Please tell me things get better... [Ch. 1&2 spoilers]

[Pirengle]

Update (CHAPTER 3 & 4 SPOILERS)

I finished the Hand, and now I'm poking around Dorn's Deep. The more I play, the more I find that this game is the product of what would happen if id and Squaresoft had a lovechild via the Infinity Engine. The puzzles are getting better. Right now I'm figuring out the big table puzzle.

How many bugs are in this game? The first time I talked to the mage (I think his name's Bendori, but his personality makes me want to call him Bendover) he acted like I'd already talked to him before. I've also noticed monster bugs (like an orc and an ogre spawning in the exact same area, so that the two red circles overlap) and item bugs (my cleric can put bolts +1 in his quiver, but can't pick up a crossbow). Where's Kevin Dorner when you need him?

[NobleNick]

Pirengle,

And that's another thing I like about IWD: Simple plot, simple puzzles and simple quests, for simple minds like mine. Let's not get distracted from the main event: blood-letting....

pritchke, heh, heh, heh... Yeah, I'm hooked; though I think you've got lots more game time in. I've been moving slowly only because I am trying to balance job, family, grad school, yard work, etc. I just tubed a mid-term, in part because I got a little carried away and invested 10 hours in IWD this last week. But hey! I got a peek at lower Dorn's Deep with one of my parties!

Can you believe that some guy did this whole game, for the first time, in one weekend? Almost unbelievable.

What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party on!!

[Pirengle]

Originally posted by NobleNick: But hey! I got a peek at lower Dorn's Deep with one of my parties!

Speaking about Lower Dorn's Deep...
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...chapter 6 spoilers...
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I entered the cave, and got the Chapter 6 message, and wondered why I didn't find the frost giants. Oh well. Tried puttering around in there and got my butt kicked in by the salamanders. Then I remembered the broken bridge.

Now I'm ready to try that cave/forge-looking room one more time. Anything else I missed in Chapter 5? I have two badges, some new scrolls, oodles of new equipment, a barrel of pure water...

...and by the way, is Kuldahar the only place to find magical gear? I'm not counting the Severed Hand.

[ 07-16-2003, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: Pirengle ]

[Azred]

No. Besides the equipment you can pry from the cold, dead hands of your fallen enemies there are two stores you can find in Lower Dorn's Deep...but you'll have to look around for them. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

Pure water is always useful to those who have green thumbs.... [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img]

[Lord Brass]

Originally posted by pritchke: I agree totally. NobleNick your one of the few people I know who enjoys this game more than me. I have not played in a few months but I will have to play again to finish soloing through HoW, and TotLM.

I'd love to know how that goes on pritchke. The only real efforts I made to solo was an F/M/T on Hard. My character had his backside handed to him again and again, but it was fun trying. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Azred: No. Besides the equipment you can pry from the cold, dead hands of your fallen enemies there are two stores you can find in Lower Dorn's Deep...but you'll have to look around for them. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] Pure water is always useful to those who have green thumbs.... [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img]

It also depends on whether you have HoW installed or not. If you do, then there are a couple of more places, three in fact, but you won't be able to travel between Kuldahar and Lonelywood as and when you please.

[pritchke]

Originally posted by Lord Brass: quote: Originally posted by pritchke: [qb] I agree totally. NobleNick your one of the few people I know who enjoys this game more than me. I have not played in a few months but I will have to play again to finish soloing through HoW, and TotLM.

I'd love to know how that goes on pritchke. The only real efforts I made to solo was an F/M/T on Hard. My character had his backside handed to him again and again, but it was fun trying. [img]smile.gif[/img] [/QUOTE]
I finished the original part of IWD with the badges on "Normal" using a F/M/C. I remember the time you were having doing solo so I decided not to be too ambitious and stuck with Normal, but I should have had it on hard because the hardest battle seemed to be the last battle of Dragons eye. I practicly flew through the The Vale of Shadows, using turn undead so I wouldn't have to fight to many at once, and circle of bones when it got to crowded. It actually was not that bad with the F/M/C. You actually don't need a thief. The M/C combination provides the same skills minus the lock picking. My mage could open locks, and provide protection against traps through Mirror Image. My Cleric could detect them and provide healing for the ones that hit.

The Cleric also could use Sanctuary, walk up to an annoying enemy and cast Circle of Bones. (That's how I got past the area you were having trouble with.) For some reason Circle of Bones is considered a defensive spell.

After defeating the demon at the end, I loaded up HoW and completed it up to the point just before the glacier, and started TotLM. For some reason I had a problem with the dialogue (it seemed blank and no back up save before) so I needed to start HoW over and I just have not gotten around to starting it over.

There was one quest at the beginning with the wolf I could not do because I wasn't strong enough to open the door and without lock picking that was it because "knock" is not available that early.

My favorite spells became things like Circle of bones, and Sunscorch (think thats the one like a fire ball that circles the caster). I found myself using spells that I normally don't use with a group, and in that sense at times it seemed easier.


[ 07-17-2003, 06:17 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Lord Brass]

Yes, those damned Yuan-ti relly put the hurt on me. The confusion spells would leave me disabled and incapable of fighting back. So, I thought of releasing the captives to help out, but they got embroiled in the main room which left me on the flank all alone.

