Get a truckload of HPs to start with, and then move to the mage and get your powerful spells?


LoS:

I think it's definitely worth your time if you're into video games (check) and you're at all, ah, literate (check?). The writing is incredible.

Valid complaints, certainly, though I think it's worth getting / looking past the interface. It may not be incredibly elegant, but it's not horribly obtuse, either. I'd probably say the same for BG2, too, though not to the extent that I would Planescape. Their interfaces are very similar, but Planescape's is a bit different. They have this sort of radial menu going. It works.

As for pathfinding, yeah, it still kind of sucks. Short distances anywhere are fine, and long distances in open areas are fine. Long distances that require convoluted paths? No sir. You'll have to plot a few points along the way. However, if I'm not mistaken, you can actually do that. Not sure if it's documented, but something like hold shift and click and you'll set waypoints? So he'll go to click 1, 2, 3, etc. You might have been able to do the same in BG2. I also think you can crank the amount of resources given to pathfinding somewhere in the settings, and since these games were made ages ago, you can throw like a full two hundred megahertz at it and just let it go to town.

I guess you should go in expecting to have to put up with some things that are dated, and perhaps a bit annoying. The reward, I think, is worth it.

Oh yeah, make multiple saves every so often.