Gay-Lussac
Arcane
How good is BG 1 compared to BG 2? I'm planning on a new playthrough of 2 and I never played the first one.
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Infinity Engine Ironman Extravaganza
- Thread starter Edward_R_Murrow
- Start date
BethesdaLove
Arbiter
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2008
- Messages
- 1,998
Poor Maneater... Rest in peace.
Marcelo21 said:
2 has a lot more features than 1, so if youve played 2 first you will probably be disappointed in bg1. I personally love bg1 (possibly forgiving a lot of flaws because of nostalgia) and have played it many times.
If you want to play bg1 i suggest doing it in tutu. Its easier on the eyes and is an all round better experience than vanilla bg1.
Gay-Lussac
Arcane
Yeah I actually downloaded Bg 1 but it was really fugly and slightly boring (I didnt learn about the tutu till I deleted it). Guess I'll just play 2 and ToB then.
Oh and is the Wild Mage as fun as it sounds?
Oh and is the Wild Mage as fun as it sounds?
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
1 has a lot of wilderness exploration that a lot of people liked, but game wise 2 wins hands down. The majority of the game's areas are basically large woodlands, some with minor events that happen, some with short term quests, others with just random shit. Some you'll have to go to for quests from other places - overall though it was pretty fun to just explore the wilderness - somewhat similar to in idea with what Gothic 2 had going on that made me love it a great deal.
I knew the storyline from playing bg2 before i played bg1 so I don't know if its something worth bothering with, but the game is fun enough.
I'd say its worth it to play 1 though, especially if you throw on tutu. it kind of breaks a lot of the game's balance in the process but whatevs yaknow.
I knew the storyline from playing bg2 before i played bg1 so I don't know if its something worth bothering with, but the game is fun enough.
I'd say its worth it to play 1 though, especially if you throw on tutu. it kind of breaks a lot of the game's balance in the process but whatevs yaknow.
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
Well, off we go! It's rather amazing how much dialog I've been skipping, fully realizing that it is mostly just blah blah with no real significance.
I opted for a Thief to dual to Mage at level 11, this way i would easily have all the thieving abilities I need and not have to rely on some shifty asian bastard to fulfill my trap removal, and I'd be able to lob fireballs at my enemies from the shadows.
mods used: dungeon-be-gone, unfinished business, and the gibberling3 fixpack.
INTRODUCTIONS!
I give to you, ladies and gentlemen Dolph Ziggler, WWE superstar on a quest to introduce himself to everyone. Since his initial introduction Dolph Ziggler literally spent months walking up to and introducing himself to EVERYONE and not really doing much else, until he actually fought. He was actually pretty good! And was soon elevated to the spot of my favourite. A running schtick will be that I plan to include a screenshot of every time Dolph Ziggler introduces himself as Dolph Ziggler.
His wrestling background has gifted him with great strength and agility, as well the ability to take a punch or five. Being one of the more technical wrestlers he developed a keen understanding of just how the show was run and was well versed in the processes that go on behind the scenes. However, he was a heel - and disliked by the crowd... but still a studly bastard,
However, his demonstration of poor judgement of stopping the fight to introduce himself to Kane showed that he's still lacking in some experience in the world (hence the low wisdom).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmnOY1Lk8ZQ
The world needs to know... Dolph Ziggler.
After introducing ourselves to some overly talkative bitch, psychopath who's a bit too reminiscent of Koslov and an even more talkative bitch, we took the nerd's offer to bail out of the filthy hole and into the sun (gotta tan baby, gotta tan)
we booted the talkative bitch out for spending too much time lecturing us on what to do and what not to do, interfering with the necessary PR campaign we had going on
after booting the yappin' hippy skank we found some tent that looked like it could use a new star attraction - we went in to introduce ourselves to the manager but instead we found some dimensional ripping dome with Sabu asking questions. Something about the prince and princess... now, Being the intelligent, technical, and handsome wrestler that I am I suppose I could have worked the math backwards and answered, but Sabu here overlooked one major thing... I'm Dolph Ziggler. 15 years ago I met the prince and princess and introduced myself, after some minor chit chat I got their ages too. They just don't know how many people know me, do they?
we introduced ourselves to some peasants by beatin their faces in and gave the sword to the big ugly bald guy only to find out he's some other overly talkative bitch that we didn't want with us, then we macked on the half naked ho and went on in and cleared the rest of the shit out. That Kalah guy bit the dust before I had a chance to introduce myself.
Allow me to introduce myself mr. store guy...
Some chump we met in the slums said he could get us a good deal with McMahon in a subplot involving a rivalry with Batista, we figured we'd try but he wanted some major commision, so we went out to introduce ourselves to some rich people
why the hell would anyone leave a random gemstone in a crack on the wall? and how the hell did I see it?
in front of the copper coronet we got accosted by some trash talkers that we quickly dispatched for 6,000 and 4,000 exp... not a bad deal, plus some chain mail to hawk... then we got around the corner to some shady ho who tried to rob us. she must not have known who I am. sadly, the shady character put up 5x the fight the other two chumps did and only gave us 650 xp, heh, go figure. we went in the bar and without even getting a chance to get a tom collins and a tallboy of dos equis some other bitch who talks way too fucking much was on our asses about going home with her
does every female npc have to yap on and on? having our buzz killed before we could even get a sip in we bailed and head to the docks, that agent dude said there was some work to be had here... we were scoutin' around and in some barrel we found this bad boy
now, this damn thing is worth around 800 gp depending on where you sell it. most peasants in the world make about 5gp a week if I'm not mistaken... how the fuck are there so many bums when shit like this is literally just chilling in a box by the docks with no one around for hundreds of feet? whatever.
we signed up with the local underground gig and while chilling in their green (yellow?) room we found a rather large buffet of free swag
really, for a bunch of thugs, ruffians, and thieves... these guys are pretty nice just giving us all this free shit, and then even paying us to give the stuff back!
we took the gig with renal to get in a tussle with the maevar cad and head out. shorlty getting there we met some chill bros brochilling with the bros... figured we should head on down and introduce ourselves...
look like these cats were really into using doors... i prefer tables and folding chairs myself, but eh you work with what you got
Note: Thieves have low xp requirements in the early dozen levels of the game and in BG2 disarming traps and unlocking containers gets you xp, traps more so than locks. This area is set up as a 'testing ground' for the thieves, and being that its only minsc and Dolph here, we easily got a dozen grand of xp and some decent loot without even trying. life is good the downfall however is that the mage's xp requirements for level 12, which is what i would need to get back my thievin' skills is about 100k more xp than what the thief requires for level 12. Alas, not that big a deal, especially since i plan to use only 5 characters and do a lot of scroll re-memorization.
We got ambushed by some random people in the street which immediately threw my alarms on as this could easily be the end for the two of us - minsc is strong and able but being overwhelmed and if disabled by the wizard, he would be done for easily, while Dolph had plenty of hp and some skill -- would not be able to actually handle 2 fighters, even if only half his level...
luckily my fears were unfounded and minsc's strength overcame
the loot they left was a nice apology for waylaying me though
we went on down to the temple district to jack some lightning worshipper's ice but as usual some shit had to happen that takes too fucking long to go through before we had a chance to walk around
does this entire town have nothing better to do than wait in the streets until people are passing to bug the fuck out of them?
note the hand
after returning the amulet we had enough xp to hit level 12 for the thief and dualed over to mage, at which point we scribed a billion scrolls and deleted and rescribed those we had copies of, jumping us up 5 levels.
by the way... I'm...
while returning a quest to mae'var we saw one of the events of the guild's fighting
normally i'd be eager to jump in and kill the vampire (experience whore) but i'm glad i sat this one out... the thieves had some good gems and some decent spells (about 12k xp worth, actually).
I know we've met before but allow me to reintroduce myself...
Now a challenge! Rayic Gethras is a pretty decent level mage which normally isn't a challenge but for a level 9 ranger and a level 6 mage he could be, especially since most weapons won't work on him for the first few swings and my magics are mostly useless against his contingency combination of stoneskin + minor glob of invulnerability, and whatever else.
...'sept dolph ziggler aint no chump with a backup plan
we reported our success to edwin and were off to gather some meat shields before taking on mae'var's guildhouse.
I opted for a Thief to dual to Mage at level 11, this way i would easily have all the thieving abilities I need and not have to rely on some shifty asian bastard to fulfill my trap removal, and I'd be able to lob fireballs at my enemies from the shadows.
mods used: dungeon-be-gone, unfinished business, and the gibberling3 fixpack.
INTRODUCTIONS!
I give to you, ladies and gentlemen Dolph Ziggler, WWE superstar on a quest to introduce himself to everyone. Since his initial introduction Dolph Ziggler literally spent months walking up to and introducing himself to EVERYONE and not really doing much else, until he actually fought. He was actually pretty good! And was soon elevated to the spot of my favourite. A running schtick will be that I plan to include a screenshot of every time Dolph Ziggler introduces himself as Dolph Ziggler.
