Gratz on beating Thaxll'syllia! Looks like Melf's was the best damage spell again, but some of your melee was hitting her too. It also helped that your party is very high level to be in this part of the game - a lot of people go to this dungeon before rescuing Imoen from Spellhold, and are significantly lower level, needing to bypass Thaxy with the wardstone in order to survive.
Once again, one Lower Resistance spell is not enough to get a dragon's spell resistance down - you need three of them. That might become important to remember when you eventually face tougher dragons later.
Gratz on beating Thaxll'syllia! Looks like Melf's was the best damage spell again, but some of your melee was hitting her too. It also helped that your party is very high level to be in this part of the game - a lot of people go to this dungeon before rescuing Imoen from Spellhold, and are significantly lower level, needing to bypass Thaxy with the wardstone in order to survive.
Once again, one Lower Resistance spell is not enough to get a dragon's spell resistance down - you need three of them. That might become important to remember when you eventually face tougher dragons later.
Thanks Yeah I was tempted to sneak past him, but then thought... 'I've survived the Underdark! Let's give it a go!' Though when he insta-killed my summons I did have doubts, lol.
Minute Meteors are absolutely amazing. I didn't realise innate resistance was a threshold thing... I actually used 2 Lower Resistance in quick succession in the spirit of 'every little helps'. lol I guess this is the kinda meta-game knowledge that really helps the experienced players with more challenging playthroughs like solo runs and SCS and other mods.
Oh yeah I finally assembled some items at Cromwell's... gotta say a bit disappointed.
Shadow Scale Armor could've been good, but it cannot be worn in combination with other protective items, even though it isn't technically 'enchanted'... that means it is inferior to non-magical full plate, except in very specific situation where I am facing a lot of acid attacks.
The Equaliser Blade seems inferior to Celestial Fury, so I don't see any use for it, even though it took 3 components! I was hoping it would be a +4 or +5 weapon that can harm things like Greater Wolfwere and that Lesser Demon Lord. It should be epic given how much effort it is to assemble!
The Silver Sword is the only one I think could be good. I'm giving it to Minsc to replace Lilacor, since I use Chaotic Commands most of the time now, Lilacor's protective bonuses aren't so important now. I'm thinking that Greater Mallison combined with Silver Sword could be pretty amazing. (Minsc 1-shot a dragon? lol)
Hint - about that shadow scale armor. Are you familiar with "Chekhov's Gun"? You might want to hang on to it, you know, just in case. Who knows when you might need acid protection.
Hint - about that shadow scale armor. Are you familiar with "Chekhov's Gun"? You might want to hang on to it, you know, just in case. Who knows when you might need acid protection.
@belgarathmth Hmm... I had to google that Okay, I guess I'll hold onto it then, and hopefully recognise the moment when I might need it.
By the way, I just noticed, Greater Wolfweres seem to be much easier to kill in BG 2 than BG EE, is Karoug a special Greater Wolfwere that's tougher than normal? I had a 'oh crap' moment when I stumbled into 3 Great Wolfweres and a few dire wolves inside the Windspear Dungeon, and thought only Minute Meteors could hurt them... only to discover that pretty much anything (Skelly Warriors, Aerial Servant, Flail of Ages, Celestial Fury etc) could. Then I remembered that months ago, back in Spellhold, I think I made a similar discovery, which I just forgot about due to the passage of time.
Not sure about the wolfweres - Karoug may indeed be a special case, or it may just be the higher levels in BG2, presence of a lot more +3 and +4 weapons, and that all the magic weapons have the "silver" flag. I remember you also noticed that the Tanari outside the planar sphere in hell didn't seem to be nearly as tough as Aec Latec.
Not sure about the wolfweres - Karoug may indeed be a special case, or it may just be the higher levels in BG2, presence of a lot more +3 and +4 weapons, and that all the magic weapons have the "silver" flag. I remember you also noticed that the Tanari outside the planar sphere in hell didn't seem to be nearly as tough as Aec Latec.
@belgarathmth Well the Tanar'ri were mainly easier than Aec'Letec cos they don't all have the death gaze. I still died twice (I think) trying to cleanse that demon realm of its inhabitants, so I wouldn't call them 'easy', for a relatively low level party as I had back then.