Unusually, the undead were the easiest, as they had lined up in their cadaverous ranks, waiting for the trigger point in each section to be crossed by my "party". However, the trigger was never released. This meant that I could walk right up to them and smash them around the head one by one, without them ever retaliating. It's the only time it's ever happened. It wasn't all of them, just the groups.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Glad to read that you are starting to like IWD+HoW, Pirengle.

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Personal Rambling Ahead, May Not Relate To Any Previous Posts:

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When I first started playing IWD, I played on Core Difficulty and had a blast. Back then, I did bother about tactics and just randomly made a motley crew of adventurers that seemed workable at that time. Of course, it turned out that it was not exactly the best combination, but hey, that first game is always special; especially the first time you complete the entire game. [img]smile.gif[/img]

More experienced now, I have a specific party combination and play on HoF Difficulty for that extra kick. I mean... you gotta to love Goblins that can singlehandedly wipe out your entire party if you just blindly charge in. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I agree that the IWD series is about tactics, especially on the higher difficulties. Fortunately, the gamer is rewarded with more XP if he/she chooses to play on a higher level. In fact, if you are a "start from scratch" player like me, the higher difficulty levels are the only way you can get to level 20+ for a party of 6.

IWD is not the kind of game that caresses you with a tale and gently guides you along the journey. Nay, instead, it lets you spin a wondrous yarn, giving you just the bare skeletal background details, and leaves the rest of the story up to you. Oh, and along the way, it tries its' darnest to KIA your party.

IWD is about tactics, beauty and roleplaying. However, it is a slightly different form of roleplaying from BG2. In BG2, you are given a role to play. Sure, you can tweak the gender, the alignment, etc... but the role to play is quite specific. IWD lets you have more freedom in deciding what kind of role you want to play as, and in fact... IWD caters to those of evil alignment better than BG2( although I still prefer to play as a goody-two-shoes [img]tongue.gif[/img] ).

I tend to play a bit of "Godplaying" to really enjoy IWD, pretending that my party are my hapless minions, slaves to my every whim and command.

Which brings me to the point of... click on your men ala Warcraft! You will get to hear a lot of funny responses. Go all the way! Find out what all the voicesets have to offer.

As for limited treasures... I actually like it! For the very simple reason that I tend to appreciate my magical items more! Rather than discarding +2 enchanted weapons like garbage for +4 weapons, I gain a fuzzy warm feeling of satisfaction everytime I earn a magical item. The enchantments on it may not be earth-shattering, but I earned it.

Oh... and IWD+HoW will teach you about Magic too. Party Boosters and Enemy Disablers are one of the main reasons why I only need ONE tank in my party combination. Just for further reference, this is my personal party setup,

Human Paladin( aka, I Take All The Crap)
Halfling Fighter/Thief( aka, Mr Archer)
Halfelf Cleric/Ranger( aka, The Preacher)
Halfelf Figher/Druid( aka, Treehugger)
Human Bard( aka, "Celine Dion")
Human General Mage( aka, Gramps)

[Pirengle]

Chapter 5-6 spoilers abound...
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so don't read unless you've finished the game...
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I finished IWD, as my signature says, and now I'm working on HoW. Dundee, that plot twist was WORTH twenty bucks, let alone

--finding Pale Justice
--dying to everything until I learned that Orrick's inventory changed with each chapter
--the plot twist that led from Chapter 3 to 4
--the return to Easthaven
--figuring out how to kill the traitor, and jumping up and down on his corpse when I eventually did
--the ending made me cry
--figuring out that David Ogden Stiers was the narrator (throughout the entire game I was going 'I know that voice, I KNOW that voice, who IS he?!')
--the plot twist in particular made me stop playing, and ride my bike around the neighborhood for a couple hours

And installing HoW makes a LOT of the bugs go away! (As in, my cleric can no longer carry bolts +1!)

[Dundee Slaytern]

I thought you might have enjoyed the epilogue.

If you want the IWD Trilogy, you can download Trials of the Luremaster at the following URL,

http://www.interplay.com/icewind/store.html

If the thought of downloading 70+MB daunts you, then I recommend you get the latest HoW patch from the following URL,

http://www.interplay.com/support/pro...id=290#patches

NOTE! You do not need the HoW Patch if you install TotL.

Perchance have you given closure to the tragic tale of the Elf-Dwarf Alliance? It was one of my favourite storylines in IWD, even if you had to walk back and forth quite a lot to hear all the dialogue and settle all the issues.

ADD] Different races/classes garner different responses from the people you interact with. There is a particularly humourous dialogue with an Innkeeper in Kuldahar if you use a Paladin to interrogate him.

Bards can earn gems by regaling the common folks with songs, Clerics can preach and earn XP for spreading the faith, Druids can act as Greenpeace, you can cure people of their alcoholism if you use the correct class and dialogue, you can gain extra dialogue, background story, XP and rewards if you use the correct character, etc... ...

There is more to IWD than meets the eye.

[ 07-19-2003, 01:42 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]