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This time around, I did almost everything before getting ready for the final showdown. My fighter is level 18 - almost 19. You would have thought that Firkraag and the Kangax would have been easy meat, but they weren`t.
I had to resort to using simalcrum and the slayer to beat them.
Previously, I had beaten them at a much earlier stage without too much trouble. I`m playing the D & D level, but surely it shouldn`t make that much difference?

I thought Firkragg was a cake walk............ Kangaxx on the other hand tears my arse up every time. I still haven't beaten him. But just you wait... I haven't stooped low enough to use the slayer yet.

Yes, but what level were you? That was the point I was getting at. As I said, previously with a lower level party, I found them both quite easy. With my higher level party, they were much more difficult.
Also, what level were you playing at? I was at D&D level.

Tactics can make a world of difference. Also, party composition changes things with specific foes. A mage-heavy party will defeat some baddies easier; a fighter-heavy party will help with others.

I've usually just lowered his MR a couple of times, then fired of every magic missile I could lay my hands on. That usually makes him easy for a mage-heavy party, but when I played a melee party, I found him incredibly difficult. It took a great readjustment.

To make a short story out of it, he may just seem more difficult, with your current make-up. Core rules shouldn't make that big a difference.

I took him on with my half-orc berserker(in a berserk rage) weilding Blade of Roses and Celestial Fury and my elf fighter using Liracor. My other party members were taking on Conster. Conster lasted longer than Firkragg. My overall party level was 13-14. My berserker is a terror to be seen. A wonderful class to be in a party.

[QUOTE=davfrahen]Yes, but what level were you? That was the point I was getting at. As I said, previously with a lower level party, I found them both quite easy. With my higher level party, they were much more difficult.
Also, what level were you playing at? I was at D&D level.[/QUOTE]

Combats do get harder the higher level you are, instead of spawning clay colems there might be adamantines and such things. Instead of 1 grt.Werewolf in windspear, there is 3 and so on. But I've never heard of the bosses actually getting harder, like Firkraag and Kangaxx.

Are you sure your memory isn't fuzzy though? Kangaxx has never ever (except with tactics) been able to do anthing else than spam Imprisonment on the party. Not that it's not evil, but that's all he ever does.

I take on Kangaxx as one of the last things I do, before I head off to the elf city. Because, frankly, I'm a bit scared of him. So my party is probably level 19.

I run my party through Watchers Keep. This loads them up with Whirlwind Attacks. I then surround him and hit him so fast and hard, that he never has a chance to croak out any spells. I'll take the win any way I can get it.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you if he gets tougher if you're higher level, because the fight doesn't last long enough for me to study it. Either I take him out immediately, or I'm in trouble, because I can't seem to out spell cast him.

[QUOTE=Thrifalas]Are you sure your memory isn't fuzzy though? Kangaxx has never ever (except with tactics) been able to do anthing else than spam Imprisonment on the party. Not that it's not evil, but that's all he ever does.[/QUOTE]

Well, and Demilich Howl (which is basically Wail of the Banshee). But yeah, in his second form, he's limited to those two attacks.

Muthas

I have been glibly saying how easy dragons are on here - and due to some error, Firkraag was in a state to keep healing himself instead of croaking. took over 20 CKs from the wand to finish him off. however - that is easy-peasy compared to trying to melee a dragon - you just don't do it unless your party has a cr@p MU. I can't recall the last time I tried, but as I usually contrive to dual wield Celestial Fury and daystar (or some other +3 weapon) -I could perhaps have some chance IF Fury stunned the dragon - perhaps hitting the dragon with some lowering MR tactic might make stunning more probable, but I'd rather go the WMD route than mano-y-mano.

