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The Tale of the Totemic Druid

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  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    A very nice start @bengoshi. I'm becoming ever more impressed with Yahiko's summons btw.

    Good luck with the Fire Giants!
    JuliusBorisovMusignylolienCrevsDaak
  • ElrandirElrandir Member Posts: 1,664
    It continues! Hoorah!
    JuliusBorisovsemiticgoddessMusignylolien
  • MusignyMusigny Member Posts: 1,027
    bengoshi said:

    It seems the game engine works so that when your character doesn't see an enemy and your summons do see it, your summons attack without retaliation. So the first thing Yahiko had to do was to discover an enemy (being invisible), then retreat to a safe place, then summon 2-3 Spirit Lions, then order them to go to the place the Giants are standing, then... Profit!

    I am curious about the scripts being used because I don't think this is inherent to the engine.
    BlackravenJuliusBorisovlolienCrevsDaak
  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    Musigny said:

    bengoshi said:

    It seems the game engine works so that when your character doesn't see an enemy and your summons do see it, your summons attack without retaliation. So the first thing Yahiko had to do was to discover an enemy (being invisible), then retreat to a safe place, then summon 2-3 Spirit Lions, then order them to go to the place the Giants are standing, then... Profit!

    I am curious about the scripts being used because I don't think this is inherent to the engine.
    Isn't that the old cheese that everybody used to kill Drizzt?
    lolienCrevsDaak
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Musigny said:

    I am curious about the scripts being used because I don't think this is inherent to the engine.

    I concur. This looks suspicious to me (the fact that enemies do not retalliate). Maybe someone can confirm whether this happens in their EEs as well?
    JuliusBorisovMusignylolien
  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    This worked back in the original BG.
    http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/ar4200.htm
    Scroll down to the part about killing Drizzt.
    JuliusBorisovlolienCrevsDaak
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Well, as the next update will show, the drow more than retaliate to summons when Yahiko don't see them. Also, I don't remember such behavior in BG1EE and SoA (BG2EE). Maybe this is a thing specific in the EE to Fire Giants, Burning Men and others on those maps?
    MusignyBlackravenlolienCrevsDaak
  • MusignyMusigny Member Posts: 1,027
    The only way to tell is to look at their scripts (and cre files) and also use various summoned creatures to make sure this does not come from a particular feature on a creature.
    Moreover BG2ToB and BG2EE do not always behave similarly.
    JuliusBorisovBlackraven
  • sparrow13xsparrow13x Member Posts: 120
    If the Totemic Druid's summons are immune to petrification/charm/other disablers then I think it's actually a pretty solid class for soloing BG1. I just finished a solo Blackguard run and the game was a piece of cake for the most part - I could go toe to toe with anything and could disable multiple mages at once with a shortbow and poison weapon. The only enemies that gave me any trouble were ones that could Hold or Petrify me with basic attacks like Basilisks or Ghast-types.

    Really cool how this has played out though! I've always wanted to try one of the Druid kits but they're pretty weak in BG2 and the experience mountain they hit at 14 really sucks.
    Blackraven
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    I think that this thread shows that druids are from being weak in BG2. "Think about which spells to use for this or that encounter?" - Yes. But to call a druid "weak", in BG2 even with the SCS - firm No.

    As for the levels 14/15 "mountain", for a solo character it's not a big problem. Yahiko reached the defining level while dealing with beholders under the Temple, before going to the Spellhold.
    loliensemiticgoddessCrevsDaak
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,508
    Indeed, you showed that druids are capable of great things (never doubted you for a second) but you also had a head start in many bg1 encounters by going off the main questline to farm some levels.
    The question I have for that is whether the spirit is to overcome scs ai as a solo druid or to role play a solo druid. If the first, then certainly, if the second, then are you not too high level for the early game encounters and as such it should actually be doable in the first place? I mean, would you have expected any other outcome?

    (Nothing meant in a negative manner).
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    What is often considered one of the toughest battles in the game: done. Good job!
    BlackravenlolienJuliusBorisov
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Nimran said:

    What is often considered one of the toughest battles in the game: done.

    Well, several of the following dragons proved to be more difficult for Yahiko.

    The number of dragons in this area, because of the SCS, is too damn high!

    Inside the lair, the Greater Werewyvern and the pack of lizardmen were surprisingly tough. Only by using several princes and the Deva plus Energy Blades Yahiko overcame them. GWW of a lizard man is not what can be seen in IWDEE, of course (the last time I faced them).



    image

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    The following zone, full of lizardmen of what not, was ignored by Yahiko in both ways (in and out). Another dragon, Anadramatis, started a fight in order to test Yahiko so it could help him to beat Abazigal...

    Anadramatis's attack on Yahiko, even taking the Armour of Faith into account, was far deadlier than the one by Draconis. With one attack, nearly all HPs were taken. It meant Yahiko had to quiclkly recover all his HPs to the maximum.

    But the tactic was the same: while the dragon is busy with the Prince and the Deva, Yahiko and his Simulacrum attack with Energy Blades.



    image

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    A location with the fish folk followed. Here the spirit summons ruled. Although water elementals were big hitters, packs of spirit lions still managed to deal with them. Yahiko can summon 8 of them, and Simulacrum can summon 6. So, nearly three waves of spirit animals are available.



    image

    image



    With the SCS mod, Yahiko didn't get a rope in this dungeon and had to retreat to Amketran for it. After coming back, this is what he saw in the place where Draconis had been defeated:



    image



    A retreat ito the Pocket Plane mmediately followed, so that these two dragons could be dealt with one by one.
    NimranElrandirlolien
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    @bengoshi , Wow, that looks like it was intense! Congratulations on surviving. I guess if dragons attack you on sight and don't offer you any choice but to defend yourself or die, it has to be okay to kill them. I do wish there were more friendly dragons in BG, but it is what it is. I applaud your ingenuity in figuring out what to do without having to reload your game.

    By the way, if you actually finish this as a no-reload, I think you might have the honor to be the first person from these forums to ever do so. Is that correct, @Blackraven or @Alesia_BH ?
    BlackravenJuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
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