16402 réponses à ce sujet

[Gate70]

Previously Xan was killed fighting gnolls when one switched target.

Rasaad required a temple visit to remove a cursed girdle. On the way we stopped off to deal with Zal and Vax.


Unfortunately for Rasaad a winter wolf decided to help Zal and Vax, killing the monk with one frozen howl. Once the enemies were cleared up we chose the slightly more expensive raise dead option instead of remove curse.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Good luck (and bugs free) with your new run, Gate!

[Gate70]

So far Serg I've not seen any bugs, have seen a few reported by other people but my main issues with the enhanced edition have been resolved by the beta. Still got 2-3 related issues around movies, cutscenes and dialogue but Beamdog have been very pro-active with those on Tuesday (suspect they were snowed under yesterday or need time to investigate after the first 3 suggestions didn't help).

[Gate70]

Xan finds out the hard way that enhanced basilisks can change target. Even his moonblade stops flickering ... but remains blue.


We use the scroll of PfP on him, hopefully there will be no other petrified adventurers nearby...

[The Potty 1]

Actually I think I could give up no-reloading any time I liked

Just lost Gul-dreng na whatsisname to a bouncing lightning bolt of all things. The ghost on the top floor of Durlag's tower. Grumble.

So, due to all the maligning of the cleric/thief class, I thought I'd give it a try. Enter Raphaelle, using the same stat roll method as I described earlier.



Now I see Alesia's doing the same I'll probably not post anything until Raph either dies or beats the bandit camp.

[Gate70]

Good luck.

After a shop and a rest Xan casts armour then adds PfP for Roliahv, Rasaad and himself. The basilisks fall quickly then Tamah is freed at the cost of her house and a loss in reputation.

A hostile Korax is encountered next to a vaguely familiar statue (Ajantis was petrified much earlier to produce a savegame, likewise Xzar was dead and Montaron dumped at some stage). Korax is laid to rest then a group of gnolls kindly do the same to Xan. The temple want 600gp to raise him this time.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Good luck, Potty!

Gate wrote...
So far Serg I've not seen any bugs, have seen a few reported by other people but my main issues with the enhanced edition have been resolved by the beta. Still got 2-3 related issues around movies, cutscenes and dialogue but Beamdog have been very pro-active with those on Tuesday (suspect they were snowed under yesterday or need time to investigate after the first 3 suggestions didn't help).

Good! I'll wait for the final 1.2 patch then and give it a try.

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 03 octobre 2013 - 10:26 .

[Aasim]

All the best, Gate70 & Potty 1. May all basilisk attacks be futile.

Modifié par Aasim, 03 octobre 2013 - 01:13 .

[Gate70]

Silke is unable to cast a spell and dies before she gets a second chance. We decide to head north only to run into an ankheg colony. Roliahv manages to kill off two of the brutes but a temple retreat is in order.

"Normally" said Keldath "I'd give you a discount for bulk, but in this case it's a heck of a job sorting out which bits belong to who so 1000gp for the pair."

After they are raised Rasaad wonders where the ankheg went while Xan has lost the bulk of his spells.

Roliahv is hobbling back through Beregost, encumbered by two ankheg shells (Rasaad has a third after a second short visit before realising we could carry no more). Everybody else wants to explore the town and splits up to check out each street (removing the fog) as Roliahv crawls towards the smithy. A call for help (Neera) brings them back together as a wild mage is cornered by Thayvian reds.

Their leader departs, although in the confusion this might have been a spell surge sending him away. A second red wizard is no match for our weapons and the two Thayvian guards are quickly pulped. Neera seems harmless enough so we ask her to stay around for her own safety (no doubt not ours). It is quickly decided that Xan has rubbish level 1 spells so he hands her the ring of wizardry.

Roliahv, blackguard 4. 74 kills, greater basilisk.
Rasaad, monk 4. 16 kills, lesser basilisk.
Viconia, cleric 5. 14 kills, Tranzig.
Xan, enchanter 4. 15 kills, greater basilisk.
Imoen, thief 5. 37 kills, lesser basilisk.
Neera, wild mage 4. 0 kills.

[Alesia_BH]

The Potty 1 wrote...
Now I see Alesia's doing the same.

Correction: Alesia is considering doing the same. I'm still dithering truth be told. The options are:

1) Barbarian: Abbie, Halfling 

2) C/T: Alai, Gnome or Amelie, Half-Orc (as mentioned earlier) 

3) Thief: Alora, Halfling (Yes: that Alora. I started a run with her awhile ago, but abandoned it. I'd like to try it again.) 

4) Assassin: Alo, Human

5) Something else

If anyone has a preference, let me know.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 03 octobre 2013 - 04:32 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Alesia: we haven't a Barbarian and a pure Thief from your list in a Hall of Heroes yet. Personally, I vote for Alora (hey there hi there...) =)

[corey_russell]

@Alesia: Unkitted thief is my vote as well - the C/T would be my 2nd place vote.

[Gate70]

It worries me that you're asking, will any of these 5 hold your interest at this time...

