Jump to content

Triple Crown Solo: Achivement for PoD, Expert Mode, IronMan + Solo


Recommended Posts

I engage in lot of combat in Bg1 with my solo ironman characters. And I level very very fast as a result. You just have to know where to fight at what level. And it is much faster and more efficient time investment than most quests. And you get good loot in BG1 from many characters you kill (or you get it from just talking - Heart of Golem :D).

And I also go after encounters that I know give good XP but are not really needed just for fun of killing them with a solo character. But I would not bother if there was not a big XP reward as well.

Edited by archangel979
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm assuming P:E will have a bunch of combat that's not avoidable though.

Yep. That's confirmed, actually.

 

In other words, no choice. PoE will still maintain the same type of "but thou must kill" gameplay that defines the IE games, while at the same time, eliminating the rewards for doing so. Wonderful game design.

Edited by Stun
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Presumably that combat stands in the way of something you want to achieve. Isn't achieving that something (and the XP you get for that) reward enough for the combat?

 

Edit: nevermind, I'm getting a strong sense of déjà vu. We've had this conversation, and I don't think it's very likely we'll end up any place different this time around, so I am respectfully bowing out of it.

Edited by PrimeJunta

I have a project. It's a tabletop RPG. It's free. It's a work in progress. Find it here: www.brikoleur.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I'm assuming P:E will have a bunch of combat that's not avoidable though.

Yep. That's confirmed, actually.

 

In other words, no choice. PoE will still maintain the same type of "but thou must kill" gameplay that defines the IE games, while at the same time, eliminating the rewards for doing so. Wonderful game design.

 

 

Just because there is unavoidable combat in the game doesn't mean that PoE won't give you a lot more freedom to actually *do* solve a lot of things without violence. Jesus Christ man... Clearly it's either BLACK OR WHITE!

Listen to my home-made recordings (some original songs, some not): http://www.youtube.c...low=grid&view=0

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I'm assuming P:E will have a bunch of combat that's not avoidable though.

Yep. That's confirmed, actually.

 

In other words, no choice. PoE will still maintain the same type of "but thou must kill" gameplay that defines the IE games, while at the same time, eliminating the rewards for doing so. Wonderful game design.

 

 

Just because there is unavoidable combat in the game doesn't mean that PoE won't give you a lot more freedom to actually *do* solve a lot of things without violence. Jesus Christ man... Clearly it's either BLACK OR WHITE!

 

Then soloing will be a breeze on the second playthrough. Simply avoid those situations/quests/areas where combat is required...right?

 

Or are you using a different definition of freedom?

Edited by Stun
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again, confirmed. In fact, it's also confirmed that the main quest will have level scaled combat.

 

So lets applaud the game for its "gameplay freedom", and just ignore the fact that its main questline contains virtually none.

Edited by Stun
Link to comment
Share on other sites

God give the combat XP a rest already.

 

With regards to the Triple Crown solo I suspect that crafting/enchantment will have one of the biggest effects on how doable it is. While your only going to get 20-30% more XP soloing compared to a full party you are still going to get all the loot and gold. This should mean you can afford to invest a huge amount in your equipment. I've never managed to find the right resources to test it in the beta but I'd be interested to see if you can stack multiple different slaying or damage types onto the same weapon (even if it's insanely expensive). A weapon of Humanoid slaying is +5 ACC +1.25x DMG (against kith), add in say Slaying vs vessels and a couple of secondary damage types (Burning lash, Shocking lash, Crushing lash) + a stat boost or two and additional accuracy and your'd possibly have a weapon worth 200,000cp that in can nearly one shot a lot of enemies.

 

The same with amour if you can stack up several stat bonuses, and a couple of different proofs (crushing, flame, freezing etc) you could end up with very powerful equipment that makes for an insanely powerful Char.

 

Think of a high Might (1.3x DMG) Rogue with Sneak attack (1.25x DMG) and a weapon that gives Kith Slaying (1.25X DMG) + Flame lash (+50% Fire damage) + Shocking lash (+50% Shock DMG) + Crushing lash (+50% crushing) with + 4 to Might (1.12x DMG).

