Additional feedback on ToB

[Wisp]

Still on v7, but I checked my list against the changelog so I'm hopefully not bringing up stuff you've already addressed (like finbodhi ).

 

-The Lizardfolk Shaman in the room right before Anadramantis with 2 wiltings and a creeping doom in a CC (used offensively) was not very nice, IMO.

 

-More tentatively, Anadramantis had some odd, 360 degree Wing Buffets going for himself.

 

-The dragon encounters as you go get some rope (or pretend to) felt out of place. The two black dragons died in what was probably under 5 rounds (definitely under 1 turn) and the green dragon didn't really feel he had much in common with the other ToB dragons either. Maybe replace the black dragons with something more appropriate for fodder and beef up the green dragon?

But Carnifex didn't make his appearance, so I guess I didn't see all that the red/green encounter had to offer (i.e. maybe it's fine as it is).

(Specifically, I took the rope off the monk, went outside and took care of the black dragon duo, thought that was all there was to it , went inside and continued past the dragon with the geas. If I reload from there [before I beat Abazigal, but after the geased dragon has been slain] and go outside to the green dragon, he's hostile and doesn't speak. No cut-scenes and no Carnifex.)

That's with smarter dragons and improved staying power.

 

I guess the above paragraph sums up to: replace the black dragons with proper fodder instead of making fodder out of dragons, maybe?

 

-I'm guessing this is either one of those odd things that pop up from time to time, or not an issue, but one of the Elder Orbs in Abazigal's Lair stole the Cloak of Mirroring right out of my Bag of Holding (I have never made use of it).

Also, all three Elder Orbs used Spell Shield, in case you're still of the opinion it shouldn't be used by SCSII.

 

In addition to that, thanks for increasing the trepidation with which I advanced the ToB storyline and generally making the game all that much more enjoyable.

[Guest Guest]

-The Lizardfolk Shaman in the room right before Anadramantis with 2 wiltings and a creeping doom in a CC (used offensively) was not very nice, IMO.

 

Not to mention of questionable legality...

[Icendoan]

What on earth do you mean, Guest?

 

CC = Chain Contingency, and the game quite plainly states that any spell apart from level 9 Spells are fine, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, happens to be EIGHTH level, and Creeping Doom I believe is a Druid spell, and they don't even have level 9 spells, so there are no restrictions on that. So, via the spell, there is absolutely no question of legality.

 

If this character isn't actually a high enough level C/M to cast that, then it is a different matter, but, SCSII does not cheat.

 

Icen

[coaster]

But clerics don't get creeping doom do they? And you can't have a druid/mage dual or multi. Unless you argue that lizardfolk shaman are an exception to the rule.

[Icendoan]

I think they do, BG2 has a seriously messed up spell system.

 

And lizardfolk could have it as an exception, unless they already had it in the vanilla game.

 

Icen

[Guest Guest]

What on earth do you mean, Guest?

I meant precisely what coaster said; to be honest I thought it was obvious without me spelling it out. Cleric can't cast Creeping Doom. Druids cannot also be mages. It's no big deal; I just mentioned it because I expected it wasn't intentional. Of course, if there was some reason why lizardfolk should be different, then that is fine and there's no problem. Either way there was no need for your reaction.

[Icendoan]

Sorry. I have simply been surrounded by idiots who were sure we were all going to die in a black hole today. One guy said it was called off for rain. Most people had never heard of the LHC.

 

Yes, I had to talk to people with that understanding. And explain it to them, for an entire day.

 

Icen

[Arkain]

Mhm, the game's quite inconsistent about NPC priests and their spells which results in clerics who may have access to Iron Skins or various insect spells, iirc. Due to SCSII's minimalistic nature the NPCs' spell books aren't changed. Well, at least that's what I think.

[Wisp]

Hah, I was actually mostly objecting to the 2 wiltings, personally.

 

I know I can play that way too, but that's not a game element I enjoy or make use of, so I don't like it when it used against me.

 

The insect plague is another issue and is likely explained as Arkain said, although I guess it's possible that Mage/Druid is a valid multi-class for Lizardfolk and that's what David was going for.

[Guest Sigil]

Hello,

 

do u know which item the yellow sand dragon offers you when u dont kill him? After all the yellow dragon armor is the best armor for F / T but i would like to know.

