Baulders Gate II: Dark Alliance
Game Cover
Starting a new game
At the title screen, select "new game." when you do this it will ask for how many players. If you pick 1 it is only one person if you pick 2 it is 2 people. The advantages of one person is not a second person to buy stuff for :P disadvantage is , if u die,u gotta go all the way back to your last save :O and vise versa for 2 people. Other than that there is almost no difference at all. Now you must choose your character. there are 5 of them to choose from. A barbarian, a rogue, a cleric, a monk, and a necromancer. here are some advantages and disadvantages for each character:
Dorn
Dorn the barbarian
Advantages for the barbarian:he can use all the weapons in the game, he has a skill that lets him dual wield great weapons: hero's arm, he starts with 1 point in armor proficiency(lets him wear padded leather and studded leather armor), he can dish out tons and tons of damage really fast at the end of the game, and hes perfect for a beginner who is new to the game! Now with advantages there has to be some disadvantages right? well i could only find three! ( so far) well hes melee based so he has to use lots of potions when hes up dishing out his damage, hes not so good with ranged weapons (but again hes melee based!), and lastly while he does dish out the damage he takes a lot too! ( that's why he uses all the potions) I recommend this guy if u like to get it done fast, just started, or just like to be in the action.
Borador
Borador the rogue
Now I must do the same thing for the rogue. I don't use the rogue so I'm don't really know much about him Some advantages are: he is awesome at ranged, great at the beginning, he can use all the weapons in the game, has smoke powder satchel skill, he also has a man in the purple wyrm inn that you can pay for experience, and he can ransack. Some disadvantages are: range completely sucks at the end and hes really not good for 1 player! I do not recommend this player unless u like to be left out and just stand and shoot. its boring and i do not recommend him! ( i have played with him and i used cheat codes to go to the later part in the game, and it is quite fun to be him the recomendation as now been made as long as you are up for a challenge or in 2player mode with dorn or something. but most of his skills are made for ranging... and of course ranging isnt as strong as melee.) (they are made for the crossbow and crossbow is the strongest ranged weapon)
Allesia
Allessia the cleric
Now the cleric....I also don't play as this character ever so i know this from my bro. Some advantages are: she starts with lvl3 armor proficiency(full), she can wield any weapon, has a couple magical spells, she has a spell called clarity reducing the magic power to use a spell, and best of all, she has heal! Some disadvantages are: she has no melee skills and her magic spells aren't as strong as the necromancer's. I would recommend this character (of what i know) to someone who is playing 2 player.
Vhaidra
Vhaidra the monk
Now the monk....I am currently about to beat the game with this character and I loved this character! Some advantages are: she uses gloves as a weapon so she doesn't need to waste cash on actual weapons, she has a chance to stun when attacking her normal unarmed combat, she has a skill called stunning blow which stuns the enemy and it is impossible to block, she has a sister in the purple wyrm inn who you can pay for experience. Some disadvantages are: she is made for melee and uses lots of potions and at the end she doesn't dish out that much damage ( as much as barbarian) making it more challenging to kill the final boss. I recommend this to players ho love a challenge, not to beginning people.I we through as a solo and i had tons of cash throughout the game unlike the other characters where i had no cash because of weapons.
Yusuran
Yusuran the necromancer
Now the Necromancer.... Some advantages of the Necromancer are he has some very good ranged magic, he can kill enemies at a distance, he has clarity which reduces the magical power cost to use his spells, he can summon an undead ally and that can attack and keep his enemies away from him, he has entervetion which damages all enemies within range, he has vampiric touch which deals damage to the enemy upon striking them and that also heals you with that amount of damage, he also has life suck which is a combination of entervetion and vampiric touch, and he has a spell called alchemical lore it can change the type of potions that are either healing to magic or magic to healing.(VERY USEFUL) Now his disadvantages... he only has three of what i could find.... He is mage based so he has lower hp, hes one of those classes that needs mp pots and he cant sell all of them, and of course he cant carry that much loot! As u can see the advantages are more than the disadvantages, as for all, but i strongly recommend this for a first time play with 2 players. maybe a second time play for 1 player.
