So i just bought BG1 planning on clearing it and then clearing BG2.The problem is i need some advice to make my game experience smoother so i don't uninstall after 1 hour.I remember i played BG2 for a few hours and then uninstalled because i couldnt get into it, even tho i played fallout 1 and loved it, it felt like too complicated and different from the games im used to.

I remember when i started playing fallout 3 even tho i had experience with oblivion it was pretty hard to get into the game, like when i hit megaton and realized that i didnt have the skill req to disarm the bomb i felt like i did something wrong.So i rerolled quite a few times before achieving the 'right' character that would let me enjoy the early quests.

I know how to add the essential mods but still need as much advice as i can get so i can 'learn' to love the game as much as the GOGers do.

Thank you in advance

EDIT: Very helpful answers from jonesy89 and hickory thanks alot

It depends on what you mean by "smoother". If you mean making sure your character and companions won't die too often, give everyone a ranged weapon, even for the people who will make up the front line when the enemy starts closing in. If your starting character is fighting-based, give yourself at least 2 pips in a weapon that does bludgeoning damages (flails, hammers, etc.) and two in bows (or whatever ranged options are available to you); remember, the Axe proficiency also lets you use throwing axes with no penalty. If you are a spellcasting class, read your spell descriptions carefully before choosing any, especially if you are a wizard; clerics have access to all of their deity's spells, so picking the wrong spell at most means having to rest to learn a new one, while wizards need to find a scroll to copy from or level up if they are specialists.

Lastly, and this is the most important, if you aren't having fun, stop playing. The entire point of gaming is to have fun, and if it gets to the point where you are trying to force yourself to "learn" how to love the game, that might be a sign that you aren't having fun, and trying to make yourself keep going in the hopes that you will start liking the game will not end well. Granted, some initial struggling tends to happen when trying to play older games, but if that sensation continues until, say, the end of the first chapter or two, then it might be worth reassessing whether or not you should keep going.

What i mean by smoother is like, not arriving to the first tavern/town where quest givers are, being given a quest to go to a certain cave/dungeon and then finding out that the party's theif cant open half of the chests because i leveled trap detection/stealth early instead of lock picking

I need some help understanding the game mechanics, like, what is the reason ranged weapons increase survivability? What are inter-party conflicts? What kind of party composition should i AVOID?What are the do's and don'ts during first time character creation? I will definitely read the manual but im here for the must-know-before-you-play advices

Learning to love the game usually happen when you learn to love your party/character and that mostly happens after the initial struggle, this is how i got into fallout 1 and avernum escape from the pit

1.) Ranged weapons. First off, reading the manual is important, but it won't tell you everything, especially when it comes to why ranged weapons are awesome. Part of this is based on the understanding is that you with a ranged weapon means you don't have to get up close and personal to hurt things, meaning the only thing that can even begin to harm you are other ranged weapons. A lot of monsters will only have melee attacks, and while they are lumbering in your direction, having the group chuck pointy sticks and stones at it will weaken it up for the melee focused fighters at worst and kill the thing before it gets in range of you at best. Given that a bear is capable of killing one of your characters in one successful hit early on, this is important; start hitting that bear from afar, preferably while your most heavily armored fighter runs around kiting the bear, and all of a sudden lethal overworld encounters start giving you more than halfway decent odds at survival.

2.) Interparty conflict. BG has a number of other characters you can recruit to join your party, but this can result in conflict (i.e. them turning on you and trying to kill you) for one of a few different reasons. Firstly, as a condition of joining you, some characters will have a specific quest that needs to get done, and if you don't do that quest in a certain amount of time, they grown enraged and turn on you. Now, granted, the timer that these quests run on is fairly generous, but once, say, you pick up a ranger who tells you that you must rescue his wizard companion, you should probably do that ASAP lest they decide to throw a hissy fit because they can't wrap their head around the concept of doing so after you have leveled up by clearing out an infested mine.

Secondly, party members with conflicting values may eventually turn o the group. It sounds like a big deal, but really all it boils down to is whether your companions are Good, Evil, or Neutral. See, D&D has what is called alignment, which indicates a character's morality; this is measured on two axes, Law and Chaos, and Good and Evil. The latter is the only one relevant here. If you have a very high reputation due to doing "Good" things, the Evil party members will start whining and moaning, while if you have a low reputation due to doing "Evil" things, the Good party members will start chastising you. Eventually, this can result in the aggrieved turning on you. Neutral members don't react one meaningful way or the other. Keeping your reputation in the middle prevents any of this from happening. Personally, I have problems with it because it insinuates that no "Evil" character has any understanding of the idea that the most effective "Evil" character acts like the nicest person ever to get people to trust them, but that's how it functions in the game.

Also, some characters will only join you if someone else does, and they will leave if you dismiss that person; it's not unlike being a kid and unable to invite Rick to your birthday party without inviting Darla because those two are joined at the hip. This won't result in anyone trying to kill you, but it is worth noting, especially since, in my experience, the second party is almost always the less useful of the two, which means wasted party space. This can be averted either through bug exploits or letting the lesser party die in a way that prevents them from being resurrected (i.e. gibbed); I'm not too crazy about either, but figured you might want to know.

3.) Composition. Avoid people who are Good or Evil, depending on what your reputation is looking like. Ideally, you'll want a couple of front line fighters (Paladins, Rangers, Fighters), a divine caster (Druid/Cleric/both), an arcane caster (general/specialist wizard), and someone of a, er, shadowy persuasion (Thief, possibly multiclassed with a Fighter, for disarming traps and lockpicking). Other than that, go wild.

I think I get what you are saying about the initial struggle. I had to fiddle around a bit before I really understood how to play Fallout, but after that it was all sunshine and rainbows (well, rather mushroom clouds and colorful fallout). On the other hand, I was playing BG until I was getting near the end and I still couldn't bring myself to like it outside of a sort of self-formed Stockholm Syndrome that made me think that the game was getting slightly better (it was't). I don't mean to say that the same will happen to you; if you enjoy it, groovy, but if you are a significant length into the game and you are no longer at that initial struggling point but are still having trouble getting into it, that would be an indication to stop.