I installed all the mainstream mods and avoided as many spoilers as I could. How can I get the most out of this game with the assumption that I intend to do as much as possible in a single playthrough?

I currently intend to play a NG human wild-mage with the cannon party, dart proficiency. I am however, open to suggestions.

By uninstalling all of those mods, and playing the game at least once 'out of the box', as it was meant to be played. Seriously! BGT or TuTu is NOT playing BG1, it's playing BG2 in a BG1 setting, and is FAR too easy.

Well, to be completely honest, this isn't my FIRST playthrough, I had gotten maybe a little farther than Beregost before, but the difficulty was a bit grating. There are some types who seem to only be encouraged by crushing defeat, of which I am not one. This is the first playthrough I am resolute to finish(the other was also TuTu). Still, I value the honesty of a die-hard fan.

I however, haven't exactly found this type of reasoning sound with other games. Fallout 2 is one of my personal favorites. Still, the only reason I would ever recommend someone play vanilla is to appreciate the profound difference made by people like Killapp.

I suppose it's my own fault for not being more specific: Which companions, quests, or places did people find to be particularly enjoyable, and just how possible is it they could be accidentally missed?

Again, this is going to be coloured immensely by the fact that you are playing TuTu/BGT, but when you talk about companion quests in BG1, there is not a lot of content... at all. Baldur's Gate is all about freedom and non-linearity, not about beefed out, story-rich side quests. That's the beauty of it; you're free to explore, find and miss things. Getting spoilers from forums is, quite frankly, going to ruin your game session. I'm not being awkward here, I'm just telling it how I see it. I could sit down for an hour and write out a huge list of things to do, not to do; to take on; to miss etc., but that wouldn't help you to enjoy the game in the slightest.

It's not that possible to miss important things. Standard RPG methods of wandering round and talking to named people should get you most of them. If you're playing in Tutu/BGT then holding tab and mousing over something will display its name immediately, which can save time in towns with lots of NPCs around. If you want to make sure you visit everywhere, then walk off all four edges of every screen you can, as that'll ensure you unlock all the areas. Stay away from Durlag's Tower until you're high level (it was added by the expansion and is intended for when you've done most of the "vanilla" content), and you'll be fine.

If you want to stick with the canon party and plan to continue into BG2 (both of which I can highly recommend) then I'd suggest dual classing Imoen to a mage at about levels 6-7. She makes a very strong mage/thief, and her being able to use magic is somewhat plot relevant in BG2.

I would advise splitting her skill points on level up between find traps and pick locks: by level 6 or so she'll just about be able to disarm/unlock more or less anything in the two games. I know that Hickory disagrees with my suggestion of pick locks and suggests hide in shadows, but a big advantage of that - the ability to backstab someone in melee for extra damage - is made irrelevent anyway due to Imoen's low strength. Either way, while she's dual classing, you won't have access to thief abilities, so either temporarily swap out some of the other party members for a thief (the rest of the canon party come in pairs, though, so you'll have to lose two of them) or avoid areas with lots of traps like Durlag's Tower.

You should also familiarise yourself with the rules before you start playing if you haven't already, as that'll allow you to make much more informed choices. I found this to be a useful summary. Don't worry, it's longer than it looks as it has a lot of charts!

I just want to clear something up here: Hide In Shadows is not all about back stabbing, and if you've followed my advice in these forums carefully, you will also be aware that I have ALWAYS advised against Imoen even attempting back stabbing, without proper STR buffs. Imoen's H.I.S. is all about her character strength: being a superb scout (when leveled properly). I fully understand that with meta gaming, this becomes somewhat obsolete, but that is something I always try to avoid, and for new players a good scout is FAR better than a lock picker every time.

The impressions from my first playthrough of BG1 can be summed thus:
- The ease of stumbling into an area or situation that you are too weak to deal with. This can range from just following the main story line to visit the Friendly Arms Inn, to inadvertently wandering into a nasty wilderness area. Even using very conservative trial and error tactics, you WILL die.
- The paltry experience awarded for killing most mobs even as late as the Nashkell Mines quest. You will remain level 1-2 seemingly FOREVER in this game if you follow just the main quest line with a full party.
- Forced to do Save/Reload spam lameness or alternatively be faced with perpetual bankruptcy due to costs of resurrecting your party members, mostly due to the above 2 points.
- Lot's of Mid-game grinding to level up party members, because I didn't realize how the game engine handles NPCs (I tended to collect all the recruitable NPCs in one spot, and joined/booted them from the party according to my task at hand).

It's probably not really possible to overcome the first 3 points without at least SOME knowledge from your own previous playthrough or planning your route using a walkthrough guide. Maybe try and get by with as few party members as you can in the beginning, so as to level up faster. But that flies in the face of other people's recommendations that say you should form your preferred party of 6 asap. So even just that choice is important depending on your play-style (roleplay vs. power-gamer)

IMO, the getting Algernon's Cloak as early as possible is the way to balance out most of the early issues I had with the game. But you likely won't find it without someone telling you how. That said, you probably want to at least try and do a runthrough yourself first.

Eh...do I need to worry about having three casters if I split Imoen thief/mage? I mean, years ago I remember NwN having magic-immune things and magical deadzones.

I suppose it couldn't be too bad so long as she has enough points for pickpocket, assuming like other Black Isle games it has loads of stuff in people's inventories.

It's funny, because a year ago he couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't play with the BG2 engine.

Wrong. What's really funny is the ass you continue to make of yourself.

http://www.gog.com/forum/baldurs_gate_series/is_there_any_way_to_fit_the_screen

You have a comprehension problem as well as a chip on your shoulder, don't you? I made a point of not understanding why *that particular person, at that particular time* was reluctant to install TuTu to get a better resolution than 640x480. Please think before you post.

There aren't any magic-immune creatures or magical deadzones in BG1 that I know about, so if they are there they're very rare. I wouldn't worry about that. You can do quite well with three arcane casters, especially when your other three characters are tanks to some extent. In BG2 the party gets changed around a lot anyway, so you needn't end up with three arcane casters there anyway. It's up to you if/when you dual Imoen, though. Remember that the longer you leave it, the more time it'll take for her to regain her thief abilities. BG2 gives more experience in general, which is why Hickory's recommending waiting until then. Either dualling ASAP at level 6, or at the start of BG2, are decent options, and as you can see there's...divided opinion about which is best, so choose whichever appeals to you more. Whenever you do it, though, I'd suggest you come up with an in character reason for her to have decided to learn magic, though. It adds to the roleplaying.

And I'll agree with what Hickory said: don't put points in pickpocket. It's almost completely useless: the vast majority of NPCs just have a few gold, and you'll have more than enough of that by the time the skill becomes reliable. If you don't mind using this kind of strategy, you can just save and reload until it works on the few occasions you need it. If you don't like that sort of thing, you can also use potions for that kind of situation. He doesn't have a bard: he's playing with the canon party, plus himself as a wild mage.

My comment was a general one. However, it's not unreasonable to imagine picking up Garrick before Minsc and Dynaheir -- all non-new players know what's available to be pick pocketed in Beregost.