clueless1 wrote on 2024-12-30, 15:26:

Pool of Radiance
Had some vacation time this week and got a little more playing time in. I completed Sokal Keep, including the massive encounter with 4 orc leaders, 15 hobgoblins and 31 orcs. It took a couple of tries to get the right combination of spells memorized. Basically, just cast sleep at both doorways to clog them up and prevent the masses behind from advancing. Then some Stinking cloud just ahead of our party for those that started to advance before I cast the sleep spells. Then a couple of more sleep spells on the crowds behind the doorways. That kept the attacking monsters at a manageable count and once I picked them off it was just a matter of spreading my party out and picking off the helpless remainder.

After this and the reward from the Council, I had a few more party members level up so then I went and took care of the last battle against the trolls and ogres in the southwest corner of The Slums. It still took a couple of tries and getting the right combination of spells memorized (I forgot Hold Person didn't work against either trolls or ogres) but I finally got this battle completed. Now I'm in much better shape to move forward. Everybody is level 4 except my fighter/thief who is lvl 3/4. Looks like I have a few options of where to go next. Library, Auction, Textile House are possibilities.

Nice update! Good job on winning those two tough encounters with some good strategies.

That Troll fight was a hard stop for me when I first played Pool of Radiance around 1998 or so. I got The Forgotten Realms Archive from the bargain bin, and that's as far as I made it. Was definitely a "This isn't Final Fantasy, bitch" kind of moment.

When I played Pool of Radiance again maybe 5 years ago, I actually found it pretty doable. Involved some minor save scumming, and I'm not actually sure how completely the rules about acid or fire killing trolls for good are even implemented. But if you stand over where the troll falls, they can't get back up again. Which is pretty much what I always did when fighting trolls in Gold Box games. That or you kill them all so fast they never have time to get back up.

Enjoy the rest of Pool of Radiance, it's such a treat.

Namrok wrote on 2024-12-31, 02:30:

That Troll fight was a hard stop for me when I first played Pool of Radiance around 1998 or so. I got The Forgotten Realms Archive from the bargain bin, and that's as far as I made it. Was definitely a "This isn't Final Fantasy, bitch" kind of moment.

When I played Pool of Radiance again maybe 5 years ago, I actually found it pretty doable. Involved some minor save scumming, and I'm not actually sure how completely the rules about acid or fire killing trolls for good are even implemented. But if you stand over where the troll falls, they can't get back up again. Which is pretty much what I always did when fighting trolls in Gold Box games. That or you kill them all so fast they never have time to get back up.

Enjoy the rest of Pool of Radiance, it's such a treat.

Weird, I don't remember the trolls ever getting back up. In fact, I don't remember their body sticking around in a prone position after defeating them. They just disappeared. But now that you mention it, I did read that about this battle - to stand over their bodies when they fall. Is it possible to just kill them outright, like I apparently did?

clueless1 wrote on 2024-12-31, 11:08:

Namrok wrote on 2024-12-31, 02:30:

That Troll fight was a hard stop for me when I first played Pool of Radiance around 1998 or so. I got The Forgotten Realms Archive from the bargain bin, and that's as far as I made it. Was definitely a "This isn't Final Fantasy, bitch" kind of moment.

When I played Pool of Radiance again maybe 5 years ago, I actually found it pretty doable. Involved some minor save scumming, and I'm not actually sure how completely the rules about acid or fire killing trolls for good are even implemented. But if you stand over where the troll falls, they can't get back up again. Which is pretty much what I always did when fighting trolls in Gold Box games. That or you kill them all so fast they never have time to get back up.

Enjoy the rest of Pool of Radiance, it's such a treat.

Weird, I don't remember the trolls ever getting back up. In fact, I don't remember their body sticking around in a prone position after defeating them. They just disappeared. But now that you mention it, I did read that about this battle - to stand over their bodies when they fall. Is it possible to just kill them outright, like I apparently did?

So, the way I remember it going, was when you "kill" a troll it vanishes same as everything else. That's how you can stand over where it was. But they still exist, and slowly regenerate hitpoints. When they regenerate enough they stand back up. It was a really nasty surprise. But they only stand back up if they have room to, so standing over them keeps them down.

