@BelgarathMTH: I generally find my old threads by going to my profile and clicking the "My Discussions" link on the upper left. If you know the author of the thread, that's generally the fastest way to do it.
Otherwise, I have to pick out quotes I remember from the thread in question and Google it with quotation marks, but that's much less reliable.
@BelgarathMTH, I would have necro'd (or necro'ed?) it anyway during the next few days with my first attempt. I was also reading here and I'm glad it's easier to find now.
There was a link by @semiticgod in the thread where I asked people about identifying with the characters they play.
I have just started my first minimal reload run for BG (and first attempt ever at minimal reload). I had played BG1 once, 20 years ago, and the EE just now, until the Cloakwood mine, where I decided to restart, create my character from scratch again and try a minimal reload run. I feel like I'm 12 years old again and facing a swimming competition or a trumpet solo ?. I'm excited to try this.
May I introduce Arvia, Paladin of Torm, Undead Hunter.
( first attempt at taking and posting screenshots, too. I hope this is going to work)
I'm not too happy with Intelligence 9, but I want to play and not waste the whole night rerolling, and natural Strength 18/00 in a roll of 94 was just too tempting to resist.
Two pips in Longsword and Bastard Sword.
I'm playing the 2.5 version ( at least I think so). I have the NPC Project mod installed, I'm playing on Core Rules, Max HP on level up, Rest until Healed, and I deactivated Weather, because it's difficult enough without being afraid of a very mean lightning storm with an unnaturally precise aim *every* day, especially in a climate zone where you get attacked by winter wolves and polar bears.
I will only reload if Charname dies or the whole party is wiped out.
And I should mention that I play on Android, where you have to purchase the new NPCs separately ( only Rasaad is in the basic kit), and I chose not do that, with the consequence that Neera and Dorn won't appear in my game.
Did I forget to mention anything?
Now it's time to play. I will continue when there is something to tell.
Edited: Forgot to mention that I'm going to stick to my principles of course. That means no stealing, no breaking into homes, no looting unless from killed enemies or in enemy dungeons, no use of obviously evil items or using evil methods for own advantage.
Just in case anyone doesn't know: you can use Irfanview to convert images to JPG's en masse, and the process is remarkably quick and simple. You just open up an image in Irfanview, press "B" for "batch," and it'll let you select an entire folder of screenshots to convert from PNG to JPG. This saved me a lot of time when posting my no-reload runs.
( first attempt at taking and posting screenshots, too. I hope this is going to work)
And big props for converting them to jpg's. A lot of people miss that step at first.
That wasn't me. As I said, I'm playing on Android, and the tab saved the screenshots as JPG anyway. I don't think I would have remembered to convert them.
Yesterday was one of the worse days at home, so I fell asleep after picking up Xzar and Montaron and talking to E. Nothing new to tell, no fights until now. Maybe I'll have time to play tonight and write about it. If not, there'll be nothing new until Monday, because I have to work this Sunday (24h). But at least I got it started.
@Stromael I think it's because of the compression ratio, so that you avoid huge file sizes in posts. But maybe I'm wrong and someone else has a better explanation.
@Arvia , I'd recommend carrying a ranged weapon, even though you'll be using it non-proficiently and taking the hit to Thac0. At levels 1-4 or so, there are certain things that should not be tanked, like the ogre south of the FAI, and keep your distance from any ogre berserkers you run into. I prefer not to tank anything at low level until I have to, even with AC -1. There just aren't enough hit points to take hits from anything strong. I'd be careful about early enemies like Bassilus, Greywolf, and ogrillons too. I see no dishonor in kiting and sniping at evil enemies who are much more physically powerful than you.
Normally ghouls and ghasts are in the "do not tank" category because of their paralyzing touch, but you're protected from that. They can also cause Disease, though, which is a real problem at low levels.
Don't fight spiders or hobgoblin elite without plenty of antidotes. By the time you're up against ettercaps and wyverns in the Cloakwood, you should be carrying as many of the purple antidotes that also restore 10 hit points as you can afford. The spell Slow Poison is too easy to get interrupted. Poison makes reloads.
Make sure you have a Potion of Freedom and give it to one tank to clear out all the webs on the spider cave map in the Cloakwood. The webs on that map will make you reload a lot if you let unprotected characters walk into them.
Don't face Davaeorn without potions of protection from fire and lightning, and/or potions or scrolls of magic blocking. Keep unprotected characters out of the way of fireballs and lightning bolts.
I usually skip most of Durlag's Tower in my minimal reloads. The place is literally a death trap. If you decide to complete Durlag's Tower and fight Aec L'atec, then my hat is off to you, and I am in awe. Don't fight the demon knight without protection from fire. Don't fight A'ec L'atec without Potions of Mirrored Eyes. He has a game-ending death gaze. And watch out for basilisks!
