That Fallen Deva from Irenicus' Prison is like Deva summoned by epic spell? If yes, then *how* can it be even beat? However I must admit - it's much more atmospheric and better story-wise to have Irenicus summon monstrosity like that to guard Bhaalspawn, and his surprise after Bhaalspawn's escape - more beliavable. I mean, he really think goblins would stop us?
That Fallen Deva from Irenicus' Prison is like Deva summoned by epic spell? If yes, then *how* can it be even beat? However I must admit - it's much more atmospheric and better story-wise to have Irenicus summon monstrosity like that to guard Bhaalspawn, and his surprise after Bhaalspawn's escape - more beliavable. I mean, he really think goblins would stop us?
It is summoned by one of Ilyich cronies, not Irenicus.
So far: absolutely and without any doubt, any time a monster can wipe out your party in one spell, that calls for reviewing the definition of entertainment. For me, it's the mind flayers for the past 3 days. In BGII EE, in the mind-flayer's lair in the area just south of the Master's brain, my entire party has been getting killed right after taking the brine, and having 5 Skeletons in the fight. I don't have a weak party (It's pretty much maxed out) and in cases such as these, let those who get a thrill achieving the impossible proceed with their fun, and make an invincibility potion available after 5 tries for everyone else.
The rune assassins in the lower level of Skinner's house in the Bridge district. It's one of those quests that can be initiated and done very early but which requires a bit of planning beforehand.
Beholders and Illithids etc I don't really mind. When I encounter them I'm always prepared for it.
I hate the druid grove bridge fight in SCS. Who thought that was a good idea?
8-9 Spore colonies churning out gas clouds layering and layering on top of each other.
My computer chokes on the gases. I'm afraid it's going to have a stroke.
Excessive gas effects can put a strain on older machines, that's definitely true. However that is the only difficulty to that fight, really. Send in one frontliner immune to confuse effects, and she'll eat all the myconid gaze attacks. Stick melee on the myconids, have ranged disable the spores - easy. Without LoB you can even kill most colonies before they get a chance to complete their summon.
So far: absolutely and without any doubt, any time a monster can wipe out your party in one spell, that calls for reviewing the definition of entertainment.
It's pretty much in the binary nature of D&D (particularly early versions) to present fights like that. Many scenarios become "saving throw or die", and I, too, very much dislike that sort of behavior. As an extension, you could argue that many fights also degenerate into "have immunity or die", which is also problematic to some degree because it emphasizes meta knowledge so much.
There's no perfect solution to that. If you want to proceed after failing too many times, there's a plethora of options available to you to skip content you don't like (e.g. using the console to kill monsters at will). There's also the less radical option of modding the game to be more to your liking. While that does not completely eliminate all binary effects, it can definitely help alleviate some of the frustration with particular aspects.
Draconis, especially when improved in SCS ... I never enjoyd that fight in any play through.
And generally speaking: almost every boss fight SCS has in late ToB - until reaching amkethran everything is a nice challenge for a veteran, but from there it's just frustrating to me, be it Sendai, special friend draconis, abazigal or the final battle ... it's like scaled up difficulty suddenly without the party ring able to follow.
The rune assassins in the lower level of Skinner's house in the Bridge district. It's one of those quests that can be initiated and done very early but which requires a bit of planning beforehand.
Beholders and Illithids etc I don't really mind. When I encounter them I'm always prepared for it.
I don't even bother fighting those rune assassins anymore. Too much aggravation for too little reward, especially given that I tend to do the rest of the skinner quest for easy xp for charname and then go gather a party together.
So far: absolutely and without any doubt, any time a monster can wipe out your party in one spell, that calls for reviewing the definition of entertainment.
It's pretty much in the binary nature of D&D (particularly early versions) to present fights like that. Many scenarios become "saving throw or die", and I, too, very much dislike that sort of behavior. As an extension, you could argue that many fights also degenerate into "have immunity or die", which is also problematic to some degree because it emphasizes meta knowledge so much.
There's no perfect solution to that. If you want to proceed after failing too many times, there's a plethora of options available to you to skip content you don't like (e.g. using the console to kill monsters at will). There's also the less radical option of modding the game to be more to your liking. While that does not completely eliminate all binary effects, it can definitely help alleviate some of the frustration with particular aspects.
I obtained BG II EE from GOG, and for windows 8.1 it does not have an ini file on which console commands can be iniitiated. I was referred to EEKeeper -- very good savegame editor, but cannot just beat mindflayer and move on. The character edits do not provide for even temporary invincibility. Am not adept enough to create my own mod. While I can agree that a modicum of binary D&D may enhance the game. Having to repeat the same fight 10-30 times in order to figure out some kind of strategy that will leave one member of the party surviving who can then resurrect the rest of the party is neither fun nor particularly entertaining. Even sending in repeated squads of 5 skeletons, and party drinking all the brine possible, using chaos commands, with artificially souped up characters still get wiped out within less than 5 seconds of fighting ... I suspect, the intent of the writers was not to enhance the game so much as to get players to use mods.
