These save games for Baldur's Gate are for the UK version (5 CD's) released as
budget "PC BEST BUY", version 1.1.4315. The expansion pack "Tales of the Sword
Coast" were NOT applied. Also, I did not use a XP cap removing tool, meaning that
the party did not rise above 89000 XP in the last couple of chapters.

Even though the save games cover my first (and probably only) run through the
game, I often took a sneak peak in both Dudleyville's excellent walkthrough on the
internet as well as Desslock's equally excellent "Game Guide" for Gamespot. I was
relatively thorough and investigated more than 95% of all areas, and I solved
about the same percentage of quests and subquests in the entire game, including
the nine areas of the town "Baldur's Gate" itself. However, there were a few
subquests I did not solve, like the two thief quests (seemed too unethical for
my good party) and I didn't bother fetching the Golden Pantaloons. Apart from the
sporadic help from the game guides, I did not cheat in any way (other than using
small exploits such as shooting fireballs at the edge of "fog of war" to damage
a group I knew was just nearby).

After the usual initial muddle with mixed parties, I finally settled with the
following party early in the game, deliberately arranged in the following order:

	Palagorn (my character)
	Minsc (ranger)
	Kivan (ranger)
	Imoen (thief)
	Branwen (cleric)
	Dynaheir (mage)
	
This party remained this way right through the chapters and to the end. The
character I made was a Paladin with the following stats:

				Start of game		End of game

	Strength		18/02			19 (tome)
	Dexterity		12			18 (gauntlets)
	Constitution		18			19 (tome)
	Intelligence		10			10
	Wisdom			14			14
	Charisma		18			22 (tome and cloak)

Hit points was 14 in the beginning and rose to 80 in the end. Proficiencies were
allocated for large sword (++), small sword (+) and bow (+). Later in the game I
also added missile weapons (+).

My party was mostly good and I made sure the reputation reached 20 as fast as I
could manage it, and I kept it there for the remainder of the game. Other tomes
were spent on logical characters (like two times wisdom on Branwen). I hope you
will agree that the way I equipped my party is fairly sensible. Strategically, I
went with a missile combat style, pausing and making my distance to most of the
enemies. I didn't use close melee action much, but that doesn't mean that the
fighters are not proficient at it. I think you will find that the party is capable
of most kinds of fighting styles. However, the fact that I used missile weapons
a lot also means that you will find a LOT of arrows and sling bullets in the
inventories of all party members.

As temporary storage, I primarily used the two drawers in the room upstairs at
the "Jovial Juggler" in Beregost. You will find lots of stuff there. I also used
a barrel close to the "Sorcerous Sundries" in Baldur's Gate.

Now I could have started talking about equipment and stats for each member in 
the party, but it would be a lot of text and it would be just as easy for you to
load a save game and take a look yourself. Enjoy.

The last save game states 132 days and 4 hours.

JCH, 3 August 2003
