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Author Topic: Baldur's Gate: Hardcore  (Read 19707 times)
lamaros
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Reply #35 on: September 05, 2013, 04:47:13 PM

My playthrough is getting a little far ahead of the report, so here's a TLDR version of events.

*

The group checks all the camp tents. Not much is going on anywhere but they loot the random potions and gold and whatnot. In the main tent there is an elf that spills the beans: Tazok has a boss in the cloakwood mines, and they have bosses in the big city itself. This is backed up by some documents in a chest in the tent. The elf says cool, thanks for freeing me, I gotta run. Except he wasn't locked up and it all seems a bit odd, so Monty takes it on himself to kill him as he leaves.

J'ya allows it and Kivan goes crazy, calling it hypocrisy given what happened after he tried to kill Tazok. Imoen, of all people, tries to point out the differences to Kivan, but to no avail. Kivan sets an ultimatum, 'Montaron or Me', a very dumb thing to do as he has the backing of no one in the group. He storms off, taking all the loot he was holding with him. J'ya gets Monty to go and get it back from him, and Monty brings back everything. Thankfully Monty shows this to J'ya on the sly, so Imoen and Minsc don't get carried away by the implication.

Vale Kivan; you got what you wanted and probably deserved in the end, you unhinged machine of death.

A stop back in Beregost looking for supplies finds the group coming across a nasty little dwarf named Kagain. He is out looking for info about a caravan of his, which the group can easily provide. The answers not being exactly good (the kid who was traveling with it is dead, Kagain in trouble now!) he decides to join up. J'ya takes him on on the reasoning that a mercenary evil bastard will be more reliable than a crazy revenge focused Elf, and the rest of the group don't say boo about it.

Heading north from there the group clears through the cloakwood until they come across a spiders nest, which they decide to clear searching for a lost kid (motivating Minsc and Imoen) and some loot (J'ya and Monty). (Kagain just seems up for a fight, while Branwen has fallen pathetically for J'ya and does whatever he even suggests.)

This proves to be ill thought out. The spider nest has a queen of sorts, and a lot of webs, and the group is not prepared. At any one point half of them are caught up fighting their way past webs and are unable to fight, and the spiders take full advantage. Everyone is hurt and sore, and the initial blaze of damage the group puts out only serves to take out the queen and another spider, leaving the remaining to a drawn out battle of hit and pray. Ironically it is Kagain, newly joined but nonetheless equipped with the best the group has to offer, with his natural hardy constitution who falls. The rest struggle on and somehow manage to down the last spider before any more can be claimed by death.

This is a disappointment, furthered by the fact that the lost kid's corpse is found in the nest, and that the loot is not of a type that any in the group care to use. The two handed magic sword does remind J'ya of some previous travel companions though, and they head back to the FAI. There he puts it to Branwen bluntly that if she has lost her edge for a fight she should sit any adventures out. He gives her a bit of gold and tells her to rent a room and relax for a while, then finds out from the innkeeper what the word on Khalid and Jaheira is. They have gotten nowhere in their investigations without J'ya and are happy to rejoin when he finds and asks them, especially now that Khalid will have an appropriate weapon to use.

So prepared the group sets out again, tackling the remaining areas of the 'wood. Druids are dispensed with and Wyverns killed, before they finally come to the entrance to the mines proper, and the next stage of their investigation.

Monty's scouting does locate one final impediment before they might enter the mines: a group of dodgy looking adventurers, with two mages in the group. This doesn't look like good news, and the party has to prepare itself as best it can.

*

Kivan actually sets an ultimatum in game with Monty kills the elf, and does run off with his gear if you choose Monty. You can't actually get him again, but I cheated and reloaded so I could have Monty kill him and not lose all his stuff.

Kagain dying was really annoying. He had like 70+ hp and good AC, yet he is the one that dies? Boo...
« Last Edit: September 05, 2013, 04:59:29 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #36 on: September 05, 2013, 05:12:09 PM

Group info:

J'ya level 8. Short Swords +2/+1 still. AC 7 Bracers + RoP (using Mail of the Dead +2 when just fighting).
Minsc level 7. His LS and WH +2 still. Ankheg. Gauntlets of weapon expertise.
Imoen level 8. Short Bow +1. +2 Studded Leather still. Bracers of Archery.
Monty level 5/6. Longsword +2 still, returning dagger. Shadow Armor was purchased. Gauntlets of weapon expertise (killing Tazok was good for something).
Khalid level 5. Spider's Bane! Full Plate + RoP + Gauntlets of Dexterity.
Jaheira level 4/4. Excellent Scimitar still. Ankheg.

