Wow. Just wow. Questions from a new player, The game is beating the crap out of me, but I'm starting to like i Options

[ksshan]

What a week it has been. Bumped into a friend whom I have not contacted for a decade. We were gaming buddies, and those were the days of counter-strike, diablo 2, and BG2 (has it really been 10 years? Kinda scary thinking about it. Seems like yesterday). Anyway, this dude is still playing BG2 with IA5, and he could'nt stop raving about it, so I decided to fire up my old BG2 discs (very scratched, but surprisingly still playable).

Well, I started off thinking, how hard could it be? After all, I did play tactics. All those guys complaining about difficulty must be 12-16 yr olds who have never played contra or ninja gaiden etc etc. Buncha wimps. So imagine my pleasant surprise when the suna seni encounter, ordinarily a walk over, decimated my entire party. Thats when I started browsing SP and BWL forums for more info, and boy have I learned alot, but still, I fear, not enough.

Well, armed with my meager new knowledge, I'm starting a new game that will hopefully make the game easier, and this time I'm sticking like glue to the suggested quest order. My usual play style is melee heavy, which seems to fit well with the play style of IA5 from what I've read, so thats cool.

So, what party would you guys recommand for the easiest time for a first time IA player? It doesnt have to be bioware NPCs since the dialogue has gotten old years ago. And since weapons have been revamped, and many weapons made inaccessible early game (I'm gonna miss celestial fury), who should use what weapons?

Thanks a million for whatever help you guys can give. This is the hardest game I've played since Godhand, though its a action game

[Frazurblu]

I don't regard the" little people" bonus as cheese at all - I regard it as a justifiable reason to play them. Why else would you play a dwarf for example? just for the animation? Playing a human already has advantage over demi humans in IA. A human can be ANY class and can dual class at any stage giving him a large advantage over a multi class demi-human (fighter/mage excepted). There are plenty of items and spells that can make the "little people" bonus superfluous in any event (Chaotic Commands, Free Action, Lilicor , Shield of Harmony , potions etc.) so I think the retention of such a bonus to be hardly game changing let alone cheesy. The omission/nerfing of it does IMHO throw the balance of the game off and turns dwarfs into short humans who can't even be mages. A dwarf Beserker, Barbarian or Kensai is a fearsome opponent but hardly tougher than a Vagrant or Riskbreaker. If you plan on nerfing the "little peoples" saves at least consider expanding available classes for them (dwarf riskbreaker or vagrant)