I have 4 slots on katana and 3 on dual weapon style - but even so, I doubt I would stand much chance in a straight fight with a dragon.


as for the lich/demi-lich there are some clever ruses which give you the edge - one which may seem simple is to protect the best fighter with a scroll of protection from undead and then from magic - that stops the PC being mazed. then keep the party back and load the area with summoned creatures - skeletons, animals, woodland beings, wyverns or monsters from the wand of monster summoning (you will guess that the sell-steal back wand recharged with 50 charges provides a LOT of lich-fodder.) if the party are sufficiently out of the way - they may entirely escape the attention of the lich or any of its summoned creatures. I seem to remember the creatures that the lich summons sometimes end up fighting amongst themselves - say if the efreet is deemed to have 'attacked' a gated creature when it fireballs an area.
then on to the main event - the demi-lich - the staff of rhun +4 and the sling of everard both work and do 2-6 points per attack. even though the staff is not a priority weapon, it is worth using it for this fight - with massively minus AC on the PC, even if scroll protection runs out - the fighter can last a considerable while - especially if regenerating. it may be worth recruiting Keldorn to fight "on the side of the angels" with +5 carsomyr and shorten the fight.

nobody said the PC had to fight fair - so WMD and cannon-fodder are often the way to beat end-bosses.

It has been a long time since i touched BG2(mb 2 years) but IIRC you can just cast a normal default lvl5 spell "protection from dont-remember school", which grants you protection from imprisonment, among other things, letting the mage take all the imprisonment casts(protected) and let other members whack him to death with +4/+5 weapons. Or even easier, let the berserker do all the job, his berserker rage protects from imprisonment as well, and staff of rynn he can handle.

davfrahen
Do you have tactics mod installed? It unleashes the real monster-power :speech:

I thought he was only hit by +5 weapons???? Maybe I thought wrong. I know in old school D&D it took a +5 weapon. I may have to rethink my strategies... I hate when I fight things with Imprisonment

+4

as said above, I used the staff on the fighter plus the sling of everard from the crowd. the staff is +4 and did damage - pretty slowly, I admit. the sling did enough to make sure the creature went under eventually.
having Keldorn whack away with Corsomyr was a lot quicker, so he might be worth picking up temporarily.

Kangaxx & Firkraag & Arkanis

I killed Kangaxx & Firkraag at lvl 8, and had no difficulty at all.
Also killed the "Staff of Magi" guys at Bridge District at lvl 9.

Well, unbelievable? Hard to achieve? Not so.

Get a wand of monster summoning, charge to 50, than go gather lich skeleton parts.
The 2 liches, and first part of Kangaxx are the same.
At the start of the combat, anticipate the "Time Stop", summon a few monsters, and run back. He will use his Death-Stun-AbuDhalzim...'s on those monsters while you stay safe 50 feet away. Than go back, and hit him a bit.
When he casts "Protection from Magical Weapons", just run back, and count to 24 (4 rounds = 24secs), and than go back, and hit him with all your might.
Just don't miss the "Protection from Magical Weapons" cast, and stay away those times, and you'll be safe.
Also buffing up with lvl2 spell "Remove Fear-Resist Fear", "Protection from Evil", having "Remove Paralysis" ready to cast, and having "Haste" etc. will help. (All are lvl 1-4 spells.)

The hard part is, Kangaxx's Demi Lich form, which casts Imprisonment as his standart attack(which means, his will cast that spell infinitely many times), to which there is no save.
There, you either have a berserker go berserk (or rage), and pray that lich casts impr. on him only, and pray that you can kill the bastard before the berserk state ends.
Or... You get 6 "Protection from Undead" scrolls (Green ones), and cast all on your party. And just hit the Demi Lich(with 4+ enchanted weapons), and watch him stay there harmlessly. The spell stays for 10 rounds, which is around 10 minutes, so you won't have a difficulty there.

This way, you can easily kill Kangaxx at lvl8. The first thing to do.

Ah, btw, don't forget to Steal "Ring of Gaxx" at the moment he appears. You get another on his corpse also... So there you go. 2 rings.

Firkraag...
3 major points.
"Protection from Fire" potions.
"Resist Fear" spell.
"Resurrection" wand.
Drink 2 potions, (or use some spell, use potion on top of them...) which stack, so you make %100 fire resistance on your fighters.
Than cast "Resist Fear", buff up your party, ("Oil of Speed", "Storm-Fire-Frost Giant Strength", "Potion of Heroism", "Potion of Power"), and send them to Firkraag.
Get a mage ready to cast "Breach" with a scroll (or spell if you passed lvl9), and start the cast. 0.5 sec later, attack.
At the moment you attack, he casts stoneskin, and breach takes it down.
So you continue to hit.
The Fire Breath does nothing, but Wing Buffet hits a bit, and throws your party a bit away. You can either summon a few monsters there, or just pull your other party members back.
Use "Resurrection Wand" on near-death members. It has no range, so your mages can stay away.

