Well, the same thing happened again. My contigencies didn't trigger, and my Spell Trigger didn't help me at *all*. I couldn't even tell what happened, only that I died even faster than last time. I might have been dispelled, but if I did I didn't even see it.
*sigh* Back to square one tomorrow at the same time.
It has been done - using the knowledge I gained from my last failed attempt at killing Amelyssan, I managed to smoothly kill every one of her forms and enemies, and I have taken the essence of Bhaal for myself. I'm actually kind of sad - this was always my ultimate personal goal for the series, and after more than twelve years I've done it: beating the whole trilogy solo, on Insane, with SCS, and without reloading.
I'll certainly find other things to do, but after streaming nearly daily for almost this whole month I think I need a break, haha. I'll compose my final write-up later, although I'll only start from after Abazigal as my write-up will be absolutely massive otherwise. also, my path was more or less identical to the one I wrote about previously.
^ For me, that is. It's a bittersweet feeling, knowing there will be no more sessions of this adventure to stream.
But anyways - I'll start the writeup where I left off in a previous session - right at the start of Sendai's lair. Killing Drow are vastly easier than before - only the mages pose any semblance of a problem, and even then usually not as most are dispelled quite easily. The only thing that gave me pause was the Hive Mother, who can see through invisibility. When she spawned on the bottom, I threw up a quick Time Stop and killed her before targeting anybody else. The fighters and clerics were easy, but one mage decided to be a pain in the ass. She put up the favorite combos of invisibility, SI: to Divination and Abjuration and one weapons protection spell after another. She gated in a bunch of fiends before she finally ran out of spells, but I almost ran out of good buffs to use before then.
Now for Sendai's lair itself. The Umber Hulks and Myconids are powerless against my Shield of Harmony, and coupled with my multitude of WWs they didn't stand a chance. Taking out the drow gatekeeper and his friends proved to be an equally easy proposition, and the mage was handily dispelled since she didn't put up SI: Abjuration like the one before her. I decided to do both tunnels, since the spiders were easy on account of my Ring of Gaxx granting my character poison immunity, and the derro tunnels were equally so given that all the fighters save for the Slave Master perished from Greater Deathblow. I admit, I took a *lot* of pleasure in wiping out 90% of the spiders with a single Dragon's Breath.
Next: clearing out the lich. The drow proved to be a mere speed bump, the last game the lich beat me within 10 hitpoints of death. This time, I go the safe route: Time Stop. I wail on him when he is helpless and gladly take what items he carries. It's a bit cheap but I'm not dying this far into the game. The drow didn't prove to be an issue - the priests could be Breached, the fighters taken down with ease and the mages dispelled.
Next phase: Diyatha. Removing the Earth Elementals did not prove to be much of an issue. I did need to rest and memorize Time Stop to take care of the Hive Mother, but the others did not prove to be a particular issue, although I did have a need to run out into the main room and summon a Planetar as backup. I killed the Nabassu and Vampire quickly, followed by Breaching Diyatha and killing her shortly after. The next room with the Spectator Beholder proved to be laughably easy - a straight fighter, I mean come on. The Illithids were the same way, but only because I had some of the Brine Potions saved from the Illithid Lair in Chapter 5. None of them could even lay a hand on me.
Ugh, now for Sendai. The biggest trouble would naturally prove to be the first mage. Time Stop, endless protections against weapons, invisibility and SI: Divination and SI: Abjuration, etc. The fighter types were not a problem. The drow mages proved to be easily dispelled, and by this point I had nearly ten WWs, not including the three Improved Hastes I carry with me as well. My only issue was that I was burning through spells and buffs given the length of the battle. Killing all the statues as well as the summoned fiends ate up a lot of my HLAs.
