Issues Options

[The Bigg]

I've just finished playing through the mod (well, I've kept the book and killed Tian... I'm half-waiting for some surpise ambush after this act).

The good:
- The movie was absolutely cool.
- Gameplay in general 'felt' well balanced, challenging enough without forcing too many reloads.
- The plot was okay, as well as the writing.

The maybe:
- The Servant, Astral Shard Guardian, and Tian 'felt' slightly hard to me (and I had about 2M XP per character, so I was over the suggested level). This must surely be because I generally suck at tactics. However, in the case of the Astral Shard Guardian, I've taken a peek at the creature file, and IMHO for lesser skilled/patient players the AC and regeneration rate could use a mild decrement (say, AC -5 and no regeneration, but higher HPs to compensate). At the suggested level (13th) your fighters will have a thac0 in the 2-5 range, so you'll likely hit only 1 time per round per fighter (assuming 3 attacks per round and 1/3 chance of hitting), meaning that you are doing little more than keeping up with the regeneration... even without throwing in the various Stone Skins or PFMW's.
- The Chain Lightning Machine could be slightly slowed down as well.
- Most of the loot you get is already identified.
- Balaor seriously looks like a typo, you might want to change to something else (and the creature is even called va#balor)

The bad:
- The va#spy* creatures for checking fire damage are a bit tricky to get right - I caster Agannazar's both against the dryads (making sure I hit both of them) and against the Astral Shard to no avail. While in the latter case enough hints are thrown in that you must use Fireball, in the Dryad's case it isn't so obvious (especially after Agannazar's proves to be useless).
- Install is not nice for people using a Mac, Linux, or WeInstall/WeiGUI (in particular the biffing of the MVE). I had already posted code to fix this.

WeiDU.log and similar stuff are available from my master playthrough thread. In particular, I installed just the 'main' component, none of the 'improved' ones.

This post has been edited by The Bigg: May 22 2008, 04:21 PM

[Razfallow]

So because I'm responsible for tactical part of the mod ...

Tian, unlike everyone else in the mod, hasn't custom script, SCSII is to blame As for ambush, I'm plannig something for next version.

Astral Shard Guardian is modified Demosum1.cre, AC and regeneration rate wasn't changed.

Servant is a transmuter, thus he can't use abjuration spells (i.e. Protection from Magical Weapons), this should make him weaker than usual lich (especially with SCSII). You just have to be quick (and lucky) enough to get his Stoneskin down.

I tested it several times to verify that it's possible to finish the mod at such low level. I had six custom characters (dualed ranger-cleric, archer, fighter/thief, sorcerer, mage/thief and cleric/mage - 300k XP per character) and I was able to beat even Improved Astral Shard Guardian ... once With 2M XP it should be a lot easier.

My goal was to make fights more challenging as player goes further in the dungeon.

With more feedback or complaints from other players I'm willing to make changes.

PS: Lower difficulty is affecting mages, they don't use all spells, contingencies and triggers.

[Baronius]

It's interesting that TheBigg had to use Ctrl+Y for the Grey Clan Episode One battles too (blaming the GCE1 balance for his failure), now he has difficulties with Tower of Deception, let alone the new game he started with Improved Anvil and then discontinued it. This isn't one mod: these are three mods. Perhaps you should improve your tactical skills, TheBigg, because I don't think mods will be toned down just because you find them hard with such tactical skills.

[Daulmakan]

- Balaor seriously looks like a typo, you might want to change to something else (and the creature is even called va#balor)

I thought the same thing, but it's not.

[The Bigg]

Raz: It must mean then that I really can't read, since I just kept on casting Breach on the Servant's PFMW "by tradition"

Also, to clarify, to me hard means "I can't beat it in two tries, with an unbuffed and slightly wounded party", and "worth whining" means that two tries with a fully healed and decently buffed party still aren't enough...
Once I allowed buffing (esp. traps, Skeletal Warriors & True Sight), the Servant went down easily (I think that using Shapechanging worked to his downfall given he still has a Wizard's THAC0, but I'm not 100% sure). Tian was challenging because I came battered from fighting the Guardian and without time to rest, or the willingness of trying again the Guardian (since there's no save between killing the Guardian and talking to Tian again, unless you remember to save before talking to the boatman). I wouldn't have mentioned them if it was not for the Guardian.
It was just the Guardian whom I couldn't beat legally after about five or six tries (it's a battle of attrition of your party vs. his PFMW, StoneSkin and regeneration, and if you lose your mage each of them is almost an Heal spell).

