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Is Throne of Bhaal worth playing?

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  • BlackbɨrdBlackbɨrd Member Posts: 293
    Ace_Bower wrote: »
    (Quote)
    All these years since BG2 was released I've played all the way through TOB once. Usually I play and towards the end of SOA I'm getting HLAs and the power meter goes off the chart and it's time to start over once Irenicus dies and Watchers Keep has been entered.

    The TOB plot is just lame. You are dragged on rails along the plot while being given +6 Hackmasters every fight and every guard, farmer and bad guy has at least +4 weapons.

    I am going to necro this thread because I have been drinking and playing the recent console release, and your comment was falsified to steer someone away from playing something they would almost certainly enjoy, having played the rest of the BG series.

    There is not a single trash mob in the game with a +4 weapon. They start out in Saradush mostly having +1 weapons, but some non-magical, and then by the end of the game they're using +1 to +3. The first "boss" you kill only drops +3 weapons. The only +4 weapons are found as loot or from a specific NPC and are unique (the only generic +4 item in TOB are +4 bullets), with some being upgradeable and some not.

    Aside from the bullets, there are maybe 20 items (including the armor) that are anywhere between +4 and +6 in the game. There are only like 3 +6 weapons total (and none drop as +6, so they can't be found as such in any fight), so all of that is obviously not given anywhere close to every fight.

    The story is not nearly as good as BG1 or 2, but it's also only one plotline and a much shorter game. It was made to let fans reach the divinity they wanted to, or at least fight against it on that scale. It was fun.

    But you, sir are (or were) charlaton, trying to convince someone to dislike a game you do before they even try it! That is decidedly *not* fun. I hope that this person did give TOB a try and didn't regret it, and that karma caused you some minor inconvenience (maybe a toe stubbing) for this trickery. Good day!

    I agree entirely with you. Shame on @smeagolheart.
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    As a true charlaton, he doesn't even know what ToB weapons are actually called, and thinks they're called Hackmasters. Ha! Smeagolheart finally debunked!
    Mantis37
  • megamike15megamike15 Member Posts: 2,666
    tob does have mods exclusively for it. there is of course Ascension but there is also wheel's of prophecy that makes the 2nd half more non linear and adds more dialogue options for certain scenes

    and my favorite reunion a quest mod that helps flesh out charname's mother.
    Blackravengorgonzoladunbar
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    ascension is a difficulty enhancing mod, so does not really change the plot or add more content, but i admit that i did not know about the other 2, that i will surely try.
    compared to the larger number of side quests and npcs with personal quest available for soa it is still very few, but 2 is way better then 0, thank you for letting me know about their existence.
  • Mantis37Mantis37 Member Posts: 1,173
    edited December 2019
    Longer Road, while flawed, was one of the few mods that struck the sort of note of grandeur that you need for high level play at the culmination of the story. Really ToB would be better as mostly boss fights - tackled in an order of your choice and scaling accordingly - punctuated by some scenes to heighten the tension and set the stakes. There's not much need for pointless intervening combats unless they have a special story or strategic reason (e.g. you can't rest and they're being driven at you to exhaust your resources.)
    gorgonzolaDJKajuru
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    im must be one of those weirdos out there that actually don't mind ToB that much, in fact i usually have fun playing it until i hit the abizigal area ( where lots of my play throughs end ) sometimes i even start a team fresh in ToB just for the lewls

    now with that being said the reason why i stop at the abizigal area is because on insane difficulty the only way to beat draconis and abizigal is with dirty cheese because their damage output is obtuse, especially if you have low HP characters in your party like jan, aerie or the like, and i hate using exploits to win fights, but i also refuse to lower the difficulty setting so usually that is where it ends with me

    but when it comes to "dnd epic PC gameplay" compared with the NWN series, i find ToB to be the best ( NWN 1 isn't too bad, but chapter 3 is truly a chore, and NWN 2 i find the epic part extremely boring bleh ) but that is just my opinion
    gorgonzola
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    sarevok57 wrote: »
    the reason why i stop at the abizigal area is because on insane difficulty the only way to beat draconis and abizigal is with dirty cheese because their damage output is obtuse, especially if you have low HP characters in your party like jan, aerie or the like, and i hate using exploits to win fights, but i also refuse to lower the difficulty setting so usually that is where it ends with me
    it really surprises me to read this from you, as i know from your comments that you are a capable and experienced player, even if you have a play style very different from mine.
    i am surprised as both my jan and aerie have actually soloed draconis more then one time, and i would say without much effort.
    it is true that they don't have a korgan like hp pool, but they have other ways to survive, actually i find the battle easier with them then with korgan or an other plain fighter, that has to rely only on his hp, on potions items and his weapons (ok korgan has also the rage that is really helpful...).
    a high level cleric, over lev 20, can get 40 hp more from the boost of holy power and righteous magic, with a less then optimal con, like aerie, get some more hp from duhm con increase, so can go to the fight with about 50 more hp, that is way less then the one a korgan at the same level has, but is not the one she has not buffed and at lev 10.
    and they both have mirror images, stoneskin, protection from magic weapons, spell immunity to be sure that their protections are not dispelled or to make them completely immune to certain spells, as well as spells that make their ac lower, starting from the one the best bracers, or a robe of vecna or archmage grant.
    unless you call dirty cheese to use the spells a mage or cleric has for the very reason those spells are created, protect and buff, i don't see how draconis or his mother can harm them for quite a long time, so i fail to see the low hp issue as a real one.
    they also should have at that point spells like true sight, as draconis likes to disappear at will, projected image, that with rov, aop and improved alacrity let them unleash a whole spell book at the cost of a single lev 7 spell, spells that lower magical resistance (and not necessarily the cheesy use of the protective cleric one aerie can do), breach both magical and combat defenses, lower st and on and over.
    she, buffed, can dw for about 100 dmg/round, with good thac0, he has less fighting capability, but can dispel illusions as will being a thief, and against the second form of draconis it is very helpful for the party, they can both summon a planetar that as sees trough invisibility is very helpful to track how draconis moves as he is invisible, also aerie's deva can do it, they both at 3M xp have at least 1 lev 9 arcane spell, jan2 being a specialist mage.
    here i am talking only of proper use of arcane and divine spells, i hope that you don't consider cheesy casters that use their spells. and i find that people like aerie or jan make way easier those end game battles against dragons for a party as they can tank, they can use their spells to get rid of enemy magical resistance and protections, can greater malison and doom him, and i am not even talking of the SoTM and his dispel on hit, that with buffed aerie's thac0 can be very effective, as starting from tob you don't have it and anyway some players regard as cheesy.