Dead:

Xzar level 1
Dynaheir level 2
Kivan level 7
Kagain level 6


Group has about 35k gold. Just nothing worth spending it on. I'm hopeful once they reach BG there are some decent shops.

Khalid and Jaheira are close to leveling - they already got one (?) each I think, but they have a lot of catching up to do. Monty is close-ish too.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2013, 06:40:54 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #37 on: September 08, 2013, 05:30:17 PM

The group of would be assassins are treated with caution, and by that I mean Monty backstabs a mage to death, uses an invisibility potion and retreats, and J'ya and Imoen throw down exploding potions and Fireballs. Then Minsc and Khalid run in buffed up on potions to cause a stir, while Monty lines up another backstab on one of the warriors. Soon it's just the one mage left, with the whole group pounding away on his robust defenses. Eventually the other mage does get his act together and charms Khalid, but everyone selective running away makes sure he doesn't get to do much damage. Victory is assured, greatly aided by the extreme violence the group is approaching dodgy looking strangers with. One day this will no doubt cause great trouble...

The loot is delicious, with a pair of boots of speed finding their way on to Minsc's feet for even more reckless slaughter potential.

Some other guards are about the area, but they either run or die as the party makes it way into the mines proper.
koro
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Reply #38 on: September 08, 2013, 05:52:31 PM

So I'm just going to continue playing minimum reload from here. With SCS it is just too hard without metaknowledge.
Really I would just uninstall SCS. It sounds fun on paper, but mages just ruin everything. It really is for people super into BG and would make a no reload run (as we've seen) a trail of tears. This has been a fun read, keep at it!

A bit late, but I always just run SCS with improved Mages and just don't let them "precast".

Mage precasting was designed to simulate how your player party, armed with reload knowledge, can just rest before each fight, load up and pre-buff with all the most optimal spells, and then just roll in. However, in practice, I don't think an awful lot of people actually play that way, mainly because it's really fucking tedious.

With proper AI and more sensible spell lists but no precasting, mages are always a threat, but outside of a couple doozies of some fights (Kahrk in BG1, Rayic Gethras early in BG2, etc.) where you simply don't have access to the proper tools to take down spell protections, they're not exactly unbeatable.

Now, the "improved spiders" portion of SCS for BG1 can go die in a goddamn fire.
lamaros
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Reply #39 on: September 08, 2013, 06:59:00 PM

Yeah I think I'll take pre-cast off for my next playthrough. I choose the limited pre-cast option, which I thought would just let them pre-cast if they teleported in, as per the readme,

Quote
Mages are allowed to cast spells instantly at the start of combat only when they are created near the PC (e.g. enemy mages teleporting in to ambush you). This is basically how Tactics handles this (though I think I keep to the rules more strictly than Tactics does). It's somewhat less challenging, but since even casters whom you catch off-guard have contingencies and sequencers to defend themselves with, mages can slam up defences pretty quickly.

But it doesn't actually seem to be working like that at all. It's a bit absurd at points and makes a few fights impossible/very hard without prior knowledge, which isn't really the point of a hardcore run. However it takes hours to do a SCS reinstall, so I'm going to just play this one through to the end of BG1 before I do that.

*

The mines proved little trouble for the group. Monty scouted conservatively, backed up by Imoen looking for traps. [If there was a mod that made it so detect traps was ALWAYS on I would do it in a heartbeat. It is pointless/laborious to have stealth and trap finding exclusive.] This made things pretty easy, as Monty would just backstab enemies, or lure them to the group if there were too many for him alone. There were some mages about on lower levels, but Monty killed them all and then ran for cover. The only tricky thing was the mage Hareishan and his very many guards, but the area damage of J'ya's skull trap and his wands did the trick. A slave leader and a Dwarf were found and released, party out of good intentions, and partly out of causing a disturbance in the levels above in case there were re-enforcements.

