Difficulty Discussion

ThacoBell

Hey all, just finished my first run-through of SOD. I wanted to get other people's impressions on the difficulty of the main campaign, and what their playstyle was.
I felt it was a little too easy as a post game expansion. The final battle was much easier than the final battle with Sarevok or the demon in Ulgoth's Beard. Granted I played a Cleric/Ranger multiclass super tank that ran into melee and smashed everyone to death with a hammer while the rest of the party supported with missile weapons and CC spells. I was able to pretty much coast through virtually every fight.
What does anyone else think of the difficulty and what was your playstyle? I would love to hear how other people experienced the game.

jtth

What difficulty did you play on? It's quite hard on Insane. The final fight is harder on insane than Sarevok w/ SCS because of the demons all over the place and all the immunities to fire (and the rarity of +3 weapons, or having to successfully recast enchant weapon over and over).

ThacoBell

Yeah, I played on normal. I tend to play games on the default difficulty but I may need to bump it up for SOD.

DJKajuru

I have finished it only once, so far. But believe it was quite hard without strategic buffs and a lot of patience.

Fardragon

Difficulty was on a par with BG1 and 2, but with quite a few optional battles of considerably higher difficulty.

ThacoBell

what difficulty did you guys play on?

jtth

Insane, though I turn down to core or sometimes normal for the final fight because it's absurd, especially playing with mostly pureclasses or without mages.

Fardragon

I only ever play on core rules.

mf2112

Core the first time. The restartitis kicked in and I haven't gotten back through the endgame with insane, which is what I normally play.

ThacoBell

I think maybe I should bump up the difficulty.

joluv

I found the first dungeon in SoD to be surprisingly difficult, considering that it's mandatory and can't be delayed. I'm not 100% sure that every class could solo it, at least without carefully chosen equipment.

jtth

joluv said:

I found the first dungeon in SoD to be surprisingly difficult, considering that it's mandatory and can't be delayed. I'm not 100% sure that every class could solo it, at least without carefully chosen equipment.

You can but you need to use the NPCs in the area with you. (Fall back and mainly protect the cleric.)

OlvynChuru

I beat the final boss on my first try (core rules), and I don't remember there being lots of enemies. There were only two of them.

ThacoBell

Yeah just the two and with the extra backup from *spoiler* it was pretty simple.

Fardragon

I had continuously spawning reinforcements in the final battle. (Edit: on the bad guys side, not my side!)

The first dungeon could be difficult if you had chunked party members in the final Saravok battle, since then you have to play it without a full team.

ajwz

I found it pretty challenging.
I played on insane difficulty with the monster hp and damage boosts option turned off

Altair

I always wonder how some people can complain that the game is too easy when they haven't even tried the highest difficulty I am currently doing the whole BG saga in Legacy of Bhaal mode, and that is what I call a challenge! I am now almost at the end of SoD but it has taken me 170 (real) hours so far (doing every quest)...

ThacoBell

@Altair I'm not really complaining, just sharing my thoughts and see if other people had a similar experience. I tend to play the standard difficulty, as that is the one most of the effort and balance went into.