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CFM suggested that I start a thread discussing my first attempt at going through BG2 so here it is. LOL

Since most of you can play this game in your sleep I don't know how many people will enjoy this thread and if there is no interest then we can close it and let it die. I'm not really looking for spoilers but rather discussion of gameplay and tactics.

The two items of discussion that gave birth to this idea was the mention of Pebblecrusher's gang in the Waukeen Promenade and the Shadow dragon in the Umar temple.

Pebblecrusher's gang immediate reminded me of BG1 and the encounter with Tarnesh at the Friendly Arm Inn. My party had been doing pretty well in Irenicus' dungeon even beating a vampire so what can this Pebblecrusher guy and his friends do? Nothing more than decimating my party in under 45 seconds. LOL

The only thing that saved my butt was the Auto Save because my last save was before the library on the first dungeon level. I now save before going into any building, talking to anyone, or about every minute. :laugh:

I finished a few quests in Athkatla and then did the Umar hills quests before going back to fight Pebblecrusher and did a lot better. Protection from Evil, Bless, and Chant on the whole party, 2 thieves stealthed behind the mage and cleric and Minsc stealthed in front of the assassin provided me a very good head start. My mage using Chromatic Orb and Magic Missle to finish the mage, Pooky, the cleric, and Pebblecrusher.

I haven't gained the nerve yet to attempt an attack on the Shadow dragon. Naturally I gave it a go (actually about 9 attempts :speech: ) and never came close. So what level was your party when you beat the dragon or did you ever go back to fight?

So how did y'all fair against the above, if you can remember that many years ago. LOL

First let me say how envious I am that you can play BG II on your first unspoiled run it really is the best. I usually take out Pebble Crusher Right after the Circus Tent. That crew can be extremely tough if you wander in un buffed and pick a fight.LOL. Shaddow Dragon Usually Levels 9 and 10 but I know many ways to take down dragons as will you after a few runs through. First Game I think I took out a different Dragon on level 12 for my first ever Dragon but that was a malee heavy group.

Anyway enjoy and keep checking in. Remember that your BG I strategies will not carry you very far in BG II and you should always be trying new things as the possabilities are endless. Enough said though before I let something slip and spoil your fun. I was lucky and never new about sights like this on my first 10 runs through.

well bg2 is mostly about the propper bugs and debufs

Personally I think BGii is all about the story and banter. One thing I wish they would have done is make the game more random. Just enough so that someone who has played before still has a bit of a surprise in store for them the next time they played.

Well, I take on the gang at the Inn in the Promenade when I'm a little higher level than you were, DaemonJ. I stand outside the room and cast up a bunch of animals first. When I enter the fight, the animals distract some of the gang, and I can concentrate my attack on one guy. Pooky has a shield up, so a breach spell is used to remove it. The wizard cloaks (yes?), so a dispel invisibility spell makes him visible.

Against the Shadow Dragon (or any dragon), just use every protection and buff spell you've got: remove fear, chaotic commands, haste, etc. It's a good idea to position a mage further back, and have her fire off breachs and ruby rays to lower any protections the dragon might throw up, like stoneskin. You should be fairly high level when you fight a dragon, so you have enough spells available.

Let us know how you're doing.

[QUOTE=Sparrow]Well, I take on the gang at the Inn in the Promenade when I'm a little higher level than you were, DaemonJ. I stand outside the room and cast up a bunch of animals first. When I enter the fight, the animals distract some of the gang, and I can concentrate my attack on one guy. Pooky has a shield up, so a breach spell is used to remove it. The wizard cloaks (yes?), so a dispel invisibility spell makes him visible.[/QUOTE]

I usually attempt it at low level. Basically, the wizard gets surrounded by melee people, the wand of animal summoning drops some animals in the middle next to the dwarf, and the imp gets the full brunt of the wand of lightning. That typically takes out the imp, and the wizard can be killed quite quickly if you attack at the same time. From there on, it's straight melee, along with your spellcasters doing whatever they can to slow down the dwarf for last.

Well, when I fought them right outta the dungeon....that little dwarf kicked the stuffing out of my party. I focused on Brennan and the wizard/pooky first and took them out pretty quick but Pebblesnatcher or whatever his name is kept pounding on Jaheira...every time. Had to reload about 5 times till I worked out some better tactics.

Pooky's gang was 1 of 8 encounters I waited until the later chapters to complete. In Chapter 2, they punked me. But in later chapters, I paid them yahoos another visit and smoked 'em! Very satisfying, reaping the rewards of character development!

The Shadow Dragon was another. I did that whole quest in Chapter 2, but completed it by just sneaking around the beastie. Then in later chapters, ripe with experience, I paid 'im another visit, and vanquished the Evil Incarnate!

Side note: I read the developers at Bioware decided to tone down the difficulty of the Shadow Dragon, thinking most players would assume they HAVE to fight him, and the average player would become frustrated having to do multiple reloads to win a too-difficult fight. I wouldn't go as far as saying that late in the game it was an easy fight, but it should have been MUCH tougher, even late in the game. And this is coming from me, an average player not using game-engine exploits. This is a DRAGON, after all, the Crown Jewel fantasy monster. Plus, I thought it was obvious that you could avoid direct conflict with the Shadow Dragon, and still complete the quest.

And yes yes, I'm sure there are many people here that know how to take out a dragon using a level 1 character and a sling stone, or whatever. But I play using the following practices:
NO reloading is my goal (as minimal as possible, anyway),
my dudes do NOT know what's around the corner (even if I do), and
NO game engine expoits.

