Minimal Reload Zero Resurrection Challenge

Jaxsbudgie

Alrighty guys, this is possibly one of my favourite game challenges, the basic premise is you only reload when your main character dies, if an NPC dies, then treat it as if they're permanently dead. Don't try and deliberately get your PC killed so you can reload, trust me it's a lot more fun if you don't actually get attached the the NPCs. It also really helps (at least it does for me) promote item usage - potions, wands, scrolls, special abilities etc and can make for some interesting party combinations!

Here's how the log is currently looking (Chapter 5):

- Imoen - recruited
- Xzar & Montaron - recruited
- Jaheira & Khalid - recruited
--1- Jaheira killed by Karlat (so early on, so very rude)
- Garrick - recruited (ugh...)
--2- Xzar killed by Zordal (bah!)
--3- Khalid killed by Zordal (two fall to Zordal and his pissy Melf's acid arrows!)
- Branwen - recruited
- Edwin - recruited
--4- Imoen - killed by war dog (lul - was so tempted to reload this one)
- Minsc - recruited (headed off to the Nashkel Mines now...)
--5- Minsc killed by kobold (meh)
- Xan - recruited
--6- Xan killed by skeleton (literally just moments after recruiting him!)
--7- Edwin killed by skeleton (three good wizards lost to me!)
- Rasaad - recruited
--8- Montaron killed by cave bear
--9- Rasaad killed by winter wolf

Recap - PC, Branwen and Garrick are the only survivors and are currently storming their way to the Gnoll Stronghold

- Dynaheir - recruited (awesome, now we need a Thief...)
- Safana - recruited (sweet!)
--10- Dynaheir killed by sirine (definitely flipped the table at this point, meant that NEERA was the only Mage left!)
--11- Garrick killed by dread wolf (he did pretty well to get that far to be honest)
- Kivan recruited
- Kagain recruited (cool, now time to take out Tranzig)
--12- Kivan killed by Tranzig (ugh, okay, we can recover from this...)
--13- Safana killed by Tranzig (NOOOOOOO! Since when was Tranzig this powerful!)
Shar-Teel - recruited (and immediately dualled to Thief because there are NONE at the moment)
- Neera - recruited (I actually encountered her ages ago so whilst everyone is on level 4 she's on level 1, ugh)
- Dorn - recruited (same as Neera, stuck on level 1 and about to hit the bandit camp...)
--14- Dorn killed by Tazok (not such a loss, so long as Kagain doesn't die I don't really care...)
--15- Kagain killed by Tazok (...)
- Viconia - recruited
- Ajantis - recruited

Recap - PC, Branwen, Shar-Teel, Neera, Viconia and Ajantis ... successfully infiltrated the bandit camp and destroyed everyone in the tent and in the area, remarkably no one died, Neera was reduced to 1 HP at one point, the only pure Mage left in the game nearly died, at this stage she only had 4 HP.

- Coran - recruited (Shar-Teel gets the boot as I need a decent Thief, thankfully she waits there, safe for now...)
--16- Ajantis killed by a potion of fireballs from Neera in the Cloakwood Mines
- Yeslick - recruited (back up to a six man team now)

Recap - current party: PC, Branwen, Neera, Viconia, Coran and Yeslick

Update 1

--17- Branwen killed by Sunin (the Mage with the other ring of wizardry, a beastly Melf's acid arrow felled her, poor Branwen, she lived to see 13 of her comrades fall!)
- Quayle - recruited
--19- Neera killed by Larze (farewell only living Mage left in the game, I tried to like you Neera, I really did...)
--20- Coran killed by Larze (okay come on guys ... it's only Larze...)
--21- Yeslick killed by Larze (are you fucking kidding me!)
--22- Viconia killed by Larze (oh my fucking god ... thankfully my PC managed to kill him, but bloody hell! Just Quayle and I left now...)
Shar-Teel - recruited (again)
- Eldoth - recruited
Skie - recruited
Tiax - recruited (what a dysfunctional party! No doubt they'll all start killing each other in due course)

Recap - apart from my party of Quayle, Eldoth, Skie, Shar-Teel and Tiax, only Faldorn and Alora remain.

Update 2

--23- Quayle killed by fireball trap in Candlekeep catacombs (Shar-Teel was hasted and running left right centre killing skeletons, she tripped a trap and caused a fireball to hit my party straight on, luckily only Quayle died)
--24- Eldoth killed by Tam (I think that was his name, the group in the caves under Candlekeep)
- Faldorn recruited
- Alora recruited

Recap - just myself, Shar-Teel, Skie, Tiax, Faldorn and Alora, the last remaining NPCs along the Sword Coast ... headed off to the Duchal Palace now, pray for me.

