GameBanshee Forums

Hi all,

Two here... I used to post some on the BGII board. I was the idiot that did the "no death, no reload" thing with a bard, and made it pretty durn far without dying... anyway I just got IDaleII and thought I might try to do the No Death, No Reload thing for my first game.

I know nothing about IDaleII, so please don't post any spoilers in this thread if you post anything at all.

I have just started the game -- playing on difficulty setting one notch up from normal.

I'm soloing, as well, and things are going fine -- so far. Barely. Anyway.

If there is any interest in it, I'll post my thoughts about doing the game solo.

Let me know if you are interested -- thanks....

--TWO the Lover of Challenges

You returned! Dude, I remember you well from BG2...I've come some way since then - about 4450 posts, to be precise

Err...I'd love to say something relevant to the topic, but I can't - I've never played IWD2, I just noticed your name on the Who's Online thingy Thought I'd drop in and say hello anyways though.

Oh - I got one! Yeah, the whole idea of no deaths/no reloads is an excellent one, and I loved the detail you went into in your original BG2 posts - I'm sure people would love to see that done again. I never had the bottle/time to do it though...

no deaths... was a great read back in bg2, if you think you are up to it go for it.

i assume this is meant to be a solo campaign also?


best of luck to you...

Hi Two!

You were an inspiration for many of my solo campaigns; could never replicate your feats.

Do post your exploits here as well.

Look forward to hearing your interesting (as usual) views, @Two.

Looking forward to your soloing thoughts - I just started the game with a party of 5 (hey thats a TV show) and will probably go solo for my next run through.

Some good solo tips are always welcome!

Tears well up in my eyes, oozing out of the canthus, etc.

Wow... i'm amazed anyone remembered. Anyway. OK.

I'll post the solo journal as often as I can. I can't play very often because of, well, how shall I put it? Home and work issues, but when I play it's because I really really need to escape, but that's neither here nor there.

OK, I installed the game, which works on WindowsNT I'm happy to report (don't ask) plus the latest patch. Then boom -- started it off.

Character generation: gee whiz. 6 10's, with 16 points to distribute? Talk about a min/maxxer's wet dream! Plus you can nuke your charisma down to 6 for 4 more points, kill intelligence for 4 more (skills suck, right? At least for fighter types) and you could end up with Str: 18, Con: 18, Dex: 18, Wis: 10, Int: 6 and Charisma: 6, which as a barbarian or Fighter would just take over the world. But, that's not what I wanted.

Since I'm soloing, well. I'm not sure it was the best move. But I have made it an have to live with it.

First level: Monk. Great saves, evasion, etc. Stats: 18 con, 18 wisdom, everything else 10's. Didn't want to uber-munch on the charisma. For no other reason than it makes me feel like a slime.

For feats, again -- a failed save, when soloing, is death. I picked Iron Will, and the Reflex save boost. My fort save will be good because of my uber-constitution.

But Two? (you ask). As a Monk1 with 10 strength, you hit like your open-hand blows were muffled by a few feet of heavy-duty styrofoam. I know. Can't be helped. Must suffer now for future yumminess.

Got off a boat, and as always with Black Isle games am beset by random people with random quests. Took a healing potion to a guard, whacked (very slowly, and badly) a few goblins. Talked with a dwarf, went to his house, and heck -- why not? I smacked open the chest, grabbed the loot and high-tailed it out before the stinking cloud killed me. Whew.

OK got a heavy crossbow plus 15 bolts. Major improvement. So I try to get these dudes the Iron Collar gang or something to help me out, no go. They say -- forget about it. So Sneaky (my monk's name) bashes open a warehouse door and is forced to hit, move, run, hit, move run, hit, hit, move move move, sleep hit run, and after all that THREE lousy goblins are dead. Jeez, this guy sux major ju-ju beans. AC 14 does not help any either (18 wisdom and that's it). Can you say, hurt me now, hurt me often?

At some point Sneaky gained a level, I think it was after he went to the lower level in the warehouse and killed 2 goblins in a cave. I was thrilled. Thrilled, I tell you. Took a level in, you guessed it. Druid. That's the plan. Druid from now on. Get Wisdom to AC, don't wear armor but wildshape for melee, etc. Lots of good Monk/Druid synergies. Anyway, who cares? More Hit Points (18 con is great) and... one first level spell. Yeah.