By the way, I just killed Firkraag, and OMG is that sword amazing! I mean WOW, I thought Celestial Fury and the Flail of Ages were amazing... but THAT double-handed killing machine is just on a whole new level!
... but nobody in my party can use it. T_T
Now I see why everybody loves Keldorn. I guess he is the only one who can use that weapon besides a Paladin Charname.
Having rescued Garren Windspear's daughter and defeated Conster, Jin and his friends return to face Firkraag to avenge the tragic death of Ajantis and his noble paladin comrades in Firkraag's cruel games, and deliver justice against the malevolent beast. As Jin issues his challenge, the mighty Red Dragon cannot hide his amusement and surprise at the audacity of the Bhaalspawn. Had he known the fate of the Guardian of the Temple Ruins, perhaps Firkraag would have found the situation less amusing...
Gratz on killing Firkraag! Jin is becoming quite the Dragonslayer.
Too bad about Carsomyr, but at least now you know what everybody's talking about when they mention it, and why a lot of people's whole game strategy revolves around getting and using it.
You could switch out Minsc for Keldorn, theoretically. Keldorn would be very behind in xp at this point, but he still might be stronger than Minsc, using Carsomyr, especially since fighter classes don't scale much at high levels.
It's been fun to watch you learn so much about strategy, tactics, and spell use. You're really good at it, now. I think I learned a thing or two about dragonslaying by watching your dragonfights.
Cheers, though I'm surprised you could learn anything from that mess. Of course I am learning things all the time, but since almost every experience is new, my default approach seems to be pretty inelegant brute force 'throw spells at it until Jin/Anomen/Minsc can hit it!'
For a long time I have been working under the assumption that Jin and Anomen are my best two frontline fighters. But it has just occurred to me that Jin's THAC0 is only 2, Anomen is on 0 and Minsc is on -5. These are unbuffed stats, but only Anomen can improve his THAC0 with Draw Upon Holy Might. I guess that explains why Jin seems to be struggling to hit tough enemies. My plan to Dual-Wield the Dak'kon's Zerth Blade is not gonna happen any time soon either... I've just had it in his inventory for most of the game, lol.
I guess the flip side of that is that Minsc is significantly squishier than Jin and Anomen, but he sure hits harder, and it is probably no surprise that he took down Firkraag.
As a whole, my party feels reasonably powerful. Encounters are challenging, but not impossible. Actually the only area I feel kinda weak is when it comes to high level mage battles. I may have lots of spell casters, but they are all Dual-Class or Multi-Class, and it feels like enemy mages always have the edge in terms of high level spells. I really miss having a pure caster. I sometimes compare how I did in an area with how Tord's Lilly Black did it, and Lilly certainly has had access to higher level spells much sooner.
yeah carsomyr is an amazing weapon. my fighter/thief intends to use it when he gets use any item, since backstabs are pretty useless by that point anyway
A Lich, a Vampire and a Beholder walk into a pub... sorry I couldn't help it.
The party are combing the Bridge District of Athkatla in search of the Fallen Paladins, to honour Jin's promise to Sir Ryan Trawl before he left for Spellhold. In mere hours, they inadvertently discovered and destroyed the kidnapping ring operating from the area, where the city guard has failed for months, proving Athkatla's law enforcement to be either incompetent, or corrupt, or probably both.
As the search continues for the Fallen Paladins, Imoen notices that an unmarked building seems to be protected by powerful magical traps. After carefully disabling the device, the party crash through the front door, hoping to catch the Fallen Paladins by surprise. It is they who are surprised, and not by the paladins...
yeah carsomyr is an amazing weapon. my fighter/thief intends to use it when he gets use any item, since backstabs are pretty useless by that point anyway
Anomen is so powerful/useful, Jaheira was really useful at the beginning of this playthrough (Fire Elementals are awesome) and Minsc has Boo, and hits like a tonne of bricks too. But I definitely want to keep Imoen and Aerie... but also wanna try some new content with Neera... and now I find out there's this awesome weapon only Keldorn can use!! *head explodes*
you could be a paladin or thief of some kind for carsomyr
I am also torn about my party right now. part of me is curious what it will be like having all the romances around and listen to them fight, but then I want Minsc and Imoen. I want to have all the new npcs except dorn this game but that is too many. I was thinking about going with Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie, Neera and Hexxat to start with, make a decision on Hexxat and Neera's content if I want them, but one way or the other one will have to go at spellhold because I will get Yoshimo who will betray me and open a spot for Imoen and then I also want to try rasaad at a point where he will be useful.
