Favorite Battles

semiticgoddess

What do you all find to be the most fun or memorable fights in the Infinity Engine games?

lunar

There are many. But if I have to pick the absolute best of the best.

Final fight of ToB with Ascension mod is my all-time favourite:there is nothing in Infinity Engine games that can top that, and for good reason. 'Nuff said.

My more personal pick would be:Well, I really had difficulty with iwd2's end game bosses, they killed me so quick, the battle seemed to be monstrously difficult and more challenging/unfair than any of the previous fights. As a kid I had recurring nightmares of Madae blaspheming my party to paralyse them and Isair taking them out one by one by sneak attacks. Not to mention a lot of tough monsters being constantly summoned to the battle by some force unknown to me at that time. Hey, it was my first ie game experience, I was a noob to dnd, and those twins were real tough. (Even on easy I found them brutal!) I later beat them with no damage taken on HoF difficulty, no less. Still, I dread and love that final showdown in iwd2, to this day.

Sadly, I was a pretty experienced ie game player by the time I played iwd1 and bg1 so their final fights were a breeze. Never felt like the battles were impossible or that I was desperate like I felt against Isair and Madae of iwd2 my first time through. Everyone says Sarevok in bg1 is a monster and the boss of iwd1 is very tough. I never had difficulty with them. So they never made a big impact with me.

Another one I remember from bg2, my first pc ever, an elven cleric with blue skin (I was kinda obsessed with sea elves at that point) he had mediocre stats, thought Holy Smite was the best spell ever, and he tossed darts around. Yeah it was pre-tob and I guess there was a bug that regular darts were usable by pure clerics, though obviously they never had proficiency with it and my character sucked. Big time. I remember battling Firkraag. Can't remember the details, I guess I was smart enough to protect my party from fear and fire but the battle is a blur. All I remember is my sea elven cleric killed him off with a very lucky Holy Smite in the heat of the battle. I was overjoyed. My sucky guy had the lowest kills until that point, and he had Firkraag as the most powerful vanquished for the rest of his game life. I told it to a friend who has seen my character before, 'I did it, my character killed the big red dragon!' He laughed 'what, with darts?' I replied 'no, with his Holy Smite!' (Basking in the glory of knowing Holy Smite is the best spell ever.)

Jarrakul

Most fun or memorable? Hm. I love the pre-HOF version of the Yxunomei fight. It was a desperate scramble to try and keep the few people who could hurt her alive. Fantastic. I also love the second battle with Irenicus. That was a hard fight, back in the day, and even now he's got tricks up his sleeve that no other mage in the series can match. Firkraag of course deserves a mention, as do most of the BG2 dragons. Serevok is also awesome. I remember the first time I fought him, just trying to kill him with arrows before I ran out of summoned creatures and he came for me.

Jaheiras_Witness

As a solo SCS player I love fighting groups of NPCs where they have a range of skills. There's loads of examples in early BG2...Mencar's group, Captain Dennis, Tarnor, Valeria, the bounty hunter groups in Planar Prison, the random encounters, Torgal etc. And plenty more later too, eg Underdark.

Just find those types of battles really satisfying...you have one character against a group, you have to protect yourself against the range of attacks you might be up against, then you have to prioritise who you go for, often changing if they put up a particular buff or go invisible or whatever. And you generally have to use all the resources at your disposal and every round is a crucial decision...are you going to swig a potion, use a scroll, attack a particular NPC, use a spell, activate a particular ability etc? So many options in those fights.

To me that beats fighting groups of similar enemies or single powerful foes; in those fights you're generally only concerned about one or two different types of attacks and there's little prioritisation...does it matter if you go for Mind Flayer A or Mind Flayer B first? No, course not. You just need safe saving throws and a bunch of Potions of Genius.