This is so embaressing.

I slept to get the spell, then went back into the caves and was attacked by 5 goblins. I cast Summon MonsterI and... god. This is lame. I found myself thinking "these dire RATS sure kick some major behind!" My god! A Monk1/Druid1 in hand-to-hand is impossibly bad. I only get one crossbow shot off before they close. Took a LOT of running around, trying to hide, etc. before I killed them. We are talking 20 minutes here. Jeez. Pay now, gain later. I hope.

Went back up and cleaned out the rest of the docks of a few, very few remaining goblins. Talked with a crone about a tree, birth, death, life, the meaning of the universe, and sundries. She didn't want her dead cat back -- odd, that. Finished all the mini-quest type things I could find, and then went up the big steps. I had gained another level because of mini-quest xp's and was now a Monk1/Druid2. OK. Much better. 3 level 1 spells. Look out world.

That's it so far.

Now, does anyone else play with the default (max hit points) ON? Mine was one for the first 2 levels, then I tured it off (I had not noticed the option before). It seemed like way too much. Why is it on by default?

And was I right to up the difficulty a notch? Should I have upped it two notches?

good luck and enjoy

i started a solo game with a paladin of mystra dual classed with a wizard (choosing the level to advance based upon spell availability and the melee action dictated by the game). i would not suggest bumping up the difficulty since you are soloing. there are no major perks (exp. bonus), the only thing that goes up is the damage inflicted by the "monsters." you will find greater difficulties ahead (after you leave targos).

i never finished the solo game but imported the character (approx. 10th level) into heart of fury with 5 newbie characters. now that is some fun!!!!!!

Re: Tears well up in my eyes, oozing out of the canthus, etc.

Originally posted by two

And was I right to up the difficulty a notch? Should I have upped it two notches?

haha!

that's the two i remeber, always doing something hard, then wondering if it should of been more difficult.

with the difficulty settings, upped (maxed) i always seemed to run into giant critical hits which easily chunked the party, usually from some fairly harmless looking orc archer, or half goblin.

so i guess it's up to you, with anybody else i'd recomend playing on normal difficulty first to get a feel for the game...

@Two

Ok that's it! You make it sound so simple, I can't resist trying a solo game myself.

Onto your game, I can't fault your choice of skills and feats, but do be careful about ém goblins, they can kill with the best of them, unlike in SoA, and in solo mode, you only get one chance.

Re difficulty notches, your present level is fine for a solo character, I think. BTW, what kind of monk are you playing with?

I will be very pleasantly surprised if you can clear Dragon Eye later on in the game. Please keep us posted!

Best wishes.

Two - good luck my man. Keep up the reports.

one death, one reload (shame on me!)

Holy Mackerel.

This game is, for sure, more difficult to solo than BGII, if only because you start off at level one.

For a while, I was seriously worried about my choice of character class (Monk1/DruidX) but, after being required to make a huge number of will saves, I think my gut feeling was sound. My character had a will save of greater than 10 by 3rd level; that's because of Iron Will and an 18 Wisdom and Luck of the Heroes. And I needed every durn blasted bonus, believe you me.

However, this guy really truly sucks at melee combat. I just needed to make it to level Monk1/Druid5 (when I get my first shape shift form) and then I would be ok. But. That is a LOOOOONG haul.

After doing every easy quest I could find, this includes the ghost woman crying, the wood lumbar thing, the delivering of arrows to the palisade, etc. etc. I found myself with nothing left to do except report to the commander, who told me to go get that iron collar gang. Now, for a Monk1/Druid3, this was quite a task.

I went into the bar and checked 'em out. Two fighter types and a rogue type. Any of them would make mincemeat of me in a round or two; my to-hit is +2 or so, my damage is 1d6. Period. So I scan my spells for help -- druid level 1 and 2 spells. Yikes.

Then I see it.

"With a little help from my friends"

I go into a cabin right across from the bar, memorize 2 charm persons and a load of summon monster I, and sleep. Wake. Go to bar door. Open Door. Go in, summon dire rats x2, then -- cross my fingers -- cast Charm Person on one of the fighters. Failed save -- his save bonus was just +1! Easy. Charm Person. Got the other one too. Cool. I sit back while the one turns red and gets beat on by rats and his former friends. Then I slip out the door after that guy is dead, return to the hut, sleep again, go back to the bar -- and it's more tricky. As soon as I get into the bar they rush me, the 2 remaining, and they are crabby as sailors outbound from Tokyo. Yeah, that's crabby. So I cast charm, and it fails, and I'm hit by a sword. I'm in trouble. I jump behind the bar, cross my fingers, cast charm on the guy in front of my face. Works like...yeah. A charm. He turns good, and starts beating on the brat. I cast a few summoned monsters, etc. and soon they are both almost dead. Then I just attack willy-nilly and they go down. Done deal.