With that said, there were a half dozen other encounters I left for later chapters... but I don't want to spoil anything here. Keep them updates coming! Reactions to encounters, too, not just tactics. Who you got in your group?

Possible low-level spoilers?

To be honest, on my first time 'round, i didn't even fight the Shadow Dragon, and i didn't notice Pebblecrusher's group untill later on in the game, where they were rather easy.

But, saying that, i think the Shadow Dragon could rather easily be defeated, if you know what you're doing, (and you don't want me to give it away right?) but, the point is, there are a few key, low-level spells that are all that's required to defeat the Shadow Dragon, even after only doing the Umar Hills, and nothing else. (Although it is alot harder, and i suggest leaving it untill you've done a few more, but definately before going to the Asylum).


As to Pebblecrushers, i'm sure you can figure that out yourself.

But... Spoiler (highlight to read)

Spoiler

Using Stoneskin, Ironskins, protection from magical weapons, or something similar on a party member, and then using that member to distract the Dwarf is a very good idea, or you could try a hold-type spell.

.

Fond memories

Daemon,

You are off to a good start. What is so much fun (IMHO) about BG2 is that for so much of the early middle part of the game it doesn't matter (too much) how you choose to do things. I won't spoil anything. But since you have already beaten Pebblecrusher & crew, I'll leave a suggestion for the "next" time. You can beat them right after the Circus, perhaps even before with a little luck. They have some nice stuff for a party needing to get re-equipped coming out of Irenicus' hole.


**Spoiler**
I had Jaheira toss 2 entangle spells inside the doorway and that covered most of the room. Why 2? Pebble & crew have to save twice to cover the same distance. Odds are only one at a time will break through. With Aerie in your party adding a web for good measure will help, (which is what I did) 3 saves now just to get to the door. Neither web or entangle will fortunately cause them to go hostile. I had to purchase fireball for Aerie but was worth spending a sizable chunk of my available cash on it. Positioned Minsc and PC (A Paladin) just outside of the entangles. Aerie then threw in fireball after fireball. Pooky was toasted by the first one, the mage by the second one. The others tried to get to us but became pin cushions from all 5 of my party (all had some type of missle weapon). Only Pebblecrusher lasted long enough to get through the entangles and web to go mano a mano (and that because he used two extra healing potions). Not pretty, but didn't lose anyone.

rather annoying strat if u ask me

just hide in a thief and backstab pooky and let someone cast a spell to disable the mage spells
then things should get fairly easy

Reply

Use a jester to confuse them all !

[QUOTE=Amran_X_Kaiser]Use a jester to confuse them all ! [/QUOTE]
Is that a Bard sub-kit?

@RBitG: I tried about 3 Hold Person spells on Pebblecrusher and he saved on all of them.

Anyway, now that I have the dwarf crew out of the way I'm going to save Imoen and then hit the Shadow Dragon again. Right now I am in Bodhi's tomb.

[QUOTE=DaemonJ]
@RBitG: I tried about 3 Hold Person spells on Pebblecrusher and he saved on all of them.

[/quote]

Yikes. Bosses (Even weaker ones) tend to do that, did you try greater malison?

[quote="Daemon]Anyway"]

Remember to use fireballs on the spiders... unless you already have.

Spoiler (highlight to read)

Spoiler

Did you get the daystar from the inn in the City Gates area? Sunray is an insanely powerful spell when fighting undead, and should help a great deal. (link to example, note the damage in the record bar: http://i1.tinypic.com/xnb53a.jpg)

Reply

Think you got enough weapons equipped there :laugh:

3 fireballs, few magic missiles and the Pebblecrusher's party is down

fkors, after a few quests in the docks, the bridge and the slums

Sure does seem that way with the a lot of the bosses and their saves. Kind of expect them to save a lot (between their probable level and ability scores) but it sure it frustrating to go 0 for 3. Yeesh. Good tip from RBitG, Daemon. Have fun with Bodhi's lair.

spoiler Should the spike trap room gets too frustrating there is a path around to the back. Hug (very closely) the south wall taking a few steps at a time and you can get around to the back side of the room. It appears that there are no traps along that wall. Haven't tested how far away you can be but there is a clear path at least 1 character wide.

[QUOTE=Philos]
spoiler Should the spike trap room gets too frustrating there is a path around to the back. Hug (very closely) the south wall taking a few steps at a time and you can get around to the back side of the room. It appears that there are no traps along that wall. Haven't tested how far away you can be but there is a clear path at least 1 character wide. [/QUOTE]

Heh heh. Spoiler (Highlight to read)

Spoiler

Of course, all it takes is one character, if you have the daystar.

.

Edit: [QUOTE=Amran_X_Kaiser]Think you got enough weapons equipped there :laugh:[/QUOTE]

I was collecting all of the rare-and-powerful swords, what can i say? I'm a packrat.

@Philos and RBitG:

My response is spoiler'ish in nature and thus is hidden.

Spoiler

I haven't found the Daystar yet but after your comments I look forward to getting it.

For the spike and pool room, I had my F/T (stealthed) and Minsc walk directly to the pool from the hallway and encountered no traps. I then walked my F/T around until I found Lassal and positioned him behind Lassal. I then had Minsc (armed with the Azure Axe in throw mode) attack Lassal. At the same time the axe hit my F/T backstabbed and Lassal went down without getting one hit in.

I tried to kill Bodhi 3 times but she kept running off before it happened. I assume the game is designed to not allow her to be killed at this point in the game for later reasons.

spoiler:

Spoiler

you will kill her eventually, just not yet