Baldur's Gate 36 (b) Chickened Out

Oopsies. OK. I decided on one sleepless night to just play the game. Couldn't sleep (this happens), so I put the time to good use, or so I thought.

I got to the Melicamp the Chicken episode. I remember it from the first time I played, and I did what was required. I carried Melicamp back to High Hedge and slaughtered some skeletons and got a skull. Took that back to the wizard and he worked his spell on Melicamp.

And Melicamp died from it. Whaaaaat?

And I didn't get any reward! Scheiß!

After all that I think I should have had a reward of some kind, but no. Oh well. I went on playing. I did the whole Ankheg episode and got the armor and lotsa points (and I learned something about fighting Ankhegs. If you sleep near where one might be--say, down in the Ankheg cave for example--you will get an Ankheg when you wake up about 95% of the time. Also, the amount of available Ankhegs appears to be unlimited, so there is lots of cash to be made with lots of patience.)

Melicamp in the inventory

Anyhoo, yesterday I decided that I ought to take another good look at the FAQ, which I had not bothered to do during my all-night session. It says to save before the wizard does the spell on Melicamp. It says that sometimes the spell doesn't work, and if it doesn't, you won't get a reward.

It also says that the reward is supposed to be 2000 experience points and another point of reputation! Whaaaat! 

I can't pass up 2000 experience points. So I went back and looked through my saved games. I found a game saved right there in Melicamp's area, and he was still alive. So I could go back and get him!

However, that game was prior to my Ankheg expedition. Emerald was still only a Level 2 fighter and a Level 1 mage (although she was very close to leveling up).

When I left off before, I was at Day 70 in the game.  Going back takes me to Day 41. That's a lotta game time, and a lotta leveling up that I'd throw away just to get that very very good reward.

But hey, ya know what? I'm playing this game for fun, and I'm having fun. So what if I re-do some stuff? Yeah, the Ankheg expedition is tedious if you want to get as much money out of it as possible, but I can do it. Shoot, I spent a whole hour rolling dice trying to get a 92 for my character build when I restarted the game. I can do patience. (I settled for 91, so my patience is not unlimited.)

Plus, I hadn't been following the FAQ. I'm gonna do that now. I realized that I was heading for the Nashkell mines because I had some decent levels on all my characters, finally, but I had left a lotta wilderness areas untouched. The FAQ says to do them before the Mines quest. 

So, I'm going back. I've got my reward, which caused both Emerald and Jaheira to level up. There are points to be earned and money to be made and magical weapons to acquire and more of the game to play that I hadn't done. 

I refuse to chicken out!

UPDATE:  Ha ha! I had an idea, which actually worked, that I could carry six Ankhegs at once on each trip to Beregost. What I did was take Ajantis's and Jaheira's armor off of them and store it in that "container" in the Ankheg cave (where you find the kid's body). As each Ankheg is 100 pounds, that gives Ajantis one, Jaheira one, Emerald two and Minsc two. Of course I have to be careful with two naked fighters, but Beregost is safe, and the journey there only rarely deals up an en-route fight. When that happens I can re-load the automatic save. So! That makes stocking up on Ankhegs (and money) much less time consuming. If I can make ten trips with six Ankhegs each, I ought to be able to afford not only the Ankheg armor for Jaheira, but also the Robes of the Neutral Archmage for Emerald. I dunno if I have that much patience--and perhaps there is a limit on Ankhegs in the game (but I doubt it). Still, I'm gonna try, with a hard save once I've got 20 of 'em, because I know the game allows that many.

Up-Update: And an even better idea: put the Ankheg heads into the "container." That way I don't have to keep taking armor on and off. Just stay there, slaughter Ankhegs, store 'em in the cave, rest over the line in the Friendly Arms area when necessary, rinse, repeat. Once I've got enough heads: get naked and haul 'em in as many trips as it takes to Beregost. Hah! 

Another Update: Just grinding Ankhegs. Got lots stuffed in that container in the cave. Will get lots more. Just go to sleep and they pop up, slaughter 'em, and stuff 'em in the container. When I have enough I'll strip armor off and carry six at once. I'm making lots of money and even leveling up! Also I'm finding spells (including Knock) and cash and gems. Boring though.

