15228 replies to this topic

[corey_russell]

Sorry to hear the end of the "cops" run. Definitely concur that we need someone to engage Firkraag in single player in BGEE to see what's going on...

[Grond0]

Schade - fighter / mage / cleric (5th and final update)

I was getting rather bored of spell-casting and paid the price against Tolgerias in the Planar Sphere.  I'm not quite sure what killed Schade; I thought he had spirit armour and blur active, which would have given him a spell save of -1.  However, I wasn't paying close attention, so he could have been affected by a remove magic - which would have made him vulnerable either to a save or else spell or to a wilting.

[Sapphire_13]

Hello there,

Otmar, human CG Swashbuckler is entering the BGII+ToB no-reload chalenge. Otmar is charming and charismatic young guy who loves alcohol and ladies; instead of playing on music instrument he rather uses his two blades. Lets see how he can handle to being Bhaalspawn...

He will go with Nalia (who is sorceress in my install), Aerie and Imoen. Well, this is the plan. I have also Nalia´s romance which I will play for my very first time.

I have also Ascension and SCS II with tougher Gromnir, Sendai and Abazigal installed; full prebuffs for clerics, partial for mages who are real pain in the ass with SCS II.
Core difficulty with sliding to Normal for lvlups and memorizing crucial spells.

First dungeon was handled with minor problems as a duo with Imoen. Watched the arrest and that´s it for the moment.

Edit: ok, here are the screenshots, hopefully.
The last enemy in the dungeon handled as a team with Imoen:


And the record after the CI:

Edited by Sapphire_13, 30 November 2013 - 03:15 PM.

[Sapphire_13]

Excuse me, can anybody tell me how can I put the pictures here? I am rather blind or incompetent (the latter is true probably . Do I have to put the picture somewhere on the web and her copy the link?

Thanks in advance.

[Grond0]

You do need to upload the pictures somewhere first, yes.  There are plenty of sites like Photobucket that will allow you to do that for free.

To check what link to use you can look at images in other people's posts.  If you 'quote' a post and then use the BBCode button that will show you the formatting required for the image.  You can type that in yourself.  Alternatively, if using something like Photobucket, you can use their facility to add the formatting you want at the click of a button.

Best of luck with Otmar!

[Sapphire_13]

Thank you very much Grond0. I just registered on photobucket and will try to to some pictures today.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Feel sad of *cops'* and Schade' fate...

And safe travels for Otmar, Sapphire_13!

[Serg BlackStrider]

The Avatars had won all three Demon's fights at the Throne.

For the first one we had our buffs still active from the Jon fight so simmy BlackStrider just set four Time Traps and three Spike Traps, then I touched the pool. The Marilith started with PvMW so I tried to hit a Balor instead but as it seems he is also protected (no any messages in the log) so simmy switched to nearest Alu-Fiend, then Nabassu and finally Glabrezu. When all traps expired Pot called for Planetar and our fighters joined with ranged GWW. Planetar finished Glabrezu, Alesia dealt with Babau while Grond shot Balor. Alesia fired Breach on Marilith but Krimlor already shot her with his sling of seeking. The remaining Alu-Fiends were easy pickings:

  

  

  

I remember Alesia mentioned in her Alisa run that the pool after Demon Battle II does not refreah abilities on core so I didn't calm the first pool and went straight to the second one. The same approach here but with *real* me. I didn't immediately pause after touching the pool so wasted some time and only finished one Nabassu during time stops. Nonetheless this fight is a bit easier as there were no Balor this time. We just pressed our attacks and that's it:

  

  

We calmed the first pool only to realize that my Vhailor's helm being stored in Bag of Holding doesn't refreshed it's simmy ability... so again *real* me had to work on the third pool. Again I tried to hit Balor during time stops but in vain (able to do a singles of damage only). When time resumed Succubus immediately Dire Charmed Corey and during the whole fight he pressed attacks on Balthazar who was busy with Cambions. Krimlor quickly finished Succubus, Planetar was able to finish both Glabrezu and Balor but fell to Cambions (don't underestimate a *tiny* demons...). Alesia Breached Marilith for Grond to finish and we finally dealt with remaining Cambions:

  

 

We will face Mel and The Five tomorrow.

Edited by Serg BlackStrider, 30 November 2013 - 03:07 PM.

[Grond0]

Good to see the Avatars are still plugging away there Serg. I've got my fingers crossed for them!

[Alesia_BH]

Congrats on completing the Demon Battles Serg! Go get Mel! Best, A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Thanks, friends! And I'm glad to report that after almost three hours of real life fight (and, I think, nearly a year of the Avatars' run) the Melissan is finally defeated!!! I think, my neighbours dropped their feet from my victory screams...


As second pool indeed doesn't refreshed our abilities Alesia set three Time Traps at the Yaga-Shura position and after calming the third pool I managed to add two more. We also called for Planetar, Chan and Mordy Sword.