For once it actually feels like I need to swap around NPCs, because alongside all that I want to do the other NPC quests! I think I will probably use EEKEEPER to keep the people who are abandoned for a time up to the rest of the party when it comes to XP. It makes me kind of wish that all party NPCs just shared XP. I still have no idea who will actually be in the final make up as I may or may not have the new NPCs for just there quests. I know if Hexxat is a little too evil she will need to be abandoned. If I need to kill innoscents then I may not even do her quests. I was thinking that my final party would be composed of Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Neera, and Hexxat/Sarevok/Rasaad. These new NPCs make my brain hurt because I can only have 6 at a time!
I am pretty sure my next Charname will be Kensai => Mage. I guess he's gonna feel similar in BG 2 EE, but will be very different (weak) in BG EE, which will be interesting...
I dunno if u noticed, but I try to experience as many NPCs as possible by taking them on their 'related' quest. So I had Nalia for the D'Arnise Hold, Valygar for the Planar Sphere, Mazzy for the Temple Ruins, Cernd for Druid Grove and Keldorn for Cult of the Unseeing Eye. Jaheira, Minsc and Anomen tend to be substituted so nobody falls too far behind in xp.
I've enjoyed the system, even if I don't travel with them long enough to do more of their extended quests.
I am pretty sure my next Charname will be Kensai => Mage. I guess he's gonna feel similar in BG 2 EE, but will be very different (weak) in BG EE, which will be interesting...
I dunno if u noticed, but I try to experience as many NPCs as possible by taking them on their 'related' quest. So I had Nalia for the D'Arnise Hold, Valygar for the Planar Sphere, Mazzy for the Temple Ruins, Cernd for Druid Grove and Keldorn for Cult of the Unseeing Eye. Jaheira, Minsc and Anomen tend to be substituted so nobody falls too far behind in xp.
I've enjoyed the system, even if I don't travel with them long enough to do more of their extended quests.
I tried to do that in my first BG2 run. Don't, some NPCs will end with VERY low XP. It happened to me, everyone but Keldorn had 6 million XP, and he had only four million XP.
My next playthrough will probably be even less Powergamey. My Charname Kensai is gonna be useless in BG 1
"I tried to do that in my first BG2 run. Don't, some NPCs will end with VERY low XP. It happened to me, everyone but Keldorn had 6 million XP, and he had only four million XP."
It's not too bad. That's why I don't always switch out 1 character, but switch out 3 in rotation. For example Anomen missed out on the D'Arnise Hold, Minsc didn't go to the Planar Sphere, Jaheira didn't go to the Planar Prison etc... Right now I have Mazzy and Cernd replacing Anomen and Minsc (special situation and the first time I've substituted 2 at the same time). Charname has 2.8M xp, which is a good indication of how far the party are in the game, since he is there for everything. Jaheira has 2.4M xp, which isn't too far behind, Imoen has 2M because obviously she was away from the party for a fairly long time and Aerie has 2.5M as she is the one I never substitute for romance reasons, but didn't join the party until after Irenicus' dungeon.
@Heindrich1988 Kensai/Mages are a product of powergaming. Really, their RP story is stranger than the one a Chaotic Evil Mage working for the Harpers should have. But, well, http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yvT-S-Eihe8 thats true powergaming, and what I do has lots of it too. Also, I like how you play, you're not so noobish. Also, in which chapter do you are?
@CrevsDaak lol I know Kensai/Mage is op for BG 2 once they get their Kensai levels back. But my charname is not gonna have godly stats, and I am not gonna make the switch at a optimal level. Also from a RP perspective, I am going to use Kensai/Mage to simulate a 'Wuxia' hero, a Chinese fantasy genre where the heroes/villains are such skilled martial artists that their abilities are essentially 'magical'. In such a setting, there is no clear distinction between 'warrior' and 'wizard'.
