First IA experience, Thoughts from a new player, and some (hopefully) constructive criticis Options

[Zarion]

I just found this mod a few weeks ago, and I've been playing this mod for about a week. In my current game I've just left the Underdark with my Evil Party (m/f, Korgan, Edwin, Viconia and Valen(without her lvldrain)) everyone have at least 4-5 high-level abilities and so far I've enjoyed the mod. The scripts are well done and make most battles more challenging. The upgrades are really cool, and the components from “harder” enemies makes them seem deserved.

But even though I like the mod I won't be using it after I'm done with this run-through. This is mainly due to the way you have made the enemies more challenging. You seem to have taken the use of resistances to the hearth, and that is ofcause one way of making the game harder, but I must admit I dislike it. At the moment the only spells Edwin and Viconia gets to cast are “pre-battle-buffs” and dispel effects since almost every (challenging) enemy I'm meeting are very resistant, not only to magic, but to most elemental and magical damage as well. For me that drastically cuts down on the “fun”, since it takes away the “group feel” where every class is needed to win a battle and have something to do during the battle... other then standing in a corner hiding so they won't die.

My suggestions to improve the feeling of the mod is to cut down on some of the 100% resistances this mod adds especially on “none-boss-fights” (ie insane dwarf, Firkraag-party ect.) and give them 75% resistances if you still want them to be “hard” or perhaps 50% with one or two 100% so the player have to try a bit before finding the right type of magic. Another way to do it could be to build up the resistances though the use of “forcecast” scripts on certain hp percentages. Ie; the opponent starts with 25% resistances to none melee damage, and then builds up to 50% at 75% hp and so forth.

The constant use of regeneration also bugs me a bit, especially in groupbattles where you it foceres you to focus on one target at a time, but it keeps the pressure on the player, since it means no more running out of combat to get healed, and that is a good thing .

Well, I think that is about all I have to say, unless I find anything to add at a later time , thanks for the mod, and all the hard work put into it.

[rbeverjr]

I’ll just park some of my initial impressions in this appropriately titled thread. (I’ve dabbled in IA3 without doing a complete game.)

I used a dwarf kensai protagonist (Lawful Good who will be corrupted by the darkside as the evil Bhaal powers fit a fighter much better – yep, strict power gaming for better survivability in this game), human ranger 7-cleric dual class (Jaheira), human sorcerer (Nalia), human fighter 7-wizard (Tashia), gnome fighter-illusionist multiclass (Jan), and human swashbuckler (Minsc, Imoen, and Sarevok after LG protagonist becomes NE). (I take the stats from one of the NPCs and arrange the values as I see fit; so, basically these are custom characters with programmed dialogue.) I believe this probably makes for the easiest game – at least for me. Because quest XP is a reward/character, a 6 person team is probably most efficient. The arcane is still extremely powerful and necessary in IA, in my opinion. Scrolls cost a bundle, and you can’t always depend on getting what you want; so, a sorcerer is desired. I thought the fighter 7-wizard would be more beneficial than a second sorcerer, but am not certain that this is so. At least the saving throws are better for early fights, and the fighter-wizard has a few more HP. FM have always been powerful, but IA has made them even more powerful. The fighter-illusionist is the best FM in my opinion. The kensai generally hits what he swings at – that’s pretty important. The ranger 7-cleric is much better than the multiclass RC or auramaster in my opinion. I have trouble surviving the Sikret battles unless I buff, and Holy Power is a great buff. The mix of cleric and druid spells is very nice; a cleric is extremely beneficial. I chose the swashbuckler simply because I saw the need for a tank and wanted a thief. I found that backstabbing often didn’t work when needed anyway in IA 3. One comment here: AC-18 is often not enough. Get to AC-26 as quick as you can.

I played on Core difficulty, reduced difficulty to Easy after a few reloads, and quit a particular encounter (to be returned to later) if I couldn’t succeed on Easy. Almost everything is completed on Core. Early in IA, I found spell casters, particularly arcane casters, to be royal pains – even more so than golems, though the special spiders could be almost as bad. I had decent saves on my front line dwarf fighter and gnome FI, but they still sometimes fail early in the game. There is no way for early parties to strip Immunity Abjuration; so, other tactics must be used. Having learned some new techniques for IA, my second time through should require less reloads, thankfully.

In general, I avoided the Sikret encounters and followed the suggested (by Sikret and thetruth) quest path. I did do a few of the improved quests and headed for the underdark at apx. level 13. I was told that this was too early, but I disagree. It worked out fine. In the underdark, things got easier. I made it through with a few reloads.

After leaving the Underdark, I headed to Watcher’s Keep. I didn’t think it would be too problematic as it wasn’t in IA3. Big mistake. Sikret has cranked up the difficulty there in IA 4.2. A certain monster showed up on the first level demanding I give it something. After having my butt kick repeatedly, I decided to hand it over. I possibly could have beat this encounter, if I rested to gain spells needed and buffed/prepared specifically for this encounter before triggering it. That’s a lot of metagaming for what’s supposed to be a surprise! (I’m anxious to hear the tactics used to defeat that encounter.) On the second level, I proceeded right through until it was time to go to the third level. That was really tough too, with the constant gating of more foes. (Last night I thought of some tactics which may have allowed my success, but I just left it for now.)

The lack of money (coupled with no stealing from shops) really cranks the difficulty. Scrolls, potions, items, and especially Sikret upgrades cost a lot. When you sell stuff, the shop keepers will let your children starve (give you little pay). I am hopeful that things will improve, but so far I don’t think I will have too many Sikret upgrades – I currently have none… Bummer, I love items and would love to try out more of them.

I think there should be more ways to bring down protections when Immunity Abjuration is up than Ruby Ray. Heck, at least allow Spell Strike to work, as it is of 2 schools (Abjuration and Alteration). (I assume Spell Strike doesn’t work.) I hope that more Immunity Divination and less Immunity Abjuration shows up in the encounters that an early party may face.

I would like it if thieves could successfully backstab more of the new (or improved) monsters. After all, my crew gets backstabbed enough. It would also be nice if they could steal *something* from shops. After all, that’s one of the things that thieves do.

Although I have reservations concerning some of the ways that the difficulty was enhanced (proliferation of monsters with very high resistances and strength, for instance), I am enjoying my play, and my tactical ability is improving. I doubt that I could enjoy the regular game any more, because it would be far too easy.

To be continued…. I’m sure that I will have more to say once I’ve completed more of the mod.

[thetruth]

After leaving the Underdark, I headed to Watcher’s Keep. I didn’t think it would be too problematic as it wasn’t in IA3. Big mistake. Sikret has cranked up the difficulty there in IA 4.2. A certain monster showed up on the first level demanding I give it something. After having my butt kick repeatedly, I decided to hand it over. I possibly could have beat this encounter, if I rested to gain spells needed and buffed/prepared specifically for this encounter before triggering it. That’s a lot of metagaming for what’s supposed to be a surprise! (I’m anxious to hear the tactics used to defeat that encounter.)

IMO it's extremely difficult to avoid metagaming especially if you are playing with a so difficult tactical mod like IA.

If you still want to limit your metagaming, have a character with some buffs (mage+cleric) and even better with some thieving skills (Jan would be the ideal) to scout ahead in every new area you enter (especially dungeons like W.Keep).

This way you could be prepared even for this encounter.
It would limit your metagaming a lot and it is realistic, but not practical at all since it's very time-consuming and tedious after a while.

As about the battle itself, leonidas gave very good suggestions. Add Free Action and you are OK (Clerics are a must in IA).