Let's not LARP through this shit.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the music is pretty awesome. Half the reason I'm still playing this game.

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Mrowak said:

And the other half? :/

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Time to start our adventure !

Oh yeah, we can choose the name AND the class of our heroes. Itz heavan.

The Classes we can choose from are :

• 
  WARRIOR : "Powerful fighter and weapons expert."
  He's probably the most useful party member and he will inflict 80% of the damage and soak up most of the enemy attacks. You could make a party of 4 warriors and breeze through the game, if it wasn't for some parts where magic is mandatory, especially in the latter parts of the game. Later he can be turned into a KNIGHT and be able to use some magic too. His basic disadvantage is that his equipment are the most expensive in the game.
  
• 
  THIEF : "Agile Rogue with nimble fingers and precise attacks."
  The description is fubar since the only thing the rogue has for him is Agility. He can't steal from others and his attacks aren't more precise than the warrior. He will usually be the first one to attack though and he will help the party flee from battles. Frankly he is a shitty class, but he is redeemed by the fact that he can evolve into a NINJA who is a good killing machine.
  
• 
  MONK : "Warrior monk strong in both body and mind. Fights best unarmed."
  The MONK is a strong martial artist and he can do a lot of damage with his multiple unarmed attacks. Unfortunately his defense isn't that good and he is also vulnerable to magic. He can be turned into a MASTER, later.
  
• 
  RED MAGE : "Dabbles in both white and black magic. Also a decent fighter."
  He is a pretty good character as he can deal some good damage with weapons, wear heavy armor and use both black and white magic. His only disadvantage is that he can't excel in anything. He can be turned into a RED WIZARD later in the game.
  
• 
  WHITE MAGE : "Mystic Specializing in white magic to heal and protect others."
  He is the healer of the party but apart from healing/protection spells he can also use strong magic against undead. On the downside his defense sucks and as a magic user he needs to sleep in an inn to replenish his spells. Evolves into a WHITE WIZARD.
  
• 
  BLACK MAGE : "Deals great damage to foes with black magic. Physically weak."
  The only class that can deal good damage with magic. Since he has the same disadvantages as the white mage his spells are best reserved for difficult situation, so most of the time he'll just be dealing puny damage with his little knife. Evolves into a BLACK WIZARD.

Unfortunately for all the wannabe warriors out there, this party is pre-made. I was tempted to start with two warriors for an easier time, but I decided to have a thief in order to stay more in character. Our four Heroes will be :

Captain.

Raven.

Croaker.

One-Eye.

(too bad for the 6-letter limitation)

From the Annals of the Black Company. 223/4 :

We've been in this strange land for five days. Five days of battle with vicious monsters that roam the land, five days eating wild-berries and sleeping on dirt. Five days since we foolishly entered that damned portal and got stranded here.

One-eye of course was the first to enter, eager as he was to examine the magical properties of the mirror. He then came back to get the rest of us, reassuring us that "it's perfectly safe". Typically for our rotten luck these past few months, the portal closed behind us and now we're trapped on the other side, god knows where that is.

Today, we reached a town, the first sign of civilization since we came here. Maybe our luck is about to change.

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I told you we were in civilized lands !

You also told us it was perfectly safe to step in the portal.

We ought to have skinned him alive for this.

The portal was stable ! It must have been a trap.

You're always quick with excuses, eh One-Eye ?

Cut it out ! We're still members of the Black Company, the finest mercenaries ever to set foot on this land -any land- and you better act like it !

The captain is right. Let's see if we can get any information in this town.

Hmm, it's a scenic little town...

Captain, a guard just blocked the exit. It could be an ambush.

Be alert, but don't do anything hastily. Let's see what this is all about.

Look, we haven't seen-

Wait ! Can you be... ?

Huh ?

The king must see you !

What the...

CASTLE CORNELIA 2nd FLOOR :

Sir, I don't know what you're talking about.

But you carry four Crystals with you, don't you ?

Psst- captain, he must mean the crystal amulets we "acquired" from that band of warriors.

You mean these obviously fake trinkets ?

