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Request for future versions: Difficulty control


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#21 -Lord Garrod-

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Posted 19 August 2005 - 06:22 AM

Wait a little when you will receive more XP...


And again for the beginning : it is hard but really doable,  irenicus dunjeon is very well done: thanks horred !! : one of the part of BP that i have the most appreciate  :new_thumbs:

and  balanced i would say... : it is a jail of an ubber sorcerer and it is not ilych of tactic mods.

Sorry to say that... but do you know... : chromatic orb++, doom++, slow++, dispell magic +++, magic missile, great curse, chaos, arrow of fire, panic, horror etc...., invisibility potions or spell etc....

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Yeah it's doable, but the game pace has turned from alright to snail :P

I don't know what you mean by "chromatic orb++, doom++, slow++, dispell magic +++, magic missile, great curse, chaos, arrow of fire, panic, horror etc...., invisibility potions or spell etc...." but I have figured out how to kill most encounters.... just skulltrap x3 and let team missile the rest to death :rolleyes:

Still, WHERE IS THE FREAKIN' STONESKIN SPELL!!!???

Is it impossible for a sorcerer to get a hold of that über protection in BP? :huh:

Oh, and creds for the nice Duergar encounter in Irenicus Dungeon... it scared me shitless when the tiny dwarves became imposing Titans. :coolthumb:

#22 masteraleph

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Posted 19 August 2005 - 08:42 AM

I had no problem with dealing with the titan Duergar. I did think the bugbears were excessive though- for some reason, hasted bugbears just tended to shoot my party up before I could even get through the first set of them. Webbing them worked ok sometimes, but without stored up fireballs it becomes difficult for that particular tactic to work.

#23 Himself

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Posted 22 August 2005 - 07:54 AM

In unmodded BGII-SoA, did you ever lead a monster in a circle around your party, while the rest of the group beat it to smithereens? I did, it was the logical choice. And it worked every time, with any non-spellcasting creature. And it got boring really quick... ;)


No never done after seeing that it works, its cheesy, if I cant beat a battle, then I die trying or leave and come back later. But its really stupid that sometimes one of your group is dying and you just push him/her back and the enemy AI die trying to reach this party member, so its good that the AI got improved.


And again for the beginning : it is hard but really doable


Everything is doable, what matters is how far you want (or the modder force you) to get into playing cheap/cheesy and flaw the roleplaying logic.

I don't know what you mean by "chromatic orb++, doom++, slow++, dispell magic +++, magic missile, great curse, chaos, arrow of fire, panic, horror etc...., invisibility potions or spell etc...." but I have figured out how to kill most encounters.... just skulltrap x3 and let team missile the rest to death 


Oh it seems the AI needs some new improvement, no enemy group with a high inteligence, a mage in the party, or plenty of battle experience, will suicide in skull traps.

Again it makes no much difference for me as I [edit] dont pile it as a cheesy way to get around every hard encounter in the first stages.

What gets to the point of previous posts.. it all breaks down how you want to play the game.



Cheap players will always find the way around, be it luring enemies, closing doors, selling and stealing the same 2 handed sword over and over, sleeping everytime they cast a spell, or anything else you name.. but it seems modders have in mind these kind of players when they design an encounter.. cause

1 - some enemies buffer "insert x name/number of spells" in one impossible combo, unless they had some way to know you were coming in that exact moment, I dont think they should have anything beyond the normal protections. Do modders do that cause cheesy players also buffer "insert x name/numbers of spell here", before the encounter ?? so now everybody needs to be cheesy or have a headache ? wow this is so great for an EPIC RPG..

2 - my group is facing defeat, I try to retreat and theres a message you cant leave the area cause of this or that, it happened to me 2 or 3 times in all my games, well it doesnt bother me really, I just mention it to show that modders have in mind the cheesy player again, people who enter an area to face guys like that lich in the gates and keep enter and exiting the place so that the enemy run out os spells. I think it would be good to have a script wich gives the enemy (or goup of enemies) all his spells and full HP back and in some cases even raise dead if players leave the area without finishing the encounter. I dont like to retreat from a battle, later come back and the enemy is just in a bad shape as when I've left.

3 - you enter/walk into a place, and then its fricking harder than it was before, there are much more enemies, or the enemies are much tougher, or both options. You know whats that ? It's same thing as number 1 up there, they just changed the hyper buff for the number/toughness of enemies. I mean some battles are easy they needed improvement, but some places have became too frickin hard, and they dont even check for lvl/xp just trow the naughty horde all over you.


Well this could go on but theres no need, eveybody here played the game everybody know how it works. Everybody can choose how they want to play but... are we trying to devise a culture where cheesy players will start having headaches and normal players will just have to what then.. quit ?


