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Funnily enough the end boss of BG1 is probably the easiest as long as you have a character that can use a scroll of globe of minor invul. You just pop the scroll agro the boss and kite across the Bhall-Traps
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Jan 2, 2019 01:29
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Critical Mister's got some no-hopers, jokers and rogues assembled. I'll try not to overdo it, but I do tend toward chattier updates. You have been warned. After hitting Beregost (and, not pictured, robbing the place blind), C.M. and Imoen headed to the Feldepost Inn to look for work and do a bit of shopping. A very little bit of shopping, because even with a diamond and a liberated magic bastard sword burning a hole in our pocket, we ain't exactly rich.  In addition to a glitterdust scroll and the book that Elvenpants next door wants, we buy these Guril berries. Why? SHUT UP, THAT'S-, uh, I mean all will become clear. We also recruit Kagain as a (temporary) meatshield. And speaking of recruits, the real reason we came here first was to pick up some mod-added local talent, starting with:  Vynd. He's a drow assassin who fled the Underdark because he has a heart of gold. Er, a heart that loves gold. He's been cooling his heels in the Burning Wizard and we have to pay him off to get him to join up. (For some reason he refuses to appear where he should and I have to console him in.) And then I make a huge mistake. I send him in, stealthed, to hang out behind Silke in the hopes of catching her with a poison backstab before she can get a spell off. Except, of course, SCS won't allow that because gently caress you, you're in cutscene hell with no breaks to position yourself before the fight kicks off. (It also cheats me out of the extra hundred GP I should get for having high charisma, but whatever.) So instead we end up with Vynd way off in left field for the fight beginning. Fortunately Kagain smashed her in the face (and she doesn't have an convenient stoneskin like half the other mages in the game, thank Christ) and we come through it okay.  There's also this fun interjection when Vynd finds out that Garrick's been waiting outside all this time trying to hire some mercenaries. Anyway, we go in the Red Sheaf, deal with the assassin in there, and pick up our last Beregost recruit:  Finch! She's a hero and a librarian! Most of a party thus recruited, we take care of some important heroic business:  Mug Neera for her gems:  drat near get murdered by wolves on the road north (not pictured, but there was a pack of five of them and then a dire wolf for good measure and then an ambush by two worgs on top of that before we finally got to the Friendly Arm Inn. Nobody died, but it was a close one. Jester song's proving worth its weight in gold so far, though.) Tarnesh goes down like a punk thanks to a Command spell from Finch and a one-two backstab/facesmash from Vynd and Kagain, we recruit Jaheira, and then head upstairs to find...a statue?  The dude in here isn't especially forthcoming (I'm not sure if there are dialogue combinations where he might be) but one stone-to-flesh scroll that I picked up on the way later, and...  And of course I forgot to rest up so we're running on no spells whatsoever. But fortunately for us, he opens with Sleep, and Kagain has a trillion hit points and Vynd is an elf, so we're good. And then we recruit:  Something that I reeeeeeealllly hope isn't a furry sex mod. (I've played with this NPC a bit but not too far in, and it wasn't notably terrifying, but, well, we'll see!)
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Jan 2, 2019 05:01
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Angry Lobster posted:I've been binging BG hard, already finished with BG1 and in BG2 (I'll write the report later). The thing is I've been playing fairly sloppy, especially towards the end of BG1, however this character has survived so many near-death situations by sheer luck it's disgusting. Bloody hell man, how are you not dead of dehydration?
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Jan 2, 2019 06:54
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docbeard posted:
Does it have Rakshasa immunities?
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Jan 2, 2019 08:06
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Skwirl posted:Does it have Rakshasa immunities? Hahaha I hadn't even thought of that but no, I don't think it does.
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Jan 2, 2019 08:56
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Baiku Torii the Half-Orc Kensai has made it through the bandit camp and cloakwood mines! This run has been pretty smooth. Melicamp lived:  Imoen died after she was left to the mercy of four ettercaps when I fat fingered and set off a web trap rather than disarming it. Fortunately my favourite NPC, Coran was right there to replace her. Coran's quest brought me closest to a game over that I've had, that wyvern poison is nasty as gently caress  Then Coran set off a lightning trap in the mines which killed Xan. Let's be real, it's what he would've wanted. And anyway, by this point I was reminded why I never used Xan in the past - Enchanter is the absolute worst specialist mage in BG1 because all the best spells are Invocation. It's a shame because he's also the only mage without annoying overlapping exclusions/inclusions with other NPCs.  So I picked up Yeslick for now, and proceeded to kill Davaeorn without issue. Along the way I picked up the only magic katana in BG1 for Baiku Torii. Current party needs rebalancing, but consists of: Coran Garrick Jaheira Khalid Yeslick I'll probably swap Khalid and Jaheira for Minsc and Dynaheir next time.
