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For example: Jaheira, despite having a lot less total HP than Korgan, is a lot more resilient because of iron skins + armor of faith.
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Jan 16, 2020 02:33
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Yeah Jaheira is probably the tankiest NPC in the series and that's despite the druid armor restrictions.
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Jan 16, 2020 08:46
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Fighter/druids don't have any armor restrictions in BG. Jaheira can wear full plate.
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Jan 16, 2020 14:10
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She also benefits from the druid's incredibly stupid experience curve, so she gets some of the more advanced druid spells incredibly quickly. I swear she keeps pace with a single classed wizard in terms of spell access.
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Jan 17, 2020 03:25
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Quick update, no screenshots because not much of interest happened, but Ellie the Elven Mage/Thief has reached Nashkel. Turned in some quests in Beregost and the Friendly Arm while I was at it, and found the ankheg plate in the Nashkel field. The bounty hunter in the Nashkel inn went down easy, and I swapped out Montaron for Rasaad. I've gotta say that Rasaad and Neera feel out of place so far; they talk way too much for BG1 companions. Wish they'd kept them a little quieter and then had them expand on their backstories in BG2 so that they'd mesh a little better. Won't be diving into the mine because I remember a lot of traps and way too many kobold archers which would probably prioritize my PC to be their favored pincushion. My gear has jumped a bit in quality but I'm going to quest around and get some more levels. I don't precisely remember where everything is so hopefully I don't stumble straight into some basiliks right away or something.
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Jan 18, 2020 05:07
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They "talk way too much" compared to almost literal silence? Vanilla BG1 NPCs barely say a word to each other outside of mods. A bit of interaction with the newer NPCs is at least more realistic than how it used to be. The quality of it is subjective, admittedly, but personally I like it, for the most part. As for Isabelle, I've beaten BG1, so I'll post the screenshots a little later.
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Jan 18, 2020 13:32
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biscuits and crazy posted:They "talk way too much" compared to almost literal silence? Vanilla BG1 NPCs barely say a word to each other outside of mods. A bit of interaction with the newer NPCs is at least more realistic than how it used to be. The quality of it is subjective, admittedly, but personally I like it, for the most part. That's my point, they don't mesh with the other NPCs who have fairly limited dialogue and interactions. Not saying they need to be absolutely silent but Rasaad, for example, has stopped my character something like three times in two hours of gameplay to have conversations about his past and how the moon reflects on the water, etc. When it happens it feels out of place, compared to BG2 where being talkative is normal for a companion/NPC. Not a big deal or anything, it was just the first thing I noticed about the new companions.
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Jan 18, 2020 17:56
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I feel like there was something I was supposed to be...oh! Right! So where were we? Crick Watson, Human Wizard Slayer, at the end of my last update a thousand years ago, was on his way to Baldur's Gate.  Taking the, uh, scenic route.  None of these encounters give us much trouble, and now Indira can cast Stoneskin.  Before we head on to the big city, we decide to mop up the Stone of Askavar mod. Starting in this new wilderness area. The area itself has a few web traps but nothing much of note except an encounter with a small band of adventurers, think about the difficulty level of some of the named bandit encounters in the normal game.  And we snag this talisman.  The next talisman is in the wilderness area just north of Nashkel. That depression where it looks like a cave? Now there actually is a cave there. Mostly wraith and sword spiders, which Isra can pretty much deal with on her own at this point.  We also have a lone wizard to fight. It's not much of a problem.  Three talismans down, two to go.  The next one can be acquired in Beregost with no combat whatsoever. We answer this beggar's riddle, at which point he has me buy him an expensive ruby from Feldepost's Inn. I think I could just take the talisman off him if I'm an rear end in a top hat, but I'm not.  This one's quite nice.  We pick up a lead on the last talisman in one of the houses in Beregost, where a young girl's sister has been kidnapped. We track the kidnappers to this area just past the temple. (Turn left at the vampire wolves.)  You'll remember that, whether by design or oversight, these talismans are not prohibited to wizard slayers? We take full advantage of this.  We show the talismans to Cearwin who gives us rather poor directions. He's actually pointing us to the ruins in the same area as the bandit camp that ends Act 3. The entrance is very well hidden, but inside we find:  A fight! Three spellcasters, two archers, two fighters and a stone golem, and as usual the stone golem is the biggest threat. Drake gets, I think, flame arrowed to death but we otherwise get through it intact.  We recover the stone  And return it for our reward. A bunch of gold, a bunch of experience and, oh yeah, the talismans themselves. All right. Now we're off to Baldur's Gate for real. This update is already long enough so I'll keep the further screenshots to a minimum. Basically, aside from mod content, we've done: Arkion and Nemphre's jewel heist (we murder them both) Cleaned out the Seven Suns and the Merchant's League of Doppelgangers Raided the Low Lantern and dealt with the Entropy Sisters and Yago (getting his curse book for Brielbara in the process) Both of Narlen's thief quests Talked down Ragefast and murdered Razamith (and got the Intelligence tome, which I give to Imoen) Get the kid's body back from the Temple of Umberlee Get poisoned, get unpoisoned, and get the first Wisdom tome, which goes to Jaheira Dealt with the warehouse basilisk Got the quest for the Helm of Balduran, which we're technically still in the middle of (even though we totally already have the helm) And a few other minor things. Couple mod content notes: When we head into the Elfsong, we find Drake's old friend Stoneheart waiting for us:  The short of it is that he's tracked a group of Shadow Thieves here and he needs our help to sort them out. They're in the sewers because of course they are.  We meet this fine fellow in the central area, and he tells us about his incredibly smart and not at all insanely stupid plan to breed gibberlings as art supplies. Inevitably, they escaped. Into the sewers. Because of course they did.  In the Temple of Helm, we get word that...um...Serpents of Someone, Ascalon's Mod Pack Main Quest contact...Wostek Somethingsomeone...anyway, he's in the sewers too. Because etc. Crick Watson is going to the sewers. Because of course he is But oh yeah...  Happy birthday to him! (The BG1 NPC mod is hit or miss but it's moments like this that I love. Imoen's present is a reskinned amulet of protection that of course he can't wear, but it's the thought that counts.)