On the lowest level the group finally found Davaeorn. His presence was precipitated by a large number of traps, all of which Imoen disarmed. The group took this as a sign and used their spells and some potions to prepare for battle, and then Monty snuck forward and took a look at him. This somehow provoked a response from two battle horrors, who charged the group and were killed. Davaeorn himself then started throwing down powerful magics, cloudkills, teleport fields, and fireballs, and the group retreated to the corners. Eventually Dav realised that wasn't doing much, and he teleported into the group to attack personally. He was hit with everything very quickly, which stripped his defences faster than he must have anticipated and soon left him dead on the ground.

J'ya was delighted to find some handy bracers on his corpse, but the group had no use for his incredible robes. Exploring his quarters yielded many more treasures, mostly in the way of spells for J'ya to learn and gold, and a scared young man named Stephan who tried to talk his way out of being the Davaeorn's apprentice. This didn't go down well with anyone, and there was no way he was going to be left to run free back to his other masters and tell what had happened here, so Monty took care of him.

The group them went back up to the top level, flooded the mins with the dam key they'd found from Davaeorn, and gathered themselves for the trip to Baldur's Gate itself, to confront the machinations of the Iron Throne head on.
koro
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Reply #40 on: September 09, 2013, 03:07:15 AM

Believe me, by about a third of the way into BG2, mages can slap up enough protections through sequencers and contingencies that precasting just makes them take twice as long to kill.
lamaros
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Reply #41 on: September 09, 2013, 06:48:42 PM

Ah, Baldur's Gate. Finally the group is in the thick of it. And by the thick of it we mean 'killing lots of stupid people'.

Upon entering the town Imoen presented J'ya with a birthday present - a necklace she had made from the remains of one found on Gorion's body. A little strange that she'd been scavenging his corpse that thoroughly, but the construction did seem to have some residual magic in it, and J'ya accepted gratefully. Once they'd got their bearings proper the group made for the local shops to see what was on off. Not much, it turns out. J'ya went on a spending and reading spree with some magical scrolls, and Imoen picked up some arrows of dispelling, but otherwise there wasn't much on offer.

A more interesting exchange took place on the second level of the magic shop, where a group of Zhent mages challenged Monty about what had happened to Xzar. Monty made some bluntly flattering comments about the skill of J'ya relative to the deceased, and the Zhent seemed reasonably pleased. They promised to reward the group well if they took care of the Iron Throne issue, and then left the area. Vaguely promising.

A trip around the area more generally brought the group to the attention of a thief named Niklos, who had some work opportunities and paid up front for a hearing. This seemed worthwhile, as the thieves in the area would likely have some decent knowledge anyhow, so the group went to meet the leader in a nearby house. It turned out that the leaader didn't know much of anything and simply wanted the group to go stealing stuff for him. Why, J'ya pointed out, would they want to give half their take to Alatos for doing nothing if they could just do it themselves? Alatos wasn't pleased to hear this and immediately set his gang on the attack.

This proved interesting, but Monty wasn't in the mood to muck around and threw his sword into every spare back he could find, while Minsc and Khalid cut a swathe out of whatever was left. Imoen and Jaheira had to hide at points, with all the invisible thieves running about, but in the end everyone was alive and only a little breathless. J'ya managed to pilfer another magic tome in the area, increasing his agility to even greater heights - which seems a little unfair given that Monty and Minsc do the bulk of the work, but no one was complaining.

More wandering through the town revealed a whole bunch of people who wanted something for (almost) nothing, and they were largely ignored. When it matched with the group's own activities they did gain some credit here and there, but for a while the group poked about aimlessly.

This wasn't very productive, and so the group eventually decided to check in with the local authorities for a lead. The Flaming Fist had the group run a few menial tasks (relative to their ability - most guard would have been butchered) before the pattern of events seemed to clear up. It looked like a group of doppelgangers had infiltrated some of the local merchants for some reason (perhaps to ruin them), either in concert with or opposition to the Iron Throne. There seemed nothing for it but to assault their Headquarters for answers.

Before the group heading out to do that they did get caught up in a few minor distractions. First Monty got bailed up by a wizard of some sort who wanted them to steal a Nymph from another wizard, whom - word on the street held - had been keeping it as a slave for perverted ends. This other wizard seemed even less noble in his motives but Monty was keen anyhow. Distracted feuding wizards might prove easier to steal from, after all.