Hidden Character(Drizzit)
Drizzit the drow ranger
To get Drizzit, you must complete the game on any difficulty with any character. Once you unlock him and want to play with him, you must select him. He will not appear on the character selection screen, so to select him, you must over the character selection to Allessia, and then move it off the screen to the right. There you can become Drizzit for the first move right and Artemis on the second. He can noly weild the stuffs he has with him already but those are all powerful anyway.
Hidden Character (Artemis)
Artemis the human assassin
To unlock Artemis you must finish the game on extreme difficulty with any character. Once you unlock him to select him all you have to do select him in the character selection screen. He will not appear , but do not worry, all you have to do is move the cursor over Allessia and go right twice. Like Drizzit, he cannot use anything but his stuff he already has, but those are epically powerful.
Introduction
You start your journey in a place called the trade way were you just learn your stuff. Depending on who you are changes what you start with, they all start with cloth boots and cloth bracers or whatever. They all start with something normal for their class and can easily melee the starting enemies in 1 hit. Dorn shoddy hand axe and a shoddy short sword (dual wielded), Yusuran shoddy dagger, Vhaidra no weapons, Allessia shoddy mace, (i think) and Borador shoddy crossbow. Just walk around get the feel of the controls and your skills (whatever class you are) and go north! You should walk across a wounded caravan guard. talk to her and she will tell you about the caravan attack and the red fang marauders who took some hostages. walk through the trade way, kill all the enemies while you go through and u should come across the Trollbark Woods. The Troll Bark Woods are very annoying! they are gamers worst enemy,dark! It is a lot harder to navigate through here than through the trade way because it is dark. you should be able to find your way until a four-way intersection, up is a chest, right is some enemies, and left the way to finish the part your on. I personally go right, up, left t get the experience and to get some treasure. Eventually you will find your way through the woods and find an entrance to the red fang cave or camp or whatever. In there is a spot where i always save and then go up to find an ambush! run back or try to man ( or woman) it out. i usually run back and kill off the melee goblins that follow. then i run in and i attack away at the ranged ones, or if you have a ranged weapon i stay back and shoot till they die.run on another save spot, save there and go right, (up and down are locked doors) go until you find some green water (all water is this color) and you'll see some cool mushrooms. whatever you do don't touch them! they are poisonous as heck, and right now you probably don't have many healing potions yet and there are some enemies in the back of the room. Kill the enemies i think there is a chest in the center in the middle of the mushrooms (take the risk)! Go around and its pretty travel till u can find some keys(two sets). Unlock the nearby locked cells and release the hostages. When you do go back to before the mushrooms and go left for a chance to fight a goblin shaman and get lots of loot. Then go north and continue traveling until you come across some locked cells, open them and release the hostages. You should have just released all of them and it will ask were is the caravan master? you will find her and a lot of chests after u kill some boss. To kill him i kill the shaman then him (shaman heals) loot the chests talk to her and her name is Randalla Brasshorn!*important person!!!!!!* She offers to take you to Baulders gate, say yes, and you will be taken to Wayfork Villiage. You were traveling and you came across some more red fang marauders trying to hurt the townspeople. Go through this level killing enemies around any people(optional), you will get a reward(exp and gold) after saving the last one, and then go into the tavern. There is a guy a real boss, and just kill him. He drops tons of items, pick them up, and talk to tavern lady. She will give u a reward for saving the tavern and then talk to Randalla. Randalla will take you to Baulders Gate. Once you are at Baulder's Gate, go to the market man(cant miss him)and sell stuff you dont need, ESPECIALLY the cloth armor. They might make you look cooler, but all they do is take up space. I usually save there and get off after every dungeon or so.
