I had heard this game was great, so I bought it on GOG. Like most old games, it has a hell of a difficulty curve and no tutorial to speak of. I'm getting wasted in the into dungeon without knowing what the hell im doing. I don't want to spoil anything with a walkthrough, but I'm sure somebody here has played it and could help me start.

You could always play Baldurs Gate 1 first.

BG2 is awesome though, tied with Planescape: Torment for my favourite game.

BG2 is very good, yes. And IMO no need to try BG1 first... I do remember it being very difficult at times, but I did manage to get out of the dungeon and did a number of quests in the city...

I never finished it, though (much unlike Planescape Torment, which I simply couldn't stop playing). But yes, good game, good game.

Where exactly do you keep getting killed, Tibby?

Turn on autopause at the end of each round and don't be afraid to rest every chance you get.

I've found for most D&D 2nd games, it also helps to play a fighter if you're just starting out.

No need to play BG1 first, but it is still a very good game and has a lot of story.

I haven't actually played BG1, I just heard that it was much less story and much more action compared to BG2...

Hang on, I'm sure there's a tutorial included in BG2. Or am I completely misremembering? I just remember it being a completely separate option to the main game and used a bunch of the characters to explain stuff. I hope I'm not just losing my marbles.

Anyway, how much do you understand of the rule set, Tibby? Some of those are going to be the trickiest obstacle if it's your first encounter with 2nd edition rules. The easiest way to start out is to take it slow, save often, and use the pause function during combat. Make sure you're keeping the likes of Minsc at the front and Imoen at the rear. Jaheira can run interference between the two in case any enemies get past Minsc. Where you should be depends on your class, but don't just control the PC; your party members aren't really bright enough to leave them to their own devices more often than not. You will need to aim for them and pick the right spells, etc.

Also: don't attack golems with bladed weapons.

This should be enough to get you through the first area.

This game rules.

The rule for attacking golems depends on their type. Better advice : Don't attack golems.

When you first start out, concentrate on your fighter character. Later on, ditch them for magic users. In 2nd edition DnD, fighters level linearly and are much better at lower levels, but magic users are quadratic.

>implying rogues aren't superior in every way

They aren't. Baldur's Gate II gives rogue characters very few chances to do anything useful at all, and when those situations come up you have Imoen (A rogue mage) or Yoshimoto (A rogue fighter who is invaluable in the early game). There are two rogue skills that are useful all the time, detect traps and lock picking. But magic users can make up for both of them. Jaheria can detect traps right from the start and Knock is a low-level spell. So basically the only reason to pick up a rogue character is to play through Yoshimoto's missions.

It's a good idea to do this before rescuing Imoen.

There's also this gnome in the city... Jan Jansen (which, by the way is the Dutchest name in existence - it's like John Johnson, only in Dutch haha). Anyway, he's an illusionist/thief, so that's a more useful Rogue.

For player characters I typically use a Fighter/Mage or a Thief/Mage.

Fighter/Mages FTW. Seriously. You'll have a mage that isn't vulnerable in melee. They'll kick ass on lower levels AND higher levels.

I keep planning to play this, but haven't gotten around to it yet...

Edit: what is GOG?

Good ol' games buddy

http://www.gog.com