Dear forum friends, how are Nightmare mode's extra XP gains supposed to make this game easier? I really haven't cracked the code yet lol.
Anyway here's no less than three reports on three different runs! Maybe you guys could tell me which one you think is the most interesting for you to follow. Restartitis has me in its grasp again, so your input is welcome!
Maeve, NE Human Kensai, 2nd BG1 report
Maeve befriended Kagain, Edwin (who succesfully Horrored Tarnesh, providing the party access to the FAI and Dorn), Viconia (with the party successfully disrupting and kiting the Flaming Fist cleric), and Shar-Teel - in that order. Killing Algernon for his cloak and recruiting Vicky had lowered the party's reputation so much that the Fist and Bounty Hunters were now after them. When they arrived in Nashkel, a number of hostile Amnian Soldiers awaited them. The companions prevailed with the help of non-hostile soldiers who picked Maeve's side, but killing those soldiers reduced their rep to 1. Bounty hunters spawned, and Nashkel basically became inaccessible.
South of Nashkel the party successfully handled Dorn's rivals, thanks in large part to the fact that most of them focused their aggression on Dorn, who was not yet killable. Dorn joined and the party traveled to the Mine. They killed Greywolf with some kiting, and were then reminded by Edwin of their promise to seek out and slay Dynaheir. So, off to the Cloudpeaks they went. They defeated Sendai with a Hold Person by Viconia, but avoided Delgod and Alexander. Vax gave them more trouble. Although it had become clear to me that the adage 'Ranged is king in BG1' applies a fortiori in Nightmare mode, and although the Gauntlets of Dexterity were still two maps away, Kagain had to tank Vax in a pinch, due to movement space issues. The Dwarf panicked when he got hit once or twice. His morale is so low he really needs a Bard or Remove Fear to keep him focused. Dorn didn't do much better, though at least he didn't panic.
The party minus Kagain tried to keep Vax busy while the Dwarf was panicked, but Kagain's panic lasted very, very long. It looked like he was going to survive after all when his companions managed to kill the Xvarts he had alerted with his running around, but a Cave Bear was less forgiving.
The party traveled back to Nashkel or Beregost to raise Kagain. Edwin disapproved and buggered off with the Ring of Wizardry still on his finger. I've never been a fan of Edwin: shitty personality, not that funny (sarcasm has never been my type of humor). Maeve however was incensed. She swore she'd kill the Thayan next time she'd see him.
The companions decided they'd try and find this Dynaheir anyway, but changed their mind when Zal almost one-shotted Viconia. They went Basilisk hunting instead. Maeve used a green PfPetrification scroll, and with her throwing daggers, she did a fine job kiling the lizards but she wouldn't be able to finish that job. Mutamin found her and Slowed her. Maeve went invisible right after that. But the Gnome cast Detect Invisibility, and Horrored Maeve before she could quaff another invisibility potion. Thankfully Viconia arrived soon enough to remove the fear effect. When the Slow effect had expired, Maeve went looking for remaining Basilisks, but Mutamin saw her first, and removed her PfPetrification with a Remove Magic. Maeve went invisible again, and Mutamin found the Kensai's companions in a remote corner of the area.
Dorn poisoned the Gnome and VIcky Held him, so that fight went well.
Back in Beregost there were Flaming Fist Enforcers, including a Battle Mage, a (sneak-attacking) Scout, and two Archers. Kagain was hit by the Archers, and panicked again, complicating a swift escape. He was dismissed, and so was Shar-Teel at Near Death status. Viconia was killed by the Scout, and raised at the Temple of Lathander, where Maeve left her for a while, in order to go looking for the Elf's equipment (Ankheg plate among other things). She found the equipment, but the companions ran into Neera, and although they told her they weren't interested in protecting her, and told her pursuers that they might have her, the Thayans went hostile anyway. (Is this supposed to happen?) The Thayan then one-shotted Dorn with a Flame Arrow, so Maeve ran off to raise him too. She left him with Vicky at the Temple, so now she's only 'disliked'. However the Enforcers (with a collective pool of about 850 HPs) are still in Beregost waiting for Maeve to show up again.
In sum, the Kensai has about 2k GP, almost no resources in terms of potions, items, and throwing daggers, and no easy way of boosting her rep as apparently reputation boosts at Temples are more expensive in either v.2.1 or Nighmare mode. I honestly don't know where to go with her, and I consider abandoning this run, and maybe giving her another chance from scratch.