So far: absolutely and without any doubt, any time a monster can wipe out your party in one spell, that calls for reviewing the definition of entertainment.
It's pretty much in the binary nature of D&D (particularly early versions) to present fights like that. Many scenarios become "saving throw or die", and I, too, very much dislike that sort of behavior. As an extension, you could argue that many fights also degenerate into "have immunity or die", which is also problematic to some degree because it emphasizes meta knowledge so much.
There's no perfect solution to that. If you want to proceed after failing too many times, there's a plethora of options available to you to skip content you don't like (e.g. using the console to kill monsters at will). There's also the less radical option of modding the game to be more to your liking. While that does not completely eliminate all binary effects, it can definitely help alleviate some of the frustration with particular aspects.
I obtained BG II EE from GOG, and for windows 8.1 it does not have an ini file on which console commands can be iniitiated. I was referred to EEKeeper -- very good savegame editor, but cannot just beat mindflayer and move on. The character edits do not provide for even temporary invincibility. Am not adept enough to create my own mod. While I can agree that a modicum of binary D&D may enhance the game. Having to repeat the same fight 10-30 times in order to figure out some kind of strategy that will leave one member of the party surviving who can then resurrect the rest of the party is neither fun nor particularly entertaining. Even sending in repeated squads of 5 skeletons, and party drinking all the brine possible, using chaos commands, with artificially souped up characters still get wiped out within less than 5 seconds of fighting ... I suspect, the intent of the writers was not to enhance the game so much as to get players to use mods.
I am not sure what difficulty level you are playing, but I have never had those guys be that tough for me. Some death spells or cloudkills from wands to take out the umber hulks will allow your skeletons to survive much longer. Before I send in the skeletons I buff them with haste and bless.
I obtained BG II EE from GOG, and for windows 8.1 it does not have an ini file on which console commands can be iniitiated.
If you have the latest version, it's no longer a .ini file but a .lua file now. It was changed in the latest patch, but the functionality remains essentially the same. Also make sure to check the right directory, it won't be in your game directory on most installations, but rather somewhere in "My Documents" (or along those lines).
Ghast and Carrions crawler thing that Hold you... Trolls are annoying because you need to give them "extra" attention... I don't like fighting Fire Giants in ToB, they hit too hard...
-Anything that uses mind stuff. One hit and your party is gone. Illithids especially, with their Eat Brain instakills and dire charms. Beholders too. There's nothing you can do against their machine gun magic bukakke short of whacking them into pieces with high-level buffed up fighters before they can turn around, if you're lucky. They made me stop feeling cheap for sending one hasted skeleton commando after another into the Fog of War until the combat log stopped updating.
-Golems, especially hasted ones. They're simply mean, tough lumps of HP and magic resistance. All you can do is eat up their huge damage and hope they fall before you do.
-Anything that casts Imprisonment. Screw. You. Not fun.
I really hate fighting the illithids/Mind Flayers because each and every fight will require summoning and buffing up a tank. Especially in the Mind flayer "city" as the Githyanki calls it, there is a lot of encounters with them, the battle last like 1 minute and the buffing takes around 30-40 seconds. They are not hard, just extremely annoying at some times.
I agree with the majority of people on here in that, Beholders, Liches and Mind Flayers are really annoying. For me the Vampiric Mind Flayers are the worst though: Intelligence drain + Level Drain = a very dead party.
In BG I, the skeleton spawns in high hedge. Screw you, I'm on my way to buy some fireball scrolls so I can just take you out easily. Just run past you. What, now gnolls in front of me. Where's edwin? Damn it, nine daggers to the back from those f***ing skeletons? High hedge.
I really hate fighting the illithids/Mind Flayers because each and every fight will require summoning and buffing up a tank. Especially in the Mind flayer "city" as the Githyanki calls it, there is a lot of encounters with them, the battle last like 1 minute and the buffing takes around 30-40 seconds. They are not hard, just extremely annoying at some times.
In ToB, there's a really fantastic sword that makes you immune to Mind Flayers and all they can do. So I just give it to Sarevok, buff him up a bit, and send him in.
I really like SCS mindflayers and beholders. They're a fun challenge.
What I don't like is SCS/insane Loup Garou.
Still, though, the hardest fight is the bounty hunter at the Friendly Arm Inn on an SCS/Insane run. With Item Revisions, you at least get a poison resist robe if you kill the ogre first, but even with that to mitigate his Melf's Acid Arrow, a single magic missile cast will kill you if you aren't lucky. That was 6 reloads on my last playthrough.
Given a choice I prefer mind flayers over beholders any day of the week.
I can buff my characters to face mind flayers and defeat them with a bit of mirco-management but beholders are just annoying - nothing really works on them - I usually just haste, summons, cast glitter and hope for the best unless I am feeling creative and wanting to see what spell immunities and spell turning I can use and magically duel them.
