|
Oh, goooooddddd... don't get me started on Durlag's Tower. There was me, thinking it was just another quest, ho ho, nothing can stop my party, and so on and so forth, so we set out to conquer the tower during Chapter 5, when we were all about level 6. Confidence was to dissolve into utter despair.
I should have got the hint when the ghostly things prowling the OUTSIDE of the keep damn near killed the party. But did I? No... used up our healing spells and carried on into the dungeon.
What followed was two weeks of computer game hell - not frustration, not anger, but pure, honest fear. I'd mistakenly forgotten to save a game prior to entering the Keep, so once we were in, we were in. We battled on, reload after reload, resting up to three times a day to regain our strength after each fight. Paranoia entered my brain as every corridor, every passageway was advanced along, a step at a time, with the trap-detecting Jahiera leading the way. Even then, Imoen simply wasn't able to disarm several traps.
The final battle was, in my view, my finest hour, with serious forward planning, exceptional timing and all manner of devious tactics finally paved the way to victory. I had never been so relieved as when my party finally stumbled back into Ulgoth's Beard, bloody and battered - but hardened by the experience. From that point on, nothing in BG held any terror for me.
By comparison, Watcher's Keep wasn't that hard. I visited it after the fall of Saradush, wanting to get some experience before facing more challenges. Perhaps the lessons I learned in Durlag's Tower aided me - I daresay they did, as I stocked up on enough potions, scrolls, antidotes, weapons and ammo to last several normal game weeks, expecting another hellhole. In the end, it took only three evenings, and the final confrontation with the Imprisoned One lasted a mere thirty-two seconds - and seventeen of those seconds were on pause. I was counting.
|