The Reward (Blurry)
The Inn
Sewers and Choosing Dungeon 1 or 2
Now that you have sold all your goods buy scale male if you can and then use the rest of your cash on either a weapon or heal potions. I would buy potions. Anyway now go down until you find a man in a cool red armor suit (the captain of the city guard) and talk to him (optional). He should talk about three adventurers going around and setting loose monsters in the sewer or something like that. Take the quest and go to the sewers (not too hard to find) to kill tons of monsters. I wont go into detail about this quest except that it doesn't get much items but u get TONS of experience. you kill like 110 monsters and BREAK EVERY SINGLE BARREL OR BOX IN THE SEWERS!!! In the sewers level is were you discover the third type of potion! the recall potion! The recall potion is very useful later in the game, because it teleports you to Baulders gate and if you need to go back you just use another! So anyway travel through there and go in every nook and cranny or else you wont get all the monsters! then after you do that talk to the dude again, get your reward and then go to the purple wyrm inn. before you go inside save at the save pedestal next to the door. Then go in and talk to randalla. She will give you a choice of either murders or kidnappings. Either way u do both of them just in different order. If you choose murder you will go on a very long one with lots of secret passages and loot. If you choose kidnapping then you go on a shorter one with less loot, it is easiest to go through kidnappings then murder because you can gain a level or two with kidnapping then your stronger for against murder. Again doesn't matter which one you choose. First i go with kidnappings.
Warehouse (Dungeon 1)
The Warehouse
Go south from the purple wyrm and then turn left walk until you come across the warehouse and go in. Some dudes will attack, kill them and save at that nicely placed save! If you walk down you will see a locked door, this door will be open for you after you finish Bloodmire Manor. Go the only way possible, right, and just run that way. Just navigate around killing enemies until you come across a split in the path. Go up and kill the enemies. From all that you should have gotten a crowbar. Now go back down to the fork in the road and go the other way. You should come across some locked doors,open them with your crowbar, and go inside and get whats inside! Now go back to the place you got your crowbar and continue going. Another fork is up ahead and you should go left to get some treasure! (we are like pirates!) then go back and go right. You should encounter some ninja assassin guys with their puppies out, KILL THEM ALL! Save at the save pedestal, (conveniently placed) and You should have found a key in one of the ninja assassins belts, open the door that should be nearby and then go inside. Behind some crates should be a stairwell or ladder, go down it and you will appear in the Hands of Glory Guild Hall.
Hands of Glory Guild Hall
Right when you open the door it shows a cut scene with a cooler type of assassin saying that he'll kill you!(he talked in sign language...) Now go kill them to prove them wrong! Then proceed to the next room. Beware there is a fireball pillar trap and later in the game (not that much later) there is three fireballs being shot from each pillar. and they can be hidden on jut walls too! Anyway as i was saying, beware!Kill all the stuff and then continue. Now go on and keep walking till an intersection. go up but again be careful because there is about six assassins throwing knives or something! Kill them all, i think there's a weapon rack, take whatever weapon, and continue. This is a big room filled with assassins and guard dogs. when you walk up an assassin yells "RELEASE THE DOGS!" and guard dogs attack you. KILL EVERYTHING! BE A MONSTER! Loot the place after u killed everything (NOT DURING!!!) and head back to the intersection and head left. There will be a couple of assassins, kill them and one should drop a key ring. These keys open the doors of two hostages in nearby rooms. Save the hostages and then go back to the intersection and head down. There should be a save spot, save at it and then go on to the wooden bridge to fight some bats.Sometimes they are hard to see, if they are for you and you have a necromancer, use entervetion or life suck.(whatever it is... you get the point) More assassins to deal with... take them out with your superior attacking capabilities! One of them has a key, get it, and this key is an important key. This key rescues the hostages. After you rescue the hostages you will get an experience and cash reward and one will tell you that there is one more hostage hidden in Argesh's lair. It should be very close, 2 chests are next to te door. Loot the chests and probably save and then open that door! *tips for that boss* Well a tip that i always do is i lure off his minions before Argesh sees me , i kill them and then i kill Argesh. Depending on who you are i can tell you how to kill him. Borador: I DON'T KNOW Allessia:brute force maybe or just her holy flame fire stuff and other spells Dorn:BRUTE FORCE! Vhaidra: stun him then start owning him when hes not stunned stun him again, also stun him if hes blocking, Yusuran: KILL HIM WITH FIRE!(or any other of his strong magic) Now go back to Balders gate, get reward for that quest, start next quest, and save! Now go to the trader, sell off stuff you don't need and buy new weapons or armor, and of course you gotta refill on potions! Save again, and go on your quest!
