Game knowledge-cheating or not?

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As per topic. Is knowledge gained from your prewious games considered a cheating? Right now I'm in Watcher's keep, fourth level, unlocking the final seals. And damn, those battles ARE hard if you don't know what is waiting for you. I tried to play fair, and pretended that I don't know what is waiting for me after I turn each of the keys. Guess what? I got my ass kicked to the Abyss and back Even the first seal was hard, with no buffs before and scattered party. When I gathered the party on Aurumach Rillmani(the mage) place, and put few buffs up(stoneskih + fireshield, red) they fell in the first try. Azamantes the lich and his flaming skulls cronies were practically unbeatable without knowing how much of that fire crap they were going to pull out of the sleeve Haven't try the final guardins yet, and I'm not looking forward to that.

So my question is, how much do you (ab)use your game knowledge? Do you think that a cheap way to win? Granted, many enemies cheat their guts. I managed to hit Aurumach Rillmani five or so times during his casting of Time stop, and he STILL managed to pull it off. Azamantes hit me with Imprisonment, despite the fact that I was improved invisible(or are liches supposed to see invisible enemies?). This fact does little to ease my mind, however.

 

Yes I think using knowledge from a previous game is cheating. I also agree that alot of the NPC's scripts have built in cheating, especially in mods. What it boils down to, however, is your playing style fun for you. If it is then there is no problem.
To get around this issue I always scout with my thief. He/she reports back to the party, and then buffs, potions, etc. are used to prepare the party for battle. In your case that might not work. You could always retreat to buff or use potions and then return to engage the guardians.

 

This is an interesting point to ponder. Once you've played through the game and know what to expect you can't very well force yourself to forget. At the same time, I really try to play as if I don't know (as much as that's possible).

But there are certainly times when I will allow for a "player wisdom bonus" that tranlates to the characters sometimes sensing when they should be a little more careful. If I'm unlocking seals to unleash one of the world's most terrible evils, I might argue that the players are smart enough to take some extra precautions before doing so. But in genernal, I won't buff my party up just because I happen to know there's something nasty on the other side of that door--unless I feel the party has reasonable reason to expect something....

 

Keep in mind that you're a hardened adventurer(ess). You didn't get to be this old by acting so stupid. You expect traps and monsters behind every door. It's not pre-game knowledge. It's paranoia.

 

I've mused with the idea that the bhaalspawn you're playing has got some of daddy's precognitive ability.

Bhaal was able to see his future, right?

This would also make your bhaalspawn more powerful than any other, not because of physical prowess or magical ability, but for knowing exactly what's going to happen next.

So powerword Reload is actually you'r PC's precognitive ability at work...

 

I like this idea! Make way for the KWIZATZ HADERACH!!!!!!!

 

The game developers obviously exspected you to reload and use preknowledge gained from the reloads regulary to win the fights. The game is too unfair to do without.

How can you consider using preknowledge cheating if the game was obviously designed for using it ?

 

You can't really help it, in my opinion. Pretend all you want, but you KNOW something is behind that door.

The best way to RP it personally, rather than not buffing atall, would be to buff against anything and everything constantly.

 

I actually thought of reloading in the same way as Iku-Turso. My main character had a nightmare that left him with a bad feeling about doing something and so did things slightly differently to how he would have otherwise.

Besides, as others pointed out, the character should know by this point that these seals aren't there for fun. In that situation, I personally would have some buffs active. Specific anti-fire ones I wouldn't use, but general protections ones I would.

I tend not to pre-buff unless I feel the character would also know there is something nasty just ahead.

 

Well, if using knowledge from previous games is cheating, then so is using knowledge from battles that you’ve just lost and had to reload. Which would mean that you should be able to win every single fight you encounter without knowing anything about what that battle involves. Which means, in turn, that a first-time BG2 player should be able to go all the way through without having to reload...

...impossible. Or at least, 99.999% improbable. And if it were possible, then people would complain that the game was too easy.

This, BTW, applies to any game, not just BG2.

 

I haven't played this game for more than a month but i can give you a list of creatures found in most of SoA with their locations, I didn't play ToB too much so I'm not sure about it. If I start playing again will I be cheating? I don't care. I just play the game and try to have fun.

 

Probably cheating is not the appropriate word here. The more appropriate issue probably has more to do with making the game too easy. If I walk into every counter with exactly the perfect buffs and spells prepared for that specific encounter, I'm really going to tear my way through the game.

I try to limit the decisions I make based on this foreknowledge, because I find it much more enjoyable to have to do some of my buffing in the heat of battle. Just makes the game more intense and my actions all the more urgent.

Yeah, this is less about cheating and more about keeping the game fun.

 

I try to use pre-buffing as little as possible, except long lasting spells like stone-/ironskin etc. If I feel my charcter is aware of the enemies (if I have seen them with my scouting thief or if I enter an area the PC knows will be crawling with enemies), I will pre-buff, but no specialist buffs. Unless my PC knows which kind of monster (s)he will face of course...

I do this because I enjoy the game more this way, and I think everyone should do what they feel is the most fun for them. Fun is what games are all about, right?

 

Hmmh, seeing that you can't avoid it, I would hardly call knowing what happens cheating. When you get a huge, inevitable powerup in some games, it's not called cheating.

 

Live to fight another day...that's what I say!

So no...foreknowledge is not cheating, especially if you have any mods installed. I mean, after everything's said and done...it is still a game, and handicapping yourself to the extent of "forgetting" about the game from previous play throughs just because its not "in-character" is kind of like...this weird guy on the NWN boards who wanted to roleplay a Blind Archer type, by getting the mods to cast permanent Blindness on him...

Err...you get my point...

 

To me it's about what you can know if you have a thief scouting the area. If there are a bunch of obvious baddies just standing there, I buff, but if a encounter just starts with four people dimension dooring when you enter a room then I don't.

 

I agree with Irealonn - my thief scouts ahead constantly, and reports back, so the party only acts with knowledge gained by the thief. Completely legitimate...

 

Well, sometimes, when my party is completely and horribly wiped out in some difficult fight, thanks to difficulty enhancing mods, I reload, and then buff like crazy according to situation at hand. Summon heavily, prepare suitable contingencies, triggers, cast on useful protection spells, use wands/scrolls/charged items if neccesary etc. I also place my characters strategically. And I generaly have a plan against the enemie's tactics by that time. Does this make me cheesy? In the end, I win (big time) and the satisfaction is all worth the trouble!