This may well be the dorkiest post ever. Dorkier than Lileks on Star Trek, more nerdly than Brian on Adult Swim. If you don't like Dungeons & Dragons and video games, just go away now. This is one of those "it's my site so if you don't like it, go click yourself" days...

The other evening, I had the pleasure of completing Baldur's Gate, the Game of the Year circa 1998 or so. I've long wanted to finish it, and I know most of the story backwards and forwards - when I had a PC, I played to about 95% complete before selling my machine (replaced with this Mac). I've played through as a Bard and various multi-classed characters, but never completed the final quest.

But that's all done now. My newest and favorite character is a pure Elven Ranger, great with a bow and handy with a sword as well. Adamantine armor (no need to sneak), Drizzt's Scimitar (pick-pocketed), and a host of other goodies to make life easier. I collected all the stat-increasing tomes, so she's got a nice 19 strength and 20 dexterity, making her, well, wicked.

And who is She? Artemis, of course! Yes, I named my character after my forthcoming daughter, and took inspiration from the Greek goddess of the same name. She is good, yet short of temper and quick to draw her bow. Very "shoot first and ask questions later". She crushes.

Of course, she couldn't do it alone. Imoen was there from the start, as well and Jaheira and Khalid for a short time - until Branwen took over clerical duties. Coran was a keeper, as well as Dynaheir. Kivan accompanied her on the outdoors missions, but once the final trip to Baldur's Gate was upon the group, he was replaced by Ajantis, the righteous paladin (are there any other kinds?). When it was Coran, Kivan, and Artemis on patrol, the enemy had no chance under the hair of arrows (Artemis, THAC0 of 3!!).

I've read a lot of Baldur's Gate walkthroughs, and I've never seen anyone hold on to Yeslick. He comes up at a funny time, in the Cloakwood Mines, and probably doesn't fit in too well to most parties at that point. I knew he was there, though, so I left room. He turned out to be an excellent companion - a Fighter/Cleric with plenty of spells and a reliable hammer.

One big mistake I made was waiting until Imoen was level 7 before dual-classing her - she never got to level 8 Mage, so she never got to use her thieving skills again. Oh well! She got the Intelligence tome, so she was quite a good mage with 18 INT. Though Coran is a crappy trap finder, with enough potions and Knock spells, he did the job. No Durlag's Tower though.

One fun portion of the game was after they broke out of Candlekeep. I dropped off everyone in Ulgoth's Beard, and went to BG with just Coran and Artemis. They both had great stealth, so they would walk through town invisible, avoiding all the guards. It turned out there was quite a lot to do, but they were up to the task (with the help of some exploding arrows). A little gnome illusionist helped a little bit (with Kristin and her murderous pal), but for the most part it was Artemis and Coran pairing up, giving a much different feel of adventure than is usual with a larger party.

My final party looked like this: Artemis (Ranger), Ajantis (Paladin), Yeslick (Fighter/Cleric), Imoen (Mage), Dynaheir (Mage), and Coran (Fighter/Thief). It turned out to be a pretty good power party, considering I played single player (no pause on inventory - ouch!).

So what did I do after completing the game? Started Baldur's Gate II, of course! After that, I'll only be 3 years behind the times! I considered pairing Artemis with her twin Apollo for the BGII, but the multi-player doesn't work for me - so again she's going through "solo". BG2 has Kits, so Artemis is now more deeply defined - she's an Archer. Can anyone say "Called shot with explosive arrows/arrows of piercing, THAC0 3" three times fast? This should be a quick game...no more than 80 hours or so.