These save games for Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn are for a version on 4
CD's, patched up to v23037. I did not install the expansion pack Throne of
Bhaal at any time. Also, I did not use a XP cap removing utility, meaning that
the party did not rise above 2950000 XP in the last chapter.

PLEASE BE WARNED THAT THE FOLLOWING TEXT MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS!

Even though the save games cover my first (and probably only) run through the
game, I often took a sneak peak in the following excellent sources:

	Dan Simpson's FAQ v8.3
	Sean Kepper's SoA guide for IGN/Snowball
	Bioware's official forum
	The forum at Planet Baldur's Gate
	
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 game. However,
there were a few subquests I did not solve, mainly (and logically) the ones that
involved party members I did not pick up - usually due to them being evil and my
party being good, or because I just didn't want them. This goes for the personal
quests of Keldorn, Cernd and Edwin. I did complete (or almost complete) the quests
for the party members I picked up during the game. One of my biggest regrets is
that I let Viconia die at the stake and that I didn't find the Silver Pantaloons
to complement the Golden Pantaloons already in my inventory. The latter involved
doing an evil deed, and I discovered my error too late. If you want those, you
are going to have to cheat. By the way, I never cheated in the game (other than
taking a peak in the guides mentioned above, of course). Most of the optional
subquests were taken care of in chapter 3, so if you load a save game in chapter
4 or later, you practically only have the storyline left to follow.

As is part of the story and the gameplay, I exchanged party members during the
first few chapters before settling down with the party I liked. The following
party members were only a temporary part of my crew:

	Yoshimo		I read that he would betray me at one point, something I
			didn't like to hear, so I soon replaced him. Later, when
			I got back from Underdark, he just died when I saw him
			in the Copper Coronet. That also meant that I couldn't
			get his heart thus could not earn 200000 XP. A shame.

	Jan Jansen	He was a part of my crew for quite some time, until I
			finally replaced him with Imoen in the Asylum. At that
			time I had finally tired off listening to his long strokes
			about turnips and crazy family members.

	Nalia		Picked her up at the De'Arnise stronghold, but I never
			really liked her abilities.

	Mazzy		Really good with a bow and I picked her up in her prison
			cell in the Temple Ruins. I would have kept her, were it
			not for the fact that I found Valygar a little more useful
			with his Celestial Fury katana.

The permanent party members, consolidated during the later chapters, were arranged
in the following portrait order:

	Palagorn	My character, a Paladin "Inquisitor" imported from Baldur's
			Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast.

	Minsc		Brought him along from the very first dungeon and never let
			him go. I later gave him proficiency for War Hammer and
			gave him the Crom Faeyr.

	Valygar		I didn't pick him up in his cabin at first, only later as I
			went back to town after solving a few quests. As soon as I
			gave him the Celestial Fury and even later let him dual
			wield the Equalizer, he really became outstanding.

	Jaheira		If there ever was a party member I might have let go, she
			was a candidate. I kept her for the early ability to summon
			fire elementals as well as her healing abilities.

	Aerie		Although on the weak side, she became my favorite magician
			and I also refused to throw her out because of running the
			romance with her. Which, by the way, I managed to complete
			with her loving Palagorn.

	Imoen		Being a sister and part of my crew in the previous game, I
			always wanted her along. Her thief abilities were more than
			sufficient and she was a good backup mage.

The character I made, Palagorn, was a Paladin "Inquisitor" which I imported from
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast. At the time of importing into Baldur's
Gate II: Shadows of Amn, his abilities were as follows:

	Level			8
	XP			161000
	AC			10
	HP			88
	THAC0			13

	Strength		19 (used a tome in BG1)
	Dexterity		12 (meant to use the Gauntlets of Dexterity)
	Constitution		19 (used a tome in BG1)
	Intelligence		10
	Wisdom			15 (used a tome in BG1:TotSC)
	Charisma		19 (used a tome in BG1)

As soon as I found the Gauntlets of Dexterity in Baldur's Gate II, I immediately
gave them to Palagorn. He also received additional charisma enhancers. I went for
the red dragon Firkraag relatively early (too early in fact - I had a damn hard
time slaying it) and got the Holy Avenger sword (Carsomyr +5) for Palagorn. He
was the main reason I didn't want Keldorn. It seemed a little silly having two
Paladins in the same party.

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. In contrast
to my fighting style in BG1, I mainly used my 3-4 "tanks" in melee combat (i.e.
using swords and hammers) rather than using bows. For the same reason I made
sure they used the best melee weapons and gained strength enhancers.

I used two spots as temporary storage as well as one for goods that Cromwell
might later be able to use. All three spots are marked on the maps. The first
storage spot is a coffin close to the Adventurer's Mart In Waukeen's Promenade.
The second storage spot is a crate in the middle of the Docks District. For
Cromwell's goods, I used a barrel as close to his house as possible. When I left
Underdark I emptied the barrel and made him build a lot of weapons.

The last save game states 73 days and 5 hours.

JCH, 9 September 2003