Update 3

--25- Alora killed by a doom guard (she got trapped between said doom guard and Shar-Teel in the maze)
--26- Faldorn killed by Sarevok (Sarevok had destroyed my summons and Faldorn nominated herself as bait so Shar-Teel could get the backstab in, it worked perfectly, although Faldorn was super chunked)

Edit: I did actually complete it with Faldorn alive, but before the final movie played the game crashed, yaaaay. Also why is Tiax's summon ghast actually a skeleton?

And so I did it!
Final team -
PC - Skald
Shar-Teel - Fighter>Thief
Tiax - Cleric/Thief
Skie - Thief

Chow

I'd love to do one of these, but I never have the guts for it. As soon as someone dies, or battle turns wrong way, it's reload time.

lunar

A most exciting tale of death and intrigue, sir! Much approved! Keep it up!

Pantalion

Sounds fun, I'll run my next game this way and see how it goes. Guess I won't be seeing Rasaad for very long.

SirK8

Did you restrict yourself at all on character creation like best of 3 rolls, or anything like that? I may want to try this challenge. Though it means giving up my current game where I recruited all the new NPCs :P Also, if you lose an NPC in a fight, do you always fight it out to the death or do you sometimes retreat, even if it means you can no longer reload?

Jaxsbudgie

SirK8 said:

Did you restrict yourself at all on character creation like best of 3 rolls, or anything like that? I may want to try this challenge. Though it means giving up my current game where I recruited all the new NPCs :P Also, if you lose an NPC in a fight, do you always fight it out to the death or do you sometimes retreat, even if it means you can no longer reload?

I fight it out ... kinda! At one point when I had just cleared the bandit camp (at least I thought I had!), I took a quick detour into the cave packed full of Gnolls (completely forgot they were there), my party were absolutely battered at this point so I immediately fled but all the Gnolls followed and I was totally surrounded with some NPCs trapped in the cave exit. Thankfully no one died, I still can't believe how I survived that.
Another notable example was Tranzig, Branwen and Neera were under the effects of horror, Safana had died from Melf's acid arrow, Kivan magic missile, just my PC and a dual classed Shar-Teel managed to take him out.
It makes for some tense gameplay, but the excitement comes from the totally bizarre party combinations you come across. It's actually quite fun when they die, because you're then planning ahead on who to recruit next.

SirK8

Yeah, I've done no reload except on PC death before, but I've not tried it as treating NPC death as permanent (unless of course they got chunked). I think this might be fun, now do I want to try it after I conclude my current game, or in lieu of ...

Tuth

I am currently playing vanilla BG with this challenge for quite some time. This is my favourite type of challenge as well, the battles are really tense and dramatic. I even got attached to some characters that lasted for remarkably long time, and thier death was really saddening. Right now I'm exploring Baldur's Gate city and my current lineup is:
Charname (Human fighter - I was aware that npcs would come and go, so I made a decent tank in order to protect those that are vulnerable, yet his stats are not maxed, another smaller challenge), Kivan, Branwen, Ajantis, Shar-Teel and Viconia. Yes, my party has no mage or thief right now (Coran, Skie, Alora and Tiax are still available though). I also used npcs that are in Candlekeep as a tutorial party (there is a simple trick that lets you keep them, in original game at least), and Arkanis recently fell in Degrodel's house with helmed horrors and other tough enemies. That was so tragic, he basically was with me from the beginning, I thought that he was the best tank in the game and even though I was prepared for this battle with potions of invisibility his morale broke and there was little I could do to save him.
I will report further progress with this challenge and I recommend everyone to try this out for yourself.

Moomintroll

This is really cool! I like how quick your summaries read.
Definitely tempted to give this a go on the original game while I wait for MacBaldur's to come hoving round the glen.

bbear

the lesson for the NPC: Your adventure brings death and misery to all your companions. RUN AWAY!

Jaxsbudgie

bbear said:

the lesson for the NPC: Your adventure brings death and misery to all your companions. RUN AWAY!

My PC has 20 charisma so they can't resist but join him

Raelon

Love it

I will definitely try this challenge:)

Jaxsbudgie

Updated ... 4 NPC deaths within seconds of one another, FML.

Tuth

That sounds like a killing spree, what happened?