Exp Quests
Here's a lot of the places in Balder's gate that should be of use to you now: Purple Wyrm Inn & Tavern (most quests at the beginning can be found here), Church of Helm (useful only if playing with Allessia), and Omduil's Manor, (useful only if playing with Ysuran and later). Okay i need to mention this: For any character except Dorn you can pay money to get experience. If you are on multiplayer then you both get the experience. Vhaidra's is next to her sister in the Purple Wyrm Inn, Borador's is his clan-mate in Purple Wyrm Inn, Allessia's is in the church of helm, and Yusuran's is Omduil, in Omduil's manor.They all pay the same price to get the same amount of exp, Heres a chart:2,000 gold = 2,000 xp 4,000 gold = 4,000 xp 6,000 gold = 6,000 xp 8,000 gold = 8,000 xp 16,000 gold = 16,000 xp (later)
Bloodmire Manor (Dungeon 2)
Now we go north this time to the top of the map, stay on the road and just go north till you hit an invisible force field. press square and it brings you to Bloodmire Manor.( Luvia Bloodmire's home) Now isn't this a pretty house? Well guess what. We fight mutants here! Yes we fight mutated animals / monsters. If you are Allessia then that will be good when we come across the zombies. Well first there's a mutated animal thing that looks like a dog without skin. There are two types of these. there are ones that are normal and just bite you, and there are these other ones with spikes on their tails. The ones with spikes on their tails throw those spikes at you and they just happen to be poisonous. Later there are zombies, so if you have Allessia time to finally use that undead spell thing! i hope you invested some points in that! Before you go on, make sure your minimap is in the big form, cause there is secret passage ways were you have to go to finish the level! Anyway right when you enter, there should be a piano thingy. Go up to it and try to play a song! Guess what, YOU SUCK AT THIS! Now you're all mad cause you cant play a song so you should walk off in this house to find some music sheets.... Well you walk upstairs and theres a skinless puppy! (called a flesh hound) Awww isnt it cute? NO its evil. Kill it. Also theres a zombie. Beware, these guys can fake a death and get up and attack you. Kill it. Then kill it again! ( if you need to) Open every single door in this hallway, go in, kill whatever is inside,(unless its a normal person) and then loot! Well the "normal people" are actually servants that, if you rescue, will get a reward for after you rescue all 5. (usually exp and/or money for quests) Now this dungeon right now is a game of hide and seek. You are trying to find horiscope music sheets, while you save servants. Run along down the halls, dont skip anything! When you come across a locked door, skip that. keep walking and searching. Eventually you will find the key to the library in a chest, take it, go back, loot the library, and keep searching! Keep on doing that, until you come across stairs to level 2! Before you go up stairs, make sure that you looked in every single centimeter of the 1st floor. (also basement is just a little room you find a chest andsome monsters go in when you find it if you want) the second floor is just about the same thing, search around, loot, kill, and so on. Now that you've done the second floor, the first floor, and the basement, you should have rescued all the servants, and gotten all the music sheets. Now go back to the beginning, if you find this a good spot to sell go bck to baldurs gate, sell/buy, and go back to the manor. Now that you have all the music sheets, lets play a song! After you play that melody, (i find it annoying), there should have been a grinding noice. Its the enterance to Luvia Bloodmire's Laboratory.
This is a picture of Vhaidra surrounded by zombies and hell hounds!
Luvia's Laboratory 1
In this section im just telling you the directions. It is to be expected of you to fight, but not recquired. I would fight if i were you, but i am not your master fight if you want, but i recommend it.First go right, at this intersection go up, and next go right and get the chest.(this chest triggers a trap that releases alot of luvia's "creations" to attack you, but not that many...) Then down and right. Read the letter sitting on the desk wich tells you about that last boss, Argesh. After you get the weapon rack, go up. In this room, the first cell has a chest in it, go in and get some treasure! The second cell when you try to open it there is a person inside who says to go away cause its not "safe". Now go up and there is a trap that realeases a hellhouind behind you. Dont worry its just one. Keep going up untill you find a door. The door is locked and i never found use of it later, so just go right. Save at the save point (its only one until after the boss) and go down. In this room you could go down middle, down right, or down left. Go down middle and pull the lever, then go back u to the place where you can go left or right and go either because they both lead to same place. once you go in those doors you trigger a boss fight. This one shouldnt be too hard. After you kill the boss go to the hall down and get a treasure chest before going to the Lower lab.