I stick a party run in when I get to that point although perhaps a duo with Imoen or dualled Shar Teel would suit you better.

If I'm wrong...monk (theory being you'll hate it and might decide what else to do).

[Aasim]

@Alesia
Totemic Druid, or an Asassin.

[Alesia_BH]

Gate70 wrote...

It worries me that you're asking, will any of these 5 hold your interest at this time...

Yeah. I'm not feeling super-inspired right now. I can see myself getting into a run though.

I stick a party run in when I get to that point although perhaps a duo with Imoen or dualled Shar Teel would suit you better.

Duoing Alesia with Imoen is always tempting.

If I'm wrong...monk (theory being you'll hate it and might decide what else to do).

The problem I have with playing a monk is that it's a lot harder than people realize. Monks have a reputation for being powerful in ToB, but I don't envy anyone fielding a Reflection Shield-less warrior against those fallen solars that appear alongside Jon-Jon- not to mention Illasera in The Five phase. I wouldn't expect a monk run to end well.

Aasim wrote...
@Alesia
Totemic Druid, or an Asassin.

Noted. I'd like to run a single class druid. The issue is whether I can come up with a way to take out two fallen solars before Physical Mirror expires. 

I'm leaning towards Alora- though I'm also coming back around to the idea or running a halfling barbarian. (The only problem I have with current barbarian is her name. Abbie was my cleric Abigail's nickname. For some reason that's bothering me. Something as simple as re-badging her to Avi might get me interested again.) 

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 03 octobre 2013 - 09:29 .

[Gate70]

BG:EE Beta: Roliahv, Blackguard. Travelling with Rasaad, Viconia, Xan, Imoen and Neera

After a slight detour checking some boots for Zhurlong (the beta appears to have broken this, confirmed another report of it) the party reach Ulgoth's Beard. Neera decides to talk about wild magic and mentions rumours of an older wild mage east of Firewine bridge.

We can see his enclave but cannot reach it so travel south south-west and straight into the amazons. They have the jump on us (Zeela is casting as we talk, that's our perogative). Roliahv and Rasaad try to melee the casters with Imoen using arrows to disrupt but Xan blinds them all with glitterdust as Viconia drops a silence in. Telka lasts longest, using her panic to stay alive as her companions are bashed apart. She recovers just in time for us to catch up and kill her too.

The enclave is just to the north. Nothing too dangerous until we are trapped in with Adoy and the returning Thayvian wizards. Two wild mages in an enclosed space feels like fun, but at least Xan has landed a sleep on an ogre berserker (forgot to berserk today??). Viconia silences both mages so Imoen starts shooting the sleeping ogre as the rest of us focus on the Thayvian guards. Every so often they chase after Neera, Xan or Viconia.

(not sure about this, they either script after casters or switch if you attack the mages. Something to work on)

Eventually Xan pushes his luck too far and a guard kills him. We press on and complete the task, allowing Adoy to vanish. Maybe we'll see him later, maybe he's popped out of existence (am I slow on the uptake).

(edit: That "water" looks rank, and the transparent text box is going to limit my previous copy/paste screenshots)

We pick everything up and depart, returning only to bury a ranger (not immediately obvious to me). Then to a temple, raise Xan, rest 3 times to heal up and sell the junk.

Hmm, no moonblade (sigh, thought I picked everything up so not sure if that was bugged but more likely to be me not paying attention). Back to the enclave, it's gone. Xan whimpers, with his USP gone it won't be long before Roliahv boots him out.

Modifié par Gate70, 03 octobre 2013 - 10:52 .

[The Potty 1]

Raph is feeling pretty good actually. Mainly because her extreme uselessness is forcing me to carefully consider every encounter before committing. I got a sense of this in the ogre belt area, there are two cannon fodder types in view of the ring rock, so she one-shotted the first, and then ineffectually swung at the other for about a minute. The damn thing landed two crits, for a total damage of 3.

So, with 2 kills under her belt, she stealthed, and headed to Naskell. Violence-free XP was earned from Marl, the agoraphobic mage, and Noober. I stealthed into the inn, and rested, thus gaining the first cure bhaal power, and memorising my first spells (bless, sanctuary & cure light).

I considered Neira, and tried to set a trap, which failed. However I decided I have a door of ultimate cheesiness to aid me, so backstabbed her to near death without her getting a spell off, then wore the ankheg plate and traded blows for about 5 minutes. Neira landed one hit, so I used my bhaal heal, finally Raph got a hit, and later, a second.

Three kills, and levels 2/2, (18hp). This calls for a trip to get some sneaky boots, and a ring of I don't care if you're a ghast, have at you. Although I probably need to buy the +3 staff while I'm up there, and I really don't have the cash. D'oh, but I will after I identify the wizard ring.

Out of interest, can cleric/thieves backstab with clubs? This really only matters for BG2 I suppose.

[Aasim]

The Potty 1 wrote...
Out of interest, can cleric/thieves backstab with clubs? This really only matters for BG2 I suppose.

Yes, they can.

