Skip to content

Durlag's Tower

24jel24jel Member Posts: 71
in Archive (General Discussion)
I don't really have a question, just wanted to say that Durlag's Tower is by far the best dungeon in the game, as well as the best dungeon I have played through in years! It was an absolute blast. I hope BG2 (which I intend to start after I finish BG:EE) will have more of those!

Btw: I noticed that some people have done Durlag's Tower quite early on in their playthrough. I am almost done with the main quest, just completed the Candlekeep stuff. Because the events in Candlekeep caught me by surprise, I only just now traveled to Ulgoth's Beard and started doing these quests, including Durlag's Tower. This led me to wonder: do enemies level with you to a certain extent? I had some tough battles in the tower, and was just wondering how lower level parties could survive some of the tougher stuff there?

Comments

  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    Assuming you have "Throne of Bhaal" installed, then yes, you'll find another bonus dungeon there too. It makes Durlag's Tower look like the Friendly Arm Inn. :)

    I actually managed to clean out Durlag's Tower before going to Baldur's Gate for the first time, but I don't recommend that path - the chess room alone must've taken me a dozen tries. It comes down to tactics and having the right party members, really...
  • 24jel24jel Member Posts: 71
    The chess room was awesome though! I did exploit the fact that enemies who have not been within your line of sight do not attack you :P
  • 24jel24jel Member Posts: 71
    BTW: is it a (known) bug that everything that you put into the gem back (the wardstones of the tower which each weights 5 lbs) does not weigh a thing?
  • MoradinMoradin Member Posts: 372
    edited January 2013
    24jel said:

    BTW: is it a (known) bug that everything that you put into the gem back (the wardstones of the tower which each weights 5 lbs) does not weigh a thing?

    It's not a bug. It's supposed to be that way. The Gem bag is a mini bag of holding, otherwise there is no way it would hold so many gems. Since bags of holding are not part of the Prime Material Plane, being just a funnel to other planes of existence (like the Astral Plane), their weight is based purely on the weight of the bag itself, regardless of whatever you put inside.
    Additionally, as per the original bag of holding, the gem bag has limited spaces and cannot hold more than a certain number of items.

  • RadhamanthysRadhamanthys Member Posts: 106
    edited January 2013
    I don't know if the gem bag is supposed to be a "special mini bag of holding", but there is no reason why it shouldn't be a normal non-magical bag that can hold a big number of gems (gems are small items, for example you can have tens of diamonds in a singe pocket).
  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    Durlag's Tower is my favorite dungeon of any game. It has mystery, treasure, a tragic tale and ghosts and monsters.
    Watchers Keep may be exotic, but it lacks the strong central theme (or any theme at all) of Durlag's tower. It's just a combination of mini-dungeons. Durlag's Tower has you slowly descend into the madness of a single dwarf, which is oodles more entertaining.
  • 24jel24jel Member Posts: 71
    @Moradin: Thanks! Didn't know that, not that familiar with the rules etc of D&D.

    @Drugar: I totally agree. Plus, it's a huge dungeon. Wish there were more of those (though I quite liked the fact that the Naskhel mines are quite large as well, other dungeons often felt a bit small, though still big in comparison to more modern games).
  • PantalionPantalion Member Posts: 2,137
    The same X-of-holding applies to every container, from the gembag, scroll case et cetera to the rather more telling potion case, which is typically carrying dozens of stones in weight without incident.
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    @24jel The Dungeon design in BG2 appears to have taken a lot of cues from Durlag's tower, and the entire game has a more "dungeon-crawl" theme than BG1s open-world exploration There are a number of larger, multilevel dungeons in BG2, often with a central theme. I enjoy the Windspear Hills dungeon a lot.

    Watchers Keep is the expansion pack, huge dungeon for BG2. As @Drugar points out it does lack the strong central theme of Durlag's tower though. It has some of what are thought to be the toughest fights in the game and a ton of weapons and items.
  • 24jel24jel Member Posts: 71
    @Corvino: I'll enjoy BG2 perhaps even more then!

    How do people cope with the amount of loot btw? I often find I have to leave lesser valuable items behind, which sometimes is a bit frustrating for I'm kind of a godldigger!
  • TJ_HookerTJ_Hooker Member Posts: 2,438
    Moradin said:

    24jel said:

    BTW: is it a (known) bug that everything that you put into the gem back (the wardstones of the tower which each weights 5 lbs) does not weigh a thing?

    It's not a bug. It's supposed to be that way. The Gem bag is a mini bag of holding, otherwise there is no way it would hold so many gems. Since bags of holding are not part of the Prime Material Plane, being just a funnel to other planes of existence (like the Astral Plane), their weight is based purely on the weight of the bag itself, regardless of whatever you put inside.
    Additionally, as per the original bag of holding, the gem bag has limited spaces and cannot hold more than a certain number of items.

    I don't think there's anything in the game to suggest that any of the inventory containers you can get are at all magical (except the bag of holding). I've always more or less considered this a bug, but it's the kind of bug I really don't care about fixing.
  • madcatmadcat Member Posts: 9
    24jel said:

    @Corvino: I'll enjoy BG2 perhaps even more then!

    How do people cope with the amount of loot btw? I often find I have to leave lesser valuable items behind, which sometimes is a bit frustrating for I'm kind of a godldigger!

