[Tancred]

Jeez, Durlag's Tower. Don't mention the Tower, please!

First time I ever played BG, I had one party. I was quite proud of it, novice though I was; tough, resourceful, we were coming up to Chapter Five and were about levels 4-5. Right, sez I. What I'll do is finish off these TOTSC quests first, then go on.

First stop? Durlag's Tower.

The creatures in the main foyer - the ones that hacked my party to bits when I wasn't concentrating - should perhaps have warned me this was no walk in the park, but I got past them and fought my way in. I had only one saved game at that point; I only used one slot so as to keep the place tidy. Hence, by the time I'd realised what my party had gotten into there was no way out.

Traps we couldn't disarm. Monsters that tore us apart. Puzzles that made me go 'huh?!?'. Cue three months of frustrated gaming - following this pattern:

Hiding Thief takes three steps forward. Search for traps for one minute.

Rest of party moves up. Thief hides. Save game.

Hiding thief takes three steps forward. Search for traps for one minute.

Sometimes, there'd be an interruption:

Thief encounters Foes. Thief runs for little life as party opens fire with spells, missile fire, everything and usually die once or twice and get reloaded before we get through.

Rest rest rest until healed.

Thief moves three steps forward...

I got out. By then the rest of the game was a walk in the park. In fact, nothing in BG2 or ToB came close either. I still have flashbacks. *shudder*