Mislead Exploit

[Link]

LOL! You're an evil man, Six! [img]smile.gif[/img] What I'm wondering though, is *why* everyone wants BG2 to be so much tougher? And if they do, why make it tough in such an inadequate way i.e. by cheating?

[Faceman]

Originally posted by Link: LOL! You're an evil man, Six! [img]smile.gif[/img] What I'm wondering though, is *why* everyone wants BG2 to be so much tougher? And if they do, why make it tough in such an inadequate way i.e. by cheating?

Amen!
I've walked through SoA several times but never installed Tactics/EoU/...
To tell the truth I even find common ToB too cheesy sometimes.
I don't even switch diff. to insane because I think it's unfair (I'm not going around with a permanent Critical Hit enabled).
I just play through the game testing different kits, different role-playing approaches and marvel at tiny things I've overlooked for the first twenty times.

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by Link: What I'm wondering though, is *why* everyone wants BG2 to be so much tougher? And if they do, why make it tough in such an inadequate way i.e. by cheating?

Because, in unMODded BG, there are things that are just too easy--to veterans, anyway. TorGal is an absolute pushover--he can be slain instantly, with a single Cloudkill, without even having to speak to him--which is absolutely ludicrous given that he's supposed to be the Big Boss of a major quest that includes the best weapon in the whole damn game. The same goes for the Guarded Compound: Celestial Fury is WAY too cool a weapon to warrant these bozos as its guardians. So people like Westley Weimer, Gebhard Blucher, SimDongO, and the rest created "Improved" versions of these battles, to make the game more challenging.

Why they do it by cheating? I couldn't tell you. In the past, I have said that "Weimer clearly doesn't know jack about game balance." In my review of the Tactics MOD, I amend that somewhat: "I try to focus on what should be done, while Weimer seems to concentrate on what can be done." This may explain why my own take on balancing out the game takes such a different tack: Instead of buffing the enemies all to hell, I'm watering down the most overpowered items while bringing some of the slower ones up to speed--leveling the playing field, if you will. This means that with Item Rebalancing installed, wearing the Cloak of Mirroring against Beholders will no longer be regarded as a sin (although it will probably get your character killed), and carries the side effect that cheesy enemies that actually *use* the cheesy items (*coughkuroisancough*) will be made significantly less of a Cheating Pain in the Ass.

[Morgeruat]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: The same goes for the Guarded Compound: Celestial Fury is WAY too cool a weapon to warrant these bozos as its guardians. So people like Westley Weimer, Gebhard Blucher, SimDongO, and the rest created "Improved" versions of these battles, to make the game more challenging.

Actually I've never had an easy time with the guarded compound, even with a full party of 6 a decent level cavalier, Keldorn, and more it's always been a real challenge, on Core difficulty, My number of reloads was of course lower than with Big Red, but I also got the CF after Red went down.

[Dundee Slaytern]

2 spells will render the Default Guarded Compound a joke, and both of them are only level 4. Greater Malison + Emotion. Come to think of it... this spell combination still renders the "Improved" Guarded Compound into a joke.

Hmmmm... ...

[Faceman]

I always had problems with the Guarded Compund as I tended to visit it early in the game. Just for kicks though as I seldomly use Katanas. Now recently I revisited with my evil Assassin (he'll use CF ) &party (+Viconia,Edwin,Korgan) and took the guys without a reload.
One Chain Lighntning and Domination on one of their tanks. Korgan killed the thief within one or two rounds and the rest was a ranged fight with Tugian and Edwin+Viconia's spellbooks.
However I won't nag and demand a tougher fight that take 24 reloads to finish. I like it if I can win with a common amount of luck and don't have to reload until that Finger of Death bypasses my enemy's MR.

[teardropmina]

I don't know...the fight (standard) is kinda annoying but not really difficult. take it on early or late, for me, the most important thing
(ehh...is spoiler really necessary in this thread? we now already know how to walk over either the standard or improved compound^_*)
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is to take care of those deadly traps first. I've only reloaded once...the first time I went in, had no idea there were traps...so...@"@
after disarming the traps, things get easier, even if some in my party get confused or panic, they at least won't run into traps!

[Faceman]

the main annoying thing for me always was that if you are low level and unprepared the thief would backstab/instantkill one of my weak mages (Aerie, Edwin,...)
Now I know I could counter this with casting True Sight before going up the stairs but that wouldn't be fair, would it. After all I'm not as cheesy as the NPC wizards who cast TS or detect Illusion all the time when you're near them and invisible as if they could smell you

The only thing that I have found offers a valid protection for weak mages in this (and some other anti-party fights) is IMHO Stoneskin which every self-respecting mage should get up as soon as he smells the slightest idea of conflict. I think that is roleplayingly okay as I consider it only normal for a low HP mage to be concerned with exactly this flaw and therefore casting a rather simple spell to calm himself down.

[Legos]

SPOILER
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So, talking about the guarded compound, how do you deal with the demon and his fellows when theyare summoned at the first level of the place?

[Zuvio]

+3 weapons, free action, maybe some fire resistance. That fight really shouldn't be a problem in any case.