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Jan 2, 2019 11:11
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docbeard posted:Something that I reeeeeeealllly hope isn't a furry sex mod. (I've played with this NPC a bit but not too far in, and it wasn't notably terrifying, but, well, we'll see!)
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Jan 2, 2019 12:40
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JustJeff88 posted:Bloody hell man, how are you not dead of dehydration? The truth is I do not enjoy BG1 near as much as I do BG2, so whenever I play a solo character, once I get a few levels and items early on, I rush the main quest and finish as fast as possible. Of course this is pretty reckless and most of the time I pay for it. Now to the LP, giant post incoming. Let’s do this.  Mulahey went down with no issues whatsoever, The Pebble is just too overleveled at this point.  Bandit camp cleared, Tazok’s goons were easier than I expected. Cloakwood time.   Freaking spiders, I hate them so much. Barbarian rage doesn’t provide immunity to web and poison, so this could have been lethal. In hindsight I should not have risked death to get the sword. After this I rushed all the forest areas and didn’t stop until I reached the mines.  The Pebble lays down the beatdown on the bounty hunters at the mines. For once I’m not stingy with potions and it makes the fight a breeze. Also, The Pebble loots the boots and now has achieved VERY HIGH SPEED.  Sweet monkey balls I hate lightning bolt traps.  I hate Battle Horrors, they are mean, tough and hit like trucks.  Davaeorn finally goes down, the man himself was not hard, but the battle horrors were a mess and I had to go up to previous floors to rest and heal (with infinite ambushes in between, of course). Time to go to Baldur’s Gate (and a short shopping trip to Ulgoth’s Beard).  The Iron Throne headquarters battle was a mess, a long, annoying and potentially fatal mess.  The idea was to drawn out the melee goons to the lower floors and take advantage of the double stairs to go around and gank the mages separately. It worked pretty well but I overestimated The Pebble’s melee power and I had to get out of the building and rest in the sewers three or four times. Had a couple near death experiences, one to pathing issues and another when I tried to melee and got critted repeatedly.  VERY HIGH SPEED KITING The Pebble’s best weapons are his legs. To Candlekeep.  TRAPS!    Bugger me that was a close fight. Now to Baldur’s Gate, Iron Throne Headquarters boogaloo  Nearly got destroyed again. Can you guess what happened in the Undercellar?  You guessed right, another near death experience. Sweet monkey balls, note to past self: Don’t play so fast, eventually you’ll run out of luck. Amusingly, the doppelganger fight in the Ducal Palace was super easy and steamrolled them without any of the dukes dying. In the maze I made a huge mistake because I was in a hurry to get to Sarevok. I tried to skip the doom guards and skeleton archers there and run past them. When I was fighting Rahvin and his goons guess who appeared from behind?  Freaking doom guards followed me to the underground temple and poo poo hit the fan. I had to retreat to the maze and run away to the surface to rest and heal, about half a dozen time. It took me literally a real-time hour to kill both doom guard and the other fellas.  Again.  Finally all of them went down. What’s funny is that if I were more patient and not rushed so hard I would not have so much trouble. The barbarian’s speed and tons of HP saved my rear end again and again. FINAL BOSS First step, trigger the battle horrors from the right, clean them up and rest outside without triggering Sarevok and his mooks.  Buff up and try to lure someone. For some reason Tazok is the first to come after me. Some kiting and melee later, he dies.  Angelo and Semaj come next, this was funny because at first it was me and Angelo shooting explosive arrows at each other and Semaj was getting blown by all the area of effect. I buffed myself with fire resistance so it was fine.  The tough part was when he switched up to normal arrows, but in the end both of them went down.  Finally, Sarevok. I accidentally triggered another Battle Horror, but it didn’t matter at this point.  VERY VERY HIGH SPEED KITING  The end. The Pebble, the solo barbarian, has bested Sarevok Honors: Ironling, Purist, Conan the Bhaalspawn, Battlemaster, A God Among Men. I apologize for the long post. Angry Lobster fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Jan 2, 2019 |
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Jan 2, 2019 12:47
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Lizzy the Sorceress has killed Sarevok. Good starting stats.  I decided to play on easy instead of core rules because I had another character before this that died and I was getting frustrated. So I go solo and level up to max level off easy quests and just grinding. Lower difficulty levels grant more xp so this is pretty easy. After that I tend to the main quest which is not hard when you walk past most encounters invisible.  Here's some dudes who cant hurt me. I decided for the fight in the ducal palace I wanted some help killing the dopplegangers so I finally go to friendly arm inn. Saldy Khalid and Jaheria were missing.   I get some other people instead and the palace goes fine. Rassad finds some traps for me as I use a combo of minor globe and invis to get thru here alone. I buff to hell for the fight against Sarevok and use my wands including my trusty wand of paralyzation that trivializes him.   Honors: Ironling, roleplayer, battlebaster, honorable trader Dishonors: Don't hurt me!
