Mind You VLAD;

You guys say tactics,,,, uh hu ya right..... Beatle does: not miss + Blindness + Sickness +Poison damage.. gfaw(this means to laugh)

Lizardmen... I love these guys... are now as lethal as a Tarasque so don't let them touch you ... they also never miss,, what did you do, give them a thaco of -8?

Not to worry, I cleared it just fine,, but my FAVORITE part of that map was the never ending spawning of lizardmen when I was Ty-Ty and all I wanted to do was f***** sleep.

May a horde of mind Flayers crawl up yer arse the next time you get sleepy,,, eh,,, eh..!

What were you saying about your knowledge of Balance? You see,,, I know for a fact that these creatures don't exist in ANY monster manual.. wink!

It's ok though.. I'll kill whatever you throw at me bi***!





This post has been edited by Bereth Darkides: Apr 30 2008, 05:02 PM

I have two theories
1) Monster Manuals are DnD and ADnD. Copyrighted and perhaps they can not be reproduced exactly?
2) Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 are based on ADnD rules. Loosely or Tightly? Who knows, use your imagination.

No it was surprisingly accurate. There were in fact very, very few errors vs actual core rules of AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition *which is still the best rules set existing, and the most played, and the most referenced of all RPG games of all time. It also has by far the most material available for it's system).

As apposed to the slap in the face Wizards of the Coast is showing it's proprietary appreciation for all it's fans for releasing yet another game rules set (4th Edition) making the current one redundant, yet again!
Nice eh!
They are a joke IMHO.

This post has been edited by Bereth Darkides: May 1 2008, 10:31 PM

Even if the games are very close, I am sure there were some modules made for AD&D that were crazy hard . People want the challenge sometimes and enjoy that for what it is worth. I think modders use a little freedom and artistry in creating new creatures or pushing the limit a little. After all, rules were meant to be broken, right? .

If you want to talk about high powered enemies, play Drizzt Saga for BG1. It is a fun mod and very hard. Even try the Grey Clan episode for BG1, that is my favorite. You will think you are playing SoA with that firepower.

This post has been edited by Hoppy: May 2 2008, 01:44 AM

Oh Absolutely Hoppy, I couldn't agree more in many ways. But I will say, experienced DM's know how to create balanced creatures. For experienced DM's this is a no brainer situation. It takes years of actual play to learn it. A DM's teacher for example is with the dudes he's playing with and weather "they come back" for another session! ie. you can't constantly kill the party and let them start over time after time and ever expect them to come back, because ,,, they won't!

HINT

lol

With the idea of a video game on the other hand, balance doesn't matter as such (obviously) so long as there is a trick involved in succeeding, but like I said, you can use legit balanced ceatures and situations to create the illusion of difficulty so much so that it could boggle your mind. I for example have DM'd over 120+ extreamly large modules over 20 years, not to mention the amount of smaller modules. I have created oodles of creatures and magic items, etc. etc. and have even had my work published in Dragon Magazine.

Imagine this scenario; With a combination effect, you can create a vampire that constantly regenerates (all through legitimate means without breaking of rules). Imagine it,, you kill a vamp and you see them turn to smoke. You would naturaly think you've won and you have time to finish them off. But pay attention now. The MMG states if they lie in their homeland dirt, they are instantly regenrated right so........Give them the Bag of Holding and place the casket in side it (it hold up to a 10'x10' space) with the homeland dirt.

Now THAT is nasty, and this can only be defeated in about four or 5 ways. So, to those with experience, according to AD&D rules, with all your experience, how would you defeat a creature like this?

Try not to get too imaginative, the answer is easier than you may realize, it's the availability to solve it that translates into the balance. Trust me, you wouldn't want to face a creature like this unless you were very very high level. You may kill them once or even twice, but, eventualy, you will die! Nothing worse than an unkillable enemy on his ground.

(Like I said, I know more decieving tricks than most of you would ever dream of, ALL based on legitimate rules)

This post has been edited by Bereth Darkides: May 3 2008, 06:20 PM

OK.. sisnce nobody could guess the answer above I'll give it to you.

ways to Killl the vamp.

