Back in the day I loved that with Durlags you had to be so careful and cunning to finish it and the rewards seemed awesome compared to the rest of BG, wow a +3 two handed sword - and then those items were matched or bettered within a couple of hours of starting BG2 by going to the local shop or searching in a sewer
I completely agree with Thacobell that these games were made with great care and dedication and that there is still a market for them now but sadly the games made moved in a different direction. I didn’t realise how tight the release deadlines were at the time but this just makes what was achieved even more impressive. I have never managed to finish DA:O even once but I have finished the BG trilogy many times
As for me, I cheesed that chess fight by buying up 6 potions of Absorption beforehand and just charging across the board willy-nilly as the lightning bolts destroyed all the enemy pieces for me while my party took 0 damage. :P
There is not a "problem" with this puzzle, because it isn't a puzzle. The tower gives you, and presumably your enemies, the same set of rules. If either side breaks the rules, the table punishes accordingly. That's right, the table itself will zap your enemies when they break the rules. I actually rather like this "puzzle" for the fact that it enforces the rules with potentially lethal responses equally.
Now, that said, it is a touch unfair depending on how you normally play. There is no way to really prepare if you don't already know about it, so a first time player getting teleported to that chess board is likely going to have a bad time. It is possible to beat the area without cheese - it's just insanely hard because the board punishes summons the same way it punishes everyone else. A low-level summons might not survive the trip across the board if you don't plan its moves just right.
In many ways, Baldur's Gate, and ToSC, hearken back to a period where players were expected to, as others have put it, 'git gud'. The werewolf island, for instance, has no priests and no stores. You have what is in your party's packs when you arrive, and there are some absolutely insane battles for even a mid-level party. No one on the flipping island tells you to use silver weapons, though it should be fairly obvious once you find some of Balduran's gear.
As an aside, I believe Unfinished Business for BG1 restores some of the missing content from the Ice Island - like the cavern below the dungeon. It's still essentially Firewine with a different maze layout, but the cavern does help a lot.
Comments
I completely agree with Thacobell that these games were made with great care and dedication and that there is still a market for them now but sadly the games made moved in a different direction. I didn’t realise how tight the release deadlines were at the time but this just makes what was achieved even more impressive. I have never managed to finish DA:O even once but I have finished the BG trilogy many times
Now, that said, it is a touch unfair depending on how you normally play. There is no way to really prepare if you don't already know about it, so a first time player getting teleported to that chess board is likely going to have a bad time. It is possible to beat the area without cheese - it's just insanely hard because the board punishes summons the same way it punishes everyone else. A low-level summons might not survive the trip across the board if you don't plan its moves just right.
In many ways, Baldur's Gate, and ToSC, hearken back to a period where players were expected to, as others have put it, 'git gud'. The werewolf island, for instance, has no priests and no stores. You have what is in your party's packs when you arrive, and there are some absolutely insane battles for even a mid-level party. No one on the flipping island tells you to use silver weapons, though it should be fairly obvious once you find some of Balduran's gear.
As an aside, I believe Unfinished Business for BG1 restores some of the missing content from the Ice Island - like the cavern below the dungeon. It's still essentially Firewine with a different maze layout, but the cavern does help a lot.