Close to fourth level (Druid4/Monk1) but not quite there. So I return to the commander, tell 'em the iron collar gang is dead, and...all hell breaks loose. I suspected as much, so I had slept, but still. What a mess. The goblins attack the palisade, and I wander outside casually -- thinking I would have time to scope it out. No. Oh, so no. A mage appears with 5 goblins. 10 goblins appear, plus one on a warg. I'm in a world of "huh?" I run, run like a baby facing a night sans milk. The mage is casting colors sprays left and right. Goblins ahead, behind. I try to entangle, but they are on me quick. This is painful.

I died.

It was insane. I have never had so few options. I was surrounded. I... died.

OK. So that's the end of no death/no reload. Because I sure as hell was going to reload and whip those goblins. I didn’t know how, but I was.

So I thought about it, left the computer. Returned, and reloaded to just before I told the commander I whipped the Iron Collar gang. I realized I could take out the mage 1-on-1 since I knew where he lived (in town). I went there -- didn't have anything to lose. I stepped in the door, summoned lots of monsters, surrounded him, then attacked with my crossbow. It was easier than I thought it would be. He died, plus the 4 goblins that appeared after I attacked him. Summoned monsters won that one easily.

But what to do about the palisade attack? I scanned through the druid spells, and decided upon the Rainshower spell (rain, something like that). Only did 2d6 damage, for 2 rounds, but still -- that is enough for goblins. So I got 2 rain showers, and 3 entangles and maybe 1 summon. Went back. Told the commander. The goblins attack. I leave the healer's house and immediately entangle goblins to the north. Fire 3 off, then 2 rains, and heck -- it was going great until a wolf got loose, and I had to run and it was just painful. I eventually killed a wolf after 10 shots with a crossbow ran more and then had to face a goblin on a warg. Alone (the spells killed the rest) but...still. I was down to 10 so I ran into the house again, and the healer guy said "need healing?" heck yeah!

Gimme some of that good stuff. He healed me, I went back out, dished out 10 points of damage for every 20 I took -- so then returned, got healed, went back out, etc. After 4 healings! the Warg guy was dead. No spells left. Yeah, I win. Right? NO. More appear in a cut scene. Well, to make it short: I managed to kill these guys by running AROUND the circular fort thing in the middle of the palisade, turning to shoot my crossbow every minute (I ran faster than they did, marginally). This took 10 unfun, grinding minutes. They died. More were summoned. Same dead. More summoned, plus some cleric guy. This was when I needed the will save BIG TIME. I killed all the goblins but this shaman goblin dude had protection from missiles up, plus mirror image, plus...who knows what else. He was spewing hold person's left and right! I literally had to "out save" 9 spells in a row... which I did with a +12 will save bonus but...god it was scary.

FINALLY he ran out of spells, and I did the hit/hit/hit/drop to 10 hitpoints/run to healer then return to hit/hit/hit/etc. After 5 healer visits (!) he was dead. I had saved the palisade. I made it to Druid4/Monk1. Yeah.

Died once so far, but worse than that: it was pretty boring. Grueling, took 30 minutes to beat off the goblins. I wasn't going to last the game at this rate.

But.

Things got a lot better.

Went on the next big mission, to beat up the orcs and save a bridge. Went there, cast a lot of rain/entangles, did some hiding/skulking, and had a blast. You could rest whenever, so I always had lots of spells available, and was in much less danger than the goblins. Just hide/go slow, and it's ok. After I met up with the druid, and saved him -- I hit Druid5/Monk1! Yes! Gimme wildshape! I got it. Nice. I took the panther feat as well -- wow. This guy ripped through 3 orc archers like butter. I can actually dish melee damage now!

The game is fun again, and.... I hope not to die EVER again. Period.

Gotta go now, sleep and stuff.