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Jan 18, 2020 18:19
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Wicked Them Beats posted:That's my point, they don't mesh with the other NPCs who have fairly limited dialogue and interactions. Not saying they need to be absolutely silent but Rasaad, for example, has stopped my character something like three times in two hours of gameplay to have conversations about his past and how the moon reflects on the water, etc. When it happens it feels out of place, compared to BG2 where being talkative is normal for a companion/NPC. Not a big deal or anything, it was just the first thing I noticed about the new companions. Yeah, thats fair. I guess I never really noticed the discrepancy all that much since the EEs came out. I've not used the new NPC's all that much (Or any NPCs most of the time, I usually do solo runs), and I always play with the BG1 NPC project. As promised earlier, here's the update for Isabelle, Priest of Helm, who has killed her brother Sarevok and completed Baldur's Gate.  Continuing with Durlag's, the battle with the 4 warders proved easier than I expected, because I was able to separate them into 4 individual fights. Avarice (Isabelle having true sight is basically a hard counter to his nonsense)and fear were killed without issue, and love isn't too strong as a wizard. Once pride was on his own I was able to apply a fresh set of buffs, and he died very quickly. The 2nd level was mostly simple, there are very few enemies to worry about, but the 4 doomguards almost killed Dorn and Rasaad.  Onto the 3rd level, the greater wyverns would probably have been easier had I not killed the statue NPCs, but whatever. The ashirikuru demon things are hard countered by true sight, so they were easy targets.  Chess was mostly solved with a lot of fire, but the 2 knights avoided most of it and did a number on Isabelle. Lucky I have so many potions.  Level 4 was cleared easily, and Grael was no match for a fully buffed party. Onto the demonknight.   It took a few attempts with wands of paralyzation, but I was eventually able to get a stun to stick. Isabelle killed the demonknight shortly after. Simple enough.   I haven't killed Kahrk in years, hes usually seriously dangerous with SCS. Here though, he died very quickly to a fully buffed party and 4 skeleton warriors.  I entered Ulgoths Beard invisible to avoid getting backstabbed to death, and turned the cultists ambush against them. Web and free action made short work of both the group at the entrance, and the group in the house. [timg]https://i.imgur.com/jFr248a.jpg[/img][/timg] Onto the main event. Tracea was killed immediately after summoning Aec, and I got to work killing the other cultists while Dorn attempted to tank the demon.   It took about a dozen attempts, but eventually Aec was stunned. He was killed shortly afterward. Only Sarevok left now.  I usually skip this party, its pretty clear why. Arrows of detonation are pretty brutal, luckily I have more fireballs than they do and I was just about able to survive.  Here's the gimmick of the SCS version of the final battle. Sarevok gets an extra ally, and he's literally invincible when all four of his allies are alive. He becomes steadily more vulnerable as you kill them, but cannot be killed until all 4 are dead.  I was able to pick off Semaj almost immediately with fireballs, and Angelo followed soon after. For whatever reason, Sarevok did not respond to this, and stood perfectly still the whole time. Kind of cheesy, but I'll take it.  Tazok is very resistant to fire, but he eventually died to the same tactic. Sarevok finally woke up after this, but with 3 of his allies dead he's vulnerable to stun. (Or maybe even earlier, to be honest I've not played around too much with this fight) Similar to Aec'Letec, it took about a dozen attempts, but I finally got a stun to stick. His final ally, Diarmid is a straight fighter but he uses a protection from magic scroll. He was no match for the party with Sarevok stunned. Sarevok himself was killed by Isabelle shortly after, and the game was won. Seemed appropriate for Isabelle to personally kill her brother at least. Unfortunately I didn't get any screenshots of anything after Tazok's death. Honours earned: - Ironling, Strategist, Librarian, Trap Dodger, Honourable Trader, Iron Party, Battlemaster, Double Damage. Next up, Siege of Dragonspear. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jan 18, 2020 |
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Jan 18, 2020 22:38
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I've been thinking about it, and the vulnerability of fighters and mages gradually shifts over the course of BG2 until fighters become glass cannons and wizards can stand in the middle of a horde of enemies without taking a scratch. I could have given Korgan Hardiness, but I thought it was more prudent to turn him into the glass cannon that he is by loading him up with Critical Strikes and having Jan throw Improved Haste on him. Even the big fights are over after a couple of rounds, and it's easy enough to load him up on heals to keep him going if he survives. And if he doesn't, well, Resurrection is free. Anyway, it's time to introduce my hard-ish mode before I go to ACTUAL hard mode stuff next year and bring in my next contestant.  Tripp Fisk abhors all sort of bladed weapons ever since he put out one of his eyes in a sword-selling accident when he hawked cheap swords under the moniker Mr. Sword. He rebranded himself, and now travels the Sword Coast telling people cautionary tales about the dangers of swords. His stats are aggressively average, but as you can see he's been pumping iron, and his knowledge about how dangerous swords are is supernatural. Unfortunately, with no swords to cut people wide open, fights like this take ten minutes in real-time.  Magic, the sword of wizards, doesn't cut Melicamp in two.    These fights are incredibly risky for me, since one missed save will kill me. Moving back and forth out of Bassilus's line of sight makes his spells a non-issue though, and the Sword of Helm, which does NOT count as a sword because Helm admits up front they are not for decoration, makes short work of the spiders before they can poison me to death.  Obviously these once-proud warriors were killed by the very swords they hold, making them perfect candidates for my crusade against swords.   I've never used Sanctuary much before, but being able to go invisible from level 1 onward is real handy.  Mulahey doesn't hear me creating a skeleton army somehow, and I plow through him. Tripp Fisk clears the Nashkel Mines during his crusade to destroy all swords, because the Iron Throne was horning in on his racket.