Namrok wrote on 2024-12-31, 14:09:

clueless1 wrote on 2024-12-31, 11:08:

Namrok wrote on 2024-12-31, 02:30:

That Troll fight was a hard stop for me when I first played Pool of Radiance around 1998 or so. I got The Forgotten Realms Archive from the bargain bin, and that's as far as I made it. Was definitely a "This isn't Final Fantasy, bitch" kind of moment.

When I played Pool of Radiance again maybe 5 years ago, I actually found it pretty doable. Involved some minor save scumming, and I'm not actually sure how completely the rules about acid or fire killing trolls for good are even implemented. But if you stand over where the troll falls, they can't get back up again. Which is pretty much what I always did when fighting trolls in Gold Box games. That or you kill them all so fast they never have time to get back up.

Enjoy the rest of Pool of Radiance, it's such a treat.

Weird, I don't remember the trolls ever getting back up. In fact, I don't remember their body sticking around in a prone position after defeating them. They just disappeared. But now that you mention it, I did read that about this battle - to stand over their bodies when they fall. Is it possible to just kill them outright, like I apparently did?

So, the way I remember it going, was when you "kill" a troll it vanishes same as everything else. That's how you can stand over where it was. But they still exist, and slowly regenerate hitpoints. When they regenerate enough they stand back up. It was a really nasty surprise. But they only stand back up if they have room to, so standing over them keeps them down.

Maybe I just defeated them all before they could regenerate. According to GBC Monster Manual,

Regenerate 3 hit points per round, can return from death in 3d6 rounds

So perhaps I killed them all before 3-18 rounds passed.

codename 47 the first game was brutal moving around not sleek like later versions.

I recently did some EAX testing with Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn which got me into the mood for replaying it. I like this game much more than its predocessor, as it has a stronger story and more detailed party member interactions. Decided to go for a (somewhat) power gamer run, so my party is as follows:

1) Protagonist - Neutral Good Elf Archer
This kit gets really powerful at higher levels, as the THAC0 and damage bonuses stack up. I gave him grand mastery in short bows, since you can find some pretty good ones early on. Having a mage cast haste on an archer practically gives you a machine gun.

2) Yoshimo/Imoen (Thief/Mage)
Not the most powerful party members out there, but I like keeping these two around for story reasons. Won't spoil anything here, if you know, you know. Still, Imoen is a solid mage and can also serve as a backup thief, while Yoshimo gets those cool special snares due to his kit.

3) Jaheira (Fighter/Druid)
This elven lady becomes a surprisingly good tank once she gets the iron skin spell. Also, her insect plague turns enemy mages into practice dummies. I currently have her specializing in scimitars, since you can get a speedy one which provides an extra attack relatively early. She will be using a shield in her left hand for now, while possibly switching to dual-wielding at a later time.

4) Anomen (Fighter/Cleric)
He's a bit annoying until he passes his knighthood test, but he gets really strong after leveling up a bit. Despite being dual-classed, he remains a decent fighter, and can buff himself up with holy might and similar spells before tough battles. Give him the mace of disruption and he'll be slaying undead enemies left and right. And at very high levels, he can literally make vampires and liches explode with his turn undead ability.

5) Keldorn (Inquisitor)
This old paladin is pretty awesome. His kit provides dispel magic and true seeing several times per day, making him the perfect counter for enemy spell casters. He becomes nearly unstoppable if you get him the holy avenger sword, a girdle of giant strength and dexterity gauntlets.

6) Jan (Illusionist/Thief)
Arguably the best thief in the game. His self-made gear provides bonuses to several thieving abilities, so you can save some points there. I like maxing out his set snares skill, since he can get those powerful spike traps in the expansion. They can shred even boss enemies to bits, if used correctly. He's also a competent mage, though he can't cast necromancy spells due to his kit.

On that note, I'm playing Shadows of Amn without the Throne of Bhaal expansion installed for the moment. This is because the expansion greatly increases the experience cap, which can make you too "over leveled" for the base game encounters, so they become less of a challenge. To avoid that, I'll only install the expansion pack after finishing the main story.

