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Best fight in the game!

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  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    Dharius wrote: »
    Ah, never thought of lighting bolt, usually it just fries my own party...

    I forgot Kahrk, how could I forget him? He’s a mean mother...Dunno why, but Remove Magic didn’t work on him...maybe he has a globe of invulnerability active which prevents it? On a side note, I’ve found Remove Magic to behave oddly in BG1 (as it wasn’t originally part of it, and just never seems to take effect for me) and suspect some kind of bug...but I’ll have to investigate further on my next run through

    the reason why remove magic doesn't work is because kahrk is level 12, and if a creature is 5 levels ahead of you, remove magic only has a 1% chance to work ( or so the spell description says ) if a creature is the same level as you, you have a 50% chance for remove magic to work, but for every level higher they are than you, you chance goes down by 10% ( although, for every level you are higher than them, it only goes up by 5%, lol )
    ThacoBell
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 654
    edited June 2020
    Thanks! I will therefore avoid Remove Magic in BG1, for it is rather silly: the only times when I need it, the enemy is always at a much higher level. What a swiz...
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    yeah i liked it in vanilla bg1 where dispel magic worked without fail, they still kept that in IWD EE but took it out in BG EE what a drag
  • DanacmDanacm Member Posts: 950
    Yeslick had the old dispel magic one in ee but idk they change it.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    Looking it up... dispel type "use caster level". As of 2.5, Yeslick's dispel is just another level-dependent one.
  • MoomintrollMoomintroll Member Posts: 1,498
    I did this in BG2, so apologies off-topic. I did a run as an Abjurer who, although adventuring with a party had an egotistical demand to solo duel every mage fight that came up. I guess anyone who has solo-ed the game has technically done this too and I honestly can't remember how far it went but it did give encounters a bit of flavour and all wizard encounters became a real treat.

    I don't fancy this for BGI so much.. one day.

    energisedcamel
  • gt27mustanggt27mustang Member Posts: 17
    edited June 2020
    One of the fights I found the hardest on my first playthrough was Zhalimar Cloudwolf and his gang atop the Iron Throne building. I think it took me at least 20 tries.

    Another really tough fight was Slythe and Krystin. I remember getting in the undercellar and saying to myself:''they're only two''. I died, of course...

    Honorable mention? The fight in the Ducal Palace with the doppelgangers. If you want to keep everyone alive, it's pretty tough.
    ilduderino
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    Yeah, the one where you have to keep the duke and/or duchess is the worst, because you have to protect people you have no control over - and that twit Winski won't let you protect them in Otiluke's orbs for some stupid reason.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    Like many "escort" or "protect" type missions in games, a lot of the problem in the ducal palace fight comes down to brain-dead AI on the part of those you're supposed to be protecting. Liia is a level 16 mage, with all sorts of useful spells memorized ... and she doesn't know how to use any spells above level 2. Stoneskin? Three memorized, but she'll never use any. Remove Magic? Two memorized, none cast. Protection from Normal Weapons? Two memorized, and they would protect her, but she won't use them.

    SCS, with its improved AI, vastly changes the balance of this fight - at middling difficulties, the dukes basically win on their own.

    Of course, the way things are plotted, the win condition isn't really saving the dukes. Showing them your evidence is what actually foils Sarevok's plan and stops the war.
    Grond0ilduderinoBelgarathMTH
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 654
    Isn’t it Liia, or Belt (or both) that need to stay alive to further the plot? What happens if they both die (it’s never happened to me though)?
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    Dharius wrote: »
    Isn’t it Liia, or Belt (or both) that need to stay alive to further the plot? What happens if they both die (it’s never happened to me though)?

    If they both die, it's game over. With no one to stop him, Sarevok takes command; which, as you might expect, is a career limiting move for the player.
    monico
  • ilduderinoilduderino Member Posts: 773
    Yeah either alive is fine. From memory it is easier to keep Belt alive.
    sarevok57
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    ilduderino wrote: »
    Yeah either alive is fine. From memory it is easier to keep Belt alive.

    Unmodded, yes. It's almost impossible to keep Lila alive because she is a complete idiot in the original game. Belt isn't much better, but he is definitely sturdier.

    With SCS, they both seemed to get through that battle reasonably well. Of course, I've played that battle enough to know how to prep for it.
  • GentblueGentblue Member Posts: 39
    Easily Sil and her Sirines. Running through this game again during the lockdown, she is still a pain to fight with the possibility of hobgoblins coming from the forest to back her up. Daevorn comes second though as the planning that went into this battle was excellent.
    MoomintrollmonicoWarChiefZeke
  • monicomonico Member Posts: 571
    edited July 2020
    Best fight, or toughest fight ?

