I consider myself to be quite a decent tactician in this game, and I've had my fair share of BG2 run-throughs (I'd guess about 10 BG1, 25 SoA and 10 ToB ones since first purchasing this game). In the past I've always limited myself to some more "conservative" mods, because I like them. By conservative I mean popular mods like fixpack, tweaks, tactics, UB, Ascension, NPC mods... most of which I like. The incompatibility of IA and, for example, UB has always held me back from installing this mod, but now I've gone and done it anyway, mostly because tactics was getting too easy for my tastes and I'd heard/read good things about this mod and the tactical challenges in it.
First of all, the Amber NPC mod is fully compatible with IA v5, it is still listed as incompatible in the v5 installation document. The writer of that mod fixed the compatibility a while ago, so you may already be aware of it, anyway, I used her in my SoA run-through and everything worked as it should.
So... On to the actual review of the mod. I'll apologise in advance for the incoherency of this post, as I'll just be writing down my thoughts as they come.
I used a half-elf Vagrant PC, and this is what the rest of my party looked like:
-Jaheira, F/D multi
-Nalia, T/M dual -> Imoen, Sorc
-Haer'Dalis, Blade
-Aerie, M/C multi
-Amber, F/T dual
Along with my vagrant PC this looked like a balanced party to me. I chose Amber because I wanted a thief after ditching Nalia for Imoen, and I like my NPCs to have interactions. Amber is a Fighter 7 -> thief dual classer, and though she certainly isn't as strong as a custom NPC would be, but I don't really mind, and I wanted to make sure the mod was compatible as well, as it has some great content. It is definitely not overpowered, as I didn't use any of the custom items introduced by it.
As I said I just finished the SoA part of the mod (including all of WK), and I'll start by describing the party members by usefulness so far.
-Vagrant PC: This class is overpowered compared to other dedicated fighter characters. The swanmay's are incredibly resilient, the contact with nature ability is very useful (for all rangers) and the elemental resistance kicks ass. I don't mind that it is overpowered, as it still doesn't compare to some other classes, and it helps putting fighters on par with them, but I feel kind of sorry for the other dedicated fighter classes because they're now all 2nd rank to the vagrant. (Though I imagine berserkers could match them, didn't use them in this game.) He's lvl 29 after finishing SoA, that means that with the +20% resistance bonus from hell he's now 1lvl from being immune from all elements. He dual-wielded 95% of the game, until I killed the Ancient Dragon and was able to forge the dragon lord halberd, which kicks too much ass to ignore.
-Imoen: The all-powerful sorceress. As in the vanilla game, sorcerers are probably still the most powerful class. I might try my next IA game without one, they remove a lot of challenges.
-Haer'Dalis: I read that in v6 bards are nerfed. Good, because this is just ridiculous. This character is immortal with the special bard armour. A ton of spell-slots all the way up to 8th lvl with constant improved alacrity... He's undispellable by normal means thanks to being able to refresh his SI before the enemy can cast another spell and unhittable of course thanks to PfMW, he can also dispel at will thanks to his high caster level. I'd never even try to solo this mod, but if I would, it'd be with a bard in this armour.
-Jaheira: Though obviously more powerful as a R/C, I chose to keep her as a F/D. Not the strongest character, but she held her own. An AC monster, who rarely gets hit, and has the stoneskins to absorb it if she does. Easily dispellable is a big weakness, and slow druid progression makes sure she only becomes quite strong quite late.
-Aerie: Here as a backup mage and cleric. Fulfils both rolls quite nicely, and has nice synergy, she wore vecna's robe for most of the game (Imoen has it now), as those instant greater restoration spells are a handy life-saver.
-Amber: Completes the team with her thieving skills, and is still a decent fighter. Probably the character that died the most thanks to poor hp and AC. Started kicking ass quite late when I forged the grandfather of assassins for her. (I SK'd her from the start to dual-wield.)
So 3 arcane casters, 2 divine casters, 1 dedicated fighter and 3 help-fighters. My only worry beforehand after reading some forums posts was that I wouldn't have enough melee power, but they did well in SoA and found it to be a very balanced party.
