Question of game difficulties

[Darkman]

Unfortunately the manual's description of the different game difficulty settings is not very detailed at all. I realize that at the lower levels (normal and under), your characters get max hit points per lvl-up, and at the lowest two settings your mages will have 100% chance to scribe new spells. But what are the other differences? The manual says that the monsters in higher difficulties do more damage, but I've noticed that they also seem to land successful hits much more frequently and there definately seems to be a larger number of monsters to fight on insane difficulty and you seem to get double the experience points for kills. Does anyone have a list of what each of the difficulty settings do? And what about Heart of Fury?

[Micah Foehammer]

For Heart of Fury mode, the changes are as follows:

Monster hps = 3 x base + 80 hps (e.g. a 10 hp goblin becomes a 110 hp engine of death!)

Monster xp = 2000 + 3 x base

Monsters Thaco adjusted down to reflect higher level (unspecified as to exactly how this is done).

Monster special abilities: augmented in unspecified ways in HOF mode (e.g. MR may be increased)

Quest xp = 3 x normal

The manual (page 31) claims that there is an xp penalty for difficulty settings below normal and I believe its 25% for each notch below normal; and that there is NO xp bonus for difficulty settings above normal. I suspect that since the monsters have more hit points on igher difficulty levels that their Thaco's are adjusted down to reflect higher experience levels as they are in HOF mode, which would explain why they seem to hit more often. I'm not sure the manual is right about no xp bonus for the tougher monsters on insane mode (but can't claim that for sure since I went right from normal setting to HOF mode). I wouldn;t be surprised if the xp was increased by an amount equivalent to the increase in hit points for each monster for the two higher difficulty settings.

[Seraph]

quote:

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Monster xp = 2000 + 3 x base

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Its actually:
Monster xp = 2000 + 4x base.


Kill a chicken.
Normally 1 exp: Gives 2004 exp

A Mummy 3000 exp: Gives 14,000 exp


Also, I believe, but am not sure, that there is an XP bonus for the higher two difficulty levels in IWD. This is not the case in the BG games however. I dont have a manual in front of me right now, so I am not 100% sure.

[ 02-16-2002: Message edited by: Seraph ]

[Darkman]

Thanks for the responses. I am pretty sure there is an XP bonus of 2x for insane difficulty, not sure about hard though. But keep in mind I am playing with HoW installed, so maybe the original version has no XP bonus like in the BG games.

BTW, HoF sounds really tough!

[Micah Foehammer]

Actually, IMO, once you get past Yuxonomei, HOF mode actually starts to get EASIER. THe toughest part is starting from level 1 and keeping your party alive until you get past those pesky uber-goblins! lol Think about a level 1 character fighting 110 hp goblins that appear on the first map!!! On the flip side, you gain levels INCREDIBLY fast - so by the time you hit the later sections of the game, your characters just mow down anything in their way.

[Azred]

Couldn't a cleric really "clean up" in Heart of Fury mode by turning/destroying undead in the Vale of Shadows?

[Micah Foehammer]

Not sure about all of the undead in the Vale of Shadows (some of them are fairly tough like the Imbued wights and Mummies) as I can not recall what level your Cleric is likely to reach in HOF at that point, but you should see a cleric rock on burial isle!! [img]smile.gif[/img] Even the "wailers" get zapped!