Game difficulty

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Anyone would care to comment on this game's difficulty? I only got so far as the Horde Fortress, but the game seemed downright painful at moments.

I have a decent party, I think. 5 chars: barbarian, cleric, druid, mage, bard. The cleric and druid can also tank. They are not min-maxed, but I don't think having 2 extra points in STR, (or CON, whatever) is going to make much of a difference. And I do not find the battles impossible, just consistently hard . I mean, you'd expect after cleaning out a big group (which would consume a good part of your healing and offensive spells) the next couple of encounters would be a bit more sedate, let's say No such luck. I find the most I can take is 4 battles before I have to rest; and then I am in bad shape, with half of chars below half in health. This means 4-5 hours of dungeoneering, followed by 16 hours of rest (so I can bring the party to full health). Add the constant backtracking, to get into a safe area before resting, and it gets sort of annoying.

How do you people find the difficulty level later in the game compares with the first chapter? I am afraid that if it gets tougher, I will get stuck. I am thinking of adding another character to the party, as a sort of insurance But then I assume I won't get to higher levels in the end.

 

I found the game painful in many ways but it can be done. Save reload, try something different. I played it several times. I did have EoU mod installed. Not all the choices but some.

 

Especially early in the game, its really difficult; I think the Horde fortress is amongst the most difficult parts of the game, simply because you're meeting tons of enemies at once, and your characters don't have the power to deal with that.

The best suggestion I can give you is to take it slow, and slow down your enemies as much as possible. Take out the northern drum first, then the southern, then worry about Trugnuk's drum.

I really wish you could pick pocket the key from him, but you've got to fight it. Putting someone really strong (that barbarian, raging, with maxxed out Power Attack and a great axe) down to start beating on the drum, while everyone else sits on the archer's platform. When you start, make sure you're slaughtering the Orcs at the same time you're killing the drum. When Trugnuk appears, hit him with everything you can, even at the cost of someone's life... they can be raised, after all, but Trugnuk is strong enough to through very annoying spells (like Unholy Blight).

 

Well, I am happy to hear it does not get much worse

I am somewhere in the goblin warrens at the moment. I hope to be done with the Fortress soon. Strangely enough, I did not have much problems with Trugnuk. I destroyed the drum with missiles, and then I was able to pull most of his party away (for some reason, he did not follow) catch them in a web and wipe them out. When I saw Trugnuk, he had only a hardened troll and an orc archer with him. He got off a call lightning spell, only.

 

One of the best things about this game is how tough the Chapter One encounters are. All that Shaengarne stuff in the snow is great because you really have to sort your tactics out.

I think all of the encounters in the game are really tough first time through, although on subsequent attempts they become easier because you've got your tactics more sorted.

Toughest encounters for me first time through were:
- Targos Palisade battle (Prologue)
- Shaengarne Bridge fight (Chapter One)
- Sherincal (Chapter Two)
- Iron Golems under the Monastery (Chapter 4)
- Guardian in Chult (Chapter 5)
- Final battle (Chapter 6)

but most of the incidental encounters are tough too. That's why this is so much better than NWN because that game is full of easy battles that just slow up the whole story.

Icewind Dale II rules but I think it is quite hard first time around. If you ever need tips for specific battles, let us know.

 

I agree about Shaengarne. That is where I learned how wonderful entagle is. It went from my party being overwhelmed by 15+ orcs to something akin to shooting fish in a bucket . Let's say druid with greater spell focus- transmutation rocks!

I do not have big problems with a particular battle. It is just the pace that kills me. I was used from BG and NWN to going a full day between rests (and only use offensive magic as a last resort). Does not quite work here

Also, it seems to me that there are no really good items available for equipment. I was looking all over the place for a full plate for my cleric. Did not see any. So my front-liners are in chainmail at the moment. Not so good. A measly ring of protection/resistance +1 costs a whooping 7K, too.

 

I agree with Harbourboy, but only on a few fights... In the prologue and in Ch. 1, we didn't encounter any really tough battles... (playing on a LAN with a friend of mine) We liked fighting those goblins and orcs, they die so easily...!!! Ch. 2 was fine too, but the Ice Temple really got on our nerves... Not that the battles were particularly tough (except battle squares of course!), the temple just sucked! Lots of bugs and strawling around... Glad we could leave that place behind us! Ch. 3 was allright, only those Dark Treants got us somewhat in difficulties...
I agree with Harbourboy on the fight with the Golems under the monastery! Those bitches are freakin' difficult! No strategy here, just a lot of loading and reloading...
We got the Guardian down fairly quick, but had to kill him again because we were still chilling beside his body while the portal was already closing... Second time was as easy as the first time...
We didn't get to the final battle yet, so no comments on that one...
An other battle that we found was particularly difficult: The Lost Followers! (battle for the Holy Avenger) That fighter and that dwarf, man they were tough!
In any case, IWD2 is more difficult than IWD1, where you could just pick off enemies one by one... But I think that overall, the game is not too difficult...