The overall tactical challenge of the mod so far was very satisfying. Thanks to not reading any spoilers beforehand, I've had to reload in a large number of fights, as I simply didn't know what my enemies were capable off at that point. These are the fights that were the most memorable for me, for whatever reasons:
-All forms of Bodhi and Irenicus: Could use a boost. Especially the final hell-fight could be made harder. I didn't prepare or rest before the fight (because I had no clue what was going to come through the gate and wanted to check out the opponents and their abilities first), and still managed to win the fight without reloading, to my own surprise. Imoen didn't even get a "rest" option on her wish spell with the 5 or so 9th level spells she had left.
-The copper cornet/Lirarcor/Slum slavers: Normally, this is the first quest I do after gathering my party members. I didn't expect the enemies to be so tough and it was a pleasant surprise.
The beastmaster and his tabitha were meant to be taken on by a party fresh out of his dungeon I think, as they posed a nice challenge. I had to return to Lirarcor and the slavers later, as they were simply impossible at this level (and without any +3 weapon). I returned to the slavers a couple of levels later (protagonist lvl 10 or 11 iirc) and without resting anywhere in their compound they made for a very rewarding challenge.-The Planar Sphere: I did this one right after the slavers, with a lvl 11 protagonist, and it was a nice, but difficult challenge. I would probably go there with a higher lvl party in the future to make it a bit easier.
-Ranger-/Vagrant-specific quests, post Firkraag adventures: All very nice quests. Some unique and interresting fights. The serpent queen was probably the hardest fight in all of these for me, but they were all very nice. Well done!
-1st lvl of Spellhold: Some very tough fights inhere. I arrived in spellhold with a lvl 13 protagonist. The tome continuing past the normal monsters took me by surprise, and I think I've develloped some arachnophobia from IA.
The fight for the shard and the vampire lord were both fun and took some unconventional tactics. The cat of nine lives is also a very nice fight, but a little too easy as it is now, I believe he's scheduled to get an upgrade in v6, so no worries.-UD drow ambushes: Well, I think the first ambush was probably the most difficult fight in my game. After doing the mind flayers and the beholders first my protagonist was around lvl 16 I think, and they just ate me at first. For the second ambush I took advantage of the separate party that spawns on your protagonist, which made that fight fairly easy, but the first one was painful. The only fight in SoA where I had to use consumables (potions mostly) to make it through. And even then took me a great amount of reloads. Not so much rewarding in the end as glad it was over. Good thing it's being toned down a bit in v6. The only reason I made it in the end is the immortal Haer'Dalis tanking all the spiders for a large part of the fight.
-Dracolich and his maze: Maze was a bit tiring. Will definitely be using the map in future games. Dracolich himself was a good fight.
-Spider Queen: Difficult fight (damn arachnophobia), but rewarding in the end. Still a lot easier than drow ambushes since you can choose at which level to do this.
-Green Wyrm: he needs something extra I think. Maybe a sidekick, a tad too easy imo.
-Tieflings in wild magic room: Great, fun fight. Wild magic made sure I had to reload quite a few times. (Taking all my money, bah!) Don't change anything.
-Orc Horde: Fun, fun fun! Quite a hard fight, jaheira with her missile-immune Huskar Lord armour was pretty much invulnerable here and really shined. I used summons until they were all dead and then started scorching the room (Incendiary Clouds, sunfire, etc.) with my casters until everything with dead, go fire immunity! Still took a couple of reloads. Should have fought Ancient Dragon first, dragon lord halberd would have made a big difference.
-Ancient Dragon: Probably the most difficult fights regardless of level in the SoA-portion. Took me a while to finally pull him down. Here's what did it for me in the end:
SPOILER!
Buffed with all the usuals (and fire immunity on everyone), improved haste etc. Summon Swanmay Queen, Greater Djinni, Planetar, Elemental Prince and Noble Spider while the "talking" character runs forward.
Talk to him with a caster (Aerie), and let the caster absorb the initial lower-fire resistance spell, pull her back behind the lines quickly.
Get Ancient Wyrm to attack Haer'Dalis the immortal. He can self-buff his fire resistance up again in time if it gets lowered. The rest of the monsters attack summons or party members.
Kill Noble Djinni first in a round or two max with the rest of the characters, (chain) contigencies of chain lightning spells make sure it's done fast.
Switch to Fire Salamander. It goes down a round or two later.
Aerie greater restores to get the party to full health again as I finish up the Hakeashar-type monster. Imoen gets the rest option after a couple of wish-spells and summons are renewed. A lot of them had already died (from dragon breath etc., they're not fire immune like the rest of the party).