His wrestling background has gifted him with great strength and agility, as well the ability to take a punch or five. Being one of the more technical wrestlers he developed a keen understanding of just how the show was run and was well versed in the processes that go on behind the scenes. However, he was a heel - and disliked by the crowd... but still a studly bastard,
However, his demonstration of poor judgement of stopping the fight to introduce himself to Kane showed that he's still lacking in some experience in the world (hence the low wisdom).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmnOY1Lk8ZQ
The world needs to know... Dolph Ziggler.
After introducing ourselves to some overly talkative bitch, psychopath who's a bit too reminiscent of Koslov and an even more talkative bitch, we took the nerd's offer to bail out of the filthy hole and into the sun (gotta tan baby, gotta tan)
we booted the talkative bitch out for spending too much time lecturing us on what to do and what not to do, interfering with the necessary PR campaign we had going on
after booting the yappin' hippy skank we found some tent that looked like it could use a new star attraction - we went in to introduce ourselves to the manager but instead we found some dimensional ripping dome with Sabu asking questions. Something about the prince and princess... now, Being the intelligent, technical, and handsome wrestler that I am I suppose I could have worked the math backwards and answered, but Sabu here overlooked one major thing... I'm Dolph Ziggler. 15 years ago I met the prince and princess and introduced myself, after some minor chit chat I got their ages too. They just don't know how many people know me, do they?
we introduced ourselves to some peasants by beatin their faces in and gave the sword to the big ugly bald guy only to find out he's some other overly talkative bitch that we didn't want with us, then we macked on the half naked ho and went on in and cleared the rest of the shit out. That Kalah guy bit the dust before I had a chance to introduce myself.
Allow me to introduce myself mr. store guy...
Some chump we met in the slums said he could get us a good deal with McMahon in a subplot involving a rivalry with Batista, we figured we'd try but he wanted some major commision, so we went out to introduce ourselves to some rich people
why the hell would anyone leave a random gemstone in a crack on the wall? and how the hell did I see it?
in front of the copper coronet we got accosted by some trash talkers that we quickly dispatched for 6,000 and 4,000 exp... not a bad deal, plus some chain mail to hawk... then we got around the corner to some shady ho who tried to rob us. she must not have known who I am. sadly, the shady character put up 5x the fight the other two chumps did and only gave us 650 xp, heh, go figure. we went in the bar and without even getting a chance to get a tom collins and a tallboy of dos equis some other bitch who talks way too fucking much was on our asses about going home with her
does every female npc have to yap on and on? having our buzz killed before we could even get a sip in we bailed and head to the docks, that agent dude said there was some work to be had here... we were scoutin' around and in some barrel we found this bad boy
now, this damn thing is worth around 800 gp depending on where you sell it. most peasants in the world make about 5gp a week if I'm not mistaken... how the fuck are there so many bums when shit like this is literally just chilling in a box by the docks with no one around for hundreds of feet? whatever.
we signed up with the local underground gig and while chilling in their green (yellow?) room we found a rather large buffet of free swag
really, for a bunch of thugs, ruffians, and thieves... these guys are pretty nice just giving us all this free shit, and then even paying us to give the stuff back!
we took the gig with renal to get in a tussle with the maevar cad and head out. shorlty getting there we met some chill bros brochilling with the bros... figured we should head on down and introduce ourselves...
look like these cats were really into using doors... i prefer tables and folding chairs myself, but eh you work with what you got
Note: Thieves have low xp requirements in the early dozen levels of the game and in BG2 disarming traps and unlocking containers gets you xp, traps more so than locks. This area is set up as a 'testing ground' for the thieves, and being that its only minsc and Dolph here, we easily got a dozen grand of xp and some decent loot without even trying. life is good
the downfall however is that the mage's xp requirements for level 12, which is what i would need to get back my thievin' skills is about 100k more xp than what the thief requires for level 12. Alas, not that big a deal, especially since i plan to use only 5 characters and do a lot of scroll re-memorization. We got ambushed by some random people in the street which immediately threw my alarms on as this could easily be the end for the two of us - minsc is strong and able but being overwhelmed and if disabled by the wizard, he would be done for easily, while Dolph had plenty of hp and some skill -- would not be able to actually handle 2 fighters, even if only half his level...
luckily my fears were unfounded and minsc's strength overcame
the loot they left was a nice apology for waylaying me though
we went on down to the temple district to jack some lightning worshipper's ice but as usual some shit had to happen that takes too fucking long to go through before we had a chance to walk around
does this entire town have nothing better to do than wait in the streets until people are passing to bug the fuck out of them?
note the hand
after returning the amulet we had enough xp to hit level 12 for the thief and dualed over to mage, at which point we scribed a billion scrolls and deleted and rescribed those we had copies of, jumping us up 5 levels.
by the way... I'm...
while returning a quest to mae'var we saw one of the events of the guild's fighting
normally i'd be eager to jump in and kill the vampire (experience whore) but i'm glad i sat this one out... the thieves had some good gems and some decent spells (about 12k xp worth, actually).
I know we've met before but allow me to reintroduce myself...
Now a challenge! Rayic Gethras is a pretty decent level mage which normally isn't a challenge but for a level 9 ranger and a level 6 mage he could be, especially since most weapons won't work on him for the first few swings and my magics are mostly useless against his contingency combination of stoneskin + minor glob of invulnerability, and whatever else.
...'sept dolph ziggler aint no chump with a backup plan
we reported our success to edwin and were off to gather some meat shields before taking on mae'var's guildhouse.
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
REMATCH
after a quick barfight we got some new friends who were impressed with the way we broke bottles, but for some reason the camera's lense was smudged or something so the picture came out shitty
so we decided to go on down and deal with mae'var's chumps when we were waylaid in the exact same alley by some random thugs and some guy on the ground... man i need t stop using this alley
easily dispatching these chumps we decided to help renfield because hey this game's all about leveling up n stuff or something
we delivered renfield who weighed a grand total of 50 pounds (what kind of poison was it? you could make some serious money marketing this to insecure white women). oh hey, i know that guy!
he wants us to get into the harper hold, we agreed, the harpers want us to get into prebek's home first, we agreed.
so to recap - while idly strolling by we came across renfield in our favourite alley. renfield wanted us to take his scrawny ass to the harpers. we did. then xzar wanted us to get into the harper hold to rescue some asshole of a halfling, so we agreed and in order to get into the damn hold we had to break into prebek's home which is actually xzar's home and wipe out his apprentices so that we could in turn get into the harper hold to help xzar. why can't people just do their own shit?
so thinking that i've never had problems with prebek's home before i stroll on in, with two full warriors (both the best actually), a cleric/fighter, the best mage, and a soon to be awesome theif/mage i figured i had this shit... wellll
oh my, how embaressing...
uhhhh
fackcht
how the final battle went down: Strolled on in and assaulted the mage in the back with edwin's magic missiles and tried to drop a chromatic orb on the front mage hoping to stun her - had the warriors take on the first ghast and golem with the fighters but apparently the mages had some contingency spells and managed to survive both hits and dropped a confusion on us while the ghasts decided they were high rollers and continued their lucky streak of stopping us in our tracks
death came ever so swiftly ;(
this game is really unfriendly to ironman - there's really so many opportunities to get killed by enemy magic users alone. you can never tell how strong they are as in some cases they don't have anything past a single casting of melf's acid arrow, mirror image, and a half assed magic missile and other times they drop death spell, improved invisibility, contingencies, and pretty high powered lightning bolts on your ass in the same amount of time you get your fighter to the other side of the battle arena
ahoo!
I'll try a solo run with a fighter/cleric next
after a quick barfight we got some new friends who were impressed with the way we broke bottles, but for some reason the camera's lense was smudged or something so the picture came out shitty
so we decided to go on down and deal with mae'var's chumps when we were waylaid in the exact same alley by some random thugs and some guy on the ground... man i need t stop using this alley
easily dispatching these chumps we decided to help renfield because hey this game's all about leveling up n stuff or something
we delivered renfield who weighed a grand total of 50 pounds (what kind of poison was it? you could make some serious money marketing this to insecure white women). oh hey, i know that guy!
he wants us to get into the harper hold, we agreed, the harpers want us to get into prebek's home first, we agreed.
so to recap - while idly strolling by we came across renfield in our favourite alley. renfield wanted us to take his scrawny ass to the harpers. we did. then xzar wanted us to get into the harper hold to rescue some asshole of a halfling, so we agreed and in order to get into the damn hold we had to break into prebek's home which is actually xzar's home and wipe out his apprentices so that we could in turn get into the harper hold to help xzar. why can't people just do their own shit?
so thinking that i've never had problems with prebek's home before i stroll on in, with two full warriors (both the best actually), a cleric/fighter, the best mage, and a soon to be awesome theif/mage i figured i had this shit... wellll
oh my, how embaressing...
uhhhh
fackcht
how the final battle went down: Strolled on in and assaulted the mage in the back with edwin's magic missiles and tried to drop a chromatic orb on the front mage hoping to stun her - had the warriors take on the first ghast and golem with the fighters but apparently the mages had some contingency spells and managed to survive both hits and dropped a confusion on us while the ghasts decided they were high rollers and continued their lucky streak of stopping us in our tracks
death came ever so swiftly ;(
this game is really unfriendly to ironman - there's really so many opportunities to get killed by enemy magic users alone. you can never tell how strong they are as in some cases they don't have anything past a single casting of melf's acid arrow, mirror image, and a half assed magic missile and other times they drop death spell, improved invisibility, contingencies, and pretty high powered lightning bolts on your ass in the same amount of time you get your fighter to the other side of the battle arena
ahoo!
