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seclists · 10-13-2004, 02:12 AM

Well, compared to the original BG, more than 50% of them, I'd say...

In the original BG, it was often - in the end - just a question of hurting the creatures enough before you ran out of hit points. In BG2, it doesn't work that way any more, because the monsters are not just hurting you, they will mind-control your characters, paralyze them, confuse them, cast death spells on them, stop the time, summon demons, and do various other unpleasant things...

Of course, *some* of the BG monsters could do such things, too, but they were (mercifully!) a minority. You could pull all stops for those specific fights, and then there was the *real* super strategy of BG(1), the Invisibility spell. Virtually *no* enemies would react to invisible characters in the original BG, so you could turn your whole party invisible, take your time strategically placing the characters and then pause the game, give the orders to your characters, and initiate the combat - this would give you a *huge* edge in most fights. The enemy spellcasters would have no chance of getting off a single spell when your hasted & invisible fighters were standing right next to them and started pummeling them before they could even start casting. In BG2, this method seldom works, as your opponents now have means of detecting invisible characters and/or dispelling invisibility.

Ok, so you have various means of dealing with the various annoying opponent types - mostly magic.
Level drainers? Cast Negative Plane Protection on your characters
Confusion, domination, charm, or such? Cast Chaotic Commands on your characters
Death spells? Cast Death Ward on your characters
etc.
Your spell arsenal, judiciously used, should offer some means of coping with any specific challenge.

Perhaps the most annoying opponents of all - for me - are the enemy spellcasters (human spellcasters as well as certain spellcasting monsters). They always seem to get their nastiest spells off no matter how I try to disrupt their spellcasting, while my casters trying to cast Breach, Pierce Magic, Dispel Magic, Remove Magic etc are always having their casting disrupted by the opponents' attacks. It just seems unfair...

[ 10-13-2004, 02:14 AM: Message edited by: seclists ]

10-13-2004, 02:12 AM	#17
seclists Dungeon Master Join Date: December 18, 2003 Location: NA Age: 55 Posts: 57	Well, compared to the original BG, more than 50% of them, I'd say... In the original BG, it was often - in the end - just a question of hurting the creatures enough before you ran out of hit points. In BG2, it doesn't work that way any more, because the monsters are not just hurting you, they will mind-control your characters, paralyze them, confuse them, cast death spells on them, stop the time, summon demons, and do various other unpleasant things... Of course, some of the BG monsters could do such things, too, but they were (mercifully!) a minority. You could pull all stops for those specific fights, and then there was the real super strategy of BG(1), the Invisibility spell. Virtually no enemies would react to invisible characters in the original BG, so you could turn your whole party invisible, take your time strategically placing the characters and then pause the game, give the orders to your characters, and initiate the combat - this would give you a huge edge in most fights. The enemy spellcasters would have no chance of getting off a single spell when your hasted & invisible fighters were standing right next to them and started pummeling them before they could even start casting. In BG2, this method seldom works, as your opponents now have means of detecting invisible characters and/or dispelling invisibility. Ok, so you have various means of dealing with the various annoying opponent types - mostly magic. Level drainers? Cast Negative Plane Protection on your characters Confusion, domination, charm, or such? Cast Chaotic Commands on your characters Death spells? Cast Death Ward on your characters etc. Your spell arsenal, judiciously used, should offer some means of coping with any specific challenge. Perhaps the most annoying opponents of all - for me - are the enemy spellcasters (human spellcasters as well as certain spellcasting monsters). They always seem to get their nastiest spells off no matter how I try to disrupt their spellcasting, while my casters trying to cast Breach, Pierce Magic, Dispel Magic, Remove Magic etc are always having their casting disrupted by the opponents' attacks. It just seems unfair... [ 10-13-2004, 02:14 AM: Message edited by: seclists ]