My party was just slain by a band of petty kobolds, should my game be this hard?

[Downs Duck]

If I may offer a suggestion, you need to fight fire with fire. Give everybody a missile weapon, and pop them off from a distance. That's what they're doing to you.

 

Could be. I could also hog the edges of the maps all the way to Sarevok, but that shouldn't be necessary.

 

I think people are missing my point, the armor of Khalid, and that this being the first 5 minutes of the game, should not qualify one having played the game before to equip people with armor one has been able to pay by running into caves, looting them because one knows which caves to loot, all over the worldmap, before going to the first town.

 

That seems a little backward to me, it should be a learning curve, slowing its way upwards, not the other way around.

[Miloch]

What I am saying is that this seems kinda stupid. The game should be more difficult in later areas, but not on the road to the first decent town.

Was it on this map? Then yeah, there are spawning kobolds, and worse. Though just five shouldn't've been a problem for even a half-arsed semi-prepared low-level full party, but who knows... I've heard of people getting their arses handed to them by goblins in the Nashkel Carnival map too. Filthy little lucky beggars.

 

What I usually do is hug the map edges and run like hell if I see anything too tough until I get to Beregost, at which point you can loot the town dry and outfit your party to your heart's content. I've never had problems with stuff like kobolds after that.

[Gorilym]

What I am saying is that this seems kinda stupid. The game should be more difficult in later areas, but not on the road to the first decent town.

That seems a little backward to me, it should be a learning curve, slowing its way upwards, not the other way around.

Perhaps, but I don't think a party led by a wet-behind-the-ears protagonist should be able to breeze their way through the dangerous Coast Way. It makes sense that you have to be much more careful at level 1 than at level 7, for instance.

[Downs Duck]

Was it on this map? Then yeah, there are spawning kobolds, and worse. Though just five shouldn't've been a problem for even a half-arsed semi-prepared low-level full party, but who knows... I've heard of people getting their arses handed to them by goblins in the Nashkel Carnival map too. Filthy little lucky beggars.

 

No, on this one: http://www.dudleyville.com/bg1/ar2800.htm

 

What I usually do is hug the map edges and run like hell if I see anything too tough until I get to Beregost, at which point you can loot the town dry and outfit your party to your heart's content. I've never had problems with stuff like kobolds after that.

 

What I am saying, is, this should not be necessary.

[Downs Duck]

Perhaps, but I don't think a party led by a wet-behind-the-ears protagonist should be able to breeze their way through the dangerous Coast Way. It makes sense that you have to be much more careful at level 1 than at level 7, for instance.

 

It is excactly because he is wet behind the ears, that the game should cut him some slack at least until the first town so he can equip himself properly.

 

I cuold hug the map edges, but that does not seem to be the way the game was intended to be played, now is it? Then the manual would advice: "Hug the maps, ask other players how to combat the impossible kobolds until you are level 7."

 

A player 7 character is more experienced than, say, a newbie that has just opened the game package and started playing.

 

I do not want those newbies to throw away the game, or some excellent mods, just because a thing that should never have happened in the first place, made them hate it before the adventure truly started.

[berelinde]

Out of curiosity, you do have the difficulty slider on "easy", right? If not, maybe you should.

[Downs Duck]

Out of curiosity, you do have the difficulty slider on "easy", right? If not, maybe you should.

 

Nope, have never touched it. Should I? Never did it in the original game either.

 

Everything else seems fair enough in terms of difficulty, I can understand Mulahey not being killed by your party if you have only skin and armbands to show for armor, but those Kobolds on that early map location...No way.

 

I want you guys to try to look at this from a newcomers perspective.

 

I am not saying the game is awful, or that I don't know how to play, or for that matter, complete the game.

 

I am merely pointing out that:

If you were a newbie, trying the game in tutu, maybe for the first time (as in never ever played it before!), you would not know that you should hang onto the edges of the map if things become too difficult in the first 5 minutes.

 

That doesn't seem right to me somehow.

[berelinde]

Definitely, until you get the hang of how it goes with Tutu.

[Downs Duck]

Definitely, until you get the hang of how it goes with Tutu.

 

Okay, that is news to me. I did not know that tutu increased the difficulty from vanilla.

 

But as someone before pointed out, there has been issues with the spawns in tutu, as in them being too hard?

 

Therefore I should flick the slider?

[Gorilym]

Perhaps, but I don't think a party led by a wet-behind-the-ears protagonist should be able to breeze their way through the dangerous Coast Way. It makes sense that you have to be much more careful at level 1 than at level 7, for instance.

It is excactly because he is wet behind the ears, that the game should cut him some slack at least until the first town so he can equip himself properly.

 

I cuold hug the map edges, but that does not seem to be the way the game was intended to be played, now is it? Then the manual would advice: "Hug the maps, ask other players how to combat the impossible kobolds until you are level 7."

 

A player 7 character is more experienced than, say a newbie that just has packed open the package and started playing.

 

I do not want those newbies to throw away the game or some excellent mods, just because a thing that should never have happened in the first place, made them hate it before the adventure truly started...

As I recall, the "oh-my-god-they-killed-Kenny factor" of BG was something that many people complained about back when it was first released. A newbie was very likely to die, and die a lot, at the beginning of the game. I know I did, but it was hardly enough to make me give up on the game. The thing is, if I was a level 1 character in the FR setting - having spent most of my life cloistered in a place like Candlekeep - I'd most definitely play it safe (hugging the map edges, so to speak) while traveling in the wilderness. D&D level 1 characters should be vulnerable - if they're not, where's the satisfaction in leveling up?

[Rabain]

Not sure if the issue with spawns was sorted but the problem was that a party would come across the max number of spawns for a party of 6 rather than a scaled number of spawns depending on party size as in vanilla BG.

 

Yes this would mean that in the first map or two you would be at a disadvantage with a small party.

[Caedwyr]

I've done that same party setup in Vanilla BG1 and yes, early on kobolds are a nightmare, with their ranged attacks. Remember, even with decent armor, your HP total isn't very high at all and while you are closing with them, the group of 5 has plenty of time to turn your party members into pincushions. In BG1, ranged attacks are powerful, and my parties normally include at least one dedicated archer (Kivan normally).

[Downs Duck]

As I recall, the "oh-my-god-they-killed-Kenny factor" of BG was something that many people complained about back when it was first released. A newbie was very likely to die, and die a lot, at the beginning of the game. I know I did, but it was hardly enough to make me give up on the game. The thing is, if I was a level 1 character in the FR setting - having spent most of my life cloistered in a place like Candlekeep - I'd most definitely play it safe (hugging the map edges, so to speak) while traveling in the wilderness. D&D level 1 characters should be vulnerable - if they're not, where's the satisfaction in leveling up?

 

The satisfaction lies in that one can relax more because the game actually gives you a chance to level up in the first place

 

About the Kenny-issue; wheres that Cartman soundset...

 

EDIT:

Oh, yeah, here it is: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index_soundsets.php

[Downs Duck]

I've done that same party setup in Vanilla BG1 and yes, early on kobolds are a nightmare, with their ranged attacks. Remember, even with decent armor, your HP total isn't very high at all and while you are closing with them, the group of 5 has plenty of time to turn your party members into pincushions. In BG1, ranged attacks are powerful, and my parties normally include at least one dedicated archer (Kivan normally).

 

I agree. I'll be hugging the side of maps then, until the next chapter or two...

[Guest Guest]

I think that it's good that you're vunerable with Gorion no longer around.