I'll try a solo run with a fighter/cleric next
Edward_R_Murrow
Arcane
Time to update this shit.
Edit: Ghasts seem to be a frequent helper when it comes to ending people's run.
Edit: Ghasts seem to be a frequent helper when it comes to ending people's run.
Demnogonis Saastuttaja
Magister
Damn, that Ironman game looked promising.
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
I got kind of lazy I guess with expecting to take on these "easy" early parts - and the enemies did have to get some lucky rolls, two people stopped due to the ghasts while 3 were confused from one casting? that's kind of ridiculous if you ask me but eh - comes with the territory.
i started up a half orc fighter/cleric and got VERY lucky with stat rolls, i ditched the party members and am going to try to solo iron man this and see how far i get. i beat shadows of amn before with a fighter dualed to cleric but this is a multi-class so it'll probably pan out very differently i think. dual wielding warhammers.
i started up a half orc fighter/cleric and got VERY lucky with stat rolls, i ditched the party members and am going to try to solo iron man this and see how far i get. i beat shadows of amn before with a fighter dualed to cleric but this is a multi-class so it'll probably pan out very differently i think. dual wielding warhammers.
Edward_R_Murrow said:
I'll post my stuff tonight and tomorrow.
Ended up playing BG2 to the end (successfully!) and not updating.
It's incredibly tedious to Ironman BG2- always buffing, sending out invisible scouts, using up healing potions, running away.
running away again and again and again
I used no cheats and the main char never died.
Got a couple of guys petrified and a couple deaths of NPCs not counting Final Battle carnage.
I did sploit AI a smidgeon. With the BG2 Fixpack (I put in everything) it was more difficult than usual.
Cheese tactics were a hallmark.
I did compensate by keeping everybody fatigued 80% of the time.
No restploitation for my team.
At least I didn't pull that improved invisibility/spell immunity: divination business.
Update: this evening (US E.S.T.)
P.S.: BG2 Ironman Safety Tip: never ever fight Beholders or Mind Flayers.
I skipped all of those areas and quests.
Use summons, gas clouds if you must.
And remember the Golden Rule of Combat:
"He who runs and runs away, shall live to fight another day."
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
R-R-R-R-REMIX!
Tymora was in a good mood today!
meet my big black half orc Karr with the face that doesn't match (i'll throw on Abbath's portrait later or something)
Half orc fighter/cleric with 19 str, 18 dex, 19 con, 12 int, 18 wis, and 9 cha (sup ring of human influence). 3 points in dual wielding for that added awesome and 2 points in warhammers with 1 point in flails (though as of now he has 2 points in that too).
I skipped a lot of the intro stuff i covered in my last try, with this one we'll start right off with taking on mae'var's guildhall.
oh, also, i killed aerie cuz fuck that bitch
while violently breaking into rayric gethra's home which was infested with little mephits (those are demons right?) and going to murder him I was confronted with two stone golems. Interesting note - stone golems are not damaged by my non enchanted warhammers, not by the spell shillelagh which is +1, or by the flaming sword which is slashing/fire damage type. This means that I have no means of damaging these fuckers and so i have to run, i never killed either but somehow trapped them on the first floor (lame ai didn't follow). Gethras on the other hand was a bit easier to deal with, especially if you use the stairs to run when he's casting a spell. After killing him and trying to escape i did come across those damn golems again tho which were on the first floor in front of the stairs - cutting me from the exit. A botched casting of sanctuary aside i led them upstairs to the third floor where one stayed and ran for it but somehow they had cast slow on me and the one in pursuit did a number on my kidneys before i got out of the house... where he was still hot on my ass. i ended up outwitting his unbreakable ass by closing the white picket fence, ho ho ho
after running mae'vars bitch errands and cleaning up some incriminating evidence for edwin we were set to go about eliminating half of the shadow thieve's standing troops (really, how can they help me when they can't even stop my hammers from fornicating with their faces?)
i started off from the third floor because i figured working from top to bottom was more thorough or something, and gave me greater control of who i fought and where
now this is the second floor - those potions the thieves are quaffing are either oils of speed or potions of invisibility which leaves me sad, as if I could somehow manage to kill them i coudl get those oils of speed which are basically self castings of haste with no fatigue afterwards - very nice when dealing with enemies that you need to attack quickly or when you have to get multiple spells off while being assaulted. the invisibility potions on the other hand are an easy "get out of jail' card in the middle of a heated fight.
no matter -- they are easily dispatched by my hammer windmilling fury.
as a tip - for those who intend to play with no thief, it is in your interest to unlock the safes on the walls in this training area of the thieve's guild as it has a rogue stone, some potions, some gold, and some minor enchanted gear which this early on could help. how did i do it? force the locks? heavens no! while edwin was still with me and had finished memorizing the 50 or so scrolls i force fed him i had him prepare 6 castings of knock, rested, and opened 6 locks which i then took the knee in the face in traps for. the only really 'bad' trap was the arrow/bolt of biting which did a good amount of damage.
with level two clear we went on to level one
an interesting note - the ninja like assassin thieves use a combination of drow and monk animations to attack it seems and the instructor on traps/lock picking on the second floor is a monk.
also an interesting note - people die when you kill them ;(
why hallo Gorch
hey Gorch where are you going? well hey since you're just up against the wall spreadin' 'em like that mind if we uhhh
cue youtube video of the shower scene in american history x
apparently while I was busy uhhh "dealing" with Gorch some thieves from the left back room had gone around and where now setting up a botched ambush for me... in fact they were just going in circles because i had closed the door that leads from the room with the stairs into the bar, but let us just pretend we're up against something other than thumbless backstabbing freaks
now I remember mopping up mae'var easier than I did his lackeys the last couple of times I played, but having recently met a ghastly end I figured I should be more careful, especially since I'm only 1 man this time so my strategy going in was to make sure i get a chance at setting myself up against the 1 caster i know is there
cue sanctuary -- a very underrated spell that will both get you out of a fucked up situation as well as let you start things on your terms
now this is an scripting note here - apparently sanctuary either blocks ALL interaction with you (even talking) or the trigger for maevar to talk and go hostile is attack-like. i'll test out the talk theory in the coronet later when i'm verbally assaulted by nalia's request
anyway, using my gigantic cup disguise i stroll right through mae'var and his body guards into the door way behind the priest of cyric - this will both give me a closed off area to fight from should it get heavy on melee as well as a quick escape into the city if things get too hairy
well, apparently my fears were unfounded, as a quick cast of horror (true neutral character's bhaal powers) sets two of the archer thieves running
this left me to manhandle the priest until the other two came by to stab my face with their arrows of face-stabbing... BUT I SAY NAY
mae'var went down easier than pie and dropped a composite longbow too (heyyyy a thief can't use that! maybe he's dual classed?)
after turning in his bloodstains i got some more props, gold, and a short sword i can't use which i then hawked to the black market thief, and on my way out got an offer i could all too easily refuse
Brus was by shortly to give me the same shit - oh how clever of Bioware, to make the price actually 20 grand instead of 40, I say! or was it ten instead of 20? i didn't even read what Ghaelan said to be honest ;(
on my way out i was promptly assaulted by 4 thugs standing over the remains of 4 other thugs which assaulted me in the same time/way/place and incidentally died in the same time/way/place as these 4 will. i figured i should try undead-turning them in case they were the same four back for some revenant style vengeance or something but i decided to beat their dicks back in instead. at this point, having placed a second point in flails i switched from the 1d4+1 warhammers to the 2d4 morningstars which apparently count as the same weapon. Strange since a mace and a morningstar have more in common than a flail and a morningstar but whatever, more damage and the ball and chain animation is pretty kewl.
later that night i got a brilliant display of why bioware sucks ass at offering me choices
wanting oh so desperately to get revenge, i find myself staring down the door at prebek's home (i did the renfield return quest and all that)
this time things go differently - i cast silence on the two mages but apparently fall in the field myself, leaving me magic-less (no big deal really as i didn't plan to cast anything anyway) and turn the two ghasts away leaving me a good opportunity to beat the hell out of these two mages
with the ghasts sitting in the time out corner, thinking about what they've done i promptly murder prebek by bashing him to bits (in his own home, no less!)
his kinky psycho bitch is next to go - but i make sure to leave her body, her sexy still warm and usable body
quickly looting both corpses and decided risking it with two ghasts which may very well paralyze me and this flesh golem that my morningstars can't damage i duck it out and lock the door on them too
later in the harper hold, the harper's put up a magnificent argument against my philosophy of "breaking into places and stealing all their shit"
gasp!
chilling ;(
Xzar did drop something rather nice tho
now, this is a spear-staff. it counts as a quarterstaff which a cleric can use, but does piercing damage - a damage type that a cleric naturally can not utilize. this is important as there will come a time, probably, that i will need to do piercing damage to save my big orcy black dick from getting ripped off by some kind of zombie lord or something another.
having caught up with things, I'll try to keep the next updates more spaced out and about important shit and not minor "oh i killed a guy, tee hee". last night i didn't have much time so i figured i'd take more screenshots and make this intro more than a 3 picture "hey guys i made a dewd"
Tymora was in a good mood today!
meet my big black half orc Karr with the face that doesn't match (i'll throw on Abbath's portrait later or something)
Half orc fighter/cleric with 19 str, 18 dex, 19 con, 12 int, 18 wis, and 9 cha (sup ring of human influence). 3 points in dual wielding for that added awesome and 2 points in warhammers with 1 point in flails (though as of now he has 2 points in that too).