"Also, I like how you play, you're not so noobish. Also, in which chapter do you are?"
Thanks... although my battle at the Twisted Rune is basically 'Keep drinking Healing Potions until all the enemies are dead!'. It's difficult to formulate a logical strategy on the spot in an entirely new and unexpected situation.
I am in Chapter 6, about to return to the Elven camp.
Jin and the party return to the sewers of the Temple District to examine the mysterious rune-protected entrance that Yoshimo spotted many weeks ago. As Jin hypothesized, the key recovered from Tazok in Firkraag's Dungeon matched the runic lock, and a dingy tunnel opened up in front of the heroes, filled with the rotting and weathered corpses of men who had apparently discovered the passage before them. Sensing the evil emanating from the tunnels ahead, the party bravely venture deeper into the blackness...
Having enlisted the aid of Drizzt and the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart, armed with stakes and Elven Holy Water, Jin and the party make their way to the Graveyard District of Athkatla to track down Bhodi and bring the evil creature to justice, recover the Rhynn Lanthorn and restore Imoen's soul.
Unfortunately, Bhodi found them first, and launched a surprise attack on the heroes before they linked up with their allies. Bhodi and her vampires were repelled, but not before she took Aerie deep into her vampire infested lair...
Despite Bhodi's dire warnings, Jin and his friends plunge into the blackness of the crypts once more, now with yet another burning motivation, to rescue his beloved Aerie.
Using the power of the Rhynn Lanthorn, Jin, his friends and a small strike force of elite elven warriors led by Elhan storm the heart of Suldanesselar, attempting to reclaim it from the army of Golems, Rakshasa and other horrid beasts that Irenicus has unleashed upon the once tranquil city.
Inside the sacred Temple of Rillifane, the heroes are confronted by Suneer, a powerful lieutenant of Irenicus, and his retinue of foul demons and Rakshasa.
Having been rescued from Irenicus' torturers by Jin and the party, High Priestess Demin directs the party on a daring mission to recover the three holy relics of Elven God, Rillifane. Having seized the Moonblade and Talisman of Rillifane from Irenicus' minions within the city, the party head to a woodland clearing in search of the Goblet of Life...
... It's guardian, as feared, is a mighty Black Dragon upon which Irenicus rode into the city.
With the aid of the Avatar of Rillifane, the heroes make their way to the Tree of Life and destroy the horrifying Parasitic monsters draining if of its very divine essence. With his link to the Tree of Life destroyed, and rendered mortal once more, Irenicus attacks in a violent rage, and an epic battle breaks out among the hallowed branches of the mighty Tree of Life.
@Heindrich1988, as I write this post, I have just watched the illithids in the sewers. I've gotten to where I enjoy watching these videos while I eat lunch during the week, so, I am going to save the rest of the videos for later.
I'll go ahead and say though, gratz on finishing SoA. Are you going to take Jin into ToB, or are you wanting to start again now with your new kensai/mage so you can try EE?
The illithids battle was very exciting, especially when Aerie got blocked in that doorway! Otiluke's was a good call. It's really too bad that spell causes a save when cast on a friendly target. It really shouldn't do that. Otiluke's Sphere is the only case I can think of in the game where you *want* to fail a save, and in those situations, it turns into a fail-your-save-or-die a lot of the time. The spell Teleport Field might have also been useful here. I really hate those bottlenecked, stuck-in-the-door situations.
Too bad about the death. You remembered too late to keep checking intelligence frequently while fighting Illithids.
Everybody says Crom Faeyr is a fantastic weapon, but I've never forged it or used it myself.
I've been meaning to point out, have you noticed those greyed out spell buttons on your casters' action bars? You can right-click on one of those, and then select a spell to put there for quick cast. Those are for your most often used spells, so you can cast them with a single click instead of digging through the main spell cast list. I usually put Cure Wounds spells on the clerics' quick bars, and Magic Missile and a defensive spell or two (Invisible, Mirror Image) on the mages' quick bars.
@belgarathmth Oh cool, I'm glad you are still enjoying them. I finally finished Shadows of Amn a few days ago after 105 hrs of gameplay, and was finally able to watch more of Tord's LP that I couldn't watch before cos of spoilers.