@two, this is great! Though you had little choice because of your stats/feats (spoiler) you don't have to kill the Iron Collar gang - they can be persuaded - with high charisma/persuasion - of their responsibilities

I was wondering whether spoiler alert should be placed on this thread? Just a thought

sorry to hear of the end of no-reload, in a lot of ways iwd2 does not play fair, ie cut scenes -> combat w/o much warning.

you may want to look into some flaming oils, ect ect.

This is a great chronicle! I played a Druid through the game (not solo, though), and I never even tried the rainstorm spell! I wonder why? It sounds very effective.

Nice read, two...

...no, make that GREAT read!

Just love the candor of your narration.

Good luck.

More tomorrow

I'll post more tomorrow, absolutely no time now. First some quick gripes.

Druids don't get their shapechange feats at the levels specified. Yes, I'm using the latest patch. Yes, it sucks. Polar bear comes at level 10, not 9, and shambling mound at level 10 as well. A real waste of a feat, choosing shambling mound!

Enemy spellcasters can still target spells when BLIND. Nice trick.

The Polar Bear form does something strange to my AC. Meaning, if I'm not wearing armor (wis to AC), got barkskin up, got mage armor up from an item... my AC should be 5+4+4 = 23 without dexterity. But Polar Bear AC is 21 with these buffs up.

??

All other shapechange forms work fine. Why this glitch? I'm thinking the Polar Bear has natural armor of 1 or 2, and over-rides the barkskin bonus, which it should not do. Slightly annoying... the highest bonus in each category should apply...grr....

Anyway, tomorrow I'll discuss two lovely spells:

1) entangle, and
2) fire wall. Fire wall? Yes, fire wall. More to come.

And no, not that kind of firewall.

Hey interesting story. I have a similar solo char and have just made it to Winter Wolf SC. It seems to be getting harder and not easier. My stats are more extreme than yours and, as such, I had a much more difficult time in the beginning (I am playing on insane).

Str: 8
Dex: 10
Con: 4
Int: 18
Wis: 18
Cha: 18

Due to my 18's, I got most of the diplomatic experience in the prologue and had Druid5/Monk1 a bit before the Palisade battle. The pig really helps but I also had my first death at the Palisade battle. I don't play with Max HP/level but I DO reload if leveling up drops my HPs (I leave it if my HPs stay the same or go up).

With the load of skill points and high INT, I plan on getting Scion of Storms for Call Light/Static.

Concerning your problem with AC when a Polar Bear. SC forms do not receive any AC benefits other than from Monk WIS. Even spells. Gamebanshee "Shapeshifting Tables" has more info on this.

TemjinGold

Ugh. Thanks for the info about shapechange stuff. That makes my decision to grab one Monk level... well, makes it OK. I was not sure for a long while, but I think it is a good move now. Gets me heavy crossbow, wis to AC, and evasion. Solid.

I am now currently Druid10/Monk1 .... wow. Let me just say, big power increase from Druid9 to Druid10. Polar Bear form, critical range 19-20, screen shake = death to whatever I had been facing.

I'm in a cave of goblins/orcs right now, have waded through a LOT of outdoor screens, and I'm still infiltrating some goblin fortress. More details tomorrow.

As for the prologue, I was an idiot. I didn't finish the weeping woman quest at first. I went back after saving the bridge/weakening the dam and talked to the bar guy, and realized the head man's wife was a sorceress that sold stuff -- nice stuff. Like, an uber head band that Monks can wear, gives +1 to hit and immunity to X, Y Z. Can you say yum? Thanks, one monk level! Gimme. Also grabbed the Ring of Mage Armor. Uh, yeah? AC woes just went away. Barkskin+MageArmor+Wisdom of 20 (after level 8) + any dex = mid 20's. As soon as I can afford that Amulet of Shield I am getting it (I hope it casts the level1 shield spell for +7 xtra AC, if so, double-yum).

Just for the record. Icewind Dale II does NOT play fair. I am having to do the following: cast that 4th level spell "freedom" that gives freedom from all restraining spells, then move on to the next screen, then if it places me in the middle of battle run like hell in a fast animal shape and hope to find a place safe enough to drop some e-bombs. A few times I have died before finding a safe spot; it's just impossible if you don't have access to invisiblity / know the game beforehand. That's too bad. Bad design, somewhat, I think. Anyway, no whining. At least the game is NOT TOO EASY!

no way.