Sendai is normally pretty easy to kill, provided she is killed quickly. But without the majority of my abilities, she manages to throw up a *lot* of PfMW as well as offensive spells. I can only keep a distance and allow my Planetar to absorb the worst of them, although she is unsummoned about halfway through. Bad news: Sendai gets in a Dispel Magic against me. I wait across the room and throw what summons i have left and try to wait out her defensive buffs. I still have some Stoneskin spells left. Eventually, she runs out of PfMW, and I use my remaining WWs against her. she finally falls, but man that was a really drawn out battle.
Now for the last of the Five. Balthazar is given some of his old abilities from ToB, prior to his being toned down for release (Solar Stance, Lunar Stance, Second Wind, etc). I remember fighting a restored version of him a long time ago, and it was a brutal battle to say the least. I enlist Saemon's help in getting inside the monastery, knowing he would betray me. As usual, only the mages proved to be exceptionally annoying roadblocks. They summoned in quite a few fiends, but at this point they can't dispel my buffs even if I don't have SI: Abjuration up.
Balthazar proves to be a tricky foe. I begin by killing all of the monks who heal him throughout the battle. Most of Balthazar's abilities bounce off of my buffs, but one hit causes me to get stunned...badly. I sit there and am getting hit for 30+ points of damage, quickly losing what health I have. Thankfully, my Chain Contingency triggers right before I die, buying me time with PfMW and Stoneskins. Phew. I summon in a Planetar and kite him around the room before casting Time Stop. Dang, forgot he was immune to it. (only on SCS?). Even with his Second Wind ability giving him a free heal he eventually falls, although I cast all my PfMW during that fight because I was really paranoid he would stun me again - I wouldn't survive another stun like that.
Now to clear out the Hell trials. 2-4 prove to be a pushover, as PfMW basically takes care of evrybody save for Semaj, who falls like a normal mage. Only the Ravager has any real potential to kill me. Remembering that he is immune to Time Stop, I put more Planetar summons in my spell book. I also summon three Morty's Swords in addition to my usual Planetar and give the four summoned minions Haste. If I can have them distract the infinitely summoning Bone Blades, I can wear down the Ravager pretty quickly. Things go according to plan - Morty's Swords can't be injured, and the Planetar continues to heal herself. I unleash every WW and PfMW I have on him, and within about a minute he falls without ever laying a claw on me.
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Oh boy. Now for Amelyssan. remembering what a catastrophe the Big Metal Unit proved to be, I don't even bother crafting it this time around. I go extra-heavy on the buffs, making sure to drink plenty of potions and loading up on Spell Triggers and Contingencies. SI: Abjuration is a must. I memorize five Stoneskins and three Wish spells, hoping that I'll get at least one chance to get a free rest. I think I can beat her without one, but if there is even a chance I can get it then it's worth trying. I don't bother memorizing Time Stop or BBoD - the former doesn't affect Amelyssan and I have two scrolls of the latter.
The first phase is the most dangerous, as that is where Amelyssan gates in the majority of her minions. I summon a Planetar and one Morty's Sword and give them haste. I take out every minion she summons, including the Demon Knights who blinded me last time. I fear for the Death Tyrant, but miraculously he never shows. I did get trapped in Time Stop, but I had enough stoneskins to outlast Amelyssan's assault. I throw up some WWs and eventually force her to retreat - she can't cast any spells at the rate I'm attacking her. First phase completed, with most of my spells intact.
Killing Yan-C-Bin and his goons is a very quick task, and I summon my last two Morty's Swords and Planetar before closing off the source. The second phase is easier - it's just her. She can't do much, except DISPEL ALL OF MY BUFFS. Damn, I knew I shouldn't have cast SI: divination in the first phase. I throw up a PfMW and an Improved Haste, hoping that it'll hold out long enough to force her retreat. It does, but I've expended most of my new spells. Time for my Hail Mary. First Wish spell - my best option is to raise my stats to 25 for four rounds. Second Wish spell, JACKPOT! I gleefully take my rest and apply a fresh layer of buffs, making sure to summon up a fresh group of minions as well. Killing off Cryomax and his goons is a pretty easy proposition. I make sure not to waste a SI on divination this time.
