So. Because I want to keep the party I've got, and I just dual-classed Imoen into a Mage, I kinda did a baddish thing. Now, Imoen is my thief, and you really have to have a thief in this game. On the last play though I got Corin, whom I really liked, but this time he would take the place of Minsc, and I like Minsc even better (plus, Minsc is a sequel character). So I can't get Corin this time.
The problem is that until Imoen get up to Level SEVEN as a mage, her thief abilities will be inactive. That means I can't do the Cloakwood mines and certainly not Durlag's Tower, because you need trap finding abilities for those areas. (Maybe I could have left her behind at Cloakwood and grabbed Corin for just that area, but darn it, I want Imoen.
So I went back to the Ankheg hole and just ground 'em up until I got Imoen up to Mage Level Five. As an added bonus, I also got my protagonist, Emerald, up to Mage Level Five as well. And I got Ajantis up to Level Six as a fighter, and Viconia up to Level Six as a cleric.
As another little bonus, I got plenty of nice spells from the ankhegs, including another copy of Knock for Imoen! Plus lotsa jewels, which got up nearly 2,000 more coins. You can't sell the Ankheg shells at this point in the game, sadly, so I'll have to save up for Imoen's Magic Robes.
The only problem is that I left Minsc and Jahiera back at the Friendly Arms Inn while I did all this. (I needed Viconia to use her command spell on the ankhegs, and Ajantis disappeared when I tried to remove him from my party so I had to take him along too). Downsizing the party like that allowed me to get experience points much faster. The only problem is that now Minsc and especially Jahiera are a bit behind the rest of the party, but I'm not worried about Minsc, and Jahiera will catch up as we go through the game.
So it maybe was a little bit of cheating, but the game allows it, and darn it, I just want to finish the thing this time. I'm really not a very good player, so it's going to help me enormously to have two advanced mages at this stage.
Now I have to go through all the wilderness areas and get Imoen up to Level Seven so she can get her thief abilities back. After that, things ought to be much easier.
Could just grind ankhegs with the whole party and I will if I find that I have to do it, but let's just play the game again now!
(Off topic update: Jonathan Boakes released a little filler game in the Last Crown series for Halloween on Steam. I got it for less than $5, and I really do want to play that. It shouldn't take too long. It's supposed to take place between the Lost Crown and the next game in the series, the Last Crown: Blackenrock, which I fervently hope will be released before the end of the year, along with Bracken Tor!)
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