Mind flayers are easier in comparison if you have time to plan; I usually send in 2 character to defeat them: get the lowest AC possible with buffs or changing equipment around temporarily; chaotic commands; haste + defensive buffs; canon fodder (hasted); INT potions at least (one for each) => rush to engage them, pay attention to INT drain and remove from battle if it gets bad ( around 6)
Clay golems are the most annoying monsters, with trolls and certain slimes close behind. Any party can defeat beholders, mind flayers, liches, dragons, and vampires by just becoming stronger and by using better tactics. Those annoying monsters on the other hand just refuse to die, if you don't have the right kind of weapons/spells/summons available.
Beholders can be fun enemies, as long as you avoid ambushes. They like to live in huge mazes, which are perfect for hunting. Give a ranger or a thief boots of speed and a good bow, and sneak around until you find a beholder. Fire a single arrow at the beholder, run away before it can react, and disappear in the shadows. Repeat until the beholder is dead.
Give a ranger or a thief boots of speed and a good bow, and sneak around until you find a beholder. Fire a single arrow at the beholder, run away before it can react, and disappear in the shadows. Repeat until the beholder is dead.
I recommend you try this with SCS' improved calls for help component
I recommend you try this with SCS' improved calls for help component
Combat is the worst part of BG2. It requires tedious micromanagement, the UI is not really suitable for controlling multiple characters, the characters often ignore commands and interfere with each other, and there is just way too much fighting. If SCS makes combat require more player attention, it just makes the game worse for me. On the other hand, it might be interesting with a mod that removes 90-95% of the battles and adjusts the XP awards accordingly.
I really hate fighting the illithids/Mind Flayers because each and every fight will require summoning and buffing up a tank. Especially in the Mind flayer "city" as the Githyanki calls it, there is a lot of encounters with them, the battle last like 1 minute and the buffing takes around 30-40 seconds. They are not hard, just extremely annoying at some times.
In ToB, there's a really fantastic sword that makes you immune to Mind Flayers and all they can do. So I just give it to Sarevok, buff him up a bit, and send him in.
Yes I know, but you can't have that sword before The Underdark, sadly.
Comments
However I must admit - it's much more atmospheric and better story-wise to have Irenicus summon monstrosity like that to guard Bhaalspawn, and his surprise after Bhaalspawn's escape - more beliavable. I mean, he really think goblins would stop us?
But I digress.
That may not have been the intent, but that's basically what it became.
8-9 Spore colonies churning out gas clouds layering and layering on top of each other.
My computer chokes on the gases. I'm afraid it's going to have a stroke.
Beholders and Illithids etc I don't really mind. When I encounter them I'm always prepared for it.
There's no perfect solution to that. If you want to proceed after failing too many times, there's a plethora of options available to you to skip content you don't like (e.g. using the console to kill monsters at will). There's also the less radical option of modding the game to be more to your liking. While that does not completely eliminate all binary effects, it can definitely help alleviate some of the frustration with particular aspects.
And generally speaking: almost every boss fight SCS has in late ToB - until reaching amkethran everything is a nice challenge for a veteran, but from there it's just frustrating to me, be it Sendai, special friend draconis, abazigal or the final battle ... it's like scaled up difficulty suddenly without the party ring able to follow.
Trolls are annoying because you need to give them "extra" attention...
I don't like fighting Fire Giants in ToB, they hit too hard...
-Golems, especially hasted ones. They're simply mean, tough lumps of HP and magic resistance. All you can do is eat up their huge damage and hope they fall before you do.
-Anything that casts Imprisonment. Screw. You. Not fun.
What I don't like is SCS/insane Loup Garou.
Still, though, the hardest fight is the bounty hunter at the Friendly Arm Inn on an SCS/Insane run. With Item Revisions, you at least get a poison resist robe if you kill the ogre first, but even with that to mitigate his Melf's Acid Arrow, a single magic missile cast will kill you if you aren't lucky. That was 6 reloads on my last playthrough.
I can buff my characters to face mind flayers and defeat them with a bit of mirco-management but beholders are just annoying - nothing really works on them - I usually just haste, summons, cast glitter and hope for the best unless I am feeling creative and wanting to see what spell immunities and spell turning I can use and magically duel them.
Mind flayers are easier in comparison if you have time to plan; I usually send in 2 character to defeat them: get the lowest AC possible with buffs or changing equipment around temporarily; chaotic commands; haste + defensive buffs; canon fodder (hasted); INT potions at least (one for each) => rush to engage them, pay attention to INT drain and remove from battle if it gets bad ( around 6)
Beholders can be fun enemies, as long as you avoid ambushes. They like to live in huge mazes, which are perfect for hunting. Give a ranger or a thief boots of speed and a good bow, and sneak around until you find a beholder. Fire a single arrow at the beholder, run away before it can react, and disappear in the shadows. Repeat until the beholder is dead.