Guarded Compound in Temple District

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Damn tough! I thought for sure I was done removing the Nishruu, Ogre Berserkers, Efreeti and the Glabrezu only to have more people upstairs! Worst of all, no where to rest in the Temple District.

Just finished the Unseeing Eye Quest too, which wasn't as bad as I figured it was going to be. I had heard all about these Beholders down there, but their numbers were nothing like I had imagined.

Has anyone built a party with the following:

Haer'Dalis
Cernd
Keldorn
Mazzy
Jan

or any other "lesser" NPC characters that you don't see too often as being popular?

Syl...

 

I was reading up on the Unseeying Eye quest on Interplays board and many report that the area 'spawns' differently for each party. If you head down there with a higher level party I believe it spawns a few more opponents. Perhaps a reason why you may have found it 'not highly challenging'...?

Well you put it correctly where it reads "lesser" NPC characters. There are many valid reasons why certain NPC's are voted 'less liked' that factor in weaknesses found in thier class &/or abilities. So I'll just give my feedback on these characters.

HAER'DALIS is one of them. Not even tempted to add him to my party. CERND I tried for a bit. He has some quests that revolve around his life 'before the call of the druid/harper' changed his life's path. Bascally quests around him being a deadbeat father and how his wife turned 'tricks' to survive. Along with that he can't wear armor. So I gave him the boot after his quests were up. MAZZY, not even tempted to try. JAN is GREAT. With his extra 'do-hickeys' he becomes a formiddable Thief. His stories are annoying and occasionally someone in the party shut's him up with a 'horror' filled story of their own. His 'Flasher Master Bruiser Mates' are INCREDIBLY effective vs all kinds of opponents. Keldorn... all kinds of folks like him. I can't stand him. I firmly believe they like him because he's THE ONLY NPC that can wield Casomyr. His STR is 17 and his DEX is 10, not great for a fronline fighter. To me that reads 'he will suck up two items' that another character could use or that my main character could use if needed. A Girdle of Giant Strength and the Guantlets of Dexterity. Also my style of play is 1 up front Fighter. Everyone else is in the background. Of course... these are just my thoughts.



[This message has been edited by Draco Vlasavius (edited November 26, 2000).]

 

I hate mazzy so she would never be in my party... even if i wanted to see her lines, but i have used the other guys you mentioned... all of them have skills useable is some big battles... one better for dragons.. stuff like that. And the guarded compound isnt that bad... just keep chaotic commands on 2 attackers and you should ne fine. only one of the attackers has something to worry about.. And Sly, no offence but, is this your first time through the game?

 

Yup, first time! As I play it, I add more to the solution. No rush needed and lately I hadn't had time to play and then when I did, I got sick of it and needed a break. Back on full force now after finally finishing up Trademeet (it was so boring).

The Guarded Compound was difficult because I had no spells left and I like to try and push my party to the max and use items I hadn't been using. Just killed them now and what a great battle it was! Had to use up 4 charges from the Staff of Fire and summon four Fire Elementals to assist me and got rid of some arrows as I had to keep those damn spell casters at bay. Really enjoyed this battle! I only want to be in here once and grab what I can.

No offense taken!

Syl...

[This message has been edited by Sylvus Moonbow (edited November 26, 2000).]

 

Oh, he already responded. But he's bored with BG2 already in some areas? Well perhaps other things in Chap 5, 6 & 7 will 'liven' things up.

[This message has been edited by Draco Vlasavius (edited November 26, 2000).]

 

I can't seem to find a good reason to like Mazzy. I'm personally a breawler, not an archer party. Right now, Imoen and Minsc are shooters and three of my characters are the front line. If I want someone who can use a bow, I'll take a fighter thief(Coran was great at it) or a ranger. If I want someone to fight, I want a fighter. Can't use a fighter with short sword and showt bow proficencies. I see all bards as a jack-of-all-traids-master-of-none. Hence I didn't find Haer Dalis usefull, but some might. Jan was cool while he lasted(decided to trade in for Imoen). His lines were better the Minsc's, and he is the onlu viable option for a real thief. But I really wanted a real mage who could pick locks and find traps, so I dumped him. Cernd sucked really bad, and I just won't take a Palidan into my party. Nothing personal to all you palidan lovers out there

Found the temple slavers easy, but then when I saw what I had run into, I hit the stairs. The fighters were stupid enough to follow me though, so I took them pretty easily, then went back for the rest. No problem.