Gotta say, loading times in this game are a lot better when you have an SSD and a fast CPU. I'm playing it on my Core 2 Duo E8600 rig under WinME with an Audigy 2 ZS providing EAX. Note that on Audigy cards, it's best to use VxD drivers when playing this game under Win9x.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-01-02, 14:22:

6) Jan (Illusionist/Thief)
Arguably the best thief in the game. His self-made gear provides bonuses to several thieving abilities, so you can save some points there. I like maxing out his set snares skill, since he can get those powerful spike traps in the expansion. They can shred even boss enemies to bits, if used correctly. He's also a competent mage, though he can't cast necromancy spells due to his kit.

Also turnips. LOTS OF TURNIPS.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-01-03, 13:04:

Also turnips. LOTS OF TURNIPS.

Heh, I love it when I send him to set a trap for some huge enemy and he goes "I'll do it for a turnip!". Also, Jan has some hilarious conversations with both Keldorn and Anomen. I'll just say "the flesh golem and the paladin book" and "Ano the orc" and leave it at that. 😁

I like having both Jan and Minsc in the party for some comic relief, though I understand they aren't to everyone's taste.

Making good progress in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. As mentioned before, I'm really enjoying the party interactions in this game. For example, I liked how Keldorn was trying to mentor Anomen, while the young squire arrogantly rebuffed those attempts. But after passing the knighthood test, Anomen became more polite and even grateful toward the old paladin. Good stuff. Also, it's nice how your party members occasionally make side remarks while the protagonist is talking to other people.

On a related note, the voice acting in this game is really good. All party members are portrayed superbly, and the major NPCs are pretty solid too. In particular, David Warner did a phenomenal job as the main villain Irenicus. Perfect casting, great delivery. A bit reminiscent of his character from the iconic Star Trek TNG two-parter "Chain of Command".

Anyway, I finished several side quests in the main city of Athkatla to raise some gold. Then, I visited Trademeet and the nearby druid grove to grab the scimitar of speed for Jaheira. I also bought a +3 enchanted club to serve as her backup weapon, and got a bow which fires unlimited magic arrows for my archer protagonist. Keldorn is currently wielding the talking sword that we got by solving a puzzle, and Anomen found the mace of disruption in the vampire lair. With that, everyone is stocked up on magical weapons, and my main front liners are all decked out in full plate armor. Guess it's time to sail towards Spellhold.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-01-04, 09:03:

Making good progress in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. As mentioned before, I'm really enjoying the party interactions in this game. For example, I liked how Keldorn was trying to mentor Anomen, while the young squire arrogantly rebuffed those attempts. But after passing the knighthood test, Anomen became more polite and even grateful toward the old paladin. Good stuff. Also, it's nice how your party members occasionally make side remarks while the protagonist is talking to other people.

On a related note, the voice acting in this game is really good. All party members are portrayed superbly, and the major NPCs are pretty solid too. In particular, David Warner did a phenomenal job as the main villain Irenicus. Perfect casting, great delivery. A bit reminiscent of his character from the iconic Star Trek TNG two-parter "Chain of Command".

Anyway, I finished several side quests in the main city of Athkatla to raise some gold. Then, I visited Trademeet and the nearby druid grove to grab the scimitar of speed for Jaheira. I also bought a +3 enchanted club to serve as her backup weapon, and got a bow which fires unlimited magic arrows for my archer protagonist. Keldorn is currently wielding the talking sword that we got by solving a puzzle, and Anomen found the mace of disruption in the vampire lair. With that, everyone is stocked up on magical weapons, and my main front liners are all decked out in full plate armor. Guess it's time to sail towards Spellhold.

I'm enjoying reading your posts on BG2. It's a game on my playlist (I completed BG1 in 2017) but due to less and less free time for gaming, I'm intimidated to start it because I think for me it would be a 100 hour game. I tend to play RPGs slowly and 100 hours would probably equate to 6 or 7 months. I used to love long games but now I'm wishing there were more good 20-30 hour RPGs out there.

Currently 25 hours into Pool of Radiance. I'm in Mendor's Library. I have not made it to the wilderness yet (other than dipping my toe in the wilderness map via the western exit of Podal's Plaza).