    draconis and abizigal's damage output is obtuse, it is true, but it is exactly the reason why i am glad to have people like aerie or jan in the party when i face them, i would be way more scared to go to those battles with only fighters with their huge hp pool, but very few more then their weapons and thac0 to hope to bash them faster then how themselves are bashed. and still it is possible to solo those battles with a plain fighter, potions and items are there to make it possible, it has been done not only on insane, but even with mods that make those battles even more difficult, by more then one player.

    to each one his play style and, even more important, his way to have fun in the game, but i am really surprised to read that an experienced player like you has problems in having aerie or jan survive to those battles, they are the ones that when i do them usually get not even scratched in my parties.

    note: spoilers added to avoid the text wall, there is really nothing inside that can spoil anything, new players feel free to open them :).

    bob_veng
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    @gorgonzola as you said that even a plain fighter solo can win those battles, but that would require and outrageous amount of cheese to do so, and i hate using cheese tactics, if im going to use cheese tactics to win i might as well just crtl+y everything

    now when i play, i play very lazily, if a hard fight is coming up, i will buff up appropriately and then go into battle, and depending if battle is going good or bad, i should be able to continue on from there and still come out victorious in the end

    the problem i have with the 2 dragon fights is that they deal way too much damage to quickly ( or just straight up chunk my fools in one hit so i can even revive them ) ironically when i made teams that had 6 "fighter" types on them i had a much easier time because then i would just get everyone to greater whirlwind at once, and usually that would be enough to finish the battle off

    also, for some bizarre reason, abizigal is immune to time stop, which annoyed the piss out of me, why? why is he immune? what makes him so special? no other bhaal spawn is, plus he wasn't immune in the vanilla ugh

    plus im not one of those players who use PI and unload spell books worth of diarrhea on to enemies using improved alacrity because that is just broken as hell

    although last time i fought draconis i did have to use timestop + improved alacrity to win, or else he would just chunk my team with or without buffs

    for some weird reason those 2 dragons have a "cannot seem to fail remove magic" with a "infinite range breath weapon" every time i fight them, so meh

    every other battle in the entire series i have no problems with, but those 2 battles are just boring and tedious, and if a fight requires me to do 10 minutes of buffing and prep to win, bleh, pass
    gorgonzolaThacoBellBelgarathMTH
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    spell immunity: abjuration

    it seems you're not using it
    sarevok57gorgonzola
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    edited December 2019
    @sarevok57
    as @bob_veng told a single spell make all the debuffing strategies those dragons use not effective, as they seem to don't have RROR memorized.

    also what each one consider broken as hell is very subjective, if to use spells and items for the very reason they are created is cheesy to have 6 GWW at once, 60 attacks in just 6 seconds, can be regarded by others as stinky.
    those are very subjective evaluations and any way related to the offensive part of the equation, for the defensive part, surviving to the dragons attacks, you missed just a spell in your way to solve the equation, then both aerie and jan can become the best tanks giving relief to your fighters, even if they don't cast offensive spells or in the case of the CM bash him with flail and mace at all.

    and having someone that can tank, lower resistance, malison and doom, true sight and breach is really helpful even if you plan to use the raw fighters power to take them down.
    even if you don't use PI, rov and aop, that make the fighters redundant.
    CC, sequencers and trigger are in the game for a reason ;) your "door opener" and "healer" can do all those things even starting from tob, so without rov and aop, even without using PI or improved alacrity, in a very short time.

    about the time stop immunity i am not 100% sure but i am pretty convinced that was still there in the original and any way in my experience time stop is greatly overrated in most situations, as a well protected mage can anyway do what he is supposed to do also without it.
    with PI, IA rov and aop he is simply so fast that the dragon can not even react, is dead before he even realize what is happening and start to target the clone, or the mage if a clone is not used, with a sequencers and contingencies strategy he can try to react only to clash against the mage's protections.

    I personally use time stop maybe in a couple of instances in all the game, if i have a FM that want to abuse of the fact that all physical attacks are successful during the ts, for 30 granted hits with staff of the ram or impaler, even without pips in them, or if i want to equip a jan, imoen or aerie improved hasted with the 2 most damaging 1handers and send them for 12 hits that hit without fail, but is a spell that most of my sorcerers don't even learn.
    i find that the best and the only really worth use of ts is in the advanced spell trap based infinite spell strategy, that is still working in EE even if way less effective then in the original, there ts becomes one of the key factors of the combo.
    EDIT: combo that is probably one of the most stinky pieces of cheese in all the game according to your taste, and is perfectly fine, i name it only because imo is the only very issue where ts is really needed and can not be avoided.
    Post edited by gorgonzola on
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    well, we will see what i do on my next play through i shappose
    gorgonzola
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