Tresset

I loved my first battle with Yaga-Shura. Aerie used the Wish Timestop-Alacrity and emptied her spellbook. When the effect wore off everyone died in a glorious display of graphics that almost gave my computer a heart attack.

joluv

I've always thought the final fight in BG1 was really well done. For a novice player, it's a significant step up in difficulty from anything you've experienced so far (outside of TotSC), but not such a giant leap that it feels like it comes out of nowhere, especially since you've already witnessed Sarevok's power. And it's very multidimensional, but in ways that are consistent with the rest of the game. By contrast, Belhifet and Slayer-Irenicus seem more abrupt to me.

This one is silly: I like the Oasis battle in ToB. The area looks good, and it's just fun to suddenly take on an army as you're coming into your godlike powers. It's a bright interlude that alters the tone of the game in a positive direction.

Heindrich

@joluv I am actually not a fan of the BG1 Sarevok battle. It's one of those encounters that can be nearly impossible without metagame knowledge, and nearly trivial with it, if you are willing to exploit every advantage possible.

My favourite battle of the entire saga was the first time that I faced Irenicus in Spellhold. I was playing blind, and absolutely terrified because I have seen what he can do in the cut-scenes. Furthermore, I lost 4 out of 6 party members in the battle against his jailer mage (Tonk I think), the conclusion of which teleports you straight into the confrontation with Irenicus, without a chance to recover fallen comrades. With only a battered Charname and Anomen left, and an army of mad mages at their back, I completely expected to get slaughtered. Not only did I survive Irenicus, but I survived Yoshimo shortly afterwards and exacted revenge for his betrayal and got back all the gear I had saved for Imoen that he was carrying (and feared lost forever). That was epic not because of how hard the encounter was (which in all honesty, it isn't), but because of the buildup, the anticipation, the spectacle and the miraculous survival!

Lord_Tansheron

My favorite fight is actually from a mod: the Eclipse party from the Solaufein mod. I love challenging battles, and while the difficulty in this particular encounter involves a lot of cheese on the part of the AI, I found it a very satisfying puzzle to tackle.

I also enjoy the Tactics/SCS-style fight against Irenicus in hell. A multiple-phase encounter with many tricky enemies is very fun to do, and somewhat underused in the vanilla game.

As for unmodded fights, it's got to be the final battle, obviously. It's the only truly complex, long fight in the game after all

Space

My favourite battle is Sarevok with ToSC and the fifth level of the Iron Throne complex.

Improved Yaga Shura with ascension also deserves mention as does the two silver dragons in Dorn's bloody path quest.

Itstucktwice

I always nostalgia hard for the showdown in the harper compound. To me it is such an epic rising conflict. Like you basically know going in it is some sort of trap, and then you walk in to see a whole group of Harpers at the ready. The conversation starts out "cordial" and the tension builds and builds until it boils over.

Not to mention it is attached to one of the better characters/storylines in the game (in my humble opinion.)

Lemernis

So many... standouts for me include the four assassins guarding the Cloakwood mine, 5th floor of the Iron Throne, BG1 final battle, Firkraag, and Twisted Rune. I don't enjoy the battles with Irenicus and Melissan quite as much because they involve so many layers of spell vs. spell. They are certainly tough, though!

semiticgoddess

For BG2, I'd say the Guarded Compound with Sion and the group. Facing a more diverse group of enemies makes the combat more interesting. Same goes for the other enemy adventurers in BG2.

But overall, I'd find the most fun battles of the IE games to be in IWD2: the battle for Shaengarne Bridge and the outside of the Horde Fortress, with all the drums and stuff. Shaengarne is very tense because you want to win the fight early before the bridge is destroyed, but it takes time to wade through all the enemies. The music is also terribly epic. The Horde Fortress is also very epic in scale, and the need to take down the drums early adds some complexity to the fight.

Also, both occur when you're level 5 or 6, when the gameplay starts to get interesting.

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Mhamza

BG1final battle. Being a fan of karmic deaths, for my last playthrough as a sorcerer, I decided to take on Sarevok's gang as well rather than just luring him alone toward my party using boots of speed. Long story short, Tazok got blown up (Arrows of Detonation) by Kivan, Shar-Teel killed Angelo, but not before chunking Semaj, and Sarevok, after being worn down by Minsc, Imoen and Yeslick, fell to the always reliable magic missile cast by my sorcerer.

