Difficulty and some hints

[Mellagar]

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I have never played Baldur's gate all the way through the the Tales of the Sword Coast add-on. I remember the final battle with Sarevok to be rather difficult. Any hints on how to deal with this fight would be more than welcome. Also, how much is involved with Balduran's Ship and the Ice Island? Are they looooong quests which I will be spending several in-game days, or are they evened out to a few days worth, give or take resting?
Any replies are most welcome.

[ 04-14-2002, 11:07 PM: Message edited by: Mellagar ]

[Lioness]

Ehm, first, please edit your post and mark SPOILER. [img]smile.gif[/img] ok?

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The Ice Island could be whipped through in a few days, it's not that long, but come well prepared. Dunno about Balduran's Ship, I couldn't do that one.

The fight with Saverok is hard, mainly because he's hard to hurt and he has his little mage friends with him. I can't remember exactly how I beat him, just keep those things in mind.

[Luther]

Basically, don't try any of the TotSC missions until you've got an average party level of 6, otherwise you might find them frustratingly difficult. At level 6 you should find them amusingly challenging.

The Ice Island is a piece of cake, should take about an hour's worth of gameplay tops.

Balduran's ship is a little tougher. Some very intense battles as the mission progresses. But again, shouldn't take you all that long. Maybe 3-4 hours worth at most.

The hardest add-on mission by far is Durlag's Tower. Tough battles throughout and make sure your thief has a high detect traps ability as the whole place is littered with brutal traps. Also the final battle for the Durlag's Tower mission is incredibly tough (I found it harder than Sarevok as you can't simply concentrate your attacks on the main enemy for reasons which I won't go into) even with a high level party and may require some cheesy tactics to get through (ie: leave area, rest, go back for another whack etc). This quest will probably take around 6-7 hours to fully complete.

Bottom line is, they are all fun, they are all worth playing through. But I'd recommend you do it in the order of Ice Island then Balduran's ship and then Durlag's in order to sort've ween your way into them.

[SherpaDoug]

The ice island is nothing special, though good thieving skills help.

The ship quest is longer and tougher and I would bring all the magic arrows and fireball items you can afford. Also Haste and Invisibility are usefull. Non-magic weapons aren't going to cut it

Durlags Tower comes in two parts. Anyone who gets by the guards on the approach should have no problem with the top half of the tower. You also get some good easy loot.

The bottom half of the tower is a major quest. You will find all the special ammo you need in the tower. Don't forget to return to Ulgoth's Beard to return the stollen property! There are many more Xps to be had.

[Mellagar]

**Spoilers**
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Indeed I must agree completely with everything that has been said. I used the mission expansion pack that comes with the add-on and tried out the Ice Island, which I found to be beatable by a level 5 group, if you've got the right goodies with you. As for Balduran's Ship, well in my opinion its a suicide mission that, well, just never seems to end without the conclusion of my head being put in front of the mallet to be bashed. I entered into Durlag's Tower, or at least the top half. I had no wish to go further, heh. I found some VERY nice goodies, well worth the aggrevation, but the place is littered with endless amounts of traps. My only wonder would be whether or not the monsters are at lower levels if your group is as well. Instead of big baddies, they are reduced to creatures beatable by the current level of your group. Regardless all of it was quite interesting, however I did not think Balduran's Ship was worth the headache. As I said after beating the wolfwere's and greater wolfwere's "THAT'S IT!! A LOUSY @#!*@! SWORD AND A BUTTER KNIFE!!!" I was raving...
One last question, is it still possible to lure out Sarevoks goons at the final battle and take them one at a time? Because if you meet Sarevok first then they ALL come out. The only thing that kills me every time is not the wizard but Angelo with those exploding arrows.

[The Ozzman]

if you are still having problems with the end of the game, there was a thread about the final battle on page 2 of the board, in where people gave their tips. You can find my sure fire method there in which i have crushed you know who in less than 10 seconds everytime.

[NihilisticCrusader]

The end battle is much easier if you have at least one person with great bow and proficiences with lots of powerful arrows. Summoning hordes of skeletons and kobolds (not hard with that wand of monster summoning) lets you blast Sarevok & Co. with arrows and magic while they're busy killing your cheap little creatures. If nothing else, it'll soften them up quite a bit for your fighters.

[SixOfSpades]

About the ToSC quests: I agree with the order of doing 1) Ice Island, 2) Balduran's Ship, 3) Durlag's Tower. But I would add this important note:

For both the Ice Island and Balduran's Ship quests, you cannot turn back. You are trapped in that subquest, and cannot return until you have beaten it. Also, there are no temples, or stores, or inns, anywhere, so you will have to pack EVERYTHING you will need ahead of time. I suggest Healing Potions.

Anyone who has a party that's good with ranged weapons shouldn't have trouble with Ice Island. The material rewards on the Balduran's Ship quest are poor (only 1 item worth mentioning, good for Cleric/Thieves), but you get TONS of experience. And yes, don't go to Durlag's Tower unless you have 100% Find Traps.