Which mod adds the encounter outside Firkraag's dungeon in Windspear Hills?
xzar_monty
Member Posts: 631
in BGII:EE Mods
I have a rather wide selection of mods in my current game, and one of them adds an encounter outside Firkraag's dungeon in Windspear Hills. Does anyone remember straight away where that one comes from? There are four guys, one of whom is quite powerful, and basically it's just another fight.
But what bothers me, and I mean seriously bothers me, is the loot. Whoever designed this encounter clearly has no sense of balance. I believe the best armor in the game gives you a basic AC of -1 (could be -2, though I can't remember which one that would be). But this encounter leaves you with an armor giving you an AC of -4. Sheesh. You also get an item that allows you to cast a 20th level Sunray spell twice a day. I mean, come on.
These items were so over-the-top ridiculous that I just didn't keep them. They'd ruin the balance in the whole game. I am in Chapter 3, mind you!
Who did this?
But what bothers me, and I mean seriously bothers me, is the loot. Whoever designed this encounter clearly has no sense of balance. I believe the best armor in the game gives you a basic AC of -1 (could be -2, though I can't remember which one that would be). But this encounter leaves you with an armor giving you an AC of -4. Sheesh. You also get an item that allows you to cast a 20th level Sunray spell twice a day. I mean, come on.
These items were so over-the-top ridiculous that I just didn't keep them. They'd ruin the balance in the whole game. I am in Chapter 3, mind you!
Who did this?
1
Comments
The loot is out-of-this-world ridiculous, for crying out loud. I like loot as much as the next guy, but this I just had to leave.
Use ee keeper to know this item resource name and simply search it in Baldurs Gate folder. You should have 2 result one in override and one in mod files.
Though I am not 100 % sure, but I think this particular encounter is part of CoM Encounters MOD. I remember, that it also adds some encounter with group of Shadow Thieves from the city of Baldurs Gate (Black Lily etc.) in sewers under the Copper Coronet in which one of the thieves drops after battle the Shadow Leather Armor (so player will have this armour twice, because it is already in game from Mae'Var quest I think?). It also ads some merchants with items on the edge of being overpowered, but this items are usually for really high price. On the other hand BGII (same as BG) has little gold inflation problem, so player could buy these items quite early in the game.
It also adds General Chang and his men to Windspear where they await you at the dungeon entrance. They have some +4 weapons. So this might fit to your description.
CoM Encounters is from the the same author as Dark Horizons in BG1. With the same balance approach to items and encounters. CoM = Chosen of Mystra forum
I just did it in my own game, and I can't in good conscience use the Green Dragon armor or whatever it is that General Chang drops. I do save it for ToB though, where I might feel less guilty.
Also, the dialogue leading up to the encounter is also pretty terrible. You are only given one response option at every opportunity, and of course it is always snarky.
@booinyoureyes: Not only is the dialogue terrible, but the item descriptions are also written in bad English. English is not my first language, either, but looking at those item descriptions I couldn't help but think that whoever wrote them really didn't know what they were doing. Grammar, vocabulary, style -- all woeful.
I enjoyed both encounters a lot actually, but I completely agree that the loot was overpowered.
I also fought Durlag's children and wife in the Temple District Sewers for some reason. Did anyone else experience that?
I’ve personally never understood the appeal of ‘tactical encounter’ mods that base their difficulty around insanely high levels and endgame equipment, and ‘rewarding’ the player with enough experience and items to trivialize everything in the base game. Sounds like the very antithesis of fun.
And yes, they don’t seem to proofread or find editors for their writing ever, even looking past the horribly railroaded dialogue options.
Those BG2 encounters are less immersion breaking (quality apart) because in BG2 you have a more uneven difficulty level. Firkraag's dungeon by itself can be quite hard if you go there too early and there is nothing that prevents you from going there once the guy in Copper Coronet invited you.
You can walk into the Guarded Compound within an hour of leaving Chateau Irenicus. Your chances of surviving? Nil.
(This kind of stuff only becomes tedious if you HAVE to survive a place where you're out of your depth.)