Shade, CG Human Archer and custom party, 1st BG1 report
My experiences with Maeve only made me want to succeed more. I rolled a custom party that might be fun and hopefully effective. The party is led by Shade, a female Human Archer specializing in darts. (Other starting profs: * Flails/Morningstars, * S&S-style)
Not the most powerful protagonist one might imagine, not even the most powerful Archer, with her being Human rather than Elven, and a Dart thrower. However I hope she can make it to level 8 and dual into Cleric. I enabled all Druid spells for Ranger/Clerics, so she should become an excellent divine spell-caster. She'll have two daily Called Shot uses, meaning that with Improved Haste she'll be able to lower enemy Saves by 4 per round during twenty seconds with a sling. She'll lose her ability to use darts once she duals into Cleric, but her specialization remains somewhat relevant, namely for using Fire Seeds and Energy Blades.
Btw one reason I restored full Druid spell progression for Cleric/Rangers is that the Shaman class doesn't work in my install, probably a conflict with SCS. The Shaman I rolled made way for Shade, who became the protagonist.
Shade's companions are: Alaam, a Human Wizard Slayer (** in axes and ** in two-handed swords), who should dual into Thief come level 7;
Gizi, an Elven Archer (** longbows, * long swords and * war hammers);
Aine, Half-Elf Sorcerer, with Enchantment as specialization (the only substantive change I made using EEKeeper, not sure how well this works) and with Charm Person and Blindness as his starting spells;
Guennean, with my second triple digit stat roll ever and the first I didn't click past, Human Priestess of Tyr (* maces, * slings), to dual into Mage at level 11;
and finally Dwaim, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (* short swords, * crossbows), a tough call compared to Fighter/Thief but those sweet, sweet Maze traps can really help in battles with multiple enemies.
I think this party has good potential when it comes to disabling. Alaam's attacks impose a spell failure penalty, Shade's and Gizi's Called Shot will lower saving throws vs spells, so that Aine, Guennean and Shade will be able to hold, charm, stun, etc the enemy. This is pretty much the same plan as I had for my Enchantress Eirian and her companions, but that wasn't a Nightmare run while this run is. Enemies have ridiculous amounts of HPs, more APR and they hit hard, so straight melee does not seem a viable approach. There is no fast killing in Nightmare mode I think. Still I would have liked another single or multi-class warrior.
The crew did not fight Shank or Carbos, as there was no oil of speed from Deder. But they were very diligent in the first two areas, patiently taking down all the Gibberlings they could find as well as a rogue Ogre. Hobgoblins and Ogrillons south of Beregost met the same fate. Poor Aine served as bait every time, as the others were the superior marksmen. Landrin's Spiders were dealt with by Gizi and Shade alone.
The companions pulled into Nashkel where Shade enjoyed a considerable armor upgrade (Ankheg), and Noober and the Great Gazib provided some cheap XP.
Further south, Greywolf came a bit too early for the party. They had to retreat when Kobolds joined him, got waylaid by Hobgoblin archers who killed Aine, returned to see if Greywolf could be approached anew without any Kobold intervention, but had to retreat again. Pathfinding issues on the way out (one of the party cutting him short) then saw Dwaim succumb to a single blow by Greywolf.
The party had not much gold, a mid-range reputation and no charismatic leader, so they exchanged most of their gold for a scroll of PfPetrification. Archer Gizi was appointed Basilisk huntress, and she was doing fine with the group of four, when I somehow (stupidly) had Shade move in (unaware she was selected rather than Gizi). I didn't realize it immediately but Shade drew the attention of several Gnolls, which basically meant the party had to leave the area, and that the investment in the green scroll had been a big waste. On the positive side, Shade did not run into a Basilisk.
And it may be for the best that the Basilisks are faced later on, when Shade and/or Alaam are in the process of dualing into Cleric and Thief respectively.
The companions returned to the Nashkel Mines Area, where they lured a bunch of Kobolds toward the mine entrance, where Amnian soldiers helped fight them, and where Aine Blinded two of them. The companions prevailed, and could now try once more to defeat Greywolf. They did when Guennean Held the bounty hunter just before he could close the gap with the party.
The friends traveled to the North Coast to see if Shoal could provide them some longed for XP, but three Dread Wolved awaited them there, which basically meant they had to go back. Melicamp was rescued from a wolf, but finding a skull was going to be too dangerous for the time being, as the Skellies at the High Hedge worked in groups.
Again I'm not sure how to proceed. Of course, having all her companions and not being harassed by Flaming Fist Enforcers and bounty hunters means that Shade is in a much better situation then Maeve, even though the latter is more experienced.
So far the combination of SCS and Nightmare has made BGEE almost a new game to me. I have to think every step, as I haven't found a safe and sure way to comfort yet. For the moment the party are unfit to deal with hordes, with ranged attackers, and with (most) Mages. This leaves only individual, melee targets. There aren't many of those. One Mage the companions did take on was Tarnesh. Aine had picked Web as his first level 2 spell and cast a few of those at the wizard while out of sight. The others then finished the mage with ranged attacks.