I look forward to reading about your run when you can get back to it. I hope things go well at work this weekend.
Arvia woke up under the bushes where she had hidden after the ambush. She felt deeply ashamed that she had run away like a child, and devastated that Gorion had died trying to protect her. After stumbling back to the road, she wasn't surprised to find out that Imoen had been following them. Together, they went back to the ambush site and found the note on Gorion's body that Imoen had been talking about. Arvia decided to take his belt as well, because she knew he had some protective qualities and Gorion had wanted her to be safe.
They covered his body with stones, so that he wouldn't be disturbed, took the few items the bandits had left, and went on their way north to find the Friendly Arm Inn. There would be time to mourn her father later, when they were safe.
A bit further along the road they encountered two strangers, who gave them a healing potion for free and offered to accompany them. Imoen stepped on her toes and whispered that they were creepy, but to Arvia they seemed friendly enough, and any company was better than traveling alone. They were on their way to the Nashkel Mines, but agreed to follow her to the Friendly Arm Inn first.
On a crossroad they met a weird old man with a red cloak and pointy hat who gave them a cryptic speech and went on his way.
When they continued , Arvia heard Imoen mutter under her breath: "...reminds me of someone... an old book I read back in Candlekeep... and old man with a walking stick, appearing here and there... a wizard? Forgot the name, but wasn't his cloak supposed to be grey?..." Arvia couldn't make any sense of it.
Fortunately there were no more incidents until they reached the high walls of the Friendly Arm Inn at nightfall. Safety!
Relieved, they approached the stairs to the entrance, when a stranger asked them their names and then started attacking them without apparent reason. Arvia's sword and Imoen's Wand of Magic Missiles (just this once, Arvia didn't even want to ask how she had acquired it) saved their hides.
They found a note on his body offering 200 gp for her death. Another assassin, after the two in Candlekeep and the ambush on her and Gorion. Why? Who was she to them?
They entered the Inn and met Khalid and Jaheira, Gorion's friends. They, too, were planning to travel to Nashkel and investigate the mines. Before they went to sleep, Imoen sneaked off to discover the Inn. Arvia had to go after her to keep her fingers out of other people's pockets and chests. Imoen tried to shrug it off with a smile, as usual, but Arvia threatened to bundle her up and ship her back to Candlekeep in a caravan, so the younger girl finally promised to stop stealing. For now. Upstairs, they met some people who asked their help in a few problems with spiders and ogres. Arvia promised to look into it on their way.
The next morning, on their way to leave the Inn, Imoen stuck her head through every door that wasn't bolted, and Arvia literally had to drag her out of somebody's kitchen. There would have to be more serious talks about other people's property. At least she never managed to actually steal anything now. On this occasion, a woman named Joia approached them and asked them to get back a ring that had been stolen by some hobgoblin.
The issue was resolved quickly, although Montaron started to complain and behave strangely after returning the ring.
After visiting the temple and donating 10% of their savings, as Arvia had been taught to do by Father Alexander, an old cleric who had been her favourite teacher, she decided to look for the ogre in the forest that somebody in the Inn had complained about.
Searching the woods, Imoen's sharp eyes proved to be useful for once, because she found a ring hidden away in a tree trunk. No ogre to be seen, but several attacks by gibberlings and xvarts. Montaron chose this exact moment to start picking on Khalid in a most unpleasant way, and Arvia decided that she had misjudged their first companions and that it was time to go separate ways.
An unfortunate decision, because immediately after that, they found the ogre, or rather the ogre found them. Whether it was triggered by the surprise attack or by her anger at being so naive and misjudging Xzar and Montaron, Arvia reacted on pure instinct and tackled the ogre without thinking. (Intelligence 9 indeed. I should have rerolled a bit longer)
GAH!
Mental note: Learn to suppress your impulses and listen to the wise man, @BelgarathMTH , who had explicitly warned you to not - tank - the - ogre!
Reloads: 1 (the ogre with the belt fetish south of the FAI)
@Arvia, That has got to be the best first minimal reload post I've ever seen! You go, girl! I love how you are writing roleplay storytelling to go with your reports.
I'm glad you took my advice for getting past Tarnesh by temporarily accepting Xzar and Montaron, until they gave you obvious reason to Detect Evil. Condolences on the ogre reload. (Must...not...say...I...told...you..so... grrr LOL)
I would really love to see this run reported to the end. So, I would like to suggest that you go ahead and keep posting no matter how high your reload counter gets. Just don't reload unless it's an actual game over.