[Gate70]

Roliahv is true to his word, stripping Xan of anything of value before dumping him at the Beregost Smithy before looking for more trouble. Neera starts a "sure of herself" dialogue and Roliahv can't help himself.

Roliahv choice "That's fantastic. Now make me a sandwich".
Neera "And already I have tired of your voice". (starting her sentence with a conjunction eh)

Anyway, we're here for the Thayvian Reds deads.


Neera has 4 spare robes, should help with the inevitable accidents.

Modifié par Gate70, 04 octobre 2013 - 05:09 .

[Alesia_BH]

Ok. Time to try something genuinely difficult.


After many hours of pointless internal debate, I ultimately decided to go with Gate70's suggestion and try a monk. This should be easy right? I mean, BG1 will be awkward, but monks are powerhouses in BG2. Once the EXP starts piling up and all those monk bonuses kick in, my little Ashra will be unstoppable, right?

Right? 

Right? 

Right? 

Yeah. I'm not buying it either. I've never been sold on monks.

Sure. Monks get all sorts of nifty skifty bonuses by the endgame. And I guess you could call them powerful because of that if you wanted to, but my inclination is to view power in a different way. Power, to my mind, is the capacity to achieve an end- suitability to purpose. It isn't an abstract quality that hovers in the etherea; it is the abiltiy to overcome each obstacle placed in your path- to meet every challenge faced en route to your goal. Power is best assessed not by meditating on abstract qualitites but by asking and answering a gazzillion little seemingly insignificant practical real world questions. 

Now the context I'd like to talk about, unsurprisingly, is trilogy solo no reload play with SCS and Ascension. To assess my monk's prospects, I can't  look at her damage per round numbers, or her AC, or her THAC0 -or any of the variables that players are so fond of talking about under the rubric of power. Instead, I need to walk through each and every encounter she'll face and consider how she'll meet each and every threat. One wrong answer can be decisive- irrespective of how "powerful" a monk might seem in the abstract. 

Now, when I conduct that type of analysis with a monk, red flags fly up all over the place. I'd put my monk's chances of making it somewhere between slim and none. In contrast, when I did a similar analysis with my beastmaster - a supposedly "weak" class- there were really very few things that raised concerns and those concerns mostly arose due to self-imposed restrictions. In comparison to beastmaster Ashanti, my monk Ashra seems downright feeble. Perhaps my monk will surprise me but I suspect Ashra's run won't end well -and I suspect that that end will come sooner rather than later. We'll just have to see I guess. 

Ok. Now for the monk fans... I'm sure there are a lot of you out there thinking: "What? How dare she even compare a monk to a beastmaster? And to say that the beastmaster is better? That's just nuts!" First of all, I'll remind you that I'm only talking about a particular context: solo triology no reload play with SCS and Ascension- I'm sure there are other contexts in which monks genuinely do rock. Second, I'd love to see Ashra make it so I hope you are right. For those of you who would like to see the monk's case made compellingly, I'll have some homework assignments for you throughout the run. Here's the first one: tell me how I can get Ashra safely through the Improved Doppleganger Duchal Palace fight without exploting area transitions (My beastmaster could do that easily. I think Ashra's odds will be decent there, but no where near as high as Ashanti's. Hopefully I'm missing something.) For extra credit, tell me how to safely get by SCS Slythe and Krystin without a helmet (again, beastmaster Ashanti had no trouble here).

Anyhoo. Ashra's run will begin shortly (hopefully it won't end as shortly as I think...).

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 04 octobre 2013 - 11:59 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Ave, Ashra, morituri te salutant! Wish for you to end up on the Throne and not in some remote Monastery crypt.

[Gate70]

Good luck, watch out for early kobold critical arrows - I've had a few monks scalped that way. Ascension & bits of SCS are on my list, I'd like to tick solo kensai and monk off in a near-unmodded game first and neither is proving easy (for me).

& I hope it gets you into the swing with another class if she goes belly up at an early stage.

[Grond0]

Best of luck Alesia. I like the portrait and am looking forward to seeing plenty more of it!

[corey_russell]

@Alesia: I guess the answer to both questions is Algernon's Cloak. I think you usually don't use it, but with the tools the game provides, I think that's it...

Modifié par corey_russell, 04 octobre 2013 - 08:05 .

[Alesia_BH]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...

Ave, Ashra, morituri te salutant! Wish for you to end up on the Throne and not in some remote Monastery crypt.

Thanks Serg!

Gate70 wrote...

Good luck, watch out for early kobold critical arrows - I've had a few monks scalped that way. 

Noted.

Grond0 wrote...
Best of luck Alesia. I like the portrait and am looking forward to seeing plenty more of it!

Thanks. It is a decent portrait for a monk. And you may see plenty more of it (if I pass it along to Gate that is...)

corey_russell wrote...
@Alesia: I guess the answer to both questions is Algernon's Cloak.

Are you sure you're ready to turn your assignment in? :innocent:

(I may not be able to give you full marks for that one...)

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 04 octobre 2013 - 08:44 .