Jaxsbudgie

Tuth said:

That sounds like a killing spree, what happened?

Check the original post, I updated it

LadyEibhilinRhett

I could never do that. I'm too attached to my favorite NPCs. Most I usually do is, if a character is CHUNKED, I'll treat it as permanent and roleplay accordingly.

rdarken

Wow this is intense! Not to be a downer, but I don't know if you're going to make it through to the end

I'd love to watch someone doing a playthrough of this challenge.

Raelon

Oh my god what happened there?!

I agree though, this is intense and
I'd love to watch a playthough of this challenge

Nostalgia

I plan to try this for my next play through. It's gonna be intense to try and not reload as I am a hibitual reloader already, but this could be a lot of fun. Now which CHARNAME should I make...

Ken

How the hell could Tranzig kill ANYONE! You must suck!

...Fun challenge though

Tuth

Today I finished Degrodel's quest and was able to catch him before he left, but as usual his guards are really tough. Most of the party were close to dying (Viconia had 1 hp left), but having two clerics helps a lot with skeletons as boneshields. Unfortunately I lost Viconia shortly after, when coming back to Ramazith without the Nymph, on the floor with ghasts she got cought between two of them and was paralyzed. I recruited Coran, so now I have a decent thief in my team.

Jaxsbudgie

Ken said:

How the hell could Tranzig kill ANYONE! You must suck!

...Fun challenge though

I was surprised myself! I've been rushing around recruiting NPCs at the same speed as losing them, so they've all been fairly low level and mostly incompetent with rubbish starting equipment, some how Tranzig got a shield up and possibly mirror image, Safana opened combat with a failed backstab, Kivan went down with a Melf's (he had pathetic HP) and so did Safana. Absolute fluke.

lunar

Ouch! Larze is really a heavy hitter. You could have fooled him in the dialogue, though.

Jaxsbudgie

Finished! Read the original post

rdarken

That's awesome! How does it feel? Did you ever get really frustrated?

Jaxsbudgie

rdarken said:

That's awesome! How does it feel? Did you ever get really frustrated?

All the bloody time! Losing Xzar, Edwin, Xan and Dynaheir early on was a definite piss take, losing Kivan and Safana to Tranzig was a low point, but the worst part was losing Neera, Yeslick, Viconia and Coran to Larze. It was fun though

Raelon

Jaxsbudgie said:

Finished! Read the original post

Congratulations
I liked reading it till the end


Before the last update I thought you'd have to go and try the final encounter solo

SirK8

Sounds like a lot of fun. I think I'll finish out my current play through then try this.

Jaxsbudgie

More people need to try this, I want to hear how long each NPC can survive for.

SirK8

Edit: Apparently this double posted.

SirK8

@Jaxbudgie - I put my normal play through on hold to try this out. I am using a elven archer for CHARNAME. So far, I have lost the following party members:

Kaigan, may he rest in peace died while fighting the mad priest Basssilus. He fell victim to a hold spell and was pelted by bolts from skeleton archers. Branwen had to decide between saving him or CHARNAME who was running around confused.

Neera and Jaheira both fell in the fight with the wizards in Adoy's Enclave. The party secretly rejoiced at the impeccable timing of Neera's death (just as we finished her quest line) but mourned Jaheira's passing. Khalid was so stricken with grief, we've left him temporarily in our suite at the Jovial Juggler. We may call upon him again if needed.

Dorn perished in an untimely ambush while traveling in Cloakwood forest. We were waylaid between two sections of the forest by ettercaps. The party had trouble focusing fire due to everyone being repeatedly poisoned. Dorn was a bit slow to drink a healing potion and paid for it with his life. We lost a very valuable party member with his unfortunate demise. Yet, the party did breathe a sigh of relief as we no longer have any evil party members.

I have not had to reload my game yet so far! I'm actually hoping to finish this method with no reloads. My current lineup is:

CHARNAME - Level 5 Elven Archer, sniping mooks and mages @THAC0=5
Minsc & Boo - Dual wielding Stupifier and Varscona, kicking butt for goodness
Dynaheir - Minc's Baggage.
Imoen - CHARNAME's childhood friend and trusty companion, wielding the dagger of venom
Branwen - Warrior Priestess and party healer wielding Ashideena
Rasaad - The most recent addition to our party, wielding his fists and darts of wounding.

I plan to hit some of the southern areas to complete some of my quests before finishing Cloakwood. Mainly to push Imoen's detect traps to 100 (next level) and maybe gain another level on the rest of the party (most are still at level 4).