Of course Minsc, Imoen and Yeslick had less than half hp and Shar-Teel was near death by the end but hey, I guess you can't have everything.

toolarg

The assault on the bridge in IWD2. It's massive on scale and it gives me a sense of urgency, you gotta deal with the situation before the ogres bring down the bridge.

Tuth

Way too many to describe them, especially in BG1, since I enjoy most of the battles there. Generally, I prefer fighting against non-monster enemies that at least talk to you before the fight. So, most of the assassin groups e.g. the amazons after Nashkel mines, Drasus and his mercenaries before Cloakwood mine, Zhalimar and Sarevok's acolytes at the 5th floor of the Iron Throne etc.

The other battles that I enjoy apart from those, are against characters with interesting backstory. Some of these include: Icharyd in Ulcaster ruins, Doomsayer at the archeological site, Kahrk under Firewine bridge etc.

I think that TotSC did an amazing job of adding some amazing battles, my favourites are: Karoug on the Shipwreck and Demonknight (with shattered mirror). Tricky but really enjoyable, and those characters are really fascinating to me.

Overall I like fighting with enemies that I like, not that annoy me, or are simply boring and silent ,with the exception of several monsters like ankhegs and basilisks - these guys are quite scary.

Honorable mention goes to fight against Trias in PS:T, especially the twist if you have Vhailor in your party, that shocked me quite a bit.

lroumen

Bg1: nimbul vs my almost dead party
Bg2: faldorn vs my druid in an epic 1v1

JuliusBorisov

The most memorable fights in the Infinity Engine games are the boss fights I've encountered the very first time.

How can I forget the Twisted Rune for the first time and my party with characters of 12-13 levels swept aside in the first 2 rounds of it?

How can I forget Kangaxx for the first time and his Imprisonments for the whole party?

How can I forget Firkraag for the first time and his wing buffets which scattered all my party to different parts of his cave?

How can I forget the Ulgoth's Beard Finale for the first time when the demon made ghouls from 3 of my party member?

Mortianna

Without any metagaming or prior knowledge:

BG: Degrodel and his guardians
ToTSC: Aec'Letec and his cultists
BG2: Planar Prison, Twisted Rune
ToB: Demogorgon, Yaga Shura, and (EE) Dorn's Lunia quest
IWD: Maiden Ilmadia and the Fire Giants
IWD2: The Drider lair in the Underdark

Gallowglass

Perhaps Isair & Madae at the end of IWD2, I remember that being very tough (although I haven't played IWD2 for a long time). Maybe Icasaracht when I first met her at the end of vIWD:HoW, that was very tough too ... it seemed very easy in IWDee, but I'm not sure whether the difficulty has actually been nerfed or whether I'm simply a much more experienced player than way-back-when with much more meta-game knowledge of what I'll be facing.

But no, on balance I think I've got to choose the final battle of BG2:ToB, for the sheer satisfaction of having thereby completed the vast BG epic from start to finish.

Of course, with Adventure Y forthcoming, it now looks like that'll all be undone, because it won't be "completed ... from start to finish" until I take a new character through the saga with Adventure Y in addition to everything my previous protagonists have done!

Grum

1. The final seal in watcher's keep. It is so damned hard! The only way that I manage to beat it is to trap the living hell out of the place to take down the succubus and hurt the demoness. Then breach the demoness, kill her quickly, and move on to the beholder.

Even with that, I still get my arse handed to me most of the time. In my last playthrough, I was left with just my fighter/thief against the archer, cleric and kensai. I had to kite them for what felt like forever, using all of my potions of speed in the process. It really felt like a truly epic fight.

2. The Twisted Rune in the Bridge District. A liche, vampire, high level wizard and beholder! It's not as tough as the final seal battle, but it's still something up there. It's also quite fun when the mage summons a demon and you run like hell, leaving the mage to fight his own 'ally.'