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Jan 2, 2019 14:32
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So pickpocketing is basically off limits in an Ironman game, right?
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Jan 2, 2019 19:24
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Jay Rust posted:So pickpocketing is basically off limits in an Ironman game, right? Not at all, just stack up potions of master thievery until your pickpocket skill is like 200ish and you're basically guaranteed success.
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Jan 2, 2019 19:30
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Yeah above about 200 or so you basically never fail. Although be careful of bernard in the copper corronet he seems you detect you sometimes even with a really high skill.
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Jan 2, 2019 20:50
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Happy new year, Ironman people! Sorry for not updating the OP until now, I was away with family. Caught up with the thread up to here! I hope you enjoy the attempts at keeping your characters' info in the OP humorous.
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Jan 3, 2019 02:38
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I just wanted to say that I've never had the time/masochism to do one of these runs myself but I look forward to this thread every year and living out the pain vicariously through all its posters 
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Jan 3, 2019 10:26
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Olive Branch posted:Critical Mister the Jester continues to inspire a new generation of musicians in the EDM (enchanted dance music) scene, picking up a goth, a nerd, and a furry to round out the roadie association. Add one aging hippie and, um, whatever Imoen is, and we've got ourselves a stew goin'! Anyway, when last we left our, uh, heroes, Critical Mister and co. had just arrived at the Friendly Arms Inn. While exploring the surrounding area, Vynd decided to reveal just why he'd left the Underdark behind.  It's hard to argue with his logic. After sorting out Joia's ring, we start to generally head southward. Verr'sza wants to stop by the ring of stones where Gorion died, as that's where the slavers who turned him into a cat figurine were going to meet up. We go there. (For the record, it looks like the only special immunity Verr'sza has is 5% magic resistance.)  Looks like we're in the right place. Thanks to SCS, this guy comes prebuffed with stoneskin which my party really has no way of dealing with.  ...with few exceptions.  Being an eeeeevil monster from another plane, Verr'sza's objections to slavers tend to be more personal than ethical. Most of his dialogue so far appears to center around him trying to sound you out to see just how murderous you're willing to be, and/or taking you to task for not being even remotely prepared to avenge Gorion. (There's also been at least one potential romantic dialogue option, which I am, uh, avoiding.) We head on to High Hedge where, in addition to doing a bit of shopping, we have an opportunity to help out a dissatisfied customer.  Well, specifically she's someone seeking Thalantyr's help for her husband, who's come down with a bad case of werewolf. This is what the guril berries are for. Thalantyr offers three options for making a cure, with varying odds of success, and the guril berries make it a coin flip. The only better odds require belladonna from Werewolf Isle and who has that kind of time?  We also pick up this essential piece of early equipment. I contemplating selling off Evermemory, since I'm not rolling with a proper mage until Imoen dual-classes and bards can't use it (and by then I'll be able to pick up another one), but we decide to hold that in reserve.  Verr'sza makes some light conversation.  Before we can sort out Aiwell's husband, a ghastly groupie takes us out of the running for the Iron Party honor. We go get Jaheira raised.  Verr'sza's not what you'd call a fan of Lathander.  Back to High Hedge. Aiwell's husband lives in the house up to the northwest of High Hedge. Let's see if this potion works!  Welp.  He's not a particularly powerful werewolf, though we'd be hosed if we didn't have any magic weapons at all, which could easily have happened.  Thalantyr rewards us for bringing him the body. (If we'd succeeded, Aiwell and her husband would have given us this sword instead.)  We continue to head south, where we face a Call To Epic Adventure. But Jaheira's getting antsy about getting to Nashkel so we'll come back to this.  AFFAB!  We make it to Nashkel without any real further incident, aside from this assassin. A command spell sorts her out. Critical Mister has made it to Nashkel.
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Jan 3, 2019 11:37
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Lizzy is nearly done chapter 2 and has hit epic levels. I started off with the usual suspects like thieves guild, skinner murders, copper coronet etc..  Being invis and immune to divination gave this guy a hard time.  I had to melee this guy down and it loving sucked. Cracking open some boys with the cold ones. I grab Aerie for a bit to help me reach level 14 and get the spell I really want, the magical sword. Nasty insta kill trap here that I couldn't remember if it was flesh to stone or finger of death so I protected myself from both. This is why spell trigger was invented.  I'll probably wrap up chapter 2/3 quests in a bit then probably grab a party for heading to spell hold.