I wish I could link and post a run I did many years ago on the old Bioware forums, in @SapphireIce101 's old minimal reload thread there, which was the grandfather of the minimal reload concept. It was the first time I had ever played all the way to the end of Throne of Bhaal. I got all the way through BG1 and Shadows of Amn with less than 10 reloads. I was also roleplaying the run and writing short stories along the way. Things went really, really downhill in ToB, since I had never played at that level and in that expansion very much.
Between Draconis, the Ravager, and then Melissan, (OMG, the Ravager and Melissan!), I wound up with something like 25 (or was it 30) reloads by the end of the run. @SapphireIce didn't exclude me from the thread for it. She seemed to find great fun and humor in my misfortune at the end. I could almost hear her uproarious laughter through my computer screen.
I really look forward to more posts about this run. I wish you didn't have to work tomorrow, but of course, real life, yada yada yada.
The ogre? Yes, you told me so. Your advice was great, as usual. Don't take it personally that I got careless and ignored it ?.
I really appreciate how you explain everything. As I said before and will say again countless times.
Now it's half past midnight and I have to work at 8:30 ... so I'll try the ogre another day. With ranged weapons of course ?.
If I'm lucky, I can play in the evening at work and write about it on Monday. 24h-duty sometimes means hours of hanging around doing nothing (and other times wondering why I even bothered to bring a lunchbox).
Thanks for nudging me in this direction. It's much more fun and feels more real to play when the stakes are higher.
@Arvia, you know, the fact that you can consider playing BG during a break from work, on your phone or tablet, in a high stress job like being a doctor in a hospital, is one of the best advertisements for Beamdog's efforts to bring the game to mobile devices I've heard.
@JuliusBorisov , Take note of this, if Beamdog ever wants to collect user endorsements for marketing, or something.
@Arvia, Namaste. I wish you sweet dreams and a quiet shift at the hospital. <casts Bless>
And big props for converting them to jpg's. A lot of people miss that step at first.
What's the drawback of leaving them as PNG?
It's not as bad since Beamdog switched to PNG's, but the games used to save them as BMP's. The main problem is that some people read this forum on mobile devices, or in countries where bandwidth can be pricey, and JPG's are much smaller than PNG's or BMP's. Even with FIOS, there've been times when I've opened the no reload thread and it's taken several minutes to download everyone's screenshots.
What about "you have been waylaid" situations? Do they happen more frequently over larger traveling distances (i.e. can I avoid them a bit by traveling from map to map) or are they completely random?
@Arvia, traveling map by map seems to reduce the chance of a waylay, but I'm not sure if that's confirmed. For a lot of them, you can run to the north edge and leave without fighting.
The only one that I think is "unfair" is a group of bandits who can surround you on the way to the FAI. It is supposed to reduce (or eliminate?) the chances of that waylay if you avoid traveling towards the FAI during night time hours.
There is also an "unfair" waylay between the basilisk map ("Mutamin's Garden") and the rest of the world where you can be waylaid by a basilisk. I never travel in that area until I have means of Protection from Petrification. The spell takes a potentially fatal few seconds to cast, so I always try to have as many Potions of Mirrored Eyes in my inventory as possible in case of surprise basilisk encounters. I also like to carry at least a few Stone to Flesh scrolls in case the worst happens. If petrification happens to the main character though, it's a reload.
Basilisks are not that strong in melee, and they prefer to spam their petrifying gaze. So, you can usually kill them with a single protected tank, while the rest of the party stays well away.
The other waylays are manageable with good positioning and tactics. There's one possible one with an ogre mage that I think NPC Project might increase the chances of happening.
If you get the ogre mage before you're high enough level to stand a chance, try to run to the north edge of the waylay map. If you get a cave bear, you need to start kiting and sniping with ranged weapons. Cave bears are in the "Do not tank" category at early levels. They have an interesting mechanic where they will refuse to change targets. So, if you start running away with their target, and keep triangulating the target's position and path away from the cave bear's path, you can take out a cave bear without ever taking any hits, because it will ignore the other five people who are shooting at it.
Getting the circle of bandits on the way to the FAI during low levels is pretty much a guaranteed reload.
If you get the circle of wild dogs, I'd try to run at lower levels, or at least try to get your tanks tanking while your squishy characters try to get out of harm's way.
There's a very tough group of archers south of the FAI ogre, placed there by NPC Project, that is not there in the vanilla game. I'd avoid that archer party until I had some levels.
If you don't have the encounters on the maps memorized, you need to always have a stealthed scout scouting ahead. Imoen can do it, and Minsc (or Kivan) can do it if you take his heavy armor off.