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Jan 19, 2020 00:21
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biscuits and crazy posted:As promised earlier, here's the update for Isabelle, Priest of Helm, who has killed her brother Sarevok and completed Baldur's Gate. Congrats! These posts have been very helpful in refreshing my memory on some SCS features. Meanwhile, Camilla the Elf Stalker has also defeated Sarevok. At the end of the last update we were heading into the City of Baldur's Gate. Upon arrival at the Elfsong Tavern, Imoen starts her study of magery. I'm going to need a thief in the meantime so we say farewell to Branwen for the rest of the campaign and temporarily recruit Coran as a replacement. He introduces us to the wyvern cave (we'll be spending quite a while there over the upcoming months) and helps us through the Thieves Guild quests. We pick up some useful items around the city: a Ring of Wizardry for Imoen, the Int/Dex tomes, Balduran's Cloak, Ogre Strength Gauntlets, and a lock of hair for saving the nymph from Ramazith. Edwin faceplants three times in the process and I realize I really need a good way to counter thieves that chain invisibility potions. We then swap Coran out for Dorn, Neera, and Rasaad in turn, boosting them up through wyvern hunting before completing their questlines. On Neera's quest I tried to save the captive bear by charming it but that turned all the goblins hostile and I had to kill them all. Otherwise the quests go quite smoothly. The poison immunity sword from Dorn made wyvern hunting even easier (not that Khalid has the right proficiency, but he can just offhand it). With all of that done, we recruit the last permanent party member: Faldorn. She's the only base companion who can cast 5th level divine spells, which critically includes True Seeing. After getting her leveled up, two hundred days after we entered Baldur's Gate for the first time, we finally go to investigate the Iron Throne. We crash the party at the top of the building, using Pixie Dust to move past them then bombard the room with AoEs.  With evidence in hand, we track the Iron Throne leaders to Candlekeep. We meet our old friends, talk to Koveras, and proceed up the archives. Then a Watcher catches us stealing from a chest, we refuse to pay 34k gold, and the entire place goes red. We sprint up the staircase to find that the Gatewarden and Ulraunt have also turned red and immediately attack instead of arresting us. This has never happened before, what do I--  Saved by nymph cloak. We escape through the catacombs. Prat's group goes down easily to Web + Stinking Cloud + Cloudkill.  We return to Baldur's Gate and evade the patrols using Pixie Dust. I think we're supposed to meet the Shadow Thieves here but since we're invisible they never show up. After a couple chats with Tamoko and stealthily saving Duke Eltan, we head to the Iron Throne building again to confront Cythandria. I underestimate her golem guards and almost lose Khalid, but she eventually surrenders.  The next fight is with the Undercellar assassins. Slythe manages to take out Edwin even with True Seeing active (should have used more defensive spells but I didn't think he could run that far in a single round).  We break up Sarevok's plans at the Ducal Palace and track him to the Undercity, where we run into Rahvin's mercenaries. This fight could have gone a lot better. Greater Command from the enemy cleric immediately drops everyone except Camilla and Edwin and they have to fight it out 2-v-6 while Arrows of Detonation are still hitting the unconscious party members. Edwin goes down eventually after we take down the enemy spellcasters with wands and explosive potions, leaving Camilla to finish the archers with backstabs, then some kiting until the surviving party members wake up to finish off the ogre.  Time for Sarevok. I prebuff with Protection from Magic scrolls on Camilla and Khalid. Jaheira and Faldorn call in some nymphs and I toss Imoen a Wand of Monster Summoning for meatshields. The battle is joined. While Sarevok and Tazok are occupied with summons, Angelo charges into our party where he's hit with a Domination from the nymphs. He gets sent right back at Sarevok who offs him after a while. One down.   Tazok doesn't have any sneaky tricks and is pincushioned with missiles. Two down.  Semaj's magic protections are removed with True Seeing / Invisibility Purge / Spell Thrust and he's eventually Held by the nymphs. Three down.  Sarevok fails a save finally against Confusion and wanders off into a corner.  Camilla chases Diarmid around with backstabs until he decides to sit on top of the skull symbol. Instead of risking the traps we whittle him down from range. It takes a while but with everyone else neutralized we're in no real danger. Four down.  Sarevok's confusion has worn off but he's still trapped in the corner. Edwin hits him with a Wand of Paralyzation.   It's over! My first successful BG1 ironman run. Honors: Ironling, Strategist, Purist, Honorable Trader (BG1).
