Addiction to no reload
Rigel
Member Posts: 256
I have started recently playing no reload playthroughs. I play with SCS Tactical and some Tweaks (for example PnP rules on armor effct on thief skills).
For the moment, this is not a great success to be honest ... I manage getting to Chapter 4 but have yet not managed to go through it. I play almost exclusively squishy halflings thieves.
But I have to admit that this is really addictive! I wonder if I should not try to do a reload witout SCS (but I love it so much ... this is really a game changer).
To play no reload is a brand new experience for me - it reminds me of the chills I had when I was playing DUngeon Master 35 years ago ....
And sometimes, I am not lucky ... when a lightning strike for example my PC and kill her right away ...
I do not play solo but take the first ability scores that I get and do not maximize HPs. Perhaps I am too ambitious and not realistic ?
I would welcome any tips !
For the moment, this is not a great success to be honest ... I manage getting to Chapter 4 but have yet not managed to go through it. I play almost exclusively squishy halflings thieves.
But I have to admit that this is really addictive! I wonder if I should not try to do a reload witout SCS (but I love it so much ... this is really a game changer).
To play no reload is a brand new experience for me - it reminds me of the chills I had when I was playing DUngeon Master 35 years ago ....
And sometimes, I am not lucky ... when a lightning strike for example my PC and kill her right away ...
I do not play solo but take the first ability scores that I get and do not maximize HPs. Perhaps I am too ambitious and not realistic ?
I would welcome any tips !
5
Comments
Other than that: don't feel bad about not succeeding at first. It takes many, many tries for most of us to get a success. To be honest, for a long time I didn't think I ever would, and to date I've only ever done it twice in BG1 - and that's with relatively benign SCS settings compared to a lot of players on here.
I think increasing the difficulty of your runs gradually is a good idea. No need to gimp character stats on your first tries, for instance. I also think your idea of playing some reload runs with SCS is a good idea. I believe this is especially true with BG2, which is imo much, much harder to do a no reload with than BG1. The problem with playing SCS for the first while is you really have no idea what you're facing. It's not realistic to expect success against unknown quantities like that. I'll speak for myself and say that I am literally incapable of completing a no reload run of BG2 with SCS. Now, if I completed a few 'training' runs with it I would increase the odds dramatically. The problem is, once you start no reload it's really hard to reload again, hahah. The struggle is real.
I have just started playing SCS and just in BG1 - it is another world (my first time in Ulcaster was epic ...) and I cannot imagine what it will be in BG2.
I will have a look at the two threads and will keep on training with my poor Halflings ...
On the other hand of course you might feel that your reason for playing is to get the adrenaline pumping by laying your PC's life on the line and seeing how far you can push before the inevitable 'one risk too many' triggers. That's an entirely reasonable way to play - no-reload doesn't have to mean you're seriously trying to complete the whole game ...
Killer for me is I always lose a much loved party member via my main or some other OP maxed out party member getting dire charmed and killing them!! You reap what you sow...
This. The important thing to remember - and something I almost lost sight of for a brief period when I was trying to keep up with the veterans in the play-through thread - is that it's all about having fun and playing the way you want.
As Grond0 said, really consider making a back-line main character, until at least you get one successful no-reload run in, if that's your goal. I'd add even skipping the TotSC content, I skipped it to achieve my first successful run.
As to the specifics of your post, make heavy use of potions. The game offers a decent amount of lightning resist, fire resist, etc type potions. As well as scrolls. Some of these have really long timers. If you're going into a fight where you know this is a risk, load up on protections. In fact, use the gold to buy decent amounts of protection items, such as those, potions of invisibility, healing potions. One thing players underestimate, I think, are the wide options in the stores for powerful consumable items. We normally avoid those, while saving up for elite gear, but those items can be critical in no-reload runs.
At the moment, I am still learning - and having fun, even if sometimes losing a character due to a kobold arrow is a pity ... but slowly I mange to get characters up to Chapter 4.
It gives me as well opportunities to check new classes that I never played before.
And for the moment, I am skipping the ToSC content. Has anayone achieved a no-reload run SCS with the Balduran island ? I am sure that yes... a bit similar like the question : has somebody managed to climb the Everest northface without oxygen ?
As for skipping ToSC content - that is one of those personal house rule decisions. Completing a no reload without doing ToSC is still an incredible accomplishment, and in an ironic sense it can make it harder because you go into the end game with less experience. My personal rule is that I have to finish either Durlag's Tower or Werewolf Island, but not both. It's not that I shun the challenge necessarily, but doing both brings up another run-ending risk factor for me - restartitis. Yes, believe it or not, I have ended runs because I got bored of my character and party.