Third phase. Once again, she begins casting spells and summoning in some Slayer Shadows. While trapped in Time Stop, she kills my Planetar (better her than me), so I'm forced to use my second and last summon early. I also get hit with a PW: Blind, but it doesn't affect me too badly as the center column continues to illuminate the stage even while blind. My THAC0 is still low enough to be devastating. After I clear out the Slayer Shadows, my blindness wears off and I continue my assault on her. Eventually, she has to retreat again.
The last set of goons are not pushovers like the previous two groups. The two Marileths, who on SCS get to cast PfMW every 5 rounds and Stoneskin every two, could be a game ender. And the Solar? Far worse. This is why I brought a fully charged Wand of Sundering (?) from Watcher's Keep: I get 20 uses of the spell Breach. The bulk of my worries centers on the Fallen Solar. Last time I faced her, she dispelled my buffs and basically eviscerated me. I cast Wish again, hoping for either a Time Stop or a Rest. Bam - double-length Time Stop and Improved Alacrity on the first try. I use that time to kill her, the Alu-Fiend, and hopefully a Marileth. I couldn't finishing killing the first one while time was stopped, but I was able to finish her off before PfMW went back up, thankfully. I hit the second one with a Breach, and she falls helplessly shortly after.
Now for Amelyssan's final attack. I was not able to get a rest from my remaining two Wish spells, so I was going to have to hope that I had enough PfMWs and Stoneskins memorized to win. I cast SI: Abjuration and reapply what few potions and buffs I have left. It's do or die time. She doesn't summon hordes of enemies like I was anticipating: she just tries to heal and cast Time Stop. I frantically use up every WW I have left on her, hoping that she will fall before the last one is expended. Injured, Badly Injured, Near Death...when I see that she can't muster up a counter attack or a Time Stop, I realize the battle is won.
And that's basically what happened in a nutshell. Getting a Rest and a Time Stop from those Wish spells was a badly-needed lifeline in this battle. I think I could have won without them, but killing that Solar would have been incredibly difficult, especially since she effortlessly dispelled me last time despite having 29 mage levels. Furthermore, her potential for insta-kills and her Heal spells could have potentially proved to be more than I could handle. But I do not like to speculate on what could have been - I got the spells I needed and that's that! Without being able to rest anywhere that last battle is brutal, especially towards the end.
I'm kind of sad the the Adventures of Selangor have come to an end, but I'm happy that I managed to complete my challenge when I was seriously doubting the validity of it. I will soon upload the videos to Youtube, in hopes that they will serve as a guide for anybody wishing to do the same. I'd certainly like to thank all the people who have followed me thus far and offered their support - it gave me the boost I needed to keep going when I didn't want to. This will be the last write-up for the Adventures of Selangor, but I highly encourage you to watch the recorded and saved chronicles on my channel - these highly compressed and edited-down accounts don't do the real thing justice! Every step of the trilogy is saved and labelled in chronological order, should you be so inclined to watch it from start to finish.
If I'm not mistaken, one of the rules of the no-reload runs at least on the Bioware forums is that you can treat each separate game as a different piece, so if you fail in SoA you can restart in SoA instead of going back to BG1. I dislike doing it myself, but it's perfectly legal to do so.
This basically. To be honest, I've never heard of anybody restarting from the start of the trilogy in a no-reload run.
Actually, on the Bioware forums we always restart in the Candlekeep if we are on the Trilogy no-reload run and our chars dies in SoA/ToB. It might sound silly but it doesn't give full satisfaction otherwise. The whole thing of Trilogy no-reload is to do it in -one- go, so we don't treat each separate game as different piece (some of us run it in BGT setup, which *is* the one single game).
I just wanted to confirm that Serg is correct. On the Bioware forum, we don't consider a run a trilogy no reload unless the entire trilogy has been completed without a death. If we fall, we go back to Candlekeep, usually with a re-rolled character.