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Jan 19, 2020 00:36
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So many Priests of Helm this year. I'm still hoping to scrape some time to do a serious attempt this year but in the meantime enjoy following the thread.
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Jan 19, 2020 10:37
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A fun thing about the AI scripting for your own characters is that it's based on number of enemies, NOT how difficult they are. The minute you go into that warehouse full of rats in Candlekeep, the AI's gonna have you pop berserk/rage/kai/offensive spin
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Jan 19, 2020 17:02
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Congratulations, Prometheum
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Jan 19, 2020 18:36
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Ellie the Elf Mage/Thief has defeated Mulahey, cleared the mines, and slain Nimbul. Spent a good amount of time adventuring and getting levels. Didn't screenshot everything but I did get a nice shot of a lot of dead gibberlings.  I dealt with Bassilus, the Xvart Village, etc etc. Basically just clearing wilderness areas that aren't too far off the beaten path. Ditched Rasaad and am currently running PC, Khalid, Jaheira, Imoen, Neera, and Branwen. Branwen has been the MVP due to Hold Person. For example: it turns out a held Mulahey whose backup is either asleep or entangled isn't too challenging.  Nor, it seems, is a held NIMBUL much of a threat, pictured here mid-death:  And alas, I must report that Melicamp, chickenman extroardinaire, is dead.  Suppose I'll follow this up by confronting Tranzig, and then probably some more adventuring until I feel ready to hit the bandit camp. Going to dual Imoen at level 6, and since that would put me at three mages I might drop Neera for Kivan and bring him along to the camp.
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Jan 20, 2020 01:20
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Ellie the Elf Mage/Thief died stupidly to a dumb ghast. Was having a fun time, just rolling around and clearing stuff out. Had a close call when I fought a bunch of gnolls and a cave bear came tooling up from behind me straight at my PC:  You can see my PC cowering in the middle there, having popped an emergency invisibility potion to get the dumb cave bear away from her. Jump ahead and I'd explored a bunch more maps and was on the map with the slime guy and assassin ambush. Just had the one cave left; the one with the wand of monster summoning in it. Figured I'd pop in, deal with whatever was in there, and then maybe head up to the basilisks after this since my mage had learned protection from petrification and Branwen had just learned how to summon skeletons. Stepped inside and I apparently failed to block the hallway properly with my copious melee because one of the ghasts beelined straight for my mage/thief, critted her down to three health, and then smacked her once more before I could pop an invisibility potion like with the cave bear. Run over.  I'm having fun and I haven't finished Baldur's Gate in well over a decade so I'm going to keep playing the character pseudo-ironman (no reloading except for PC death), but I'll need to think up a different character to run through for the thread.
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Jan 22, 2020 02:02
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Hooray, gonna do this again. I tried, I think 2 years ago, a min-stat Skald on Insane and died due to my familiar getting killed, so here's hoping that Skald 2 with non-min stats goes a bit better. Gonna get Mugsy 2 back in action.
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Jan 22, 2020 04:06
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I didn’t know know that when a green slime hits you you have to save vs death or get chunked aec style. RIP Rasaad, I didn’t feel like tangling with that wizard and mustard jellies and instead I got something much worse. Oh well, I’m sure he will magically be back in SoD and I didn’t really need the big fisted belt.
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Jan 24, 2020 02:28
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I can't remember because I never play with it... do characters who get blasted to bits leave their gear in a pile, or does it go with them?
