Dragon's Eye Level 4--Mission Impossible

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Sat Mar 24, 2001 10:17 pm

Haven't seen any other posts regarding this except one, and the suggestions to that were pretty lame. I can't figure out a way through this one. I even changed the difficulty level to very easy, and it didn't seem to affect anything at all. My party is mainly level 6 or level 7. Therefore, I am extremely limited in spells (only 2 level 3 spells!). So far, I've been letting the captive party out, they don't seem to be much help. I summon all the monsters I can to slow down those priests. I've tried running to find the high summoner, but I am killed by the huge group of yuan=ti before I ever get there. And I'm starting to wonder, after re-loading a zillion times, is this really any fun? I'm a big BG2 fan, and compared to BG2, IWD blows (or at least this chapter does). Does the story line get any better? I miss having NPC's to join my party (and their running commentary). I suppose I could import my party from BG2, but since they are so high-level, I thought it would defeat the purpose of the game.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Mar 25, 2001 3:36 am

No, the storyline doesn't get any better--remember, IWD was developed for hardcore RPG combat enthusiasts. If you want another game similar to BG2 in that respect (and in its in-depth characterizations), check out Planescape: Torment.

As to the level you're in, yes, it's a never-ending, rather boring, sequence of attacks. What you need to do is proceed slowly, until you encounter an enemy or two (at most), and lure them back to your own party. Kill; repeat. Make sure your mages have fire-based attack spells ready, in case you run out of fire arrows. Heal up by resting on the next floor.

Cobbler Orcbreaker · Post by **Cobbler Orcbreaker** » Sun Mar 25, 2001 11:40 am

Importing characters from BG2? I'm afraid you cant do that in ID or HoW.

rapier · Post by **rapier** » Sun Mar 25, 2001 3:22 pm

Don't remember where it was, but this level where there can millions of undead, summoned by a necromancer, REALLY sucked...

------------------
Though I can see to the ends of the earth
Still I ramble this treacherous path.
Over my shoulder I glimpse the corpses gathering.
This day I walk the Way of the Beast.

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Mon Mar 26, 2001 3:01 am

Hey, if you can't stand the heat...

These defeats which make the game boring for you make it a challenge for me. If I want dialogue, I play BG2. Hack 'n' slash - IWD.

Seriously, if there's been little help here it can only be becasue the IWD forum is so small. I'll see what I can do but first, a question. Are you playing through IWD with the HoW disk installed?

The_Pope · Post by **The_Pope** » Sun Apr 01, 2001 7:24 am

Originally posted by rapier:
Don't remember where it was, but this level where there can millions of undead, summoned by a necromancer, REALLY sucked...

Dragon's Eye - level 3
That place rules! Slice, cut, slach, splut! Cool... Kill kill kill!!

I think IWD is quite good, but it's really only for hardcore combat fanatics. I prefer a solid storyline. On the other hand, I disliked PS:T's endless dialogue... That was just too much!
BG2 is perfect, IMO.

Sabretooth · Post by **Sabretooth** » Tue May 15, 2001 7:39 am

IMO the Yuan-Ti dungeon is the hardest part of the game. My first time through I was almost tearing my hair out. I also had a reasonably low level party and I just became so overwhelmed by enemies, the combat level is insane compared to BG2. After many hours gradually working my way through this hellhole I finally reached the end and believe me, the feeling of satisfaction is worth it.
I recommend firstly to take the battle down to the entrance to the dungeon. This will give you more room to manouvere and run outside to recover when you need to. Give your two primary tanks (Im assuming you have two) all the best gear and let them hold off the bad guys while your mages etc bomabard them from the back. Use your semi tanks (Clerics etc) to distract the enemies from attacking the mages too.
There is no question that this is a tough battle but I seriously recommend that you persevere. Once you complete it once you will breeze through it next time (the second time for me was a cinch).
One more thing. It is a good idea to KILL that other party. They will otherwise hog your Exp plus you could really use some of their items (the flame sword is PRICELESS, especially for finishing off trolls).
Good luck

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Wed May 16, 2001 11:02 am

Thanks Sabretooth. I'll have to try that. I was so frustrated with IWD, that I played some other games for a while--Black & White (interesting AI in the creature, but the story line for the game is disappointingly boring and there's too much emphasis on micromanagement of resources), Planescape: Torment, and BG1. I just finished BG1, which I hadn't played prior to BG2. It was really interesting to see what they changed--I think most of the changes were definitely for the better. So--now it's back to IWD again. I will probably start it over, and install HOW as well, since it sounds like it improves the game.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Wed May 16, 2001 1:05 pm

Sabretooth - I am with you!

My first time through the game the ally prisoners were a godsend and I was too worried about surviving the level to notice how they steal your exp!

Second time thru using level 16s and 17s and playing in Heart of Fury mode I am looking for exp! I got here and released them (thinking I was a good chap!) and noticed that tho they help I had a major loss in exp. With my characters at the level they were I decided to reload and leave the "allies" where they were until I had done the slaying! and therefore claiming all exp.

Funny thing though, when first entering this level, the priests there almost immediately turned into enemies despite using same dialogue as before (even considering my character in dialogue was a fighter cleric using a passive script (on purpose) and Sanctuary!)

Mmmmmm...Curiouser and curiouser....