It is very hard to get into stealth mode at low levels, unfortunately. Daylight reduces the chances of a success. You have to keep trying with the stealth button until you get a success. Plowing ahead into unknown map space is very often suicide. "Fools rush in..." You need advance knowledge of what you're facing, whenever possible, so you can prepare appropriately, and set up your positioning before the enemy knows you're there.
"Must listen to @BelgarathMTH this time, must listen..."
The ogre is dead (bought longbows... should have *listened* yesterday...), and as always, I thank you for your detailed explanation. It's a complete change of strategy for me to run from enemies and shoot them.
I will play some more now and post it tomorrow.
I'd rather face the Ravager again than keep walking around with 14 HP!
Another question: Should I really clear every single map in the whole game? I forgot how many small forest areas this game has...
@BelgarathMTH forgot to ask about the Cloakwood spider webs. You said to clear them with a potion of freedom and a tank, but I think I disarmed them with Imoen before?
I'm not even in Nashkel right now, just asking.
@Arvia , You don't necessarily have to clear every map. It's all very flexible. Some people like to do "completionist" runs, and some people don't. For me, the bottom line object is to survive from the beginning of the game to the end of the game with as few reloads as possible. The person with the lowest final score has the best run, sort of like we're playing golf together.
A perfect game is a no-reload. That's like getting 18 holes-in-one in a golf game. I've never been able to do it. (In BG, that is. I don't play golf.) I might be able to succeed at a no-reload if I really worked for the goal, but I've never been quite that motivated. I like to just read the posts on the forum from all the game masters we have around here who can do it. Also, I think no-reloading can get in the way of role playing and story immersion, and I wouldn't have fun playing like that.
I never had much luck getting Imoen to detect and disarm those webs, but if you can do it that way, great. Whatever works. When I tried it that way a long time ago, I kept having her accidentally walk into them. So I started using the Potion of Freedom method, and I've been doing it that way so long I never thought about other ways to solve the map.
@semiticgod that's because you know them all! I'm tiptoeing (spelling? looks like too many vowels) around on every map, weapons in hand, heart racing... afraid to miss the interesting things, afraid to find them too quickly...
@BelgarathMTH , I put all her thieving skill points in Find Traps in the beginning. The problem is, that makes Hide in Shadows less likely to succeed, and it's a pity she can't do both.
I don't have the slightest idea how golf is played, but I understand what you mean.
I suppose you know I share your attitude that a game without room for any roleplaying and story immersion isn't fun. But it would have been a lot easier, had I played BG EE at least once before trying minimal reload.
On the other hand, more fun to you when I continue to fail
Time to start writing my story for today *puts on Helmet of Thought Protection* I'll be back in a while...
Nooooooooo I just spent half an hour writing and then I tapped the wrong button and deleted it by accident * sigh* life is unfair. Will start again. Does that count as a reload?
Sorry to hear that, @Arvia. I know that can get frustrating. Usually the web page will save the draft automatically, but sometimes when I'm distracted and want to come back to a post later, I'll copy it into Notepad in case I lose the forum draft.
After splitting up with Xzar and Montaron, Arvia led her companions back to the main road to find a place to rest for a moment and clean their weapons. A cleric came down the road from the north and asked if they were in need of help. They invited him to share their meal, and he told them that he came from a land across the ocean. When he heard that they were searching for an ogre, he advised them to go back to the Inn, get missile weapons and avoid fighting stronger, more experienced enemies in close combat.
Then he cast a few protective spells on their group and disappeared, without even giving them the chance to thank him or ask his name.
Arvia decided to listen to his advice and walked back to the Friendly Arm Inn to get bows, a sling and some ammunition. Then they entered the forest on the other side of the road and continued their search.
When they finally spotted the ogre from a distance, Arvia remembered @BelgarathMTH's the cleric's warning and started to attack from a safe distance. The ogre was fast as well as strong, so they had to keep running from him, turn around, shoot an arrow and run again. It was not a very honorable fight, and when the ogre finally fell to the ground, Imoen was already severely wounded.
While Jaheira took care of Imoen's wounds, Arvia and Khalid carefully approached the ogre to make sure that he was truly dead. They took one of the belts back to its owner at the Friendly Arm Inn and sold the other. (((off topic: what use is a girdle of masculinity/femininity in a game where you can choose your gender in the beginning? )))
When they left the Inn, Imoen had wandered off again and they had to follow her north. When they finally found her, nose in some book, they encountered a young squire paladin named Ajantis, who offered to join them in their quest. Arvia was happy to meet a fellow paladin, and they gladly accepted him into their group.
Back on their way south to Beregost, they suddenly heard loud screams and the sound of fighting from the forests. They came too late to save the victims and found themselves facing a group of caravan raiders.
