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

[Sikret]

Don't you want to play any of the two expanded strongholds?

Yes I do! But first I just wanted to try a class I've never had any experience with. I'll most likely make a branching savegame after I hit around level 14 and SK my main into the appropriate classes to experience the new content. After which I'll continue on with my original game.

You can dual-class your Swashbuckler to a mage.

[luan]

Finished all the quests and boss mobs in chapter II except Firkraag (about to engage him right now).

Initially the boss monsters felt really overbearing with the huge regeneration and resistances, but as my party powered up, encounters have reached a point of feeling "just right". Almost every improved encounter had an epic swagger about it which is great! I freaked out when Lavok went on his time-stop rampage, but fortunately he left my main PC intact for the finish.

A few comments:
IA has really improved my tactical playing. I find myself being much more attentive to detail and positioning.

I think all the huge resistances on playable NPC races are fine, as long as the player can eventually reach those levels of power. I love the challenge, but I still find it slightly immersion breaking if some NPC non-monster just has 50% physical and magic resistance while it's not possible for the player to achieve. Monsters, magical, and divine beings don't bother me though, since they don't require any justification for anything! They are unnatural by default and can possess any set of stats and power. Perhaps with IA 5 when/if bhaal spawn powers are implemented, the PC can finally gain these powerful innate resistances. Naturally, this means the newer epic final encounters will have to be even more difficult!

But that's in the spirit of IA regardless

Golems... those things make me cringe... sturdy bastards... the Amber golem which I was not prepared for was an epic battle!

Ice dust potions! Those things are a life saver! It's a very clutch item for when there's a comet coming down on your head. I hope there are more to be found as I've only stumbled across 3 total thus far.

I can really see how money is a serious constraint. I've been focusing on getting my AC for the swashbuckler as low as possible. So many nice things I want to upgrade but not nearly enough gold (this is great since it forces me to choose, and makes each item feel special)

I think I'm going to try see how deep I can go into WK before heading off to Spellhold!

[Mongerman]

I can assure you money is not a big problem at the end of SOA, assuming you do the extra quests.

[Sikret]

IA has really improved my tactical playing. I find myself being much more attentive to detail and positioning.

That's great.

the Amber golem which I was not prepared for was an epic battle!

Where did you meet your first Amber Golem?

I can really see how money is a serious constraint. I've been focusing on getting my AC for the swashbuckler as low as possible. So many nice things I want to upgrade but not nearly enough gold (this is great since it forces me to choose, and makes each item feel special)

I agree.

I think I'm going to try see how deep I can go into WK before heading off to Spellhold!

Make sure that you have Black Spider Figurine with yourself when you go to the first level of WK to see a new encounter.

BTW, haven't you dual-class to mage yet? If you delay too much, it will be difficult to reactivate the Swashbuckler abilities and it will take a long time.

[luan]

Where did you meet your first Amber Golem?

It was with Borinall's group. I thought things were going smoothly until I realized all my guys were getting electrocuted with the golem feedback shock. It was down to wire with everyone at >10 hp and the Amber golem at Near Death. As a last ditch effort I had my main character run in circles while everyone else played kamikaze... Then I realized I had a cloak of the sewers on Jan's corpse, which fortunately gave me enough HP back to finish off the golem.

Make sure that you have Black Spider Figurine with yourself when you go to the first level of WK to see a new encounter.

I use it extensively to bait enemy spell casters to waste a round casting death spells! Very handy!

BTW, haven't you dual-class to mage yet? If you delay too much, it will be difficult to reactivate the Swashbuckler abilities and it will take a long time.

I have a save game that I will play through to experience the new content as a dual class. Once i'm finished with that I'll just continue with my original character single-class.

[Sikret]

I have a save game that I will play through to experience the new content as a dual class. Once i'm finished with that I'll just continue with my original character single-class.

One of the new features added for mage protagonists will happen at the end of TOB. You will not finish the new content soon.

