Coming to the end...some thoughts (POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

Stonewarrior · 02-28-2005, 01:12 AM

Well, I finished the challenges tonight and will begin the final battles with Melissan tommorow...I want wait for my son. This trilogy has been far and away the coolest game I have played and can't wait to start a new game and try different classes etc. The following are some random thoughts about my experience...

Toughest Bhallspawn...
1 - Sendai...she is the only one who really gave me fits. Both times I finished off her clones I was out of spells to get rid of her protections and had a tough time beating her. Amazingly, when I got up the next morning Stone had beaten her on the second try. A note about my son who has been playing the game with me, he is 5 (yeah, I know...he is probably to young, but he really enjoys the game and is getting VERY good at it. As soon as he learns to read he won't need me for anything on the game! LOL).

2 - Abazigal...there is a huge dropoff...at least for me...after Sendai. He was tough, but he went quickly.

3 - Yagu Shura...the only problem I had with him was with the Fire Giants who kept coming in and the damn archers. LOL Again, not that difficult.

4 - Illasera - Not difficult at all...in fact, I was surprised to learn she was one of the 5

5 - Balthazar - I am not sure if it was b/c of the HLA's or what, but he was dead in about 30 seconds. Getting to him by fighting 15 or so monks and mercenaries outside the monastary was more difficult.

Toughest SoA battles...
1 - Kangaxx...and I didn't fight him til after the Underdark. He was a royal pain. Finally had to resort to casting protection from Undead right b/f he turned to the demi-lich (after about 10 tries prior!)

2 - The final encounter with Irenicus in Hell. He was like the energizer bunny...he just kept regenerating and regenerating.

3 - The demon in the underdark...didn't use Chaotic Command or protection from evil...made the battle very tough...most of my party was scared the majority of the time. lol

4 - The Shadow Dragon...my first dragon battle...fun but challenging.

We have played the game on normal difficulty, i defintely want to increase it next time. There were many facets of the game that we learned "on the fly" such as certian spells to use and the advantages of certain armor and weapons.

For the majority of the game I have used Jaheira, Mincsc (and Boo), Airee, Anomen and Imoen. Jaheira, Minsc and Imoen were also in our party throughout BG I. I also want to try new NPC's next time around as well as some of the available mods. My problems is I am partial to the NPC's I have and don't switch much...Stone on the other hand wants to switch constantly. lol

Anyway, I just wanted to share some thoughts since I have enjoyed and taken advantage of much of the knowledge on this board when we ran into roadblocks.

Peace, John.

Marty4 · 02-28-2005, 11:23 AM

Congrats on your journey! I recently just beat Melissan yesterday, and all I have to say is: be prepared for a huge fight.

You have a 5-year-old who can effectively play Baldur's Gate 2??? I'm having ridiculous trouble teaching my younger brother (11 years old) how to play Baldur's Gate 1!

Out of curiosity, what did you play as?

Xen · 02-28-2005, 11:31 AM

Congratulations! I do have a question tough. Did you fight improved Irenicus or normal one?

Stonewarrior · 02-28-2005, 01:26 PM

Marty - I am playing as a generic fighter. I thought of specializing, but we decided to stick with what we had.

With Stone it is kind of funny, I started playing Baldur's Gate and he saw it and seemed to get sucked in watching at first...then he started playing a little (mainly switching things amongst characters and buying things) and then he decided he wanted to start battling. He still has trouble with a lot of battles, but somehow he beat Sendai. LOL I still don't know how...but the challenge was open in pocket plane and he had her gear. He likes to use summons (I did...but seem to have gotten away from them) a lot, the greater elemental, Fallen Deva and Planetar are his favorites. He also seems to have a lot more patience as he pauses about every 10 seconds. LOL

Xen - no mods this time around. I can only imagine the difficulty Irenicus would present if he were improved. I think I actually resorted to resurrected Imoen and Airee at one point in the battle (always a risk) b/c I need a magic user so badly. LOL

Neomi · 02-28-2005, 05:28 PM

Nice work (so far!). Good luck with the final battle(s) with M. I think you'll find her to be quite appropriately the hardest fight in the game.

Don't worry about starting to use a bunch of mods just yet... Put the difficulty up to Insane, it won't make that much difference (heh heh) and you can always move the slider back down if you're having trouble with a particular fight. You have a few more run-throughs to get to know all the NPCs (there are still a few that I almost never use, like Cernd). And I still don't use that many mods, mostly because I'm too lazy to download them and get everything installed in the proper order...