This way, a lvl8-9 party can take Firkraag down real easy, and fast.

PS:
Renal Bloodscalp & Arkanis Gath & Boots of Speed...
Well, this part is a bit explanation for those who wants a 3rd "Boots of Speed" for their party.

There are two ways.
1-You join Shadow Thieves
After returning from Underdark, return to Docks, take Aran's last quest, and after returning the quest, go upstairs, cast "Death Ward" on all your party members. (A cleric with memorized "Death Ward" + "Wondrous Recall" spells will do).
Than kill Renal Bloodscalp, and get the boots on his corpse, and run for your life... He won't kill you with one shot, but he will hit anyway, and will run fast, and you won't be able to kill him, or slow him... So you just summon a few elementals, (cast Death Ward on them also, if you have any left), and run away while he kills them. Or just run out of town from a far away corner, and don't go to that part again

2-You join Bodhi's Guild
Well, before joining Bodhi, go do this part, if you have enough death ward... (or risk resurrection + trying hard to get dropped gear of them).
The moment you join Bodhi, Renal disappears... So you have to do it before joining any of them.

BTW, as a master of the game, I can give a tip.
Most powerful character(s),
Sorcerer backed Kensai... :}
My last party, (2 Sorcerer, 2 Kensai, 1 Cleric/Thief, 1 Paladin), just swept away all the game... They simply walked. Not a hard moment anywhere.
(e.g. they took down Shadow Dragon in 10secs at lvl13... Not a scratch on party members.)
(Except the times, where Kensai's got charmed or confused )
Spirit Armor + Improved Haste.
All the Kensai needs to be a bloody butcher...

[QUOTE=sultanselim]BTW, as a master of the game[/QUOTE]

I find what you wrote hillarious. I'm being a bit mean here, so don't read if you dislike that. And for the love of god, don't take is seriously. I was like that myself before I got here. But hey...

Take a quick jump down from your high horses before someone sees you. You fail so badly... at everything.

First: Everyone can do everything in the game at level 9. Unless you're playing tactics or similar mods, there are no difficulties in the game what-so-ever. You can take down Firkraag with a party of level 9-chars. I can take him down with a solo lvl 5 mage.

Second: Stealing a ring of Gaxx is exploit: If you're up to that, why don't you just get yourself a fancy Rift Device and Ring of the Ram+Energy and go pay Demogorgon a visit.

Third: The title of a "master of a game" comes when you have completed the game in every manner possible with every patch possible and found every exploits possible. See userunfriendly and his heroe's guide to a successful adventure.

Fourth: Of cource nothing is a challange for a medieval player with a full party, especially if he's using sorceresses. Nothing is a challenge for a soloing sorc fcol... And, while it's true that both sorcerers and kensais are powerful, the dual-classed kensai/mage have times and again proven that he *is* the one.

So, if you want to be a "master of the game", don't give me one of the twelve hundred ways to kill kangaxx or firkraag, find some way to get the thunderbolt hammer from the improved mind flayers before going to underdark and you'll have my respect. ;p

Does any of this have anything to do with the original question, which seemed to have something to do with the difficulty settings of the game?

Or are we just boasting, now, about how we killed this baddie, or that?

Wondering about that, myself. Just a reminder: if you can't post directly to the question at the top of the thread, don't post at all. I'll be deleting all future posts that can't manage that.

And to new poster in the forum: welcome. Try to learn to fit in, and stick to the format of posting and answering recent questions. If you think you've got one up on people that have been around for six years, here, maybe you should think again, and read for a while.

[QUOTE=sultanselim]

BTW, as a master of the game, I can give a tip.
[/QUOTE]

Hooray for the humble.