EDIT: for what it matters, we play with only four characters, so our levels are reasonably high...

 

just like to say, my powergaming party got owned yesterday in the palisade battle. big time. i dont understand it really; goblins do 15-25 damage and they get a +17 to hit....if i tell you that the most hitpoints i have is 24, you understand that i had real trouble. even caballus, after wasting all his spells, proved to be dangerous in melee. in the end, i maneged to survive the battle with all my party members, but all the others died. the engineer, black geoffrey, all of them. man that was hard

 

What the heck!! The goblins get +26 to hit in HoF, so that's not where you are. But from where the hell did they get +17 to hit?

If you are facing problems in the Prologue then your party is busted. Start again, really.

The first real challenge for me would be Scrag. Ugly hits hard. The bridge itself was never really hard to take back.
That entire Horde fortress area feels like a long drawn out dentist's appointment. Fight, fight and more fight.
Trugnuk is a PITA. First he casts whatever stupid spell followed by Call Lightening, which in itself is enough to fry my party's ass. And if you dont take out the drum with arrows before you find Trugnuk, you are in for it. Safest place to put your people in that fight is in the archer tower. Just so long as you can take out Trugnuk.

After all that aggravation caused by the fortress areas, the icewall and ice temple are a God send. Send in the decoy and then everyone gangup on those Aurilites.

After that you begin to feel sorry for Dragons, looking at the fall they have taken from the hights of BG II to the lows of IWD II. Hardly have you taken a breather that those disgusting Hook Horrors surround you. That map too is off putting due to the sheer numbers. Everthing in that area is a pain to kill.

The Underdark is a hell of a let down due to the absolute lack of any challenge there.Even Kuldahar is only noteworthy for the Lost Followers (that Dwarf is a killing machine). Oh for the days of being scared out of your wits being chased by Yetis. (Is is just me or do the Yetis in II seem do have been watered down?)

Dragon's Eye is bugged, messy and entirely uninsrpiringly mundane. You should be feeling thankful when you get to the Fields of Slaughter for atleast some modicrum of a challenge.

There are some challenges in the Seldarine, but the final battle is not. Make sure to kill everyone except the twins while keeping those two busy with summons. Then gang up on Isair as his protections have run out by now. When they retreat, go thru the door and kick Isair's ass till our friendly neighbourhood mage Orrick makes his appearence.
And be disappointed that you dont get an end scene like in BG II.

 

i dont know. perhaps dalekeeper 2 is to blame for this? i got an error loading a game and i opened it with dalekeeper and saved it again; the new save worked. that might have caused this... but i swear, even the normal goblins were frightening

 

MUHAHAHA! My priest can cast 4th level spells now. And I am pleasantly surprised by the selection. Looks like defensive harmony got a boost over the 2nd edition rules. I think the game is going to get somewhat easier

Goblins with +17 to attack? I aam glad i did not see those.

 

i would say someone moved the difficulty slider while you werent looking perhaps? i'm not sure if that could be the cause but it does seem to make them harder.

 

LOL it was set to insane lol....and i survived LOL

 

It's all skill...yeah...skill.

Anyway, if the game gets too hard, dont feel bad if you have to move that difficulty slider down or up depending on how hard the game is...if you dont enjoy the challenge or if its too much, lower it a notch. That's what its there for.

 

well it was too hard but i just couldnt put it lower than the 'true' ad&d....but i somehow set it to insane....cant remember when or how, though...maybe dalekeeper 2? i dont know...

 

Well, I am done with the Horde Fortress and it was not too bad. Actually, inside the Fortress proper it was more like a walk in the park (compared with what went on before ). The designer must have screwed something. In my opinion, the first map (the one with the bridges) is the most difficult (the low level party might have something to do with it, of course). Then the goblin warrens are pretty tough, too.

 

well, the only problems i've found with the first map is either, if i dont rest, or if someone gets to a drum before i kill them. Once the drums are hit, enemies become slightly overwhelming. Also in hte warrens sometimes i forget to talk to the demon thing so those red beasts attack me...that makes it slightly more difficult

the only other time i found trouble was against mindflayers...darn will saves