Behlifet strategy on core difficulty (and rant) (mild spoilers)
RafaelLVX
Member Posts: 17
Damn, it took me several hours of dying to Behlifet to figure out he's immune to weapons below +3.
What a ridiculous power. What is the point? Why make a boss immune to 99% of weapons in the game? What if I wanna beat him with a knife or even bare-handed? I know many AD&D monsters had these stupid immunities to weapons but it's just unfair to many characters. Anyone who's not with a super rare weapon shouldn't even be there, no matter how powerful.
So, my main character being a katana user, and not knowing about this caveat, I was only lucky I had some hundred +3 arrows and another hundred +3 bullets, all my characters needed to conform to ranged +3 ammo, because I wouldn't ever land a melee attack on Behlifet otherwise. It was a pretty dull combat, 6 guys shooting arrows forever on him while the aasimar was the only one up close. With that setup, beating Behlifet is trivial, but I couldn't even think of picking the alternative of killing the aasimar myself, it would've been unfeasible.
And while we're at, what a confusing, badly executed twist at the end. I wanted to like those last couple chapters more.
What a ridiculous power. What is the point? Why make a boss immune to 99% of weapons in the game? What if I wanna beat him with a knife or even bare-handed? I know many AD&D monsters had these stupid immunities to weapons but it's just unfair to many characters. Anyone who's not with a super rare weapon shouldn't even be there, no matter how powerful.
So, my main character being a katana user, and not knowing about this caveat, I was only lucky I had some hundred +3 arrows and another hundred +3 bullets, all my characters needed to conform to ranged +3 ammo, because I wouldn't ever land a melee attack on Behlifet otherwise. It was a pretty dull combat, 6 guys shooting arrows forever on him while the aasimar was the only one up close. With that setup, beating Behlifet is trivial, but I couldn't even think of picking the alternative of killing the aasimar myself, it would've been unfeasible.
And while we're at, what a confusing, badly executed twist at the end. I wanted to like those last couple chapters more.
3
Comments
For the record, I agree that Belhifet is a bad fit for the final battle of Siege of Dragonspear... though that's more because BG1 is traditionally a low-level adventure as opposed to a high-level one. Without Siege of Dragonspear, there are only three or four +3 weapons, three of which are cursed (a two-handed sword of berserking, a morningstar of berserking, and a spear of backbiting)
There are actually nine: there's those three cursed items, the Sword Sword of Backstabbing +3, the Two-Handed Sword +3, Aule's Staff +3, the Staff of Striking +3, and Drizzt's two scimitars.
And it seems strange to discount SoD if you're fighting Belhifet
I am curious though and keen to avoid a repeat of this, I still haven't come across a scroll of enchanted weapon, before reaching Amn.
How did you manage that? There's about half a dozen +3 weapons in BG1, and at least 4 more in SoD. THe game's pretty linear, so I don't know how you'd miss ALL the +3 options.
Plus, some might prefer a +1 or +2 weapon with better secondary effects over a plain +3 weapon.
Lastly, contrary to late BG2/ToB where you expect such encounters, when you first play through SoD and think this is just a transition before Chateau Irenicus where you only get normal or +1 weapons, you can legitimately be surprised to face such an enemy.
On the other hand... That is what makes the fight so special, and you are fighting a great demon on his turf after all
I was playing Abdel Adrian using the Moron kit, strode into every smithy and exclaimed "gimme the heaviest broadsword you've got!"
Actually it was just as Monico said, I usually pick up Varscona, Ashideena and maybe the dagger of venom on every play through like its some kind of mantra that cannot be deviated from; I even sold off the staff of striking because I preferred the utility of that new strength staff in SoD.
I have been doing TotSC content more now I've finally had a chance to play the enhanced edition but it still feels like gagging through some bitter medicine, I've never enjoyed it much, perhaps because it interrupts me just as I am about to take on Sarevok - maybe other folks take it on afterwards.
Suffice to say, with my slightly more insightful Bard character just finishing up in Durlags tower, he's holding to anything +3 with a vice like grip just in case we come across anything more mythologically endowed in the near future.
As for SoD, I'm sure you are right and I couldn't even tell you what weapons I finished the game with.. but it was all so new and exciting and went past in a blur!
