lil pop up here or more direction because I would have rerolled for houuuurs LMAO

are you sure you're not using moree mods? you don't normally meet Xan until the mines

@richardyoung3462

4 ай бұрын

Enhanced Edition has it's own tutorial that was made, to help you understand the game mechanics better. When she starts the actual game, she is solo, and has to pickup companions like usual.

the stat rolls r random... they do NOT give you stats based on your class like BG3... I try to get in the upper 80's if not 90's.... I think you need much higher stats.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

Yeah that’s one of the things a lot of people told me about in the last episode but I didn’t know when I filmed this. I’m still upset I didn’t know about the random roll stats (especially since I’m in the 70s 😭) but I’m doing my best with it! I won’t restart now 😅 Definitely going to make things more challenging but I like a challenge! 👍🏼

Watching stat total at 76 and just continuing was painful.

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

Yeah I wish it had explained it a little better to me! I didn’t know anything about the rerolling system at all and I’m still so upset I got 76 and didn’t reroll 😭

@jankodes197

4 ай бұрын

@@MerurudesuI remember when I played BG1 for the first time - the "I need negative AC", "WTH is THACO?" and "why Neera, why?" were among my many thoughts.

@volourn9764

2 ай бұрын

Reading the manual helps...

What? The games are old! This ancient lich is offended 😉😆

wow 4k views in 12 days, what's your secret, mine has 109 views in 11 months

@Merurudesu

4 ай бұрын

no secret! There's a million little things that play into the youtube algorithm and a lot of them are luck based. I am constantly researching how to grow on youtube, along with taking a lot of care into my editing and thumbnails, I already have an established audience on Twitch that I've been growing for 3 years and I've learned how to talk on camera really well. Theres lot's of different reasons and I don't even know half of them! Hope you enjoyed Baldur's Gate 1 and good luck on growing your youtube channel more