They managed to defeat their attackers, but Ajantis did not survive the battle. Fortunately his body remained intact, so while Jaheira picked up a family brooch from one of the dead caravan members (maybe someone in the next town would recognize the symbol), Arvia and Khalid prepared a crude wooden stretcher to carry their new friend back to the temple and had him Raised.
Arvia offered to get him a larger shield, but he refused to fight with anything but his family shield and they couldn't afford better armor for him at the moment.
Jaheira reminded Arvia of their duty to go to Nashkel, so they headed south again, encountering another raided caravan and some hobgoblins along the way.
Dirty and exhausted they arrived in the small town of Beregost and stumbled into the next inn, only to find themselves attacked by yet another assassin. Would this ever stop?
They rested at the inn and split up in the morning to collect information and rumors. Some people asked for their help, like a lady waiting for a letter from her husband, and they heard about of a mad cleric who was murdering people and got information about good places to buy weapons, armor and magical supplies once they managed to earn some gold. Arvia met the old elven mage from Candlekeep and bought him another book. He gave her a rather dark and mysterious book in exchange and Arvia decided to read it later. They narrowly avoided a fight with an angry father at another inn, but Arvia managed to calm him down before he could get himself hurt.
They were approached by one or two people trying to hire them for gold, but Arvia refused. She was always ready to help people in need, but they had their own duties to fulfill and were not some mercenaries.
They found Landrin's house, and Arvia equipped herself, Jaheira and Ajantis with antidotes. She ordered the others to stand back, entered the house alone and found herself face to face with several huge spiders.
She called Ajantis and Jaheira to enter and started fighting the disgusting creatures that had infested the house. She didn't know if they were lucky or if Landrin had been wrong about their poison, but they killed the spiders easily without being harmed themselves.
Jaheira started complaining again about Nashkel, but Arvia couldn't stand the thought of those people being afraid to come home and took them straight back all the way to the Friendly Arm Inn to give proof to Landrin that it was safe to go back to their house.
After resolving a few minor issues in Beregost, they headed further south, and Ajantis almost got himself killed again fighting a couple of ogrillons.
Arvia lost her patience and took them back to Beregost, where she insisted on selling every item that wasn't strictly necessary to buy a plate mail armor for Ajantis.
He didn't want to accept, but she saw it as her duty and responsibility to protect her companions to the best of her ability, even if they were proud young men.
(((to be continued tomorrow. The accidentally deleted part was too long. 7 hours left until work, and while fun takes precedence over sleep, sometimes sleep is necessary)))
Comments
Otherwise, I have to pick out quotes I remember from the thread in question and Google it with quotation marks, but that's much less reliable.
There was a link by @semiticgod in the thread where I asked people about identifying with the characters they play.
At any rate, thanks for bringing the thread back for us, @BelgarathMTH!
May I introduce Arvia, Paladin of Torm, Undead Hunter.
I'm not too happy with Intelligence 9, but I want to play and not waste the whole night rerolling, and natural Strength 18/00 in a roll of 94 was just too tempting to resist.
Two pips in Longsword and Bastard Sword.
I'm playing the 2.5 version ( at least I think so). I have the NPC Project mod installed, I'm playing on Core Rules, Max HP on level up, Rest until Healed, and I deactivated Weather, because it's difficult enough without being afraid of a very mean lightning storm with an unnaturally precise aim *every* day, especially in a climate zone where you get attacked by winter wolves and polar bears.
I will only reload if Charname dies or the whole party is wiped out.
And I should mention that I play on Android, where you have to purchase the new NPCs separately ( only Rasaad is in the basic kit), and I chose not do that, with the consequence that Neera and Dorn won't appear in my game.
Did I forget to mention anything?
Now it's time to play. I will continue when there is something to tell.
Edited: Forgot to mention that I'm going to stick to my principles of course. That means no stealing, no breaking into homes, no looting unless from killed enemies or in enemy dungeons, no use of obviously evil items or using evil methods for own advantage.
And big props for converting them to jpg's. A lot of people miss that step at first.
That wasn't me. As I said, I'm playing on Android, and the tab saved the screenshots as JPG anyway. I don't think I would have remembered to convert them.
Yesterday was one of the worse days at home, so I fell asleep after picking up Xzar and Montaron and talking to E. Nothing new to tell, no fights until now. Maybe I'll have time to play tonight and write about it. If not, there'll be nothing new until Monday, because I have to work this Sunday (24h). But at least I got it started.
Normally ghouls and ghasts are in the "do not tank" category because of their paralyzing touch, but you're protected from that. They can also cause Disease, though, which is a real problem at low levels.