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Jan 25, 2020 01:15
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So begins the tale of Mugsy 2. Playing on Insane difficulty and re-arranging the first stat roll that came up. Mugsy 2's upbringing was pretty boring. Lotsa books, not a lotta compensation, and an overbearing old man who critiqued every little thing he did. The day that the old man woke him up Mugsy 2 had a feeling that things were finally starting to blow his way, maybe outside the library jail he'd get a chance to slip away.  Yes! Leaving aside the problem of the seven foot tall guy wanting to kill Mugsy 2 this was the best thing he could ask for. The old man had always fought his battles on his own, but the guy in styling armor used some thugs and ogres to soak up the worst of what the old man could throw at him. It was a clearer lesson than anything the old man had ever taught him, and if Mugsy 2 was to survive he'd need a bunch of strong lackeys backing him up. Mugsy 2 had always relied on other people to fight his battles, as they freaking should! He was a class wise-cracker, not a skull-cracker or safe-cracker, those were better left to underlings. A bunch of fine patsies to lay down their lives for him were just what he needed, if the huge dude ever found him again. So he'd start small, with Imoen a near perfect patsy who'd always followed at his heels when they were growing up. The two new guys Xzar and Montaron... well they'd be on a trial period, Mugsy 2 didn't like the way they looked at him.  Good thing they were around though, cause more killers were showing up for Mugsy 2's head-   Note for future Mugsy 2, never let Montaron out of your sight. Khalid and Jeheira were cronies of the old man, but they were still young where he'd grown old (note to future Mugsy 2, find some way to get some elf blood, then we can pull off some long cons). Their nostalgia was easy to use to get them alongside, they respected the old man enough to do whatever Mugsy 2 said. Now that he had a full crew Mugsy 2 had been thinking about making some money in the classic adventuring scam. It's a scam as old as the gods, kill a 'monster', return anything it stole to the rightful owner (public relations see), and sell off anything you don't need. Soon people will be bragging that you helped their poor dirt town, and then you get to charge more for every subsequent job.  Xzar started pissing and moaning though when we returned this lady's nice ring, and Mugsy 2 doesn't brook backtalk. Sorry about the floors, maam.  Now aside from childhood friends, the best kind of lackey is the one with no brains and an excess of faith that you can tap into. Word 'round the Friendly Arm was that there was a Paladin wandering around the farms up north doing 'justice' or some poo poo, so Mugsy 2 put on his best smile and convinced the rube to join up.  We don't get two hours out from the Friendly Arm before Ajantis takes a dive to a freaking overgrown dog, but he's an investment that Mugsy 2 plans to keep so back to the priest we go.  Crap, but that's a lot better, see? Dying to an arrow through the head is much more respectable, learn from Jeheira there Ajantis.   We take a slight detour on the way to Beregost to put the crew through their paces against some wild skeletons and whatdya know a freaking magical chicken rolls up. Now Mugsy 2 ain't a charity worker, but the thought of getting on the good side of a powerful wizard in the area? That'll motivate any good conman. The kid came out alright and now 2 wizards owe Mugsy 2.  Montaron worked up the nerve to complain that we're taking too long to get to Nashkell, that he'll have to do something about it if we don't speed up. Montaron, buddy, clearly it ain't working out, and my boy Ajantis here just learned that you're evil. Who knew? Sad but you gotta go, there's better talent in this town for sure who won't do as much backtalk.  Lo and behold we find some. Now Kagain's a tough son of a bitch, but nobody can take this kinda hit. Better start making friends with the local priests, *sigh*.  Since we're in the hero business (and killing people in 'self defense' is a big moneymaker) Mugsy 2 decided to help out this young wizard lady out of a human trafficking scam. Things almost went all the way south immediately. Khalid got BLOWN UP into chunks and Ajantis got burned right through by a magical arrow of fire. If Mugsy 2 didn't need a new wizard so badly he'd have left this girl to the dogs after this disaster. This is coming out of your pay, Neira. Once we've taken a run through all that Beregost has to offer the crew finally get walking down to Nashkell for the big score. Blah blah, mines blah, ore blah, ooooooooh big payout for checking the mines, thanks Mr. Mayor. Before we get there Mugsy 2 took a detour to the carnival and swapped Jaheira (who was still moping about Khalid) for a northern warrior lady rescued form a stone prison. Jeheira, if it doesn't work out with Branwen we'll come calling. Mugsy 2 had a strong force now, and maybe he was letting the strength of his crew get to his head. As Mugsy 2 and crew were scouting the area around the mines some weird artist started screeching for help to finish his masterpiece, some chick's face on a cliffside. Mugsy 2, being a man able to conceptualize big arts, shrugged and said sure we'd help you out (maybe take some of those drat nice gems as payment...). What, Greywolf? That's an edgelord name if I've ever heard one, we'll deal with him no problem.  First thing this Greywolf does is a single cut that takes Ajanstis' head clean of, then he hit Branwen so hard with the flat of his sword that she explodes like a freaking baloon. We're in trouble now, so Mugsy 2 draws his fancy wand and, errr, maybe Mugsy 2's aim was a little off, but it seems like lightning bolts just don't affect this guy? (every time I lightning bolted at him there wasn't even a save vs spell, it just passed through him). Uh, Mr. Greywolf maybe we can make a-  And Mugsy 2 falls, killed by some freaking edgelord jock who hated art. I might try a Mugsy 3 Jester run later on a slightly lower difficulty or with maxed out HP gain, some of these Insane enemies are crazy. Trundel fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Jan 26, 2020 |
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Jan 26, 2020 05:04
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There's a bit of weirdness with lightning bolt in the Enhanced Editions, for whatever reason it just doesn't work at point blank range. It affects those cast by enemies as well, regardless of whether its from a wand or a spell, in both games. Its unfortunate to lose a run to something like that.
