Has Anyone killed the old man of the mountain?

Head_DRuid · Post by **Head_DRuid** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:01 am

I want to know so i can get prepared since i am at the desert and im running into afew assasins so i figured i was getting close.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:09 pm

Yep, you're getting close. Once you've gone trough a few desert areas, you'll reach a building. A few levels down into that, you'll face the final fight and the end of the game.

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:00 pm

Prepared?

Umm, I suggest having some explosive barrels, one or two fire resist potions and (of course) healing potions.

Have fun.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:08 am

A very good archery skill also comes in handy.

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:22 pm

Indeed it does.

I beat him with my archer character.

Basically all you'll have to worry about are the normal monsters (or minions if you will) and the fire.

He has high damage resistance but low AC, so feel free to put the attack rate on "hectic".

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:09 pm

There is a special trick to that battle. A trap on a little statue thing can be disarmed meaning that none of the monsters will be summoned.
I remember going through about 30 firepowder kegs before I found that out in that battle alone.

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:39 pm

Thirty? That's overkill.

I used like seven at most. DaVincci and Galileo do help you a bit.

Also, don't you have to have a good trap thing skill to find/disable it?

The monsters weren't much of a problem.

I was fighting the guy with 300 in archery and 270 in evasion. I was all set for that battle with my perception at 14 and my agility at 14.

The ending was kind of disappointing though. Well, I don't blame Black Isle. After all, they brough us great Games like BG, IWD and PSCT.

Head_DRuid · Post by **Head_DRuid** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:07 am

thanks guys but i have an ac of 272 and my evasion is about 50 and my achery skill is about 50. i have 11 kegs and about 20 potions. do ou think that is enough?

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:19 am

@Crenshinibon, well, I was collecting Kegs whenever I could and when I was surrounded by 10+ monsters I just laid 5 or more kegs so I wouldn't have to deal with them myself.

I'm not surprised you didn't have trouble with those stats. They are truly overkill....

They were probably lining it up for a sequel, though I agree, definitely not the best of endings...

The trap might might be difficult to see, but if you can disarm it, it radically changes the battle. The odd Hujark comes to pester Da Vinci and Galileo, but that's it for monsters. You can just stand there firing away without needing a single keg and maybe using a couple of healing potions through the whole battle.

@H_D, probably not, no. I think the archery skill needs to be closer to 200 to be effective (it certainly doesn't need to be as high as 300

), but that pretty much rules it out for you at the stage you're at.
What kind of pooints do you have in Sneak and the Elemental (Thought) Magic types?

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:43 pm

*cough cough*

Overkill? Well, maybe... the Sniper perk did help a lot.

I only had about 15 kegs with me. I used like seven at the last battle because the succubi were very damaging, even with over 200 AC.

Apparently, not that it has anything to do with the topic, if you beat the game and restart, importing your old character, you get a class specific item from DaVincci and the travels get a lot harder.

(He gave me Gauntlets of Blessed Archery, (45 to Ranged) and when i traveled through the ether plane I was mobbed by giants.)

Well, as it's seen, I poured almost all my skill points into Ranged Weapons and Evasion, but the most useful skill is Absorb Spirit. It saved me from using potions so many times, without putting any points into it. So at the very end, I had around 180 or so points in the Tribal protective branch. The buffs there are helpful, as you get a resistance bonus, AC bonus, AG bonus and a luck bonus from them. Note that at the end of the game your mana is probably all white (meaning you have absorbed too many spirits) an because of that you can safetly cast mana shield. So that bring the damage way down.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:06 pm

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]Overkill? Well, maybe... the Sniper perk did help a lot.[/QUOTE]
*nods* That's definitely useful. Last time I had both Sniper and Slayer perks...

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]Apparently, not that it has anything to do with the topic, if you beat the game and restart, importing your old character, you get a class specific item from DaVincci and the travels get a lot harder.[/QUOTE]
Really? That's the first I've ever heard of that...
Did you need to export your character just before the end or is it automatic?

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:20 pm

I'm not sure. I did export her before I fought the old man, but I do believe that the game auto exports for you as you gain about 22k experience from defeating the old man. There would have been no purpose to giving the XP if it didn't export.

Sniper and Slayer? Well, I'm sure that if you had a bow availible, you'd only use the bow, as it doesn't give you any penalties when using it in point blank range. Besides, I think bows are more efficient than fists.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:43 am

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]I'm not sure. I did export her before I fought the old man, but I do believe that the game auto exports for you as you gain about 22k experience from defeating the old man. There would have been no purpose to giving the XP if it didn't export.[/QUOTE]

I assumed any export that'd happen at the end of the game would merely be a setup intended to allow a player to take their character onto Lionheart 2 (which probably won't come into existence but was prepared for anyway). I'll test it out today anyway. I never considered taking a level 40+ character into the beginning of the game...
You'd have most of the perks and everything as it is, wouldn't you? Except for equipment, of course...

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]Sniper and Slayer? Well, I'm sure that if you had a bow availible, you'd only use the bow, as it doesn't give you any penalties when using it in point blank range. Besides, I think bows are more efficient than fists.[/QUOTE]

I was switching between the bow and fists. In my last run-through of the game I was mainly testing out the Unarmed combat anyway, it does more damage than the bow (even with the Sniper perk). I had the opportunity to take both perks, so that's what I did.

