@BelgarathMTH, to my knowledge you're right. It would be the first no-reload trilogy succes on the forums. @semiticgod successfully no-reloaded his way through SoA and ToB with his memorable party of melee casters; his run didn't include BG1.
@bengoshi, looking very good my friend! I'm already looking forward to Yahiko's confrontation with Mel... Are you playing with Ascension? In that case you could convince Balthasar to fight by your side. You might also consider practising Demon fights in Watcher's Keep. The final battle has lots of demons, it could be useful to practise a bit while you still have your pocketplane escape ability (in the final battle you won't have it anymore).
I'm excited just as you, kind followers of Yahiko, but I'm standing on the ground and think it will hardly happen that Yahiko manages to do it.
As for the Melissan confrontation, right now I simply don't imagine how to beat her. I'm open to any ideas people can provide. I've read through the bioware forum with @Alesia_BH saying there she doesn't know a about a successful finished solo with a druid. @Enuhal has come to a conclusion that it's impossible to beat Mel with a totemic druid on a no-reload run. And as I've figured out, @Enuhal, whose totemic druid had been killed in the last battel, had played without the SCS mod.
I'm laughing at a youtube video at the request "solo totemic druid against Melissan". It's a combination of successful Harm spells. In order to do it without reloading, you need several attempts. Add the need to cast Magic Resistance first and it's obvious Yahiko will run out of spells. The helmet of Simulacrum has one use.
Yahiko constantly creates +5 darts with the cloak, which in my setup don't vanish if they're put into a container. There're about 100 of them already.
You might bend the rules a bit if the situation looks hopeless. Buy some pricy mage scrolls, if you can, and use the potion swap glitch to cast them. Simulacrum, Wish, PFMW, Tenser's Transformation, and Spell Immunity could make a big difference. But your strategy would likely have to be overhauled completely if you were to do so--it would warrant a lot of extra planning.
Other than that, it's hard for me to think of any good trump cards you might use. Potions of Absorption might hold off Melissan's allies if not Melissan herself. Potions of Magic Protection/Shielding could stop some big spells. A Protection from Magic scroll, as always, can shut down an enemy's spell casting. Slayer form might have some role to play. The Staff of Fire/Woodlands can add a whole bunch of extra summons. You should have enough Oils of Speed to outrun everything. A sling should out range Mel's darts, enabling kiting. And if all else fails, you can try to land a Harm spell. It's completely unreliable, but a 0.5% chance of success might well be your best shot.
Ever since this thread began I've been anticipating this moment. My understanding is that solo no reloading vanilla Melissan is oddly difficult: highly improbable, if not impossible.
I always play with Ascension so I can't advise. I have no first hand experience fighting VMel with a druid.
On the old forums there was a player who attempted to solo the game with every vanilla class and kit. He claimed to have succeeded with all but one: the totemic druid.
As you know, Enuhal's totemic druid fell in the final battle with VMel. My understanding is that he, Enuhal, did eventually defeat vanilla Melissan, but only by using the Bag of Holding/Item recharge exploit. He considered this something other than a triumph and I agree.
I'm glad to hear that you won't be using the potion swap exploit.
May I make an out of the box suggestion? Install Ascension. The Ascension ending has a reputation from being more difficult than vanilla, but in the specific case of the totemic druid I suspect that it's the other way around: I suspect that you'll have a better chance against AMel than VMel. No one would fault you for using the Ascension ending, I'm sure: many consider it to be the standard test.
Were you to use the Ascension ending, I could offer some advice.
Anyhoo. Regardless of how this ends, know that you've done some excellent work, Bengoshi. To me, Yahiko is already a winner. Congrats!
Thanks a lot for the suggestions, Alesia, I'll give them a thought. And special thanks for appreciating the Yahiko's results till now.
Yahiko knew in advance that Abazigal will resemble Draconis in terms of fighting with his humanoid form first and then with his dragon form. So Yahiko, with the help of summons, cautiously cleared all the area with Frost Salamanders so that only Abazigal was left.
After resting in the Pocket Plane, Yahiko returned and let Abazigal see him. As a humanoid, Abazigal is a badass fighter, able to chunk any summon in seconds. This is why Yahiko used his Elemental form, just as with Irenicus in the Slayer form. Abazigal was busy with going through Yahiko's Ironskins, Yahiko was busy with damaging Abazigal.
Thanks to the speed of the Fire Elemental form, Yahiko could retreat to the opposite side of the area in order to cast new Ironskins when needed.
Then the dragon appeared. There's one place in this cave where the dragon cannot hit charname in melee:
Abazigal often dispelled all Yahiko's protections, so in pauses between casting the Fire Storm Yahiko was busy with renewing Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Protection from Lightning and Armour of Faith.