    I cry a lot :o)
  • 24jel24jel Member Posts: 71
    madcat said:

    24jel said:

    @Corvino: I'll enjoy BG2 perhaps even more then!

    How do people cope with the amount of loot btw? I often find I have to leave lesser valuable items behind, which sometimes is a bit frustrating for I'm kind of a godldigger!

    I cry a lot :o)
    Lol, okay we're the same then!
  • KortokKortok Member Posts: 165
    24jel said:

    @Moradin: Thanks! Didn't know that, not that familiar with the rules etc of D&D.

    @Drugar: I totally agree. Plus, it's a huge dungeon. Wish there were more of those (though I quite liked the fact that the Naskhel mines are quite large as well, other dungeons often felt a bit small, though still big in comparison to more modern games).

    The deep roads were huge too. They were also terrible.
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    Kortok said:

    24jel said:

    @Moradin: Thanks! Didn't know that, not that familiar with the rules etc of D&D.

    @Drugar: I totally agree. Plus, it's a huge dungeon. Wish there were more of those (though I quite liked the fact that the Naskhel mines are quite large as well, other dungeons often felt a bit small, though still big in comparison to more modern games).

    The deep roads were huge too. They were also terrible.
    Weren't the Deep Roads in Dragon Age?

  • PantalionPantalion Member Posts: 2,137
    @24jel Ultimately you're only four or five maps from a merchant even at the lower reaches, no travel time involved and not actually that much in the way of dangerous respawning enemies either. Generally by that point in the game you're swimming in more wealth than you could easily spend anyway, but it's actually a whole lot less onerous than Cloakwood or Firewine.
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    edited January 2013
    After I finished Durlag's Tower and sold the loot my party had almost 200,000 gold and absolutely nothing to spend it on. I'd already bought all the expensive items! I settled to stocking up on a ton of expensive magical ammo. I was going to buy a castle in Baldur's Gate and live the high life.

    Suddenly!Irenicus.

    Some street urchins prospered well that day.
  • KortokKortok Member Posts: 165
    Eudaemonium said:

    Kortok said:

    24jel said:

    @Moradin: Thanks! Didn't know that, not that familiar with the rules etc of D&D.

    @Drugar: I totally agree. Plus, it's a huge dungeon. Wish there were more of those (though I quite liked the fact that the Naskhel mines are quite large as well, other dungeons often felt a bit small, though still big in comparison to more modern games).

    The deep roads were huge too. They were also terrible.
    Weren't the Deep Roads in Dragon Age?

    Yep
  • ZarakinthishZarakinthish Member Posts: 214
    edited January 2013
    Eudaemonium said:

    After I finished Durlag's Tower and sold the loot my party had almost 200,000 gold and absolutely nothing to spend it on. I'd already bought all the expensive items! I settled to stocking up on a ton of expensive magical ammo.

    Yeah, I've done the same. I should be well stocked for "can't hurt anything with non-magical ammo" island when I turn in the Sea Charts.
  • TJ_HookerTJ_Hooker Member Posts: 2,438
    24jel said:

    @Corvino: I'll enjoy BG2 perhaps even more then!

    How do people cope with the amount of loot btw? I often find I have to leave lesser valuable items behind, which sometimes is a bit frustrating for I'm kind of a godldigger!

    Yeah I'm quite the pack rat myself. I hit up Durlag's Tower near the end of my game, and had already bought all the good magical items and had one to two hundred thousand gold saved up on top. And yet for the first few levels I was still diligently picking up every piece of loot. It was only after my inventory filled up that I stopped and asked myself, for the first time that playthrough, why am I bothering? I had all kinds of junk, like 10 silver rings, which are only worth 2 gold apiece. Finally I told myself enough is enough, and just dumped half my stuff on the ground, and made a conscious effort from then on to only pick something up if it was unique or exceptionally valuabe, or something that I might use.
  • MessiMessi Member Posts: 738
    Durlag's Tower is indeed awesome, and yes BG2 has pretty similar dungeon called Watcher's Keep. Not sure which I prefer better myself, DT has bit more cohesive and interesting overall story, but WK has quite varied levels and more interesting fights.
  • MathmickMathmick Member Posts: 326
    Durlag's Tower was a really good dungeon. Not quite as varied as Watcher's Keep but staying more focused and less completely random was probably more of a good thing than a bad thing.

    The only problem I have with it being a big dungeon is that it is really awesome the first time, but just gets a bit tedious the next time. A lot of the appeal of dungeons is that there are puzzles as well as cool fights. After the first time around it seems that every level is just spending 20 minutes collecting a bunch of annoying items. There weren't THAT many fights in Durlag's Tower. A large amount of it is exploring and exploring sort of sucks once you've seen it once.

    Not that it and Watcher's Keep are bad, they're just tiring to complete knowing that the only reason you are going is for experience and neat items, rather than being a cool new place to explore.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    shawne said:

    Assuming you have "Throne of Bhaal" installed, then yes, you'll find another bonus dungeon there too. It makes Durlag's Tower look like the Friendly Arm Inn. :)

    Lolz. Durlag's Tower wipes the shit out of Watcher's Keep. Watcher's Keep is fun, but Durlag's Tower is disgustingly immersive with its plot.
Sign In or Register to comment.

2025 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2025 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.