So, I used ranged weapons on any ranged enemies near the end and unarmed on the melee ones generally...unless the enemy in question was a dog...that's just a waste of my time.

EDIT: Okay, I tried it...I exported a character from the autosave just before the final cut-scene (the automatically exported character was from Level 1). I got 4gp, a longbow, a short sword, a healing potion and the Arrows/Bolts of Infinity from Da Vinci...nothing else...

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:28 pm

Hmmm, that is quite strange. Perhaps I just found the item somewhere... but then again, an item this powerful so early in the game? Maybe the higher the level the better the items.

Well, I'm not sure, but I *think* you'd still recieve beneficial items like that Luck potion. I could use more luck. Spam criticals.

In my opinnion, it's harder in the beginning of the game to have an unarmed character. Actually, it's harder in general, as you don't get to pick the enemies off one by one when they're hidden by the fog of war. Also, with the archery type, they have to suffer from a hail of arrows by the time they actually get to you.

About how much damage did you do with each ranged/meele attack?

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:05 pm

Maybe it's because you had 300+ points in that skill?
Anyway, I could try exporting after the battle...I only just just at the very start of the battle.

Yeah, you would. Any items that you would usually receive in the game you'd get again and they'd probably work as they're supposed to (even if you've taken the same potion before).

Well, there is the disadvantage that you don't get the bonuses that many weapons have to various resistances or skills, though the attack is fast and the damage goes up with more points placed in the skill. Equipping a shield limits the attack a little though.

I always found that to make Archery viable throughout the game more points needed to be placed in it, otherwise you'd only hit rarely. However, I never really focused on Archery preferring the other forms of combat (until the end). You can still pick off enemies one by one, it just requires a lot of luring tactics.

It's been a while...but without the criticals I think it was between 10 and 20 a hit. I know that Slayer and Sniper both actually decreased the amount of hits I had despite the damage hike.

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:26 pm

Decreased?! I did around 30 -40 on an avarage hit and about 50-60 after I got sniper.

The perks make up for the lost advantages of meele weapons. The +2 perception is handy.

Anyway, the best meele weapons are sold in stores, then again, it's a matter of luck.

I don't think that the 300+ points in archery got me those gauntlets...

It really is quite strange. Many people say that you character has to be balanced in magic AND combat, but I don't think it's true. You can very well beat the game with magic or combat alone, although the evasion skill helps a lot. Thanks to it, my character has a natural 130+- AC.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 3:49 am

I tried to post this last night, but I was just getting a nice series of errors instead...

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]Decreased?! I did around 30 -40 on an avarage hit and about 50-60 after I got sniper.[/QUOTE]

Ahh, you misunderstand me...I mean my chance to hit was reduced, not the damage...that was increased.

And the crazy amount of damage you seem to have dealt is probably connected with the number of points in that skill.
Mine is probably more than I said, I can't really remember the amount of damage I was dealing, just that it was more than enough.

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]The perks make up for the lost advantages of meele weapons. The +2 perception is handy.[/QUOTE]

Yes, but you can get a combination of the melee weapons AND the perks that increase stats.
Just like you can exploit the random encounters provided by journeying through the Magic Crystals and completing the quests offered by all the factions before you're forced to sign up with one.

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]Anyway, the best meele weapons are sold in stores, then again, it's a matter of luck.[/QUOTE]

Oh, yeah, the whole thing is dependent on luck. Sometimes you'll find a must-have item in a store, sometimes you'll find it in a pot somewhere and other times the item you really want will never appear....

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]I don't think that the 300+ points in archery got me those gauntlets...[/QUOTE]

Well, there's something that set your game apart from mine and I've never put that many points into the skill...though I don't really believe it either. It could just be a coincidence that you got an item raising your Ranged combat skill rather than, say, your Two-Handed skill.

[QUOTE=Crenshinibon]It really is quite strange. Many people say that you character has to be balanced in magic AND combat, but I don't think it's true. You can very well beat the game with magic or combat alone, although the evasion skill helps a lot. Thanks to it, my character has a natural 130+- AC.[/QUOTE]

In Lionheart, that does seem to be true. You can focus on one attack ability and to a lesser extent things like Find Trap and Healing magic and leave lots of the rest of the stuff. Of course, the challenge is then to choose something you wouldn't ordinarily go for and take it up to the end of the game...

Head_DRuid · Post by **Head_DRuid** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:04 am

i have the vampiresim potion, about 40 spirit exilers, 11 sneak potions and about 5 potions of thievery.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 3:57 am

I wouldn't say it's about how many potions you have, it's your skills that need to be high at the end...
A Speech score of around 300 allows you to completely avoid the battle, otherwise you have the option of fighting with a ranged weapons/spells (easier) or melee (very difficult).

Head_DRuid · Post by **Head_DRuid** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:19 am

Oh, yeah, the whole thing is dependent on luck. Sometimes you'll find a must-have item in a store, sometimes you'll find it in a pot somewhere and other times the item you really want will never appear....

true, i found some kind of wand in the crypt which helped me destroy most of the undead i fought and it helped alot against Revelants (which were hard to kill)