During her Time Stops Alesia first pressed on Illasera but after some heavy hits she went invisible and etherial so Alesia switched on Gronmir. Meanwhile, during *my* Time Stops I made some progress on Sendai but she immediately full healed when time resumed. Then was a long careful progress on all of the Five trying to bring them all to near death and not to finish any. Yaga-Shura was at assistance here as his lava bomb brought Abazigal to unconsciousness and later (post-mortem) heavy hit Sendai with his Fire Storm. Illasera aimed Pot with Red Slayer (don't know what that means) but fortunately made a critical miss. We managed to bring near death Gromnir, Abazigal, Illasera and Sendai but then Illasera killed herself naturally by firing her arrows on Krimlor wearing the Reflex shield. Before Mel arrived Planetar and Chan killed Yaga-Shura, then Sendai (already softened by Yaga's Fire Storm) and then occupied Mel long enough for us to deal with Gromnir and Sarevok (who managed to stun Corey for quite a long time). Just after Sarevok fell Abazigal Mazed Alesia but fell soon afterwards. After realising that she is mortal again Mel gated Balor and as she was invulnerable due to her Divine Shield/Divine Mantle we pressed on Balor. Hearing *praises* I immediately hit with Focus (thanks, Alesia, for your virtual lessons) and Balthazar charged Mel. She hit him hard and just after time resumed Balthazar fell.. *Thanks, brother, for saving our hides!* 
We finished Balor and pressed our attacks on Mel occupied with Planetar, Aerial Servant and Mordy Sword. At near death she activated some of her ability that brought Alesia and our fighters unconscious and fired Divine Mantle/Absolute Immunity. Fortunately the unconsciousness was brief, Grond fired RRR from the wand, Alesia added Breach from the scroll and Grond, Krimlor & Corey continued their ranged GWW/IH assault until Mel finally fell:

  

  

  

  

  

  

BlackStrider choose to remain mortal as there are plenty of the roads ahead, wonderfull places to visit and miracles to witness and with trusted friends by thy side what could be better? (And miraculously Balthazar was back to life again!:happy:)

And here are the Avatars, in all their glory:

BlackStrider (Serg BlackStrider): Blade (39), 418 kills (Nizidramanii'yt);
Alesia The Curious (Alesia_BH): Mage (18)/Thief (24), 184 kills (Draconis); (1 death);
Grond The Pathfinder (Grond0): Archer (29), 559 kills (Ogremoch); (1 death);
Krimlor the Dragonslayer (Gate70): Fighter (20)/Cleric (22), 627 kills (Firkraag); (5 death);
Pot The Selfless (The Potty 1): Mage (27), 135 kills (Chromatic Demon); (4 death);
Corey Russell (corey_russell): Undead Hunter (29), 283 kills (Balor) (1 death).

Cassia The Furious (ussnorway): Shapeshifter(14), 484 kills (Alchra Diagott); (4 death); Gone but not forgotten...

The End..? 

This is my first successful Trilogy no-reload run. I am happy. I'm just happy...

Edited by Serg BlackStrider, 01 December 2013 - 04:20 PM.

[Gate70]

2 hours old and nobody has posted...

WELL DONE SERG!!!

[Grond0]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...
This is my first successful Trilogy no-reload run. I am happy. I'm just happy...

And you deserve to be!  Excellent stuff Serg to make such a worthy entrant to the Hall of Fame.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Thanks, friends! There is nice company there already... 

[Sapphire_13]

Congratulations Serg!
This is a masterpiece. I follow your Avatars for a long time. Just excelent run!

Edited by Sapphire_13, 01 December 2013 - 08:03 PM.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Thanks, Sapphire! That was a joyful run indeed. I will remember it fondly.

[Alesia_BH]

Congratulations, Serg, on finishing your first Trilogy No Reload. And congratulations on completing one of the most memorable runs in the thread's history. I doubt any of us will soon forget The Avatars of Serg Blackstrider. You have a lot to be proud of. Well done!





The completion of Serg's Avatar run also marks a milestone of sorts for the thread. The Avatars runs were begun in the interest of revitalizing a challenge which was at the time moribund: it had been nearly a month since anyone had posted in either the BG1 or BG2 thread when we started the project. It is now almost one year later, and we not only have a successful Trilogy No Reload, but also a thriving challenge, with multiple runs active, and new runs starting on a semi-regular basis. A big thanks to everyone who participated in The Avatar runs, and best wishes to all the challenge's current participants for your continued interest and support. Put simply, well done everyone, but especially Serg: the deserved hero of the day!





TO SERG!





Cheers,





A.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 02 December 2013 - 01:52 AM.

[Alesia_BH]

Btw. Apologies for the funky spacing on my post: text entry is super-awkward on my mobile.

[Satyricon331]

Serg, it's just wonderful you beat Mel after all that. Congrats!

It's been great to see the thread revitalized.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Alesia! It was your idea in the first place to create Avatars, the characters, based on our real-life selves. A brilliant idea, which not only served as a revival tool for our threads but also gave me a new gaming experience. Thank you for that as well, it matters!