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Jan 3, 2019 19:51
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Chapter 2 is pretty much done. The planar prison is no match for planetars and wish.  Firkraag learned about time stop.
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Jan 4, 2019 02:27
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I was beginning to despair for my Ironmans this year. No character could live longer than an hour, and they would always die in bullshit ways: hit by Neera's color spray, https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358590058 (1:21) bodyblocked by a spider in Beregost  I was starting to get mad at video games. So I turned to my favorite class, a wizard, and my favorite type of wizard, a necromancer. These are the results:  https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358470842 (5:20) (I expected her to die within an hour too so this is taken long after the fact) Things got off to a rocky start for Fulda. While fighting the ogre in the second area, a wolf and a gibberling decided they wanted to play too. Both she and Imoen were brought within 1 hit point of dying, but with the help of potions I stole from Xzar and Montaron we carried the day. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358470839 (3:52) The next hiccup was Tarnesh. Hopping in and out of the temple in the Friendly Arm Inn helped keep us safe from his Horror spell, but I needed an arrow to land and while I dallied Imoen ate a burst of Magic Missiles to the face. Luckily, I was right next to the temple. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358470840 (1:40) Down in Beregost, I decided to see how I'd do against Karlat. Imoen dies again, and I escape off the map to come back around and engage him in an area where I can kite him. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358470841 (7:03) The immediate threats in Beregost taken care of, I went and spent a half hour killing Basilisks to power level before picking up Neera. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358470843 (30:44) I used my new-found powers to flex on a group of adventurers. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358477013 (4:34) I finally decide to move on to Chapter 2, where I pick up Branwen and go see about this poor Melicamp fellow.  He dies. I make a quick trip up north to grab Viconia and Shar-Teel, then do a quick run of the mines. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358578966 (31:50) With the story out of the way I set about clearing all the areas from Beregost down. There are a lot of wide open areas where nothing big happens, so there are very few highlights from it. Imoen gets vaporized in a battle with an ogre mage. Kind of kicked myself over it since I was unsure about doing this fight in the first place. Side note, did you know that all the kobolds in the Firewine Bridge ruins respawn? Found that out when I was trying to cut down on travel time! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358581263 (6:47) Then I clear the Gnoll Stronghold. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358581730 (25:49)  I never realized just how many gnolls there are in the citadel area. Probably because I never bother scouting since I know what's there. A xvart village is not an appropriate encounter for a level 5/6 party. This is still one of my favorite bits of the game though, it feels like an anti-xvart death squad. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358583200 (5:40) So as of this post, Fulda has cleared the Nashkel Mines and is murdering everything else in the south!
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Jan 4, 2019 06:00
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So, everything was going incredibly smoothly in Baiku Torii's life. We dumped Jaheira and Khalid for Minsc and Dynaheir, then cleared up nearly all of the wilderness areas, firewine, ulcaster etc without losing a party member or having any kind of difficulty at all. Everyone was level 5-7 somewhere. We saw the sights of Baldur's Gate! Or at least, we went there briefly to visit Sorcerous Sundries:  The only real setback was here, losing what I think is the only Melf's Minute Meteors in BG1 to a lovely scribe failure.  Then we went up to Ulgoth's Beard for a bit more shopping and to get duped by Shandalar in order to get the Stoneskin scroll. Even that went fine. But then, as I always do, I decided the shank Shandalar for tricking us into going to that island. They must have significantly buffed him with the EE or in a recent patch because the dude opened with his globe of invulnerability, confusion and sunfire spells as usual and I was prepared for this. Normally I can take him down before he gets any further than that, but this time his casts were back-to-back in improved alacrity-style machine gun mode. Anyway, when he started throwing out lightning bolt spells two per round that was enough to do it, and Baiku Torii the Kensai died at the hands of the rear end in a top hat mage, Shandalar. Does anyone know if this is a recent change or did I just get unlucky and not kill him quick enough this time?
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Jan 4, 2019 20:28
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 Starting over, meet Vichan the Sorcerer! Core Rules just as before, going to take it nice and slow this time. EDIT: Playing with a portrait mod and the BG1 NPC project, God help me.  That's Tarnesh dealt with!   ...I'm going to regret installing this, aren't I? 
Vichan fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jan 4, 2019 |
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Jan 4, 2019 21:23
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Vichan posted:...I'm going to regret installing this, aren't I? The BG1 NPC project is, um, a land of contrasts. I kind of can't play without it any more, though.
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Jan 4, 2019 21:35
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A lot of it is pretty good. Some of it is really not. And god help you if you installed the romance components...