1) Wand of negation (retributive strike, look it up if needed). It's a final strike move with the possiblity of killing the weilder too but, the negative planes will destroy each other.

2) 9th lvl spell, Mordenkainen's Disjunction or Wish spell.Noguarentee that it will destroy the bag of holding because of the randomness of the spell, but it's can do it!

3) Bottomless flask of Holy water. Make sure your in a closed room, and can breath water for this. A druid is awfully hard to kill when cornered in a closed space and is deadly to Vampires with these two items.

4)Any other void, disc or black hole magical effect. Mind you, not everyone carries these around. Merely touching the myst (vampire) would cause an explosion that could kill you and your party. So yes it's a risk.

5) Mace of Cuthbert.

6) there are a few other artifacts (including i believe the fourth part of the staff of wonder) that have similar powers that can destroy negative planes within magic items as well. Note though do not get confused between killing the creature and utterly destroying the creature. In the above scenario the Bag is needed to be the target. Else, mr blood sucker will say,"is that a Djinni with a Bikini over there" CHOMP!

NOTE: I'm typing these at work so these are coming out of my mind and my memory. Pretty good eh. I told you, my knowledge was vast.

PS; sorry for the ego stroke,, lol.

This post has been edited by Bereth Darkides: May 7 2008, 08:58 PM

The lizard men suck yeh and they are real tough but it gets far, far worse as you progress NEJ. Does require creative techniques, my favourite kit is assassin so with the party at a safe distance, sneaky, sneaky, backstab, dead, run away (cos they are slow) sneaky, sneaky, backstab, dead, anyway you get the picture.

It’s all doable and sure it’s tough I’d even go as far to say that horred’s portal move should be an option on install. We all understand that uncle vlad wants it in CI and its way too tough for its level but right or wrong that’s the game he designed.

Just hope that the BP lot don’t manage to make it compatible now that really would be scary. Do you remember BP vale of shadows.

I think BP tune ups will be for playing nice and be itself along with the other mods without NeJ (4.2b). If people manage to find it (4.2b) and download it, well then they can deal with it. I would rather stick with 691 since it is more enjoyable and the most finished anyway.

However, you may try NeJ691 with SCSII and see how that goes. I am not sure if anyone has tried that yet.
Improved Anvil and NeJ2 (besides the charming rogue Imoen getting changed), that might be doable. Ymarsakar said that it worked well.


Those are just some suggestions if you want to make things more challenging. When it is all said and done, I am sure there will be compatibility issues.

This post has been edited by Hoppy: May 8 2008, 04:48 AM

Maybe I just love pain, but I actually enjoyed the "frustrating" aspects of the mod. If there is anything about BG2 that I dont really care for is taking advantage of resting. I personally think resting should be banned in many parts of the game.

I didn't really have much of a problem w/ the difficulty. However, if you are taking suggestions Vlad, the only thing that I personally would like to see is a Mage NPC (Joinable in either CI or Easthaven). I personally like to keep Imoen a rogue. (Never really liked how Bioware made her a mage in BG2) However, if there actually is a Mage NPC, and I just missed them somehow, ignore this completely

A mage would be nice, but for NeJ part 2 the PC needs/is best to be some type of mage. The way I see the NPCs that have been added by NeJ are to be a support for a mage.

I thought that with Vlad's 694 patch, the other Bioware mages can be used to take the Halruaa tests, so it is not so restricted for the PC to be a mage. It is a lot more fun as a kensai dual mage. That is my favorite for NeJ.

This post has been edited by Hoppy: May 8 2008, 05:03 PM

I usually do Ok with rest. I can usaully maximize my spells usage down to the last spell so-to-speak. But when those are gone, you do need to rest......AND THAT.., is when I run into the unending spawning of creatures that won't let me get any shut eye. So what I'll do is keep fighting them until my dudes are all bloodied up to near max then save and then search for a safer bed!

By this time though I need to sleep twice. Once for heal spells and then again to have them available again for the next stage. But it's also costly on the arrow quota,,,,,hint hint!