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Jan 27, 2020 01:03
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Crick Watson has spent more time in the Baldur's Gate sewer system than any man should, and is off to do Tales of the Sword Coast content before wrapping this all up. There were a few things to wrap up in Baldur's Gate first, including this which I only post because I love this bit of dialogue.  Indira now has a Ring of Wizardry all her own. So for anyone keeping track (no one is keeping track), in addition to the usual reason we're sent down into the sewers (investigating missing people for Scar), we are hunting mutated gibberlings for idiot artist Geraldo, looking for Wostek DwarvenNameHere, and also looking to meet up with Drake's old buddy Stoneheart to take down some Shadow Thieves.  I think all ogre mages have a variant on this plan.  Oh, and also we're looking for the Cloak of Balduran.  I've posted this for two reasons. The first is Indira's line here. It's really just her "I'm happy due to your alignment" bark, but the voice actor's delivery and our current location make it sound hilariously sarcastic. The second is that Isra is apparently speaking in tongues. Except no, that's actually Geraldo's bird, which is in her inventory, alerting us to the presence of gibberlings. We have to hunt down twenty in total, two in his house and eighteen more in the various sewer areas and in the Iron Throne's basement.  We, er, do that.  Us too, buddy. To refresh, this is Wostek, who is heading up the hunt for the Serpents of Abbathor, a dwarven (possibly duergar) cult who are up to...something. He sends us to take out Draglon, his opposite number, without much help in finding the guy. (But I happen to know that (a) he's cooling his heels in the Undercity Brothel, and (b) he can't actually be killed right now, he'll pop an invisibility potion and gently caress off if you talk to or attack him.) I'm probably not actually going to see this mod through to its completion in this playthrough because it's kind of a pain in the rear end and I'm more than ready to be done with the first game. But from memory, you report in to Wostek, who sends you into an ambush, and then into another ambush, and finally you confront the cult who have taken over the Nashkel Mines. At no point is the reason for any of this made especially clear. Anyway, moving on.  Here's Stoneheart. He's tracked his Shadow Thief quarry down and will lead you to them. He and Drake exchange some banter suggesting that they have A Past.  We get here at the tail end of a conversation which suggests something that will be clearer afterwards, but they are interrupted by, well, us. This isn't a terribly difficult fight at this stage in the game, though one of them has an annoying habit of drinking invisibility potions like they were water.  Afterwards, it's made clear that the Shadow Thieves weren't here to destabilize things, they were here to find out who was. Basically they were paralleling our investigation. Still, they're bad, we're good, etc.  A short time later, Drake explains a bit about his past with Stoneheart. They were war buddies, and one night after a lot of drinking they hooked up. Which is when Stoneheart (whose actual name is Vance) decided to come clean about his Shadow Thief membership. Drake, being on the side of Truth and Justice and Drinking A Lot, didn't take this very well. Hence his trust issues, apparently. There was a bit more I wanted to do with this update, mostly revolving around yet another mod I'd completely forgotten about, but I'm out of time for right now, so I'll leave things off for now with the reward for hunting gibberlings for Geraldo.  I think you'll agree it was worth it.
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Jan 27, 2020 12:24
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 Sure, why not. It's the adventures of Sully the Half Orc Assassin!  Who manages to break his sword fighting tutorial rats. This will go *swimmingly*.  Though he manages to make it out of Candlekeep alive. Sully the Assassin has escaped the interminable tutorial
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Jan 28, 2020 13:38
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 And we're off to a roaring start as the Evil Wolf of Candlekeep almost does in Monty. Falls though.  That old man seems up to no good! Get him!  As usual, I'm too cowardly to fight Tarnesh fair, so I'll just send Xzar to bait him into the guards and run away.  In something I've never seen him do, Tarnesh runs after Xzar, the lazy guards take one swing at him and then I guess decide to let him go murder Xzar dead. Um.  Bright side, since he's up there, he's left me a path to stroll into the Friendly Arm and go get help.  Then he still manages to nuke Monty in one shot before we mug him. I think we're going to need some new companions... Sully the Half Orc Assassin has killed Tarnesh
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Jan 29, 2020 17:46
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 So erasing the corpses of Xzar and Monty from existence, we risk death by Ankheg to go grab Ajantis. Meatshields are good.  They're very good when I can stuff up things like the Ogre Mage and fill him with arrows.  I bump into Neera, and in what surely won't doom this run to the Nine Hells, I take her along. The ensuing fight proves easy, in spite of Neera putting Ajantis and Khalid to sleep with Color Spray. Sigh.  And Karlat makes the unfortunate mistake of engaging me in a narrow room where he has nowhere to go but swords. Now to find some antidotes before I go screwing with giant spiders... Sully the Half Orc Assassin is screwing about in Beregost
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Feb 1, 2020 18:24
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Going through Durlag’s on a tablet is surprisingly fun. So is going with no missiles and 4 characters with 18/00 or better (pc half orc swashbuckler, Dorn, Khalid and Jaheira with gauntlets and bigfisted belt). Anybody imported from BG1 to SoD on iOS tablet before? Will it work as it did in PC even though SoD is a separate app rather than integrated like it is on Steam?
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Feb 6, 2020 14:00
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FairGame posted:Going through Durlag’s on a tablet is surprisingly fun. It's not like you would on a PC, but you can do it. I play exclusively on my iPad, and I haven't had any issues taking a character through BG to SoD to BG2 to ToB.
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Feb 6, 2020 20:20
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Hi the OP has been updated sorry I've been away so long.
