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Originally posted by Boutte:
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ToB in my opinion pretty much sucks. Watchers Keep was pretty cool but other than that I wouldn't have payed a dime for it if I had known what I was getting.
Watcher's Keep is rad. Reminds me of a computer game I used to play at the library about ~8 years ago. Pure dungeon crawl, with some twisted puzzles. Graphics reeked, but other than that it was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon when you've read all the interesting books in the children's commons...
The computer opponents use the stinkiest cheese I have EVER seen in a computer game. The most annoying tactic is when you have essentially defeated a tough opponent they manage to dissapear and respawn completely healed and with all of thier spells restored.(Yaga Shura, Mellisan) I know that the idea is to challenge the players skill but this seems like a cheap way to do it.
Yep. Chalk your reponse right up there with the BG2 sages at Ironworks; several of them have said the same thing. I walked into ToB expecting the enemies were cheese-resistant. Poor me. [img]tongue.gif[/img] The immune-to-instant-death really bothers me. Instead of being immune, the critters should have high resistances, including physical as well as magical and elemental. The spellcasters should recognize when players cast certain spells and be throwing out Death Spells and whatnot instead of True Sight when all party members are visible.
The final battle really epitomizes what I'm talking about. I haven't managed to finish this one yet but I can see where it's going. Not only is she hugely powerful but you have to defeat her over and over and over. You can't even position your team to your advantage the computer puts you where it wants them. And by the time you have beaten her twice you don't have any spell left because you can't rest between battles. Don't even get me started on the dissappearing opponents in the final challenge at the planar dungeon.
There's a way around it, and it involves a certain spell. Either that, or choose your spells carefully. Me, I bought out Lazarus' inventory before heading off to that battle and packed
plenty of potions.
Don't be afraid to do planning outside the battle. Before the last battle, I sat down with pen and paper and wrote down all the stuff I had, who got certain spells and potions, chose my spells carefully, and made a basic gameplan: "when X event happens, I will do Y to counter." That sort of thing.
Auto-Pause is your best friend when it comes to this battle. Either that, or pause the game when an enemy fires off sequencers/contingencies to see what exactly happened, then plan out what to do from there.
Best advice in the universe: Keep at least two Ruby Rays of Reversal and at least one Spell Thrust handy, scroll or memorized spell. RRR is an Alteration spell, and is NOT blocked by Spell Immunity: Abjuration. As for the Spell Thrust, I use this only when I notice the enemy putting a Spell Shield on itself. Rather than waste an expensive Spellstrike or RRR on that Spell Shield, I fire a Spell Thrust, which eats the Spell Shield. If the enemy casts Spell Shield then SI: Abjuration, well, that's why you have two of them. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I think the makers were just milking the engine for all it was worth (see IWD I+II) and didn't really care about game play because knew every one was going to buy NWN regardless.
I don't know the exact dates, but I believe the release order was:
BG1
TotSC
IWD
BG2
IWD2
ToB
NWN
The Icewind Dale series is nothing like the Baldur's Gate series. I made the mistake of walking into IWD thinking it was a poor copy of BG1, and promptly got my a* handed to me by goblins. Yes, goblins. IWD2 also follows the ADnD 3rd edition feats and skills, and from the (few) reviews I've read, the IWD2 skill and feat system is a bit different than the version in NWN.
And no, not *everyone* has NWN. I don't. [img]tongue.gif[/img]