Anyhow, keep the updates coming.

clueless1 wrote on 2025-01-04, 11:31:

I'm enjoying reading your posts on BG2. It's a game on my playlist (I completed BG1 in 2017) but due to less and less free time for gaming, I'm intimidated to start it because I think for me it would be a 100 hour game.

Thank you! And yeah, Baldur's Gate 2 is a huge game, with a lot of high quality content packed in. Most of the side quests are optional (in certain cases you may need to complete one because a party member insists on it) but all of them are well crafted and very memorable.

As an example, the druid grove side quest which I previously mentioned can be completed in multiple ways. Since I had Jaheira in the party (who is a druid) I had her challenge the evil druid (a familiar face from the first game) to a ceremonial battle. After Jaheira won, the corruption of the grove got reverted, and all the other druids returned to normal. But if you're playing an evil character, you can instead poison the sacred water inside the grove, thus sapping the power from all the druids there. And things can become even more involved if your protagonist happens to be a druid himself.

By the way, while Baldur's Gate 2 is indeed very long, I have played through it multiple times over the years, and I'm reasonably familiar with most quests and item locations. So the speed at which I progress through the game should not be taken as indicative of someone's initial play through. In some ways, I envy the people who have never played this game, as experiencing it for the first time is a thing of wonder indeed. 😀

clueless1 wrote on 2025-01-04, 11:31:

but now I'm wishing there were more good 20-30 hour RPGs out there.

You and me both, I don't understand why it seems to be next to mandatory for BG style top down RPG's to take half a lifetime to complete. I've only once managed to play BG2 + ToB through from start to finish, as good as the game is it still nearly killed me.

Completed Alpha Protocol.

I could write a looooong post about what I think about it, but in order to avoid a meter long post of angry ranting how about I just summarise it like this: Imagine a shimmering, beautiful golden nugget. Now imagine that nugget inside a mountain of dogshit, forever buried. That's Alpha Protocol.

I mean it, Alpha Protocol is like a seed of something great that never blossomed, it has a unique modern espionage setting with (mostly) well written charachers and dialog, interesting plot and genuinely great reactivity for your actions which makes it very replayable.

The problem is LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE. The gameplay sails between mediocre and awful, the checkpoint system is buggy, the UI is crap, minigames with bad controls up to your ears etc etc. As a result instead of blossoming it ended up being such an incredible train wreck it leaves you wondering what has to happen during development for it to end up like that. Good lord.

Once upon a time I could tolerate its shortcomings and was able to beat it several times, even was a bit of a fan of the game, but those days are clearly gone. Replaying it now sounds as appealing as diving into a pool of raw sewage just to find a donut in there. It's there and you are going to find it, but you're still going to be swimming in shit the whole time.

Still on Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Getting through the Spellhold maze wasn't too difficult, except for the room where three clay golems are guarding a locked chest. Granted, that area is optional, but I had to get the string of Gesen, as it's needed for crafting the best bow in the game. On the plus side, you also get a bag of holding in this dungeon, which makes inventory management much easier.

Regarding clay golems: those things hit like a truck, are immune to all offensive spells, haste themselves during combat, and can only be damaged by magical blunt weapons. If it wasn't for that last bit, they wouldn't be that difficult, but this limited vulnerability can make certain parties really struggle against them. Fortunately, I had Jaheira whacking them with the +3 club while tanking many of their hits via iron skin. Anomen buffed up with all manner of defensive spells, and helped out with his mace of disruption where he could. The other party members were simply used as a distraction. Eventually, all three golems went down, but not before giving the party a sound beating. Pretty much everyone needed to be healed afterwards.

The chamber where a pack of umber hulks ambushes you and the doors get locked can be similarly challenging, but I learned a long time ago that they are very weak to the cloudkill spell. Therefore, I sent in Keldorn alone (since his sword grants immunity to confusion) and then had Imoen flood the chamber with cloudkill. The old paladin did take some collateral damage, but nearly all of the umber hulks dropped dead instantly. Taking out the few remaining stragglers was a piece of cake after that.

Next, I chose the path through the underwater city, as it's an easy area that gives you lots of XP and some very good items. In fact, it's a bit odd that you find the cloak of mirroring (one of the best items in the game) in a location filled mostly with with fodder enemies. That cloak is particularly useful for fighting beholders, of which there are many in the upcoming areas. And so, the party descends to the Underdark, where dark elves and powerful monsters await.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-01-04, 19:08:

Completed Alpha Protocol.