For the sake of transparency - I would mention that I do not use the improved Balduran's Isle or Durlag's Tower tactical improvements. So if you have those installed, it would be a much greater achievement completing them than if I were to do it.
The werewolf island really isn't that bad - when you bring a full party, and you spend those buff potions you've been picking up throughout the game. Solo play is a different matter; Karoug has that ridiculous regeneration you have to beat somehow, and it's a lot harder to overwhelm him with damage when you don't have the full party.
What SCS does to the lycanthrope boss fights ...
Karoug is basically unchanged, but his mage friend will cast spells until you beat him down rather than changing immediately.
Kaishas is upgraded to have fast regeneration and immunity to non-silver weapons. Werewolves also trickle in to join the fight ... but it's possible to talk her down and avoid the fight entirely.
Selaad fights as a human mage until you beat him down, instead of transforming immediately. He still lacks regeneration in his werewolf form, but requires cold iron weapons to hit. Baresh (Selaad's friend) is upgraded to have fast regeneration and immunity to non-silver weapons, and also fights as a human fighter until you beat him down.
All lycanthrope bosses get free action, so you can't hit them with effects like Web or Hold or Slow.
Those boss fight changes are the only things the tactical challenge component does. All of the other encounters on the island are unchanged, aside from the basic AI tweaks.
Jmerry covers it pretty well above, and again I'm speaking without SCS knowledge, but the hardest part is definitely the boat part. I feel like the return to town and the final cave sequence were pretty standard difficulty. The challenge of the boat is that you have to fight with your party out of position, there are also some deadly floor traps on some of the levels and of course Karoug is hard to bring down. So, for this sequence I think it's really crucial to have defensive buffs for your characters. Invisibility potions and such are a big help here too.
The upside of the boat is that you don't have to walk much between the several fights in it. You can pre-buff at its entrance and take it all down with many of your buffs still going. In fact, I'd recommend foregoing looting each level until you clear it. Karoug's regen presents an interesting challenge, but it's surmountable as long as you're planning around it. If you can beat the boat sequence, the rest of the island isn't very hard. One helpful thing about the island is that most of the monsters are the same, they're just physical melee damage dealers. So you don't have to prepare for quite as unpredictable of a challenge as you do in the tower. Just something to keep in mind when you're shopping in preparation for the journey.
And as for looting ... there is an anti-werewolf weapon on one of those floors (the Werebane dagger), and another on the top floor (the Sword of Balduran). If that dagger suits your party better than the long sword and bastard swords you could have already, it's worth looting some before you take on the boss.
From what @jmerry explains in his detailed post (thanks a lot for it !), I see that the main difference lies in the efficiency of the mages who will fight against you... and it already frightens me ... because I know taht in SCS mages can be pretty lethal ... it will be interesting.
@jmerry does the free action of the bosses protect them against wand of paralyzing ? ... if yes I will have to think about my strategy because it was a big part of how I would fight Karoug...
@Rigel in order for invisibility or stealth to work you need to use them before the archers shoot, i.e. invisibility makes no difference to missiles already in the air. If you find it difficult to pause the game quickly when an ambush occurs, you might want to use autopause (enemy sighted) to ensure you have time to react before being targeted.
@jsaving Yes I was a little too ambitious ... one learns from one's mistake... will not XP farm solo anymore at the start of the game
@Grond0 I wonder - if I am invisible (Hide in shadow) before clicking on the map's border and get waylaid, do I stay invisible in the "waylaid map" ? Or at least one or two rounds, to let me time to escape ?
To be honest, it is a tough encounter, but I like the feeling of being suddenly surrounded by bandits. Run, Forrest, run !
It's better for a shadowdancer not to be in the shadows before doing an area transition in BGEE. If you are then you will almost certainly drop out of it for an ambush and the cooldown period (which uses real time, not game time) will mean you won't get a chance to hide again at the start of the ambush.
Definitely want to second this post. It all depends on your goals, as said way above. If you're thrilled at no reloads for the experience while playing then keep at it. If you really badly want to get at least one in under your belt, definitely consider some min-maxing strategies. I can say that even after having succeeded the mode hasn't lost any allure. FWIW -- Solo no reload, while fun, is definitely considered an extreme veteran mode.
Some min-maxing to consider are things like taking Xzar and Montaron even if you're going to immediately dump them -- Montaron starts with a very useful invisibility potion for example. Same for Imoen and her wand of magic missiles.