Protection from Lightning renders target fully nvulnerable to electrical attacks, so thank Bhaal Abazigal attacked with electricity.
This is why Abazigal was probably less dangerous than some of the previous dragons in the lair.
Btw. If you'd like to transition to an Ascension install, you should do so prior to Balthazar. You'd need to setup a fresh install, I believe. Of course, using Ascension may not be the best move, depending on your experience with the two endings: the devil you know, and all.
I've followed your advice and installed Ascension from the BP. It took 10 minutes! And I've read numerous comments on this forum about how it's hard to install the Ascension mod on BG2EE It turned out to be VERY simple!
@bengoshi, did you install SCS on top of it? If not, Ascension will run BP scripts rather than SCS scripts I think.
Yes. SCS needs to be installed over Ascension to get the SCS scripts. This is especially critical when using BP Ascension in EE, since the BP scripts don't behave properly in EE.
Also, if you are using a recent version of SCS (v24-v30) bear in mind that there are two significant bugs in SCS/Ascension. One breaks the version of Irenicus that appears at the Throne, causing his AoE spells to do no damage. The other causes additional demons to appear alongside the Fallen Solars. In Ascension, the fallen solars should spawn in alone. Fixes can be found here.
Good luck! I really hope this works out. It won't be easy, but it should be possible if you can figure out a way to deal with Illasera and the Fallen Solars.
An awesome thread, @Alesia_BH ! We need the same on this forum. Maybe @Ygramul can include it (in a form of links to different posts from that thread) into his OP in the no-reload thread.
An awesome thread, @Alesia_BH ! We need the same on this forum. Maybe @Ygramul can include it (in a form of links to different posts from that thread) into his OP in the no-reload thread.
I think that is an excellent idea.
I will modify the original post in the no-reload thread, hoping @Alesia_BH would not mind the sharing of it.
Yahiko didn't encounter any difficulties in finding Balthazar (enemies that opposed Yahiko when Saemon Havarian left once again didn't create problems for summons). Thanks to the Ascension Balthazar agreed to help Yahiko against Melissan.
After that Yahiko had 2 Pocket Plane challenges ahead of him. A group of Favoured of Cyric wasn't dangerous - Yahiko just had to keep summoning spirit animals.
But the next challenge, the last before Melissan, was going to be difficult. I think that the only reliable option for a solo druid to defeat the Ravager is to use the Magic Resistance + The Harm spell combination.
It lets the druid to use nearly all 7th level spell slots for summoning spells (Elemental summoning is especially good here, when one spell summons 2 elementals), while the number of level 5 and 6 spells is enough to give many chances to the Harm spell. Especially taking into account Yahiko had a STR-enhancing girdle (up to 22 STR) and his Simulacrum could double the number of attempts.
The first thing was to lower the magic resistance of the Ravager.
Then either Yahiko or his Simulacrum had to hit the Ravager while keeping casting summoning spells.
It took a lot of time, actually (maybe because at first it was the Simulacrum who tried to hit the Ravager while Yahiko kept summoning creatures). The Simulacrum was unsummoned, nearly all summons were defeated. Yahiko had to recast the Magic Resistance on the Ravager several times. And it worked finally!
In a second Yahiko took the Fire Elemental Form and inflicted the final blow.
In order to avoid a situation when every enemy attacks at once, as soon as Yahiko entered the last area and before Melissan started her dialogue, Yahiko, hasted due to the Fire Elemental form, moved a little to the left, so that as soon the talk was finished, not everyone followed Yahiko and Balthazar.
Jon Irenicus casted Time Stop (to no effect because everyone was far away from him already), and Balthazar, being immune to it, managed to hit, hit, hit and so on one Fallen Solar, so that when the spell ended, the Solar was dead:
Yahiko meanwhile summoned the Deva. After that the froup of three (Yahiko, Balthazar and the Deva) maneuvered to attack Bodhi and to try the Deva's vorpal sword on her.
An interesting fact - one time Yahiko was confused by the second Solar and the Deva had to cast Dispel magic on him.
The confusion was dispelled while the Protection from Fear, casted previously by the Deva, wasn't. So, it's a testament that Dispel magic can dispel not all effects but some of them (this question has been raised on the forum not long ago) - it seems that the spell works (counting the percentage and all) towards each effect other than all of them:
While maneuvering Yahiko managed to kill Imoen:
Sooner, rather than later, the Deva managed to destroy Bodhi:
So, only two enemies were left: the Fallen Solar and Irenicus, standing far away.
But even with the True Seeing, even in the Form of Earth Elemental (25 STR), Yahiko couldn't kill the Solar.
Both Yahiko and Balthazar not once or twice brought the Solar to "Near Dead" status, only to see the Solar casting an Invisibility spell and going away and then healing itself.