Thanks for the review!

I bought this ages ago on a Steam sale (before it got delisted there) but I haven't had the chance to play it yet. I wonder if the control scheme issues that you mention could be mitigated by using a Xbox360 controller? That's my preferred way of playing games from that time period, if they support it.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-01-05, 13:24:

I wonder if the control scheme issues that you mention could be mitigated by using a Xbox360 controller? That's my preferred way of playing games from that time period, if they support it.

I'm not sure. There's one hacking minigame where you need guide two lines of code to their matching counterparts controlling one with keyboard and one with mouse, and the one with the mouse leaves a lot to desire for as far precision goes. Never tried it with a controller so can't say is it any better with an analog stick, hopefully it is. Xbox 360 controller should do fine, actually the crappy UI I mentioned should be alright with a controller as it was clearly designed for controller/TV use and has some annoying oversights with mouse.

If you intend to give it a try some time (and even though I just cursed it to the deepest depths of hell I still recommend you do, it's a bit of a cult game for a reason), here's the most important thing you should know going in: for the love of god do not play it as an action game. Shooting in this is incredibly bad. Seriously. It's awful. Instead build a stealth character and play it as an stealth game, put points into stealth and pistols. Even bosses aren't an issue with pistols since it has a great boss killer ability.

It's still not amazing as stealth game either (you can't even carry bodies out of sight) but can still be enjoyable to play as long you can tolerate the jank. That is until the game starts to force you to play it as an action game all too often, that's when it starts to fall apart.

Making steady progress in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. The Underdark has many dangerous monsters to fight, and several interesting quests to complete. While exploring the area to the north, we encountered two drow raiding parties. They put up a decent fight, but we prevailed, and took their shiny adamantine armor. With the new gear equipped, everyone had an easy time clearing out the elemental portals for some much needed XP. On that note, when we first entered this area, the party was around level 12 on average, with Anomen being slightly higher at level 14.

I decided to complete all the side quests in this section before visiting the drow city. Two reasons for that. First, many of the plot quests inside the city have a strict time limit. Second, the game's pathfinding somehow gets worse while the party is disguised, so I prefer keeping that segment as short as possible.

Our first task was helping the deep gnomes with their demon problem, and it went very smoothly. Jan set up a few traps before the balor spawned in, and that damaged him pretty bad. The rest of the party then finished off the wounded beast in just a few hits. Next, we cleared out the fish folk tunnels, then grabbed the girdle of frost giant strength and a very nice suit of armor from the demon knights in the adjoining chamber. Once again, Jan's traps helped a lot, as did Imoen's casting of improved haste on my archer protagonist, which doubled his attacks.

The beholder lair was a bit more challenging. The cloak of mirroring protects the wearer from most of their rays, but he has to fight them solo, or risk getting the other party members killed. I chose Keldorn for this task, and he performed admirably, though the occasional failed saving throw would leave him panicked. For that reason, I had Anomen follow him covertly by using an invisibility potion, ready to cast remove fear if needed. This worked out well, and the area quickly turned into a beholder graveyard. The elder orb at the end can be troublesome due to its imprisonment spell, but Keldorn disrupted the casting before it was completed, and the creature dropped soon after.

Finally, we entered the mind flayer den. I hate those things, as they can one-shot party members by draining their intelligence to zero. Not to mention their constant spamming of stun and domination. At least those two can be countered by making Anomen and Jaheira buff everyone with the chaotic commands spell. Even better, having just reached level 15, Anomen's animate dead spell now creates skeleton warriors. They are very powerful summons, who happen to be pretty decent at tanking mind flayer attacks. My hasted archer was able to pick off the stragglers from a distance, while Jan even managed to paralyze a few using stun bolts that we looted from the fish folk earlier. Preemptively boosting the intelligence of front liners via potions of genius can also help. Anyway, after some more exploring, we found and dispatched the elder brain. Its demise reopened the exit, marking the end of this dangerous excursion.

With that out of the way, I can finally devote my full attention to the drow city, and plan our escape from the Underdark. After all the questing and monster hunting, the party has leveled up a bit, which puts them in a better position to tackle what lies ahead.

