Small fact that puts this into perspective: I live and die by quick and auto-saves. I'm too lazy to make checkpoints. Soooooo,
When my evil character who believes in killing first and asking questions later got poisoned in Baldur's Gate and promptly killed both of the culprits, and was only able to obtain one half of the antidote, and quick saved before realizing that she was doomed to die a horribly painful, inescapable death, her only option was to try and beat the game within...about 6 days (she slept and traveled a bit too much before realizing what her fate was to be). Needless to say she was unable to pull this off despite numerous attempts and ultimately had to restart from her humble beginnings in Candlekeep, this time as true neutral.
About the druid grove, just stand with another character next to the arena and give items to the one fighting, the fight gets really easy, it's cheating, but the druids won't complain. My worst defeat would also be the mind flayer's lair in the sewers, this is where I learned that you shouldn't MIN/MAX your characters too much and use INT as a dump stat. I also had problems through the plannar sphere, Jan was using the staff that makes people flee in terror, and almost everytime he attacked, he died. he was at cha 1...
My worst general defeat would probably be any time I play a bard and then forget that I have a bard song when I get to the FAI.
My worst specific defeat? The first time I tried to finish the first dungeon level of Durlag's Tower. I was all raring to go (and had forgotten that this was a Brutal Bonus Level)... and immediately half my team died from the instant Cloudkill. I must have tried that fight five times with that group and failed each time. Never cleared past there until I rolled up Adeste (Adeste was Fighter 3 / Cleric 7 when the fight was over).
Karoug. Nothing quite like fighting through a tiny, crowded ship full of goddamn werewolves to reach the boss and realize YOU HAVE NO WEAPONS THAT CAN HIT HIM. It quickly became a pitiful display of trying to chip him down with Varscona's +1 ice damage and screaming as spells washed off his magic resistance until he killed us all, one by one. He is the reason that to this day I absolutely refuse to run a BG1 party without someone who can use that bastard sword of +3 vs. Shapeshifters.
Usually fighting a dragon or lich. But this one I will remember for the rest of my life. Fighting the elder umber hulks in ToB. Failed saves vs confusion on my paladin and sarevok. Deathbrnger assault clears aerie, and ravager decapitated somebody else, both not possible no be resurrected. Man this was so ridiculous, i was laughing.
I'm amending my worst specific defeat... I just lost a level 4 knife-centric elf fighter to the first Neera encounter... because she's programmed to use Color Spray as opposed to something that's not going to knock out friendlies.
I want clear in-game information about 'penalty of ranged weapon in melee' because the worst moment is that the hidden game rule hurt the play.
the description about 'penalty of ranged weapon in melee' was on the original game loading screen tip. but you deleted the loading screen and the information disappeared.
I want clear in-game information about 'penalty of ranged weapon in melee' because the worst moment is that the hidden game rule hurt the play.
the description about 'penalty of ranged weapon in melee' was on the original game loading screen tip. but you deleted the loading screen and the information disappeared.
My scs run with all of the improved boss encounters, I defeated everything SoA has to offer then repeatedly wiped vs Irenicus in hell. My custom party had a few deficiencies needless to say. Irenicus wins! Irenicus wins!
I bought the collectors edition of Bg2 after the great review in the Gamestar (100 DM, inclusive a tshirt, gaming cards, PnP adventure etc.) I dont even know what PC I created, but I didnt get the whole mechanic (AC goes down, ThAC0 etc.) I think I made it thru the dungeon, but I let the game rest for a year or so
But its the complex game mechanic, besides other things, that still makes me want to replay this game.
Not exactly a defeat but I remember abandoning my first attempt at BG2 when I couldn't work out how to exit Waukeen's Promenade.
I had the same problem on my first playthrough, I kept looking for the slums in Waukeen's Promenade, I asumed it was the whole city, since it had a temple, and I asumed that the temple district was the region around that temple.