I've yet to see, for my viewing pleasure, a recorded video of a starting group in BP irenicus dungeon, playing the difficulty bar at D&D rules, that can get out of there, without sleeping, and withount playing cheap, with less than "insert high number of" reloads.

Unless anybody can host that video, I aint taking any argument that favors the not needed difficulty in this area for example, cause I dont think any player playing it right can do it (without an insane lot of luck on their side).

Edited by Himself, 22 August 2005 - 08:42 AM.

...to be isn't important, we're no longer than we're :)

#24 -Lord Garrod-

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Posted 27 August 2005 - 04:22 AM

Good constructive critiscism there 'Himself', you spoke my mind too :clap:

Anyway, with all the reloads I have had to put up with I have finally made it to the Shadow Dragon (my first quest outside of Athkatla BTW).

My current party looks like this:

Keldorn - Paladin lvl 10 - +3 weapon
Anomen - Dual-Cleric/Fighter lvl 12/7 - +3 weapon
Kachiko - Dual-Mage/Kensai lvl 12/7 - +4/+3 weapons
Yoshimo - Bounty Hunter lvl 13 - +2 weapon
Jaheira - Multi-Fighter/Druid lvl 9/12 - +3 weapon
Jondalar (me) - Sorcerer lvl 12 - +2 weapon

Ok to my problem at hand; I can't hit the the damn dragon...

Yes it is as simple as that.

I lower his resistance, breach his protections, for naught :ermm:

He drains my party's levels and whips my ass along the floor and one by one the members die until eventually, none stands or my sorcerer lies dead.

And I can't even scratch the fiend.

I have the ward stone so I get to do the first set of actions against him but still I can't seem to hurt him. Any ideas?

P.S. I am sure this difficulty came with the mods as this dragons used to be the easiest of the lot.

#25 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 27 August 2005 - 06:23 AM

All dragons are usually immune to low level spells now. So don't bother with Magic Missle unless you did lower his resistance. I usually lose one NPC per dragon but this one is not the hardest. What other mods did you install? Something is making him harder than normal.

I usually use Prayer, Protect from Evil, potions of speed and Haste combined, and protect from Fear. Otherwise, just a few mage protections.

Are you getting any messages on the screen saying it is immune or resistant to your attacks?

Tired of Bhaal? Try some classics mods instead:
Classic Adventures
Official Classic Adventures Website


#26 -Guest-

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Posted 27 August 2005 - 07:07 AM

All dragons are usually immune to low level spells now.  So don't bother with Magic Missle unless you did lower his resistance.  I usually lose one NPC per dragon but this one is not the hardest.  What other mods did you install?  Something is making him harder than normal.

I usually use Prayer, Protect from Evil, potions of speed and Haste combined, and protect from Fear.  Otherwise, just a few mage protections.

Are you getting any messages on the screen saying it is immune or resistant to your attacks?

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Alright, well I use the following priest spells before combat: Chaotic Commands, Resist Fear, Armor of Faith, Protection from Evil, Chant and Bless + these mage spells: Armor, Blur, Mirror Image, Stoneskin and Haste (group).

But none of these are any good, just look what happens in the log, and that is the first action the dragon do after his speech.

Posted Image

I lose two fighters immediatly. Every time. :unsure:

When I hit him, I can score Critical Hit several times but no damage is presented neither in the log nor on the dragon (by using the tooltip) and no message saying 'Shadow Dragon is immune' or 'Weapon ineffective' is displayed either. My 'Melf's minute meteors' aren't any good either but perhaps these belong to the low level spell category you spoke of.

The mods i have installed are these: BP+SOS+TDD+TS+Ease-of-Use (only compatible components)

I am glad that you can spare time to help me because there is seemingly something wrong, not with the way I play but with the game itself.

#27 Delight

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Posted 27 August 2005 - 08:21 AM

Nothing is wrong with the game.
You just need to have protection from negative energy.
...

#28 -Lord Garrod-

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Posted 27 August 2005 - 01:21 PM

Nothing is wrong with the game.
You just need to have protection from negative energy.

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Don't be so sure about that friend :lol:

I tried your tip with negative energy protection and it works wonders. However, I still cannot damage the beast, no matter how many times I breach his protections. Note that I get critical hits against him often; but still no damage comes with them...

Ok I think I am goin mad :Tasty:

#29 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 27 August 2005 - 06:44 PM

Protection from Level Drain only helps stop your level reductions. It does nothing for the problem that the dragon is immune to hits.

I assume that you have the S&H patch installed? Seanas may need to look into this. There were some changes made to the different dragons several months back (almost a year ago now I think). Some didn't have the right protections (you could backstab one of them). It sounds like this one either has the wrong item equiped or a combination of items which make it so immune.

By the way, which version of the S&H patch do you have installed?

