Actually it's usually the quest rewards that give the valuable xp, not the killing. Unless you're killing named characters or rarer monsters like Ogres or Frost Wolves, anyway. But the point was not about the actual fighting and quest completing, which is usually ok, it's about having to go out to those wilderness area and then explore the crap out of them so you can actually find the quest givers or valuable kills. The clockwise square search pattern I used to explore those areas is one of the less fond memories I have of this otherwise great game. And yet it's something you have to do because there's really nothing to indicate where to find the interesting people and stuff unless you're using a walkthrough, which I don't. And you need to find those quests for: 1- the experience, although granted you don't need to find them all for enough experience, but like I said quests are the better method of exp advancement, so you do need to go out and find them, 2- loot: you'll really never get a lot of the equipment you'd need unless you search these areas. And I'm not talking about the ridiculous stuff like the Friendly Arm's Ring of Wizardry, a lot of your gear'll likely come from killing bounty hunters or bandits randomly hanging out in the wilderness, 3- If you're a lore buff like me, you'll probably want to talk to everybody for that obsession. Otherwise you might never learn of Davaeorn's good brother or other interesting but useless stuff. And like I said, I really like scaring Diviners, and a lot of them are out in the wilds for some reason.



It makes it feel less real to me. There's a reason for that cliché about adventurers starting at a tavern. When you're looking for a quest, your best plan is not usually to head out into the wilderness hoping to find someone whose friend was killed by Ogres or whatever. In Baldur's Gate 2, you head out into the wilderness for a purpose, and might encounter other quests on the way, but they're played as actual random encounters. At no point do you go out scouring the Yukon with a comb in search of quest givers.

Not at low level they don't. 1 spell per day, 2 if you've specialised? Magic Missile does 1d4+1 damage, once per day. A fighter with a bastard sword does - if memory serves, it's been a while - 1d12+strength bonus, which can be as high as +4. Each round. Granted, he has a chance to miss, but still. Sleep and Charm Person are better, but they have a chance of failing outright at which point you've essentially lost your magical power for the day. And if you want Identify, well...



Yes, of course. Eventually all quests will involve killing people. Although Baldur's Gate 2 had the Shadow Thieves' quest to accumulate a fortune of cash to pay their services or the Radiant Order's negotiation quests or the like, they still involve retrieving and killing at some point. But a lot of the quests in Baldur's Gate have nothing more. Retrieve the Flamedance Ring the Hobgoblins stole, kill the Spider infestation, kill the Ogre that stole that Gnome's belt, and that's just from the one location. None of these quests will lead to anything, or tell you anything about anyone or anything. You don't really feel like you've accomplished much from them either. In contrast, the quests in the Copper Coronet include getting duped by Firkraag, chain quests for various NPCs - Anomen, Korgan, Nalia - which are actual side stories and help develop those NPCs which will be adventuring with you, and a quest to free the gladiatorial slaves.