I hate this game.
![Kilivitz](https://forums.beamdog.com/applications/dashboard/design/images/banned.png)
- Don't you love this job planning encounters for a D&D videogame?
- I sure do!
- Well, here's my latest creation: DRAGON'S EYE! Sounds cool, eh?
- Sure does! It might be the most original dungeon name I have ever heard!
- Oh, stop it, you. Anyway, I've got some great ideas for this dungeon.
- Eh?
- Well, basically, it's going to be a series of straightfoward encounters with Lizard Men which are way too weak for a party at the level you're expected to be at this point of the game.
- Won't that be too easy?
- Well, yes, but don't worry. I'm going to alternate these encounters with more straightforward combat encounters with monsters that are way too HARD for a party of the same level. That ought to make everything more balanced, no?
- Can't see why it wouldn't!
- So anyway, here is where they run into trolls, right? Everybody loves those because there's an element of strategy.
- How so?
- Well, you see, trolls can't be killed only by brute force. They fall down for a few rounds during which only fire or acid can kill them.
- That's certainly an imaginative tactical challenge.
- But wait, you haven't heard the best part! At the end of this level I'm working on, I've got an encounter with a few Talonite priests and TEN trolls!
- *Ten* trolls?
- It's part of my new "be hardcore" policy.
- What level is the party supposed to be?
- Oh, like 6 or so.
- So this encounter is supposed to be a 6th level party against a whole group of clerics who have all sorts of disabling spells, accompanied by no less than ten monsters with low THAC0 and AC who have to be killed with a specific type of attack, lest they regenerate and attack you again?
- Yeah.
- You know, I think that might be too much. Most players are just going to end up kiting the monsters in small groups.
- Don't be silly. We've got this new call-for-help AI script. You can't do that. They all gang up on the party at once.
- I see.
- Told you I was totally hardcore, man.
- I sure do!
- Well, here's my latest creation: DRAGON'S EYE! Sounds cool, eh?
- Sure does! It might be the most original dungeon name I have ever heard!
- Oh, stop it, you. Anyway, I've got some great ideas for this dungeon.
- Eh?
- Well, basically, it's going to be a series of straightfoward encounters with Lizard Men which are way too weak for a party at the level you're expected to be at this point of the game.
- Won't that be too easy?
- Well, yes, but don't worry. I'm going to alternate these encounters with more straightforward combat encounters with monsters that are way too HARD for a party of the same level. That ought to make everything more balanced, no?
- Can't see why it wouldn't!
- So anyway, here is where they run into trolls, right? Everybody loves those because there's an element of strategy.
- How so?
- Well, you see, trolls can't be killed only by brute force. They fall down for a few rounds during which only fire or acid can kill them.
- That's certainly an imaginative tactical challenge.
- But wait, you haven't heard the best part! At the end of this level I'm working on, I've got an encounter with a few Talonite priests and TEN trolls!
- *Ten* trolls?
- It's part of my new "be hardcore" policy.
- What level is the party supposed to be?
- Oh, like 6 or so.
- So this encounter is supposed to be a 6th level party against a whole group of clerics who have all sorts of disabling spells, accompanied by no less than ten monsters with low THAC0 and AC who have to be killed with a specific type of attack, lest they regenerate and attack you again?
- Yeah.
- You know, I think that might be too much. Most players are just going to end up kiting the monsters in small groups.
- Don't be silly. We've got this new call-for-help AI script. You can't do that. They all gang up on the party at once.
- I see.
- Told you I was totally hardcore, man.
11
Comments
Also, beetles. F***ing beetles.
Instead of seeing it as challenge for tactics. Thank you.
I cannot remember where the battle takes place exactly but I can remember that there's ought to be a bottleneck.
Summons first, tanks front, archers back, blasters back.
Cast Web, Grease and Entangle (if it's outdoors, don't remember), then cast more of them and nuke them with fireballs and other AoE spells when they are trapped.
When I played it, it was on the original IWD with totally vanilla classes, no kits/dual/multiclasses.
And I had no problem with it.
I believe some battles in IWD are overly difficult. Yes, I understand that's a matter of opinion. It is my point of view, though, that in some parts the encounter design is too unforgiving of players who aren't tactical experts and/or optimizers. I think that's specially true of the dungeon in Trials of the Luremaster.
I recently had a terrible time with the battle in question (second level of Dragon's Eye). I did some googling and found it's a notorious cause of ragequitting among players. So I decided to vent my frustration by commenting upon the scenario in a humorous way.
No matter if you find the joke to be funny or not, it really shouldn't require explaining.
"Holy crap lookit all those trolls!"
"Spellcasters!"
"Fireball!"
"Fireball!"
"Fireball!"
"Fireball!"
"Fireball!"
Glad we had a sorceress and a cleric/mage along.
I'm playing Icewind Dale for the first time ever and it's EE version.
I'm in deep levels of dragons eye and I know on which part you met those priests.
What I did was to clear small area around a bridge the lure the whole room to that bridge and bottleneck them. on my front lines were "animate dead" and "summon monster I" creatures to hold them back until they cast all their nonsense wolololololo thingies.
while they were at it my priest casted "silence" on them and suddenly all casters went to dagger shiving mode.
until they finished that my bard casted haste and my sorcerer (DD kit) spammed a stack of 3 skull traps.
1 big nuke and then my team moved in to kick some arse.
when all trolls were down I used breath weapon of the Dragon Disciple to kill them all.
Also ranged weapon with enchantments are your friends. 3 archers can kill pretty much anything when focus fire.
playing on Core difficulty.
There are many battles like this in the game where you need to adjust your entire way of playing to compensate. comes to mind the skeleton mages in the vale of darkness.
Usually what I do against all those trolls is to kill some of them, retreat to the lizardman area when things are getting out of hand (the enemies in the troll area can't move to the lizardman area), rest, then go at it again, and now there are less trolls to fight.
Actually in the fight at the pyramid, the fireballs were aimed at the back of the enemy to kill the clerics. Downed trolls were taken out with acid and fire arrows or flaming blades.
It's heart-breaking to kill them for no reason... but dat loot!