Solo Criteria

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I appeal to the opinion of the group... what exactly is the criteria for a "solo" game? Obviously it means travelling alone, and facing all challenges alone.

But what about adding characters to a group in order to pursue their subquests? Let's say you turn party AI off, and reform your party before battles in order to maintain 100% kills and 100% experince value on your PC's information.

So, would it be OK to have an NPC tag along, say Korgan, in order to complete the Pimilco quest, so long as he contributes nothing the quest other than his presence?

Or is being able to complete only certain quests yet another handicap to soloists?

 

Solo = doing it SOLO. No NPCs, ever. It doesn't really matter though - theres enough XP as is - however it makes roleplaying a *****.

 

The Solo game for me it's really an annoying thing. It bored me before I reached the end of the 3rd Chapter. But in the other hand you'll receive a LOT ( AND I MEAN A REAL AMOUNT)of EXP soloing. You'll upgrade incredibly fast although tha game should prove to be a little solitary. No romances, no subquests, no parallel dialogs, a lot of things will be lost as long as a good amount of items that will only be accessible by sub quests. It's your choice!

 

Well, I suppose that I get enough idle chatter and romance in reality. In my fantasy, it's just me, stalwart in the fortress of solitude.

At least this time around.

 

In my opinion soloing is much more fun. You don't have to try to keep those mages out of the harms way or move your fighters away from your own fireballs. I know the story suffers a bit when playing solo, but you know, you can play solo AND with party. When playing solo, you just have to worry about yourself.

 

It might be wise to also install a XP cap remover.

 

When I solo I always play a Chaotic alignment... usually Neutral or Evil.

Also, you don't HAVE to be completely alone. You can have Imoen along, but you won't let her fight because you're worried about her safety. You could have Viconia along but not let her fight because you want to look like a big man in front of her. You could have Anomen along but not let him fight because you think he's such a crybaby that if he loses 1 HP he'll be *****ing about it for weeks and he'll probably use his last Heal spell on himself rather than you, who are close to dying.

Anyway, it's your game. Don't let us tell you how to play it. If it brings a challenge to the table, get it done anyway you see fit.

 

I think solo should mean solo. If you take another character along, if only to help with something simple, then you are getting help. It's not just about the kills, it's also about getting by all the traps, opening the chests, finding the treasures. These are all things that need to be considered when solo-ing and all part of the fun.

By all means take someone if you want to, but you can't call it soloing.

 

to play solo you
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1. you must be soloing no NPCs allowed!!
2. you can bring along a romance and Imoen(she IS your sister after all...)

 

What about borrowing Valygar for the Planer Sphere quest? You could allow that sure just until he opens the door for you right?

 

I read that you can also kill him and take his corpse to open the door. I have not tested it myself though. So you can complete that quest solo, just like any other stronghold quest.

 

I kill Valygar when I'm soloing. "Damn you smell. Time to take a bath with the worms!"

 

Yes that's possible. But I never had the nerve to do it so...my evil parties never last too much. I always restart the game with a good one .

 

Soloing may involve getting an NPC into the party, IMO, as long as you don't have him/her do anything.
Soloing is pretty dull, so a romance will help lighten things up. You also can't do some quests without having certain NPC's into your party - like Sola.
If you want to solo through undead Sola, for example, you HAVE to have him into your party.

 

OK, so If I take along a romance, will they gain experience in battles etc? If so, that would would break my own criteria, which is 100% kills and 100% XP.would a character who hides in the corner during a fight gain XP? And if, can you re-form a party in a battle, in order to dump them prior to XP awards? And, if so, are there any NPC's who won't "just wait here" when they're dumped?

Finally, I understand that you can never dump Jahera if you expect a romance. Is the same true of Aerie and Nalia?

 

Basically, if you want total kills/xps/etc for you character (which you should for solo) then you will need to kick out any party members before any battles, opening locks, memorising spells, etc. Any character in your party, even if they weren't involved in a battle, will share the xp (unless dead).

If you keep kicking out a romanctic involvement, then the romance will end under different circumtstances. Some are number of times kicked out, others are number of days before picking up. I think Jaheira can be kicked out 3 times.

To be safe, you need to keep them in your party, which means you will need to share the xp.

 

You're "100% kills screen" in the info screen has nothing to do with who gets what XP. If you get the final blow on a monster, you get credited for that, so even if you have a NPC along that doesn't do anything they won't get any kills in their screen... you just get half the XP.

 

Why would you ever want to boot Jaheira out the party?

But, back to soloing. Play the game how you want. If you want to bring another character along for traps or a romance, do it. There are no rules, and trying to make a set of rules for soloing will just hamper your fun.

But if you really want a criteria, heres one that could work.

You could separate soloing into 2 catergories, "strong" and "weak".

"Strong" Soloing
-You must be by yourself, and never have any other party members with you at all times, with the exception of a familiar. The point of soloing here is to do everything by yourself.

"Weak" Soloing
-You can if you wish to do so, take a party member or two, to help you in the game (things like traps, locks or healing), and/or for interactive purposes(such as a romance, or someone significant to the story, i.e Imoen.).
However avoid taking too many members at one time, preferably just one, to avoid defeating the object of soloing.

 

"But, back to soloing. Play the game how you want. If you want to bring another character along for traps or a romance, do it. There are no rules, and trying to make a set of rules for soloing will just hamper your fun."

Oh, for crying out loud, this is such a stupid argument for people to kvetching over!

It isn't a question of telling other people how to play their own game, it's a question of whether or not WORDS MEAN THINGS. Look up the word "solo" in the dictionary....