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Jan 4, 2019 21:40
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I don't think the BG1 NPC Project treated Imoen that badly in her dialogues to be honest. I don't have the heart to be an rear end to Imoen because she reminds me strongly of a personal friend of mine. Plus I actually find her roguishness and hints at being a potential mage kind of charming. Manos Potentis Pah, friend! That said I never installed any romance mods for BG1 or 2, and anyone who wanted to bone Imoen is a bad person.
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Jan 4, 2019 22:56
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Probably my last one, let's hope it can go the distance: Welcome Ba'ik Toree, Half-Orc Shaman!  Currently chilling at the FAI with Xzar and Montaron, who I don't think I've ever used before. Montaron has proficiencies with slings ffs. We'll see how long they last before I replace them with Edwin.
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Jan 4, 2019 23:11
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Kala is wrapping up some chapter 2 stuff. I wanted the ring from this quest line so I recruited Jaheria and since you can't kick her out until it's all over I figured I would grab a party for a bit.  We went and did the beholder cult and that went smoothly so I decided to knock off some liches while I was in the area.   Kangaxx got bodied without much trouble. Once he was firmly aggroed on me I brought in Keldorn to finish him off with the holy avenger.
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Jan 5, 2019 00:23
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Fulda is done wandering! Along the way I help out an archaeological investigation, which apparently involves murdering everyone at the dig site and then a possibly extraplanar horror. I was going to murder Nib too for a rep hit so I could be less worried about losing Shar-Teel and Viconia, but there's no section on Duolingo for "conspiracy." https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358693780 (7:57) I also got severely overconfident with a trio of sirines and end up in a minor clusterfuck, solved by AoEs. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358693779 (3:24) Then I go to help out Neera with this wild mage she wants to meet. I was incredibly lucky that both the wizards got affected by Horror, so it became a matter of kiting the fighters down. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358693781 (5:45) After that it's up to the bandit camp! I had fun playing Solid Snake with Safana, but with only one mage able to cast Invisibility it had to end sooner rather than later. A Horror here also makes the final fight trivial. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358694371 (32:27) With all the wilderness areas clear I go up to the Cloakwoods. It's a lot of walking around casting Sleep on groups of tasoli and inching my way through the spider area, until what I consider the main highlight of the segment, the wyvern cave. It's like they wanted to put in a dragon, but any level-appropriate dragon would look pathetic, so they went with something less orthodox but still cool. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358997237 (2:28) At the very end we meet the master of the mines, Davaeorn. Him summoning a Battle Horror at the start surprised me, but it just meant I had to kite a little until he got hooked on Branwen. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358997236 (3:36) This is the entirety of my Cloakwood run, including the half-hour when I went to get food and forgot to edit that part out. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358997238 (3:26:15)  And I flooded the mines, because I'm Chaotic Good and it (keeping Shar-Teel and Viconia in my party) was the right thing to do. So now Fulda is on her way to Baldur's Gate! I've also learned the Czech words for hobgoblin, ogre, goblin, squirrel, warg, wand, and staff, which are sure to come in handy!
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Jan 5, 2019 02:04
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Arnaldo the Shaman continues his travels. His foster father buried, Arnaldo takes to the road with Imoen and picks up Xzar and Montaron along the way.  An Ogre is no match for the power of the sun itself.  Neither is some mageling a match for Arnaldo's physical perfection. Please ignore Imoen lying on the ground unconscious, somebody had to be bait and she is the party member with the lowest damage potential. Arnaldo loves his little sister but he can make the hard decisions when he needs to. Anyway, when she finally wakes up Imoen does the Manis! Potentis! PAH! bit and Khalid and Jaheira join the party.  We explore the nuances of tactical dancing by having Khalid kite some hobgoblins into summoned spirits. We move on to Beregost.  The game spawns some bandits along the way, Xzar takes an arrow and promptly dies. Nobody really cares overly much and so Arnaldo leaves him where he fell. In Beregost, Arnaldo first recruits Kagain and then indulges in the ironman-within-the-ironman experience of trying to keep an AI-controlled Neera alive through the fight against some Red Wizard underlings before she can join.  