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How to properly prepare for adventures

BobbleheadBobblehead Member Posts: 4
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Hey everyone,

So I just finished my first play through of BG by the skin of my teeth and have just started on BG II. The major difficulty that I had during BG was finding myself unprepared for certain enemies/abilities (For example running into a pair of basilisks, or getting fear cast on my party on that chess board in Durlag's Tower) and having to reload a heap of times. Just wondering how you guys prepare for unexpected enemies that deal insane damage or having some crazy abilities/spells. Is it a matter of just stocking up on a heap of potions and equipment, and/or having more spell casters with a broader range of spells, or something else?

Thanks in advanced

Comments

  • lansounetlansounet Member Posts: 1,182
    Mostly meta-gaming for me even though I try to limit myself by stumbling upon enemies "by accident", unprepared, in open areas. Otherwise in dungeons I can just pretend my thief went ahead invisible looking for traps and came back to report about potential encounters, sometimes I actually do it.
  • magisenseimagisensei Member Posts: 316
    How about something a bit cheesy but makes a lot of sense in Durlag's Tower. Plus remember DT is meant to be difficult for a party that should be approximately level 7-8. If you are not paying attention in the tower it will eat you up and you will haunt the tower along with the other ghosts already there.

    Scout everything out section by section to fit into your style of role-playing. For example, I have Imoen scout out each room and area first - she sneaks around looking for traps, unlocking doors, searching for treasure and last but not least danger (and she does this while being invisible so no danger to her) when she finds them have her report back and plan accordingly unless she feels confident enough in her spells to dispatch the foe and still run away in time if things go badly - meaning having an escape route all planned out. I usually play my thief like this especially if I have Imoen with me and I have dualed her into a mage she loves the adventure of scouting things by herself --- for almost my entire play of BG Imoen was my scout.

    Almost everything in the tower is evil especially anything that teleports you out of a room and demands you fight on some crazy chess board.

    If you have fireballs either via spells, wands, potions or items then you really need to only fire 4-5 of them to end the fight - 6 fireballs to be safe or more if you like to make sure. When I got to the chess board that first time I wondered if I should play or just fireball everything that was in the fog still, not wanting to fight an obviously crazy fight {on a brief side note - I remembered all those crazy fights one on one in IWD2 where you had not choice but to compete in these crazy game rooms} I opted for spamming a half dozen fireballs and hoped it would destroy whatever was on the other side - it is a rare thing for a fireball or a half-dozen of them not to end a fight in your victory - making it really a non fight in the game for me.

    What the developers of the chess board match should have done was make it totally open so you couldn't spam fireballs or AoE spells without actually getting attacked by the monsters thereby leveling the battle field.

    So if you are not metagaming BG then the best way to deal with unexpected encounters is to really read what is being said especially if there are hints that a big fight is about to happen.

    But even if you don't know when a big fight is about to happen you should always have at least some buffs ready to go (you could use AI to cast defensive spells on sight of an enemy and perhaps the AI will pick the right one) - clerics should always have a bless and a chant ready and remove fear; mages will have haste (if they can cast it) along with stone skin and mirror image (depending on level and where you are in the game) and dispel and protection from fear; and of course you have a ton of potions and items that can be used along with any special abilities that might add to your defense - ie draw on holy might; kia; stun fist etc.

    Before the huge fight with the demon knight it is obvious from the dialogue with that guy who is standing in the room that the next floor is the last one - so buff and prepare for battle -saving chant, summons and haste as your last spells before going to speak with the demon knight.

    Spells to cast: protection from fear/remove fear (they do the same thing); potions, spells or items that protect from confusion (to be cast only on melee fighters); ring/potion of free action on one mage and cleric - can't have them stunned or maybe on one of the melee fighters but I prefer my melee fighters hasted instead; cast protection from evil (for party), bless (cast last before going up the stairs), stone skin for mages and/or mirror images; use potions to increase efficiency in your fighters - potions of heroism, invulnerability and defense work amazingly well plus str potions are helpful and if you know you are facing a demon then magic defense potions are a must as well. Caste haste last before confronting the monster along with chant and summons (summons before haste so that the summons can be hasted as well).

    As you enter the area where the fight happens take a look around the area and plan how to use the place to your advantage if possible (this doesn't always work since sometimes the place is fully trapped but sometimes it works). Don't go into the fight in formation (if possible - not always possible before a fight starts) as this well usually end up with someone stunned or confused or something - spread out to minimize the potential targets and damage.

    Big final fights are easy to pre-buff - even if they are a lot more dangerous - if you have the right spells and items; it is mostly the smaller encounters that surprise you and force you to battle it out in a desperate bid to stay alive - like the appearance of greater doppelgangers that appear out of nowhere and are able to cast spells - dangerous if you don't know how to interrupt their spell casting as quick as possible while pounding away at them.

    For your mages for these surprise encounters that are really dangerous - have a potion of invisibility on hand for a quick escape from life threatening danger - Imoen had only 3 hp left before drinking a potion of invisibility and that saved her to fight another day.
  • AerakarAerakar Member Posts: 1,046
    I tend to play thiefly protagonists, so scouting is my go-to move. Then after scouting, I can justify preparing the rest of the party for expected battles or pre-positioning my thief for an opening backstab while ignoring my meta-gaming knowledge. I tend to explore first and then engage in combat as I choose. In BGEE this works except for some of the bounty hunter encounters or other encounters while traveling.

    In the end, I have found that even with SCS there is not much a necklace of missiles, a +3 staff backstab, or wand of sleep cannot solve in BGEE :)
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