    To me, best (as in interesting/satisfying) fights would be:
    - as OP said, invading that bandit camp with brute force (if you have the means of course) is quite enjoyable. Even when infiltrating the camp without fighting everyone, I especially like the fight in the main tent.
    - Bassilus: I generally fight him early on, and depending on the character/team I'm running, there are always different strategies to try and take him on (traps, kiting, silence, blindness, each class has its own way to approach the fight). It is generaly the starting point of where my games differ from one run to another (before that, it's always the same: grabing the hidden items around FAI & Beregost, doing a few high-reward low-risk quests, and go rescue Melicamp : why not take on Bassilus while we're here ?)
    - Ulraunt: when not doing a no-reload run, I just cannot go through the Candlekeep library without making a detour to visit Ulraunt's room and slapping him once or twice before reloading. Idk, he just gets on my nerves.

    Toughest fights would be:
    - Demon Knight in the basement of Durlag's Tower: hits hard, fast, has high level spells, and getting there is a hassle and I'm often tired before facing him (I like to finish a quest before ending a session, feels more immersive that I would sleep only when my party is safe).
    - Karoug: now that's a beast. High regen, few weapons that can hit him, it almost feels like he is invulnerable... until I tried a "no-weapon" (heavily RP) challenge (a punching dragon disciple, a shapeshifter, and a monk) and managed to kill him mostly with debuffs (slow, insect plague) and touch spells. The fight is described here, at the end of the very long post (the rest is RP stuff)
    - Ducal Palace: the bane of no-reload runs. Not difficult fight for you, but keeping those useless dukes alive can be quite random.


    Toughest AND most interesting/satisfying fights would be, to me:
    - Davaeorn: between the 2 battle horrors spawning if you don't have a thief to disarm the traps (which often happens to me since I almost exclusively play solo nowadays), his scripted teleports along with his ability to cast AoE spells while he teleports, and his prebuffs and other debilitating spells in general, it is quite a diverse and tough fight. By the time you fight him, you generally have a "steamrolling" strategy, with mostly the same spells/abilities being used between each rest. This fight, though, generally means preparing new strategies compared to what was faced before. At least for me :wink:
    - Sarevok: of course. This is not the end fight for no reason. Love it, fear it.


    Special mention:
    Aec'Letec: I guess it should be mentioned as one, if not THE, toughest fight. It's just that I have not fought him in ages, so I can't really compare it to the rest of the fights.
    Grond0
  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    I still vividly remember my first run of the game, back in 2001, with the 5 CD original game (pirated, of course, so no manual, and no ToSC). There also weren't any online resources back then, so I was left pretty much on my own without any knowledge of the game mechanics. So, I rolled a mage, used the stats from the first roll. The only spells I understood in that run were magic missile, fireball, cure wounds and slow poison. Surprisingly, I don't recall any of the boss fights being super hard, but I do remember some others:

    1. Gnoll Stronghold: Now, this is nowadays, of course, a trivial fight. But the original game had this nasty feature where, in some areas, if you died and then reloaded, the number of enemies would multiply. So me, with my level 1 party and without understanding game mechanics would fight something like 30 gnolls at the same time, who would destroy me, I would reload only to find out that their numbers increased. That almost made me give up the game.

    2. Battle horrors and invisible stalkers in BG: They would destroy my squishy part with a few swings of their swords every time because I didn't use any defensive spells. Needless to say, I gave up on that fight in my first run.

    3. Fight before the final fight with Sarevok: I can't even remember how did I manage to beat it, I just remember swearing viciously and thinking that the game is stupid and impossible to beat.
    monico
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    Aec'Letec is probably the single hardest fight in the game, including the final fight with Sarevok. The fact that he can move between any of the cultists at will means that you have to mow them down as quickly as possible, which isn't easy. Also, it is very possible to have your weaker characters too close to the cultist he picks next.

    At least with Sarevok, you have a pretty good idea of where the bad guys are going to be. Yeah, they are rough, but I still felt that fight wasn't as hard. The demon fight in Durlag's Tower is close, unless you properly buff for it. If you do buff properly, it's not actually that bad.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    Aec'Letec doesn't "move between cultists at will". That's a respawn mechanic, which only comes into play if you go after the demon while there are still cultists around. Yes, the demon is the most dangerous piece on the board, but your best bet is to avoid engaging it until you deal with the cultists. I recommend fireballs.
    DinoDinThacoBellmonicodunbar
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,567
    Maurvir wrote: »
    Aec'Letec is probably the single hardest fight in the game, including the final fight with Sarevok. The fact that he can move between any of the cultists at will means that you have to mow them down as quickly as possible, which isn't easy. Also, it is very possible to have your weaker characters too close to the cultist he picks next.

    At least with Sarevok, you have a pretty good idea of where the bad guys are going to be. Yeah, they are rough, but I still felt that fight wasn't as hard. The demon fight in Durlag's Tower is close, unless you properly buff for it. If you do buff properly, it's not actually that bad.

    Some of this is the rebalance from the Enhanced Edition. With his magic immunity, Sarevok was much more difficult in the original.