Tired of Bhaal? Try some classics mods instead:
Classic Adventures
Official Classic Adventures Website


#30 Himself

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Posted 27 August 2005 - 08:32 PM

Oh.. I've a nice story about that.. ehehe

First time I was to face that improved guy from ToB wich turns into a dragon, heck it was very hard, but after wiping out everyone else but him, I did hit him with my whole party for almost 20 minutes (keldorn and imoen permanently died in the proccess btw and I didnt have more spells.. potions, items charges, anything.. I trowed everything I had on him) then I pushed my main char back while the dragon killed the rest of my group...

I started to scroll up the box to count the damage.. "nobody can stand more than 20000 damage, is there some catch like yaga shura ?.." thats what I thought, then I tried to control + y him still he would not die :/

Then I did reload from a save before seeing him, control + y again and he became dragon, then control + y again and he died... then I did reload and made the battle again and he died after 1000 damage or something.. my first battle got bugged someway, that was the only time it happened, but it was fun somehow, its not everyday that you see someone who can take this high amount of damage :D (even thou its easy do give 1000 damage on tob)



Well but about your problem:

Try to change the dragon file by placing a new one in the override folder, its either dragshad.cre or shadra01.cre for Thaxll'ssiblablabla

Or you can try to open his .cre using an editor and change his script (dunno if the script would do that anyway) or any other value that could be making this.

Well someone may come along and solve it for you, but its always better when one can help oneself dont u agree :new_thumbs:

Edited by Himself, 27 August 2005 - 10:34 PM.

...to be isn't important, we're no longer than we're :)

#31 -Lord Garrod-

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Posted 28 August 2005 - 06:04 AM

Billy Bob, the readme says: BP_s_and_h_Patch version 7

Anyway I did something extremely cheesy yesterday, I killed the dragon....with my lightning wands :blush:

Well I guess it's not THAT cheesy given that I couldn't hurt him in any other way; but that did it for me. I had a collection of three wands in my backpack from other places on my journey and after the Shadow Dragon went down I had about a half wand left (counting charges). It took a while to fire all of them though so I guess I had some luck seeing as none of my party members died. The Shade Lord was MUCH easier and a pure relief to be fighting after that dragon... hehe

Anyway, I don't think I am the right person to be editing scripts or such things 'Himself'. I think more hurt than worth'll come out of that. :wall:

Oh! Just remembered another thing that I have been forgetting to tell you. When I first came to the Shadow Temple (Amaunator's old Temple) and turned that mirror around outside the entrance, something happened to Yoshimo :wacko:

It wasn't Yoshi that turned the mirror, I think I let Keldorn do that, but after this area he became slow, like under a permanent 'slow' spell. When I cast haste on him he becomes normal but not hasted :P He has been like this for the duration of the dungeon and still is (I am in umar village now). Have you got any ideas on this matter?

I have tried unequipping him everything but with no luck. Also, there is no icon on his portrait or in the character record that says he is slowed. One theory I have is that he was somehow hit by a shadow with a slow effect and that this shadow got killed when I reflected the mirror light upon it and that somehow that death made the effect permanent on Yoshi. Now I am not even sure a shadow has the ability to slow party members like that so don't take too much heed to my little theory :lol:

Any help would be welcome! (perhaps this question belong in another thread?)

#32 Himself

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Posted 28 August 2005 - 11:48 AM

No no never edit the script.. just tell it to use another script, try the script of another dragon for instance, u can always change back to the original in case it doesnt work.

TDD had an issue with that, chars would get cursed for days and not even restoration would work.. damn that was annoyng, I had almost perma blindness in some cases too, anyway try to go to a priest and have a greater restoration, u can also open the save with shadowkepper and remove the current effects on a party member.. but I dont remember how to do step by step.. greater restoration or a lot of time pressing the Z key normally work :)
...to be isn't important, we're no longer than we're :)

#33 Falkentyne

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Posted 14 September 2005 - 11:51 PM

Well,
Maybe I'm one of those noob few who have NOT played BG2 to completion. In fact, I finished BG1 a few years ago (I think back on 2001?), and I had started BG2 (never made it out of irenicus' dungeon), but my HD Crashed, so I lost all the saves, so I decided (on a new computer) to play and beat BG1+TOSC again, and then start BG2. (I think in 2003 or 2004). So I transferred my guy to BG2 and started playing in the starter dungeon again, and somewhere down the line--I don't remember how, I think while searching for some sort of guide to Icewind Dale or something (?), I stumbled on the Big Picture forums. Again I have no idea how I found (the old) forums, but it was definitely interesting.

Actually, I Think I stumbled on the big picture, when trying to search for "The Darkest Day" latest patch, and then trying to find out if I could play both SOS and TDD together, as I decided I wanted to only play through Bg2 once, and then I found out about TBP......