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ 'Tis a good point. In regular, full-party play, always switching to the most supremely effective equipment for a given encounter won't be as important (although, it'll still be more important the higher in difficulty setting you go). But, for a solo run, this would probably be something you'd want to do. That, and how much you're able to get out of crafting/enchantment could make or break such a run. 8P

Should we not start with some Ipelagos, or at least some Greater Ipelagos, before tackling a named Arch Ipelago? 6_u

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a time I might have at least tried such challenges, whether officially a 'challenge' or one people just did on their own. But these days I definitely don't have the patience.

 

Anyone who tries it and succeeds, my hat's off...it sounds really difficult. :lol:

  • Like 1
“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I am already solo ironmaning Bg1ee

BG was relatively easy to solo as a wizard. Get the Ring of Wizardry and MM everything to death at lower levels. Rely on summons at higher levels. Ironman still sounds like a challenge though. Which class are you playing?

 

 

I think that BG:EE uses BG2:s version of the Ring of Wizardry, though, which is all kinds of less spectacular than the BG1 kind....

 

 

 BG1 is beatable as a level 1 solo mage so the ring shouldn't be a make or break item.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again, confirmed. In fact, it's also confirmed that the main quest will have level scaled combat.

 

So lets applaud the game for its "gameplay freedom", and just ignore the fact that its main questline contains virtually none.

The same as the IE games, then.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still haven't played any of the "Enhanced Editions" on account of them appear to be mostly bad mods that have been glued to the side of a great game, marring it like plastic surgery ravaged Amanda Bynes.

 

In case of BG:EE and BG2:EE that may be true, but IWD:EE is definitely an improvement over the original game, and well worth the purchase - especially for the:

 

1) BG2 engine features

 

Since the EE engine is based on BG2:ToB, it brings the BG2-only and ToB-only engine features to all the games. For BG2 that's obviously no improvement, and in BG1 you could already get those features by installing BGT or Tutu - but for IWD, the EE is the only way to get a stable game with those features. They include:

  • extra classes (Barbarians, Monks, Sorcerers, Wild Mages)
  • support for class kits
  • support for dual-wielding
  • more fine-grained proficiency system
  • support for more spell effects (which in the original IWD couldn't even be added by mods, due to engine limitations)

2) Mod availability

 

There are countless mods for the original BG2 out there; When BG2:EE was releases, it broke compatibility with a good number of them, so it was actually a "downgrade" in terms of mod availability. By now many of those mods have been ported to work with EE too, but still, its value in this area is ambivalent.

 

Not so in the case of IWD. For the original game there were only ever around 6 mods in popular use afaik, and 4 of them are no longer needed with IWD:EE because it already contains the improvements they added. More importantly though, many BG2 and BG2:EE mods are now also available to IWD:EE players - some worked without change, others were ported by their authors because it was easy to do so (unlike porting to the original IWD which was too different engine-wise).

And last but not least, it seems the EE release sparked a new wave of modding activity, with a bunch of new mods already released specifically for IWD:EE and more in progress.

Altogether, around 30 mods are currently known to work with IWD:EE (plus probably several more BG2 mods that just haven't been confirmed to work yet), ranging from extra kits and bonus merchants to extensive game rule changes.

Needless to say, this does wonders for the game's replayability!

 

3) UI enhancements

 

The scalable UI, scalable font size, and zoom support are a real blessing when playing on a modern PC screen - the Widescreen mod for the original games seems like a poor crutch in comparison.

 

And then there are little UI improvements/modernizations all over, like a green outline around scrolls (both in the inventory and in stores) which indicates that the currently selected character could learn that spell (i.e. doesn't have it in their spellbook yet):

 

pGq2feI.jpg

 

And of course the (optional) quick-loot bar:

 

erVnSnu.jpg

 

That sort of thing. For BG(2):EE these minor enhancments may not be enough to justify the purchase, but in case of IWD:EE they're the icing on the (already very tasty) cake.

  • Like 1

"Some ideas are so stupid that only an intellectual could believe them." -- attributed to George Orwell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...