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Feb 7, 2020 12:23
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Crick Watson is on his way to Durlag's Tower. Normally, after you finish up in the sewers, Scar will bring you to Duke Eltan for the mission to clear out the Iron Throne right away. But it turns out that I'd installed a mod called Balduran's Sea Tower (apparently one of two, about which more later), and it gets its hook here instead. It apparently also hooks into the retrieval quest for the sea charts for Werewolf's Isle, just in case you were thinking you could just ignore this modded content for a playthrough. And believe me, you might want to.  Anyway, there's an entry to the Sea Tower region from South Baldur's Gate, and Scar will give you the necessary authorization to get in. There's a few things here, including a couple temples and a smith, but once you enter the tower itself, you find a museum to Balduran.  Including the well-guarded Sea Charts. I'm pretty sure you can just kill these losers, but of course there is another way.  Wander up to meet the cook...  And then tell the guards that dinner's ready.  They abandon their post, because why wouldn't they? As we explore further below  Oh joy. Greater Doppelgangers.  ...who the gently caress is Sarevok? There are a couple fairly nicely rendered levels which are full of minor fights. (I have heard rumors to the effect that the mod creators (a) used other modders' assets without permission and (b) were real shits about it when called upon it, which naturally I found out after I'd installed the blasted thing and was committed. Upon further research it looks like there are two Balduran's Sea Tower mods out there, one with original work and one that sort of hijacked that work and claimed credit for it, and I have the, er, bad one. loving wonderful.)  Anyway, back to actual drama within the mod rather than drama surrounding it, apparently one of the Grand Dukes has been captured, and we are bad enough dudes to rescue her.  The final battle starts here. There's a mind flayer along with this wizard (who I believe is the dying mentor of Sarevok's you encounter in the Thief's Maze later) but he teleports away while you're dealing with skeleton warriors. Then the mage exposits and teleports away while you're dealing with other monsters. There is apparently more to this mod, including quests involving a dragon and a mind flayer dungeon, but yeah I think (hope) we're done here. Quite aside from the drama, the mod isn't actually very good, the dialogue is typo-ridden, and it just feels like a bunch of makework at this point. (Also I'm pretty sure this is the mystery mod responsible for some of the, er, enhancements to certain encounters I've been dealing with.) Anyway, on to professional high-quality content.  Sigh.  I sure hope this doesn't end up being some tragic bullshit that could have been resolved with a ten minute conversation early on.  We go off to fight Karoug, Chief of the Werewolfweres or the Wolfwerewolfs or someone. Crick keeps his wizard locked down while Isra with the +3 Vs Shapeshifters Bastard Sword kills Karoug.  In the process, Crick hits a milestone.  This is a local island, for local werewolves! There's nothing for you here!  We fight our way out, as usual. I recall there being a way to talk Kashias down and leave peacefully, possibly added by SCS, but I think you need high wisdom to make that work, and wisdom is Crick's dump stat.  You know you could have TOLD US...never mind.  And that's sorted. Once more, Crick locks down the wizard and Isra murders the other dude, while everyone else does their usual thing. (Recitation is quickly becoming my favorite spell for tough combats.) Next: Durlag's Tower and then we push to the end.
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Feb 8, 2020 18:19
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 Meanwhile in Beregost, it turns out giant spiders are vulnerable to Sleep. This would have been helpful the other 300 times I've played this.  On to Nashkel, mainly to prevent Jaheira from leaving. Die, inferior assassin!  Minsc comes along. Khalid mysteriously falls into the Phantom Zone.  Sure, you can come along too. Go away Neera, as much as I love the idea of this run ending with a Cacodemon being summoned.  Hey Melicamp, you want to waddle down here and spare me a trip around the cliff? No? Okay  Minsc gets paralyzed and ruined by ghouls. Still take out Bassilus without him.  I decide screw Minsc, there's a beefier dwarf right here in town.  ...unfortunately Kagain's quest seems to have bugged out, as I'm not getting the usual "Oh here's the caravan" dialogue. As such, I fear he is going to ditch me for not completing it. Sigh. Sully the Half Orc Assassin is rounding out quests in Beregost
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Feb 10, 2020 14:11
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 Ah, as it happens, I am a dunderhead and the actual caravan was east of the caravan I was looking at. Whoops.  Off to complete the half-ogre quest, and...dicks, forgot about these guys.  Poison + Terror = no way to heal the poison.  Jaheira meanwhile gets bounced all the way over to the Drizzt battle. Save me, Drizzt!  Meanwhile I manage to stop the original ambush with the two guys who weren't running around in terror, I somehow don't get killed by the poison or the gnolls. Cue hiding like a sissy coward behind Drizzt while he does everything else.  Over to High Hedge. Hi Kivan. I like you but I'm not setting off your absurd little timer to ditch me quite yet.  Melicamp LIVES. Now if only I could remember where Brage is hiding... Sully the Half Orc Assassin is hunting down Brage
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Feb 11, 2020 02:19
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 As it happens, Brage helpfully comes to find me while I'm tooling about looking for him. Good.  Then I trigger Dorn's recruitment. Nothing earth shattering here.  Ah, thank you Ajantis for reminding me that you are incapable of playing nice with Dorn. Get out, Ajantis.  I try to negotiate with Greywolf but he wasn't having it. Oh well, Doom neuters what can sometimes be a nasty fight.  Let's get this annoying little dungeon on the road. Sully the Half Orc Assassin has entered the Nashkel Mines
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Feb 18, 2020 16:23
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I've recruited Eldoth and Skye. Gotta be like the 2 least-used dinguses in the game.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:39
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FairGame posted:I've recruited Eldoth and Skye. Next time I play BG1, I'm going to use that mod that makes all of the NPCs available earlier and in more accessible locations. I like Quayle and Mage-Clerics in general, but he shows up so late why bother?