In the end the wizard's required not only stealing from but also killing. Monty had no qualms about that, so with Jaheira's righteous fury behind him (the wizard was indeed keeping the Nymph for such ends, and the other actually wished to dissect her) he laid a blade in the hearts of both. The Nymph went free and gave Monty a lock of her hair as a gift. Rather hilarious that, as Monty was loathe to give it up even when the magic shop offered to make it into a cloak. Some useful items were found on the wizard's bodies and in their houses too (including yet another tome for J'ya), so it was both a moral and mercantile success in the end.

The group also ran via the Water Queens house, hoping to receive their reward. When they asked for as much from Tenya she attacked without pause. She got as she deserved. Many other minor events also occurred, but only two are of enough import to relate.

Firstly J'ya missed out on a good time with two high girls on the party boat. Desreta had approached him talking in an extremely suggestive manner, but what he'd hoped were euphemisms turned rather literal when she tried to kill him. This provoked the expected response, and a bit of regret. At least they had a pair of magic gloves that Monty gleefully started wearing.

Then they got roped into the hunt for some items of Balduran by yet another crazy mage. This hunt actually proved successful, and surprisingly without violence. Having obtained the items the group saw no reason to return to the mage and kept the stuff themselves. Minsc loved the new cloak, while J'ya was now swathed with powerful magical items of all sorts now that the cloak was on his shoulders.

After all this the group finally made its way to the Iron Throne building and prepared itself for a fight.

*

Apologies if the above reads really poorly. I guess you can either write 50,000 words about the various quests and the like in BG itself, or try and cut it down. I've touched on the main points with regard to rewards or loot. I think I actually missed a lot of quests though, as I wanted to keep going with the main quest and a lot of the little ones weren't offering much in the way of reward to keep me motivated to do them.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2013, 06:50:57 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #42 on: September 09, 2013, 11:45:30 PM

TBH I'm rushing towards the end of the game because I've got restart fever: I want start a new play through (with SCS fixed up a little) with my little rogue's gallery squad:


Not sure how much is left to go with J'ya and Co., though! The city was actually a lot bigger with more to do than I anticipated. I would guess now that I'm in the last stages of the 'quests everywhere' game and running at the finale, though. At that point I'll probably end it and save TotSC for the next go.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2013, 11:53:06 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #43 on: September 10, 2013, 03:52:18 AM

Some party stats, for the curious:

Khalid has Spiders Bane and the Long Bow of Marksmanship. He has full plate mail, gauntlets of dex and a helm of charm protection. A cloak of protection, boot of avoidance and golden girdle round him out. He is level 6 and has 53 hp, grandmasters in two handed swords, he has 8% of the party kills and 7% of the experience value.

Minsc has full plate mail, gauntlets of weapon expertise, helm of balduran, algernon's cloak, boots of speed, and girdle of bluntness. He has the war hammer +2 in his offhand. He is level 7 and has 68 hp. His percentage of total kills in party is 51% and 59% experience value.

Monty has Long Sword +2, Boomerang Dagger, Shadow Armor, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Helm of Glory, Cloak of Non-Detection, Boots of Stealth. He has 14% of the total experience value and kills.

J'ya has short sword +2 and +1, bracers of ac 6, flickering white ioun stone, Gorion's Amulet, ring of protection +2, ring of free action, cloak of balduran, boots of the north, and girdle of piercing. He is level 9 and has 70 hp. He has 10% of the kills and %7 of the experience value.

Janeira has ankheg of plate mail, gauntlets of weapon expertise, a helmet, an excellent scimitar, ring of energy, ring of holiness, cloak of the wolf, and large shield +1, +4 vs missiles. She is level 5/6 and has 48 hp. She has 2% of the experience value and 3% of the total kills.

Imoen is wearing studded leather +2, bracers of archery, eagle bow, nymph cloak, boots of grounding. She is level 8 and has 42 health. She has 8% of the experience value and 12% of the total kills.