Add to that a constant need to re-cast Death Ward and Chaotic Commands in order not to get a nasty effect from the Solar, and you get the picture.
Actually, I don't know how in this situation a solo druid can kill the Solar.
Yahiko and Balthazar decided to try their luck against Irenicus. This time, during another Time Stop, Balthazar was hard in control by the player and didn't want to go to the Solar. Instead, he attacked Irenicus. The mage was protected from magical weapons, so Balthazar managed to only injure him.
After that, the battle took another minute or so. The Solar once again dispelled all the protections on Yahiko and in that precise moment Irenicus, as it can be seen from the screenshot, charmed or dominated Yahiko.
This is how the Tale of the Totemic Druid ended. I attach a final save (that was made automatically by the game) before going to Melissan so that anyone can try to win the final battle, if you want.
My conclusion is that if not for a Time Stop spell, Yahiko couldn't defeat one of the Solars. And it's not suprising that the second one proved to be unkillable by a druid.
Although this is not the best result, I'm still proud of how a solo druid managed to go through all the game till Melissan.
Looking back, I definitely can say that the biggest challenge for a solo druid is ToB. Here, nearly every major enemy was a problem. I had to dig deep in order to find ways to defeat enemies in the Fire Giants' Temple, in ordet to overcome Ogremoch, in order to manage different dragons and in order to kill Sendai and the Ravager. Each time, it needed something special, something that was not "on the table" so that the druid could continue.
But thinking about the final battle, I don't know how Yahiko could behave not to be killed. Thinking about it, it's a pity that Yahiko fell during the first stage of the final battle, and nearly all his protection spells were casted even before Yahiko could go into the second stage.
But nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience. Sometimes I spent hours only thinking of how to deal with the next enemy. It required a lot of knowledge about the game to stay alive as far as Yahiko managed.
In the end, I have to thank everyone who followed this thread and shared his ideas about the run. I hope the thread will serve as an example of how a druid should be used in the game and why it's not a bad class to play.
When I imagine that Yahiko had 5 (or even one) companions, all of the high level, in the final battle, I see endless possibilities of winning it without reloads. So a single-classed druid in a party would be awesome and far away from a "liability".
But the fact stays. Completing a no-reload trilogy run with a solo druid still remains something that hasn't been documented.
Irrespective of what you've just posted @bengoshi, have my congratulations. As you say, your run indeed proves that a single class Druid, at least a Totemic, is a great class, even for soloing the game. What you didn't say, humble as you are, is that your achievements are also thanks largely to the skill and ingenuity of the player. Really, bengoshi you've shown us a lot of that.
I think it's lame, if not outright cheating, that the Solar could cast invisibility on itself and be undetectable by True Seeing. I don't know what Yahiko could have done against the Solar, as it's been about three years since I last did the SCS Ascension final battle... Maybe you could experiment a bit yourself. One thing I noticed is that only Balthasar continued during Irenicus' Time Stop. If I'm not mistaken, you should have a special Ascension ability that when cast just in time (when the Alteration incantation starts) to be immune as well. That way you might have tried to finish the second Solar while Balthazar was making short work of the first.
Focus is the Ascension ability that grants immunity to Time Stop. Lasts 5 rounds, can be cast every 10 rounds.
Earth Elemental form has 2 base APR with I think 2d10+10 damage per hit. Oil of Speed, Belm, for 4 APR, or about 80 damage per round. It should be possible to slay a Fallen Solar during Time Stop in elemental form, especially with the Ring of Gaxx or Amulet of Cheetah Speed for IH.
@Bengoshi , the Ravager is where my only documented minimal reload run, refereed by @SapphireIce101 over on the old Bioware minimal reload thread, began to fall apart, and that was with a full party. I simply had no idea how to get past that scenario, so I had to reload over and over until I finally came up with a solution, taking my reload total for the trilogy from seven or eight up to near twenty, in a single scenario.
That you could defeat the Ravager scenario with a solo totemic druid without any reloads is nothing short of amazing.
I played the final battle in my one ToB run, full party, without Ascension. I could not beat it without turning the difficulty slider to "easy", in order to deprive Melissan of Elder Orbs.
It might be an interesting and enlightening experiment if you could manipulate your install and your save files to replay that final battle *without* Ascension. It is a totally different experience that way, and I for one would be very interested in whether you think it makes it harder or easier for your totemic druid, or makes no difference in the end at all.
The final two battles (Ravager and Melissan) of ToB are such powerful no-reload enders, that I marvel at the players who are willing to go through the many, many hours, days and even weeks worth of playing the game, to arrive at that point without reloading, often, all too tragically often, to have their no-reload victories taken from them, right there, at the end.
I guess part of the secret of success is to practice with "post-mortem" save game files, over and over, in order to learn all the possible game-enders and possible game-winning strategies at those final two battles, with various class combinations, both with party and without.
