Spoiler...Irenicus very disappointing

Did anyone else find the two battles with Irenicus extremely easy? Maybe it's because I did Watcher's Keep before completing SoA, but I had no trouble dispatching him both times! The Demogorgon was much harder.
The first time I fought Irenicus, my Kensai got a hit it before he could put up his magic defense and took over 90 points of damage. Then Nalia fired one arrow, and he was dead!
The second time, when he was the slayer, I just tanked him, no magic, and he died quickly. Was it the same for everyone else, or was I just lucky? I guess I was just looking forward to an intense battle!

Aviendha.

Agree. He wasn't that hard. In my first game I had a harder time battling his demons.

[Radek]

My experience:
1. Irenicus in the Asylum. Easy. Perhaps, too easy if we take into account that it should be the final battle in Asylum.
2. Irenicus in Suldanesellar. Well, easy but only thanks to the trick with the scroll of Protection from Magic used on him. For some reason, my Irenicus in Sulanesellar always suceeds to create an image of himself and either he or the image has more than 1200(!) HP. (More precisely, I don't know who is the real Irenicus and who is the image. One of them will fall soon but the second has more than 1200 HP.) Because all his spells will fail (both the real Irenicus and the image suffer from the scroll), the 1200 HP cannot save him. But only because all his spells will fail. Perhaps, I am doing something wrong here.
3. Irenicus in the Hell. The battle is not too easy but Irenicus himself is really easy. The only problem is to find him because he teleports around. Once he is forced to fight, he will be hacked down in few seconds. Completely unsatisfactory if we take into account that this should be the final battle of the whole game where we are supposed to prove that we have prepared our guys well and that we have equipped them as best as possible. Completely unsatisfactory even if we take into account those 4 demons summoned by Irenicus. Many battles in the game are far more difficult than this one.

[Helspanth]

I must say that it depends on your character level.
The first time through the game I missed a lot of quests and so I was about 16 level when I fought him in Suldenesallar.He obliterated me!!!!!
I am not even going to talk about the battle in hell...

The second time through I got capped at 17 Mage without the ToB.The battle was merely chalenging.
The third tme I went at lvl 19 and I killed him in an instant...

[Sir Exxon]

Yes, I agree that Irenicus should be harder to defeat. Especially after you have installed ToB. But as Helspanth said, it also depends on your characters level.
If you confront Jon with the highest level on all of your party members, the fight is doomed to be short and boring. But if you try to battle him with lower level characters, like in level 15-16, I think you'll find him a bit harder. I atleast did so. [img]smile.gif[/img]
And something that also would give you a tougher fight, is to turn up the difficulty to 'Insane' before batteling him...

[Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs]

For all you ToB people, to make the game much more interesting and harder, go for Spellhold as soon as you get the money for it. Do the quests in the city, but don't ever leave Athkatla, period. There is plenty of work in the city without going to Nalia's keep. Once you get 15000 GP and a FEW decent weapons, go to spellhold, Sahaugin, then the underdark. THEN do all the quests, EXCEPT the Watcher's Keep. Don't do the Keep until a) after Gromnir is dead, or b) after Yaga-Shura is dead.

doing it this way, the Underdark, Suldanessellar, and the start of ToB will be much more difficult, and fun. It is also satisfying to slay Firkraag with no trouble, without any magic or gimmicks, great stuff, and Irenicus is actually hard. Doing it that way, you actually act like you're in a hurry to save Imoen, and the big plot-critical fights are mildly difficult.

Try it sometime. It is MUCH more satisfying.

[ 05-15-2002, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs ]

[Suzaku]

Try solo mage against Irenicus in the last battle. Rather difficult because your spells do damage, but he regerates so you need to act quickly. Hint, Greater Malison and Black Blade of Disaster or some other nice combos.

[SixOfSpades]

I'll second the motion to rush to Spellhold ASAP. I did that with my Neutral party (Speed run: By the time we returned to Athkatla in Chapter 6, the party had slept TWICE, and never got Fatigued until we met Drizzt), and found the happy result that there was a LOT more EXP floating around. I didn't notice that Spellhold/Underdark was any easier to compensate for our low level, so no EXP loss there....but when we got back, HOO boy! Liches & Bone Golems in the Temple Ruins? Beholders in the Athkatla sewers? Dayum.

[Xero279]

i am like a 13 lvl sorcerer with a full party that took down Bodhi (the first time) within a few sec, and i just got to Brynlaw. SHould i be able to fight irenicus easily?

[Gargoyle]

If you really want a challenge trying taking on Jon by yourself as a Jester, I solo'd as a Jester and genuinley found it challenging. Although I must agree that taking him on with a full party was easier than taking on good ol Sarevok in BG1.