@Alesia_BH once considered it when her Bounty Hunter died at the Throne of Bhaal, since she figured out how to guarantee a win in that battle and could have redone the run successfully, but I believe she reconsidered and decided to move on. But normally, you just start over from the beginning of the last game, or start a different run.
To be clear, what I considered doing in that case was restarting my bounty hunter from Candlekeep. I did not consider restarting her from the beginning of ToB or the beginning of SoA. Had my bounty hunter completed BG1, fallen in BG2, and then defeated Mel after having restarted in BG2, she would, for the purposes of the Bioware challenge, have had a successful BG1 no reload, and a successful BG2 no reload, but not a successful trilogy no reload. She would not appear in our Hall of Heroes. As an aside, my bounty hunter has, in fact, successfully no reloaded both BG1 and BG2, but she has never done both in the same run, which is why she does not appear in our Hall of Heroes.
Anyhoo. Nice work Bynary_Fission! I haven't read your entire thread yet, but I look forward to it!
Comments
*sigh* Back to square one tomorrow at the same time.
It has been done - using the knowledge I gained from my last failed attempt at killing Amelyssan, I managed to smoothly kill every one of her forms and enemies, and I have taken the essence of Bhaal for myself. I'm actually kind of sad - this was always my ultimate personal goal for the series, and after more than twelve years I've done it: beating the whole trilogy solo, on Insane, with SCS, and without reloading.
I'll certainly find other things to do, but after streaming nearly daily for almost this whole month I think I need a break, haha. I'll compose my final write-up later, although I'll only start from after Abazigal as my write-up will be absolutely massive otherwise. also, my path was more or less identical to the one I wrote about previously.
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^ For me, that is. It's a bittersweet feeling, knowing there will be no more sessions of this adventure to stream.
But anyways - I'll start the writeup where I left off in a previous session - right at the start of Sendai's lair. Killing Drow are vastly easier than before - only the mages pose any semblance of a problem, and even then usually not as most are dispelled quite easily. The only thing that gave me pause was the Hive Mother, who can see through invisibility. When she spawned on the bottom, I threw up a quick Time Stop and killed her before targeting anybody else. The fighters and clerics were easy, but one mage decided to be a pain in the ass. She put up the favorite combos of invisibility, SI: to Divination and Abjuration and one weapons protection spell after another. She gated in a bunch of fiends before she finally ran out of spells, but I almost ran out of good buffs to use before then.
Now for Sendai's lair itself. The Umber Hulks and Myconids are powerless against my Shield of Harmony, and coupled with my multitude of WWs they didn't stand a chance. Taking out the drow gatekeeper and his friends proved to be an equally easy proposition, and the mage was handily dispelled since she didn't put up SI: Abjuration like the one before her. I decided to do both tunnels, since the spiders were easy on account of my Ring of Gaxx granting my character poison immunity, and the derro tunnels were equally so given that all the fighters save for the Slave Master perished from Greater Deathblow. I admit, I took a *lot* of pleasure in wiping out 90% of the spiders with a single Dragon's Breath.
Next: clearing out the lich. The drow proved to be a mere speed bump, the last game the lich beat me within 10 hitpoints of death. This time, I go the safe route: Time Stop. I wail on him when he is helpless and gladly take what items he carries. It's a bit cheap but I'm not dying this far into the game. The drow didn't prove to be an issue - the priests could be Breached, the fighters taken down with ease and the mages dispelled.
Next phase: Diyatha. Removing the Earth Elementals did not prove to be much of an issue. I did need to rest and memorize Time Stop to take care of the Hive Mother, but the others did not prove to be a particular issue, although I did have a need to run out into the main room and summon a Planetar as backup. I killed the Nabassu and Vampire quickly, followed by Breaching Diyatha and killing her shortly after. The next room with the Spectator Beholder proved to be laughably easy - a straight fighter, I mean come on. The Illithids were the same way, but only because I had some of the Brine Potions saved from the Illithid Lair in Chapter 5. None of them could even lay a hand on me.