CONGRATULATIONS! I think you deserve the eternal respect and awe of the BG community, even though this no-reload run was finally "unsuccessful". It was a "success" in my book, times a thousand!
And so one of the select few threads I have bookmarked has come to an end (somewhat). I can't even begin to imagine getting this far. Ben, you are outstanding. Your consistent ingenuity and dedication to the game has resulted in an impeccable thread that I don't think anyone could ever fault you for. Would that you had succeeded, but to be honest I expect very little when someone sets out to complete a no-reload trilogy run. Call me jaded by faces of beloved protagonists come and gone. But you accomplished so much more than I could have ever dreamed of, let alone expected. From Karasu's first feeble attempts to fly, to Yahiko's unfettered soar, you've shown us both an incredible journey, and a real challenger to the no-reload trilogy title.
I will join in the well-earned praise and tell you @bengoshi, that I think this run is nothing short of triumphant. Sure, the glory would be endless if you had managed all the way through, but what you did is awe-inspiring!
I'm no expert at all, not near the level of knowledge you have. The few hours I have to play nowadays is mostly spent on casual playthroughs, but I truly enjoy reading these kind of epic explorations into the deep mechanics of the game, where you have to analyze and prepare for each battle as death is but a failed saving through away.
Thanks for this insightful run bengoshi. You and the writers in @Ygramul 's no reload thread give me feel like doing no-reload and SCS run in the future.
Thank you all for your kind words! It indeed feels strange that this thread has come to its end.
As the save confirms, Yahiko didn't get the Focus - I think it's because I've installed the Ascension only after Balthazar. Winning in two challenges in the Pocket Plane and making a truce with Balthazar resulted in several abilities, but not the Focus.
As for uninstalling the Ascension - well, it would mean Yahiko didn't defeat Balthazar, and how could we know how it would have been?
If you can understand, it's hard for me to touch Yahiko right now. Maybe the best I can do is to start a group run in Ygramul's thread, to make a change of scenery.
But I refuse to put an end in the tale of the totemic druid
Thanks for this insightful run bengoshi. You and the writers in @Ygramul 's no reload thread give me feel like doing no-reload and SCS run in the future.
Nothing like it.
I have yet to finish the Pillars of Eternity, but I have spent easily 1000s of hours over years on BG/SCS/no-reload and still play it repeatedly.
It is the unique near-perfect tactical balance that rewards good play and punishes carelessness.
The fallen solars were destined to be a substantial hurdle. I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out.
When I completed Ascension with my avenger druid many years ago, I had Balthazar kill the eastern fire immune solar during time stop. The western fallen solar, which lacks fire resistance, was finished with double implosions from my druid and her simmy. This worked, although its not something I'd bank on in a no reload run- not without ironing out the details, at least. My avenger needed a few reloads before she got it right.
There is a mod (Rogue Rebalancing?) that turns the Reflection Shield into a buckler. That would be a game changer for a solo druid, since it would permit you to take out the fallen solars by reflecting vorpal arrows. With the Reflex as a buckler, a solo druid could confidently no reload the Irenicus fight. My single class cleric, Abigail, breezed through that battle thanks to the Reflex. The logic would be nearly the same with a druid.
Anyhoo. I do still think you should be congratulated on an outstanding run. Yahiko was a success- even if his last fight didn't end in victory. I look forward to your next run!
Best,
A.
Btw. You don't receive Focus until after the Irenicus/Bodhi/Solar fight. You get it just before the final confrontation with Mel and the 5. It is among the abilities that you receive after calming the pools at the Throne.
This thread has become a vital resource for me. Thanks Bengoshi.
I really needed a break from my spell caster run, as the tedium of arcane casters was beginning to wear on me. A solo fighter was proving a bit boring without party mates to co-ordinate with, so I resurrected my Totemic Druid for a shot at SCS BG2. This class is quickly becoming a favourite for me. Arcane summons simply pale in comparison to the druid's, I feel, and the druid's spirit animals and superior elementals make a solo run feel less lonely.
I have embarked on a few firsts due to the info I've gleaned from your very helpful playthrough. Of particular note is the Helm of Vailor, which I had never before used. It's proven vital for summoning creatures during the initial stages of many areas, so as to pace my druid and not exhaust my supply of minions before the usual end-fights.
I am a bit worried about throne of bhaal, but that's far away at this point. I have a feeling I'll be checking in here often, as threads like this prove far more informative than the actual game.
Just reached 3million XP! I've never gotten that far in a solo run before. Much thanks to Yahiko.
Sadly, this is not a no-reload run I'm doing, even though I am using Yahiko's journey as a reference. This is because I just had to reload...
