Baldur's Gate II

- Get the Throne of Bhaal expansion.

- If you have a widescreen, get the gibberlings 3 widescreen mod, its worth it.

- Don't worry too much about min/maxing, the game is pretty easy to break.

- You probably want a balanced party, you'll need a cleric at least for healing between encounters, a mage for extra damage and to do all the work later in the game (fighters are fine in the first bit, but in the expansion mages are way more effective), and you can't really get by without a thief (you can, but it's a pain).

- Do yourself a favor and look up AD&D guidlines (gamefaqs has a fine guide), since some of the stats can be real confusing (e.g. half the time higher is better, half the time negatives are better).

- It's not an action game, don't play it like one; use the pause button, plan out what you're going to do.

- The first dungeon is essentially an elongated, freeform tutorial; it's not particularly brilliant, but it will teach you the essentials.

- Read the loading screen tips, there are some vital things there (like having to use acid/fire to kill a knocked down troll).

- If the main character dies it's game over but (unless you're playing Core or harder) your minions can't permanently die, so don't worry about sacrificing them. Get a Rod of Resurrection for precisely this reason and let your main character hold it.

- Don't necessarily accept the initial load of stats you're given, reroll until you get a good total. For a Fighter you'll want 18+ STR/DEX/CON, a Mage will want 16+/18+ CON/INT respectively and a Thief ideally wants 18+ STR/DEX and 16+ CON. You can bump CHA down to 3, as long as you do the Circus tent soon after you emerge from the first dungeon.

- Hold TAB almost constantly between and after battles - it shows up all doors, containers, items etc. that are around the place, and makes finding all the useful items much easier. I can't imagine going through the game without it.

- Monk tips: pump your dexterity, don't multi-class or dual class.

- If you're not planning on keeping Keldorn (awesome paladin), get him in your party, nab his armour and then ditch him. Monks with 18 CHA can use it, and it is better than your natural AC at the beginning of the game. You can get your cha to 18 with a ring (Ring of Human Influence) you get in one of the first sidequests available after Irenicus' Lair (the first dungeon).(You can equip the ring, don the armour, then remove the ring if you want to use another one, the armour stays on.)

- You need at least one cleric character, Virconia is a pure cleric and has good magic resistance, but is evil and pretty weedy. Anomen has 7 levels in fighter before dualing to cleric, so he'll be a bit behind Virconia in cleric levels, but he is a great frontline fighter, I personally much prefer him.

- I'm assuming Imoen has been taken from you, you'll need a thief character, Nalia has some very puny thief abilities but is really a mage, Yoshimo is pretty damn good as his special traps can be cheesy as hell, alternatively Jan Jansen has perfectly fine thief skills and is a decent mage too.

- The only really useless character is Cernd, mostly because pure druids almost universally suck in BG2.

- A good tip for BG2 companions is that you don't have to be stuck with the ones the game provides. Start a multiplayer game, and you can create all 6 party characters. You can make less, or create more and just save some characters for later. Then you have two choices: (1) You can play through in a multiplayer game, which has the added bonus of letting you swap characters for other pre-made ones at any time, or (2) you can find your BG2 directory, find the MPSAVE folder, find your savegame, and then copy it over to your SAVE folder. Then, you can play with those custom-made characters in a single-player game. The upside here is that you can swap out a custom-made character for an NPC if you want a mix in your party.

- A lot of the entertainment value of BG2 is in the NPCs who join your party, but after a couple runs through the game you'll realize that they are both tedious and poorly crafted characters (on average). Taking the time to roll all six party members while maximizing available special classes will make for a much more interesting game.

- The equipment you pilfer from the drow in the Underdark is hands-down some of the best in the game. It also dies in the sunlight. But! There is a way to keep them! Pause IMMEDIATELY after getting outside and drop everything to the ground. It is possible to build a chain of characters leading to the zone exit; do so, and while paused, transfer the stuff from inventory to inventory, dropping it again when you're close to the zone line. Cluster everyone up around the edge, load your characters up while paused, and very quickly change areas. If you've done it right, you should now have the best armor in the game forever! Yay!

- If you've never played a D&D game before, or even if you just haven't played second edition before, this game is going to kick your ass initially. Over, and over, and over. Try to stick with it, it's worth it.

- Enemy spellcasters are one of the biggest possible threats out there. Always carry around ways to dispel protective magic. If you don't have any, rest and memorize new spells. You should ALWAYS have things like Breach or Ruby Ray ready to go.

- Don' be afraid to rest in hostile areas. In fact, you should rest as soon as you even begin to think you might need it. If you wait too long and rest when you're seriously hurting, you may get interrupted by monsters that can now easily finish you.

- This is especially relevant if you've only ever played RPGs like Final Fantasy: Spells exist for more than making things go boom or healing in D&D. Be creative. Clever use of certain buffs or situational abilities can turn the tide in your favor.

- Do yourself a favor and check out the BG2 thread here on the forums for some excellent tips on the mechanics of mage-battles. There's a point in the game where you simply need to learn the right process for defeating enemy spellcasters, and until you do you will lose almost every battle where there's a mage present. Don't let this deter you! Just figure out the right sequence of spells you need to cast.

- I'm a firm believer in save-scumming or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays. Quick-save before you rest, and quick-load if your rest is interrupted by enemies. Roughly 50% of hostile areas will spawn enemies 100% of the time, and you'll quickly learn that you can't rest there. The other 50% percent of areas should be exploited for those times when enemies don't spawn to regain health without wasting spells.

- Learn what Level Drain is, what it does, and who causes it. Level draining can only be CURED by a restoration spell (which divine spellcasters have access to, and which can also be purchased at temples or in scroll format). Level draining can only be PREVENTED by the divine spell “Negative Plane Protection” (which only affects one character and lasts for a short time) or by wielding certain items which confer the same effect. Be sure you have access to at least one and preferably all of these options if you choose to side with the Shadow Thieves in Athkatla.

- Get weapons which deal fire or acid damage as soon as you can (this includes ammo with those effects). Trolls will quickly become a constant nuisance, and they can only be dispatched by those effects. Try not to waste spells on killing trolls.

- Learn what monsters are immune to what weapons and what types of damage, and plan ahead. Specifically, make sure you're prepared to take on Clay, Iron and Adamantium Golems, Rakshasas, mummies, ghouls, and skeletons. For enemies with high magic resistance, always keep a few Lower Resistance spells memorized. In BG2's late game and in most of ToB, you'll also want to keep a variety of non-magical weapons, as they'll be the only things which can hurt Magic Golems.

- Always set your thief's script to the "adventurer" script, as it will have him auto-detect traps whenever he isn't in combat. If your thief is an assassin, set him so that he auto-stealths.

- Ranged attacks become increasingly devasting as your characters increase in level. Make sure every member of your party has a ranged weapon they can use, and employ these strategically. If you are being rushed by a group of enemies, have your whole party switch to ranged attacks before the mob reaches you to soften them up or take out an enemy or two before they get too close.

- Learn to use the autopause function. Mine is set to pause when an enemy is sighted and when a target is destroyed. This will be annoying 5% of the time and enormously useful for the other 95%. It lets you target enemies with a ranged attack when they're barely visible on screen, or before you've even noticed their presence. It's also useful for getting the jump on enemy mages before they can throw up too many protections.