This is a picture of Borador and Vhaidra in Luvia's lab.
Luvia's Laboratory 2
Follow the path (im giving no specific intsructions because it os only one path...) untill you reach a door. This door is very important. Make sure you are stocked on health and magic potoins because this is the boss door. When you're ready, go and open the door. It will show a cutsene, and then you have to fight two beasts with freakishly large arms. Unlike other boss battles, this one doesnt show their health. I assume they dont show the health because there is two. Anyway, fight them and then there is another cutsene. Luvia has now put poison into the air and now you have to escape. Run back to upper lab, and from there go to bloodmire manor. From there take the enterance and go to balders gate.
Balder's Gate
Now we are in Balder's gate (again)! Go talk to Randalla, finish the quest, talk to her again, buy the map (400 gold), and go talk to your person for the exp quest. Do however many you want/ can, and then go to marketman! sell / buy equipment, and then go talk to the captain of the city guard, get his quest, and then go to the southern part of Balder's gate, and go to either the wood of sharp teeth(recommended) or go to cloak wood. ( red fang camp)
Wood of Sharp Teeth
Yay! The Wood of Sharp Teeth! I have no idea why it's named that but it is.... Anyway, I wont be specific in this because all it really is is you running around killing stuff for xp and getting loot. You do this all the way through Wood of Sharp Teeth 3, but it is not all right now. You do 1 or 2 (whatever it starts on) and then go back to Balder's gate. Buy (Ill tell you later but buy non metal weapons and leather armor)(bows are nonmetal and so are staves), sell, buy exp from your quest ( if you want to) (which i recomend!) and save.(DO THIS VERY FREQUENTLY!!!!) (I do it whenever i come across a save)
Cloak Wood
Cloak Wood is a very nice level, it has nice lighting, and pretty fun monsters. The only annoying part is that there are these wolf rider goblins, that ride the wolves. but you kill their wolves then the rider. I like how realistic that is, but it is slightly annoying at the beginning, but you get used to it. And just because i know someone will try to ask, or be cautious of, you cannot fall off these cliffs, believe me. I'VE TRYED.... REALLY HARD! Now anyway, now that we aren't afraid of the cliffs, and know facts about the monsters, let's get killing! Travel along the cliffs destroying every monster in sight. You should come across a cave, enter it.
Now that you are in this cave, travel around killing the bad guys! You should come across a dead rust monster. It tells you about how this monster eats all of your metal stuffs. (this does NOT include bows or cross bows or leather armor.*not sure about throwing knives or axes.*) (this DOES include magical weapons, swords, battle axes, daggers, scale male, chain male, plate male,etc) It also says that the red fang dudes may be holding up some other ones, which they ARE. This is your Que to put on some wooden weapons and some leather armor.(if you do not have the money for the armor, then just unequip the metal armor.) The best characters at this part are : anyone EXCEPT Dorn, or the unlockable characters.( Artemis and Drizzit)
Now kill that annoying thing! Don't put on your metal stuff though, there is two rust monsters in this cave. This will be a pain that you have to use suck-ish weapons and armor, but you will thank me because the metal stuff costs a lot more than the leather and wooden. Go straight through this cave, destroying and looting everything.When you leave you should come to the upper cliffs.
