Vuki's experience with IA V5.0, Using a special party composition Options

[Vuki]

I started a new party because I was a little bit tired and bored with the previous one. My previous party was a usual IA party: sorcerer protagonist + barbarian + blade + ranger->cleric (dual) + cleric/mage (multi) + monk. I will surely continue my old game later on but at the moment I concentrate on the new party. Ok, so this is the new party composation (and their current statistics):

Protagonist: Lothar, a half-elf Vagrant: Chaotic Good; lvl 9th; Axe++, Flail++, Club++, two-weapon style+++
Barbie, the half-ork barbarian (he is a male! ): Chaotic Good; lvl 9th; 2H Sword++, Spear+, Quater Staff++, 2H weapon style++
Ince, the Inquisitor: Lawful Good; lvl 9th; 2H Sword++, Halberd++, Quater Staff+, 2H weapon style++
Rancle, the Ranger->Cleric (dual class): Neutral Good; lvl 7/9th; War Hammer++, Club++, Flail++, Mace++, Quater Staff+, two-weapon style+++
Berti, the Berserker->Thief (dual): Chaotic Neutral; lvl 9/10th; Long Sword++, Scimitar+, Short Sword+, Dagger+, Club++, Dart+, two-weapon style+++
Cernd, the Auramaster: True Neutral; lvl 11th; Scimitar+, Dagger+, Quater Staff+, Sling+

Yes, there is no arcane caster at all! And there will be no arcane caster in the future as well. I will replace sometimes Cernd with other NPCs to trigger their quest but not arcane caster NPC. That was my intention from the beginning and it is a concept and not an accident.

I think in a lot of cases it will make my life harder but some battles will be easier. Also I do not have to prebuff as much because I am not able to do as much prebuff as with an arcane caster. Life is good.

I will write here my experience with this party as I advance in the game. I will update my second post here (so, not this one). I will write it from the viewpoint of Lothar. Btw, I have no idea how I was able to find such a name. Lothar. In the other cases I think the naming logic is clear.

Ps. Sorry for my not so good English! I hope it would be still enjoyable.

Update:
Part 1 is finished
Part 2 is finished
Part 3 is finished
Part 4 is partially entered

This post has been edited by Vuki: Sep 1 2008, 09:33 AM

[Sikret]

Well, I'm not going to interfere and talk about playing styles unless the case is a plain cheat or a very clearly cheesy method. This particular case is not one such case and I wouldn't write about it if you did not ask.

Personally, I don't use the mentioned method in my game, because as I've written in my "Started a v5 game" thread I avoid even debatable methods. As Vuki said, the mentioned method is not even usable in most cases unless you are facing a single enemy mage, but then if you see that you are misusing the engine limitations against that enemy, you should probably have a bad feeling about it as well. I think everyone can judge such special and debatable cases when they happen in his or her own game.

But let's put it in this way:

When your warrior is injured and you want to take him back to heal him, what course of action do you choose: Do you firstly send a new warrior to take the first warrior's position and just then you take the injured one back? Or do you straightly take the injured one back allowing the enemy mage to follow him and see the rest of your party?

If the latter, it's not cheesy, because the enemy mage will eventually have the chance to follow him and see the rest of your party.

If the former, then it is probably a tad cheesy in my opinion. At least, I don't use such a method in my own games. In general, I won't feel good if I sense that I'm somehow (even slightly) deceiving the game's engine.