I recently completed the Elderscrolls Arena on DOSBOX. Every single dungeon is a multi tier literal maze. Like most passages lead to dead ends with nothing of note or interest in them. Probably spent 2 hours on each one, and the main quest is just a gauntlet of 20 dungeons back-to-back with a little bit of shopping in between. Also monsters randomly spawn from the ether to harass you the whole way. Later in the game you just get bombarded by spells (fucking hell hounds) that zap all of your health immediately, so I spent the latter half the game chugging potions like gatorade. Also if you are swimming monsters can spawn on the land above you, trapping you in their infinitely vertically tall hitbox forever. The game is intended to run at about 15 fps; somewhere around 25 fps you lose the ability to swing your weapon. I would describe the experience has sluggish + confusing + irritating. It was a pretty decent time. I enjoyed it.

I am playing The Elders Scrolls II: Daggerfall using the Daggerfall Unity engine now. It's probably the most bethesda game they have ever made; huge in scope - really interesting ideas - almost all of it very poorly executed and riddled with bugs. Also, like Arena ever dungeon is a maze, only now the dungeons are three dimensional mazes! At least this game has mark/recall and with the unity engine you can access a console, so it's not all bad. I am currently waiting more than 40 days for my current quest to fail, because the quest trigger that was supposed to be activated after I dispossessed the demon child just fucking didn't leaving the quest incompletable. It's been fun so far. I'll probably complete the main quest if my game isn't inexplicably ruined by sequence breaking bugs.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2025-01-07, 08:33:

I recently completed the Elderscrolls Arena on DOSBOX. Every single dungeon is a multi tier literal maze. Like most passages lead to dead ends with nothing of note or interest in them. Probably spent 2 hours on each one, and the main quest is just a gauntlet of 20 dungeons back-to-back with a little bit of shopping in between. Also monsters randomly spawn from the ether to harass you the whole way. Later in the game you just get bombarded by spells (fucking hell hounds) that zap all of your health immediately, so I spent the latter half the game chugging potions like gatorade. Also if you are swimming monsters can spawn on the land above you, trapping you in their infinitely vertically tall hitbox forever. The game is intended to run at about 15 fps; somewhere around 25 fps you lose the ability to swing your weapon. I would describe the experience has sluggish + confusing + irritating. It was a pretty decent time. I enjoyed it.

I am playing The Elders Scrolls II: Daggerfall using the Daggerfall Unity engine now. It's probably the most bethesda game they have ever made; huge in scope - really interesting ideas - almost all of it very poorly executed and riddled with bugs. Also, like Arena ever dungeon is a maze, only now the dungeons are three dimensional mazes! At least this game has mark/recall and with the unity engine you can access a console, so it's not all bad. I am currently waiting more than 40 days for my current quest to fail, because the quest trigger that was supposed to be activated after I dispossessed the demon child just fucking didn't leaving the quest incompletable. It's been fun so far. I'll probably complete the main quest if my game isn't inexplicably ruined by sequence breaking bugs.

i found both games to be nigh on impossible to either make progress in or enjoy to be honest, for reasons above. something about the grandeur of the worlds is appealing - until the procedural generation reveals everything is about the same with minor variations. later morrowind and oblivion get it right, by effectively shrinking the 'world' and the cast but upping the variability and detail. i wonder if any random/procedural game will ever manage the dual goals of vast size plus 'real' seeming variability

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-01-07, 08:04:

The beholder lair was a bit more challenging.

I remember basically left-handing it with the shield of balduran. That item might have been just a tad overpowered... then again if I recall correctly the particular seller that has it didn't even exist in the game originally, I suppose I had modded the game even back then.

As Alpha Protocol left me fairly grumpy (how in the hell they managed to make combat that bad??) I felt like playing something I knew would cheer me up, and I've been listening a lot of drum'n'bass music recently which got me in the mood for one of my all time favorites:

System Shock 2. It's been years and years, but from the very start of the game I immediately felt like meeting an old friend again. Holy crap how I love this game! Even remembered and found the basketball in the tutorial even though it has literally been like 15+ years and I barely remember what I ate for breakfast.