 

One comment about Abazigal: With tripple dragon HP and instant casting hes the strongest enemy in the whole game i think not mentioning demorgogon which u dont need to fight. Melissan is a joke compared to him. Maybe its possible to add an "Improved Melissan" component. Balthasar is a joke, too. It takes one or two rounds to kill him. It doesnt seem right after fighting Sendai and the overkilldragon.

[DavidW]

Thanks for all this - sorry not to have replied for a while.

 

Still on v7, but I checked my list against the changelog so I'm hopefully not bringing up stuff you've already addressed (like finbodhi ).

 

-The Lizardfolk Shaman in the room right before Anadramantis with 2 wiltings and a creeping doom in a CC (used offensively) was not very nice, IMO.

Fair enough! - though I think that's about the only time I use that trick, let me have one bit of cheese! (seriously, I'll think about changing it).

 

As for legality, Icen is right: I'm being minimalist. The existing creature files come with creeping doom and ADHW (quite a lot of ToB clerics have a kind of mixed spellbook with some druid and some priest spells) and I just left it alone. Thinking of them as mage/druids is probably the way to go.

 

(Incidentally, SCSII tries not to cheat, but that doesn't mean I don't sometimes do it accidentally!)

 

-More tentatively, Anadramantis had some odd, 360 degree Wing Buffets going for himself.

As in: it covered a 360-degree area, or it caught himself? If the former, all dragons get that, even in the vanilla game.

 

-The dragon encounters as you go get some rope (or pretend to) felt out of place. The two black dragons died in what was probably under 5 rounds (definitely under 1 turn) and the green dragon didn't really feel he had much in common with the other ToB dragons either. Maybe replace the black dragons with something more appropriate for fodder and beef up the green dragon?

But Carnifex didn't make his appearance, so I guess I didn't see all that the red/green encounter had to offer (i.e. maybe it's fine as it is).

(Specifically, I took the rope off the monk, went outside and took care of the black dragon duo, thought that was all there was to it , went inside and continued past the dragon with the geas. If I reload from there [before I beat Abazigal, but after the geased dragon has been slain] and go outside to the green dragon, he's hostile and doesn't speak. No cut-scenes and no Carnifex.)

That's with smarter dragons and improved staying power.

This is bugged, sorry - I'm having sustained trouble getting it to work consistently. (Though come to think of it, I think there was a v8 fix.)

 

 

-I'm guessing this is either one of those odd things that pop up from time to time, or not an issue, but one of the Elder Orbs in Abazigal's Lair stole the Cloak of Mirroring right out of my Bag of Holding (I have never made use of it).

Cute. (Not deliberate, but I don't think it matters too much).

Also, all three Elder Orbs used Spell Shield, in case you're still of the opinion it shouldn't be used by SCSII.

I am - not sure how that's happening, will check when I get a chance.

In addition to that, thanks for increasing the trepidation with which I advanced the ToB storyline and generally making the game all that much more enjoyable.

Glad you liked it!

[Wisp]

-More tentatively, Anadramantis had some odd, 360 degree Wing Buffets going for himself.

As in: it covered a 360-degree area, or it caught himself? If the former, all dragons get that, even in the vanilla game.

I'm pretty certain it was the former.

[DavidW]

-More tentatively, Anadramantis had some odd, 360 degree Wing Buffets going for himself.

As in: it covered a 360-degree area, or it caught himself? If the former, all dragons get that, even in the vanilla game.

I'm pretty certain it was the former.

 

Okay, then as I say: actually all dragons do that. Probably it's more noticeable given how Anadramatis is stuck in such a confined space, though.

 

Incidentally, the item you get if you don't kill him gives you immunity to Wing Buffet.

 

(This encounter is the big exception to SCSII's "no loot" rule - I usually allowed myself one violation of each rule somewhere!)

[Guest Sigil]

Okay, then as I say: actually all dragons do that. Probably it's more noticeable given how Anadramatis is stuck in such a confined space, though.

 

Incidentally, the item you get if you don't kill him gives you immunity to Wing Buffet.

 

(This encounter is the big exception to SCSII's "no loot" rule - I usually allowed myself one violation of each rule somewhere!)

 

Thx u for answering. Do u know the item ID? Does it have any other positive effekt? Which type of item is it or do u mean one of ur chars get constant wing buffet res ability?