Anyhow, if you can keep a battle by an exit - run like hell then, save, rest and pop back in to wipe up the mess! (especially if one of your crew are frustratingly pure elven!)

jlnewton@webzone.net · Mon Jun 04, 2001 10:21 am

Here's how I did that level after many tries at holding the fort in the 'library'. In short, compartmentalization. Close up the bad guys in small areas that they can't get out of. So, close all the doors on the level before the monsters go hostile and before the high summoner can spawn off a horde. MOST monsters/bad guys don't open doors. The only NPC's I've seen opening doors are when you trigger an event and they unlock/open a door for you, or certain NPC's in towns that open doors to houses then go inside.

I talked the head guy at the door into allowing me to walk around the complex. Take a thief and use stealth ALOT (some doors appear to be locked in the open position so you might have to pick locks to close them) and close ALL the doors you come across. Close doors behind you if you go through a doorway. This allows you to lock up as many bad guys as possible so you don't have a constant stream of summoned monsters coming at you. The first place you should cover should be the door to the high summoner on the east side of the map, if that door is already closed then come back to it later. Once you've closed all the doors you can, park the thief in hiding near the door to the high summoners room, then have someone from your main party talk to the priest at the entrance and set off the attacks. I'm not sure, but I think the door to the high summoners room opens automatically once you trigger the attack, if it remains closed, then you're in luck. If its open, then run over and close it fast. You can run the thief back to the main party to join in the combat, but make sure you close all the doors behind you. The battle in the main hall will be much easier. You will only have to deal with Eldathyn, the priest and the 'librarian'. There are still a large number of Eldathyn, so a couple of webs on the doorway will make life easier. I've developed a stratedgy of firing 2 web spells into the same area, one from my mage and one from the bard. It doubles your likeliehood of trapping the enemy.
Then, for loads of fun, release the trapped adventurers to roam the map. Open a door to let them into a room, then remain stealthed so you can 'activate' the battle. Oddly enough NPC's (blue or summoned) will NOT fight if you can't see them with one of your characters. You have to be able to see them for them to initiate attacks (they may continue until their target is dead even if you can't see them). So basically follow the group around, when they run out of creatures to kill, follow them out of the room and close the door, then follow them around until they come to another door and open it for them and let them go in first. This is highly effective for the high summoners room.
The high summoner is the most annoying so you may just want to allow the adventurer party into that room then watch them tear up the high summoner. Once the high summoner is dead you can close the door locking the adventurers in the room. That allows you to take out the rest of the monsters on the level alone (you don't get experience if they kill the monsters for you).
I personally let them do all the work on this level as there are some concentrations of Yuan-ti and Yuan-ti priests that are annoying. I think I did take on the healer in the middle of the map alone. I allowed the adventurers to do their thing because I was bored. I just had to keep my stealthed thief running around the map to keep activating combat. Once the level cleared, cast a few web spells at these guys (who are conveniently clustered up, then use a few area of affect spells and follow up with missle weapons. I know its 'evil', but they have some excellent equipment and you suffer no penalties for killing them.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Thu Jun 07, 2001 2:13 pm

Well this time through I did not release the captive party until last once all baddies were dead.

Other than that I did as Newt said and closed all door in front and behind and took on a couple at a time. I did not use a thief, however, I used a cleric and sanctuary - much more stable than stealth. Finally, when left with the high summoner I sent in my cleric (on passive script) to reveal the area, then summoned losts of beasts and area effect spells.

The whole thing was more time consuming but I got all the exp AND the satisfaction!

RPGeek · Post by **RPGeek** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 5:15 am

I feel strangely out of place, since I'm the only one that didn't feel the dialogue in BG2 was well written.

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Tue Jun 12, 2001 3:38 pm

Thanks Newt for that strategy--sounds do-able. I'm just about to return to IWD. Seems like ToB is going to take forever to come out!

bobntia · Post by **bobntia** » Wed Jun 13, 2001 9:15 am

One thing which I screwed up is that the first priest you talk to has a key which allows you to get to the next level. Make sure when you kill him, you recover key or you won't be able to get to next level of dungeon.

Way I got by this was to use the spell was to confront the first priest with a paladin that uncovers the evil (gain 24k points), then use the exit to lower level as a place to rest in between swarms of monsters. At the beginning , you can cast entangle near the entrance to the level and wait for the mobs to come to you, then kill what you can with area spells and range weapons. When it gets to hot then bounce back to prior level to heal. You will find that eventually things stop coming to you and then you can slowly work your way to take out the healing priest, and then slowly make your way to the bottom right to take out the summoner. Doing it this way always allowed me to go back to the previous level to heal, I also tend to cast missile growth (I believe this is a HOW spell) on top of the entangle spell and this will cause some damage to be taken by the mobs even while retreating.

But no matter what make sure you have the key.

Good Luck

Chris Boney · Post by **Chris Boney** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 12:35 am

I play IWD for the second time now and I found it very easy with a different tactic. The first time I gave up at some point because it became too difficult, but now I solo the game with my FMC and it rocks.
Why do I solo?
Plain simple, the multiple ammount of cash I can spend on only one hero; then the faster exp-gain. And lastly a single hero becomes super-strong when he grabs the best treasures (armor+jewelry) for himself.
Yep, much easier when one hero has armorclass -14 than with six heroes with armorclass like -5.

Wicky