It works out pretty well as Neera manages to get a Sleep spell off and the mage's spells are all interrupted by timely arrows and Sunscorches. Neera replaces Montaron, who may not be happy to get kicked out of the group before he can investigate what's going on in Nashkel but probably still appreciates being rid of Xzar. Neera immediately gets to transcribing some scrolls and manages to learn Glitterdust, which is actually a pretty big deal. We explore Beregost and the temple area but stay clear of Silke, the dwarven bounty hunter and the wolf pack for now. Imoen attempts to rob every house in Beregost but usually needs to call in Arnaldo for help so he can break the locks she can't pick yet. The party brings a petrified adventurer back to life who tells us of basilisks to the east and how to turn them into XP, piñatas but it is not yet time for that. Arnaldo gets bitten by a Wild Dog at some point, which leaves him at 3/10 HP. That's the most noteworthy thing that happens in terms of battles. Everything else just folds to Sleep. South of Beregost, some Ogrillons, Hobgoblins and assorted random spawns are killed, and a letter and a family heirloom returned to Beregost for modest rewards. Also:  I really thought this would work or at least give me a second chance to say the right thing but no, the Flaming Fist mercenaries are so thoroughly unimpressed by Arnaldo's 18 Charisma that they attack immediately. The Flaming Fist proves to be fairly ineffective at fighting even low level adventurers, but Imoen still gets one-shot at some point because I didn't realize she was in melee range. Too bad, but ultimately the 3 suits of Plate Mail the mercenaries drop are worth more than the 100 gold it costs to resurrect her and whatever little trauma she may have suffered. Once Imoen is among the living again, the party travels to Nashkel and kills a bounty hunter and an exploding ogre before going in for the true test, Zordral the mage. True test in that he will wipe the floor with most parties in a stand-up fight. Luckily, like most mages he is brought low by the party leaving his area as soon as he starts casting a spell only to enter it again once a new round starts. Eventually, he tires of these cruel games that see all his Sleep spells fizzle and follows the party outside.  He immediately falls victim to the blinding radiance of the sun/Arnaldo's chiseled physique. Since I installed the SCS kobold upgrades I don't want to go to the Nashkel mines just yet. They're doable, but I'd rather have some extra HP on everyone and more Sleep spells. Which is why the party explores some of the surrounding western areas, killing bandits, Taslois, Half-Ogres, thoroughbred Ogres, Xvarts etc. (also watching Drizzt kill a dozen gnolls while the party manages to kill precisely one; they were all very proud).  Good job.  It's not just Ursa that is a little confused. Bassilus' entourage also just kinda stands around instead of leaving their cursed undead existence behind after Bassilus' illusions are shattered. One of the zombies even develops Stockholm syndrome and attacks. In a stunning display of low level swinginess, Bassilus is reduced to a sliver of his HP almost instantly and then...everybody misses or does minimum damage. Bassilus lands a Hold Person on Jaheira followed by a Mental Domination on Kagain. Bassilus dies directly afterwards but Kagain takes down a defenseless Jaheira before Neera can pacify him with a Sleep spell.  The party spends the night with the remaining skeletons and zombies and bids them farewell in the morning.  Undeterred by Jaheira's death, Arnaldo and Neera go on to enlighten more bandits about the awesome power of Sunscorch and Sleep until they find a talking chicken.  All in good fun.  Until Melicamp dies. Well, RIP. While we're here, Neera learns Mirror Image and Protection from Petrification. Jaheira is returned to life and some quests (Bjornin, Perdue, Bassilus) turned in in Beregost. We then return to Nashkel via the excavation map and solving Captain Brage's riddle and continue to grind out some levels east of Nashkel.  Arabelle lives as Neera/the Sleep spell saves the day again.  And Arnaldo reaches level 3 killing some named bandits. He learns Entangle and, at 5,000 XP, is now halfway to level 2 spells.  (Don't look at the level 2 Druid spell list, it's sad.)
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Jan 5, 2019 06:31
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Vichan posted:...I'm going to regret installing this, aren't I? I hope you weren't planning on using Kivan.
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Jan 5, 2019 06:34
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Wizard Styles posted:It's mostly okay and I think a bunch of the NPCs are actually well-written (Safana, Quayle, Kagain etc.) but yeah, some are definitely not. Imoen is somewhere in the middle I'd say.
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Jan 5, 2019 07:17
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People poo poo on Shaman but Ba'ik Toree is going strong. Blasted through the mines and everything along the way with ease thanks to the neverending summons. Most fights so far have involved Kagain kiting until the spirit summons can draw aggro and then ducking in while the summons tank. Because the summons are endless and one pops up almost as soon as it's predecessor dies, it's very effective even against enemies I wouldn't dare take on at level 2:  I've got a feeling she might go the whole way! She's currently enroute to the gnoll stronghold and the coastal cave for the two tomes. A bunch of high XP kills after the mines has her at level 4.
