Expert difficulty

[Loudhy]

Hell, that expert difficulty level drives me insane !! [img]graemlins/1dizzy.gif[/img]

After my first party (Lvl 11/13) was swallowed be Brekek, my second party ( now Lvl 9) was nearly destroyed in Trynton . They ran into 2 Oak Elders who crushed both Bishop and Alchemist in the first round. I was lucky to escape but I really wonder how difficult Nessie or the Sorceress Queen will be later.

I think, a lot of you have played the game on "expert", too . Any tips about these combats ?

Thanks

[img]graemlins/monster5.gif[/img]

[Scatter]

Yah, i had the most trouble in Expert when it came to mid-level enemy casters.
Just gotta be more serious about buffs, Super, Guardian, I4I, etc.
I also notice even in Expert if you get within their physical attack range they'll pick that more than casting, or if you're stealthy, they ignore you more if you are in their physical range.
The effect of level on your resistance is also more pronounced in Expert.

[petertmorgan]

I recently dispatched Nessie on expert mode with a party of four hybrids (sam-nin-mon-val) who were all about level 16. It was a long combat (mostly because my game slows down a lot against her), but not horribly difficult. I used two elementals (one canned, another summoned) and I attacked from a different angle. She wasted several rounds using her breath attack, which didn't do much against my high magic resistance party. She also spent several rounds biting the elementals, which helped. She did manage to swallow one of my characters, but only close to the end, so it didn't cause much problem.

The thing about the fixed encounters on expert difficulty is that if you have trouble, just wait until you're a level or two higher then try again.

What I have noticed most about playing on expert is that it really helps to have all skills covered and be able to use artifacts effectively. On normal I never cared much for the various sticks and bombs because a balanced party of six can do without. On expert, I need some good artifacts to get me out of tight place, and that means I need someone who can reliably use or throw them. A healthy supply of smelling salts and ressurection powder is also very helpful... (and cure disease, and renewal potions, potions of restoration, etc. if you don't have broad magic coverage)

[Wereboar]

Nessie - i usually kill her quite late. And then she rarely stands more than 3 rounds. With my fighter-bishop duo, the fighter brought her down to below 50 HP within one round of combat (too bad that last swing missed).

Before playing ironman, i sometimes went there quite early (lowest was level 12 IIRC). Only if i have a bard (infinite heal all) and somebody with the stamina spell. Then i just kill her with missiles. She never swallowed a character when i shoot her from the entrance of a tunnel (i fact, i was very surprised when she did this for the first time - in maybe the 15th combat against her). But it takes painful long to kill her with missiles - only about 12 rounds of combat (if she casts iron skin), but every miss causes a 5 second animation ...

I usually make the temple fight near the very end, just because the items there are too good. When you cast elemental shield and soul shield in your 'surprise' round of combat, its usually no problem. But you should have several characters which are able to purify air (if not with spell, the keep rings of breezes).

I only had one close call in this fight, when the toxic cloud disabled all my characters in the first round. But i had eye for an eye up, so the reflected death cloud and death wishes killed all the clerics and elementals. The death knigths and the vampire queen wasted their time casting spells, and about 5-6 round later the priest (last man standing - probably due to his iron will) woke up and started to ressurrect the party.

[Nightowl2]

I've been wondering: is experience the same for monsters in expert as in regular, or do you get more exp for killing critters in expert?

Nightowl2

[Scatter]

no

[babar]

For Nessie, the flanking tactic works well, but you need to make sure you are in the open, so the elementals don't block you from moving around. also, you want them to be high level or else they won't last very long.

For the Sorceress Queen, take out the cultists first, then you can go nuts with the banish on the elementals and may even scratch a death lord. I don't think the Queen is too bad by herself, so you probably want to close on the death knights and wail away. more elementals of your own to distract them might be good (don't remember if any went insane on me). Save any remaining spell points for healing and cleaning the air. Having a bard heal all close to every turn helps a lot.

funny, I usually take the temple at the end, too, but because I get my butt kicked (but I've been one of those 'no deaths acceptable' people. I rarely invoke artifacts but have found guys with reasonable throwing skill handy every now and then.

[Scatter]

If you got Eye for an Eye, (potion, even!) you can let the Death Lords kill the Cultists and their Elementals.

[MasterPooBaa]

From what ive experienced in expert mode:
A. Enemies ability to hit is better.
B. Your ability to hit them is reduced.
C. Spell damage done by them is increased
D. yoru spell damage is reduced.
E. slightly less likelyhood of skillpoint increase at the end of combat.
F. slightly better monster inititive.

Ive been playing my 4 man party at expert and its just a matter of Practice practice practice and BUFF BUFF BUFF with those spells!

Also at the beginning i found it more advantageous to use lots of magic while backed into a corner, saves stamina and boosts magic skills, especially for my party which is composed of dual class characters that have weaker magical ability initially (lord, smurai, monk, ninja)

[ 03-09-2004, 07:43 PM: Message edited by: MasterPooBaa ]

[babar]

Originally posted by Scatter: If you got Eye for an Eye, (potion, even!) you can let the Death Lords kill the Cultists and their Elementals.

For some reason, I usually don't do that (at least not in the beginning rounds). I think I usually don't get lucky with the reflection, and rather than have a bunch of cultists hanging around summoning elementals and casting silence, I usually just try to blow them out early.