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Feb 19, 2020 01:52
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JustJeff88 posted:Next time I play BG1, I'm going to use that mod that makes all of the NPCs available earlier and in more accessible locations. I like Quayle and Mage-Clerics in general, but he shows up so late why bother?
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Feb 19, 2020 09:44
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 Meet Theron, the elf sor--- 
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Feb 22, 2020 01:35
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Cup of coffee in the big time 
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Feb 22, 2020 01:55
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Did the EE buff BG1 Drizzt? I took him on with a party of 7s and 8s buffed to gather gills on items and potions and nobody could scratch him. Had to leave the area. Does he have some absurd AC where he can only be hit on nat20s? e: something doesn't add up. According to his wiki entry he has a -10 AC. My kensai had a Thac0 of 0 and whiffed on 19 twice. He should've been hitting a TON. FairGame fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Feb 22, 2020 |
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Feb 22, 2020 14:38
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Crick Watson has conquered Durlag's Tower, sent the Demon Knight to bed without his supper, and beat the real boss fight of Baldur's Gate (that fight just as you get into Ulgoth's Beard). You know how it is, you live somewhere all your life and you never take in the big tourist traps.  Yeah, gently caress this, we were promised a tour and we demand a refund. We mop up the upstairs without much trouble and head on down to the first floor. The big battle at the end is the critical piece here, but it's not too difficult with Crick dealing with Avarice (I think? The spellcaster one.)  This level is a pain in the rear end, a fly in the otherwise delightful ointment of Durlag's Tower. (I'm not being sarcastic; this is my favorite dungeon, and that's mostly because this isn't just some random bullshit to annoy you like Firewine, everything here is purpose-driven as a monument to Dwarf 9/11, and Durlag's extended confession of his folly.) I do love Durlag's little notes left everywhere, though. Poor bastard.  Getting to this lever panel is usually our first priority on this level, as it trivializes the door puzzle entirely. And good riddance. Most of the encounters here are based on taking you by surprise, and it's not as much of a big deal once you've played the game dozens of times.  We take this path down to the elemental rooms, letting poison-proof Isra and the summoned statues deal with the wyverns. I don't bother with the other two passages; they're a pain in the rear end and there's nothing there I really want. If I weren't already swimming in magic ammo I'd do the skeleton archer gauntlet but, well, I am.  I don't know if it's SCS or just a bad memory but I don't usually remember the enemy knights rushing at us rather than waiting to be fireballed. Still not a problem.  We hit the fourth floor, my favorite, not so much for the gameplay (mostly about negotiating traps and puzzles) but because the thematic meat is at its best here.  And at last we're on to the Demon/Death Knight. He gets off a Symbol: Fear on Crick right before Isra gets off a Symbol:Giant Sword In The Face on him.  Some slow learners turn up on our way out.  This goddamn fight. I didn't quite have the resources to send everyone in invisible but we have a few potions and Drake gets a Sanctuary spell off, and as usual, Crick manages to keep their wizard in check. We almost lose Imoen all the same, but in the end we are victorious, and it's time to prepare for Aec. Crick can't use potions of mirrored eyes, but he can use Isra's mirrored shield, which is in some ways better. The cultists on the first floor are basically a speed bump dealt with by four fireballs at once. Aec spams Silence at us so the spells we get off early on (Chaos and Insect Plague being the notables) are the only ones we get, aside from a couple wand uses. Worse, Indira gets held early on and Drake can't get her freed in time. In the end, though, the cultists are way worse off than we are with Aec the only real threat.  And a threat he is, but we win in the end. Isra and Indira bite it, though. Next: Let's get this game finished already.
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Feb 22, 2020 17:21
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| # ? May 5, 2024 10:37 |
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FairGame posted:Did the EE buff BG1 Drizzt? I took him on with a party of 7s and 8s buffed to gather gills on items and potions and nobody could scratch him. Had to leave the area. Is that his base AC, before his equipped armour is taken into account? His mithril chain is AC 1, equivalent to full plate, albeit with a slight +2 penalty against crushing weapons that all chain mail has. Regardless, he's definitely still killable. I got curious and quickly set up a solo berserker and killed him. I gave him gear you could have immediately after escaping from the candlekeep catacombs without doing any expansion content, and a few potions. (I used one each of a potion of power, regeneration, haste, 24 strength, and 10 extra healing potions.) Admittedly, the extra healing potions are only due to SCS adding them to the game, but a stack of 10 is easily obtainable by chapter 7.  Thanks to the insurance of extra healing potions, this might be one of the few times that SCS makes a fight easier, oddly enough. Drizzt is untouched aside from a tiny, largely ineffective pre-buff. Even though dual-wielding +1 bastard swords was a bit of a handicap (Chain gets a +2 AC bonus against slashing weapons) and I had to kite him a bit when rage wore off and use a 2nd rage, I was still victorious in the end. Probably played it a bit safe using 3 potions, and likely would have got him before the 1st rage wore off had I used blunt weapons, but no matter. Edit. With the setup I had, I was hitting on a 16/18 with main hand and off hand respectively. Roughly a 65% chance to hit him at least once a round, I think. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Feb 22, 2020 |
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Feb 22, 2020 17:38
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