[Romulas]

Sikret

Speaking of mage content, is there anymore after the pasha shows up and the clobbering at the docks? Talking about shadows of amn. I had the encounter in the docks now nothing has happened, probably 2 weeks have gone by in game time.

By the way, the encounter in the docks and pasha encounter I had to reduce difficulty. There was just no way to do enough damage before getting waxed. Its too bad I couldn't redo those encounters with the party I have now, they are higher level and could handle more. One other question is it by design to only display a -24 for AC?

Romulas

[Sikret]

Speaking of mage content, is there anymore after the pasha shows up and the clobbering at the docks? Talking about shadows of amn. I had the encounter in the docks now nothing has happened, probably 2 weeks have gone by in game time.

SPOILERS:

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If you sided with Pasha (against Marvella) and if he survived the encounter, he will show up again to help you in EDE at the end of TOB (and he will be much more powerful at that time).

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End of spoilers

One other question is it by design to only display a -24 for AC?

I guess the best possible AC is -26 (is it -24?) and it is a feature of the original game. I have done nothing about it.

This post has been edited by Sikret: May 14 2007, 01:39 PM

[luan]

One of the new features added for mage protagonists will happen at the end of TOB. You will not finish the new content soon.

Haha oh man...

I guess the best possible AC is -26 (is it -24?) and it is a feature of the original game. I have done nothing about it.

I can get -26 in my game, so I think that is the cap.

[rbeverjr]

Copied from a BG2 forum:

AC. The game engine counts down to -30. The lowest regular AC you can get is -26... possibly -28 if you take the evil path in hell and have two points in single weapon style. Single weapon style is what gets it down to -26. With a shield the lowest is -24. Then there are the modifiers to slashing, blunt, piercing, and missile AC. Missile AC for instance is modified by sword and shield style, belt of piercing, cloak of displacement etc. You can easily get more than -10 in the missile modifier. However lower than total of -30 is useless. (you put the two together, AC -10 and modifier -3 against slashing means effective AC -13 against slashing). There are a few, at least one, enemy in the game with thac0 -20, but, if your effective AC is -30, that will still be a miss 50% of the time. So low AC can be very good, especially combined with regenerating equipment. Monks probably get down to -30 against missiles at the cap for instance. I feel that with the lowest possible AC you don’t get hit very often, even by bosses. Being hit not only damages you and disrupts spellcasting but it also disrupts attacking so it is a good idea to not get hit.

[Romulas]

Copied from a BG2 forum:

AC. The game engine counts down to -30. The lowest regular AC you can get is -26... possibly -28 if you take the evil path in hell and have two points in single weapon style. Single weapon style is what gets it down to -26. With a shield the lowest is -24. Then there are the modifiers to slashing, blunt, piercing, and missile AC. Missile AC for instance is modified by sword and shield style, belt of piercing, cloak of displacement etc. You can easily get more than -10 in the missile modifier. However lower than total of -30 is useless. (you put the two together, AC -10 and modifier -3 against slashing means effective AC -13 against slashing). There are a few, at least one, enemy in the game with thac0 -20, but, if your effective AC is -30, that will still be a miss 50% of the time. So low AC can be very good, especially combined with regenerating equipment. Monks probably get down to -30 against missiles at the cap for instance. I feel that with the lowest possible AC you don’t get hit very often, even by bosses. Being hit not only damages you and disrupts spellcasting but it also disrupts attacking so it is a good idea to not get hit.

You are a fountain of knowlege, this explains why I can only get to -24, thanks.

Romulas

[Sikret]

Sorry for the delayed reply. I had somehow missed this question:

Edit: Finally managed to kill the sewer party. Wondering why Gaius (or perhaps all of them rather) seem to have troll-like regeneration. I'm relatively sure that I stripped their protections before I could even dent them, and the fast regeneration made it extraordinarily more difficult. Is this an anti-cheese measure?