Oops!! I hadn't checked those in a while. Minsc kind of has done everything, hey? Kivan had a fair whack of the damage before he died, but still!
« Last Edit: September 10, 2013, 06:40:58 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #44 on: September 10, 2013, 07:00:53 PM

The party did journey to candlekeep. They then killed some dopplegangers and the leaders of the iron throne (WHY NOT?) who were messing with J'ya's hood. Then they got stitched up for it as a 'crime'. Monty thought it pretty hilarious, given how many people he has killed merely for the clothes on their back, to get done for this. Imoen started going on about how unfair it was, and that the group was 'framed', before J'ya reminded her she was carrying around items of the dead leaders on her very person.

It did seem like the fix was actually in, though, so the group took the offer of escape instead of a slow march to the hangman's noose. They bustled through the keep catacombs and fought their way out, it gradually becoming clear that Sarevok was playing a lone hand and grabbing for power in the city all for himself. Once free the group took a quick stop at the High Hedge to unload some extra loot, and buy Imoen her very first Robe of the Arch-Mage. (She had achieved some sort of epiphany in the dungeon and was now embarking upon a new career as a mage. The group was ok with this. As Monty so delicately put it, it wasn't likely to make her any less useful, so sure, why not.)

After that the group went straight to the Flaming Fist compound in the city, hoping to meet up with Scar and get the lowdown on who had to be killed to set things to right. Unfortunately Scar had been killed, and they just got thrown straight into prison - after the new guy in charge, Angelo, straight up killed Monty.

So there the group is, sitting in jail with no idea on earth what to do now, when this little halfling comes up and starts bragging about how many children he's killed. J'ya snaps and cuts his head off. I think J'ya was very fond of Monty in the end.

Then the group waits. And waits. And...

I don't think there's a way out of this.

The end.

*

But seriously. I think that bugs the game out. I don't know for sure. It was late and I was tired so I just stopped. But I think you're not meant to kill Neb as reading since has indicated he's the ticket to escape.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2013, 07:03:17 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #45 on: September 12, 2013, 05:07:56 PM

Ok, so I rolled the save back to account for the game ending entropy that the group was facing.

Instead I had Monty sneak in, steal the Duke's body and take him to the harbourmaster. That didn't do much for the group, so they took to the sewers to find a way over to the Undercellars. There they found two assassins waiting for them, a rather sappy couple at that. The woman seemed to be waiting around invisible, which was annoying as no one likes starting a battle without a blade in the back of any mage, but Monty made do with putting a hole in the chap instead. He died very swiftly, and then the group played a game of 'hide while the mage's protections run out'. Minsc actually got involved in a bit of 'drink a magic protecting potion and chase her about' for a while too. In the end she ran out of spells, and was swiftly dispatched.

Their corpses had notes about assassinations being arranged at the palace and invitations to get there and get in on the action. It looked like it was finale time, so the group took to the sewers again, trying to find a back way in. Soon they thought they had done so, only to find that it was infact the cellar to the Iron Throne building. So they sacked the place. On the top floor some crazy concubine of Sarevok was bumbling around working herself up into a state about his feelings for her. She died also - on her body was a copy of Sarevok's journal, which provided very little coherent information. The gist seems to be that Sarevok was the adopted child of one of the Iron Throne guys, and his overall scheme was to get lots of people killed one way or another.

They couldn't work out why he went out of his way to try and kill J'ya, only then to abandon this at the first attempt and send a large number of incompetent mercenaries in his place... but no matter. He was going to be a duke soon, and was going to assassinate the others dukes so that he had all the power.

So the group left the Iron Throne building and rushed the palace, thinking that at worst they could fight their way in. Somehow the guards at the palace hadn't got the same memo that the rest of the city had though, and just let them enter with the invitation. The timing proved perfect as they go there jsut in time to expose Sarevok and stop him killing the other city leaders. Then Sarevok did a runner by the aid of a mage friend of his who appeared out of nowhere.

Say nothing else about Sarevok, he knows how to gather himself a lot of followers. Just when it seems like they're all dead another couple pop up from nowhere.

So the group chased him down. Through some maze beneath the thieves guild, into this place called the 'undercity', some massive underground cavern with the ruins of a previous civilization and a massive temple to Bhaal. The group charged straight at it, only to get jumped by a group of mercenaries in the hire of the Iron Throne, here to try and kill Sarevok for betraying the company.