It was really interesting seeing how differently we approached almost everything. A lot of it was due to RP cos obviously Lilly and her party was mostly Evil, whereas most of Jin's party is Good, so their choices in things such as the tests of Hell were totally different. Gameplay wise Tord had access to much higher level magic, which made some of his battles much easier than mine, but on the other hand my party has more resilience and combat capability, and thus does not have to rest as often. (Though Tord never really tried to impose any rules on resting like I did anyway). I also noticed that he was not as disciplined as me when it came to magical protections, but did use stealth/invisibility a lot more than me, and wasn't as strict about pulling mobs one by one or waiting for enemy magical protections to time out. I suppose I can forgive a little cheesiness given how good of a story-teller and narrator he is.
I intend to complete ToB with my current LP. I've been trying out EE with Black Pits, using a party consisting of characters from all sorts of fantasy games I've played, and actually including Lilly Black, lol.
The amazingly talented Isandir very kindly agreed to make a custom portrait for my Kensai/Mage cos I had been struggling to ideal Oriental warrior portraits who didn't look like a Ninja, Samurai or decked in armour like Dynasty Warriors. So I am eagerly waiting for that before I start a full BG EE to BG 2 EE playthrough.
With the help of his friends and companions, Jin cast down Irenicus in a titanic battle on the mighty branches of the Tree of Life. However, his victory was short-lived... as the body of Irenicus fell, an unknown force, perhaps the soul shared between them, dragged Jin and his companions with Irenicus into Hell itself.
Having overcome the tests of Fear, Selfishness, Greed and Pride, Jin and his loyal companions, whom have followed him literally unto death, stand ready to face Irenicus in one final struggle, with the knowledge that the victor would be restored whole, and the vanquished forever destroyed in the pits of the abyss.
Comments
Once again, one Lower Resistance spell is not enough to get a dragon's spell resistance down - you need three of them. That might become important to remember when you eventually face tougher dragons later.
Thanks
Minute Meteors are absolutely amazing. I didn't realise innate resistance was a threshold thing... I actually used 2 Lower Resistance in quick succession in the spirit of 'every little helps'. lol I guess this is the kinda meta-game knowledge that really helps the experienced players with more challenging playthroughs like solo runs and SCS and other mods.
Oh yeah I finally assembled some items at Cromwell's... gotta say a bit disappointed.
Shadow Scale Armor could've been good, but it cannot be worn in combination with other protective items, even though it isn't technically 'enchanted'... that means it is inferior to non-magical full plate, except in very specific situation where I am facing a lot of acid attacks.
The Equaliser Blade seems inferior to Celestial Fury, so I don't see any use for it, even though it took 3 components! I was hoping it would be a +4 or +5 weapon that can harm things like Greater Wolfwere and that Lesser Demon Lord. It should be epic given how much effort it is to assemble!
The Silver Sword is the only one I think could be good. I'm giving it to Minsc to replace Lilacor, since I use Chaotic Commands most of the time now, Lilacor's protective bonuses aren't so important now. I'm thinking that Greater Mallison combined with Silver Sword could be pretty amazing. (Minsc 1-shot a dragon? lol)
Hmm... I had to google that
By the way, I just noticed, Greater Wolfweres seem to be much easier to kill in BG 2 than BG EE, is Karoug a special Greater Wolfwere that's tougher than normal? I had a 'oh crap' moment when I stumbled into 3 Great Wolfweres and a few dire wolves inside the Windspear Dungeon, and thought only Minute Meteors could hurt them... only to discover that pretty much anything (Skelly Warriors, Aerial Servant, Flail of Ages, Celestial Fury etc) could. Then I remembered that months ago, back in Spellhold, I think I made a similar discovery, which I just forgot about due to the passage of time.
Well the Tanar'ri were mainly easier than Aec'Letec cos they don't all have the death gaze. I still died twice (I think) trying to cleanse that demon realm of its inhabitants, so I wouldn't call them 'easy', for a relatively low level party as I had back then.
By the way, I just killed Firkraag, and OMG is that sword amazing! I mean WOW, I thought Celestial Fury and the Flail of Ages were amazing... but THAT double-handed killing machine is just on a whole new level!