Final Update: OK, I've finished grinding my Ankhegs. Not actually sure how many of 'em I got, but I wound up with enough money to order my Ankheg armor for Jaheira and to buy the Robes of the Neutral Archmagi for Emerald. Still have almost 5,000 coins left. Even robbed the smithy. Got two Knock spells out of it, so when I dual class Imoen, she'll get one too. Turned out I could carry seven at once. I stripped Ajantis, Jaheira and Minsc, who could carry three all on his own, with Emerald taking two and Ajantis and Jaheira one each. Killing Ankhegs got to be pretty routine. They rarely even wounded me once I got the drill down (Command spell, then beat 'em with Ajantis, Emerald and Minsc). Several characters leveled up: Imoen is already level five. Also got a buncha jewels, which sold nicely. Even ran into some bandits while naked, but still beat 'em. So now I'm ready to get back on the trail! (Still have to pick up Jaheira's armor, but it's paid for!)

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Baldur's Gate 35 (b): We are a Team!

At last I have my party formed! The tough part was doing Minsc's mission: rescuing Dynaheir (then, sadly, marching her naked into battle and getting rid of her). 

My problem is that I'm doing this as early as I possibly can, and my party is still pretty weak. My protagonist is still Level 1 because she's a multi-class. I'm glad she's a mage, but she only has two spells at the moment, and the second one is only because of the wizard's ring.

So, I had to wipe out the Xvart village because I needed the special items from the cave behind their village. That wasn't too tough. The sleep spell works wonders at this stage in the game (when it doesn't miss the target). I took down the bear very easily with a "command" spell from Viconia.

My major problem was crossing a bridge and dispatching a polar bear, which is a far stronger enemy that I really can handle at the moment. The FAQ said to use the Entangle spell, but Jaheira at first kept missing. Finally I realized I could aim it at the ground and hope the bear would walk into it. Finally it did, but I found that I needed two spells to hold it. Even then it took plenty of time to kill it.

And then I tried to get the Frost boots from the nobleman who gave me the quest to kill the bear. He would only give me 50 coins because even with Ajantis's charisma at 17, it wasn't high enough, apparently (I've been unable to pickpocket the charisma robe in Beregorst--I need to find a potion of master thievery for that and I haven't got one yet). The FAQ said to just kill him, but I did that and my reputation took a five point hit. I wound up at 7, disliked. Traveling on I ran into Laurel (who's supposed to be on our side) who immediately attacked me. All my good characters were complaining loudly, and I think were on the verge of leaving.

So clearly, killing the guy wasn't a good idea. I just went back, did it all again, took the 50 coins and didn't get the Frost boots. I don't recall even having to use them much in my previous game, and there might be more somewhere else. One hopes. I tried knocking the guy out with fists, but that killed him anyway. Couldn't pickpocket them because Imoen's skill isn't high enough. 

After that the quest wasn't all that difficult because of my lovely sleep spell. I got the guys at the bridge with one spell and grabbed the nice item they have. After that it was just using sleep spells on the gnolls. You can sleep in the gnoll stronghold, oddly enough, so I just kept loading up on my sleep spells and finally got through it. Once I found Dynaheir, however, I had already killed all the enemies in the area so I couldn't just march her up the stairs to her demise. I left poor Ajantis, who didn't understand why I disbanded him temporarily, at the stronghold and had to travel to the area to the north to get her dead. 

One nice thing happened. We were in a rainstorm, and she got hit by lightening. Ha ha! Didn't quite kill her though, so I marched her up to a ogre I found by his fire and had her attack him. He did her in quickly enough and I just left the area with my party, went back to the stronghold and picked up Ajantis, and I finally am back in Nashkell.

Next job, the carnival. Then back to Beregorst to get that verdmanten cloak. Then I can clean up the wilderness areas at my leisure and rack up some experience. My protagonist (Emerald, always Emerald) and Minsc are still Level 1. When I get them to Level 2 I'll tackle the Nashkell mines. By then I ought to have Imoen up to 100% find traps skill.

But I now have my party solidly secure. I've got Ajantis, Imoen, Jaheira, Viconia and Minsc, with his hamster. I am enjoying Minsc. 

So now I can get on with the game at whatever pace I choose! Hooray!

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Baldur's Gate 34 (b): Almost Ready

Again, I'm not going to post as often on this playthrough, but I will relate my new start.

I have acquired nearly all of my party. I did the Friendly Arms area and got Jaheira and Khalid, with of course, Xzar and Montaron tagging along. Then I bumped up and grabbed Ajantis, who is now my leader with his 17 Charisma score (this saves lotsa money). I also got Viconia, so now I have an actual cleric.

Along the way Xzar got killed accidentally when I was fighting the Ogre with the piercing belt (I put it on Jaheira, as the FAQ suggests), and I dumped Montaron when I got Viconia. So. Thence down to Beregorst. I got Khalid killed by sending him naked into the spider house. Jaheira only made one comment about it. Then I went ahead and picked up Neera, whom I will dump once I get to Naskill and get Minsc. But it turns out that not only did Neera have her awesome gem bag, which I have appropriated from her (and it has some gems in it--ha ha!), but she had a nice Traveller's Mage Robe too.