My worst defeat to date was in SoA. It's my first time playing the game, and I apparently chose two difficult quests right off the bat. The CE fighter (Korgan, I think) was the first quest I did, and only half of my party had magical weapons. But it wasn't the shades or the mummys or anything like that, it was those damn spiders. I had to retry that fight four or five times due to me dying from poison. I just kept thinking about getting overrun by those tiny spiders...Finally beat it though. Next stop, Dragomir's Tomb! I made it through there with hardly any trouble at all.
Hey, what does this hidden door in the Tavern at the Crooked Crane lead to? Words cannot describe how underleveled I was for that.
On a more serious level, coming up against Gauths and Beholders for the first time during the Unseeing Eye quest. There's about five of the things and they just cut me to shreds. I only managed that through copious abuse of Fire Elementals.
Also, Mind Flayers with a single classed fighter protagonist, backed up by Minsc, Keldorn and Jahiera. Three hits and you're dead.
My level 18 solo sorceress vs. the lone ghast in the lower level of the vampire lair - wanted to buff up before the door and conserve spells, bastard paralyzed me through stoneskin and then chewed me up...
I thought I was all powerful with my old mage in BG2 ToB. Nothing could hinder Zenither with his mind bending Timestop. Except Demogorgon was immune to it... Yup. That ended badly for the party.
I thought I was all powerful with my old mage in BG2 ToB. Nothing could hinder Zenither with his mind bending Timestop. Except Demogorgon was immune to it... Yup. That ended badly for the party.
Playing BP 2 (incoming spoilers), the Bhaalspawns who suddenly changed into Slayer and Ravager. The Ravager was immune to nearly anything i threw at him (including Comet wtf), so I've cast timestop to test some spells in peace. Of course he was immune to that too and chewed my Inquisitor. With him my True seeing was gone too, so the Slayer backstabbed my cleric and than my wounded Monk. Before i realized whats going on it was my lonely sorcerer versus Barely injured Ravager and Badly injured but yet again invisible Slayer...
Incredibly I've still managed to pull it trough. Stoneskins held long enough to finish summoning planetar. He still wasnt capable to harm the Ravareg, but he posses 3x instant speed revive and Heal. Revived back cleric monk and recently deceased sorcerer and managed to tank long enough to finish that bastards off..
Gee... Kangaxx of course! Meeting him for the first time, you have no idea what to expect, what he even is, or what is required to fell him! Also, protection from death magic does not last long (or he dispelled it from me somehow?), and his demi-lich death magic is very difficult to resist (if it even can be resisted, that is).
I got endless wipes, until i exploited an xp loophole, levelled up my cleric and killed him with (6 or 7 level was it now, spells) that deal with undead and unholy purging (sunray and one other).
And demogorgon. The first time i fought it, i did not have enough time to summon the 5 planetars.
Hmm, this would probably have to be the Demon Knight in Durlag's Tower
For one, I was playing that game MUCH different than how I usually. So this meant that none of my party members could really take hits (except for Dorn he has a d10). But this got worse. Very first thing he does, remove magic. Second, either Power word: Kill or stun. If he chose kill they would obviously die. If they got stunned however the demon knight would just unleash hell upon everything. (Mind you: this was a multiplayer party, so we got along with a plan barely). So eventually we decided the only way to keep the damn demon distracted was to use the mirror. So in the end, playing as a stealthy backstabber, I managed to backstab the demon (don't ask me how that worked) and remove the curtain. The most funny part about it was the MAGE actually killed the demon. He was cornered and the only weapon he could use without his spell being interrupted was his +3 quarterstaff.
To this day, I still remember 2 defeats, as being my worst ever. - 1. My protaganist being splettered all around the screen by a xvart on the road to the Friendly Arm Inn. This was especcialy embarrasing since the protaganist was supposed to be a bad ass paladin in my first multiplayer game with friends... And nowadays when we meet up and play again I am constantly reminded of it. - In one of my first plays ever around 15 years ago or so (I was around 11 at the time) I snatched the Lightning Rod in Beregost. As your average teenager I was awed by its potential of damage and destruction, but not fully understandig the mechanics of the Lightning Bolt. So when I encountered Mulahey in the mines and he sent his minions forth, I did what I thought would bring total destruction....I casted the Lightning Bolt. It did bring Total Destruction though. And I didn't learn from it, since I used it up to 3 times after reloading and the only change I made was trying to dodge it
1. the assasin at the entrance of Friendly Arm Inn - nothing so suprising as a duel with a mage casting Mirror Image, Horror, and killing the charname with a Magic Missile.
