Some Screenshots From My Assassin Game

[Dundee Slaytern]

Eh... nothing too fancy... Truth be told, I am treating this BG2 run more as a, "How to avoid dying in frustration from modded foes", then a chance to spin some stories.

This thread is a continuation from my BGTutu game.

Maybe I should not have installed the mods in the first place, since I was preparing to experiment with the Kelsey NPC and Thief HLAs. Aw shucks, got to roll with the punches I guess.

The random city encounters are quite a pain for a mish-mashed party, and thankfully I have managed to minimise contact with them through sleeping in the Graveyard District and such. Some quests require you to walk around at night though, and their sudden INSTANT TELEPORTATION WITH NO FREAKING USAGE OF DIMENSION DOOR AT LEAST can be... annoying, to say the least.

The closest shave was probably when my party popped out of the Slaver Ship and I realised it was nighttime. I went, "Oh noes!" and tried to go back in, but the door was barred. Screwed. No choice. I had to fight them, and they can actually pop up RIGHT NEXT TO YOU FOR NO DISCERNABLE REASONS OR LOGIC, leading to chaotic and ultimately futile combat on the Slaver Ship's stairs.

I had to reload until I got lucky and they spawned at the bottom of the stairs. Used one guy to block the stairs while the rest of the party hurled arrows, bolts and kitchen sinks while the tank screamed liked a baby and drank Potions of Extra Healing. Was very, very tempted to cast Fireballs and Death Fogs, but the thought of wasting my first Cowled Wizard warning on this fight was deterrent enough.

Gah!

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I have plans to have Imoen in my final party setup before advancing to ToB, and normally this would warrant an early entrance to Chapter 4. I actually managed to raise the 20,000gp by the 3rd game hour... As in, Day 0: Hr 3. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

However... a few things stopped me.

First of all... the thought of entering Chapter 4 early and encountering the Improved Beholders, Illithids, and Sahuagin was... daunting. With my current equipment setup, I would be roadkill for them.

If I take too long however... Imoen would be lacking in XP, and I do not wish for that. Currently on Day5( could have been less, but I made a side trip to Windspear Hills to return the acorns. No point lugging those around in Chapter 4...), with the last mission for Aran Linvail on the to-do list.

I could easily enter Chapter 4 now... easy being subjective, since I have Improved Bodhi to deal with first... Oh my aching head. I had plans to roleplay through this, but those plans are pretty much in shambles now.

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What about the screenshots you ask?

Well, I managed to get a nice one during one of the early Vampire encounters. It was a simultanous attack, a backstab plus a Call Lightning.

That is one of the early advantages that Clerics and Druids have over Wizards in early BG2. They can cast their spells with impunity, and Call Lightning is very potent by this stage in the game. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Not to mention all the summons.

Besides, Call Lightning is always cool.

Screenshots were resized to 800x600 from their original 1024x768, so the text will be fuzzy.




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[SixOfSpades]

That's odd--I was of the opinion that all Undead are immune to Cold and Electricity. Hmm.

And how the hell did you raise any money by Day 0, Hour 3, when just leaving Jon's Dungeon automatically forces the timer to Hour 7?

If you want, I can give you some hints as to the AIs of the more offensive Tactics components. Not exactly in-character, but nothing anywhere near as bad as what they do.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: That's odd--I was of the opinion that all Undead are immune to Cold and Electricity. Hmm. And how the hell did you raise any money by Day 0, Hour 3, when just leaving Jon's Dungeon automatically forces the timer to Hour 7? If you want, I can give you some hints as to the AIs of the more offensive Tactics components. Not exactly in-character, but nothing anywhere near as bad as what they do.

Hmm... true that. Come to think of it, why didn't the timer progress? Must be some conflict when I was installing the mods.

Figuring out the AI of the creatures is easy enough, once you have had played with them once or twice. Just like that time when I discovered that the Improved I~ couldn't see invisible units and just blindly followed you through scripting. Hoo-boy... was abusing that loophole fun. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I already know how to handle the RCEncounters for example. The problem is... they have a bad habit of spawning AMONGST your party members.