    Aec'Letec is a very dangerous fight, but he's something of a gimmick fight. Once you understand how to protect from his most dangerous ability and how to approach the fight efficiently, he's less difficult than several other encounters in the game, imo.
    ThacoBell
  • ilduderinoilduderino Member Posts: 773
    I remember fighting Aec’Letec and thinking this is what I deserve after battling through Durlag’s Tower?!
  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    Every fight in Durlag's Tower is tough. That Love bloke hits quite hard for someone whose name is Love. But Love always hurts.
    monicoThacoBellDinoDinArvia
  • monicomonico Member Posts: 571
    I guess I'm too used to some cheese/metaknowledge, and that makes some supposedly hard fights a simple thing.

    For example:
    - the group right before Sarevok: I don't think I've actually fought them fairly since vanilla days. Now I just either avoid them entirely, or nuke them from out of sight.
    - the gnoll stronghold: indeed, I remember that back in vanilla days, with little knowledge of the game and very bad playing skills, I feared that map. Nowadays, if I go fight them, I use chokepoints and sleep spell/wand (the spell is more powerful), and they can barely hit you.
    - the chess board in Durlag's Tower: How many times did I reload the first time I met this fight before understanding the chess board ? Plus the fact that the enemies are numerous and quite tough, that's one hell of a fight. Until you cast Protection from Lightning or gulp Potions of Absorption on your team and purposefuly run around the board so that the chess pieces get burned to a crisp by tons of lightning bolts :smiley:
    - the basilisks: I actually discovered that Korax (and any undead summon) was immune to petrification only with the Enhanced Edition. Before that, and since I was too lazy/stingy to buy Protection from Petrification scrolls/potions, I remember that I used to have a thief/ranger armed with a bow go "fire an arrow, retreat and hide. Rinse and repeat/reload for hours until it works."

    There are probably many more fights that I bypass or cheese without even realizing ^^
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    ilduderino wrote: »
    I remember fighting Aec’Letec and thinking this is what I deserve after battling through Durlag’s Tower?!

    That was actually probably one of the best parts of Durlag's Tower - that you fight all the way through it, only to have the battle continue in Ulgoth's Beard. Those cultists right at the gate were ridiculous, and if you didn't know about them ahead of time, wow. Most people probably left directly from the tower and maybe rested and were in for a rude awakening.
  • WarChiefZekeWarChiefZeke Member Posts: 2,651
    Gentblue wrote: »
    Easily Sil and her Sirines. Running through this game again during the lockdown, she is still a pain to fight with the possibility of hobgoblins coming from the forest to back her up. Daevorn comes second though as the planning that went into this battle was excellent.

    Yeah, Daevorn is one of the few battles in the entire trilogy that takes the terrain into account and uses it to his benefit. Certainly the most memorable fight of BG1 for me.
    monicoRedRodent
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,567
    VanDerBerg wrote: »
    Every fight in Durlag's Tower is tough. That Love bloke hits quite hard for someone whose name is Love. But Love always hurts.

    Oh man I forgot about that end of the first floor fight, and I don't think anyone mentioned it in this thread. But it's excellent and quite a wake up call in terms of the difficulty you'll face.
  • monicomonico Member Posts: 571
    DinoDin wrote: »
    VanDerBerg wrote: »
    Every fight in Durlag's Tower is tough. That Love bloke hits quite hard for someone whose name is Love. But Love always hurts.

    Oh man I forgot about that end of the first floor fight, and I don't think anyone mentioned it in this thread. But it's excellent and quite a wake up call in terms of the difficulty you'll face.

    Ahem. Nowadays, I aggro them with 1 character with 127% fire resistance and lure them in the repeating fireball trap in the north-western room...
    Cheesy ^^
  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    Ahem. Nowadays, I aggro them with 1 character with 127% fire resistance and lure them in the repeating fireball trap in the north-western room...
    Cheesy ^^

    I wouldn't consider that cheesy at all. I remember clearing the whole spider lair in SoD, with gazillion of spiders just by buffing my main char with fire protection, sending them there and lobbing fireballs at him. Lots of fun!

    The joy of this fight to me is that you avoid all these traps and collect all the items to solve their riddles, inevitably taking damage on the way, and once you do it and think 'Ta da! Now they will let me progress...', Love goes 'Um, not so fast...'
    monico
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    The whole tower was amazing, and I wish the rest of the game was as good in terms of level design, but ToSC was a later expansion. That floor in particular, though. Wow. That was impressive and a sign of things to come in BG2. Notably, Irenicus' dungeon has a LOT of areas that are reminiscent of the steampunk style in the lower levels of Durlag's Tower.

    The next floor down is just as good, though, especially with the switch puzzle. Once you get to the main switch control room it's all over, but until then? That was a great area with all the traps and automatically sealing doors.

    Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of that tower. I even love how it is gatekept from low level parties.
    ThacoBell
  • AerieAerie Member Posts: 226
    Killing Quayle in either game is very satisfying.
    monico
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