Stonewarrior · 03-01-2005, 12:17 AM

Well, we beat Melissan tonight. It was indeed a tough battle. I think the hardest part was not being able to rest in between battles. I was happy only to have had to reload once though. We took her out ok the first time as we were completely buffed, The second fight was difficult as I started running out fo magic removing spells. The third fight downright sucked! She was hidden behind the energy beam and I could not see her! LOL Anomen and Minsc needed to be resurrected. I had to do some mad scrambling in the scroll cases lookling for magic removing spells when I fought the folks in the NE sphere, a very tough fight...far and away the toughest of the 3.

Part of my problem is I thought Imoen had memorized wish prior to leaving pocket place, but nope... Fortunately, I had one spellin a scroll case and used it b/f the final battle. The final battle went pretty well since I was well rested and she wasn't doing much (if any) summoning.

Now that we are done...it is rather sad. We have been playing the game for close to two and a half months (the entire series)...and to have it end is bittersweet. Having played primarily with the same NPC's most the game (and series) I really got to know them and their abilities very well. That said, I am toying with several ideas for new characters for the next time through!!!

Brainless One · 03-01-2005, 11:59 PM

Congradulations!!! I love hearing about how when people beat the game for their first time! Makes me remember the first time I ever played, and wish I could go back to then and how awesome it was the first time to see everything. But replaying is so much fun also, which is why it is my favorite game. No other games come close to its replay value. And I understand how you feel with your son beating Sendai for you, when I first got to Melissan I tried a few times with my solo fighter but got annoyed, and then my friend (who sucks at this game) tried a few times and BEAT HER. I was so shocked, because it was my first time actually making it all the way to her. What did you think about the battle with Draconis? That was my least favorite.
-Brainless One

Marty4 · 03-02-2005, 05:46 AM

Congratulations on the final battle! Good move using wish, I wish ( [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] ) I had though of that. I had two multiclass mages at the final battle (Aerie and Jan), so I couldn't cast level 9 spells

. However, using lots of potions between battles works to the same effect. I actually found the NE sphere to be the easiest, but maybe I was lucky.

@ Brainless One, I actually beat Draconis quite easily. Did I get lucky or something?

Scarab · 03-02-2005, 12:28 PM

SW: that's cool you're playing with your son. I'm impressed he can drive the thing solo, esp in battle. My 5yr old likes to sit in my lap when I play. He esp likes to get in on the dragon fights. We read a lot of fantasy chapter books, so it's like watching fantasy TV for him.

I can only imagine what Mama thinks about your son summoning monsters.. oh dear. I catch flack fro just letting my son watch me play. "It's so violent! He doesn't need to watch that!" He thinks that my guys are "heros" and we have to get the "bad guys and monsters"

Congrats..BTW
S

Stonewarrior · 03-02-2005, 02:31 PM

Brainless One: Draconis was very tough...not so much so as a Mage, but very much so as a Dragon. The fact that he kept going invisible was annoying! LOL I didn't have True Sight memorized so I kept having to case Purge Invisibility. What really sucked was the everything I would have a couple use Greater Whirlwind he seemed to go invisible. Couple that with a horde of Invisible Stalkers and it was very tough. Abazigal was fairly easy in comparison...which I found odd.

Scarab: Mama is ok with the game thus far. He has actually started his own game...he created a Wizard Slayer (pretty good stats also) on his own while I was at work. The problem he is still having is the conversations as he doesn't read yet. I have told him option 1 is usually a safe one! LOL I started a new game last night...created a Sorcerer...so he wanted to do the same today. It was tough explaining the spell differences but I finally convinced him he should stick with what he has for now. The bad thing about this is when I get home and want to play he gets upset b/c he wants to keep playing. LOL

02-28-2005, 05:28 PM	#5
Neomi Zhentarim Guard Join Date: January 28, 2004 Location: Houston, TX Age: 53 Posts: 312	Nice work (so far!). Good luck with the final battle(s) with M. I think you'll find her to be quite appropriately the hardest fight in the game. Don't worry about starting to use a bunch of mods just yet... Put the difficulty up to Insane, it won't make that much difference (heh heh) and you can always move the slider back down if you're having trouble with a particular fight. You have a few more run-throughs to get to know all the NPCs (there are still a few that I almost never use, like Cernd). And I still don't use that many mods, mostly because I'm too lazy to download them and get everything installed in the proper order... __________________ \"Though we name the things we know, we do not necessarily know the things we name.\" -Homer W. Smith