Ugh, now for Sendai. The biggest trouble would naturally prove to be the first mage. Time Stop, endless protections against weapons, invisibility and SI: Divination and SI: Abjuration, etc. The fighter types were not a problem. The drow mages proved to be easily dispelled, and by this point I had nearly ten WWs, not including the three Improved Hastes I carry with me as well. My only issue was that I was burning through spells and buffs given the length of the battle. Killing all the statues as well as the summoned fiends ate up a lot of my HLAs.
Sendai is normally pretty easy to kill, provided she is killed quickly. But without the majority of my abilities, she manages to throw up a *lot* of PfMW as well as offensive spells. I can only keep a distance and allow my Planetar to absorb the worst of them, although she is unsummoned about halfway through. Bad news: Sendai gets in a Dispel Magic against me. I wait across the room and throw what summons i have left and try to wait out her defensive buffs. I still have some Stoneskin spells left. Eventually, she runs out of PfMW, and I use my remaining WWs against her. she finally falls, but man that was a really drawn out battle.
Now for the last of the Five. Balthazar is given some of his old abilities from ToB, prior to his being toned down for release (Solar Stance, Lunar Stance, Second Wind, etc). I remember fighting a restored version of him a long time ago, and it was a brutal battle to say the least. I enlist Saemon's help in getting inside the monastery, knowing he would betray me. As usual, only the mages proved to be exceptionally annoying roadblocks. They summoned in quite a few fiends, but at this point they can't dispel my buffs even if I don't have SI: Abjuration up.
Balthazar proves to be a tricky foe. I begin by killing all of the monks who heal him throughout the battle. Most of Balthazar's abilities bounce off of my buffs, but one hit causes me to get stunned...badly. I sit there and am getting hit for 30+ points of damage, quickly losing what health I have. Thankfully, my Chain Contingency triggers right before I die, buying me time with PfMW and Stoneskins. Phew. I summon in a Planetar and kite him around the room before casting Time Stop. Dang, forgot he was immune to it. (only on SCS?). Even with his Second Wind ability giving him a free heal he eventually falls, although I cast all my PfMW during that fight because I was really paranoid he would stun me again - I wouldn't survive another stun like that.
Now to clear out the Hell trials. 2-4 prove to be a pushover, as PfMW basically takes care of evrybody save for Semaj, who falls like a normal mage. Only the Ravager has any real potential to kill me. Remembering that he is immune to Time Stop, I put more Planetar summons in my spell book. I also summon three Morty's Swords in addition to my usual Planetar and give the four summoned minions Haste. If I can have them distract the infinitely summoning Bone Blades, I can wear down the Ravager pretty quickly. Things go according to plan - Morty's Swords can't be injured, and the Planetar continues to heal herself. I unleash every WW and PfMW I have on him, and within about a minute he falls without ever laying a claw on me.
-----------------------
Oh boy. Now for Amelyssan. remembering what a catastrophe the Big Metal Unit proved to be, I don't even bother crafting it this time around. I go extra-heavy on the buffs, making sure to drink plenty of potions and loading up on Spell Triggers and Contingencies. SI: Abjuration is a must. I memorize five Stoneskins and three Wish spells, hoping that I'll get at least one chance to get a free rest. I think I can beat her without one, but if there is even a chance I can get it then it's worth trying. I don't bother memorizing Time Stop or BBoD - the former doesn't affect Amelyssan and I have two scrolls of the latter.
The first phase is the most dangerous, as that is where Amelyssan gates in the majority of her minions. I summon a Planetar and one Morty's Sword and give them haste. I take out every minion she summons, including the Demon Knights who blinded me last time. I fear for the Death Tyrant, but miraculously he never shows. I did get trapped in Time Stop, but I had enough stoneskins to outlast Amelyssan's assault. I throw up some WWs and eventually force her to retreat - she can't cast any spells at the rate I'm attacking her. First phase completed, with most of my spells intact.