DJKajuru

One of my favorite battles is against Tolgerias, the cowled mage in Lavok's Sphere. Both he and his assistant cast different spells, and are protected by powerful defensive spells while casting offensive spells and summonings. It's a pretty tough battle because it requires tactics and persistence.

booinyoureyes

I really like the fight against Gromnir.

Its the first time you really get to try out some cool HLAs, so that was awesome. One of my favorite memories of the game is the first time one of his wizards used Time Stop. I totally FREAKED OUT. Actually, I freaked out twice, once with a "ahhhhhh what is happening, save me!!!!!" freak-out, then followed that with a "woaaaahhhh, can my characters do that????" freak-out. It was exhilarating.

It was a very balanced party he had going too, with a cleric, two wizards, two random meat shields and of course Gromnir himself. You also have a pretty decked out party, so it feels like you and your "posse" against his gang of bad guys. A regular turf-battle.

Imagine West Side Story, but with flails and fireballs.

Speaking of flails... I love flails, they are my favorite weapon, so Gromnir definitely gets cool points. Mix that with his GREAT voice acting and the fact that he is a half-orc fighter, has his own castle and has a name that sounds like the title of a power metal album, you get a pretty rad dude in Gromnir. There is a reason he gets his very own portrait despite not being one of The Five. He's a total badass.

I love the crazy paranoia that goes into the whole Highlander-Bhaalspawn plotline in Saradush, and that all culminates in this battle. When you should be standing together, one guy freaks out and overreacts. Its like the guy in a horror movie who decides to panic and not follow the groups plan and then everything goes wrong. That is poor Gromnir, and that wicked witch Melissan is the femme fatale that drove him over the edge. Probably my favorite Baldur's Gate fight.

booinyoureyes

The other battle that comes close is definitely Yxunomei. I kinda like when there is a boss who has multiple minions with a good mix of spell casters, archers and melee warriors. It mixes the panic of crowd control with the epic showdown against a major baddy that is hard to kill. No one instills fear like a massive topless she-devil with six arms and a ssssnake body. It was the first fight I ever had in any Infinity Engine game that really felt like it was a life-or-death affair. Adrenaline was pumping, let me tell you.

Grum

booinyoureyes said:

The other battle that comes close is definitely Yxunomei. I kinda like when there is a boss who has multiple minions with a good mix of spell casters, archers and melee warriors. It mixes the panic of crowd control with the epic showdown against a major baddy that is hard to kill. No one instills fear like a massive topless she-devil with six arms and a ssssnake body. It was the first fight I ever had in any Infinity Engine game that really felt like it was a life-or-death affair. Adrenaline was pumping, let me tell you.

Especially when those mages appear behind you...

booinyoureyes

Tuth said:

Generally, I prefer fighting against non-monster enemies that at least talk to you before the fight. So, most of the assassin groups e.g. the amazons after Nashkel mines, Drasus and his mercenaries before Cloakwood mine, Zhalimar and Sarevok's acolytes at the 5th floor of the Iron Throne etc.

Haha, @Tuth and I have similar taste. I, too, prefer facing a group or non-monsters since the conflict actually has some cool backstory as opposed to "this thing is an evil lich, lets kill it".

I also prefer fighting a group of characters, rather than a massive monster. Dragons are fun (liches less so for me) especially ones like Firkraag who have a cool backstory and actually interact with your party, but for some reason it feels more epic to fight a HORDE of enemies, even if they are weaker. It just feels more heroic and "up against a wall" when you are outnumbered and there is a frantic battlefield, as opposed to ganging up on some massive beast.

This is actually why I like some random battles such as the fight against the guards in the barracks of Saradush. There are like 12 of them, they are all pretty powerful (like, not as strong as any of your party members but still a threat) plus you have a reason to dislike them for terrorizing the populace. It feels like a real conflict that would arise in the den of paranoia that is Saradush. Even though the dialogue is simple (like "hey, you, get out of here") it still feels like a meaningful fight between people with believable goals and personalities rather than slaying a vile beast that has no personality at all.