The Upper Cliffs. Samr as the Lower Cliffs. Go through, killing, looting, etc. Still cant fall off the cliffs. Follow where the marauders come from, or use your minimap, and you should come across another cave, I think. Go into it and you should find the Red Fang Secret Base
Now that you are in this cave, travel around killing the bad guys! You should come across a dead rust monster. It tells you about how this monster eats all of your metal stuffs. (this does NOT include bows or cross bows or leather armor.*not sure about throwing knives or axes.*) (this DOES include magical weapons, swords, battle axes, daggers, scale male, chain male, plate male,etc) It also says that the red fang dudes may be holding up some other ones, which they ARE. This is your Que to put on some wooden weapons and some leather armor.(if you do not have the money for the armor, then just unequip the metal armor.) The best characters at this part are : anyone EXCEPT Dorn, or the unlockable characters.( Artemis and Drizzit)
Now kill that annoying thing! Don't put on your metal stuff though, there is two rust monsters in this cave. This will be a pain that you have to use suck-ish weapons and armor, but you will thank me because the metal stuff costs a lot more than the leather and wooden. Go straight through this cave, destroying and looting everything.When you leave you should come to the upper cliffs.
The Upper Cliffs. Samr as the Lower Cliffs. Go through, killing, looting, etc. Still cant fall off the cliffs. Follow where the marauders come from, or use your minimap, and you should come across another cave, I think. Go into it and you should find the Red Fang Secret Base
Red Fang Secret Base
Before I say anything, I have to say that this is the most ANNOYING level in the whole game. First of all its really dark. If I were you i would turn up the brightness to 100 for this level. Second, it has pits of death. You will be walking and you will stumble across a giant hole, if you go in it, you are dead. If you have Yusuran, use one of his low energy spells that emits light to see if its a hole or not. Go through there swiftly, but also carefully. There are some tracks, follow the and stay on them till they end. They are your only bridge at times. After a while of frustrating adventure, you should come across the Red queens lair, where you find the red queen. a knight with a sword and red armor. A shaman should say something about you and then the fight begins. If you are in 2 player mode, have one player of the group go up and start attacking the red queen (if you have Dorn, use Dorn for this). The other person needs to run around and kill the minions(any of the other people...), especially the shaman because it heels the red queen. The one attacking the red queen must watch his or her health at all times! Use potions frequently when you get low on health. After the person killing the minions is done with them, s/he should help kill the red queen. If it starts to go in slow motion, start pressing triangle ( jump) because the red queen is about to use a very powerful jump attack. After you kill her, loot the items she drops and then the treasure chests. 1 player is exactly the same to kill her as 2 player, but you have to do it by yourself. Remember, the minions then her. She will escape to a secret passage behind her throne, go there after you have your loot, and just keep walking. You should come across a save, save there, and continue.
In this secret passage, you will be attacked by rats, bats, and traps. This part is so easy if you have Borador. If you don't, just run strait through this place and heal when necessary. You should be able to get through here with no trouble, and reach the entrance to Firewind Cellar.
In this secret passage, you will be attacked by rats, bats, and traps. This part is so easy if you have Borador. If you don't, just run strait through this place and heal when necessary. You should be able to get through here with no trouble, and reach the entrance to Firewind Cellar.
Firewind Manor
Now we get a pretty cool cut scene, and then we have to fight some more.
Explore the dark passages of the cellar. You'll encounter some more dogs and some marauders too. In the first main room, don't miss the false wall behind the barrels leading to a secret room with some crates and a chest. Go up of the first main room and don't miss the room where there are some crates stacked high in front of two weapon racks. Just push the nearby crate near the other crates and jump over them. From there, go left to find another room. Jump on the crates and find the loose stone that's behind some barrels. Push to reveal another secret room with two weapon racks and two chests. From there, go down and then left again. You'll see some arrows start flying at you. Block if you want to avoid them or you can dodge them easily by hugging (I love you walls :D) the walls. There's a chest in the upper-left corner of the room. Get that, and go down.
Explore the dark passages of the cellar. You'll encounter some more dogs and some marauders too. In the first main room, don't miss the false wall behind the barrels leading to a secret room with some crates and a chest. Go up of the first main room and don't miss the room where there are some crates stacked high in front of two weapon racks. Just push the nearby crate near the other crates and jump over them. From there, go left to find another room. Jump on the crates and find the loose stone that's behind some barrels. Push to reveal another secret room with two weapon racks and two chests. From there, go down and then left again. You'll see some arrows start flying at you. Block if you want to avoid them or you can dodge them easily by hugging (I love you walls :D) the walls. There's a chest in the upper-left corner of the room. Get that, and go down.