Don't fight spiders or hobgoblin elite without plenty of antidotes. By the time you're up against ettercaps and wyverns in the Cloakwood, you should be carrying as many of the purple antidotes that also restore 10 hit points as you can afford. The spell Slow Poison is too easy to get interrupted. Poison makes reloads.
Make sure you have a Potion of Freedom and give it to one tank to clear out all the webs on the spider cave map in the Cloakwood. The webs on that map will make you reload a lot if you let unprotected characters walk into them.
Don't face Davaeorn without potions of protection from fire and lightning, and/or potions or scrolls of magic blocking. Keep unprotected characters out of the way of fireballs and lightning bolts.
I usually skip most of Durlag's Tower in my minimal reloads. The place is literally a death trap. If you decide to complete Durlag's Tower and fight Aec L'atec, then my hat is off to you, and I am in awe. Don't fight the demon knight without protection from fire. Don't fight A'ec L'atec without Potions of Mirrored Eyes. He has a game-ending death gaze. And watch out for basilisks!
I look forward to reading about your run when you can get back to it. I hope things go well at work this weekend.
They covered his body with stones, so that he wouldn't be disturbed, took the few items the bandits had left, and went on their way north to find the Friendly Arm Inn. There would be time to mourn her father later, when they were safe.
A bit further along the road they encountered two strangers, who gave them a healing potion for free and offered to accompany them. Imoen stepped on her toes and whispered that they were creepy, but to Arvia they seemed friendly enough, and any company was better than traveling alone. They were on their way to the Nashkel Mines, but agreed to follow her to the Friendly Arm Inn first.
On a crossroad they met a weird old man with a red cloak and pointy hat who gave them a cryptic speech and went on his way.
Fortunately there were no more incidents until they reached the high walls of the Friendly Arm Inn at nightfall. Safety!
Relieved, they approached the stairs to the entrance, when a stranger asked them their names and then started attacking them without apparent reason. Arvia's sword and Imoen's Wand of Magic Missiles (just this once, Arvia didn't even want to ask how she had acquired it) saved their hides.
They entered the Inn and met Khalid and Jaheira, Gorion's friends. They, too, were planning to travel to Nashkel and investigate the mines. Before they went to sleep, Imoen sneaked off to discover the Inn. Arvia had to go after her to keep her fingers out of other people's pockets and chests. Imoen tried to shrug it off with a smile, as usual, but Arvia threatened to bundle her up and ship her back to Candlekeep in a caravan, so the younger girl finally promised to stop stealing. For now. Upstairs, they met some people who asked their help in a few problems with spiders and ogres. Arvia promised to look into it on their way.
The next morning, on their way to leave the Inn, Imoen stuck her head through every door that wasn't bolted, and Arvia literally had to drag her out of somebody's kitchen. There would have to be more serious talks about other people's property. At least she never managed to actually steal anything now. On this occasion, a woman named Joia approached them and asked them to get back a ring that had been stolen by some hobgoblin.
The issue was resolved quickly, although Montaron started to complain and behave strangely after returning the ring.
After visiting the temple and donating 10% of their savings, as Arvia had been taught to do by Father Alexander, an old cleric who had been her favourite teacher, she decided to look for the ogre in the forest that somebody in the Inn had complained about.
Searching the woods, Imoen's sharp eyes proved to be useful for once, because she found a ring hidden away in a tree trunk. No ogre to be seen, but several attacks by gibberlings and xvarts. Montaron chose this exact moment to start picking on Khalid in a most unpleasant way, and Arvia decided that she had misjudged their first companions and that it was time to go separate ways.
An unfortunate decision, because immediately after that, they found the ogre, or rather the ogre found them. Whether it was triggered by the surprise attack or by her anger at being so naive and misjudging Xzar and Montaron, Arvia reacted on pure instinct and tackled the ogre without thinking. (Intelligence 9 indeed. I should have rerolled a bit longer)
GAH!
Mental note: Learn to suppress your impulses and listen to the wise man, @BelgarathMTH , who had explicitly warned you to not - tank - the - ogre!
Reloads: 1 (the ogre with the belt fetish south of the FAI)
I'm glad you took my advice for getting past Tarnesh by temporarily accepting Xzar and Montaron, until they gave you obvious reason to Detect Evil. Condolences on the ogre reload. (Must...not...say...I...told...you..so... grrr LOL)
I would really love to see this run reported to the end. So, I would like to suggest that you go ahead and keep posting no matter how high your reload counter gets. Just don't reload unless it's an actual game over.