This seemed quite handy, but when J'ya suggested they team up to get the job done he was rebuffed. They looked like they were spoiling for a fight and the prospect of being doubly rewarded. Monty made the attempt of convincing them to take their run at Sarevok first, and come back for the group later, but they weren't having any of it. So instead they died on the street. Foolishness. 'What part of "I'm invisible and have a poisoned dagger don't ye UNDERSTAND?"', as Monty put it.

Then the group ran into a girl called Tomoko, whom they'd seen about but never talked to before. She was similary crazy in regard to her feelings to Sarevok as the one in the Iron Throne building, though more fatalistic than delusional. What's a single cleric going to do against a full group of battle hardened adventurers? Die.

Finally it was clear to the doors of the temple, and, presumably, the final confrontation with Sarevok.
lamaros
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Reply #46 on: September 12, 2013, 05:44:53 PM

It's interesting playing the game now, for the first time, and then writing bits up (poorly and lazily). I never read WUA's thread before - the juvenile stuff bored me - but reading it now after I'm done I notice how similar many of his game related observations are. I've just noticed that he wrote pretty much exactly the same thing about letting the Iron Throne mercs take their shot at Sarevok before the party. I guess it shouldn't be so surprising, though...

I also don't think BG1 is anywhere near as good as BG2, though I prefer it to PS:T (sue me). Its simplicity does have some appeal, but the story and other narrative elements are far worse.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2013, 05:46:43 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #47 on: September 12, 2013, 11:37:27 PM

Andddddd, ok.

*

Inside the temple there wasn't anyone in sight. Sarevok didn't jump out swinging a sword, there were no traps that set Monty hopping about. Just a lot of temple decorations in a large square room. So Monty did the usual trick of sneaking forward and taking a peek. He spotted Sarevok, sitting on the dais with a friend or two... one of whom was Tazok. What the heck? J'ya went into a silent apocalyptic rage at the news, promising to hunt down Kivan in the afterlife and kill him again for being a useless nutjob.

Oh well, what are you going to do? Monty went sneaking forward again. Sarevok must have sensed him, because he starts shouting into the empty room about how the group was no match for him and yadda yadda. So Monty gets the wise idea of yelling back at him, invisible as he is, about how Sarevok was acting like a scared little child and why was he hiding on the dais if he was such a great terror. He rolled in some comments about how he promised he hadn't put any nasty traps in the room and if Sarevok could just run forward into a bit of fair and normal combat it would be just fine by everyone and the only honourable thing to do.

Which of course didn't get Sarevok moving one inch.

*

J'ya: What the heck was that about?
Monty: It gives us a bit of space down here, y'see. He's not going to come running now, so we have a bit of time to prepare.
J'ya: And?
Monty: Well, you read his journal, right? The man is an insane idiot. And a craven bastard: all talk, always running away.
J'ya: So we do what, wait him out?
Monty: Kill his friends first - the man wont lift a finger to save them unless he himself is in danger.
Jaheira: And you know this, how?
Monty: I have a certain... insight... into his kind of thinking.
J'ya: So we shoot his friends from a distance?
Monty: Spells. It keeps up the fear if it's magic hurtling at them from the darkness.

*

So that's what the group did. J'ya and Imoen hurled several wands worth of fireballs at the dias from the shadows at Sarevok and his lackeys, slowly whittling them down. Sarevok himself seemed to be immune, so he just stood there shouting at them to hold still and not to jump at shadows while they gradually burnt to a crisp. When they did die he simply raised them at skeletons.

Unfortunately skeletons aren't as smart as humans, or as loyal, and when the fireballs started falling on them they stumbled out from the dais into the darkness. Minsc and Khalid's waiting swords made a swift death for them, and the sound of them falling must only have put the fear up Sarevok even more.

It certainly made Angelo snap, and he ran forward at the group, a spell on his tongue. This was not exactly according to plan, and everyone had to quickly jump to. He did get a spell off at Jaheira, causing her to stumble around chaotically, and was gearing to cast more spells when J'ya got in a successful remove magic on him. With the gate open Imoen drove in a series of magic missiles, and Minsc followed with his weapons. Kahlid had fallen from self-control in the confusion and was running after J'ya trying to hit him, but J'ya just put an offensive spin on and ran away.