Not that I know of. If you try it, let me know.

Drop the bag into a river, btw.

I don't get it

Sorry, it was a reply to the "how to deal with a vampire" quiz earlier.

Ohhh, I failed that quiz.

Yes but who's gonna throw the vamp in the river or for that matter, the Myst? lol.

OK took a break but came back and played last night.

Level 2 Dragonseye.

Cave Trolls = Ok I wanted to test the extent of the changes Vlad had done so what did I do? I summoned a nice demon to fight the , and get this, cave trolls. Guess who won? THAT my freinds in very poor game balance. WHY? because the creature in question, i order just "TO HIT IT" requires a plus 3 weapon. Cave trolls do not have this equivalency, in fact they are only considered +1 to hit ability.

Next. Severe inate abilities boosted coupled with a decreased thaco, makes you troll fodder! Don't let them touch you! Next,, ONLY acid kills them (the only part of the actual power these trolls keep, and is a problem on it's own when you don't posses quess what?

Vlad, and others. I am the first person to say thank for a job well done, but I am also going to be the first person to tell you if you dropped the ball. It is now to the point IMHO that this game ,,,,No longer has virtualy NOTHING to do with Dungeons and Dragons andin essence you have completely removed and disregarded core AD&D rules set!.

Sorry. I'm not enjoying it as much as I hoped I would.Sure I like strollingthrough the caverns and fighting creatures, but remeber what you have done here. You have in essence removed "completely" the simple effectiveness of even a simple fighter. I mean what good is a fighter when every creature he faces is going to tear him a new arse right in the middle of his forehead? Either there was something wrong with my install, or you went overballance overkill?

perhalps my frusration won't be appreciated, but if you wanted a TRUE PROFFESIONAL opinion on your work, then I would have to tell you to go back to the drawing board with this one! This is not, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons..........sorry VLAD, nothing personal!

But I'm still going to play it, because I'm desperate to continue playing this game. Keep in mind though, right now it's the ONLY reason why I would! Sometimes there is nothing worse than being stubborn!

BTW, I take no joy in responding in the way noted above or below!

Perhaps it's because My knowlege allows me the ability to see when things are wrong. Keep in mind my characters are only 10th level, and I used a scroll to summon the Baetazu. Trolls are not even supposed to be able to even "Hit" a Baetazu. There are very good reasons for game balance. Simply put, it makes it much more enjoyable, and if you do not agree with this, then you are in the minority, despite what people may think of this post on THIS board. I didn't want to say anything, but I also felt I had a responsibility to give my honest opinion. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad though right! At least I'm not being insulting and calling people names etc. I am giving you the opinion of someone with LOTS of knowledge of AD&D rules.

Seriously,,, a Baetazu lost to a cave troll......Give me a break! A Baetazu CANNOT lose to a mere cave troll, otherwise, he woudn't be a Baetazu! Worse still a Baetazu can kill a troll without use of acid/fire AND they have the ability to controll them as well! A baetazu's power resides in his abiltiy to controll creatures and also because they are +3 required to hit. Not to mention their inate spells and immunities!

Wrong, wrong, wrong! (shaking head)!

I hope you can handle a little negative critcism. At least it plays nice.

You'll get a kick out of playing, trying to play, IA given your comments about Nej, Bereth.



If the bag of holding is on the vampire, wait for him to insta regenerate and then grab/steal/rip away/use a spell to obtain the bag of holding.

If the bag is somewhere else and he uses his mist form to get there, then do a running battle to get to the objective, which is the bag. Besides, unless he has put his coffin inside the bag of holding, you can kill him by reaching the coffin. Even if the coffin is inside the bag of holding, all you need to do is to fight until day break.

As a battle of pure endurance, it is not much different from trying to sleep in Nej2's dungeon areas.

Modders almost never change the vanilla creature game summons, for whatever reason. So when their battles are more difficult and their custom monsters are such and such, the vanilla summons like the demons then become extremely weak in comparison.

This post has been edited by Ymarsakar: May 15 2008, 10:04 PM