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

[darkjeshush]

Don't double and triple multiclasses all start getting HLAs at 5,100,000XP?

That means when you hit 14/14/16 you instantly get two HLAs, one for mage and one for warrior. F/T also gets HLA at 5.1mil xp so you'll start at around 16F/20T. Since you're going to get around 12.2 million xp throughout the game, you will end up with around the same number of HLA's by the final exam, EDE. However, F/M/T wastes less levels in thief, in exchange for mage spells and abilities, and you are only a slightly weaker fighter 21/19/24 vs 27/31. Fighters gain no extra combat bonuses past 22 anyways. Sure your remove magic will only consistently work at 1%, but you get an extra set of those precious level 6 buffs. Also, you wont need to wait so long to be able to use scrolls. Finally, FT is dwarf, while FMT is halfelf, and you've decided not to use short races anyways, so your best choice is clearly FMT.