I wish I could link and post a run I did many years ago on the old Bioware forums, in @SapphireIce101 's old minimal reload thread there, which was the grandfather of the minimal reload concept. It was the first time I had ever played all the way to the end of Throne of Bhaal. I got all the way through BG1 and Shadows of Amn with less than 10 reloads. I was also roleplaying the run and writing short stories along the way. Things went really, really downhill in ToB, since I had never played at that level and in that expansion very much.
Between Draconis, the Ravager, and then Melissan, (OMG, the Ravager and Melissan!), I wound up with something like 25 (or was it 30) reloads by the end of the run. @SapphireIce didn't exclude me from the thread for it. She seemed to find great fun and humor in my misfortune at the end. I could almost hear her uproarious laughter through my computer screen.
I really look forward to more posts about this run. I wish you didn't have to work tomorrow, but of course, real life, yada yada yada.
I really appreciate how you explain everything. As I said before and will say again countless times.
Now it's half past midnight and I have to work at 8:30 ... so I'll try the ogre another day. With ranged weapons of course ?.
If I'm lucky, I can play in the evening at work and write about it on Monday. 24h-duty sometimes means hours of hanging around doing nothing (and other times wondering why I even bothered to bring a lunchbox).
Thanks for nudging me in this direction. It's much more fun and feels more real to play when the stakes are higher.
@JuliusBorisov , Take note of this, if Beamdog ever wants to collect user endorsements for marketing, or something.
@Arvia, Namaste. I wish you sweet dreams and a quiet shift at the hospital. <casts Bless>
It's not as bad since Beamdog switched to PNG's, but the games used to save them as BMP's. The main problem is that some people read this forum on mobile devices, or in countries where bandwidth can be pricey, and JPG's are much smaller than PNG's or BMP's. Even with FIOS, there've been times when I've opened the no reload thread and it's taken several minutes to download everyone's screenshots.
The only one that I think is "unfair" is a group of bandits who can surround you on the way to the FAI. It is supposed to reduce (or eliminate?) the chances of that waylay if you avoid traveling towards the FAI during night time hours.
There is also an "unfair" waylay between the basilisk map ("Mutamin's Garden") and the rest of the world where you can be waylaid by a basilisk. I never travel in that area until I have means of Protection from Petrification. The spell takes a potentially fatal few seconds to cast, so I always try to have as many Potions of Mirrored Eyes in my inventory as possible in case of surprise basilisk encounters. I also like to carry at least a few Stone to Flesh scrolls in case the worst happens. If petrification happens to the main character though, it's a reload.
Basilisks are not that strong in melee, and they prefer to spam their petrifying gaze. So, you can usually kill them with a single protected tank, while the rest of the party stays well away.
The other waylays are manageable with good positioning and tactics. There's one possible one with an ogre mage that I think NPC Project might increase the chances of happening.
If you get the ogre mage before you're high enough level to stand a chance, try to run to the north edge of the waylay map. If you get a cave bear, you need to start kiting and sniping with ranged weapons. Cave bears are in the "Do not tank" category at early levels. They have an interesting mechanic where they will refuse to change targets. So, if you start running away with their target, and keep triangulating the target's position and path away from the cave bear's path, you can take out a cave bear without ever taking any hits, because it will ignore the other five people who are shooting at it.
Getting the circle of bandits on the way to the FAI during low levels is pretty much a guaranteed reload.
If you get the circle of wild dogs, I'd try to run at lower levels, or at least try to get your tanks tanking while your squishy characters try to get out of harm's way.
There's a very tough group of archers south of the FAI ogre, placed there by NPC Project, that is not there in the vanilla game. I'd avoid that archer party until I had some levels.
If you don't have the encounters on the maps memorized, you need to always have a stealthed scout scouting ahead. Imoen can do it, and Minsc (or Kivan) can do it if you take his heavy armor off.
It is very hard to get into stealth mode at low levels, unfortunately. Daylight reduces the chances of a success. You have to keep trying with the stealth button until you get a success. Plowing ahead into unknown map space is very often suicide. "Fools rush in..." You need advance knowledge of what you're facing, whenever possible, so you can prepare appropriately, and set up your positioning before the enemy knows you're there.
The ogre is dead (bought longbows... should have *listened* yesterday...), and as always, I thank you for your detailed explanation. It's a complete change of strategy for me to run from enemies and shoot them.
I will play some more now and post it tomorrow.
I'd rather face the Ravager again than keep walking around with 14 HP!
Another question: Should I really clear every single map in the whole game? I forgot how many small forest areas this game has...
I'm not even in Nashkel right now, just asking.
A perfect game is a no-reload. That's like getting 18 holes-in-one in a golf game. I've never been able to do it. (In BG, that is. I don't play golf.) I might be able to succeed at a no-reload if I really worked for the goal, but I've never been quite that motivated. I like to just read the posts on the forum from all the game masters we have around here who can do it. Also, I think no-reloading can get in the way of role playing and story immersion, and I wouldn't have fun playing like that.