I just killed myself with firestorm after causing absolute chaos in the Planar Prison. The spirit animals kill demons in 3 seconds flat, it seems, and the master of thralls was no match for them. I snuck in under invisiblity and assassinated him under everyone's nose, then took the orb, went invisible and without killing another soul caused every single thrall to turn. This reduced the planar prison population to almost nothing by the end of the fight.
I was badly hurt in the chaos, but I was alive. I'd killed the warden and released the thralls and destroyed all obstacles in my way. It was sloppily done, but I was really feeling confident that I might, soon, be competent enough to do a real, documented, no-reload run.
Then, right on the doorstep to HaerDalis' cell I encountered a few remaining umberhulks and summoned fire elementals (my only remaining summons) to deal with them. I summoned one directly on my location.
Except it wasn't a fire elemental.
Whoops.
Cooked myself nice and crispy with firestorm. I didn't survive even the first barrage... and in my defense, the buttons for Summon Fire Elemental and Firestorm do kind-of sort-of vaguely look similar. Or maybe I just need to look at the buttons more carefully.
So ya... now I'm kind of sad and not feeling up to the challenge of a no-reload run, despite Yahiko's stirling example.
At least I can say with confidence that my reload was not caused by enemy fire. I guess there's that, right?
Anyway.... what I really came in here to bring up is Beholders. I have not faced them, and reading about Yahiko's difficulty makes me nervous. I was wondering, @Bengoshi, did you try Pixie Dust? The SCS readme seems to imply that only hive mothers see through invisibility. I'm hoping it will cloak my summons and allow them to de-cloak in melee. Unless perhaps you tried that and it didn't work...
It should work exactly like that. Pixie Dust will turn your summons invisible, and they will break their invisibility before you do, ensuring that enemy Beholders target them instead of you. SCS Beholders besides Hive Mothers don't see through invisibility.
Yahiko always had one or two Pixie Dust spells ready because except for the ring of improved invisibility and potions he didn't had anything to become invisible.
Also, only with the Deva Yahiko could deal with beholders more or less safely, because all other summons were killed in seconds by these creatures.
Comments
@bengoshi, looking very good my friend! I'm already looking forward to Yahiko's confrontation with Mel... Are you playing with Ascension? In that case you could convince Balthasar to fight by your side.
You might also consider practising Demon fights in Watcher's Keep. The final battle has lots of demons, it could be useful to practise a bit while you still have your pocketplane escape ability (in the final battle you won't have it anymore).
I'm excited just as you, kind followers of Yahiko, but I'm standing on the ground and think it will hardly happen that Yahiko manages to do it.
As for the Melissan confrontation, right now I simply don't imagine how to beat her. I'm open to any ideas people can provide. I've read through the bioware forum with @Alesia_BH saying there she doesn't know a about a successful finished solo with a druid. @Enuhal has come to a conclusion that it's impossible to beat Mel with a totemic druid on a no-reload run. And as I've figured out, @Enuhal, whose totemic druid had been killed in the last battel, had played without the SCS mod.
I'm laughing at a youtube video at the request "solo totemic druid against Melissan". It's a combination of successful Harm spells. In order to do it without reloading, you need several attempts. Add the need to cast Magic Resistance first and it's obvious Yahiko will run out of spells. The helmet of Simulacrum has one use.
Yahiko constantly creates +5 darts with the cloak, which in my setup don't vanish if they're put into a container. There're about 100 of them already.
Other than that, it's hard for me to think of any good trump cards you might use. Potions of Absorption might hold off Melissan's allies if not Melissan herself. Potions of Magic Protection/Shielding could stop some big spells. A Protection from Magic scroll, as always, can shut down an enemy's spell casting. Slayer form might have some role to play. The Staff of Fire/Woodlands can add a whole bunch of extra summons. You should have enough Oils of Speed to outrun everything. A sling should out range Mel's darts, enabling kiting. And if all else fails, you can try to land a Harm spell. It's completely unreliable, but a 0.5% chance of success might well be your best shot.
The potion swapping is not possible in the EE
I always play with Ascension so I can't advise. I have no first hand experience fighting VMel with a druid.
On the old forums there was a player who attempted to solo the game with every vanilla class and kit. He claimed to have succeeded with all but one: the totemic druid.
As you know, Enuhal's totemic druid fell in the final battle with VMel. My understanding is that he, Enuhal, did eventually defeat vanilla Melissan, but only by using the Bag of Holding/Item recharge exploit. He considered this something other than a triumph and I agree.
I'm glad to hear that you won't be using the potion swap exploit.
May I make an out of the box suggestion? Install Ascension. The Ascension ending has a reputation from being more difficult than vanilla, but in the specific case of the totemic druid I suspect that it's the other way around: I suspect that you'll have a better chance against AMel than VMel. No one would fault you for using the Ascension ending, I'm sure: many consider it to be the standard test.
Were you to use the Ascension ending, I could offer some advice.