2. Bassilus in some wilderness area near Beregost - Hold Person, succesful > killing the charname with a few hits.
3. Silke, the thespian extraprdinaire, killing half of the party or the charname with a Lightning Bolt, and the dwarven assasin inside the nearby inn - hitting hard, and taking hits like no other.
4. the cleric assasin in the Nashkell inn - Hold Person, once again, stunning the charname for good.
5. Nimbul, in Nashkell, after cleaning the mines of kobolds and Mulahey - Magic Missile, again, killing the charname...
6. the four-member group, sent by Iron Throne, near the exit from Nashkell Mines - it is either Hold Person or Horror, and the "you must start the game or load a saved game" -screen appears...
I think that summarizes the dangerous encounters, though many are made easier by little levelling. The first time I encountered the demon knight under Durlag´s Tower, and later Aec´LEtec in the cellar of some shop in Ulgoth´s Beard, now those are the most frustrating moments in BG 1, without a Scroll of Magic Protection basicly impossible. Funny, that so far, while playing BG 2, my worst defeats came, when trying to battle the three stunning demons in Planar Sphere... and it is very annoying, each and every time, when I come across vampires - the level drain, restoration spell and fatigued-process without a protection from negative energy spell or item is very, very near the ultimate essence of total defeat... though, thinking of defeat makes me remember Dak´Kon saying this: "I may be bested in battle, but my soul shall never be defeated".
So far I have been humiliated by the Ogre Mage (Siren's master?) when my bodyguard got hit by a random Lightning strike. Left my wizard running about the map into more damnable spawns.
The Web, and hold spells, even Horror have frequently screwed me over, especially in the Basilisk area. Got the Spiders Bane and could breath a little easier at least. No more silly deaths whilst I stand still and be hacked apart or eaten alive.
Impatient party member running through Lolth knows how many traps and somehow getting myself hit by all the lightning.
Recent death was at the hands of the Fission Slimes, I figured if I made them duplicate themselves my friend's wizard could lay down some fireballs and roll in that XP. After confirming the wizard had finished his Reverie and memorised the needed spells I proceeded with step one. When it came to step two of the plan, it seemed the wizard was pulling my leg and actually had not memorised any spells of any use.
I got owned plenty in BG 1/2, and still do , but there is one encounter I will never forget.
BG2, my first playthrough. Sewer key. Although I met one mind flayer prior to that encounter (quest under Copper Coronet), i had no idea what kind of fighting capabilities they have. I open the door with the room full of mind flayers and ulitharid, after a seecond or two my character portraits start turning grey. I remember I had no idea what was going on, I didn't even pause the game, I just stared at my screen and observed the massacre that was brought on to my party, with my jaw dropped to the floor. I actually thought it was a bug, I simply could not understand how is it possible to have your whole party killed in 1 round.
This was in BG2. I had just got the game a few days earlier and was playing through casually, just a trial run sort of, and completely unspoiled. My characters were all about level 9-10, and having come from a pencil & paper AD&D background, I was thinking my group was pretty badass. Yeah. I was ownin s--t. Anyway, I was at the end of the Windspear Hills quest and I meet the "end boss" Firkraag. Of course I had to fight...
The music. Firkraag himself. That I was unloading all I had and still getting my butt KILLED. Everything about that encounter was just amazing to me.
I've played some MMOs here and there (though I'm way over them nowadays). Ragnaros and Onyxia from WoW, Hamidon from City of Heroes, stupidly large lag-inducing fleet battles in EVE Online -- none of those have been nearly as "epic" as my first encounter with Firkraag in Baldur's Gate II.