Bar: I think that even those who resent having to reload a battle thirty times (or have spent years honing their knowledge of the spell system) should have the opportunity to enjoy the contents of a mod (especially a quest mod).
Besides, GC contains a lite version of battles. Wasn't it was added after players' whining too?


Daul: suspected as much - which is why I said it looks like a typo (vs. that it is one) and added a smiley

[Daulmakan]

Daul: suspected as much - which is why I said it looks like a typo (vs. that it is one) and added a smiley

[Valiant]

TheBigg, thank you for your tips, I´ll see what can we do with it. Although I do not suspect the difficulty level will be toned down. Razfallow and Sikret has worked pretty hard to make the mod balanced, they had to make few versions of scripts before they have chosen the final ones. After all, ultimately you have beaten all creatures, haven´t you? So it can´t be so hard. And you haven´t even tried improved versions...

Thanks anyway.

P.S.: about those identified items - I thought it would be nice to have them already identified. This way players that do not have a thief in party can use them without identification. But on the other hand, who is playing without a thief, right? Maybe I´ll change it back to unidentified ones...

[The Bigg]

After all, ultimately you have beaten all creatures, haven´t you?

I had to ctrl-R when dealing with the Guardian, but otherwise, yea (and I'm sure I would've been able to defeat him eventually, I just grew tired after the sixth try). I've already been told to Lern2Play, so I'll shut up on the issue.

P.S.: about those identified items - I thought it would be nice to have them already identified. This way players that do not have a thief in party can use them without identification. But on the other hand, who is playing without a thief, right? Maybe I´ll change it back to unidentified ones...

The only item you find and really need to use to win the mod is the Amulet of Explosions... and that's if you can't cast Fireball otherwise. The weapons you find are likely just free gold anyway since you should have better ones, so IDing them can wait till you get back to town (or you can rest to use the Identify spell and/or the Glasses...).

[Valiant]

I've already been told to Lern2Play, so I'll shut up on the issue.

Hehe

The weapons you find are likely just free gold anyway since you should have better ones

This is 100% right. But it was intended this way at the begining. You know, I´m not really good in creating items. I mean I can create items, but have not enough imagination and not enough AD&D knowledge to create some really USEFUL and nice weapons or shields, etc. If you can think of some, just send me a PM and I can incorporate them, no problem there so far... Of course it would need another translation work, so I hope my translators won´t kill me...

Every constructive criticism is welcomed.

[The Bigg]

This is 100% right. But it was intended this way at the begining. You know, I´m not really good in creating items. I mean I can create items, but have not enough imagination and not enough AD&D knowledge to create some really USEFUL and nice weapons or shields, etc. If you can think of some, just send me a PM and I can incorporate them, no problem there so far... Of course it would need another translation work, so I hope my translators won´t kill me...

Items that are useful in the bg2 ecosystem but still balanced? That's a tough one, and content creation isn't my forte either

One thing that could be useful at this point would be a set of elven chain mail (unenchanted or +1), as you don't find one until Suldanessalar - while not technically a 'new' item, it's still one which is not available until much later, and is certainly unrepresented.
Another thing could be one or two demon-slaying weapons (or items) to help less skilled people like me (and in the tradition of Firkraag hoarding anti-fire, anti-dragons items)
For example, a +2 Mace that deals 2 extra damage to extraplanar creatures, a further 2 extra to demons (as well as a bonus +2 to thac0 against demons), or a +1 throwing dagger that deals double damage to demons, or a belt that gives you +1 to AC, damage and thac0 against demons...

[Valiant]

Elven Chainmail, unenchanted + 1? That´s a good idea... So it is that Mace you wrote... I´ll take a look on original ones, so I know how they are built and then I´ll modify them in my own way...

Thanks a lot. But next time, pls PM. So the players won´t know about them. Now the surprise is gone, hehe...

[The Bigg]

Whoops, sorry

[Valiant]

Oh, I forgot. You mentioned before you haven´t improved versions installed, yes? But I hope you installed "Encounter with Ustrain" modpart, otherwise there´s no point to keep the book. Sell it somewhere. I plan for it something, perhaps next versions... But if you did, then wait until Suldanessenar...

[The Bigg]

Yes, I only have component 0 (the first post should link to my weidu.log). I don't feel like traversing the mod stack again, so I think I'll try it next run-through - sorry for being lazy and skipping content

[Valiant]

No need to apologize. You´re the one who will miss the whole idea of keeping the book, not me, hehe... Although I must admit it is not very clear how to install modparts. Shame on me...