Anyhoo. Regardless of how this ends, know that you've done some excellent work, Bengoshi. To me, Yahiko is already a winner. Congrats!
Good hunting!
A.
Yahiko knew in advance that Abazigal will resemble Draconis in terms of fighting with his humanoid form first and then with his dragon form. So Yahiko, with the help of summons, cautiously cleared all the area with Frost Salamanders so that only Abazigal was left.
After resting in the Pocket Plane, Yahiko returned and let Abazigal see him. As a humanoid, Abazigal is a badass fighter, able to chunk any summon in seconds. This is why Yahiko used his Elemental form, just as with Irenicus in the Slayer form. Abazigal was busy with going through Yahiko's Ironskins, Yahiko was busy with damaging Abazigal.
Thanks to the speed of the Fire Elemental form, Yahiko could retreat to the opposite side of the area in order to cast new Ironskins when needed.
Then the dragon appeared. There's one place in this cave where the dragon cannot hit charname in melee:
Abazigal often dispelled all Yahiko's protections, so in pauses between casting the Fire Storm Yahiko was busy with renewing Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Protection from Lightning and Armour of Faith.
Protection from Lightning renders target fully nvulnerable to electrical attacks, so thank Bhaal Abazigal attacked with electricity.
This is why Abazigal was probably less dangerous than some of the previous dragons in the lair.
Best,
A.
Btw. If you'd like to transition to an Ascension install, you should do so prior to Balthazar. You'd need to setup a fresh install, I believe. Of course, using Ascension may not be the best move, depending on your experience with the two endings: the devil you know, and all.
Also, if you are using a recent version of SCS (v24-v30) bear in mind that there are two significant bugs in SCS/Ascension. One breaks the version of Irenicus that appears at the Throne, causing his AoE spells to do no damage. The other causes additional demons to appear alongside the Fallen Solars. In Ascension, the fallen solars should spawn in alone. Fixes can be found here.
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/560248-the-adventurers-lounge-guidance-and-support-for-no-reload-challengers-newbie-or-veteran/?p=19564149
Good luck! I really hope this works out. It won't be easy, but it should be possible if you can figure out a way to deal with Illasera and the Fallen Solars.
Best,
A.
I will modify the original post in the no-reload thread, hoping @Alesia_BH would not mind the sharing of it.
After that Yahiko had 2 Pocket Plane challenges ahead of him. A group of Favoured of Cyric wasn't dangerous - Yahiko just had to keep summoning spirit animals.
But the next challenge, the last before Melissan, was going to be difficult. I think that the only reliable option for a solo druid to defeat the Ravager is to use the Magic Resistance + The Harm spell combination.
It lets the druid to use nearly all 7th level spell slots for summoning spells (Elemental summoning is especially good here, when one spell summons 2 elementals), while the number of level 5 and 6 spells is enough to give many chances to the Harm spell. Especially taking into account Yahiko had a STR-enhancing girdle (up to 22 STR) and his Simulacrum could double the number of attempts.
The first thing was to lower the magic resistance of the Ravager.
Then either Yahiko or his Simulacrum had to hit the Ravager while keeping casting summoning spells.
It took a lot of time, actually (maybe because at first it was the Simulacrum who tried to hit the Ravager while Yahiko kept summoning creatures). The Simulacrum was unsummoned, nearly all summons were defeated. Yahiko had to recast the Magic Resistance on the Ravager several times. And it worked finally!
In a second Yahiko took the Fire Elemental Form and inflicted the final blow.
Now... The final battle!
In order to avoid a situation when every enemy attacks at once, as soon as Yahiko entered the last area and before Melissan started her dialogue, Yahiko, hasted due to the Fire Elemental form, moved a little to the left, so that as soon the talk was finished, not everyone followed Yahiko and Balthazar.
Jon Irenicus casted Time Stop (to no effect because everyone was far away from him already), and Balthazar, being immune to it, managed to hit, hit, hit and so on one Fallen Solar, so that when the spell ended, the Solar was dead:
Yahiko meanwhile summoned the Deva. After that the froup of three (Yahiko, Balthazar and the Deva) maneuvered to attack Bodhi and to try the Deva's vorpal sword on her.
An interesting fact - one time Yahiko was confused by the second Solar and the Deva had to cast Dispel magic on him.
The confusion was dispelled while the Protection from Fear, casted previously by the Deva, wasn't. So, it's a testament that Dispel magic can dispel not all effects but some of them (this question has been raised on the forum not long ago) - it seems that the spell works (counting the percentage and all) towards each effect other than all of them:
While maneuvering Yahiko managed to kill Imoen:
Sooner, rather than later, the Deva managed to destroy Bodhi:
So, only two enemies were left: the Fallen Solar and Irenicus, standing far away.