Once Angelo (and his risen skeleton) was down Monty went sneaking forward again. He found that Sarevok only had one of his supporters left, whom seemed to be surrounded in an anti-magic globe. Daggers of venom are not magic enough to be stopped, though, and a series of stabbings - aided by Monty's store of invisibility potions - soon saw him leave this world. At this point however Sarevok finally recognized his personal danger, and charged off the dais at the group.

Khalid and Minsc charged back, while Imoen depleted herself of the rest of her magic missiles. Jaheira was using her wand of the heavens, when she was not running around trying to distract the skeleton that had just risen, while J'ya uselessly tried to paralyze Sarevok with careful wand aiming.

Sarevok was hitting like a truck, however, and Minsc and Khalid were getting battered. All their health potions were soon used up, and Sarevok still clung to life. In a fit of desperation they both stood there, all three near death standing toe to toe, while Imoen was forced to throw her dagger, and Jaheira sorted her pack pointlessly.

Then Minsc, who had carried the group through a score of fights, often single-handedly destroying the group's enemies, went down under a huge blow from Sarevok's sword. Or, more accurately, he exploded in a shower of bodyparts. Seconds later Sarevok himself fell under Kahlid's own powerful blow, and it was all over. (Apart from the skeleton, whom J'ya finished off with a whirl of blades.)

*

Needless to say, I cheesed the fight against Sarevok big time. SCS makes it HARD (Sarevok cannot be damaged unless you kill the other 4 first - each of whom rises as a skeleton, two of whom are mages with precast PfMW and everything else under the sun) and with the group there was no other real option. I tried a lot of different ways but they all wiped the group. (I first fought Sarevok at 12:30am, and got to bed just before 3am.) Sadly there wasn't much else I coudl do with my under powered party. Minsc and Khalid were handy, but only when it was a melee fight. And Sarevok smashed them with damage and I didn't have enough Health Potions. The Mages simply weren't dispellable outside of hope for the best remove magic. Jaheira was useless, being only level 7 in druid and worse in fighter. Imoen was only level 5 in mage. Monty would have fallen apart like cheese if he was ever visible.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2013, 11:41:50 PM by lamaros »
lamaros
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Reply #48 on: September 13, 2013, 01:27:26 AM

So the Zhentarim mages said there would be a reward if Sarevok was killed. This reward, or them, cannot be found, either in game or via google. Damn tease.
satael
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Reply #49 on: September 13, 2013, 01:29:53 AM

Losing Minsc must be pretty tough ACK!
lamaros
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Reply #50 on: September 13, 2013, 01:50:16 AM

Yeah. Though now Khalid has grandmastery he's a bit of a boss with the two handed sword. Jaheira is still useless though.

Of course I just have a bit of TotSC stuff to do, and then I think Minsc may magically return to life for BG2.
Jeff Kelly
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Reply #51 on: September 13, 2013, 04:14:07 AM

So if I want the most complete BG experience but not necessarily the 'fuck this is getting hard' bits what mods do you recommend?
lamaros
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Reply #52 on: September 13, 2013, 04:30:07 AM

So if I want the most complete BG experience but not necessarily the 'fuck this is getting hard' bits what mods do you recommend?

I'd put in BGT, the fixpack, widescreen, some of the tweak pack, maybe unfinished business 1&2, and if you're keen Sword coast stratagems without all the tactical changes and just the basic AI upgrades. Maybe not smarter mages (no precasting at the least).
« Last Edit: September 13, 2013, 04:35:53 AM by lamaros »
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Reply #53 on: September 16, 2013, 06:16:43 PM

Also the BG1 NPC Project does add some fun stuff in. I'd just skip all the romance crap.
lamaros
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Reply #54 on: September 16, 2013, 11:01:34 PM

Also: This thread is done. I'm replaying BG1 now with another group, and it's more likely that I take them on to BG2 than this one.

« Last Edit: September 16, 2013, 11:22:33 PM by lamaros »
Strazos
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Reply #55 on: September 17, 2013, 11:47:50 AM

So what are you going to do about healing?

Fear the Backstab!
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lamaros
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Reply #56 on: September 17, 2013, 02:25:14 PM

Potions and resting. Resting often takes days.
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