What if you had a party of six Archers? Your team would be in as much trouble vs Neeber using the Reflection Shield, as your team of Beholders would be if he carried the Shield of Balduran
Of course you could go in and kill him with melee weapons, but that's exactly what Imp Beholders can do as well. IMHO, their upgraded melee capabilities was an excellent idea of weimer's, since it makes it impossible for a lvl 9 Fighter to steam-roll through such powerful enemies as Beholders, just because he bought a piece of enchanted metal for 17000 GP.
You'd prefer no fight at all (which is what the Shield vs normal Beholders is), rather than a "Stone Golem fight"? [img]smile.gif[/img] I personally think it's great that you actually have to have some real power to beat these guys now, and not just a single item. It makes even the lesser Lair in Unseeing Eye quite a challenge for a low level party, and one that you actually have to have decent tactics and equipment to handle, not just steam-roll through virtually naked.
[quote]Now, the Shield of Reflection. Again, ease and speed of procuring such an item, and the way it can really screw you over if you happen to be an Archer. But, happily, there are alternatives: If you shoot somebody and it bounces back, you can
a) Shoot at somebody else
b) Have your friends go beat him up
c) Use some Summoning items and run away
d) See if you can beat it in a melee.
[quote]
Your party of Beholders could do pretty much all those things, and the Imp Beholders do in fact do all these things, except summoning monsters, aint it great huh? [img]smile.gif[/img] A party consisting entirely of rangers don't have that option either though, neither can they call their friends to save the day.
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The fact that none of the enemies worth wearing the Shield for are smart enough to switch to any of these tactics points to the general weakness of the game's AI, not the cheesiness of the Shield itself. It's still cheesy, though--at the very least, it deserves a good solid fight before you can get it.
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Well that IS what makes it cheesy, it takes advantage of and exploits the poor AI. The other shield did the same until weimer upgraded the Beholders. It is still cheesy, but because Beholders now have a way to get around it and actually counter the Shield of Balduran, it's relative cheesiness is less IMHO.
If the AI of ranged attackers was improved - to stop firing arrows if they noticed their missiles being bounced back at them, and instead go in and fight you with melee weapons, kind of like they do if
you get close to them, then I would consider the Reflection Shield a far less cheesy item, but it's just not the case, yet.
[ 04-24-2003, 03:20 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]