Baldur's Gate 32: Trying to Finish Durlag's Tower

OK! It turned out I had completed two of the three quests in the fourth lower level of Durlag's Tower. The WT said I was ready for the Demon Knight, but the ghost of Durlag thought otherwise.

As I'd been away from the game for so long, I didn't know what I'd really done before. Apparently I'd just descended to that level, and the two quests I did yesterday were the second and third. I found the first one pretty easily, but I have to say that it was the toughest. Some enhanced phase spiders and ettercaps. Every time I thought I'd got 'em all I'd move farther into the room and more would appear. However, I smashed 'em, finally. 

The problem was that I didn't get Imoen to detect the traps. The traps merely shot out webs that immobilized my party for a goodly number of turns. Must have got caught at least five times, the last one when one of the characters wandered and sprung one (this game is kind of notorious for bad tracking--some characters, especially Neera, just wander off and take the long route around if you don't catch 'em). It was merely annoying, not dangerous.

Anyway, I finally got the quest to kill the Demon Knight. Now. I've got the WT, and I'm certain it would work IF I had a cleric, which I don't. Ergo, I cannot use the "animate dead" spell to get some skeleton warriors to distract the Knight. I'm following all the other instructions, but the verdamnten Knight follows Ajantis and kills him without those distractions. I've managed to kill him a few times, but he always gets one of my party, usually Ajantis, who gets stunned and can't defend himself. 

If I can keep the Knight away from him that might work. I've got one potion of invulnerability, so I'm going to give that to Ajantis and try monster summoning and running away, giving my protagonist (who will always and forever be called Emerald for my precious kitty), who is pretty strong, the option to beat on the guy. If I can get my mage away from him fast enough, the summoned monsters might distract him the way the skeletons do in the WT (there's even a nice video of the strategy.)

If I can't get him, at least it's an optional fight. I can go back to a nearby room and ask the spirit to get me outta there. I've got all the loot except whatever I'd get from the Knight. 

Still, I wanna get him! I'm going to keep trying. I've killed him a couple of times. I just need to keep all my characters (barely) alive until I manage it.

Maybe tomorrow.

Still, this is fun!

Update: Aha! The summoned monsters are going to work. I have a couple of monster-summoning wands. The problem is that my mage has to approach the Knight halfway down the stairs to use the wand. It works though. I tried it, and it does summon monsters that distract the knight. Now I have to get the timing right. Ajantis has to make it as far as possible across the room (as in the video), and my mage has to summon the monsters and then get outta there. So it's all going to depend on timing, but I believe I can do it. Just not tonight!

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Baldur's Gate 31: Gone Too Long

OMG. I had no idea I had left this game for so long. It has been almost a full year! I see that I played lots of fun games in between, but I'm really close to the endgame here.

The problem is that I've forgotten a lot about how to play. I simply loaded the last quick save and had to work out again how to get into the inventories (right click), how to highlight the whole party.

I'm having trouble remembering how to find traps. I know I've got Imoen up to 100% trap detection, but as I type I'm remembering that there's a special button to push for that.

So I'm still in the lower level of Durlag's Tower. This is a quest in the Sword Coast expansion to the original game. I'm nearly finished with it, and am now searching for the famed Demon Knight. It's an optional fight, but hey, I'm there, so I'll try it. I have handy instructions from the WT I've been consulting (even that has moved to a new domain on the web during the time I've been gone). However, the WT assumes you have a cleric instead of a druid, and I only have the druid, so I don't have the handy "animate dead" spell you're supposed to use here to distract the knight.

Well, I haven't found the knight anyway.

I'm just going to putz around and try to remember how to play until I can find the knight. I did run into the lady spirit who runs the tower and she offered to let me go, but I said no, I'll stay. She said she'll still let me out later if I so desire, but mostly people who make that choice get killed down there. Yep.

I still have to remember how to choose spells. I've found areas to sleep in, and that replenishes the spells. (Hmm, yeah, I think I remember--just click on the magic book, choose your spells, and sleep.) I've encountered a couple of fights and almost lost a character or two, but survived. Still picking up loot.

Well, if I keep wandering around eventually the gameplay is going to come back to me. 