... but nobody in my party can use it. T_T
Now I see why everybody loves Keldorn. I guess he is the only one who can use that weapon besides a Paladin Charname.
Having rescued Garren Windspear's daughter and defeated Conster, Jin and his friends return to face Firkraag to avenge the tragic death of Ajantis and his noble paladin comrades in Firkraag's cruel games, and deliver justice against the malevolent beast. As Jin issues his challenge, the mighty Red Dragon cannot hide his amusement and surprise at the audacity of the Bhaalspawn. Had he known the fate of the Guardian of the Temple Ruins, perhaps Firkraag would have found the situation less amusing...
Too bad about Carsomyr, but at least now you know what everybody's talking about when they mention it, and why a lot of people's whole game strategy revolves around getting and using it.
You could switch out Minsc for Keldorn, theoretically. Keldorn would be very behind in xp at this point, but he still might be stronger than Minsc, using Carsomyr, especially since fighter classes don't scale much at high levels.
It's been fun to watch you learn so much about strategy, tactics, and spell use. You're really good at it, now. I think I learned a thing or two about dragonslaying by watching your dragonfights.
Cheers, though I'm surprised you could learn anything from that mess.
For a long time I have been working under the assumption that Jin and Anomen are my best two frontline fighters. But it has just occurred to me that Jin's THAC0 is only 2, Anomen is on 0 and Minsc is on -5. These are unbuffed stats, but only Anomen can improve his THAC0 with Draw Upon Holy Might. I guess that explains why Jin seems to be struggling to hit tough enemies. My plan to Dual-Wield the Dak'kon's Zerth Blade is not gonna happen any time soon either... I've just had it in his inventory for most of the game, lol.
I guess the flip side of that is that Minsc is significantly squishier than Jin and Anomen, but he sure hits harder, and it is probably no surprise that he took down Firkraag.
As a whole, my party feels reasonably powerful. Encounters are challenging, but not impossible. Actually the only area I feel kinda weak is when it comes to high level mage battles. I may have lots of spell casters, but they are all Dual-Class or Multi-Class, and it feels like enemy mages always have the edge in terms of high level spells. I really miss having a pure caster. I sometimes compare how I did in an area with how Tord's Lilly Black did it, and Lilly certainly has had access to higher level spells much sooner.
A Lich, a Vampire and a Beholder walk into a pub... sorry I couldn't help it.
The party are combing the Bridge District of Athkatla in search of the Fallen Paladins, to honour Jin's promise to Sir Ryan Trawl before he left for Spellhold. In mere hours, they inadvertently discovered and destroyed the kidnapping ring operating from the area, where the city guard has failed for months, proving Athkatla's law enforcement to be either incompetent, or corrupt, or probably both.
As the search continues for the Fallen Paladins, Imoen notices that an unmarked building seems to be protected by powerful magical traps. After carefully disabling the device, the party crash through the front door, hoping to catch the Fallen Paladins by surprise. It is they who are surprised, and not by the paladins...
I am SO torn about my BG 2 EE party.
Anomen is so powerful/useful, Jaheira was really useful at the beginning of this playthrough (Fire Elementals are awesome) and Minsc has Boo, and hits like a tonne of bricks too. But I definitely want to keep Imoen and Aerie... but also wanna try some new content with Neera... and now I find out there's this awesome weapon only Keldorn can use!!
*head explodes*
I am also torn about my party right now. part of me is curious what it will be like having all the romances around and listen to them fight, but then I want Minsc and Imoen. I want to have all the new npcs except dorn this game but that is too many. I was thinking about going with Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie, Neera and Hexxat to start with, make a decision on Hexxat and Neera's content if I want them, but one way or the other one will have to go at spellhold because I will get Yoshimo who will betray me and open a spot for Imoen and then I also want to try rasaad at a point where he will be useful.
For once it actually feels like I need to swap around NPCs, because alongside all that I want to do the other NPC quests! I think I will probably use EEKEEPER to keep the people who are abandoned for a time up to the rest of the party when it comes to XP. It makes me kind of wish that all party NPCs just shared XP. I still have no idea who will actually be in the final make up as I may or may not have the new NPCs for just there quests. I know if Hexxat is a little too evil she will need to be abandoned. If I need to kill innoscents then I may not even do her quests. I was thinking that my final party would be composed of Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Neera, and Hexxat/Sarevok/Rasaad. These new NPCs make my brain hurt because I can only have 6 at a time!