 

It's the last thing to discover before i move on and start to play IWD2.

 

Ive tried Ascension for a thougher melissan fight but the story changes are unrealistic and the "five" are full of cheese and melissan isnt any stronger compared to the other baal guys which give u a much better fight. Do u plan a "better" melissan component by yourself or a selfmade remix?

 

Something about the 4 dragon fight: If i remember right the 2 stronger dragons are immune to level drain etc. which they shouldnt be like the ascension endfight where everybody is immune vs everything, too.

 

The water element prince in watcher's keep has a broken script. He does nothing. The adventurer group in the temple sewers dont attack u when u wont give em their money. The keep being "blue". I had to attack em by myself. Torgal doenst do anything, too. All backstabbers in random encounters or when fighting in the docks or bridge district against thieves are extremely difficult until u get an Ar of ~ -10 or better. Can't u reduce the amount of invisible potions or make it possible to dicide which or how much potions the enemy get? When attacking the vampire lair the first time u will fight a vampire mage Tamara (?) who is too much at this stage of the game. She drains 4 lvls per hit, has a dozen stoneskins und immune vs magical weapons and most important u cant avoid the fight like i did several times until my chars get up to lvl ~ 15 which is a cool new roleplay aspect. Fleeing or hiding and moving unseen with the whole party to avoid confrontation has made the game much more fun. Thx for doing so! But... the telekinese ability of balors and beholders is a joke. I dont use the cheese items but a char which is affected by telekinese is nearly the same as getting struck by a dragon's wing buffet. Without haste ur char needs a lot of time to come back the 2 or 3 screens. At least eh beholders seem to "cast" telekinese at one char all at the same time. oO

[DavidW]

Okay, then as I say: actually all dragons do that. Probably it's more noticeable given how Anadramatis is stuck in such a confined space, though.

 

Incidentally, the item you get if you don't kill him gives you immunity to Wing Buffet.

 

(This encounter is the big exception to SCSII's "no loot" rule - I usually allowed myself one violation of each rule somewhere!)

 

Thx u for answering. Do u know the item ID? Does it have any other positive effekt? Which type of item is it or do u mean one of ur chars get constant wing buffet res ability?

It's an amulet.

 

Ive tried Ascension for a thougher melissan fight but the story changes are unrealistic and the "five" are full of cheese and melissan isnt any stronger compared to the other baal guys which give u a much better fight. Do u plan a "better" melissan component by yourself or a selfmade remix?

There is a better Melissan in v8. I assume you're playing v7? That being the case, I won't respond to bug reports here as there's quite a lot of bugfixing between v7 and v8.

 

Something about the 4 dragon fight: If i remember right the 2 stronger dragons are immune to level drain etc. which they shouldnt be like the ascension endfight where everybody is immune vs everything, too.

They've actually got the same resistance sets as whatever dragons I cloned them off (probably the WK dragons).

 

All backstabbers in random encounters or when fighting in the docks or bridge district against thieves are extremely difficult until u get an Ar of ~ -10 or better.

Good.

 

Can't u reduce the amount of invisible potions or make it possible to dicide which or how much potions the enemy get?

I can but I'm not yet hearing an argument as to why it's unrealistically many. (Of course, the "use potions" component is optional.)

 

When attacking the vampire lair the first time u will fight a vampire mage Tamara (?) who is too much at this stage of the game. She drains 4 lvls per hit, has a dozen stoneskins und immune vs magical weapons and most important u cant avoid the fight like i did several times until my chars get up to lvl ~ 15 which is a cool new roleplay aspect. Fleeing or hiding and moving unseen with the whole party to avoid confrontation has made the game much more fun. Thx for doing so!

I'm a little confused... but Tanova should be takeable (I took her fairly easily, I think). She's not got any magic powers she didn't have in the original game, she's just using them better.

 

But... the telekinese ability of balors and beholders is a joke. I dont use the cheese items but a char which is affected by telekinese is nearly the same as getting struck by a dragon's wing buffet.

Almost identical, in fact.

 

Without haste ur char needs a lot of time to come back the 2 or 3 screens. At least eh beholders seem to "cast" telekinese at one char all at the same time. oO

 

I'm not clear what you dislike about this.