I never had much luck getting Imoen to detect and disarm those webs, but if you can do it that way, great. Whatever works. When I tried it that way a long time ago, I kept having her accidentally walk into them. So I started using the Potion of Freedom method, and I've been doing it that way so long I never thought about other ways to solve the map.
Good luck with your play session.
I don't have the slightest idea how golf is played, but I understand what you mean.
I suppose you know I share your attitude that a game without room for any roleplaying and story immersion isn't fun. But it would have been a lot easier, had I played BG EE at least once before trying minimal reload.
On the other hand, more fun to you when I continue to fail
Time to start writing my story for today *puts on Helmet of Thought Protection* I'll be back in a while...
Then he cast a few protective spells on their group and disappeared, without even giving them the chance to thank him or ask his name.
Arvia decided to listen to his advice and walked back to the Friendly Arm Inn to get bows, a sling and some ammunition. Then they entered the forest on the other side of the road and continued their search.
When they finally spotted the ogre from a distance, Arvia remembered @BelgarathMTH's the cleric's warning and started to attack from a safe distance. The ogre was fast as well as strong, so they had to keep running from him, turn around, shoot an arrow and run again. It was not a very honorable fight, and when the ogre finally fell to the ground, Imoen was already severely wounded.
While Jaheira took care of Imoen's wounds, Arvia and Khalid carefully approached the ogre to make sure that he was truly dead. They took one of the belts back to its owner at the Friendly Arm Inn and sold the other. (((off topic: what use is a girdle of masculinity/femininity in a game where you can choose your gender in the beginning? )))
When they left the Inn, Imoen had wandered off again and they had to follow her north. When they finally found her, nose in some book, they encountered a young squire paladin named Ajantis, who offered to join them in their quest. Arvia was happy to meet a fellow paladin, and they gladly accepted him into their group.
Back on their way south to Beregost, they suddenly heard loud screams and the sound of fighting from the forests. They came too late to save the victims and found themselves facing a group of caravan raiders.
They managed to defeat their attackers, but Ajantis did not survive the battle. Fortunately his body remained intact, so while Jaheira picked up a family brooch from one of the dead caravan members (maybe someone in the next town would recognize the symbol), Arvia and Khalid prepared a crude wooden stretcher to carry their new friend back to the temple and had him Raised.
Arvia offered to get him a larger shield, but he refused to fight with anything but his family shield and they couldn't afford better armor for him at the moment.
Jaheira reminded Arvia of their duty to go to Nashkel, so they headed south again, encountering another raided caravan and some hobgoblins along the way.
Dirty and exhausted they arrived in the small town of Beregost and stumbled into the next inn, only to find themselves attacked by yet another assassin. Would this ever stop?
They rested at the inn and split up in the morning to collect information and rumors. Some people asked for their help, like a lady waiting for a letter from her husband, and they heard about of a mad cleric who was murdering people and got information about good places to buy weapons, armor and magical supplies once they managed to earn some gold. Arvia met the old elven mage from Candlekeep and bought him another book. He gave her a rather dark and mysterious book in exchange and Arvia decided to read it later. They narrowly avoided a fight with an angry father at another inn, but Arvia managed to calm him down before he could get himself hurt.
They were approached by one or two people trying to hire them for gold, but Arvia refused. She was always ready to help people in need, but they had their own duties to fulfill and were not some mercenaries.
They found Landrin's house, and Arvia equipped herself, Jaheira and Ajantis with antidotes. She ordered the others to stand back, entered the house alone and found herself face to face with several huge spiders.
She called Ajantis and Jaheira to enter and started fighting the disgusting creatures that had infested the house. She didn't know if they were lucky or if Landrin had been wrong about their poison, but they killed the spiders easily without being harmed themselves.
Jaheira started complaining again about Nashkel, but Arvia couldn't stand the thought of those people being afraid to come home and took them straight back all the way to the Friendly Arm Inn to give proof to Landrin that it was safe to go back to their house.
After resolving a few minor issues in Beregost, they headed further south, and Ajantis almost got himself killed again fighting a couple of ogrillons.
Arvia lost her patience and took them back to Beregost, where she insisted on selling every item that wasn't strictly necessary to buy a plate mail armor for Ajantis.
He didn't want to accept, but she saw it as her duty and responsibility to protect her companions to the best of her ability, even if they were proud young men.
(((to be continued tomorrow. The accidentally deleted part was too long. 7 hours left until work, and while fun takes precedence over sleep, sometimes sleep is necessary)))
Reloads: 1 (the ogre south of the FAI)