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02-28-2005, 01:12 AM	#1
Stonewarrior Manshoon Join Date: January 10, 2005 Location: Independence, MO Age: 54 Posts: 234	Well, I finished the challenges tonight and will begin the final battles with Melissan tommorow...I want wait for my son. This trilogy has been far and away the coolest game I have played and can't wait to start a new game and try different classes etc. The following are some random thoughts about my experience... Toughest Bhallspawn... 1 - Sendai...she is the only one who really gave me fits. Both times I finished off her clones I was out of spells to get rid of her protections and had a tough time beating her. Amazingly, when I got up the next morning Stone had beaten her on the second try. A note about my son who has been playing the game with me, he is 5 (yeah, I know...he is probably to young, but he really enjoys the game and is getting VERY good at it. As soon as he learns to read he won't need me for anything on the game! LOL). 2 - Abazigal...there is a huge dropoff...at least for me...after Sendai. He was tough, but he went quickly. 3 - Yagu Shura...the only problem I had with him was with the Fire Giants who kept coming in and the damn archers. LOL Again, not that difficult. 4 - Illasera - Not difficult at all...in fact, I was surprised to learn she was one of the 5 5 - Balthazar - I am not sure if it was b/c of the HLA's or what, but he was dead in about 30 seconds. Getting to him by fighting 15 or so monks and mercenaries outside the monastary was more difficult. Toughest SoA battles... 1 - Kangaxx...and I didn't fight him til after the Underdark. He was a royal pain. Finally had to resort to casting protection from Undead right b/f he turned to the demi-lich (after about 10 tries prior!) 2 - The final encounter with Irenicus in Hell. He was like the energizer bunny...he just kept regenerating and regenerating. 3 - The demon in the underdark...didn't use Chaotic Command or protection from evil...made the battle very tough...most of my party was scared the majority of the time. lol 4 - The Shadow Dragon...my first dragon battle...fun but challenging. We have played the game on normal difficulty, i defintely want to increase it next time. There were many facets of the game that we learned "on the fly" such as certian spells to use and the advantages of certain armor and weapons. For the majority of the game I have used Jaheira, Mincsc (and Boo), Airee, Anomen and Imoen. Jaheira, Minsc and Imoen were also in our party throughout BG I. I also want to try new NPC's next time around as well as some of the available mods. My problems is I am partial to the NPC's I have and don't switch much...Stone on the other hand wants to switch constantly. lol Anyway, I just wanted to share some thoughts since I have enjoyed and taken advantage of much of the knowledge on this board when we ran into roadblocks. Peace, John.

02-28-2005, 11:23 AM	#2
Marty4 Symbol of Cyric Join Date: August 31, 2004 Location: VA Age: 34 Posts: 1,127	Congrats on your journey! I recently just beat Melissan yesterday, and all I have to say is: be prepared for a huge fight. You have a 5-year-old who can effectively play Baldur's Gate 2??? I'm having ridiculous trouble teaching my younger brother (11 years old) how to play Baldur's Gate 1! Out of curiosity, what did you play as?

02-28-2005, 11:31 AM	#3
Xen Symbol of Moradin Join Date: June 5, 2002 Location: Slovenia,Ljubljana Age: 37 Posts: 8,554	Congratulations! I do have a question tough. Did you fight improved Irenicus or normal one?

02-28-2005, 01:26 PM	#4
Stonewarrior Manshoon Join Date: January 10, 2005 Location: Independence, MO Age: 54 Posts: 234	Marty - I am playing as a generic fighter. I thought of specializing, but we decided to stick with what we had. With Stone it is kind of funny, I started playing Baldur's Gate and he saw it and seemed to get sucked in watching at first...then he started playing a little (mainly switching things amongst characters and buying things) and then he decided he wanted to start battling. He still has trouble with a lot of battles, but somehow he beat Sendai. LOL I still don't know how...but the challenge was open in pocket plane and he had her gear. He likes to use summons (I did...but seem to have gotten away from them) a lot, the greater elemental, Fallen Deva and Planetar are his favorites. He also seems to have a lot more patience as he pauses about every 10 seconds. LOL Xen - no mods this time around. I can only imagine the difficulty Irenicus would present if he were improved. I think I actually resorted to resurrected Imoen and Airee at one point in the battle (always a risk) b/c I need a magic user so badly. LOL

