The problem is that vanilla BG can and will kill the player for the most boneheaded mechanics smegups. Under vanilla BG, for instance, party members cannot pass through each other, leading to them wandering off on their own once they try to pass a momentarily stationary party member, and they don't say "never split the party" for nothing; under BGTutu, the game allows for members to be able to walk past any characters in their way, reducing the likelihood of the party turning into a herd of headless chickens. That's not even getting into the nonsensical way BG handles looking at the inventory by forcing the game to unpause, which doesn't happen under Tutu (making things like potions of Mirror Eyes far more useful).

As for learning to wait until you are better capable of taking on high level, monsters, unless you've taken the time to memorize the AD&D 2E monster manual or some equivalent thereof, the only way you will initially realize something is out of your league is after it has made hero sandwiches out of some of the party. Consequently, you should save early, often, and in different slots, as you will be doing a lot of learning by dying.

I agree. Tutu and mods offer very useful convenience tweaks that vanilla BG is sorely lacking. While rather unnecessary, I can tolerate the game unpausing when the inventory is open. In fact, if I'm crossing the expanse of a clear map I use the travel time to organize. Just be sure you are *prepared* prior to an encounter. Quickslot any weapons wands or potions you'll need. It's not like the game forbids save scumming with abandon. So even if you run headlong into an encounter without a clue you can always immediately reconfig and redeploy.

While the path finding in BG is atrocious overall, the path finding in BG2 engine is improved. There are still issues with NPCs getting lost en-route.

And like I have already said before, once you know what to expect it becomes smooth sailing. Of course more often than not you'll be learning from your failures. BG never really wrecks your $h!t in combat. By that I mean that the only thing you ever stand to lose is time, and that's only from where ever you last saved. There are never any lasting repercussions from getting beaten in combat because you can always hit the load button. There's no shame in save scumming if you're not the hard core type.

I'm not advocating *against* tutu and mods. They improve the experience immensely. I just suggest holding off on them until you've completed your first play through. There are still plenty of reasons why you should run mods from the get go. If you think the game is too challenging, mods make it more manageable.

My first couple of times playing, I wasn't really aware of just how easy things could be with proper use of magic and hiding/backstabbing with Drizzt's Scimitar +5 (yes, I kill him every time I play, so sue me). I was almost exclusively a brawler, but after experimenting by myself, as well as reading some online tips, I really maximized my characters' abilities and had a lot more fun playing.

Like others said, as a pure brawler, and especially one w/o good missile weapons, you'll die a lot early on. So as you wander through the Sword Coast and stumble into the many, many bad guys, prepare to reload a lot, unless you're a "tough guy" gamer and/or "hard core". (And if you are, please be sure to brag about it on Internet message boards to prove how much of a badass you are. Heh.)

So anyway, once I had some experience playing this game, I went solo with an elven F/M/T, and I hit EVERY area for every experience point I could muster. A few things really got me through when it came time to fight either super-strong individuals or large groups. I hope these don't spoil too much:

-Web
-Stinking Cloud
-Cloudkill
-Arrows of Biting/Dispelling/Explosion
-Fireball
-Mirror Image
-Blur
-Oils of Speed (on top of the Boots of Speed, once I got them)
-Monster Summoning Wand
-Any form of invisibility (potions, spells, thief sneaking), coupled with hiding and backstabbing, got me through pretty much all of Durlag's Tower

Great game, so have fun with it!

Although I've had the games for awhile now I'm embarking on my first serious playthrough. After getting a new laptop I found it has issues displaying games at 640 x 480 and (to a lesser degree) 800 x 600. Something to do with the graphics drivers or configuration of said drivers - I haven't quite determined which yet. In the meantime, I have a pair of great games to play. So, I used GoJays2025 guide to installing BGT, though I left out Unfinished Business. I did install the widescreen mod. I know, it can be problematic if I want to change resolutions, but I won't be changing resolutions, so I'm okay with it. Besides, the idea of taking all of the characters, and not just my main, through both stories really appeals to me.

Right now, I've just reached the outskirts of Beregost. Can't say the game is really easier than when I played vanilla on my previous laptop (still getting used to the combat system in the game). I currently have Jaheira, Khalid and Imoen, plus my Fighter/Mage main. I did notice I was given 7 spells for my spellbook as opposed to 2 in the vanilla version. I can only memorize one still, so no change there. I did find a ring outside The Friendly Arm that bumped that to 2 spells (Ring of Wizardry, I think). Not certain how I found that other than I tend to obsessively scout areas and just happened to see the cursor change while hovering over a tree.

The mage on the steps I managed to kill only because the guard nearby helped out. I had the evil thief with me that comes with Xzar (who died quickly in a previous fight). He got in a couple of minor hits, and Imoen got lucky with her short bow (critical hit kill). My character managed to do nothing as I'd forgotten she can't cast spells while wearing armor and the fight was over before I could get her to start using her bow. That was on my fourth attempt. The first three, I was massacred quite easily by a combo of Terror and Magic Missile spells (kept targeting my main) before I could land a hit.

I had also found a rock with a hollow. Not sure what's in it though as each time I approached it, I'd be attacked by three wolves (pretty sure at least one of them was a Dire Wolf) that would quickly destroy my party. My party is still level 1 and the closest anyone is to level 2 is Jaheira. So, easier? Maybe. But it still seems pretty tough to me. Still, I'm having a great time, and once I can get the hang of the combat for this set I think it may get a little easier.

Flynn

I'm not a hard-core RPGer, but I've played a good number of them numerous times and consider myself pretty experienced. I played and beat BG2 a couple times before I ever tried BG 1. I've since played "vanilla" BG through a decent portion of the game a few times but never completed it due to just getting tired of dying and spending so much time repeatedly trying different tactics to win (even with knowing a good amount about the rules, which mobs I should be facing, etc.,), it just wasn't worth the time to me, my game time is valuable and repeating to such an extent was not worthwhile to me, combat is not where it is at in a game like this for me, especially when it functions as it does in the BG1 engine.

Add to that, if you play vanilla, you are missing the unfinished business content, and to me missing all of that content just to replay the game and get it at some possible future point, is senseless. I want it now. A lot of the reason I play is depth of content, the story, characters, and quests. Give me the content!

I'm now playing through on easyTuTu and fully intend to take my sorceress half-elf from BG1 into BG2 this time. I've played BG2+ToB through 3 times with the same named half-elf sorceress, Keilara. She is who I made my first time playing through BG2 and I've never been able to see that character as anyone but her. It's really exciting to me to be playing her in BG1 now and knowing I will carry her through to BG2 not just in name, but in complete character. After finishing BG2ToB for the 3rd time some years ago, I thought I'd probably never play it again, but going through BG1 with her now has me excited to play BG2 again, especially since I will have the fully story as well as developed characters in Imoen, Jaheira,and Minsc. I've never even played through BG2 using Imoen for very long, I always switched her out because she is annoying and Yoshimo was way better and cooler and was a very good story. This time I think I will skip keeping Yoshimo and keep Imoen all the way through, for the experience.

So, I strongly say go for using easyTuTu, make it a great experience with the BG2 engine and with all the extra content that is to be had, but only if you will love it that way. It's all dependent on the individual.