*** THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS, MASSIVE ONES I'VE BEEN TOLD ***

I'm sure this has been tried...and probably someone's done it.

I purchased BG2EE quite a while ago but never played through it. I finished the enhanced editions of BG1 and IWD1, but never even started a game of BG2 enhanced. So here it goes. While thinking of a new character to play I started getting bored. I couldn't get myself into the idea of going through all the places I've been before. I've played through BG2 2 or 3 times. I bought the enhanced edition and feel compelled to use it...get my money's worth...but I want to take the game seriously. Like I did the first time through.

Decided that rather than play a harder class or solo I'd try an ironman game and see how far I get. I doubt it will be very far.

No reloading for any reason. If the game kills me, that's it. Simple. I'm playing on core rules so characters can be killed permanently (probably won't live to see that).

Half-elf, fighter/cleric multiclass...nothing fancy. Rolled off 89 total points. If I live far enough for it to matter, I'm planning on playing a good role, but I have no ambitions for party composition. Take what I can get at every step.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to Infinity engine AD&D rules. However, I hope this attempt will slow down my blundering...which has been my play style since these games first came out. Walk into a room, if it kills me try again. If it kills me again, try something different. Not very creative. I hope to change slightly.

*** PROGRESS ***

Presently, I'm half way through the first level of Irenicus' lair. Killed the Otyugh...which is the first real encounter, IMO, that can fuck up your party, depending on which way you move through the level. Playing very slowly. Watching for traps. Keeping conjured monsters out in front. I'll post updates (but probably the next post will say I failed).

Right now I'm thinking about the dwarven smiths, the genie and that fuck trapped with the odd machine...and I'm scared. This is fun again!

EDIT: While I have played the game before, I will not be using any walkthroughs, hints or online maps to prepare myself for areas I don't remember. I will look up status effects if I can't recall what they do.

Ilych and his smiths are dead. No real headache. Skeleton warrior and summoned animals, buffed out of their minds, did the trick with artillery arrows and magic missiles from my party. Silence rendered their caster useless. Use of doom and hold person were probably overkill.

Standing outside the room with the machine...and the trapped one. Very much considering passing on this. He's killed me so many times before.

Ever since game programmers have added the save function, gamers have lost the confidence to just play a straight session without saving.

Now playing a straight session is called 'iron-man'.

Fascinatin', isn't it?

Just the word du jour, I guess. My Atari didn't save anything. Neither did the arcades unless you had a quarter. Zelda did for the NES. Today...other than the rogue-likes...everything saves something. Funny thing is...out of habit, I'm still hitting 'Q' to quicksave after fights.

*** PROGRESS ***
I'm passing on the trapped one for now (can't recall his name). I might come back if I gain a level before leaving Irenicus' abode. I smell death.

Cambion (the being imprisoned on the first level) is dead. I popped up to the 2nd level and joined with Yoshimo. I had him trap the entrance to the room, sent in my summoned creatures and used Jaheira to entangle the far corner of the room. Cast haste, protection from evil 15, various armor spells.

Arrows and magic missiles did most of the work. Doomed him (one of my favorite spells). Entangle kept him in the corner after my summons died. Easiest time I ever had with Cambion.

First level done!

Personally, I consider the choice of save system to be part of the design of the game. If a developer allows saving everywhere with no cost, I see it as the developer intending for the player to do so. Many WRPGs, for example, have instant game overs, which would not be fair if the player has to go back too far, or worse, restart the entire game.

One particularly interesting example is Wizardry 4. The game gives you 8 save slots and allows you to save anywhere outside of combat (but at the cost of having to reload the floor, causing enemies you killed to respawn). Furthermore, the game expects that you will take advantage of it, by including many things that risk making you reload, like items randomly breaking when used and enemies instantly ending your game with MAKANITO. That game is largely about managing risks. (Hint: if an enemy knows MAKANITO, you should use a spell to increase your chance of killing the enemy before you get instantly killed. There's an item that blocks the spell, but you need to invoke it every time you equip it, and it breaks 15% of the time when you do so.)