But even with the True Seeing, even in the Form of Earth Elemental (25 STR), Yahiko couldn't kill the Solar.
Both Yahiko and Balthazar not once or twice brought the Solar to "Near Dead" status, only to see the Solar casting an Invisibility spell and going away and then healing itself.
Add to that a constant need to re-cast Death Ward and Chaotic Commands in order not to get a nasty effect from the Solar, and you get the picture.
Actually, I don't know how in this situation a solo druid can kill the Solar.
Yahiko and Balthazar decided to try their luck against Irenicus. This time, during another Time Stop, Balthazar was hard in control by the player and didn't want to go to the Solar. Instead, he attacked Irenicus. The mage was protected from magical weapons, so Balthazar managed to only injure him.
After that, the battle took another minute or so. The Solar once again dispelled all the protections on Yahiko and in that precise moment Irenicus, as it can be seen from the screenshot, charmed or dominated Yahiko.
This is how the Tale of the Totemic Druid ended. I attach a final save (that was made automatically by the game) before going to Melissan so that anyone can try to win the final battle, if you want.
My conclusion is that if not for a Time Stop spell, Yahiko couldn't defeat one of the Solars. And it's not suprising that the second one proved to be unkillable by a druid.
Although this is not the best result, I'm still proud of how a solo druid managed to go through all the game till Melissan.
Looking back, I definitely can say that the biggest challenge for a solo druid is ToB. Here, nearly every major enemy was a problem. I had to dig deep in order to find ways to defeat enemies in the Fire Giants' Temple, in ordet to overcome Ogremoch, in order to manage different dragons and in order to kill Sendai and the Ravager. Each time, it needed something special, something that was not "on the table" so that the druid could continue.
But thinking about the final battle, I don't know how Yahiko could behave not to be killed. Thinking about it, it's a pity that Yahiko fell during the first stage of the final battle, and nearly all his protection spells were casted even before Yahiko could go into the second stage.
But nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience. Sometimes I spent hours only thinking of how to deal with the next enemy. It required a lot of knowledge about the game to stay alive as far as Yahiko managed.
In the end, I have to thank everyone who followed this thread and shared his ideas about the run. I hope the thread will serve as an example of how a druid should be used in the game and why it's not a bad class to play.
When I imagine that Yahiko had 5 (or even one) companions, all of the high level, in the final battle, I see endless possibilities of winning it without reloads. So a single-classed druid in a party would be awesome and far away from a "liability".
But the fact stays. Completing a no-reload trilogy run with a solo druid still remains something that hasn't been documented.
I think it's lame, if not outright cheating, that the Solar could cast invisibility on itself and be undetectable by True Seeing.
I don't know what Yahiko could have done against the Solar, as it's been about three years since I last did the SCS Ascension final battle... Maybe you could experiment a bit yourself. One thing I noticed is that only Balthasar continued during Irenicus' Time Stop. If I'm not mistaken, you should have a special Ascension ability that when cast just in time (when the Alteration incantation starts) to be immune as well. That way you might have tried to finish the second Solar while Balthazar was making short work of the first.
Earth Elemental form has 2 base APR with I think 2d10+10 damage per hit. Oil of Speed, Belm, for 4 APR, or about 80 damage per round. It should be possible to slay a Fallen Solar during Time Stop in elemental form, especially with the Ring of Gaxx or Amulet of Cheetah Speed for IH.
Any thoughts?
That you could defeat the Ravager scenario with a solo totemic druid without any reloads is nothing short of amazing.
I played the final battle in my one ToB run, full party, without Ascension. I could not beat it without turning the difficulty slider to "easy", in order to deprive Melissan of Elder Orbs.
It might be an interesting and enlightening experiment if you could manipulate your install and your save files to replay that final battle *without* Ascension. It is a totally different experience that way, and I for one would be very interested in whether you think it makes it harder or easier for your totemic druid, or makes no difference in the end at all.
The final two battles (Ravager and Melissan) of ToB are such powerful no-reload enders, that I marvel at the players who are willing to go through the many, many hours, days and even weeks worth of playing the game, to arrive at that point without reloading, often, all too tragically often, to have their no-reload victories taken from them, right there, at the end.
I guess part of the secret of success is to practice with "post-mortem" save game files, over and over, in order to learn all the possible game-enders and possible game-winning strategies at those final two battles, with various class combinations, both with party and without.
CONGRATULATIONS! I think you deserve the eternal respect and awe of the BG community, even though this no-reload run was finally "unsuccessful". It was a "success" in my book, times a thousand!
And no. I don't mean Yahiko. I mean you.
I'm no expert at all, not near the level of knowledge you have. The few hours I have to play nowadays is mostly spent on casual playthroughs, but I truly enjoy reading these kind of epic explorations into the deep mechanics of the game, where you have to analyze and prepare for each battle as death is but a failed saving through away.
