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Durlag's Tower wanna cry

This is a difficulty spike. Don't go there below at least level 7-8 party-wise. A thief with 100 in Find Traps is a must, or with good supply of Potions of Perception.

It is a serious dungeon crawl, don't expect to rush it. Slow and tedious with danger around every corner. Enemies are quite strong the deeper you go. You will hate this place.

I am not happy with the loot, nothing spectacular so far, lots of projectile ammo and can't take all, need trip back to HQ (usually also reviving Coran) . But good XP farm.

Reminds me of DAO's Orzammar area which similarly was a difficulty spike the deeper you go. But these two games were made by the same people as far as I know.

Comments

  • SoidoSoido Member Posts: 338
    To me the main issue with this area is the constant travel to a temple to revive someone. At least someone dies and needs revival. This becomes extremely tedious. There is no gameplay value in this exercise. Collect inventory, travel back and forth, equip items, go back to Durlag's Tower. Takes me more time than the tower exploration itself. Had to have a convenient temple nearby to save this tediousness.

    In a party of six at least someone miserably fails his or her save vs spell or effect and he is good as dead (especially Dorn with his pathetic 41 HP at level 7). Coran dies mostly to failed saves too.

    And why don't DnD rules have a solid revive spell ? Just should be able to revive on place, maybe not in-combat and only after-combat but just a convenience way to save this constant travel to temples. It is these omissions that make Durlag's Tower a nuisance to play.
  • RedRodentRedRodent Member Posts: 78
    Durlag's Tower is designed as end-level content. Unless you are properly prepared, you're gonna have a bad time.

    There are plenty of guides out there with tips on how to tackle the tower, but generally keep your party rested and buffed, bring potions, and watch out for traps ALWAYS.
    Rik_KirtaniyaJuliusBorisovThacoBellStummvonBordwehr
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,075
    Usually when one of my characters dies in Baldur's Gate 1, I just reload the game. I don't like going all the way back to temples either.
    sarevok57
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    edited June 2020
    A fair number of games that are much easier than BG also include an option to let everyone in the party automatically revive after battles provided at least one party member survived the fight. I'm actually kind of surprised that isn't a check-box option in the EEs, though I wouldn't personally be interested in using it.
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,567
    Yes, Thaco put it very well. Durlag's Tower is supposed to be the hardest part of BG1. You don't have to beat it to complete the game. And aside from the Wisdom tome, there's not a lot of gear won that is going to help you in SoD or BG2. Though there is some fun gear for wrapping up the base game, for the Sarevok fight.

    My advice is to load up on healing potions from temples as well, try and keep your characters at full health at all times. Spend as much money as you can on gear and consumables before going to Durlag's and then, as others said, burn through those items. Charge based items are some of the best items in the game and can trivialize alot of the fights.

    A ranger who can stealth helps a great deal as well. Use a ranger in tandem with your trap-detecting thief, moving the ranger a little bit ahead to scout for enemies while the thief disables. You'll be able to prepare for most of the fights ahead of time this way.
    Grond0ThacoBellAerakarStummvonBordwehr
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,567
    I'm going to add that it's perfectly acceptable to throw in the towel on Durlag's. Ideally it should be the very last thing you beat before going to the game's finale. So if there's still other content and you're not there, maybe come back later.

    But I also think it's fine, in your first playthrough of the series, to give up on it and just go ahead to BG2, the beginning of which will feel much easier than the tower. Just a suggestion anyways! The Tower was designed to be a combat-heavy, puzzle-heavy slog designed to challenge veterans of CRPG's or D&D. I didn't play Durlag's on my first playthrough either, though that's because I didn't have the expansion pack. Went straight to BG2 without it, and it was fine.
    ThacoBell
  • ValkhyrValkhyr Member Posts: 12
    Ah my favorite area of the entire game, just played it again recently in my current (almost finished) run and enjoy it as much as the very first time in the late 90s.

    I do remember it being quite challenging back then, and some encounters still are. However, it works very well with my preferred playing style: a stealth-heavy party, scouting ahead, advancing slowly and methodically, turning encounters into ambushes.

    The best advice for Durlag's Tower is to always advance carefully. Have a thief with 90+ in find traps and always move slowly and methodically, after your thief has scanned for traps. The easiest and safest way to do this is to cast invisibility on the thief so they can even check for traps while enemies are in range. It will probably feel agonizingly slow if you're used to modern games like PoE where traps are a joke and detection is nearly instantaneous.

    If you diligently scout ahead, you should never die from a trap. Plus, you know of enemy disposition beforehand so you can start fights at your advantage.

    As Noah Caldwell Gervais points out in his Youtube review, the Tower is distinct from all the rest of Baldur's Gate in that it derives enjoyment almost exclusively from the gameplay challenge. "Gitting gud" as they say. Indeed it feels not unlike Dark Souls: if you blunder ahead you'll get punished.
    Grond0DinoDinThacoBellAerakar
  • PokotaPokota Member Posts: 858
    If you're having a bad time now, just wait until you see the climactic finale of this quest line.

    To give you an idea of it, I generally stop in Durlag's Tower before triggering the finale. As I generally play Fighter>Cleric, I'm usually ill-prepared to finish this quest.
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,567
    Pokota wrote: »
    If you're having a bad time now, just wait until you see the climactic finale of this quest line.

    To give you an idea of it, I generally stop in Durlag's Tower before triggering the finale. As I generally play Fighter>Cleric, I'm usually ill-prepared to finish this quest.

    Pro tip on finishing the "quest" in the spoiler. Don't read if you want to figure it out on your own!
    Buy potions of mirrored eyes or protection from petrification. Put it on all your party members and it neutralizes the main threat of the fight. It will still be a bit of a challenge, but far from one of the more difficult fights.
    PokotaThacoBellZaxaresAerakar
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    Durlag's Tower is hard, very hard. So hard that it is gatekept by two Battle Horrors. If you can't defeat them, you have zero business in Durlag's Tower.

    However, that said, it's not that hard if you are careful. Assume every flat surface in the place is trapped. Have your thief slowly walk every inch your party plans to trod, suck down potions to help them, do whatever. Use Find Traps if you can. The traps in that place are insane. However, if you can defuse them, the actual battles aren't that bad until you get pretty far down.

    I normally have my BG1 party's tackle ToSC content once they have access to Baldur's Gate, which means they have completed Cloakwood. By that point, your party should be able to tackle almost anything in Durlag's Tower.

    It's the bit AFTER Durlag's Tower in Ulgoth's Beard that is truly killer. That finale... Damn.
    PokotaThacoBellAerakar
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