Now, without cheats, you just cant have +4 weapons to kill ol' Kangy right away. What you describes seem doable, but what about the death spells Kanggy will throw at your summons? Your party would be dead, being low level as they are. Its insta kill under certain levels. Now stealing the ring may give you two rings, pretty known stuff. Also, 6 scroolls of prot from undead are found through the game, not just in a store, so either you've cheated for money or you've clua ed the scrolls to your backpack, so you needed help, so you cant defeat Kanggy with a 8th level party, cause its the same to just pressing control Y and killing him right away.

Btw, a single run with Tactics mod on and improved liches kills your pretty strategy. Even if you have level 20 characters.

Strategies to kill the Firecracker are so plentyfull. However, lets take a look at yours. You're exploiting engine bugs. Install the easy of use mod, or install some other mod to remove the stacking bugs. Yes, bugs, since you're not supposed to reach all that resistance. Now fight him openly with strategies. He wont stay blind to you starting to cast, if you install tactics, which btw, will kill your pretty strategy, even if you have level 20 characters, cause Firkraag is really a challenge back then and his wing buffets will throw you away no matter what and he will dispell your protections before breaching you.

The cheeses to get boots of speed are quite known.

Also, using powerfull parties, with the sorcerer and kensay (who's ridiculously powerfull) is really not funny. I prefer soloing a bard and missing all character interaction.

With that said (and apologizing to Fable for my daring intromission), I gotta try to answer the thread question.

@Davfrahen, it is not really quite harder, but you'll have to manage a bit extra punch from spells and melee atacks, since the monsters will do more harm. Also, expect reactions to work worst (that happened to me, bartering was expensive). I'm playing IWD and BG1 now in the insane levels right now, and I plan on going SoA with insane level as soon as I finish Tostc. The difference is that it really matters to have a good strategy and knowledge of the places to be in the game, cause each hit chops off your arm or your leg

humble master?

Well, I am be new here, so I might've jumped in, trying to `educate all` about how to exploit the game, sounding a bit boasting.

I was just browsing around, and saw the note 'about how the game was harder' part, and posted a note.

About Tactics, well, I don't know what it is, but will find out, and will try it too. I've not played BGII with mods, so I guess that's about it.

In BGII + Patch + Core (Without the Mods):
Money part is easy, as you all may know. Get 5 "Potion of Master Thievery", get a thief, Go to bridge district, sell all the 6 wands you got in Irenicus Prison, and steal-sell,steal-sell. Well, it is again stacking bug?? Get a thief, distribute points all to steal, get the gauntlet from Copper Coronet, and there you go. So what? A lvl8 party can easily make his gold infinite in any way.

So you can have the gold, and the 4+ weapons, scrolls, anything at the start of the game.
Monsters can't take the beating? You stay out of sight of the Lich, and you are safe mostly. If he casts a spell at you, just move out of the area, as you may all know too.

And scrolls, well, you can find 2 in a store, and can easily buy 6, if you just go around looking at stores.

Hammer of Thunderbolts before Underdark? I suppose it's with the Modded game again. Else easy as a cake as you all know.

I don't consider these things as bugs. I mean, bug in a way, like exploit, but not a code bug. I hate using trainer-like things, but use anything that the game permits.

Let me try this Tactics, or other mods, browse in the forum more, and than come paste notes. Better than seeming like a spoiled child.

PS: Any of you know how to duplicate any item in KOTOR I&II, anywhere, anytime? (Even the game designer's didn't know about the bug, so it works in both versions)

Please keep on subject: last warning. If anybody wants to discuss cheats (such as duplicating items), it can be done in another thread--after checking the search database to make sure it hasn't been done, before. It's completely irrelevant to this thread.

Its obvious someone does not have Baldurdash patch installed.

sultanselim
If you want that extra stuff so badly just use ShadowKeeper. Really, the game will not even notice. btw [url="http://www.baldurdash.org/"]Baldurdash[/url]

On topic

davfrahen
Well, the right tactic often means more than levels. But these enemies are kinda unique, it should not be expected that any regular monster be that hard later in the game , except some bosses maybe.

Pellinore
oh well +4 works, probably game balancing, or its just a weaker demilich