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Jan 5, 2019 09:59
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Vitus the Cleric/Thief has bit the dust on the 2nd floor of the Cloakwood Mines. I cannot verify if it was one of the 10 ice arrows or a misplaced fireball on my part but it went fast and painless. I'll roll another sacrificial lamb once I return home. Melicamp also did not make it on this run. But the miner in Nashkel who runs from the kobolds was able to escape unscathed. We did it for you Miner Beldin, we did it for you. Ulvino fucked around with this message at 11:36 on Jan 5, 2019 |
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Jan 5, 2019 11:31
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Olive Branch posted:Is there a script or text dump of the mod somewhere out there? Or rather, is there a way to open a mod's text files to read dialogues? I'm curious to read Kagain's lines. You want DLG files called B followed by the first 5 letters of the NPC's name, so BKAGAI.DLG for Kagain. Pick tree view and you can just read through the dialogue:  bike tory posted:People poo poo on Shaman but Ba'ik Toree is going strong. Blasted through the mines and everything along the way with ease thanks to the neverending summons. e: Kiting enemies into summoned spirits usually works, at least, but it can still take a while until two summons have actually appeared. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Jan 5, 2019 |
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Jan 5, 2019 14:23
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Thanks for the instructions on reading dialogue in Near Infinity, Wizard Styles! Updated the OP to here, good on the survivors so far! Shame about hearing about about the fresh dead, but...  Most will end up here, covered in the poisoned earth, awaiting merciful oblivion.
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Jan 5, 2019 17:51
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The latest Tweaks Anthology mod has a component called Death Cam, which extends the amount of time between your death and the cinematic + load game pop-up. Very useful
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Jan 5, 2019 18:07
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So. Uh. I just found out that Beamdog made the jester song break invisibility a couple updates ago. GUESS HOW I FOUND OUT? RIP Critical Mister, having run into the middle of a bunch of goblins screaming WOOOOEEEOOOOEEEOOOO I'M INVISIBLE I'M INVIS oh fu-
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Jan 5, 2019 22:00
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docbeard posted:So. Uh. I just found out that Beamdog made the jester song break invisibility a couple updates ago. Yeah RIP solo jester runs 
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Jan 5, 2019 22:29
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Just a small update for lizzy. I buffed up to fight a lich that died in 1 round anyway.  I made a new friend.  I wanted to try out an evil party for a bit but needed someplace to safely put Jaheria so she didn't leave the group forever. I think this will do nicely. 
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Jan 5, 2019 22:52
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Attempt#2: This is Rayvek because I will inevitably steal most of my character names from podcasts.  She's a kensai who will eventually dual-class to a druid, which requires insane stats. Fortunately, my broken af autoroller is happy to oblige!  It turns out that a quarterstaff-focused kensai doesn't really need to do a lot of initial shopping! So, we do the usual whirlwind tour of all the early areas, but since the BG1 NPC project's come up a bit, I wanted to show off one of my favorite little moments that it adds. Specifically, if you go back to Candlekeep with Imoen in the party...  You get the option to ask to have Gorion taken home for burial.   No mechanical or xp benefits or anything, it's just a neat little touch. As usual, I nip down to High Hedge, skirt the top of the map, and go straight to Beregost. It's by far the safest way to get there (if you don't get a particular random encounter on the way). In addition to robbing the town blind, I start the recruiting process. Now I could go with more or less the same party I had last time, but what fun is that? So, first we pick up:  Drake, an extremely drunk and cynical priest of Tyr. His heart's in the right place, he believes firmly in justice, but doesn't see a whole lot of it being done. He's the only NPC (modded or otherwise) we're picking up in Beregost. After saving Neera's gem pouch (also saving Neera) from spellcasting bandits, we start on our way north. Tarnish isn't a particular problem...  Though we do have to wait for Imoen to sleep it off afterwards.  I don't think I showed this off last time so, while we're in the Inn, we chat with this gnome who wants us to retrieve a historically-significant spellbook from the Ulcaster Ruins. We tell Auntie Jaheira and Uncle Khalid thanks but no thanks, get a fumigation contract in Beregost, pick up some pantaloons, and head south. Our next stop is Nashkel.  Oh yeah, Drake is also Amnish. Which goes over super well with the Flaming Fist Goon Squad on the road.  Speaking of things going super well...  We hit up the circus after that debacle to pick up the fourth member of our company.  It's hard to tell, but this is the aftermath of the Greywolf fight (and also the place where we'll pick up Companion #5, about whom more in a sec). SCS Greywolf comes equipped with an oil of speed, and Quayle managed to hit him with Spook just as he used it, so he ran screaming into an army of kobolds. Even better, while we were finishing off the kobolds, Prism wandered down to give us his death monologue and then wandered back up to die.  But finally kobolds are sorted, Greywolf is sorted, and we are able to do what we actually came here to do: recruit Isra. She's a Sunite paladin, a cavalier to be specific, and probably my favorite mod NPC in Baldur's Gate 1. Finally, we head over to Basilisk Park, though we are in no position to hunt basilisks yet. Instead, we're picking up:  Good ol' friendly and reasonable Shar-Teel. Now, having gathered our party, we venture forth.