I went through a bit of a mystery when I couldn't cast spells at first. I had them scribed and properly memorized, but they were dimmed out. I googled it and learned that I might try "getting naked." So I did, and presto! Now I can cast spells. It was the armor.

Ergo, I needed at least a Traveler's Robe. Now I have one. Heh.

I'll keep the annoying Neera until I get to Naskill, because there are two wilderness areas to traverse on the way, and I'll need her spells. (Or, I might just go to High Hedge, and temporarily pick up Kivan in her place. He's a good fighter, and might be better on the trip to Naskell. Plus, I can buy the sleep spell at High Hedge, which I haven't found yet. I'll need that when we go to rescue Dynahier. I think it works pretty well on goblins. Of course I picked up the Wizard's Ring, which gives me an extra spell per level to cast, and the ring of protection. So nice that we can wear two rings in this game!

With that party I ought to do well. Plus, Jaheira has already leveled up, and Ajantis and Viconia also are at level two. It'll take awhile for me to get there, however, because as a multi-class character I won't gets experience points as quickly. 

But now that I have some "armor," so to speak, I can fight.

So things are going to plan! Tomorrow it's off to High Hedge and Naskell! Recruit Minsc and his hamster, rescue Dynaheir to cement him into the party, and I'm good to go!

Update: I have dumped Neera for Kivan, who will go with us to Naskell. It felt goooooood! (And I stole her stuff. She sniveled. Ha ha!)

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Baldur's Gate 33 (b): Let's Try That Again . . .

So I decided that I needed to start over.

I may yet indeed vanquish the Demon Knight with my original party. However, I see that I started the game over a year ago and was absent from it for long periods. Also, since I found Haeravon's fantastic FAQ I realized that I had a very weak party (well, I didn't have a cleric and I had Neera the Wild Mage). My choice of Neera was very very bad.  She may be the most annoying character ever created, and she isn't even a good mage. Also, I passed up Minsc, who is a sequel character and supposedly provides great entertainment. And Minsc has a hamster, or something.

I've lost the flow of the game by now. People replay this game many times, usually, so there's no harm in starting again.

I will accept Neera when I meet her for just a moment in order to get her gem bag, which is an incredibly useful item. (In fact, that might be a good option for every character I meet. Loot 'em, then kick 'em out.)

I will take Minsc. I will also get a cleric, probably Viconia even though she's evil, because she comes in early and reputedly has good banter with Ajantis. I'll stick with Jahiera, who is a good druid (but not a cleric--turns out that druids are not clerics), and kill off Khalid. I'll also keep Imoen and dual class her when I can. And I probably will take Haeveron's advice and dual class my protagonist into a fighter-mage, eventually. I wish I could get Kagain this time, even though he's evil, because I really liked him, but I don't think there's room. I will certainly get Ajantis because I need his charisma. I think that's pretty much the standard party, with most of them sequel characters.

I'm going to follow the FAQ because I want to suck the marrow out of the game. 

Nice picture! The Friendly Arms Inn

I will not post as much with this playthrough, because the thread is already too long. I'll just jump in here with some updates on how things are going. But I really think starting over is the best idea, as I've been away from the game for so long. 

This is the classic of classic RPGs. This is probably the best video game ever made. It deserves a dedicated playthrough, not just starting and stopping all the time the way I've been doing. I don't mind following the FAQ this time because I've already made lots of my own decisions in the previous playthrough, so I can just simply do things better this time.

And plus, I love the music in this game (especially in the inns), so I will enjoy that again!

And off I go!

Update:  Well isn't that nice! I emailed Haeravon with some questions and he answered quite promptly! Now I think I've got a really good start. I am a half-elf fighter/mage, true neutral this time. I have given myself Identify and Magic Missile as my first two spells (I almost picked Lohroch's Minor Drain, which is good, and/or Sleep, but I can get those soon. The Identify spell saves me money at the start and I'll use that throughout the game.) I rolled a 91 after 45 minutes of trying to get a 92. Pfft. So my Wisdom and Charisma took hits, but I don't need 'em, and I have 18 in everything else. This makes me simply awesome. At Haeravon's advice I don't have any ranged weapons, but with my strength and constitution, I probably don't need that at first. I can get throwing axes maybe.

Up-Update: Ha ha. I read over some of my early entries, and found myself dismissing some of the FAQ's statements. Silly me. I really only glanced at it when I needed it before. Now I'm following its advice, and it is quite excellent.