To put it simply, it is not the scripting that is giving me problems, but the way it was implemented sometimes. I could... easily laze around Amn and slowly rack up the experience, but having a Lvl12 Imoen when the party is Lvl16-17 is not a very nice thing. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

ADD] Undead are immuned to Cold, but definitely not Electricity. By default anyway. My years of zapping them with Bolts of Lightning, Call Lightning, etc... in BG1, IWD, and BG2 attest to this.

[ 05-25-2006, 11:07 PM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: I already know how to handle the RCEncounters for example.

Okay. On second thought, it might be better to let you develop your own strategies, and then we could compare notes.

Undead are immuned to Cold, but definitely not Electricity. By default anyway.

Hmm...maybe it's just Skeletons and the like that are immune. . . more testing.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Tradesmeet's done. Did it mainly for the Shield of Harmony. The other misc items from the merchants will come in handy as well though. Party is now mostly Level 11-12. Pondering whether to let Kelsey hit level 14 first to get some MSwords before rescuing Imoen.

The IDruid Grove was fun, though the Spore Colonies were quite a PITA. Fortunately, I already had Lilarcor at that point, so it was just a matter of one tank, and multiple fireballs.

The IShadow Druids were a pleasant challenge, but nothing major. A basic Hold Person spell was all I needed to end their lives. Spirit Animals were settled by a single scroll of Death Spell.

My experiment to cheese IFaldorn was a failure. I was not aware that she would cast Physical Mirror. Oh well... no big loss. I just got Invulnerable-when-Neutral Cernd to beat the tar out of her.

I feel like kicking myself over one part though. I forgot to battle the bunch of IShadow Druids at the entrance to IFaldorn's cave. This meant that I lost the opportunity to gain two items. Flame Tongue and Gnasher. Oh well... chalk it up to too bad, so sad.

Most of the Kelsey banters are humorous, but the some of the romance ones seem... over-the-top. I dunno about others, but I get the feeling that if you force a kiss onto a girl, cheek or otherwise, you're asking for a world of hurt. The romance dialogues are okay, but the forced ones make Kelsey seem like an obsessive stalker. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Currently in the midst of visiting Anomen's father. Once Anomen's quest is completed, I plan to get the next NPC's quest. Most likely either Keldorn or Korgan.

Still no memorable screenshot opportunities. Most of the battles and events were very run of the mill.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Lieutenant Logs, Serial String No. 26450,
Lieutenant Aegisfield reporting,
Log title, "Bridge District Incident".

As the primary witness of the recent incident that took place yesterday, I, Lieutenant Aegisfield, present to you this report.

Stationed at the main entrance gate of the Bridge District of Athkatla, I observed a group of adventurers entering the district at 1200hrs. They were then suddenly accosted by a pair of people who seemed to express interest in a mage named Kelsey within the adventurers' group.

Unfortunately, my position was too far away to hear their conversations properly, and it appeared to begin civilly enough. Moments later however, their tones began to sound agitated, and that was when the hostilities started. More people arrived, companions of the two people who accosted the adventurers, and they started to attack the adventurers.

I chose to side with the adventurers since they were not the ones who started the fight, and aided them with my bow, after blowing my whistle for backup as per regulations.

It would seem that the agitators underestimated their targets however, for their fighters could land no blows on the adventurers' druid. It seemed that she was decked out in Full Plate Mail and had active Ironskins. A very formidable defense against physical attacks.

The agitators' mage was swiftly taken out by the adventurers' ranger, who struck him with an Arrow of Dispelling to remove his Mirror Image, Stoneskin, and Protection from Normal Missiles, before finishing him off with Acid Arrows. The adventurers' druid and ranger than casted Call Lightning which eliminated the agitators' fighters and cleric.

The adventurers' cleric also casted Holy Smite at the same time and killed off all but one of the agitators. The sole surviving agitator was a thief, and she had hid in the shadows. I tried to scan for her, and when the adventurers saw my expression, they motioned me to look at the sky, pointing their fingers as one above.

