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Do you think this game is hard?

Discussion in 'Icewind Dale (Classic)' started by hedron, Jan 12, 2006.

  1. hedron Gems: 7/31
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    I've been having alot of trouble beating the enemies in this game. I've never found any of the other infinity engine games too difficult(bg,bg2,iwd2) though challenging, it's just nearly every single fight I've been in I've had to reload a bunch of times.

    I've tried lowering the difficulty but that doesn't really make too much of a difference. But why should I when I've never found these games that hard?

    I don't think it's my party, but here it is: fighter, thief, druid/fighter, cleric, cleric/mage, mage. I was considering dual classing my thief as a fighter or ranger but I don't really want to do that.

    Am I the only person who thinks this is the hardest game in the series?
     
  2. MrRoboto Gems: 1/31
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    It's been a while since I've played, but I ran through it solo with a F/M/T and didn't have to much trouble... I believe I did have to reload sometimes but nothing impossible.

    Like I said it's been a while since I've played so I'm not sure where the difficult parts of the game were. Where are you having trouble at?
     
  3. hedron Gems: 7/31
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    Every fight it seems, maybe I just stink. Though my party seems to be lacking in the "tank" dept. I had thought one fighter should be enough w/ all the magic users I have.
     
  4. Felinoid

    Felinoid Who did the what now?

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    Your fighter, fighter/druid, and cleric should all be outfitted as tanks. The heaviest armor, a shield (unless they're using a two-handed weapon), the works. And most important of all, keep formation. Nothing is more annoying than watching some stupid skeleton chase around the first character they saw (naturally your weakest armored :rolleyes: ), who runs away while the rest of your party chase the skeleton for an hour (or until you finally switch to a missle weapon).

    But if you want to "one tank" it, use your fighter to scout; have him travel about fifty feet in front of everybody else so that he attracts all the attention. The rest of your party may take a few seconds to catch up, but at least all the enemies will be where you want them, by your tank. Again, you'll want to get his AC as low as possible, meaning the best armor and the best shield (and he better have a good DEX).
     
  5. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Felinoid, how do you know all this? Didn't you only just get this game for the first time really recently?
     
  6. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    Parts of it are but not the whole thing. But I'm an old RTS veteran, so I had more experience with tactics than your average IWD newbie when I played this game.
     
  7. Felinoid

    Felinoid Who did the what now?

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    @HB:
    Yeah, a couple days ago. But I'm on winter break so I've got oodles of time to try everything out. I don't have much in the way of spell suggestions, but tactics and 2e are my specialties. :D

    Three tanks works best, a primary and two helpers, but it can be done with just a single one with some care. Two is kind of tricky. (Sometimes people get injured and you don't want them on the front line. ;) )
     
  8. hedron Gems: 7/31
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    Reading through some of the suggestions I realise I should've gone with a druid/mage and a fighter/cleric as that would've balanced my party much better because I've found the fighter half of my druid is semi-useless cause she's always casting spells in the back, but oh well, I guess I just have to make do.
     
  9. raptor Gems: 16/31
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    Hedron: Try to make the Fighter/Druid more into a "combat caster" memorise self buffing spells, and other handy things in combat, and get her a big shiny armor etc. Make use of those shapeshifts when you get them (at least if your running HOW). Basically a Fighter/Druid is better than a pure Ranger, and thats what i used as my main tank first time.
     
  10. kmonster Gems: 24/31
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    The game isn't too difficult, it took me less than 10 reloads to beat it and its expansions on normal mode.

    Unlike in BG you can create your whole party.
    So there is a big difference in difficulty depending on the quality of your party.

    Since I created a strong party, the game was easier than BG1 or BG2 and only slightly harder than IWD2.

    You didn't write in which chapter you are and what levels your party members have reached.
    If you are still in chapter1 or 2 you might consider restarting with a better party, the game won't get much easier.

    You might also consider replacing your thief with a multiclass version if you can't do dualclassing since a pure thief is very weak. The new character will level up fast.


    You can't create a druid/mage, and I doubt your other combination would be stronger. The pure cleric gets the beneficial spells faster.


    Here's some advice:

    - Missile weapons are very important in IWD, every character should use a sling,a bow or another ranged weapon to weaken or even kill the enemies before going into melee. Keep always enough ammunition with you. Don't run after your enemies, have them come to you.

    - You get twice as much XP when you have the very easy or insane difficulty activated (at least with HoW installed).

    - Assign scripts to your characters so that they start shooting at the enemies when they see them.

    - Activate the max HP at level up option if you haven't done it yet.

    - Don't pay a temple for healing. Use "powerword reload" instead.

    -Cast bull's strength on each party member who hasn't maxed out his strength already. It helps both in melee and while using slings.
    If you have HoW you can do the same with cat's grace unless all your characters have 18 dex already (which they should have).

    -Have your mages cast shield on themselves. The spell lasts long at higher levels and gives an AC of 4.

    -Always cast "protection from evil 10 foot radius" (cleric level4) on your party. It gives long lasting +2 AC, +2 saving throws and immunities. You can even add the mage version because they are cumulative with each other.

    -Entangle is a powerful spell. If you cast it 2-3 times in a row at the same place, nearly all enemies will get stuck. Then you can shoot at them or cast devastating spells.

    - Your fighter,fighter/druid and cleric can tank in heavy armor.
    Even your mages can tank with shield spell and mirror images.

    -But the best tanks are summons. Use the spell animate dead (cleric level 3) repeatedly to summon 6 skeletons. They stay for 8 hours and have nice resistances and immunities. You can even buff them up with your party. Your druid will get even better summoning spells later.
    Send your summons to the enemies while you keep shooting and casting spells at them.

    -Cast buffing spells at your party and summons before entering combat.
    Pause the game often while buffing so you can have several casters cast at once and avoid that the spell durations run out too early during combat.
    Shorter lasting important spells like haste should be cast last.


    You might get more specific advice if you tell more.

    Do you have HoW installed ?
    What are your characters' exact stats, weapon profiencies and weapons ?
    Where in the game are you now ?
     
  11. hedron Gems: 7/31
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    Well..I had written reply, but it got lost in the nether regions of cyberspace.

    So thanks all for the help, I got it down as well as I'm ever going to :D
     
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