I'm ready to register my copy of Avernum 2, but I'm so close to the end of this game, and I have a little bit of playing time, I think I'll continue and see how it goes. It really would be nice to finish, although if I can't, I'll start over with a better party and lots more knowledge, and finish this thread SOMEDAY!

But after the Demon Knight, it's on to the endgame. I know I did everything else before I came to Durlag's Tower. 

Update: And Ha! I'm not only remembering how to play, I'm on the right track according to the FAQ, I found the massive piles of gold in Durlag's Tower, and I'm having FUN!

Onward.

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Scratches 7: Determined to Finish

OK. I finished it. Sheesh. I just decided that I'd follow the WT, because I really wasn't enjoying the game all that much. The major problem is that the puzzles are deliberately obscure. 

But also, the game is too dark, not in atmosphere which is supposed to be dark and that's fine, but in lighting. You just can't see anything much when you're in a dark area. Hence, I missed the teddy bear and darned near quit because I learned that unless you see that, you don't trigger the ending. 

I was to click on the hole in the lair twice. Clicked on it a dozen times and only got the message that it smelled unbearably bad. Quit the game, went back to the WT, and it just said to click twice. Looked up a different WT and realized that I had to find the teddy bear. 

Reloaded, finally found it, and got the ending. I did rather like that if you watch all the credits, you get another little hint about how things might survive.

One seriously amusing thing was that the game designers put in a picture of Blackwood and wife supposedly taken in the early 1960s, but the picture is of a couple from the 1890s. Also, the photography equipment and book in the maid's room is from that era. Do the game designers really believe that the 1960s were in the Victorian era? The house is from the Victorian era, so they just made the game about Victorians, then realized they had to move the time to the 20th century but didn't change any of the graphics?

Anyhoo, it makes no sense, but it's kind of amusing.

Now then, this is the Director's Cut, so there is another mini-game involved, called "The Last Visit." I think I'll take a look at it and see if I can do it quickly, because I want to finally register my copy of Avernum 2 and get back to that!

However, I can see why lots of folks liked this game. First, it came at a time of a dearth of decent adventures, and this fit the bill. Plus, it's based on H. P. Lovecraft memes, and that's always fun. Horror is my favorite genre, too! The graphics, except for the lighting in dark areas, are really excellent. The voicing was adequate, and I enjoy encountering Jonathan Boakes in any capacity, and he had really the largest voice role in this game. The music was excellent, and the sound effects nicely creepy. Lots to like.

But the puzzles were too obscure for my taste. I don't mind difficult stuff, but making things more difficult by making you do things twice because it doesn't work the first time is just unfair. Not enough clues either. How the hell are you supposed to know to use an implement in the kitchen that was just sitting there before? You do get a hint in one of the letters you find, but not nearly specific enough. I salute with great respect anyone who finished this game without a WT.

That frustration level is what drove people away from adventures.

Plus, I really don't like the kind of movement they chose, with the screen moving around the mouse, instead of the mouse moving around the screen. Very difficult to navigate sometimes, although it doesn't make me dizzy as it does to some folks. 

So, I will try "The Last Visit" and perhaps update this entry, but I intend to close out this thread. I'm glad I got the Director's Cut and played it again. I enjoyed good parts of the game, especially the graphics, music and sound, but not the designed frustration.

Update: Ha ha! "The Last Visit" is just a little mini-adventure tacked onto the original. I must say, they certainly put lots of work into the graphics. The fountain is empty, all the rooms in the mansion (those you can get to) are completely trashed. There's a little bit of find and figure-out-how-to-use stuff. You only need four items, and hint hint, you find two of 'em in one location, so look, look. Really, it isn't that tough to find the stuff, as the game severely limits where you can go.

I rather liked this! It explains with much greater depth what happened in the plot of the original game, and gives it some closure. Only takes a short time to play, and is well worth it!

Makes me feel better about the whole experience! Still like lots of the game, still don't like the level of frustration deliberately built into it. Great graphics, great, music and sound, good enough voice work (I mean, it doesn't have to be Shakespeare), and nicely creepy story. Too dark (physically) in spots. Other than that, certainly worth playing--just don't be afraid to ask for help when your frustration level is at the max.