03-01-2005, 12:17 AM	#6
Stonewarrior Manshoon Join Date: January 10, 2005 Location: Independence, MO Age: 54 Posts: 234	Well, we beat Melissan tonight. It was indeed a tough battle. I think the hardest part was not being able to rest in between battles. I was happy only to have had to reload once though. We took her out ok the first time as we were completely buffed, The second fight was difficult as I started running out fo magic removing spells. The third fight downright sucked! She was hidden behind the energy beam and I could not see her! LOL Anomen and Minsc needed to be resurrected. I had to do some mad scrambling in the scroll cases lookling for magic removing spells when I fought the folks in the NE sphere, a very tough fight...far and away the toughest of the 3. Part of my problem is I thought Imoen had memorized wish prior to leaving pocket place, but nope... Fortunately, I had one spellin a scroll case and used it b/f the final battle. The final battle went pretty well since I was well rested and she wasn't doing much (if any) summoning. Now that we are done...it is rather sad. We have been playing the game for close to two and a half months (the entire series)...and to have it end is bittersweet. Having played primarily with the same NPC's most the game (and series) I really got to know them and their abilities very well. That said, I am toying with several ideas for new characters for the next time through!!!

03-01-2005, 11:59 PM	#7
Brainless One Zhentarim Guard Join Date: July 24, 2002 Location: Arm's length from my monitor. Age: 35 Posts: 367	Congradulations!!! I love hearing about how when people beat the game for their first time! Makes me remember the first time I ever played, and wish I could go back to then and how awesome it was the first time to see everything. But replaying is so much fun also, which is why it is my favorite game. No other games come close to its replay value. And I understand how you feel with your son beating Sendai for you, when I first got to Melissan I tried a few times with my solo fighter but got annoyed, and then my friend (who sucks at this game) tried a few times and BEAT HER. I was so shocked, because it was my first time actually making it all the way to her. What did you think about the battle with Draconis? That was my least favorite. -Brainless One

03-02-2005, 05:46 AM	#8
Marty4 Symbol of Cyric Join Date: August 31, 2004 Location: VA Age: 34 Posts: 1,127	Congratulations on the final battle! Good move using wish, I wish ( [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] ) I had though of that. I had two multiclass mages at the final battle (Aerie and Jan), so I couldn't cast level 9 spells . However, using lots of potions between battles works to the same effect. I actually found the NE sphere to be the easiest, but maybe I was lucky. @ Brainless One, I actually beat Draconis quite easily. Did I get lucky or something?

03-02-2005, 12:28 PM	#9
Scarab Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: January 26, 2005 Location: DE, USA Age: 50 Posts: 39	SW: that's cool you're playing with your son. I'm impressed he can drive the thing solo, esp in battle. My 5yr old likes to sit in my lap when I play. He esp likes to get in on the dragon fights. We read a lot of fantasy chapter books, so it's like watching fantasy TV for him. I can only imagine what Mama thinks about your son summoning monsters.. oh dear. I catch flack fro just letting my son watch me play. "It's so violent! He doesn't need to watch that!" He thinks that my guys are "heros" and we have to get the "bad guys and monsters" Congrats..BTW S

03-02-2005, 02:31 PM	#10
Stonewarrior Manshoon Join Date: January 10, 2005 Location: Independence, MO Age: 54 Posts: 234	Brainless One: Draconis was very tough...not so much so as a Mage, but very much so as a Dragon. The fact that he kept going invisible was annoying! LOL I didn't have True Sight memorized so I kept having to case Purge Invisibility. What really sucked was the everything I would have a couple use Greater Whirlwind he seemed to go invisible. Couple that with a horde of Invisible Stalkers and it was very tough. Abazigal was fairly easy in comparison...which I found odd. Scarab: Mama is ok with the game thus far. He has actually started his own game...he created a Wizard Slayer (pretty good stats also) on his own while I was at work. The problem he is still having is the conversations as he doesn't read yet. I have told him option 1 is usually a safe one! LOL I started a new game last night...created a Sorcerer...so he wanted to do the same today. It was tough explaining the spell differences but I finally convinced him he should stick with what he has for now. The bad thing about this is when I get home and want to play he gets upset b/c he wants to keep playing. LOL

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