Firkraag trounced me (over and over) and I didn't beat him that day (though I've repaid the favor many times since), but that moment solidified BG2 as my new favorite game of all time. And it still is.
Comments
Small fact that puts this into perspective: I live and die by quick and auto-saves. I'm too lazy to make checkpoints. Soooooo,
When my evil character who believes in killing first and asking questions later got poisoned in Baldur's Gate and promptly killed both of the culprits, and was only able to obtain one half of the antidote, and quick saved before realizing that she was doomed to die a horribly painful, inescapable death, her only option was to try and beat the game within...about 6 days (she slept and traveled a bit too much before realizing what her fate was to be). Needless to say she was unable to pull this off despite numerous attempts and ultimately had to restart from her humble beginnings in Candlekeep, this time as true neutral.
My worst defeat would also be the mind flayer's lair in the sewers, this is where I learned that you shouldn't MIN/MAX your characters too much and use INT as a dump stat. I also had problems through the plannar sphere, Jan was using the staff that makes people flee in terror, and almost everytime he attacked, he died. he was at cha 1...
My worst general defeat would probably be any time I play a bard and then forget that I have a bard song when I get to the FAI.
My worst specific defeat? The first time I tried to finish the first dungeon level of Durlag's Tower. I was all raring to go (and had forgotten that this was a Brutal Bonus Level)... and immediately half my team died from the instant Cloudkill. I must have tried that fight five times with that group and failed each time. Never cleared past there until I rolled up Adeste (Adeste was Fighter 3 / Cleric 7 when the fight was over).
look at this discussion.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/29494/serious-warning-you-miss-quite-critical-information/p1
I want clear in-game information about 'penalty of ranged weapon in melee' because the worst moment is that the hidden game rule hurt the play.
the description about 'penalty of ranged weapon in melee' was on the original game loading screen tip.
but you deleted the loading screen and the information disappeared.
I bought the collectors edition of Bg2 after the great review in the Gamestar (100 DM, inclusive a tshirt, gaming cards, PnP adventure etc.)
I dont even know what PC I created, but I didnt get the whole mechanic (AC goes down, ThAC0 etc.)
I think I made it thru the dungeon, but I let the game rest for a year or so
But its the complex game mechanic, besides other things, that still makes me want to replay this game.
Tough encounters are mostly mod introduced. So..
On a more serious level, coming up against Gauths and Beholders for the first time during the Unseeing Eye quest. There's about five of the things and they just cut me to shreds. I only managed that through copious abuse of Fire Elementals.
Also, Mind Flayers with a single classed fighter protagonist, backed up by Minsc, Keldorn and Jahiera. Three hits and you're dead.
Incredibly I've still managed to pull it trough. Stoneskins held long enough to finish summoning planetar. He still wasnt capable to harm the Ravareg, but he posses 3x instant speed revive and Heal. Revived back cleric monk and recently deceased sorcerer and managed to tank long enough to finish that bastards off..
I got endless wipes, until i exploited an xp loophole, levelled up my cleric and killed him with (6 or 7 level was it now, spells) that deal with undead and unholy purging (sunray and one other).
And demogorgon. The first time i fought it, i did not have enough time to summon the 5 planetars.
For one, I was playing that game MUCH different than how I usually. So this meant that none of my party members could really take hits (except for Dorn he has a d10). But this got worse. Very first thing he does, remove magic. Second, either Power word: Kill or stun. If he chose kill they would obviously die. If they got stunned however the demon knight would just unleash hell upon everything. (Mind you: this was a multiplayer party, so we got along with a plan barely). So eventually we decided the only way to keep the damn demon distracted was to use the mirror. So in the end, playing as a stealthy backstabber, I managed to backstab the demon (don't ask me how that worked) and remove the curtain. The most funny part about it was the MAGE actually killed the demon. He was cornered and the only weapon he could use without his spell being interrupted was his +3 quarterstaff.