Those who have had theirs lowered from the Djinni etc. get their fire immunity refreshed from a range of spells (divine and arcane).
Characters with fire immunity and full health + summons attack the dragon from different sides. Characters that have their immunity lowered are immediately pulled back to behind the casters (outside of line of sight) and have their immunity refreshed before going back in. A couple more Greater restores are used when needed.
The Ancient falls!
Amber died somewhere during the fight, but was revived through a planetar, had some buffs refreshed and went on to get the killing blow.
Talk to him with a caster (Aerie), and let the caster absorb the initial lower-fire resistance spell, pull her back behind the lines quickly.
Get Ancient Wyrm to attack Haer'Dalis the immortal. He can self-buff his fire resistance up again in time if it gets lowered. The rest of the monsters attack summons or party members.
Kill Noble Djinni first in a round or two max with the rest of the characters, (chain) contigencies of chain lightning spells make sure it's done fast.
Switch to Fire Salamander. It goes down a round or two later.
Aerie greater restores to get the party to full health again as I finish up the Hakeashar-type monster. Imoen gets the rest option after a couple of wish-spells and summons are renewed. A lot of them had already died (from dragon breath etc., they're not fire immune like the rest of the party).
Those who have had theirs lowered from the Djinni etc. get their fire immunity refreshed from a range of spells (divine and arcane).
Characters with fire immunity and full health + summons attack the dragon from different sides. Characters that have their immunity lowered are immediately pulled back to behind the casters (outside of line of sight) and have their immunity refreshed before going back in. A couple more Greater restores are used when needed.
The Ancient falls!
Amber died somewhere during the fight, but was revived through a planetar, had some buffs refreshed and went on to get the killing blow.
I got the feeling that this was pretty much the final fight in SoA. After him all that remained were a couple of fights in WK (Demogorgon badly needs to be upgraded), the Twisted Rune, Orcus and the Tree of Life/hell. Orcus was fun but not extremely challenging, and the twisted rune was even easier and done after one reload.
I buffed myself extensively before going in the first time (immunity to all elements for all characters etc.) plus a bunch of summons, and died horribly thanks to Layene's wish for double alacrity/timestop, a nightmare for my party which ended in a rude awakening with the instant death of my protagonist.
The second try the only thing I changed was:
SPOILER!
Go for Layenne first.
Jaheira character with lvl-drain immunity tanks the vampire, she's getting the anti-magic rays from the beholder but easily holds her own thanks to her AC and some heals from Aerie/Potions. Summons keep the lich and fighter occupied.
Dispel Layenne with Imoen's prepared contigency: 2 ruby ray's and a breach, Layenne dies in round two or three without having done anything thanks to good positioning of my characters.
The party goes to rescue Jaheira and beats the crap out of the vampire (limited wish lvl-drain immunity for everyone before moving in on him).
After that mob up the rest.
The fighter character was killed by my fighters in a round or so, and the lich was quickly dispelled and annihilated.
The only weird thing was that the beholder had some kind of undispellable invisibility + SI:abj. I had to wait until his invis ran out to kill him, which wasn't that big a deal with all his other allies dead.
In my 1st try I saw a twisted golem spawn somewhere, but I guess I killed everyone before the thing got a chance to spawn the 2nd time.
Jaheira character with lvl-drain immunity tanks the vampire, she's getting the anti-magic rays from the beholder but easily holds her own thanks to her AC and some heals from Aerie/Potions. Summons keep the lich and fighter occupied.
Dispel Layenne with Imoen's prepared contigency: 2 ruby ray's and a breach, Layenne dies in round two or three without having done anything thanks to good positioning of my characters.
The party goes to rescue Jaheira and beats the crap out of the vampire (limited wish lvl-drain immunity for everyone before moving in on him).
After that mob up the rest.
The fighter character was killed by my fighters in a round or so, and the lich was quickly dispelled and annihilated.
The only weird thing was that the beholder had some kind of undispellable invisibility + SI:abj. I had to wait until his invis ran out to kill him, which wasn't that big a deal with all his other allies dead.
In my 1st try I saw a twisted golem spawn somewhere, but I guess I killed everyone before the thing got a chance to spawn the 2nd time.
All in all, some very nice challenges in this mod so far, and I'm having fun with it! I'm certain ToB will have some very challenging fights in store as well. (What's this dreaded EDE thing I keep hearing about I wonder?
)Thank you, keep up the good work!