I skipped a lot of the intro stuff i covered in my last try, with this one we'll start right off with taking on mae'var's guildhall.
oh, also, i killed aerie cuz fuck that bitch
while violently breaking into rayric gethra's home which was infested with little mephits (those are demons right?) and going to murder him I was confronted with two stone golems. Interesting note - stone golems are not damaged by my non enchanted warhammers, not by the spell shillelagh which is +1, or by the flaming sword which is slashing/fire damage type. This means that I have no means of damaging these fuckers and so i have to run, i never killed either but somehow trapped them on the first floor (lame ai didn't follow). Gethras on the other hand was a bit easier to deal with, especially if you use the stairs to run when he's casting a spell. After killing him and trying to escape i did come across those damn golems again tho which were on the first floor in front of the stairs - cutting me from the exit. A botched casting of sanctuary aside i led them upstairs to the third floor where one stayed and ran for it but somehow they had cast slow on me and the one in pursuit did a number on my kidneys before i got out of the house... where he was still hot on my ass. i ended up outwitting his unbreakable ass by closing the white picket fence, ho ho ho
after running mae'vars bitch errands and cleaning up some incriminating evidence for edwin we were set to go about eliminating half of the shadow thieve's standing troops (really, how can they help me when they can't even stop my hammers from fornicating with their faces?)
i started off from the third floor because i figured working from top to bottom was more thorough or something, and gave me greater control of who i fought and where
now this is the second floor - those potions the thieves are quaffing are either oils of speed or potions of invisibility which leaves me sad, as if I could somehow manage to kill them i coudl get those oils of speed which are basically self castings of haste with no fatigue afterwards - very nice when dealing with enemies that you need to attack quickly or when you have to get multiple spells off while being assaulted. the invisibility potions on the other hand are an easy "get out of jail' card in the middle of a heated fight.
no matter -- they are easily dispatched by my hammer windmilling fury.
as a tip - for those who intend to play with no thief, it is in your interest to unlock the safes on the walls in this training area of the thieve's guild as it has a rogue stone, some potions, some gold, and some minor enchanted gear which this early on could help. how did i do it? force the locks? heavens no! while edwin was still with me and had finished memorizing the 50 or so scrolls i force fed him i had him prepare 6 castings of knock, rested, and opened 6 locks which i then took the knee in the face in traps for. the only really 'bad' trap was the arrow/bolt of biting which did a good amount of damage.
with level two clear we went on to level one
an interesting note - the ninja like assassin thieves use a combination of drow and monk animations to attack it seems and the instructor on traps/lock picking on the second floor is a monk.
also an interesting note - people die when you kill them ;(
why hallo Gorch
hey Gorch where are you going? well hey since you're just up against the wall spreadin' 'em like that mind if we uhhh
cue youtube video of the shower scene in american history x
apparently while I was busy uhhh "dealing" with Gorch some thieves from the left back room had gone around and where now setting up a botched ambush for me... in fact they were just going in circles because i had closed the door that leads from the room with the stairs into the bar, but let us just pretend we're up against something other than thumbless backstabbing freaks
now I remember mopping up mae'var easier than I did his lackeys the last couple of times I played, but having recently met a ghastly end I figured I should be more careful, especially since I'm only 1 man this time so my strategy going in was to make sure i get a chance at setting myself up against the 1 caster i know is there
cue sanctuary -- a very underrated spell that will both get you out of a fucked up situation as well as let you start things on your terms
now this is an scripting note here - apparently sanctuary either blocks ALL interaction with you (even talking) or the trigger for maevar to talk and go hostile is attack-like. i'll test out the talk theory in the coronet later when i'm verbally assaulted by nalia's request
anyway, using my gigantic cup disguise i stroll right through mae'var and his body guards into the door way behind the priest of cyric - this will both give me a closed off area to fight from should it get heavy on melee as well as a quick escape into the city if things get too hairy
well, apparently my fears were unfounded, as a quick cast of horror (true neutral character's bhaal powers) sets two of the archer thieves running
this left me to manhandle the priest until the other two came by to stab my face with their arrows of face-stabbing... BUT I SAY NAY
mae'var went down easier than pie and dropped a composite longbow too (heyyyy a thief can't use that! maybe he's dual classed?)
after turning in his bloodstains i got some more props, gold, and a short sword i can't use which i then hawked to the black market thief, and on my way out got an offer i could all too easily refuse
Brus was by shortly to give me the same shit - oh how clever of Bioware, to make the price actually 20 grand instead of 40, I say! or was it ten instead of 20? i didn't even read what Ghaelan said to be honest ;(
on my way out i was promptly assaulted by 4 thugs standing over the remains of 4 other thugs which assaulted me in the same time/way/place and incidentally died in the same time/way/place as these 4 will. i figured i should try undead-turning them in case they were the same four back for some revenant style vengeance or something but i decided to beat their dicks back in instead. at this point, having placed a second point in flails i switched from the 1d4+1 warhammers to the 2d4 morningstars which apparently count as the same weapon. Strange since a mace and a morningstar have more in common than a flail and a morningstar but whatever, more damage and the ball and chain animation is pretty kewl.
later that night i got a brilliant display of why bioware sucks ass at offering me choices
wanting oh so desperately to get revenge, i find myself staring down the door at prebek's home (i did the renfield return quest and all that)
this time things go differently - i cast silence on the two mages but apparently fall in the field myself, leaving me magic-less (no big deal really as i didn't plan to cast anything anyway) and turn the two ghasts away leaving me a good opportunity to beat the hell out of these two mages
with the ghasts sitting in the time out corner, thinking about what they've done i promptly murder prebek by bashing him to bits (in his own home, no less!)
his kinky psycho bitch is next to go - but i make sure to leave her body, her sexy still warm and usable body
quickly looting both corpses and decided risking it with two ghasts which may very well paralyze me and this flesh golem that my morningstars can't damage i duck it out and lock the door on them too
later in the harper hold, the harper's put up a magnificent argument against my philosophy of "breaking into places and stealing all their shit"
gasp!
chilling ;(
Xzar did drop something rather nice tho
now, this is a spear-staff. it counts as a quarterstaff which a cleric can use, but does piercing damage - a damage type that a cleric naturally can not utilize. this is important as there will come a time, probably, that i will need to do piercing damage to save my big orcy black dick from getting ripped off by some kind of zombie lord or something another.
having caught up with things, I'll try to keep the next updates more spaced out and about important shit and not minor "oh i killed a guy, tee hee". last night i didn't have much time so i figured i'd take more screenshots and make this intro more than a 3 picture "hey guys i made a dewd"
Alrighty then.
Raphael Argus is a very religious half-elf.
He is dedicated to living by the Holy Dictates of Sinistar.
Sinistar dwells in the Hub of the Great Cheese Wheel In The Sky.
He hungers... for Cheese.
The Duty of all followers of Sinistar is to feed Sinistar's Hunger.
The Great Hunger is a consequence of Sinistar's Existence.
He Lives, therefore He Hungers.
Cheese Tactics cause the Great Cheese Wheel In The Sky to turn, and in turning bits flake off and fall to the Hub, wherein is the Dining Table of Sinistar.
Those who feed the Hunger recieve the Divine Guidance of Sinistar in return.
Sinistar sees many things that are hidden, especially phat lewt.
He also offers excellent advice, usually of an urgent, existentialist nature.
On to the story:
(Continued from last week)
In Waukeen's Promenade Raffi's team unwisely interrupted a Vampire assaulting a Rogue.
In direct contravention of Sinistar's directives, we combat the vampire.
We win, with some damage and level drain.
This is especially bad as getting restoration would use a chunk of the 20,000 Gold I was saving towards.
Suddenly, the Argosy feels an alcohol deficiency along with a desire to head north.
It was Divine Inspiration, as this led them to:
A companion who can cast Restoration.