So here I am, playing BG2 through for the first time....and all I can say is.....WOW..are some of the fights in this game HARD. (i'm still in chapter 2, I think; I triggered the cutscene for chapter 3, but decided to go back and not decide which path I wanted yet). I have no idea what the fights were like (outside of the unmodded starter dungeon) without BP, but I am definitely enjoying myself.

sure, it seems -hard-, but that's exactly how I like my games. I want to work at my games, not blow through them in 20 hours with a party that was as invincible as your characters in Bard's Tale 1, which automatically repelled the spell of every monster in the game if your lead character was level 20 or higher.

I temporarily put BG2 on hold for a bit, while I go through icewind dale as I'm not sure if I want to wait for the final weidu of BP (which will probably make me have to start a new game again :( :(....which I wouldn't mind IF IT WEREN'T FOR THOSE DAMN SPECTROL TROLLS IN THE NATLIA KEEP OMG Klingon Pain sticks REJOICE!!!), or simply eventually play on with the current version of BP.

I already did a couple of my own spell edits; making the Prayer and Chant spells act like they -should- act, as well as the Paladin Protection from Evil lasting 8 hours (its supposed to be an innate ability, anyway), and they took a LONG time, as I had to often edit the spell effect tables for each "spell level" your character would attain (WEAK! if there were some sort of formula for spell effect progession, instead of separate tables, it would be easier....), but anyway, the modded game is awesome.

So, it's not just the people who beat the game unmodded previously who are playing BP! Some of us got lucky enough to get BP on a new install of Bg2+TOB! :)

And I'm sure glad I did!

Now I just have to decide if I should wait or not wait for the final Weidu, before resuming my game. Since I'm not that far in yet...hmm....

#34 delnaja

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Posted 15 September 2005 - 11:05 PM

Well,
Now I just have to decide if I should wait or not wait for the final Weidu, before resuming my game.  Since I'm not that far in yet...hmm....

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Don't wait, man.
Just get in and enjoy the fun! :D
If there are problems along the way, well, there are always solutions...

That's how I see it, anyway. :)

Edited by delnaja, 15 September 2005 - 11:06 PM.


#35 wellunhappy

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Posted 16 September 2005 - 05:33 AM

Firstly I wanna say that Lord Garrod/guest fighting the shadow dragon with an average 12th level party, is well err?suicide, okay you picked the easiest dragon to slay well done but hello?.Dragon and one that level drains, sorry but I think your still in pre BP mode. Get more levels or better level draining protection or Sime, she comes with a protection from level draining mace, neg,plane prot., spells and she kicks ass.

I quote the good Lord Garrod ?P.S. I am sure this difficulty came with the mods as this dragons used to be the easiest of the lot.?

That?s right back in the not so good days, dragons were hack and slash new pair of shoes and a belt before BP one of the many good things about BP is it turned them back into the feared monsters they should be. An encounter with a dragon is the stuff legends are made off.

Before BP I could bring down Thaxy with three cloudkills, without him even seeing my group, try it on an unmodded game it?s pathetic a mighty dragon coughing and spluttering and still having the stupidity to stay there, thank god for BP

Himself raised some good points especially about A1 especially when it comes to the more challengening encounters, I think it?s a bad idea to make encounters insane forcing players to cheat or power play or whatever but make the monsters smarter that gives a better fight. Smarter that?s the key don?t give a Dragon +5 or better to hit AC and vorpal claws, just make him smart enough to know what to do, to make it a very hard fight.


Anyway on to my point lich?s in my opinion didn?t evolve in the same way dragons did pre BP sure there A1 has been altered but there too easy?.yes really, I mean it, well apart from you know who and demi-liches ouch!!! When I was a child we did the p&p version of this game and we always ran away from lich?s, always. I mean they are technically top of the undead food chain. The first item I pick up after leaving the château/NEJ is daystar, spoiler below. BP lich?s are pathetic, I know the A1 is better but they are still weak, a lich is a mage of at least 18th Lvl with undead abilities. Every single lich is too susceptible to remove protections then charge. The female lich next door to the thieves guild, if you look at her in NI shes dangerous, but I?m usually wearing her cloak of balduran before she has chance to finish her little lich dance. Why cos she's stupid, thats why.

As promised and I?m sure everybody knows this one *** SPOILER***

The lich in gate district hidden behind wall in bar, first get yoshi or another thief to haste, dash in untrap/unlock chest grab his sword dash out, you gotta be quick don?t hang about. Drink up and leave bar, go back a few days later, charge him he goes down after 2 or 3 rounds, I think his A1 must faulty or he?s so traumatised that someone stole his sword from under his nose without being able to summon his demon friend, that he?s given up the right to undeath.