They seem agitated. Let's show them the amulets, it might make them happy.

But, Your Majesty, we have no proof that these four are the true Light warriors.

Surely it is not coincidence that four warriors bearing crystals have appeared now.

Now that you mention it, Your Majesty... no, it can't be a coincidence...

Garland, once a knight in his Majesty's service, has abducted Princess Sarah. We have learned that he is in the Temple of Chaos, north of Cornelia. We attempted to rescue the princess but his powers far surpassed ours.

:whisper: The whole army of this kingdom couldn't do anything and he thinks we four have a chance ?

:whisper: Just look at their glaring eyes, they're obviously mad.

Perhaps you wish to cross the northern straight. The bridge that once spanned it, was lost long ago. We could rebuild it for you.

It is just as Lukin foretold... Light Warriors, I need your Help.

At last, we leave the throne room...

I told you we shouldn't have killed those four adventurers !

It was Raven's fault. He snapped, as always.

Those four where way too friendly to begin with ! They were too eager to accept us in their company. And what of their hideous purple clothes, the way they always tried to touch us ? Treachery and faggotry was afoot !

Ok. We'll have to play along, we don't need any more trouble. We should consider this to be a new assignment, we're mercenaries after all.

I didn't hear anything about money, though.

They seem gullible enough, I'm sure we can extract some form of monetary reward.

And that bridge may not be a bad idea, we need to find a way to get back to our own land.

It's settled, we'll go and rescue the princess. Let's try to gather more information about this mess.

"Temple Of Chaos" is a fine name for a den of stinking evil. On the first floor we find the Queen's chambers...

The queen huh ? Maybe we can extract some kind of "reward" from her too...

Don't fool around Croaker !

He always had a thing for powerful women :grin:

People in the castle seem smitten by Garland's treachery.

What could have driven him to such hatred ?

Well, I'm only a couple of hours here and I already hate this place with passion.

Maybe he just wanted to have his way with the princess, eh ?

Or maybe it was the Princess that orchestrated the "abduction". Let's not always throw the blame on the easy target...


It seems that the princess has a little sister/brother, can't really tell.

But what's more interesting is that if we go around the castle walls, we'll reach an inner chamber...

Dammit ! I can't believe the fools gave the key of their armory to some far-away elven dandy prince !

Yeah, this would be a perfect reward for our services...

But we *are* the Light Warriors, why don't they give us any supplies/weapons/provisions for our quest ?!

I told you there's something wrong with these people. It's their eyes, man, they have glassy eyes...

Enough ! Croaker, get those romantic notions out of your head. We're NOT the Light Warriors. We probably MURDERED the real Light Warriors. But we agreed to find this princess and the Black Company always gets its man.

Or woman.

... ... ... Or woman.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-> Next : Preparations.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From the Annals of The Black Company. 223/5 :

This is a strange land with strange people. They somehow seem convinced that we are the "legendary" Warriors of Light. Alas, we probably killed those poor fools the prophecy was talking about, but as fate brought it we eventually assumed the role of the Legendary warriors, in order to avoid further complications.

We still don't know were we are, as this is the first time he hear of the Cornelia kingdom. I fear we're a long way from any familiar land. We've agreed to the King's request to save his kidnapped daughter, but it's no simple deed as the rogue Knight that did the abduction, seems very powerful. If we bring her back, they promised to repair the broken northern bridge, the only way out of this peninsula.

But before we run to the rescue, we need to prepare. New supplies and gear are in order.

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We should try to find more about this place. Let's ask that lady there.

Good lady, where exactly are we ?

Have you ever heard of the land of Khatovar, or the Empire of The Lady ?

This is Cornelia, the city where-

It's no use Croaker, these people are morons. Probably the result from a century of incest.


Disappointed, we come to a fountain at the center of the town.

What the... did the fountain just talk to me ?

Stay back Captain, I smell of Sorcery.

Bah, a simple trick, nothing to worry about.

Let's point our questions to that gal here, she seems more... lively.

Hi there, beautiful !