I did not catch their meaning until the agitators' thief broke her invisibility in an attempt to backstab the adventurers' druid. In the split second it took for her to raise her hand, a lightning bolt struck her dead. It seemed that the adventurers knew that their Call Lightning was already active and waiting for its' next target. Lightning is after all, faster than the eye.

With the agitators dead, the adventurers thanked me and went on their way. It seemed that they were also interested in helping to solve the recent murder cases. With their departure, I hauled the bodies of the agitators to the prison for revival and trial with the aid of my men.

Thus ends my report.

Yours sincerely,
-Lieutenant Aegisfield.

[timothy trotter]

nicely put together dundee

[Dundee Slaytern]

Most seasoned gamers know of the occasional mistimed dialogues in the BG series. Dialogue sequences that often seem... unusual or humorous.

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Kelsey: "Have you ever considered having a child, Jaheira?"
Jaheira( I wish): "Have you ever considered that we are under attack now, Kelsey?"

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Oh that snarky Viconia!

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Fresh from slaughtering all of Saerk's guards and polymorphing his servants( after Anomen passed his test of course), the party steps out onto the balcony for some fresh air when Anomen said, "..."

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Once I complete a NPC's quest, and that NPC is not meant for my final-party, I give them some farewell gifts and leave them in the empty inn( my current homebase) above Cernd's home in Waukeen's Promenade.

I have three so far,

Anomen,
Aerie,
and Viconia.

It may seem absurd to spend tens of thousands of gold pieces to deck them out in equipment that I will never end up using in ToB, but I just felt that it added a nice touch. I mean... it just doesn't seem right to kick them out of the party with nothing to show for it. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Aerie got all the good stuff because she is still my favourite female NPC. She is decked out with a Cleric Staff, Knave's Robe, Sensate Amulet, etc... Viconia is decked out with a Silver Necklace, Mauler's Arm, etc... while Anomen has a purple necklace because it fits his colour scheme.

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Cheers.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Oops... accidentally deleted all my Cearas' screenshots before I uploaded them. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Doh! Second "Doh!" when I realised I accidentally got myself a magic license from UB's "Boo is Missing" quest... Noooo! I wanted to beat up on Cowled Wizards! Argh...

On the bright side... this means that the CityThugs spawnbots are no longer a threat. Heck, I'm loving their appearances now, coz one Death Spell later, and I'm Potions of Extra Healing richer. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Death Spelling them is kind of dull though, since pryotechnics are always so much more fun.

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The ItemUpgrades Mod is straining my finances. I am very tempted to sell off all my gems and jewellary prematurely. Rapidly running out of minor quests to do too. Jan Jansen's quest has yet to activate, and I am leery of continous resting. Darn it... I should have went to do Korgan's quest first. Now I'm stuck with Jansen.

De'Arnise Keep, Windspear Hills, and the Ruined Temples are all on hold now. I plan to do them with Imoen after I rescue her. Oh man... all this procrasination.

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Valygar joined the party temporarily to do the Planar Sphere, which turned out to be quite a breeze... and bountiful in its' rewards. Now rid of Lavok, Valygar chills out with the rest of the gang.

See you later, Valygar.

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Kelsey strikes again with his bad timing! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Kelsey's non-romance dialogues are fun to read, but it makes me no less want to throttle him whenever he interrupts a battle... Even funnier, the above dialogue still occured even though Kelsey was Silenced. [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

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I need somebody to refresh my memory. Has there ever been a fix to pause the timer for the Thief Stronghold for Chap4? I have been putting off the last mission for my Thief Stronghold because I am not too sure whether the timer will be paused or not.

Cheers.

[thetruth]

The ItemUpgrades Mod is straining my finances. I am very tempted to sell off all my gems and jewellary prematurely.

Just wait some time till you reach level 14 (IIRC).Then you will meet always the tougher group of Bandits during night-time and you will get over 15.000/group when you sell their equipment.Along with their potions of sup.healing,potions of inv. and arrows of dispelling if you kill them quickly.
And of course you can fight them every night if you need more EXP.

Also very good the trick with the Death spell.I hadn't thought that.