IWD2 gets an HD Let's Play!

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Try to make sure you use that +2 Spell Resist potion on someone that already has it naturally. Going from 0 to 2 SR is a bit like going from 0 to 2 AC, ie. totally worthless.

Also, before leaving for Chapter Three, pay a visit to where the airship was moored. You'll find a nice surprise from your favourite gnome waiting for you.

 

Thanks!

Oh yeah, that's where it was. I'm mixing potions up now...

Jan Jansen is in Icewind Dale?

 

I usually crank the Power attack to +2 setting as soon as my melee guys find something better than +1 weapons or when I get my hands on Emotion: Hope. That's decently optimized for most occasions and getting some actual leverage for a feat I've picked, without having to fudge with the setting more than once.

Once I swim in +5 weapons and most spell buffs have transcended into more or less permanent status I crank it all the way up to +5 and leave it there for good.

 

Interesting. Power Attack transfers a number from your attack to your damage roll, making you miss more often but hit harder. I'm no statistician but it seems that to be profitable, either it should not lower your chance to hit significantly, or increase your damage tremendously, because a single attack is a lot of damage, especially with a slow weapon like a two-handed sword; if power attack causes you to miss once, it will take quite a few hits at increased damage before you make up for it, and if it causes you to miss regularly, there's no way it can be profitable.

Since you seem to like number crunching I'm interested in your take on this.

 

I have tabled some "recommended values" for Power Attack in the JUPP guide. Check the maths section. It greatly depends on your target's AC and to some lesser extent to your own damage per hit - more damage already means that missing hurts more, thus lower settings are recommended etc.

With +5 weapons and STR in the upper 20's you finally start hitting your enemies consistently unless they have extreme AC values so you can crank up the setting without fear of repercussions. Even more so if Luck bonus is present.

 

I'd set power attack to +5 as soon as you get improved critical. The total damage output might be decreased, but you can afford it and dealing out tons of damage with only a single hit is fun.

 

Just wanted to report that I'm done with the Battle Squares, all 10 ranks are recorded. Currently on Youtube I've got ranks 1-7, the rest will be uploaded soon.

I estimate the total video time for this part of the game alone to be around 200 minutes (which means approximately 1.25 successful round per minute including all rests, buff casting and screw ups). It's definitely not the most exciting part of the LP, but that's because the Battle Squares are definitely not the most interesting area of IWD2.

Xavven had trouble mainly with ranks 4, 6 and 7; the rest was pretty much cake especially ranks 9 and 10.

I'm happy this is over and I can resume saving the Ten-Towns. I'm sure you are too.

 

I watched a little of the Battle Squares. I wonder if the game developers realized that those Feyrs would teleport to the room with the other party members. It's definitely an unexpected surprise... I was never sure if it was due to one of my mods that they did this, but your videos answer that question nicely.

 

Not only Feyrs, but some of the demons as well... it's such an annoyance. Plus if you kill the teleported monster too fast, sometimes you don't get the square, the scripts seem to hang there and you're forced to reload because nothing happens.

This whole area is a PITA frankly. I go on a few rants during the videos, and for the last few I put my playlist of video game music in the background to make things bearable. I think I'll put a link in the first video to skip over the whole part for those who don't want to sit through three hours of solo melee combat with a 10th level barb/fighter.

 

Well I'm well into chapter 3 now, about to record the Fell Wood (the Youtube version is always a few videos behind because it takes time to upload them). Just to remind you guys, if you have specific strategies you would like to see me use, or want to mention "secrets" I might miss, it's always better to do in advance than once it's recorded and set in stone.

Going to use Wilderness Lore to find my way through the Fell Wood, of course. I once marked areas with different amounts of arrows and drawn a complete map, it took like an hour .

 

Fell Wood is recorded, currently uploading to Youtube. Tonight I played through Cold Marshes, Ice Lakes and the caves beneath, effectively completing chapter 3. I think you are going to find my take on the Hook Horrors quite entertaining.

Question: if I accept Barud's quest of killing the Black Raven Monks, will that have any effect on chapter 4? Also I feel like killing all the duergar before leaving for the Hell Bolter and xp as described in the online solution, any drawbacks to doing that?

 

Did you just accept the quest, or complete it? If you kill the monks, be sure to complete all their quests beforehand. If you defeat the duergar at their outpost, then no ambush will be awaiting you behind the gate to the Underdark. I prefer to attack the duergar at their outpost, because it gives more items, money, and XP. There's no consequences to doing this later in the game, AFAIK.

 

I just accepted the quest. But it was a test playthrough, I wasn't recording. I just don't feel like playtesting all chapter 4 just to see what consequence will that have. Would I get more XP for completing all the quests of the monks, killing them and then reporting to Barud? Or killing all the duergar now, doing the monk's quest and then maybe killing the monks anyway (might not do it for role-playing purposes, though)?

I really do want the Hell Bolter though.

 

That's how I usually do it. If you're not going to kill the monks, then you can avoid accepting the quest altogether. You will miss out on XP, so decide if roleplaying concerns weigh heavier. You could also see it as skipping a combat encounter, which potentially makes your walkthrough incomplete... I even complete the monks' 8 chambers challenges, even though I intend to massacre them anyway (which opens the door to the passage, making the challenges unnecessary).

 

Wait, you go too fast for me. I've got the effective INT of a hobgoblin tonight (being intoxicated and tired doesn't help).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's how I view my possibilities at this point:

Code:

 1 Accept Barud's quest
    1.1 Kill duergars at outpost anyway, do as I please in CH4 
    1.2 Don't kill duergar, kill monks in CH4, report to Barud for xp
 2 Don't accept Barud's quest, kill duergar, do as I please in CH4

In cases 1.1 and 2, I get the Hell Bolter. In case 1.2, I don't. At this point I'm pretty sure I want to kill the duergar in CH3, I'm just wondering if I should accept the quest beforehand or not.

I hope you somehow make sense of all my rambling, otherwise I'll try to explain better with a clear mind tomorrow.

 

You still get the Hell bolter in case 1.2. You just left out the last part, ie. killing the Duergar anyway after all the things you've done to them.

 

1.2 Don't kill duergar, kill monks in CH4, report to Barud for xp
- 1.2a Then kill duergar.

and don't forget that you can complete all the monk's quests *before* you kill them...

 

I'm too lazy to watch all the videos but the idea of documenting an entire game this way is interesting (to say the least) and it's also a good reference as far as playthroughs are concerned. If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth a million.

 

So is the online solution wrong on this point?

"you will only get the Hell Bolter from Dragu Ironbreaker by fighting them at this point in the game." (this point being chapter 3)

Sounds good. Just unsure about Hell Bolter due to contradicting statements by Sir Rechet and the online solution.

Thanks!

 

Don't worry, I always do it the long way for maximum exp and I've never failed to recover the Hellbolter. I've never tried attacking the duergar directly, but there IS the possibility that the Hellbolter is created into Dragu's inventory by the completion of his miniquest, and thus you might miss it if you just go berserk and kill'em all.