Nipped in the bud by Renal Bloodscalp
Although I had played Baldur's Gate 2 about 2 years ago, closer to 3, I believe, I couldn't quite recall many of the quests. One of them required the PC to choose either the Shadow Thieves or Bodhi. Some have said that choosing the Shadow Thieves was the good way and Bodhi the evil one. Some argue that there is no good or evil way as both guilds are not exactly good. Well, the PC doesn't know that much about Bodhi but do know the reputation of the Shadow Thieves so it is just a question of the devil you know or the devil you don't. There is also the argument that if you take the Bodhi route, you would take down the Shadow Thieves and eventually further along the storyline, Bodhi's guild as well. One forum gave this advice when asked whom to choose: when a decision is asked of by Bodhi, listen to what the NPCs in your group have to say. Well, I did and they didn't sound too happy about Bodhi so that was it then, Shadow Thieves, here we come!
At the same time when Bodhi's spokeperson, Valen appeared, so did Brus, sent by Gaelan Bayle. Anyway, I met up with Bodhi, turned her down and while traveling to the slums to meet up with Bayle, saved an injured (poisoned?) man who asked to be delivered immediately to a house in the Docks. At the entrance archway, Yoshimo voiced concerns about his well-being should he not pay his respects to Renal Bloodscalp of the Shadow Thieves while waltzing through the Docks. So we paid a visit to this Renal Bloodscalp and did his quests and picked up Edwin along the way and all the while thinking that aha! I managed to wriggle myself out of paying Bayle 15,000 gp by going straight to the Shadow Thieves. So imagine my surprise when I asked him about Irenicus and Imoen and he answered, "Heh, you are a tricky one. Didn't Gaelan already tell you that the Shadow Thieves would be perfectly willing to help you out at the correct price?" Darn!!! He found me out!!! Looks like I have to fork over the money to Gaelan Bayle ... sigh ...
Baldur’s Gate Shadows of Amn revisited
I played Baldur's Gate 1 for the second time sometime back and recently started playing BG2. Strangely enough, BG1 was sort of a breeze. The ending was not as difficult as I remembered. My group hardly sustained any loss of hp. When I played it for the first time, I wasn't much of a strategist (still am not much of one 
) and would charge headlong into any situation. Besides that, I didn't have much use for potions (except for healing potions and antidotes) and wands but for my replay of BG1, I actually used the wands of summoning and wands of frost a lot, not to mention wands of lightning for corridors (my heroine, Dynaheir). So I guess these made life simpler.
Before starting BG2, I was planning who I wanted in my party. Minsc and Edwin was a definite must, so was Yoshimo (later filled by Imoen). I wasn't too sure about who was going to fill in the last two slots. I had to have a healer so it was either Jaheira, Anomen, Aerie or Viconia. I already had Viconia in the first playthrough so I didn't if possible want her along. I found Aerie too whiny, who didn't care about other npc's feelings except her own. Yeah, I needed a mage in the beginning but no way was I bringing her. I managed to get through the Temple Ruins and get rid of the Shade Lord without a mage. Then, I picked up Anomen. Yeah, I remember I couldn't stand him that much the first time and as we wandered here and there, I was thinking, well, he wasn't so bad as I thought and entertained the possibility of him filling in a slot. Until ... until ... he opened his big mouth. WHAT WAS I THINKING?????!! No way am I taking this pompous, self-absorbed, self-centered, ass of a man. Now, I am just waiting to get his quest over and done with!
Sometimes, one wonders what the heck the developers were thinking when they chose that kind of character to be the female interest. Hubby says that the male love interests weren't like so fantastic either; you've got Jaheira who is sort of bitchy, Aerie (who is like the female version of Anomen or Annoying Man -- read this in a post somewhere) and Viconia who is facing culture shock and sort of bitchy too. But hey, you've got at least 3 to pick from, we women have only 1. I never did the romance in the first playthrough and don't intend to this time, either.
