Hello all,

I’m an old time campaigner in Baldur’s Gate II; however, I played SoA far more than ToB. I considered ToB to be too much a hack-fest. I also considered the game very easy and invented all sorts of restrictions to help in that regard. These restrictions and mods to enhance difficulty were unsuccessful, as I generally lost interest in the game after the underdark.

Now enters Improved Anvil (IA). I am a newbie to this mod. I played an incomplete game of IA 3. I have just now finished a complete run through of SoA under a combination of IA 4.0-4.2. In general, I am very pleased with the added challenge this mod brings. Thanks Sikret.

I am also now a huge fan of Weimer’s Solaufein mod’s autobuffing script. I use this as a pre-battle buff (wait a few seconds for Improved Alacrity to wear off) and probably would not play IA without it. For me, I need buffs to do well in the improved battles. I would prefer a different script routine, but this suffices. It takes a huge amount of repetitive drudgery (buffing) from the game, and I recommend it.

So, I am obviously not at the same level of expertise as some players here. I would probably do better now in my second game. Nevertheless, these are my current opinions and should represent at least a certain percentage of the player population. One of my most difficult battles was the first ambush (Suna?). I think this encounter is a bit rude, too sudden in appearance for a low level, poorly equipped party. Now, with meta-gaming in gear, I may do better. Taking the fighter keep and obtaining the flail of ages (which I never really got because I chose not to replay after version upgrade) was a difficult challenge. I would have appreciated a little less difficulty here. Unless the other keeps adjust difficultly to party level, then obtaining the mage keep would be a terror. The slaver ship was another big challenge. I didn’t face any other improved encounters until after the underdark. That was a good decision for me, because I found the play after leaving the underdark to be much easier in general. There were two battles I did not care for: I did not like the viper queen extra quest in Windspear Hills, and I did not like the horde in the Watcher’s Keep. The first was boring, and the second was boring and difficult. (Maybe fixing the shield bug will make the battle less difficult and a more appropriate difficulty level. The ancient dragon is an epic battle and should be more difficult than a horde, but wasn’t to me.) I could not beat the demon prince that wants the judgment day sword. With advice from other posters (like using imprisonment) and enough reloads, I probably would succeed eventually, but this encounter is extremely difficult – easily the most difficult of any encounter in SoA or Watcher’s Keep. I guess that I really don’t care about its difficulty as I find it an easy battle to skip. The final battle with Irenicus had my eyes bugging out. This is probably 10x tougher than IA3 (no comparison). It reminded me of the time when I first saw the opposition in Tactics Improved Irenicus. I suspect that IA’s version is tougher. I was worried that I would be unable to finish the game, but I reloaded, switched tactics, and set the difficulty slider to easy. One and a half hours later or so, I finally completed the battle and did so successfully. I think I may be able to beat it on Normal or Core, but not that eager to spend so much time doing the battle over. I’ll leave insane to thetruth and other people like him.

I’ve learned a lot about what spells to select, tactics to use, and the best classes to employ them for success in IA. Now, I’m off to ToB.

Seems like you're enjoying the mod, rbeverjr.

I'm surprised people find suna seni so difficult though, is it just me who knocked out her whole party with greater command (minus the mage)?

You're right. I'm enjoying it. By the time I hit shark city things were usually challenging but not frustrating.

Well, suna generally zapped me with the spell before I successfully zapped them. As I say, next time I will plan and be ready for them. Hopefully, this will help. I guess I just favor allowing an avenue for beginners like me to put their toe into the icy waters rather than jump right in. Suna was an unexpected wake up call.

It's possible to avoid the Suna Seni encounter and leave Athkatla, do some quests outside the city e.g. most of the Trademeet quests and then return. In my most recent game I got to level 15 with a solo barbarian before I fought Suna, although this was mainly because I was able to complete most of the first two levels of Watchers Keep almost right away, plus much of the Unseeing Eye quest. The Suna Seni encounter was then fairly straightforward even with a solo character.

I know that many people will be reluctant to do this because it draws on too much player knowledge rather than character knowledge. I felt it was kinda justified because my barbarian is far more comfortable in the wild than in the big city and would want to get away from the bustle of Athkatla.

I'm glad that you have enjoyed playing the mod, rbeverjr!

Just a quick note:



If you skip this encounter and do not kill the demon prince within a week after forging the sword, the sword will disappear. Didn't the sword talk to you when you fiorged it? (So, the only way to skip this encounter is to forgo forging the sword from the beginning.)

I deliberately made a save before forging the sword. I forged it, went to do battle, got embarrassed, and decided that I'd just enjoy the rest of the game. (I went back to the save point and did not forge it.)

Demon Prince: Wise Decision! The forbidden sword should not be forged.

I didn't plan to use the sword, but I did want to experience this encounter. The encounter is exceptionally tough. I suppose I don't get into tactical play enough to spend hours trying to succeed. I expect that I will defeat this encounter some time in the future. In the immortal words of Arnie, "I'll be back."

P.S. It is rather ironic that those who can keep this sword are those who least need the sword for success any way. It reminds me of banks that are most likely to lend money to those that don't really need loans.