into Durlag's tower

[Armen]

well I've finally arrived [img]smile.gif[/img]

i'm going for my first party finish of BG1 (I've done it as a solo) and we've worked our way down to Durlag's - its great to be in a new area and i've avoided enough spoilers i think to not know what to expect!

i haven't done much yet - just arrived (and i'd love to know how the tourists got there!) and seen the tour and 'finale'

that was as far as i got as i picked up Branwen on my way past as my party of 4 (PC druid, dualled imoen, kivan, coran) are nearly capped and i have no cleric so thought why not - unfortunately she joined with about 25K XPs so didn't have the hitpoints to survive!

nothing to report except a sense of anticipation [img]smile.gif[/img]

[SixOfSpades]

One important warning:
One of the lower floors contains a set of doors. (The entire first part of the level is all about figuring out how to open them.) Once you finally get past them, reports suggest that they will stay open for less than eight hours and that once they close again, there is no way to re-open them.

Therefore, opening the doors and then going upstairs to Rest would be a really bad idea if you were hoping to see the whole Tower.

[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*

[Armen]

Originally posted by Tancred: 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: Rest rest rest until healed. Thief moves three steps forward...

very funny and scarily true [img]smile.gif[/img]

this time round i've discovered the tactic of having two thieves - in this case Imoen (dualled-to-mage, finding traps) and Coran (in stealth) working together

Coran advances as far as i think safe - Imoen stands behind him - 1-2-3-4-5-6 - Coran advances . . .

i'm halfway round the first basement level now - thanks Six for the reminder and thanks Tancred for helping the tension [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Albromor]

Tancred, I feel your pain! My brother eventually got smart and fled that death trap. I have finished Durlag's twice and I remember the second time I wasn't sure if I wanted to tackle it. Even if you are familiar with it the second time through it is amazing how you can still die and reload due to forgetfulnes and complexity.

The first time through I was forced to take large quantities of prozac (j/k). But seriously, the only other time I ever felt as oppressed/dictated to in a game as Durlag's Tower were 3 distinct chapters in Thief 1: the Bonehoard, The Haunted Cathedral, and The Return to the Haunted Cathedral. It's like you want to take the challenge, but once done you sure are glad to come out from under the oppressive weight.

By the way, there is one particular trap on the second level of the dungeon that a thief cannot, in no way, ever detect regardless of their 110% Find Trap percentage. And the real kicker is it is not dispelled the first time you set it off, or the second, or the third... This is where the seemingly useless Cleric spell "Find Traps" comes in real handy. Have your cleric cast it, and though it takes a while to work,that trap is eventually exposed allowing your thief to safely disarm.

I can't begin to tell you how many hours I spent sending my thief out invisible and doing nothing but finding and disarming traps. I got them out of the way first inorder to allow free flowing game play to follow.


Still, after all is said and done, Durlag's Tower is a work of brillance.

[ 06-30-2003, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Albromor ]