Yes, it's exactly an anti-cheese measure against hit-&-run tactics with ranged weapons. The known old cheesy method was to hit the enemy with a ranged weapon from distance and flee; return for a second hit and flee again, and so on till the enemy falls. This kind of cheesy method will be successfully blocked with that slow regeneration rate some of the enemies have. If you stand and fight normally, that slow rate of regeneration will have little (if any) effect on the battle. (Some enemies have faster regeneration rate than others, of course.)

This post has been edited by Sikret: May 15 2007, 01:01 PM

[luan]

I guess I engaged the encounter a little too early (don't recall exactly what my level was, but it was one of the first initial improved encounters I tackled).

[luan]

Just maimed the Chromatic Demon. To my surprise he wasn't very resistant to crowd control attacks. Managed to turn him into a wailing Emo-child on a couple occassions. What struck me as odd was that he could still cast death spells on my summons despite under the influence of emotion!

I think the next time I play IA I'll omit installation of Unfinished Business and the Quest pack so as to not gain so much extra experience in chapter 2. Currently my party runs around 2.5mil experience points.

The only encounters I've had to bypass so far is the extra encounter in WK1 and Kangaxx! I also haven't attempted the new encounter in the graveyard after obtaining Daystar.

Regardless, I'm having great fun, and that's what is important. Cheers!

[luan]

My goodness, just received Vanya's quest. Pretty awesome but I think i'm going to have to put this one off until chapter 6!
Same with the new Daystar encounter.

I was going to comment on how the enemy NPCs would be drastically more difficult if they constantly dispelled throughout the battle. Well, a particular demon lord had a nice retort for that already!

[luan]

Made it down to level 4 in WK. It might be something to consider to block off access to WK until chapter 6.

I'm accumulating experience at a tremendous rate with relative ease. My characters are around 3.3m a piece, grabbing their first HLAs... and have yet to pay Gaelan! I also now realize just how sickly strong a Swashbuckler is with UAI. I'm running around with a huge damage bonus, permanent 8 attacks a turn via the improved boots of haste, -24ac, and extremely low saving throws... and nearly 50% physical damage resistance from the monk amulet and Jan's armor...

Overpowered!!!

Anyhow, a comment on the Supreme Leader encounter. I think repositioning him further back from the door towards the center of the room would be wise. As it is, the door often obstructs targeting. Additionally, the summons + golems create a chokepoint such that subsequent summons are unreachable and multiply exponentially without any option for recourse.

When I did coerce him to chase me to the center of room, the encounter was much more fluid to execute. However, if he decides to stay near the door, it's pretty much impossible.

Excuse if below is just a bug, but the Mlar and Hr'a'cknir were not triggering hostility when they spawned and remained neutral. This would render them immune to AOE spells and prevented me from reading their condition (injured/near death).

This post has been edited by luan: May 16 2007, 08:31 AM

[Sikret]

Just maimed the Chromatic Demon. To my surprise he wasn't very resistant to crowd control attacks. Managed to turn him into a wailing Emo-child on a couple occassions. What struck me as odd was that he could still cast death spells on my summons despite under the influence of emotion!

Yes, this is a bug of the original game. Even UmberHulks can cast their Confusions while unconscious. I noticed this bug about a week ago and fixed it in my local version of the mod (will be there in IA v4.3). As I said, it a general bug in the original game. But demons are immune to unconsciousness in Improved Anvil; so this bug should not have occurred for the chromaitc Demon. Have you possibly installed any mods after IA which might have changed things.

[Sikret]

I'm accumulating experience at a tremendous rate with relative ease. My characters are around 3.3m a piece, grabbing their first HLAs... and have yet to pay Gaelan! I also now realize just how sickly strong a Swashbuckler is with UAI. I'm running around with a huge damage bonus, permanent 8 attacks a turn via the improved boots of haste, -24ac, and extremely low saving throws... and nearly 50% physical damage resistance from the monk amulet and Jan's armor...

