Baldur's Gate is great
I recently started a new game of Baldur's Gate, this time the Enhanced Edition, on Linux and it works great. I forgot how addictive it can be. There was only problem, it relies on the 1.1.0 version of OpenSSL, so you have to install some older libs. That is a price I am willing to pay however.
It boots up instantly. You execute the start command and you see the cutscene. It is so cool. Then you hear that sweet epic music of the main menu. I would leave that on for a long time back in the day and have it as my background music whilst working on homework.
So the first few times I played the game, I think I made a Fighter or something and tried to run through the game with the characters offered to you. So I had a party with Imoen, Khalid and Jaheira. Then I usually petered out right after Nashkel since I kept hitting a wall or just did not have the energy to continue. So then I found out that you can create a full party to start the game with. That was insane.
I made so many parties, with for example all casters. Or all fighters with all kinds of weapons. The best run I had was I think with three ranged fighters and three melee using two handed weapons I want to say. It slayed so many an enemy easily.
Solo runs
Then I thought, can I do solo runs? I made a Thief and it was difficult to get experience points to level. Although having figured out you get most experience from quests rather than enemies it got easier. I still struggled to complete the bandit hideout and further.
I remember running a Ranger, a Fighter (Barbarian) and a pure Thief.
Cheating
I read up on GameFAQs how to get a console and input some cheats. Then after that I just bamfed in all the items and it was not fun anymore.
First new run
My first new run I did in a while was with a Illusionist/Thief Gnome. I did a lot on my own and leveling up a lot. All the way to Nashkel. Then just before Nashkel I got Neera and during Nashkel you get Xan. They worked great. That was three spellcasters though. I was severely lacking some punching power and tanking. I did love the Neera/Xan combo though. They could cast a pretty nice array of spells.
So I got an idea for a next run.
Duo runs
My current run that is going pretty great consists of an Assassin (a Thief subclass) and a Wizard Slayer (a Fighter subclass). These two classes are made from so called kits, they are specialised versions of whatever main class you choose. Now I have a nice tank/nuclear weapon in the Wizard Slayer. However the Assassin with a lot of points into Move Silently/Hide in Shadows can sneak up on so many people and gets a 3x modifier to damage now, which will translate into a maximum x7 in Baldur's Gate II. The only mistake I made was not giving my Assassin a proficiency in either Scimitar, Katana, Wakazashi or Ninja-to. If you take the classical dagger, which I did followed by Short Swords, then the damage is 1-4 + whatever Strength you have. So let us say +2, that is a 3-6 damage. Average is 4.5 and that times 3 is average of 13.5 per sneak attack. That is not a good scale since most enemies at that point have maybe around 40-50 hit points.
I switched to a short sword +1 so with strength it becomes : 4-9 if I am not mistaken. So average of 6.5 for 19.5 average per sneak attack. That is roughly half of the hitpoints which is quite a nice chunk. Extra with Assassin you get poison blade and if you hit them with the first attack then they need to save and if they fail, they take 1 damage per round. So spellcasters can get interrupted nice and easy. Then the Wizard Slayer takes the other arcane caster for example and then they are taken out easily. I battled an Ogre Mage that was super powerful. With the Wizard Slayer it was a breeze, they take cumulative 25% spellcasting failure per hit. My fighter has a -6 THAC0 or something so it hits a lot of the times, so the Ogre Mage (in the Firewine bridge map) could not cast anything. It was glorious.
Xan and Neera just pile on damage spells with focus fire on enemy, or have AoE spells to take out more enemies at once. Like Sleep, Color Spray, Web or Horror.
I will release Xan for Quayle when I meet him. That will be my party. I like Xan, but he is a bit whiny and just a dour person in general. I like upbeat ones.
Now Neera is fun, she is a Wild Mage. That means her spellcasting level gets adjusted for each spell, either negatively or positively. Then there is a Wild Surge chance and weird stuff happens. It is great. I love that.
The story behind these characters is that the Assassin is kind of like Dexter, they only take out Evil aligned characters and bad guys. The Wizard Slayer does not like the Arcane arts since in their youth they encountered so much bullying by Wizards and Sorcerers since they lack the aptitude. The reason Xan and Neera are allowed in the party is because they want to study the Wild Mage. They did not even know that existed and they must learn the enemy to defeat them better. The reason Xan is allowed is to exert some power basically. Keep them in check.
Another duo run idea
I made two more characters for a run I want to stream one day. It is a Dwarven Barbarian and a Half-Orc Shaman. I am wondering if I can make a similar run with them. Not sure yet which people I want to add. Maybe Garrick for a Bard and then someone else to round it off. I want to have a weird run that somehow still makes sense in terms of story. Their story is that the Dwarven Barbarian got left behind during a raid and survived on their own with a little help from the Shaman that was learning to be a Shaman in the wild. Then the Flaming Fist captured the Barbarian since they were still a kid and the Shaman came to the rescue but also failed to evade capture. Then Candlekeep was the attempt to civilize them, but that never took hold. So on the road they are happy and they will camp outside a lot. Contrary to my current run, every night is Royal rooms only. Then I wanted to have a run against civilization, so the Nashkel makes sense some what. Poisoning the natural resources is a crime.
So Garrick can fit in there since they want to make stories and ballads and experience the open road. Then I am unsure of who to add further.