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Avernum Crystal Souls 25: Endgame

Aha! I finally got the guy. Took about four tries. I was right that the trick was to just ignore the minions and keep whaling at him, but I finally realized that melee damage just didn't do much, so I switched to the wands I had left for my melee fighters, unless they were right next to him already.

Plus, I think I finally got a little bit lucky.

Finally got him

On the Spiderweb Forum they said that he gets stronger as he lives on, so you have to take him out as quickly as possible. He has lots of points, so you need massive attacks on him to do the job. Once he stays alive long enough, he takes your characters out with one blow even if they have invulnerability active. This time he only got Aldous, but he was so close to zero that I just managed to get him with one stomp of Divine Retribution by Cordelia.

So the game is won!

We emerge victorius! But still underground.

For whatever reason the medals the game gives you didn't completely work. I don't have the medal for returning the first crystal soul, although I got all of 'em. Hmm. Also, I never did find out how the game lists the level of spell you have. I ought to have found all the level three spells, but there just isn't anywhere to check that. Plus, I did every quest in the game, I reported back to King Micah, and never got Royal Clearance, despite asking for it. Maybe there's another trick to it? So I don't have that medal. Also, I did not try to slay a dragon, and I don't want to.

One weird thing: I never got to the Lair or Kothos, the dragon who has gone over to the Empire. I must check that out sometime. Everything else appears to be done. I have, as I always like to do, sucked the marrow from the game.

Thoughts: I went back and looked at the original game. Wow, that was way back in the era of wall bumping! The original really did need a tune-up. This one is way more sophisticated. I lost track of the improvements because by the time Jeff got to making Avernum 6, it was pretty much like the model he uses for these new remakes. But the only other version of this one is ancient. Still works though!

I've decided that the next way to go with these games is not to try to get the adrenaline rush battle discipline for my spellcasters. I never made it, and I could have used the spell points better, I think. Next time I'll use some swordmage traits on my priest too, and make two full shamans and archmages. That will give me much more power than just trying to get adrenaline rush. I'll have to put some points into things like hardiness and quick action and resistance, of course, but I'll concentrate on making both spellcasters full dualists. 

I did not play the entire game on normal, although I did play the first incarnation of it on normal. When I switched to humans I played on casual just to get through the demo area. Yet, I did get the medal for completing the game and never setting the difficulty below normal. I actually did do it. I just did it in two parts.

It's a fun fun game. It was more than worth my twenty bucks. 

Now, I'll finally have to go back and finish Baldur's Gate, if I can remember how to play!

Great game.

Avernum Crystal Souls 24: Getting to Garzhad

So just as I was ready to deal with the final quest, killing the evil archmage and Empire baddie, Garzhad, Life intervened and I had to stop for awhile. Had rush Kirkus books, and a dear friend as a houseguest.

But I'm taking some time tonight to do the deed. Except that so far, Garzhad has defeated me. 

Up to that point, however, I was doing well. I went back to Vahnatai lands and found a little area I'd missed--a cave of some nasty undead types south of Mancuso. Of course by this time I'm way stronger than any silly lich, and the whole host went down with one blow. Got a rather nice item from it. Also, I hate to miss anything! So glad I found that.

Back to Avernum and I judiciously used as many wisdom crystals as I needed to get everybody a nice couple of points. Those will be the last. I still have some wisdom crystals should I need them to restore spell points, but it doesn't look as though that's going to be necessary. I have way more energy elixirs than I'll need.

For the longest time I couldn't figure out where Garzhad was hiding. Finally I realized that there was a destination offered by the Tower of Magi main portal, and yup, that's the spot.

Getting to him is a bit of a puzzle, but not too tough.

Garzhad, however, is tough. I really thought I had him. He was down to just a few life points when he killed my spellcasters all at once. What?? Well, I had some return life scrolls, so I used those only to have the same thing happen.

I think I'm going to have to push him into a corner and surround him. Yeah, he can teleport my guys away, but I've just got to keep smashing him. Once Demonslayer gets in one knick, he turns out to be vulnerable to any other kind of attack. Oddly, arcane blow seems to do nicely against him.

I've got some invulnerability potions and I'll spread those around and be sure my guys stay shielded. Also, I think I'll have to concentrate on just him. He gets allies, but I'll just ignore them and keep on bashing him. No doubt once he's dead I'll still have to fight the minions, but that will be a piece 'o cake after he's well and truly slaughtered.

Said slaughtering, however, will have to wait for tomorrow. I don't really want to try it again right now.

It was fun getting to him though! 

So, tomorrow for the big finish. Glad I left him for the last quest, because he is the toughest.

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