- 1. My protaganist being splettered all around the screen by a xvart on the road to the Friendly Arm Inn. This was especcialy embarrasing since the protaganist was supposed to be a bad ass paladin in my first multiplayer game with friends... And nowadays when we meet up and play again I am constantly reminded of it.
- In one of my first plays ever around 15 years ago or so (I was around 11 at the time) I snatched the Lightning Rod in Beregost. As your average teenager I was awed by its potential of damage and destruction, but not fully understandig the mechanics of the Lightning Bolt. So when I encountered Mulahey in the mines and he sent his minions forth, I did what I thought would bring total destruction....I casted the Lightning Bolt. It did bring Total Destruction though. And I didn't learn from it, since I used it up to 3 times after reloading and the only change I made was trying to dodge it
1. the assasin at the entrance of Friendly Arm Inn - nothing so suprising as a duel with a mage casting Mirror Image, Horror, and killing the charname with a Magic Missile.
2. Bassilus in some wilderness area near Beregost - Hold Person, succesful > killing the charname with a few hits.
3. Silke, the thespian extraprdinaire, killing half of the party or the charname with a Lightning Bolt,
and the dwarven assasin inside the nearby inn - hitting hard, and taking hits like no other.
4. the cleric assasin in the Nashkell inn - Hold Person, once again, stunning the charname for good.
5. Nimbul, in Nashkell, after cleaning the mines of kobolds and Mulahey - Magic Missile, again, killing the charname...
6. the four-member group, sent by Iron Throne, near the exit from Nashkell Mines - it is either Hold Person or Horror, and the "you must start the game or load a saved game" -screen appears...
I think that summarizes the dangerous encounters, though many are made easier by little levelling. The first time I encountered the demon knight under Durlag´s Tower, and later Aec´LEtec in the cellar of some shop in Ulgoth´s Beard, now those are the most frustrating moments in BG 1, without a Scroll of Magic Protection basicly impossible. Funny, that so far, while playing BG 2, my worst defeats came, when trying to battle the three stunning demons in Planar Sphere... and it is very annoying, each and every time, when I come across vampires - the level drain, restoration spell and fatigued-process without a protection from negative energy spell or item is very, very near the ultimate essence of total defeat...
though, thinking of defeat makes me remember Dak´Kon saying this: "I may be bested in battle, but my soul shall never be defeated".
The Web, and hold spells, even Horror have frequently screwed me over, especially in the Basilisk area. Got the Spiders Bane and could breath a little easier at least. No more silly deaths whilst I stand still and be hacked apart or eaten alive.
Impatient party member running through Lolth knows how many traps and somehow getting myself hit by all the lightning.
Recent death was at the hands of the Fission Slimes, I figured if I made them duplicate themselves my friend's wizard could lay down some fireballs and roll in that XP. After confirming the wizard had finished his Reverie and memorised the needed spells I proceeded with step one. When it came to step two of the plan, it seemed the wizard was pulling my leg and actually had not memorised any spells of any use.
BG2, my first playthrough. Sewer key. Although I met one mind flayer prior to that encounter (quest under Copper Coronet), i had no idea what kind of fighting capabilities they have. I open the door with the room full of mind flayers and ulitharid, after a seecond or two my character portraits start turning grey. I remember I had no idea what was going on, I didn't even pause the game, I just stared at my screen and observed the massacre that was brought on to my party, with my jaw dropped to the floor. I actually thought it was a bug, I simply could not understand how is it possible to have your whole party killed in 1 round.
The music. Firkraag himself. That I was unloading all I had and still getting my butt KILLED. Everything about that encounter was just amazing to me.
I've played some MMOs here and there (though I'm way over them nowadays). Ragnaros and Onyxia from WoW, Hamidon from City of Heroes, stupidly large lag-inducing fleet battles in EVE Online -- none of those have been nearly as "epic" as my first encounter with Firkraag in Baldur's Gate II.
Firkraag trounced me (over and over) and I didn't beat him that day (though I've repaid the favor many times since), but that moment solidified BG2 as my new favorite game of all time. And it still is.