Yea so this was actually discussed during development and QA (which I was a part of) encouraged the designers to add more weapons in. So it definitely would not be accurate to say "no regard" was paid towards it. In fact, I remember +3 weapons getting added specifically because of our feedback. Looking over the list it looks like, while not every weapon type gets a +3 weapon, a decent amount of them do. Especially when you factor in the few others that you can carry over from BGEE.
For whatever reason Enchanted Weapon is not available for sale in the game (at least not in the main game - it is in the Black Pits). I don't think you can get it as a random scroll either. At least not in BGEE/SoD. It really should have been for sale though.
That said you can find two scrolls of it in SoD.
I'm sure both were added in as a result of QA's whining feedback
Anyways, at the end of the day the default difficulty in the game is normal. +2 weapons are available enough in the game that it isn't an issue on the default difficulty level. Playing core or above is optional and even then there seems to be enough +3 weapons for people to make do. Even if they aren't playing their character optimally (which is something you occasionally have to do in BG2EE as well for similar reasons).
Given his position of power I'd say its an appropriate (if a bit hacky) feature.
The only saving grace is that your character is kidnapped, robbed, and taken to a far, far, away city, so it kind of works.
I don’t think Amn is a world of lesser weapons, you can immediately buy a +4 staff and can find a +3 two handed sword in a sewer (rather than at the bottom of the toughest dungeon in the game)
Sure, you *can*, but you aren't going to be shelling out for those weapons on day 1. Also, unless you already know about Lilarcor (metagame), and are willing to wade through some reasonably tough enemies (for a low level party), it isn't quite as simple as lifting it out of the muck and shining it up.
Which means most parties in BG2 are going to be getting by on the Sword of Chaos (+2) and maybe a few other +2 weapons they found in ID for a fair bit.
It's not that big a deal, though, just a bit of a reset. You very quickly get loaded up with practically OP weapons in no time - like the FoA +3. If you visit WK, there are several very nice +4 weapons on the first two levels. I was just pointing out that you get used to working with these really nice weapons, only to get tossed back into a dungeon with lesser weapons at first.
I disagree. My very first run of vanilla BG2 was playing a half-orc berzerker with pips in 2 handed weapons, and I remember fondly of stumbling upon Lilarcor almost as soon as I started out of Dungeon Irenicus (and that weapon never left my 6-int half orc, they were brothers).
When you get out of the dungeon, i'd say that the slavers quest is probably the 2nd quest you'll do in a normal playthrough (the circus tent being the first), since you are really pointed at this particular inn, and talking to the manager or looking around the back door seems like the most logical thing to do in such a big establishment.
This is the first game that they kept Lilarcor, though. It's actually a pretty darn nice +3 weapon, and the humor is a nice touch.
Worth pointing out that if you don't transfer gear to your main character at the end of the first dungeon, you lose much of it. So it's perfectly reasonable that people did not carry many +3 weapons from BG1.
And there's not that many +3 weapons in SoD, but moreso, there's a number of excellent +2 weapons that people might prefer. Not to mention that some of weapons are actually hidden in one way or another in SoD, so it is possible to miss them.
I dunno, I love the difficulty of the Belifhet fight. It's exactly how this kind of DLC for hardcore fans should be topped off. But the +3 weapon requirement does seem kind of unfair. No other monster did it before this. Hoarding gear turns the inventory system into a chore. He'd still be a very very difficult encounter without it.
Let me tell you about the time I brought zero anti-Werewolf weapons to Werewolf Island...
No clue. I haven't played Icewind Dale much since 2014.
i still play IWD every once in a while, and for anyone in melee i would say its almost impossible to not have a +3 weapon ( or better ) by that time, first even if you couldn't find one specifically suitored to you, conlan has loads of +3 weapons in his shop
the exception is the lack of +3 ( or better ) ammo, so unless you know to save it for the last boss, you may have already burned it all up ( like arrows of piercing or inferno darts +4 ) that is again, if you even find that stuff
Is the prologue just a set up for an EE bonus pack that's the hunt for the soultaker dagger?
I can't touch him with anything, and have to rely on keeping Caelar alive to even damage him. Magic missile barely touches him, and skulltrap makes me damage Caelar more than him. Anybody else run into this problem?