Also, a Firkkrand fellow wants to pay me a suspiciously necessary sum of money to handle a problem in the Windspear Hills. I accept, but I'll probably just stop by to grab some easy kills and loot, then bug out to save my hide.
Then we go shopping. Well, browsing. (Actually we went shopping on our way to drinking, but it's a better story if we get Anomen first. Only a 2-minute difference anyway.)
Just browsing, but this brings up purchase strategies.
The Argosy, as we shall be calling this enterprise, has a strict policy on purchases. (placed at end of post to avoid text wall)
So, on our way to handle or pretend to handle a job for Lord Firkkraand- that's "Firky" for now on... we avail ourselves of opportunities to pick locks, disarm traps, and grab some unattended property.
On the way to Firky-land we pass by the City Gates.
The tingle of Divine Inspiration that led us to Anomen now intensifies to the actual Voice Of Sinistar!
He Hungers! I must feed him Cheese!
As per the Holy Covenant, the Faithful recieve The Wisdom Of Sinistar that they may better serve Sinistar.
A paraphrase of the Holy Command:
"Go into that inn over there and look for a secret door in the wall. There is a lich in there so be hasted and have the thief pick the lock on the chest while you stand right next to the lich. The thief should grab the sword from the chest and transfer it immediately to you; you will immediately equip the sword and activate it's Sunray function. Then run directly to the exit, and with your team, leave the inn. This must all be done with absolutely no extra movements or you may find yourself killed or immobilized."
Sinistar must be Famished! Cowards are supposed to Run, Run, Run!
But not like that. This actually looks kind of brave. Some gods move in mysterious ways; Sinistar, being a construct-god, is a pretty straightforward entity.
So we continue to Windspear.
On arrival we massacre some monsters that turn out to be knights covered in illusions. Perhaps they saw us the same way.
Then this goombah shows up and wants us to visit his cabin.
Whatever.
So there's a child hostage involved and Minsc and Anomen aren't going to let this stuff rest. It's going to be hard cheese, not easy cheese.
Let's finish some business first and then clear the area before going after Firky (or, preferably, cheesing our way to the kid and then dissappearing).
Damn, no reward?
Not even like the one Richard Pryor ("Wally") was thinking of?
They don't need money for that.
Cleared area while invisible playing my Jester Battle Song.
Sweet music for Sinistar's ears.
Over half of those bodies were fratricides.
Wandering the area enabled some dialog:
That's all 'til tommorrow folks.
I promise the remaining [majority] of my BG2 Ironman Let's Play will not have nearly as much text. (Referring to below)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Purchasing policy:
1. Potions of Extra-Healing always get priority. (BG2 Fixpack removes almost all from sale.) Regular ones are kept if found but never purchased. Penny-wise, and pound-wise, too. Save, coward!
2. Protection From Undead/Magic Scrolls to be gradually stockpiled for a prophesied confrontation. (BG2 Fixpack appears to remove all Protection From Magic scrolls).
3. No other Protection Scrolls will be purchased as spells can substitute and there will be plenty of Protection Scrolls among the captured loot- just collect those.
4. Keep at least 5 Antidote in stock and grab all Elixirs of Health- not necessarily all at once, just remember where to return for them.
5. Potions of Defense, Power, Heroism, and Invulnerability to be hoarded but only purchased if the Argosy is super rich and has already purchased everything else on the priority list.
6. Scrolls of spells: necessary spells first, then a few extras. Then buy for xp or for entertainment. (Teleport Field and Polymorph Other are good for entertainment.)
Necessary Arcane spells: friends (for bartering), grease, protection from evil, web, stinking cloud, horror, invisibility, mirror image, invisibility 10'r, protection from evil 10'r, haste, fireball, improved invisibility, stoneskin, confusion, chaos, cloudkill, animate dead (after 15th level- excellent for fast-levelingBards), Tenser'sTransformation, invisible stalker, Improved Haste, Project Image, Mordenkainen's Sword, Mass Invisibility, Incendiary Cloud, Meteor Swarm, shapechange, Time Stop. Time Stop is beyond Gold Standard- it is diamond-encrusted platinum standard.
Buy the expensive scrolls as you become able to cast them or if you are on the edge of leveling up and really have gold to spare.
Extras: magic missile, chromatic orb, melf's acid arrow, protection from petrification (just stash a stack of them), slow, melfs minute meteors, polymorph self (except BG2 Fixpack removed the magic immunity from the Mustard Jelly, awww), Remove Curse (just let cleric do it or keep a scroll stashed), Monster Summoning I-II-etc. (hoard the ones you find), spider spawn, shadow door, mislead, death fog, wyvern call, conjure elemental (lesser and regular), summon efreeti/djinni, cacofiend/etc., and various Power Word spells.
Possibly add lightning bolt, flame arrow, chain lightning, acid fog, hold/charm/domination.
Note: In honor of Ironman mode I do not unlearn spells to relearn for XP, but I do use Potions Of Genius to increase learning chances and to increase the maximum number of spells knowable per spell level.
Cleric/Druid scrolls: silence 15'r, sanctuary. Keep good found scrolls (chaotic commands, negative plane protection, death ward if you can find any- I might even buy a few if they were for sale and Sinistar told me I would be facing those sorts of threats) and strong healing ones, but I just sell other druid/cleric scrolls unless they are for meat shields.
Armor: captured armor only. If towards end of quest, flush with gold, and all priority things are bought, then maybe. Just maybe. If it's really good armor.
Weapons: same as armor. Exception: anything with Undead Disruption.
Use fire/acid ammo, flameblade spell for finishing trolls. Unless there are bugs/lots of trolls- in which case buy 1 or 2 of the cheapest things that can deliver fire or acid effect. But only if having trouble with that stuff.
Burning Hands scrolls may substitute, but that is an expensive option.
Fire elemental is a good thing, too, except they break off when the troll goes down instead of finishing. You have to micromanage the finishing blow.
Ammo: captured only. Very early in the game it is possible to switch to using only magic ammo. Keep some regular ammo handy for mages that have protection from magic weapons but no protection from normal missiles to go with it.
(Watch out for them having invisibility instead so they can't be targeted.)
Exception: arrows of piercing and bolts of lightning. These can be of great assistance in some fights that need to be as short as possible. Keep a bundle of each handy, but only buy as needed.(break the stack and distribute to all who can use it right before the fight. In a hasted missile-frenzy, they don't need the whole batch and it takes up less space to transport them together.)
The bolts and arrows of biting are too expensive unless you have a hit and run strategy to take advantage of the time-dependent effects. In that case, look into the poisoned throwing daggers. Unless a save is allowed every round they might be very excellent value for money. Just time consuming.
Other items: captured only. Really, there is lots of neat gear, but strategic application of potions, scrolls, spells, etc. can obviate the need to spend the gold or allocate the inventory space.
Potions: in addition to what is listed above, just use what is captured.
Exceptions: slowly buy up/hoard all invisibility and speed potions.
Regeneration potions can be a good way to heal on extended crawls- in Ironman
I rest as infrequently as possible and never for more than 8 hours.
Potions of clarity, magic blocking, magic shielding, and absorption have their place. Perhaps experiment if gold permits and other priorities are satisfied. The absorption potion is -10 AC vs crushing (think golems).
Strength is a worthless potion unless the duration is many hours- then maybe it would be good for making mages into pack mules.
Giant Strength potions can provide a small to medium edge but I generally just used tactics.
The Hill Giant Strength belt available at the start after the obligatory start dungeon is a must for me, but a half-orc character may say otherwise.
Raphael Argus is a very religious half-elf.
He is dedicated to living by the Holy Dictates of Sinistar.
Sinistar dwells in the Hub of the Great Cheese Wheel In The Sky.
He hungers... for Cheese.
The Duty of all followers of Sinistar is to feed Sinistar's Hunger.
The Great Hunger is a consequence of Sinistar's Existence.
He Lives, therefore He Hungers.
Cheese Tactics cause the Great Cheese Wheel In The Sky to turn, and in turning bits flake off and fall to the Hub, wherein is the Dining Table of Sinistar.
Those who feed the Hunger recieve the Divine Guidance of Sinistar in return.
Sinistar sees many things that are hidden, especially phat lewt.
He also offers excellent advice, usually of an urgent, existentialist nature.
On to the story:
(Continued from last week)
In Waukeen's Promenade Raffi's team unwisely interrupted a Vampire assaulting a Rogue.
In direct contravention of Sinistar's directives, we combat the vampire.
We win, with some damage and level drain.
This is especially bad as getting restoration would use a chunk of the 20,000 Gold I was saving towards.
Suddenly, the Argosy feels an alcohol deficiency along with a desire to head north.
It was Divine Inspiration, as this led them to:
A companion who can cast Restoration.
Also, a Firkkrand fellow wants to pay me a suspiciously necessary sum of money to handle a problem in the Windspear Hills. I accept, but I'll probably just stop by to grab some easy kills and loot, then bug out to save my hide.
Then we go shopping. Well, browsing. (Actually we went shopping on our way to drinking, but it's a better story if we get Anomen first. Only a 2-minute difference anyway.)