Cheers and congrats!
As the save confirms, Yahiko didn't get the Focus - I think it's because I've installed the Ascension only after Balthazar. Winning in two challenges in the Pocket Plane and making a truce with Balthazar resulted in several abilities, but not the Focus.
As for uninstalling the Ascension - well, it would mean Yahiko didn't defeat Balthazar, and how could we know how it would have been?
If you can understand, it's hard for me to touch Yahiko right now. Maybe the best I can do is to start a group run in Ygramul's thread, to make a change of scenery.
But I refuse to put an end in the tale of the totemic druid
I have yet to finish the Pillars of Eternity, but I have spent easily 1000s of hours over years on BG/SCS/no-reload and still play it repeatedly.
It is the unique near-perfect tactical balance that rewards good play and punishes carelessness.
The fallen solars were destined to be a substantial hurdle. I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out.
When I completed Ascension with my avenger druid many years ago, I had Balthazar kill the eastern fire immune solar during time stop. The western fallen solar, which lacks fire resistance, was finished with double implosions from my druid and her simmy. This worked, although its not something I'd bank on in a no reload run- not without ironing out the details, at least. My avenger needed a few reloads before she got it right.
There is a mod (Rogue Rebalancing?) that turns the Reflection Shield into a buckler. That would be a game changer for a solo druid, since it would permit you to take out the fallen solars by reflecting vorpal arrows. With the Reflex as a buckler, a solo druid could confidently no reload the Irenicus fight. My single class cleric, Abigail, breezed through that battle thanks to the Reflex. The logic would be nearly the same with a druid.
Anyhoo. I do still think you should be congratulated on an outstanding run. Yahiko was a success- even if his last fight didn't end in victory. I look forward to your next run!
Best,
A.
Btw. You don't receive Focus until after the Irenicus/Bodhi/Solar fight. You get it just before the final confrontation with Mel and the 5. It is among the abilities that you receive after calming the pools at the Throne.
This thread has become a vital resource for me. Thanks Bengoshi.
I really needed a break from my spell caster run, as the tedium of arcane casters was beginning to wear on me. A solo fighter was proving a bit boring without party mates to co-ordinate with, so I resurrected my Totemic Druid for a shot at SCS BG2. This class is quickly becoming a favourite for me. Arcane summons simply pale in comparison to the druid's, I feel, and the druid's spirit animals and superior elementals make a solo run feel less lonely.
I have embarked on a few firsts due to the info I've gleaned from your very helpful playthrough. Of particular note is the Helm of Vailor, which I had never before used. It's proven vital for summoning creatures during the initial stages of many areas, so as to pace my druid and not exhaust my supply of minions before the usual end-fights.
I am a bit worried about throne of bhaal, but that's far away at this point. I have a feeling I'll be checking in here often, as threads like this prove far more informative than the actual game.
Sadly, this is not a no-reload run I'm doing, even though I am using Yahiko's journey as a reference. This is because I just had to reload...
I just killed myself with firestorm after causing absolute chaos in the Planar Prison. The spirit animals kill demons in 3 seconds flat, it seems, and the master of thralls was no match for them. I snuck in under invisiblity and assassinated him under everyone's nose, then took the orb, went invisible and without killing another soul caused every single thrall to turn. This reduced the planar prison population to almost nothing by the end of the fight.
I was badly hurt in the chaos, but I was alive. I'd killed the warden and released the thralls and destroyed all obstacles in my way. It was sloppily done, but I was really feeling confident that I might, soon, be competent enough to do a real, documented, no-reload run.
Then, right on the doorstep to HaerDalis' cell I encountered a few remaining umberhulks and summoned fire elementals (my only remaining summons) to deal with them. I summoned one directly on my location.
Except it wasn't a fire elemental.
Whoops.
Cooked myself nice and crispy with firestorm. I didn't survive even the first barrage... and in my defense, the buttons for Summon Fire Elemental and Firestorm do kind-of sort-of vaguely look similar. Or maybe I just need to look at the buttons more carefully.
So ya... now I'm kind of sad and not feeling up to the challenge of a no-reload run, despite Yahiko's stirling example.
At least I can say with confidence that my reload was not caused by enemy fire. I guess there's that, right?
Anyway.... what I really came in here to bring up is Beholders. I have not faced them, and reading about Yahiko's difficulty makes me nervous. I was wondering, @Bengoshi, did you try Pixie Dust? The SCS readme seems to imply that only hive mothers see through invisibility. I'm hoping it will cloak my summons and allow them to de-cloak in melee. Unless perhaps you tried that and it didn't work...
[Half-hearted huzzah]
Also, only with the Deva Yahiko could deal with beholders more or less safely, because all other summons were killed in seconds by these creatures.