I am pretty sure my next Charname will be Kensai => Mage. I guess he's gonna feel similar in BG 2 EE, but will be very different (weak) in BG EE, which will be interesting...
I dunno if u noticed, but I try to experience as many NPCs as possible by taking them on their 'related' quest. So I had Nalia for the D'Arnise Hold, Valygar for the Planar Sphere, Mazzy for the Temple Ruins, Cernd for Druid Grove and Keldorn for Cult of the Unseeing Eye. Jaheira, Minsc and Anomen tend to be substituted so nobody falls too far behind in xp.
I've enjoyed the system, even if I don't travel with them long enough to do more of their extended quests.
Do this? You mean record a LP? Or use a rotational system so you can use more NPCs?
Don't, some NPCs will end with VERY low XP.
It happened to me, everyone but Keldorn had 6 million XP, and he had only four million XP.
Each to their own :P
My next playthrough will probably be even less Powergamey. My Charname Kensai is gonna be useless in BG 1
"I tried to do that in my first BG2 run.
Don't, some NPCs will end with VERY low XP.
It happened to me, everyone but Keldorn had 6 million XP, and he had only four million XP."
It's not too bad. That's why I don't always switch out 1 character, but switch out 3 in rotation. For example Anomen missed out on the D'Arnise Hold, Minsc didn't go to the Planar Sphere, Jaheira didn't go to the Planar Prison etc... Right now I have Mazzy and Cernd replacing Anomen and Minsc (special situation and the first time I've substituted 2 at the same time). Charname has 2.8M xp, which is a good indication of how far the party are in the game, since he is there for everything. Jaheira has 2.4M xp, which isn't too far behind, Imoen has 2M because obviously she was away from the party for a fairly long time and Aerie has 2.5M as she is the one I never substitute for romance reasons, but didn't join the party until after Irenicus' dungeon.
But, well,
Also, I like how you play, you're not so noobish.
Also, in which chapter do you are?
lol I know Kensai/Mage is op for BG 2 once they get their Kensai levels back. But my charname is not gonna have godly stats, and I am not gonna make the switch at a optimal level. Also from a RP perspective, I am going to use Kensai/Mage to simulate a 'Wuxia' hero, a Chinese fantasy genre where the heroes/villains are such skilled martial artists that their abilities are essentially 'magical'. In such a setting, there is no clear distinction between 'warrior' and 'wizard'.
Here's a good example from a Chinese Wuxia TV series.
"Also, I like how you play, you're not so noobish.
Also, in which chapter do you are?"
Thanks... although my battle at the Twisted Rune is basically 'Keep drinking Healing Potions until all the enemies are dead!'. It's difficult to formulate a logical strategy on the spot in an entirely new and unexpected situation.
I am in Chapter 6, about to return to the Elven camp.
Jin and the party return to the sewers of the Temple District to examine the mysterious rune-protected entrance that Yoshimo spotted many weeks ago. As Jin hypothesized, the key recovered from Tazok in Firkraag's Dungeon matched the runic lock, and a dingy tunnel opened up in front of the heroes, filled with the rotting and weathered corpses of men who had apparently discovered the passage before them. Sensing the evil emanating from the tunnels ahead, the party bravely venture deeper into the blackness...
Having enlisted the aid of Drizzt and the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart, armed with stakes and Elven Holy Water, Jin and the party make their way to the Graveyard District of Athkatla to track down Bhodi and bring the evil creature to justice, recover the Rhynn Lanthorn and restore Imoen's soul.
Unfortunately, Bhodi found them first, and launched a surprise attack on the heroes before they linked up with their allies. Bhodi and her vampires were repelled, but not before she took Aerie deep into her vampire infested lair...
Despite Bhodi's dire warnings, Jin and his friends plunge into the blackness of the crypts once more, now with yet another burning motivation, to rescue his beloved Aerie.