Thanks, Satyricon! And best wishes to all current and future participants!

Edited by Serg BlackStrider, 02 December 2013 - 04:42 AM.

[WaterMane]

 Human Sorcerer Dominus update 4:
Other Group members: Jan

We've completed Brynnlaw and have made it into the asylum. While going through the first level of the dungeon Dominus got lvl 21.

Level 1: Identify

The second level of the asylum dungeon went smoothly as usual and Dominus dinged lvl 22 after the fight with Irenicus but gained no additional spells. We sped through the Underwater City and arrived in the Underdark shortly after. The demon was slain for the svirfneblin Goldander, rescued the son of another svirfneblin and helped out an imprisoned mage. Along the way Dominus got lvl 23 but did not gain any new spells. Part way through the beholder dungeon Dominus dinged lvl 24 and learned a new level 1, 2 and 3 spell.

Level 1: Protection From Evil
Level 2: Ray of Enfeeblement
Level 3: Slow

The remainder of the beholder dungeon went smoothly as did the mind flayer dungeon at the end of which Dominus got lvl 25 but no new spells. Nothing really screenshot worthy during this run.

Edited by WaterMane, 02 December 2013 - 01:50 PM.

[polytope]

 @Serg I'm late to comment but that was impressive, afaik only a couple of people have completed the trilogy with SCS + Ascension and no deaths.

@WaterMane is Jan still travelling with your sorc, or are you solo now?

Created my own sorcerer named Randolph Carter yesterday, and accompanying swashbuckler -> cleric Leksa (she's a twin of Salek and Aleks and I'm running out of anagrams - she isn't the protagonist though because I know when to abandon an idea). Mods are the same as last time without improved vampires (reinstalled SCS in order to randomize enemy mages spell choices etc. so I don't have the advantage of knowing what they can cast) and with potion breakage increased to 50%. I'd update to SCS v28 but that's a recent release and I'd rather not combine play testing with Ironman.

I'd like some advice: My swash-> cleric is CN and neutral clerics are overpowered in BG2 because they can cast Holy Word/Smite while being immune to Unholy Word/Blight. Should I change her to CG?

Randolph is CG anyway and recently summoned a fairy dragon using the scroll from the second nighttime thief/vampire encounter. Before I had a fairy dragon I briefly recruited Jan for his invisibility-10-ft spell (I expect the cleric to have her thief skills back before we need to deal with traps again) also saved Viconia and paid cowlies while in the government district.

Good thing I had Jan as I got ambushed immediately upon leaving (I have a feeling some city area transitions are more likely than others to trigger an ambush). Well, even with no fighters and my cleric out of spells the slavers were dispatched quickly, except for the mage with her minor globe who lasted a while. I even managed to get some potions of invisibility from the pesky thief who would normally drink them all to backstab me, together with the potions from the rune assassins and the three thieves in CI I have 10 in total, good panic buttons though I doubt I'll need them for my PC.

Since my party is going to be functionally the same as last time with mage, melee cleric (although a weaker fighter) stalker and inquisitor I won't screenshot or describe most of it until I get to C6 - well, maybe the beholder cult and dragons as those encounters will be different and interesting pre underdark. I expect the main challenge to be ToB without epic levels.

Currently PC is level 11 with 63 hp (including familiar), Leksa 10-> 9 (60 hp), I had decent luck with my hp rolls this time. Keldorn joined at 9th level, as Valygar probably will.

My sorc has a very standard spell book, but if anyone wants to know:

1) Blindness, Shield, Colour Spray*, MM, Protection from Petrification
2) MI, Blur, Web, Acid Arrow, Scorcher
3) Haste, MMM, Slow, Protection from Fire
4) Minor Globe, Stoneskin, Spirit Armor**
5) Spell Immunity, Breach

*Actually pretty useful with aTweaks
**No improved invisibility here as I'm going to take mass invisibility at 7th level; I'd already found the ring of air control and looted the (not randomized) invisibility ring from the thief in the seven vales plus have a familiar who can cast invisibility-10-ft, so I didn't see a pressing need for other invisibility spells.

Edited by polytope, 02 December 2013 - 01:35 PM.

[WaterMane]

polytope wrote...

@WaterMane is Jan still travelling with your sorc, or are you solo now?

Yes Jan is still in the group, I should probably include that information in my updates thanks.

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Polytope: Thanks, and good hunting for your team!

[Grond0]

polytope wrote...
I'd like some advice: My swash-> cleric is CN and neutral clerics are overpowered in BG2 because they can cast Holy Word/Smite while being immune to Unholy Word/Blight. Should I change her to CG?

I don't really see why you should.  Alignment, like race and stats, can reasonably be chosen at the start of the game in order to increase your chance of no-reload success.  The benefit of a neutral alignment would seem to be relatively minor compared to some other potential choices (like taking a dwarf instead of a human or min/maxing stats).