Killing Yan-C-Bin and his goons is a very quick task, and I summon my last two Morty's Swords and Planetar before closing off the source. The second phase is easier - it's just her. She can't do much, except DISPEL ALL OF MY BUFFS. Damn, I knew I shouldn't have cast SI: divination in the first phase. I throw up a PfMW and an Improved Haste, hoping that it'll hold out long enough to force her retreat. It does, but I've expended most of my new spells. Time for my Hail Mary. First Wish spell - my best option is to raise my stats to 25 for four rounds. Second Wish spell, JACKPOT! I gleefully take my rest and apply a fresh layer of buffs, making sure to summon up a fresh group of minions as well. Killing off Cryomax and his goons is a pretty easy proposition. I make sure not to waste a SI on divination this time.
Third phase. Once again, she begins casting spells and summoning in some Slayer Shadows. While trapped in Time Stop, she kills my Planetar (better her than me), so I'm forced to use my second and last summon early. I also get hit with a PW: Blind, but it doesn't affect me too badly as the center column continues to illuminate the stage even while blind. My THAC0 is still low enough to be devastating. After I clear out the Slayer Shadows, my blindness wears off and I continue my assault on her. Eventually, she has to retreat again.
The last set of goons are not pushovers like the previous two groups. The two Marileths, who on SCS get to cast PfMW every 5 rounds and Stoneskin every two, could be a game ender. And the Solar? Far worse. This is why I brought a fully charged Wand of Sundering (?) from Watcher's Keep: I get 20 uses of the spell Breach. The bulk of my worries centers on the Fallen Solar. Last time I faced her, she dispelled my buffs and basically eviscerated me. I cast Wish again, hoping for either a Time Stop or a Rest. Bam - double-length Time Stop and Improved Alacrity on the first try. I use that time to kill her, the Alu-Fiend, and hopefully a Marileth. I couldn't finishing killing the first one while time was stopped, but I was able to finish her off before PfMW went back up, thankfully. I hit the second one with a Breach, and she falls helplessly shortly after.
Now for Amelyssan's final attack. I was not able to get a rest from my remaining two Wish spells, so I was going to have to hope that I had enough PfMWs and Stoneskins memorized to win. I cast SI: Abjuration and reapply what few potions and buffs I have left. It's do or die time. She doesn't summon hordes of enemies like I was anticipating: she just tries to heal and cast Time Stop. I frantically use up every WW I have left on her, hoping that she will fall before the last one is expended. Injured, Badly Injured, Near Death...when I see that she can't muster up a counter attack or a Time Stop, I realize the battle is won.
And that's basically what happened in a nutshell. Getting a Rest and a Time Stop from those Wish spells was a badly-needed lifeline in this battle. I think I could have won without them, but killing that Solar would have been incredibly difficult, especially since she effortlessly dispelled me last time despite having 29 mage levels. Furthermore, her potential for insta-kills and her Heal spells could have potentially proved to be more than I could handle. But I do not like to speculate on what could have been - I got the spells I needed and that's that! Without being able to rest anywhere that last battle is brutal, especially towards the end.
I'm kind of sad the the Adventures of Selangor have come to an end, but I'm happy that I managed to complete my challenge when I was seriously doubting the validity of it. I will soon upload the videos to Youtube, in hopes that they will serve as a guide for anybody wishing to do the same. I'd certainly like to thank all the people who have followed me thus far and offered their support - it gave me the boost I needed to keep going when I didn't want to. This will be the last write-up for the Adventures of Selangor, but I highly encourage you to watch the recorded and saved chronicles on my channel - these highly compressed and edited-down accounts don't do the real thing justice! Every step of the trilogy is saved and labelled in chronological order, should you be so inclined to watch it from start to finish.
Anyhoo. Nice work Bynary_Fission! I haven't read your entire thread yet, but I look forward to it!
Best,
A.