Just browsing, but this brings up purchase strategies.
The Argosy, as we shall be calling this enterprise, has a strict policy on purchases. (placed at end of post to avoid text wall)
So, on our way to handle or pretend to handle a job for Lord Firkkraand- that's "Firky" for now on... we avail ourselves of opportunities to pick locks, disarm traps, and grab some unattended property.
On the way to Firky-land we pass by the City Gates.
The tingle of Divine Inspiration that led us to Anomen now intensifies to the actual Voice Of Sinistar!
He Hungers! I must feed him Cheese!
As per the Holy Covenant, the Faithful recieve The Wisdom Of Sinistar that they may better serve Sinistar.
A paraphrase of the Holy Command:
"Go into that inn over there and look for a secret door in the wall. There is a lich in there so be hasted and have the thief pick the lock on the chest while you stand right next to the lich. The thief should grab the sword from the chest and transfer it immediately to you; you will immediately equip the sword and activate it's Sunray function. Then run directly to the exit, and with your team, leave the inn. This must all be done with absolutely no extra movements or you may find yourself killed or immobilized."
Sinistar must be Famished! Cowards are supposed to Run, Run, Run!
But not like that. This actually looks kind of brave. Some gods move in mysterious ways; Sinistar, being a construct-god, is a pretty straightforward entity.
So we continue to Windspear.
On arrival we massacre some monsters that turn out to be knights covered in illusions. Perhaps they saw us the same way.
Then this goombah shows up and wants us to visit his cabin.
Whatever.
So there's a child hostage involved and Minsc and Anomen aren't going to let this stuff rest. It's going to be hard cheese, not easy cheese.
Let's finish some business first and then clear the area before going after Firky (or, preferably, cheesing our way to the kid and then dissappearing).
Damn, no reward?
Not even like the one Richard Pryor ("Wally") was thinking of?
They don't need money for that.
Cleared area while invisible playing my Jester Battle Song.
Sweet music for Sinistar's ears.
Over half of those bodies were fratricides.
Wandering the area enabled some dialog:
That's all 'til tommorrow folks.
I promise the remaining [majority] of my BG2 Ironman Let's Play will not have nearly as much text. (Referring to below)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Purchasing policy:
1. Potions of Extra-Healing always get priority. (BG2 Fixpack removes almost all from sale.) Regular ones are kept if found but never purchased. Penny-wise, and pound-wise, too. Save, coward!
2. Protection From Undead/Magic Scrolls to be gradually stockpiled for a prophesied confrontation. (BG2 Fixpack appears to remove all Protection From Magic scrolls).
3. No other Protection Scrolls will be purchased as spells can substitute and there will be plenty of Protection Scrolls among the captured loot- just collect those.
4. Keep at least 5 Antidote in stock and grab all Elixirs of Health- not necessarily all at once, just remember where to return for them.
5. Potions of Defense, Power, Heroism, and Invulnerability to be hoarded but only purchased if the Argosy is super rich and has already purchased everything else on the priority list.
6. Scrolls of spells: necessary spells first, then a few extras. Then buy for xp or for entertainment. (Teleport Field and Polymorph Other are good for entertainment.)
Necessary Arcane spells: friends (for bartering), grease, protection from evil, web, stinking cloud, horror, invisibility, mirror image, invisibility 10'r, protection from evil 10'r, haste, fireball, improved invisibility, stoneskin, confusion, chaos, cloudkill, animate dead (after 15th level- excellent for fast-levelingBards), Tenser'sTransformation, invisible stalker, Improved Haste, Project Image, Mordenkainen's Sword, Mass Invisibility, Incendiary Cloud, Meteor Swarm, shapechange, Time Stop. Time Stop is beyond Gold Standard- it is diamond-encrusted platinum standard.
Buy the expensive scrolls as you become able to cast them or if you are on the edge of leveling up and really have gold to spare.
Extras: magic missile, chromatic orb, melf's acid arrow, protection from petrification (just stash a stack of them), slow, melfs minute meteors, polymorph self (except BG2 Fixpack removed the magic immunity from the Mustard Jelly, awww), Remove Curse (just let cleric do it or keep a scroll stashed), Monster Summoning I-II-etc. (hoard the ones you find), spider spawn, shadow door, mislead, death fog, wyvern call, conjure elemental (lesser and regular), summon efreeti/djinni, cacofiend/etc., and various Power Word spells.
Possibly add lightning bolt, flame arrow, chain lightning, acid fog, hold/charm/domination.
Note: In honor of Ironman mode I do not unlearn spells to relearn for XP, but I do use Potions Of Genius to increase learning chances and to increase the maximum number of spells knowable per spell level.
Cleric/Druid scrolls: silence 15'r, sanctuary. Keep good found scrolls (chaotic commands, negative plane protection, death ward if you can find any- I might even buy a few if they were for sale and Sinistar told me I would be facing those sorts of threats) and strong healing ones, but I just sell other druid/cleric scrolls unless they are for meat shields.
Armor: captured armor only. If towards end of quest, flush with gold, and all priority things are bought, then maybe. Just maybe. If it's really good armor.
Weapons: same as armor. Exception: anything with Undead Disruption.
Use fire/acid ammo, flameblade spell for finishing trolls. Unless there are bugs/lots of trolls- in which case buy 1 or 2 of the cheapest things that can deliver fire or acid effect. But only if having trouble with that stuff.
Burning Hands scrolls may substitute, but that is an expensive option.
Fire elemental is a good thing, too, except they break off when the troll goes down instead of finishing. You have to micromanage the finishing blow.
Ammo: captured only. Very early in the game it is possible to switch to using only magic ammo. Keep some regular ammo handy for mages that have protection from magic weapons but no protection from normal missiles to go with it.
(Watch out for them having invisibility instead so they can't be targeted.)
Exception: arrows of piercing and bolts of lightning. These can be of great assistance in some fights that need to be as short as possible. Keep a bundle of each handy, but only buy as needed.(break the stack and distribute to all who can use it right before the fight. In a hasted missile-frenzy, they don't need the whole batch and it takes up less space to transport them together.)
The bolts and arrows of biting are too expensive unless you have a hit and run strategy to take advantage of the time-dependent effects. In that case, look into the poisoned throwing daggers. Unless a save is allowed every round they might be very excellent value for money. Just time consuming.
Other items: captured only. Really, there is lots of neat gear, but strategic application of potions, scrolls, spells, etc. can obviate the need to spend the gold or allocate the inventory space.
Potions: in addition to what is listed above, just use what is captured.
Exceptions: slowly buy up/hoard all invisibility and speed potions.
Regeneration potions can be a good way to heal on extended crawls- in Ironman
I rest as infrequently as possible and never for more than 8 hours.
Potions of clarity, magic blocking, magic shielding, and absorption have their place. Perhaps experiment if gold permits and other priorities are satisfied. The absorption potion is -10 AC vs crushing (think golems).
Strength is a worthless potion unless the duration is many hours- then maybe it would be good for making mages into pack mules.
Giant Strength potions can provide a small to medium edge but I generally just used tactics.
The Hill Giant Strength belt available at the start after the obligatory start dungeon is a must for me, but a half-orc character may say otherwise.
gunman
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2008
- Messages
- 1,050
Grrr, my tutu crashed last evening and I didn't have a recent save. I had to replay almost one hour worth of playing time. The autosave was corrupted too. For Tutu users: save often and be ready to use the Beregost crash fixer
Update and Preview:
I've been too busy playing the game (been a long time since I played BG2 and I forgot how compelling and time-consuming it is) to post regular updates.
I'll be putting up half of the remaining Ironman Let's Play for BG2 over the rest of this week, and the rest over the weekend.
I got so absorbed in playing BG2 that I ended up starting a ToB Ironman with the same party.
No Watcher's Keep- too dangerous for Ironman.
Almost died last night. Being cautious, even anal-retentive skull-crushing boredom cautious doesn't seem to be a huge help in ToB.
Here is a preview of ToB Ironman, which I will be posting starting next week after I finish posting all of the BG2 Let's Play material I have stored.
Sendai almost ended my run:
Things were looking really bad, and the fight was only about 1/4 to 1/3 over:
I found the Rez-rods in my inventory after Raphael Argus and Jan fought for a long time in "The Battle Of The Scrolls":
It was an awesome and nerve-wracking fight, a Thermopylae in a teapot.
What a glorious mess, I'll bet it reeked like hell.
We were likely to win anyway, but just barely.
Remembering the rez-rods made me think about the 100k in gold I spent on those summoning scrolls.
:flush:
Full story next week.
After the BG2 stuff is posted.
I've been too busy playing the game (been a long time since I played BG2 and I forgot how compelling and time-consuming it is) to post regular updates.
I'll be putting up half of the remaining Ironman Let's Play for BG2 over the rest of this week, and the rest over the weekend.
I got so absorbed in playing BG2 that I ended up starting a ToB Ironman with the same party.
No Watcher's Keep- too dangerous for Ironman.
