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Insane too easy? Or is it a bug?

HaranHaran Member Posts: 66
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
I'm doing watcher's keep and noticed that the fights were getting too easy so I bumped the difficulty to Insane but I don't notice a difference. I'm still getting very few enemies and I'm still wiping the floor with even the toughest of them (e.g. beholders and iron golems).

I read somewhere that in the north-east room in the 4th floor (final seal) there are supposed to be sword spiders, mutated spiders, and other spiders, but I only saw several small spiders that were dispatched without a single hit point lost. I thought I might have accidentally set the difficulty to easy, but no, it was still on insane.

Comments

  • TheArtisan TheArtisan Member Posts: 3,277
    In BG1/BG2, all Insane does is double enemy damage output, and there's also a seperate setting to disable that. Only SoD has encounters that scale with difficulty. In BG2, enemy encounters scale with character level. So if you're really high level you get things like liches spawning in undead areas.
  • RelSundanRelSundan Member Posts: 918
    You should try out SCS if you believe you are having a way too relaxed run.
  • HaranHaran Member Posts: 66
    What is SCS?
  • HaranHaran Member Posts: 66
    This is becoming absurd. I just finished all three "final seal" fights + killed demogorgon + killed the helmites. all without resting once.
  • xzar_montyxzar_monty Member Posts: 631
    @Haran: In a way, it is absurd, but then again, if you're an experienced player, you can genuinely do all that without resting. In my last two or three playthroughs, I've breezed through Balthazar + Ravager + all Melissans without resting and without having to worry about much of anything.

    Do install SCS, also known as Sword Coast Stratagems, and choose some of the more difficult options available. Then start a new game - and run for momma.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    Unfortunately, the default difficulty modes are fairly one-dimensional. All they do is increase damage, and little else. Even Legacy of Bhaal, the newly added difficulty mode, only increases enemy levels/hp. Such number tweaks alone are grossly insufficient for adding true challenge. Even in a game like IWD that is heavily combat-based, the higher numbers do not exactly make the difficulty more compelling.

    The only real solution right now are mods. The mod mentioned above, SCS (Sword Coast Stratagems), is for many people an indispensable component for any semblance of difficulty. For me personally, I consider it non-negotiable and absolutely essential to my BG experience. That mod will greatly enhance not (just) numbers, but first and foremost will alter enemy BEHAVIOR. It will give new scripts and spells to things, and will tweak a trove of gameplay aspects in ways that make things more challenging, but without letting the AI blatantly cheat all the time. I could not (and would not) play the game without SCS anymore.

    In addition to that, I personally also recommend two other mods: Spell Revisions and Item Revisions. Both increase difficulty somewhat, but largely serve as a rebalancing of some over-/underused aspects of the spell and the item systems. Overpowered spells/items (e.g. Improved Haste or Flail of Ages) are toned down, while underpowered ones are buffed, and many new spells/items are added as well.

    Those 3 mods combined with Legacy of Bhaal difficulty are for me the very foundation from which all my gameplay starts.
  • alceryesalceryes Member Posts: 380
    Artemius_I said:

    In BG1/BG2, all Insane does is double enemy damage output, and there's also a seperate setting to disable that. Only SoD has encounters that scale with difficulty. In BG2, enemy encounters scale with character level. So if you're really high level you get things like liches spawning in undead areas.

    I don't think this is entirely true. Maybe the difference isn't as pronounced.
    In BGI, on insane difficulty, I've fought different (more powerful) enemies than the usual, in some areas.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited October 2016
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
    Post edited by [Deleted User] on
  • RelSundanRelSundan Member Posts: 918
    I would recommend using only SCS to start with. I've been playing the game for almost 10 years, and even I can sometimes have problems with SCS. Use the readme to find out exactly what all components do. SCS includes a lot of optional addons, you decide exactly what you want to install and vice versa. Instead of just searching for SCS and download it that way, use the link in the OP of this read to download and install it.
  • unavailableunavailable Member Posts: 268
    SCS has some components that actually make the game a lot easier. For example, if enemies are given potions and you choose for them all to be lootable. I had 2/3s of them break, and it gave me a game where I had what seemed an unlimited supply of healing and invisibility by the time I'd done 2/3s of the city quests.

    My point is that SCS is something that you really need to read and understand well before using.
  • RelSundanRelSundan Member Posts: 918
    unavailable said:

    SCS has some components that actually make the game a lot easier. For example, if enemies are given potions and you choose for them all to be lootable. I had 2/3s of them break, and it gave me a game where I had what seemed an unlimited supply of healing and invisibility by the time I'd done 2/3s of the city quests.

    My point is that SCS is something that you really need to read and understand well before using.

    They are dropped by assassins that was added by SCS. Greater challenge, greater rewards. But I agree with you.
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