Incidentally, I actually remember a time in Baldur's Gate 2 where simply exploring with a Wizard's Eye resulted in a sudden Game Over (from something that was definitely *not* a gaze attack).

The Ishar series cost exp (or gold, I can't remember) in order to save. First Resident Evil used typewriter tapes.

*** UPDATE ***

Out of Irenicus' lair! Probably the easiest time I've ever had going through it. Proper buffs and plans. However, those two levels I know better than anything else in the game. There was very little that could catch me unawares. Not so for the rest. Most doors in Baldur's Gate, I don't remember what's behind them and if I'll get jumped.

With Imoen gone, I need a spell caster. IIRC, Aerie's nearby. See if I can find her.

Done and done. Thanks for the suggestion.

Just the job. Thank you.

I should be dead.

Picked up Jan rather than Aerie and headed to the Temple District to do the Unseeing Eye quest. My party was jumped during a transition in Athkatla, which nearly killed Jan, and that not more than 5 minutes as a traveling companion.

Went into the sewer to get Keldorn and to see how far I could get fighting the Unseeing Eye. IIRC, there's some nasty shit associated with that quest. A lich, I think, but I seem to remember its he's a side jaunt. And a beholder. Either one probably certain death at this level.

In the middle of the first sewer map there's an open ring or pit, surrounded by kobolds. I approached from the east, hoping to pick them off as they crashed into my summons. Jan dropped a Haste spell just seconds before one of the kobolds, a witch doctor or shaman, hit me with confusion. Everyone but Jan succumbed to the spell and bolted right into the kobolds and beyond. Like chickens without heads, they ran off revealing nearly the entire map, triggering some pissed off dwarves on the north side, whom I paid rather than add to my misery, and Keldorn.

I thought I was dead, or at least someone was, and in another game of BG2, I would have just reloaded at that point rather than fix a battle I clearly had not prepared for.

As Jan blasted one baddie after the next with his crossbow, I noticed no one from my party had died although every creature on the map was chasing someone at this point. The haste spell! It kept them alive. They ran so fast no one could get more than one shot. Keldorn cut a path back to the pit and started clearing out the riffraff while Jan eliminated the remaining spell caster. Only the PC came close to dying because he picked up a troll. Battle ended when everyone came to and ganged up on the troll.

I should be dead.

Haha! It's just as well you paid off the dwarves, otherwise you would be dead. Kudos for not reloading.

A few minutes play today. I am still moving forward too fast. Cleared out the rest of the first sewer level, which turned out to be a single carrion crawler (stayed away from the dwarves though) and proceeded into the Old Tunnels. The party dispatched a few creatures...nothing serious. Keldorn got hit with Ability Drain. Ooze Mephit hit me with a cloud that put nearly everyone to sleep...except Minsc who had no trouble with the mephit.

Taking a step back, I'm retooling my spell casters. In previous playthroughs, I usually loaded up on offensive spells which left a dearth of spells to react and fix situations. I start this game a little more balanced, but it's not enough. I'm going to try the opposite for a while. Almost purely defensive. After this ooze mephit and the confusion incident, I need to be able to fix and to react...not just rely on overpowering a situation. Or picking it apart.

Neither have I ever been a potions man in this game, but I might start picking up a few of them when I can.

I will retreat from the sewers shortly to rest and upgrade. I have a mind to replace Yoshimo although I do like bounty hunter traps. Although I have a druid, cleric and Illusionist, I could use another spell caster. Specifically another wizard.

After accepting the quest by the head honcho of the Unseeing Eye, Yoshimo suggested that if a Beholder can't eradicate what lies in the other part of the sewers, I should be careful. Well said, Yoshimo.

I backed out and went to Trademeet.

I'm still alive! Minsc has died twice. Thankfully Jaheira went up a level and can cast Harper's Call. Once he died to a Lich hiding behind a bar and the second time in the troll den outside Trademeet. No one else. I've temporarily let go of Yoshimo to take Cernd to fix the Druid problem.

In fairness, save functions have existed since the early 1980's. Prior to that, games were exceedingly short, had almost nothing that you could quantify as progress and were intended to be played in single serving increments. Save games have existed for as long as game plot and progress have.