Using the power of the Rhynn Lanthorn, Jin, his friends and a small strike force of elite elven warriors led by Elhan storm the heart of Suldanesselar, attempting to reclaim it from the army of Golems, Rakshasa and other horrid beasts that Irenicus has unleashed upon the once tranquil city.
Inside the sacred Temple of Rillifane, the heroes are confronted by Suneer, a powerful lieutenant of Irenicus, and his retinue of foul demons and Rakshasa.
Having been rescued from Irenicus' torturers by Jin and the party, High Priestess Demin directs the party on a daring mission to recover the three holy relics of Elven God, Rillifane. Having seized the Moonblade and Talisman of Rillifane from Irenicus' minions within the city, the party head to a woodland clearing in search of the Goblet of Life...
... It's guardian, as feared, is a mighty Black Dragon upon which Irenicus rode into the city.
With the aid of the Avatar of Rillifane, the heroes make their way to the Tree of Life and destroy the horrifying Parasitic monsters draining if of its very divine essence. With his link to the Tree of Life destroyed, and rendered mortal once more, Irenicus attacks in a violent rage, and an epic battle breaks out among the hallowed branches of the mighty Tree of Life.
I'll go ahead and say though, gratz on finishing SoA. Are you going to take Jin into ToB, or are you wanting to start again now with your new kensai/mage so you can try EE?
The illithids battle was very exciting, especially when Aerie got blocked in that doorway! Otiluke's was a good call. It's really too bad that spell causes a save when cast on a friendly target. It really shouldn't do that. Otiluke's Sphere is the only case I can think of in the game where you *want* to fail a save, and in those situations, it turns into a fail-your-save-or-die a lot of the time. The spell Teleport Field might have also been useful here. I really hate those bottlenecked, stuck-in-the-door situations.
Too bad about the death. You remembered too late to keep checking intelligence frequently while fighting Illithids.
Everybody says Crom Faeyr is a fantastic weapon, but I've never forged it or used it myself.
I've been meaning to point out, have you noticed those greyed out spell buttons on your casters' action bars? You can right-click on one of those, and then select a spell to put there for quick cast. Those are for your most often used spells, so you can cast them with a single click instead of digging through the main spell cast list. I usually put Cure Wounds spells on the clerics' quick bars, and Magic Missile and a defensive spell or two (Invisible, Mirror Image) on the mages' quick bars.
Oh cool, I'm glad you are still enjoying them. I finally finished Shadows of Amn a few days ago after 105 hrs of gameplay, and was finally able to watch more of Tord's LP that I couldn't watch before cos of spoilers.
It was really interesting seeing how differently we approached almost everything. A lot of it was due to RP cos obviously Lilly and her party was mostly Evil, whereas most of Jin's party is Good, so their choices in things such as the tests of Hell were totally different. Gameplay wise Tord had access to much higher level magic, which made some of his battles much easier than mine, but on the other hand my party has more resilience and combat capability, and thus does not have to rest as often. (Though Tord never really tried to impose any rules on resting like I did anyway). I also noticed that he was not as disciplined as me when it came to magical protections, but did use stealth/invisibility a lot more than me, and wasn't as strict about pulling mobs one by one or waiting for enemy magical protections to time out. I suppose I can forgive a little cheesiness given how good of a story-teller and narrator he is.
I intend to complete ToB with my current LP. I've been trying out EE with Black Pits, using a party consisting of characters from all sorts of fantasy games I've played, and actually including Lilly Black, lol.
The amazingly talented Isandir very kindly agreed to make a custom portrait for my Kensai/Mage cos I had been struggling to ideal Oriental warrior portraits who didn't look like a Ninja, Samurai or decked in armour like Dynasty Warriors. So I am eagerly waiting for that before I start a full BG EE to BG 2 EE playthrough.
With the help of his friends and companions, Jin cast down Irenicus in a titanic battle on the mighty branches of the Tree of Life. However, his victory was short-lived... as the body of Irenicus fell, an unknown force, perhaps the soul shared between them, dragged Jin and his companions with Irenicus into Hell itself.
Having overcome the tests of Fear, Selfishness, Greed and Pride, Jin and his loyal companions, whom have followed him literally unto death, stand ready to face Irenicus in one final struggle, with the knowledge that the victor would be restored whole, and the vanquished forever destroyed in the pits of the abyss.