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Jan 6, 2019 04:59
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Fulda has been very busy since reaching the titular city. First I stop a break-in at a house I was breaking into.  Then I free a nymph from some wizards involved in the nymph trafficking trade. Good thing that guy in Friendly Arm Inn disappeared or I'd have to tell him I murdered his uncle. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359761658 (6:29) While breaking into houses I find a party of Ogre Magi waiting for me. Luckily I was suspicious and cast Minor Globe of Invulnerability on myself and Neera just before entering. It didn't stop the Confusion from affecting them (and only them, luckily), but it was a solid preparation in case they came at me with lower level spells. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359761657 (2:42)  Wait, poo poo, THIS is the break-in house. I just murdered someone in their own home earlier.  Speaking of break-ins, while looking to liberate some items I found a particularly well-defended house. Fortunately I had my front liners break down the door first to draw the majority of their attacks while only one person had to kite Invisible Stalkers. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359761655 (5:35) As a result of another break-in I did, I get sentenced to tour an island of wizards. I think I handle it pretty well. No really, I'm actually kind of proud of how I solve Wizard Island without having my party murder each other. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359761656 (22:34) As a final stop before leaving the Gate, I pay a visit to my good friends at the Iron Throne. Surprisingly nobody dies in the final fight. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359761654 (9:08) But that's not all I've done! I also went back to Candlekeep, where I was accused of a murder I definitely did. Somehow they knew about the escape tunnel, and despite what I would call an unusual amount of preparation on my part I still lose two party members. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359761654 (3:50) Once I'm free of the Candlecrypts I visit Ulgoth's Beard again, where I meet this charming, very foreign fellow.  I already don't like Werewolf Island very much, and it was made even more frustrating this time since Shar-teel got dire charmed by one of the sirines and did exactly enough damage to Neera to kill her (though that was probably lucky, since if it had been two hits she probably would've been vaporized). Then on the second level of Balduran's ship Viconia got overwhelmed by Wolfweres and died too, they were simply doing damage faster than I could heal it despite an AC of -8 or so. So I had some issues with the boss fight - the Greater Wolfwere was healing faster than I could damage it, and the closest I got was Near Death but couldn't seal the deal. I tried to retreat to rest and try again, but my party Three Stooged their way down the stairs and I got stuck. Then I remembered I had many, many potions of Giant Strength. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359764505 (9:04) Then we returned to Ulgoth's Beard, where I murdered Mendas.  Language note: Werewolf and Wolfwere are the exact same (Vlkodlak), probably because Wolfwere is a nonsense thing made up by Gary Gygax! So with all that down the next step for Fulda is going to Durlag's Tower. I'll be streaming it starting at around 7:30-8 am US Central time if you want to watch, and probably finishing the whole thing since I'm trying to get back on a normal sleep schedule. Edit: am now live if you want to watch me narrowly avoid death. Softface fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Jan 6, 2019 |
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Jan 6, 2019 13:50
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The Pebble, the solo barbarian, sets out from Chateau Irenicus. First things first, the Pebble battles his nemesis. Also, some more minor questing in Athkathla to gather gold and xp (circus, slavers, etc.) The firt major quest I decided to tackle was the De’Arnise keep, I thought it would provide some major pay-offs. How hard it can be? I’ve done it dozens of times. Wrong. De’Arnise Keep should be renamed “The Pebble must suffer”  This rear end in a top hat gave a hell of a time. Couldn’t deal with him in melee no matter what, so I had to resort to trapping him in random rooms to rest and then try to kit him to death with a bow.  The problem was that random trolls kept spawning making it harder, also this fucker have massive amounts of ac and thaco. It took me literally more than an hour to kill him.  Tor’Gal was another problem, he was too tough in melee with his innate slow, even with the flail of ages, so I had to kill first his giant trolls, rest and then come back for him. It was only possible because I went back to Athkatla and bought the scepter of resurrection to heal myself. After all this struggling, I took it easy by doing the druid and rogue quests, probably the easier stronghold to deal with.  Next was the bard quest, once the boots of speed were acquired I realized that The Pebble had graduated from weakling to powerhouse.  Next I rushed the main quest, mainly to get the improved mace of disruption early. After this, the rest was pretty easy.   Killed the twisted rune and Kangaxx. Yes, I abused the scroll of protection from magic, sue me. The remaining stronghold quests were not an issue, even with the hilarious amounts of random spawns of adamantine golems and liches.   Slayed the shadow dragon and Fikraag.  The Pebble, the solo barbarian, sails to Brynnlaw.
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Jan 6, 2019 15:04
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