 

I thought that the guarded compound was easy, that massive red summoned monster (i forgot the name) was the hardest, I had Phyco Bob and Minsc bash him and I had Viconia use a sling to fire bullets(+2) at that wierd shadow thing while it was pre occupied by chasing Jan ( who I just kept moving) the genie bloke just got on my nerves with that gasious form thing. Eventually thel all fell, I had 2 dead NPCs (Viconia and Nalia) and strangely enough, when I revived Nalia and she picked up her junk, she had lost her robe AND her signet ring. Then I tried to tempt the people upstairs down one at a time, it worked (a bit), the bloke that wielded the Celestial Fury came down, he attacked Jan and started to chase after him, so I formed a circle around him with my other NPCs so he couldn't get to Jan, he didn't think of changing to attack a different NPC at all, when he fell he had dealt a total of 16 damage and nobody was held, actually, after a bit of bashing, he decided that he would attack someone in this circle, so Viconia took 8 damage before Minsc got a critical hot and did about 37 damage and gibbed him. I just ran upstairs then, Minsc went into a berzerker rage and Phyco Bob had the Celestial Fury and that gold +2 mace from the adventurers mart, he did about 12 damage, then 15 straight after, I killed everything in about a minute, only 1 or 2 were not gibbed, the whole battle was pretty easy.

[This message has been edited by Septic Yogurt (edited November 26, 2000).]

 

ya know, the game should have a better system, so that you can set to to take pictures during a fight each time you pause, that way you have proof of the awsome battle (we have all had some really good battles im sure) but not many of us have pictures to show for it...

 

Septic, after reading the explanations for the beta patch (8+ MB for a beta? I didn't even try to download), I think I know what happened to your Nalia's robe and signet ring. It seems that the Nishruu (the weird shadow thing) is bugged - it "eats" things it is not supposed to.

I had the same experience when my sorceress was hugged by a Nishruu recently - when the battle cleared, I found that she had lost a cloak of the shield and her pet rabbit (familiar to the uninitiated) had been eaten! Had to reload :-(

Next time I see a Nishruu, all my mages will run!

 

the Nishruu is supposed to destroy magic. they wrap up your mages and destroy known spells and magical items. its what they're for. summon a couple of hakeashars (improved nishruu) against irenicus in the asylum and you got him beat.

 

The Nishruu is only supposed to have two effects every time it wraps its tendrils around an opponent:

1. It drains magical items "with charges" by one charge and only destroys the item if there is only one charge left.

2. It causes the wizard to lose one memorized spell.

It is not supposed to eat other magical items such as cloaks and rings (and rabbits!).

 

actually i have had that problem... it attacks and it will make a mages armour dissaprear...for good. a glitch im sure, and a bad one at that.

 

That nishruu in the guarded compound drained my horn of valhalla and I had to dump it.I would normally reload but I realized it was drained when I tried to summon the berserker against Firkraag when he was coming for Jaheria

 

I got Mazzy in my (low level) party. With her sword slowing enmies she's a pretty helpful first-liner jumping form one enemy to the next letting my 'non-combatants' finish them off at leisure. With upgraded strength I bet she'll be worth keeping.

 

I have Keldorn in my party and even if only is ranked number three of my fighters he has som very useful abilities. True sight I use very often and his dispel magic isn't bad either. I tried Jan in another game and I agree with Draco, he is very good (although I'm probably biased becaused I had Nalia for quite a while and she sucks).

My party is of "fighter-type" and with boots of speed on both Minsc and Keldorn (+ I play a monk) I can rush the opposition, which sometimes is useful.

 

My take on 'unpopular NPCs"
Keldorn - yes, not just for Carsomyr. His dex is easily fixed with gauntlets of dex then he rocks. His large number of 'Protect from evils' mean you can cast it before every combat. Free 'True seeing' and "dispel magic' eliminate invisible and confusing enemies respectively.

Mazzy - founder member of her fan club.
She can wear any armour, there are plenty of strength enhancing items around to fix her STR. Her 5 stars in shortbow mean she can chop enemies down to her size then switch to +3 shortsword to finish 'em off

Jan. best thief in the game after Yoshimo.
Dropped him for Imoen 'cos it seemed the 'right' thing to do plot -wise.

Cernd - Ok if you keep him permanently in werewolf form, but he does tend to stink the place out a bit.

 

I didn't find the guarded compound hard...especially the ones at the upstairs, but those creatures that appeared is somewhat moderately-hard

Anyway my view on the "lesser" NPCs
Mazzy - considered the least-liked female NPC in BG2...but still a good fighter. the one that made her the least-liked is because of her race halfling (she's pretty short for a fighter).

Keldorn - Is he counted as one?
- could be used as a front-line fighter. the spell 'True Seeing' he has is very useful

Cernd - as far as i know, he is the least liked NPC in BG2, not really so good compared to Jaheira.

Haer'Dalis - haven't tried using

Edwin - haven't tried, (but i suggest using Aerie or Nalia instead of Edwin)

 

what?!
Edwin is no 'lesser' NPC. By himself, he could take out all the other NPCs in a battle one at a time or all together! That guy is power incarnate.
Mazzy is quite useful, being a decent fighter and an excellent archer and she's not as annoying as Aerie.
Keldorn's not bad, being able to use Carsomyr and his Paladin abilities really come in handy.
haer Dalis is rather weak magically and physically and I have not found any redeeming qualities about him. His lore and pickpocket skills do come in handy.
Imoen is, in my opinion, one of the better characters in the game. As you can include her in an evil or good party and her magic is second only to Edwin's. Right, Boo?