It was only later that I realized that Aine isn't supposed to cast Web spells, as I 'kitted' him as an Enchanter. When leveling up, he can still pick Evocation spells. I considered removing the Enchantment specialization school or the Web spell, but Aine has been an Enchanter Sorecer the entire time, and the Web spell has already been used, so I will keep Web as an idiosyncrasy like the special abilities that some of the game's NPCs have.
Saoni, 4th BG1 report
I've also made some progress with Saoni, whose run I keep abandoning and returning to. This is BGEE v1.3, so no Nightmare mode, 'only' insane, but more role-played. It's actually quite a fun run with a fun party, and banter. This one has the BG1 NPC Project for funny banter and a beautiful romance with Xan. As I mentioned in my previous post, the companions were all noncommital adventurers, and fond travelers, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that they've seen quite a lot of the Sword Coast since the last time I reported on them. One destination was Adoy's hideout, where the companions had to fight several Thayans before they could learn from Adoy how they could control Neera's wild magic. There were two fighters, an Ogre and two wizards, including their leader Ekandor. Saoni was buffed with Shield, PfE, MI (and possibly Blur) and opened with a wand Fireball. Garrick stunned Ekandor with his wand of paralyzation, and with Safana he focused on the guards. Xan slew paralyzed Ekandor. Saoni proceeded with wand Scorchers to injure several enemies at a time. Unfortunately AI was on (I think it's on by default once the game is started, because I never want it to be on), so Neera - who had been invisible - also joined the fray. She caught the Ogre's eye, and in fleeing from the monster got herself killed in Saoni's scorcher.
During the party's subsequent adventures, Neera became a different person: shy, quiet, aloof. The companions attributed this change to her death experience and her missed opportunity to confer with Adoy. Little did they know that it was actually a bug caused by her death that kept her quest and friendship from progressing.
She was there when the party saved a nobleman from a mountain bear, Skull Trapped Neville to death, slew a pack of Gnolls with Drizzt, the Half-Ogres that had injured Bjornin, and the party of Teyngan with more Skull Traps. She witnessed Xan loot three vaults in the Valley of the Tombs and saw him nearly bested by Mustard Jellies.
She also saw how Saoni quaffed a potion of magic blocking when Narcillicus cast a Skull Trap at her, and how the Dragon Disciple, Xan and Safana made the Conjurer pay for his insolence.
She was also present when Garrick scribed several spells into his spellbook, but showed no signs of envy. Not even their adventure in the Firewine Ruins brought back the spark in Neera. Garrick cast a Stinking Cloud at Lendarn, but the wizard's MGoI insta-triggered and rendered the cloud ineffective, and a nasty Minor Sequencer of Blindness and Ray of Enfeeblement disabled the Bard. Saoni hastily cast Invisibility on her friend to keep him out of harm's way. When Lendarn's MGoI had worn off, two Skull Traps were more than the wizard could handle. An Ogre Mage awaited the party next. Xan buffed, and dual-wielding the Dagger of Venom with his Moonblade, he managed to repeatedly poison the monster. (Jenkal normally escapes, but was stunned this time by Saoni's Chromatic Orb.)
It was after these adventures that the companions decided that it was in everyone's best interests if Neera left the party to leave and do some soul searching.
The party safely navigated the Ulcaster School, relying on Invisibility and on Xan (PfFear and potion of free action) to deal with the Wolf of Ulcaster. The also cleared the Firewine Plains without incident, and the Wood of Sharp Teeth (Teven & Co were slain, Raiken was joined to infilitrate the bandit camp).
All of the above is from a week or two ago. All I did today with this party was visit the bandit camp. I was a bit nervous before the battle in the tent, what with my having become used to Nightmare mode creatures kicking major ass, and with previous solo wizards having difficulty in the tent. Nevertheless, Saoni handled the tent solo. The others were invisible. Saoni buffed with potions (magic protection, defense, fire protection, regeneration, speed, free action) and spells (PfE, Blur, MI). Garrick did cast a Web but after that it was just Saoni running around wand-scorching the opposition until they were all dead. There was one incident, Safana started to attack (once more forgot to switch off AI), but repaired that mistake with a Sandthief Ring charge.
On the way out a still hasted Saoni managed to kill Taugosz for his armor, using more scorchers and Magic Missiles. They got ambushed by Giant Spiders on the road to the FAI. Saoni was not invisible (no more level 2 spells), and had a turbid aura due to having quaffed a healing potion before leaving the area, but the Spiders failed to web her. (And even if they had succeeded, both Xan and Garrick would have been able to cast Invisibility on her.)
The party is currently in Cloakwood. Somehow this playthrough fails to grab my attention for long periods, but I'm aware that this is the run I'm most likely to make it into SoD with, which would be a blind adventure, an exciting prospect.
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