-Ahem- Fair Lady, I was wondering if you can help us orientate. Do you know if the Empire of the Lady is close to these parts ?

Sorry, never heard of it. Come back to talk to me though, I may have some juicy info for you from time to time.

We sure will ! :D


In the town we also find a well...

Uh-uh, something tells me that eventually it will be important.
But guess what, there's also a weapon shop here ! Time to buy some weapons.

We get a rapier for Captain and Raven, a Hammer for Croaker and a knife for One-Eye. Thankfully, we had some Gil in our pockets. Next, it's the Armor shop :

A chainmail for Captain, a Leather armor for Raven and two shirts for our magic users. The next two shops sell White and Black magic spells.

Each magic user can learn up to 3 spells from every level. With our current money we can only buy 1 spell for each one. We got Cure1 for Croaker and Sleep1 for One-Eye.

Did you notice how they call us the legendary warriors, they beg for us to save them, and at the same time they don't even give us a discount for the things we buy ?

Typical.

I say we slaughter everyone and take their money. Since the whole guard couldn't defeat that Garland guy, they're bound to be easier targets.

Hmm, I think you're onto something here...

Don't even think about it. We made a promise, and the Black Company always keeps its word ! Tempting as it may be, we wont kill them. Yet.


Since we wont kill them, we talk to them.

So, it's this bastard --Lukin-- that put us in this bloody mess with his phony prophecies !

He fled town, but if I ever get my hands on him...

Pfeh, any idiot can spit out a vague "prophecy" about "saviors". If I meet this charlatan I'll turn him into a frog.


In the western part of the town we come across a church-like building.

You can revive fallen party members and heal ailments. After offering the right donation, of course. There's also an Item shop, where we can buy potions and stuff...

And finally the inn, where we can save the game and replenish our health and spells.

Damn, we don't have enough money...

These clowns won't even offer us a place to get some rest. They make us pay for everything !

Ok, we'll have to go outside and kill some monsters. All animals seem to carry gold in these lands.

Animals that carry gold coins... what's next ? Cats that ride robot-moogles ?


But before that, let's quicksave the game. Yeah, origins offers some kind of quick save function which you can use anytime. You'll have to do an actual save in the inn before exiting the game though, because the memo file is available only during the playthrough.

So, do you know what time it is now ? YEP... IT'S GRINDAN TIME !

This game basically forces you to grind until you have enough money to buy all the stuff from the area.

We fight Goblins (very easy targets)

He head on north, near the destroyed bridge...

There we bump on some Goblin Guards (somewhat harder than the Goblins)

And we even fight some crazy robot unicorns !

LEVEL UP !

Let's have a look at our party :

The grindan continues. We try to put some Goblins to sleep...

And we face another unicorn. This time we kill it with fire.

We've reached level 3 by now and we finally have enough money to buy the spells we want. As you can see there are 4 spells in each level, but we can only learn 3. C&C baby !

We get DIA (damage against undead) and SHIELD for Croaker, while One-Eye learned FIRE1 and FOCUS1.

I think it's time we returned to the inn. Hey, what are those old dudes doing in the next room ?

Crap, they're members of the Tutorial guild !

Eww, stay away !

Well, at least they're not making us kill rats in the basement.

Let's try to get some shut-eye, we need it badly.

Here's your 30 Gil ma'am.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-> Next : The Temple Of Chaos
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ghostdog said:

I knew I should have started a Baldur's Gate LP.

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ghostdog said:

I knew I should have started a Baldur's Gate LP.

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This game basically forces you to grind until you have enough money to buy all the stuff from the area.

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Edward_R_Murrow said:

This should be entertaining, although you've got some serious fortitude to tackle this grindfest...you're going to use the puzzle minigame to cut out some grinding, right?

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ghostdog said:

Edward_R_Murrow said:

This should be entertaining, although you've got some serious fortitude to tackle this grindfest...you're going to use the puzzle minigame to cut out some grinding, right?

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DO tell dear chap, I've never gone that far into the game.

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ghostdog said:

DO tell dear chap, I've never gone that far into the game.

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