Many of the most powerful items of IA are not usable by thieves even after they gain the "Use Any Item" ability. The amulet and Jan's armor are not among them though.

Also perhaps consider having the Mlar and Hr'a'cknir summons immediately trigger hostility so that AOE spells can affect them in addition to not constantly having to force manual attack.

This is intentional. It has two reasons. One of the reasons is to add to the difficulty of this battle and the second reason has role playing backgrounds. If you have studied about Githyanki culture, you know that Mlars and Hr'a'cknirs are not combar sort of characters, they are artists to make constructions. (You said that your party is overpowered and asked for blocking access to WK till chapter 6 and now you ask to change creatures to make them vulnerable to more offensive spells? Do you now want the game to be easier or more difficult in WK? )

[luan]

This is intentional. It has two reasons. One of the reasons is to add to the difficulty of this battle and the second reason has role playing backgrounds. If you have studied about Githyanki culture, you know that Mlars and Hr'a'cknirs are not combar sort of characters, they are artists to make constructions. (You said that your party is overpowered and asked for blocking access to WK till chapter 6 and now you ask to change creatures to make them vulnerable to more offensive spells? Do you now want the game to be easier or more difficult in WK? laugh.gif )

I'd never want it easier! I am unaware of Githyanki culture so that's just my ignorance talking, pardon. However, if they are actively making war machines to obliterate my party, I would consider them hostile creatures! It's like war machine factories, which are the initial targets in war!

Anyhow, I understand your reasoning and won't argue. I did just manage to beat the encounter after luring him out of that chokepoint.

In regards to WK difficulty, my humble opinion is that it requires quite a boost. I don't think a chapter 2 party should have any business in such a high reward area. Note that I have skipped the special encounter on WK 1, and am fully aware that the new dragon is probably going to be a brick wall to stop my momentum. The problem arises in that I could actually get *that* far down there, reaping most of the rewards from WK.

Yes, this is a bug of the original game. Even UmberHulks can cast their Confusions while unconscious. I noticed this bug about a week ago and fixed it in my local version of the mod (will be there in IA v4.3). As I said, it a general bug in the original game. But demons are immune to unconsciousness in Improved Anvil; so this bug should not have occurred for the chromaitc Demon. Have you possibly installed any mods after IA which might have changed things.

To be honest, this was the only encounter where I noticed a Demon rendered unconscious. I was actually so surprised I opened up his file in NearInfinity to check if he was indeed a demon.

I looked through his immunities but I didn't really know what to look for. I saw no protection from spell "emotion" however.

As for mods, I only have bg2 tweak pack (essentially only for the stackable ammo and similar ease-of-use components), unfinished business, quest pack, ascension, and banter pack. I was very careful to follow your installation instructions so I don't really think there is anything that would conflict with the chromatic demon.

Him just falling unconscious really took me by surprise. Though he just as soon stood back up and started swinging for the fences.

This post has been edited by luan: May 16 2007, 08:50 AM

[thetruth]

Made it down to level 4 in WK. It might be something to consider to block off access to WK until chapter 6.

I'm accumulating experience at a tremendous rate with relative ease. My characters are around 3.3m a piece, grabbing their first HLAs... and have yet to pay Gaelan! I also now realize just how sickly strong a Swashbuckler is with UAI. I'm running around with a huge damage bonus, permanent 8 attacks a turn via the improved boots of haste, -24ac, and extremely low saving throws... and nearly 50% physical damage resistance from the monk amulet and Jan's armor...

Overpowered!!!

Yes a Swashbuckler with those items is indeed overpowered.
But if you think that it unbalances your game you could not use them .

Usually players complain about the difficulty of IA, so Sikret has done well to leave these options for those players.
The same is true for W.Keep. If you do it in ToB you will have a much more challenging SoA part.