Almost died last night. Being cautious, even anal-retentive skull-crushing boredom cautious doesn't seem to be a huge help in ToB.
Here is a preview of ToB Ironman, which I will be posting starting next week after I finish posting all of the BG2 Let's Play material I have stored.
Sendai almost ended my run:
Things were looking really bad, and the fight was only about 1/4 to 1/3 over:
I found the Rez-rods in my inventory after Raphael Argus and Jan fought for a long time in "The Battle Of The Scrolls":
It was an awesome and nerve-wracking fight, a Thermopylae in a teapot.
What a glorious mess, I'll bet it reeked like hell.
We were likely to win anyway, but just barely.
Remembering the rez-rods made me think about the 100k in gold I spent on those summoning scrolls.
:flush:
Full story next week.
After the BG2 stuff is posted.
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
I got damn near every sidequest and the first level of watcher's keep cleared without giving Bayle the money (or joining the vamps)... does anyone actually want an update tho? I have the screens... I guess I might as well post it. I'll make it a short summary of just the more interesting fights. Fucking Adamantine Golems..
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
Nicely done Redeye.
Karr met his untimely eath from an unlikely opponent ;(
So I was basically going about cleaning up the minor quest chains.
Cleared out trademeet and the druid grove and found this little gem
That's from one of the two noble houses in Trademeet... they both approach you with the same quest and promise you a better reward and blah blah, but right as you go to the "empty crypt" to get the doodad in question, the local mayor-like figure approaches and just ruins the whole "think for yourself" deal of any game. Basically Bioware gave you the "good" finish right as you went into the tomb instead of bothering to let you think about the ramifications of giving one of two rival noble houses the upper edge in whatever dispute. Not that you'd even see any repercussions from siding with either one...
anyway, remembering that there was some good stuff in watcher's keep I figured I should at least do the first level even if only for the experience...
After getting all the maguffins and doing the ritual the statues come alive and attack!!!!
Most are easy enough except for one...
Some castings of heal and elbow grease put him down too...
Moving on, while roaming in the temple district some Talonites attacked me on the street. This apparently was their grudge from when I put the smackdown on them in their little war with the Lathandrian priests. I figure since I killed their street-yellers an their guards I might as well burn the temple down with it...
They go down easy enough...
I run around killing more shit until i decide to head over to the windspear hills where I meet a legitime threat...
I'm forced to heal and melee it out with him. Luckily the Flail of Ages' slow works on damn near fucking everything. But the prick puts up a fight worth mentioning...
oh fuck...
note the character level... heh.. heh... hehehehhaaaaaaaaawaaaa
Killing the vampires however gives me enough experience to level up my fighting half... and it is apparently at super-ability status.
It appears that a multi-class character may pick any of his high level abilities from either class' list regardless of which class leveled up. Neat. I take Energy Blades because I remember them being VERY useful against liches and the like.
Anyway, I clean up and don't fight Jiergen as a dragon is way too big of a threat and decide I'll put that sewer key I found to use in Athkathla..
Mindflaying fun indeed
some protective enchantments and I go flailing ahead
Okay, REALTALK
My INT got drained by the mind flayers. Now if I was a mage or bard, my spells would get fucked up... but I'm a cleric so I'm good... right? Not quite. When your int is drained by a mindflayer you're set up for an insta-death attack they have that bypasses deathward. So basically every single illithid can now kill me with a physical attack. Luckily this int drain is short lived and goes away after 2 rounds or so.
the sanctuary trick seems to be working... 'sept the local commander of the illithids can see past it and attacks me anyway.
I use the opportunity to dispel his mage-ly castings and take him out, then pull out some of the other chumps and put them to the thrasing as well. There's 3 mindflayers, 2 umberhulks, and 2 Ulitharids in that room. Plus alhoon... overall, a risky fight for a full party of 6 but a slightly dangerous game for a lone cleric.
Anyway, rather liking my undead-turning skills I decide to go back to the beholder pit and take on the ghoul town, as there's some fancy treasure in there if I'm not mistaken and I could go for some easy EXP. Plus I don't like leaving loose ends.
I take on the group of blind priests first and much to my surprise it appears as the blind can go blinder...
So i blinded the blind priests that I passed by before... even though they were already blind? Neat. Maybe I'm my own grandfather too?
why hellllooo little undead!
BOOSH
FUCK
The damn blind priests dispelled my casting of energy blades, too...
FUCK!!!!!!
The lich apparently didn't make a move during time-stop as he was too far away and so it went by with no spells cast. However, shortly after he hits me with some death effect spell and I pull off Deathward RIGHT before it hits me
The greater mummies around it put up quite a fight too... and their disease effect does ALOT of damage over time
I dispel the lich's effects, take a stab at some smite-evil and silence castings... and then go in to try Flamestrike on him... but he hits me with something more dangerous than a Save-or-Die... Symbol of Fear
Apparently chaotic commands doesn't protect against symbol of fear... fuck... fuck fuck fuck
the Greater mummies surround me and start gang raping me and the lich decides that's not heinous enough so he drops an abi-dalzim on me as well
and the final countdown begins...
RIP Karr, we hardly knew ye...
----------------
notes: Well, multi-class sucks dick. It's useful if you have a class that actually goes anywhere but for a fighter to anything else, Dual Classic is ridiculously more useful. With all that XP i wasted on fighter levels I could have easily been a level 10 fighter and level 20 cleric. My undead-turning would probably have killed the damn lich as was the case with my last run through... or at least rebuke him.
The extra high-level abilities is nice but doesn't account for stunted spell casting and fighter perks like extra weapon proficiencies are.... useless. Two points in any weapon is more than ample as you get very little return per point spent after, something like a grand total of +1 to hit, +1 to damage, and -1 to weapon speed factor. Useless considering two points = +2/+1 and +1/2 attack.
Clerics gain a lot of great spells in their high level abilities like the ability to summon 2 16hd elementals with a 10% shot to summon an elemental prince... that's a ridiculous summon, as is the Daeva/Fallen Daeva (they come with a fuck load of cleric spells memorized like circle of blades and heal). The implosion spell easily does 20-200 damage and energy blades is horribly over-powered. They're a thrown weapon that does something like 1d4+ 1d10 damage, you can chuck out 5 in a turn, and they count as +5 weapons (meaning you can even keep Kangaxx at bay with them).
The half orc's high con and str is a nice boost for forcing locks and healing on rests, but overall I'd say a human dualed from fighter to cleric (or from ranger to cleric) is MUCH more useful.
Quest chains I had finished...
Umar Hills, Temple of Amanautor (didn't fight shadow dragon), Trademeet, Druid Grove (cleaned out troll den), De'Arnise Keep (Flail of Ages is too damn useful), Slaver Stockade in Slums, All of my Stronghold's quests (temple of helm), quests for temple district including the fallen paladins, quests from docks including harper hold infiltration for Montaron, Skinner-killings in Bridge district (did not do the Haer'Dalis quest line), sewers under temple district including most of the Haer'Dalis area (didn't kill mage incase it might ruin it), ilithid stronghold in sewers, first level of watcher's keep, and fuck.. a lot of other minor shit I can't even remember.
Things that I had on my to do list...
1) Valygar and Planar Sphere quests
2) Haer'Dalis and Interdimensional prison quest
3) edwin and kagain's quests, though most of the graveyard's catacombs were cleaned by me
4) kill the dragons
5) watcher's keep
7) pay Bayle the money and start shadow thieves' quest chain
Karr met his untimely eath from an unlikely opponent ;(
So I was basically going about cleaning up the minor quest chains.
Cleared out trademeet and the druid grove and found this little gem
That's from one of the two noble houses in Trademeet... they both approach you with the same quest and promise you a better reward and blah blah, but right as you go to the "empty crypt" to get the doodad in question, the local mayor-like figure approaches and just ruins the whole "think for yourself" deal of any game. Basically Bioware gave you the "good" finish right as you went into the tomb instead of bothering to let you think about the ramifications of giving one of two rival noble houses the upper edge in whatever dispute. Not that you'd even see any repercussions from siding with either one...
anyway, remembering that there was some good stuff in watcher's keep I figured I should at least do the first level even if only for the experience...
After getting all the maguffins and doing the ritual the statues come alive and attack!!!!
Most are easy enough except for one...
Some castings of heal and elbow grease put him down too...
Moving on, while roaming in the temple district some Talonites attacked me on the street. This apparently was their grudge from when I put the smackdown on them in their little war with the Lathandrian priests. I figure since I killed their street-yellers an their guards I might as well burn the temple down with it...
They go down easy enough...
I run around killing more shit until i decide to head over to the windspear hills where I meet a legitime threat...
I'm forced to heal and melee it out with him. Luckily the Flail of Ages' slow works on damn near fucking everything. But the prick puts up a fight worth mentioning...
oh fuck...
note the character level... heh.. heh... hehehehhaaaaaaaaawaaaa
Killing the vampires however gives me enough experience to level up my fighting half... and it is apparently at super-ability status.
It appears that a multi-class character may pick any of his high level abilities from either class' list regardless of which class leveled up. Neat. I take Energy Blades because I remember them being VERY useful against liches and the like.
Anyway, I clean up and don't fight Jiergen as a dragon is way too big of a threat and decide I'll put that sewer key I found to use in Athkathla..
Mindflaying fun indeed
some protective enchantments and I go flailing ahead
Okay, REALTALK
My INT got drained by the mind flayers. Now if I was a mage or bard, my spells would get fucked up... but I'm a cleric so I'm good... right? Not quite. When your int is drained by a mindflayer you're set up for an insta-death attack they have that bypasses deathward. So basically every single illithid can now kill me with a physical attack. Luckily this int drain is short lived and goes away after 2 rounds or so.
the sanctuary trick seems to be working... 'sept the local commander of the illithids can see past it and attacks me anyway.
I use the opportunity to dispel his mage-ly castings and take him out, then pull out some of the other chumps and put them to the thrasing as well. There's 3 mindflayers, 2 umberhulks, and 2 Ulitharids in that room. Plus alhoon... overall, a risky fight for a full party of 6 but a slightly dangerous game for a lone cleric.
Anyway, rather liking my undead-turning skills I decide to go back to the beholder pit and take on the ghoul town, as there's some fancy treasure in there if I'm not mistaken and I could go for some easy EXP. Plus I don't like leaving loose ends.
I take on the group of blind priests first and much to my surprise it appears as the blind can go blinder...
So i blinded the blind priests that I passed by before... even though they were already blind? Neat. Maybe I'm my own grandfather too?
why hellllooo little undead!
BOOSH
FUCK
The damn blind priests dispelled my casting of energy blades, too...
FUCK!!!!!!
The lich apparently didn't make a move during time-stop as he was too far away and so it went by with no spells cast. However, shortly after he hits me with some death effect spell and I pull off Deathward RIGHT before it hits me
The greater mummies around it put up quite a fight too... and their disease effect does ALOT of damage over time
I dispel the lich's effects, take a stab at some smite-evil and silence castings... and then go in to try Flamestrike on him... but he hits me with something more dangerous than a Save-or-Die... Symbol of Fear
Apparently chaotic commands doesn't protect against symbol of fear... fuck... fuck fuck fuck
the Greater mummies surround me and start gang raping me and the lich decides that's not heinous enough so he drops an abi-dalzim on me as well
and the final countdown begins...
RIP Karr, we hardly knew ye...
----------------
notes: Well, multi-class sucks dick. It's useful if you have a class that actually goes anywhere but for a fighter to anything else, Dual Classic is ridiculously more useful. With all that XP i wasted on fighter levels I could have easily been a level 10 fighter and level 20 cleric. My undead-turning would probably have killed the damn lich as was the case with my last run through... or at least rebuke him.
The extra high-level abilities is nice but doesn't account for stunted spell casting and fighter perks like extra weapon proficiencies are.... useless. Two points in any weapon is more than ample as you get very little return per point spent after, something like a grand total of +1 to hit, +1 to damage, and -1 to weapon speed factor. Useless considering two points = +2/+1 and +1/2 attack.
Clerics gain a lot of great spells in their high level abilities like the ability to summon 2 16hd elementals with a 10% shot to summon an elemental prince... that's a ridiculous summon, as is the Daeva/Fallen Daeva (they come with a fuck load of cleric spells memorized like circle of blades and heal). The implosion spell easily does 20-200 damage and energy blades is horribly over-powered. They're a thrown weapon that does something like 1d4+ 1d10 damage, you can chuck out 5 in a turn, and they count as +5 weapons (meaning you can even keep Kangaxx at bay with them).
The half orc's high con and str is a nice boost for forcing locks and healing on rests, but overall I'd say a human dualed from fighter to cleric (or from ranger to cleric) is MUCH more useful.
Quest chains I had finished...
Umar Hills, Temple of Amanautor (didn't fight shadow dragon), Trademeet, Druid Grove (cleaned out troll den), De'Arnise Keep (Flail of Ages is too damn useful), Slaver Stockade in Slums, All of my Stronghold's quests (temple of helm), quests for temple district including the fallen paladins, quests from docks including harper hold infiltration for Montaron, Skinner-killings in Bridge district (did not do the Haer'Dalis quest line), sewers under temple district including most of the Haer'Dalis area (didn't kill mage incase it might ruin it), ilithid stronghold in sewers, first level of watcher's keep, and fuck.. a lot of other minor shit I can't even remember.
Things that I had on my to do list...
1) Valygar and Planar Sphere quests
2) Haer'Dalis and Interdimensional prison quest
3) edwin and kagain's quests, though most of the graveyard's catacombs were cleaned by me
4) kill the dragons
5) watcher's keep
7) pay Bayle the money and start shadow thieves' quest chain
Mikayel, that was amazing.
Why not use an army of summons?
15th level = Skeleton Warriors.
With BG2 fixpack, skeleton warriors have brains that can be devoured by mind flayers and I think they can be charmed, too.
So the cheese is deflated a bit.
I'll resume my BG2 Ironman LP tonight as all I have left of ToB is the fight with Meliisan, which I will probably lose unless she can be whacked with spell-trigger cheese.
(Improved Hasted, stoneskinned, mirror-imaged Slayer? Can I transform to Slayer while under the effects of Tenser's Transformation? Will it stack?)
Why not use an army of summons?
15th level = Skeleton Warriors.
With BG2 fixpack, skeleton warriors have brains that can be devoured by mind flayers and I think they can be charmed, too.
So the cheese is deflated a bit.
I'll resume my BG2 Ironman LP tonight as all I have left of ToB is the fight with Meliisan, which I will probably lose unless she can be whacked with spell-trigger cheese.
(Improved Hasted, stoneskinned, mirror-imaged Slayer? Can I transform to Slayer while under the effects of Tenser's Transformation? Will it stack?)
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
I don't think the stat improvements would stack but the THAC0 might, best bet would be to experiment first. Slayer form sets your stats/attacks at a certain level I believe, its not just adding to your stats.
As for skeleton warriors... to be honest I kind of got caught by the damn lich in complete surprise. I have never faced a lich there and earlier when I just snuck through there was no lich... the damn thing apparently spawned as a result of my higher level.
What I really don't understand is why chaotic commands didn't protect me against Symbol: Fear, but eh.
Skeleton Summons... I remember them being pretty useful given that they're resistant to some attack types and have magic resistance as well, I just didn't have any set.
My previous cleric based approach to lichs was to turn them, and if high enough level, it actually blows 'em right to hell. I was still too weak to turn this one tho as my fighter levels had leeched precious exp from my cleric levels. The demi-liches can't be turned I believe, they're too high level themselves or something, but at that point energy disks and one of those potions of magic protection that make your saving rolls automatically for you do the trick, and there's only two demi-liches in the game I think. Incidentally, you could use a more simple solution - set Minsc to Rage and at the bastard with a +5 weapon (or +4?). They're physically weak but have so many disabling spells and protections that it's hard to take them on without some weird nich-strategy.
As for skeleton warriors... to be honest I kind of got caught by the damn lich in complete surprise. I have never faced a lich there and earlier when I just snuck through there was no lich... the damn thing apparently spawned as a result of my higher level.
What I really don't understand is why chaotic commands didn't protect me against Symbol: Fear, but eh.
Skeleton Summons... I remember them being pretty useful given that they're resistant to some attack types and have magic resistance as well, I just didn't have any set.
My previous cleric based approach to lichs was to turn them, and if high enough level, it actually blows 'em right to hell. I was still too weak to turn this one tho as my fighter levels had leeched precious exp from my cleric levels. The demi-liches can't be turned I believe, they're too high level themselves or something, but at that point energy disks and one of those potions of magic protection that make your saving rolls automatically for you do the trick, and there's only two demi-liches in the game I think. Incidentally, you could use a more simple solution - set Minsc to Rage and at the bastard with a +5 weapon (or +4?). They're physically weak but have so many disabling spells and protections that it's hard to take them on without some weird nich-strategy.
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
After having studied the description for the spell in question, Chaotic Commands, I can only conclude that it does not, in fact, protect at all against fear effects, and that any time I had resisted fear spells previously while under CC's effect was simply due to my saving rolls.
Oh my, how pathetic indeed.
Oh my, how pathetic indeed.
Mikayel said:
Remove fear/resist fear is an absolute requirement for my party.
In ToB a timestop combo of Symbol: Fear and Symbol: Death is routine.
Plus Dragon Fear and other incessant bullshit.
This gives me an idea for a campaign.
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
Yep, in hindsight it was a total retard move on my part but I just didn't see it coming. Neither the lich, nor its casting of Symbol: Fear, nor Chaotic Commands not covering fear effects.
I did have a shield of Harmony which would protect against it had I known that small part, but oh well. Live and die, for helm... or something.
I did have a shield of Harmony which would protect against it had I known that small part, but oh well. Live and die, for helm... or something.
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