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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Just in case anyone was curious... I am reviewing the game for RPGDot with the following characters:
Samine - Fighter 4/sorc 1/Dragon Disciple 10. SHe has 28 strength without magic at the moment. The first encounter in the game... went away. She gets the dubious honor of testing the crafting skills. May also get to test the 'good guy' aspects of the game.
Toman - Ranger 3/Druid5/Shifter 7. Gets to test out the wild shape crazy style aspect of the game as well as the neutral path.
Dakez Darkenblood - Fighter 4/Necromancer 5/Pale Master 6. "Fear... the tube." Was sorely dissappointed he couldn't vampiric touch the elderly paladin at the start of the day. Gets to test out Pale Master and perhaps epic spellcasting (depending on how many levels I get over the course of the game).
Xen Maximus - Fighter 2/Paladin 14. Hero of Undrentide. Takes losing his gear in stride. Walking holy woodchipper of justice. He gets to check the goody goody path as well as the social branch trees (Samine will just hit thing and make them squish... Xen hunts for bugs in persuasion quests, etc).
Volgion, the Betrayer - Fighter 4/Ranger 2/Blackguard 9. "Hero" of Undrentide. Heads will roll over the loss of his blackguard armor and ring of protection +5. Indescriminate slaughterer of everything that is weaker than he is. He gets as evil a path as possible and has all the social skills neccessary to make people feel bad about themselves.
Baeron Nal'shazra - Fighter/Rogue/Shadowdancer. Gets to see how far a Shadowdancer can go. The answer is... nowhere! Their biggest power is unuseable. Hide in Plain Sight is MEANT to hide in combat to get sneak attacks... but they cannot.
Laniel - Half-Drow Wizard of Certain Destruction that I used to crush the original NWN to a whimpering heap of submission. She probably won't complete the game (I prefer fighters) but she will get fielded to test the new spells/epic spells/item creation.
Tarth - Half-Orc Barbarian. He's not really a character, per se... he just gets to run through the game screaming and seeing how much the plot changes for a 'dumb' character. Might be replaced with a Dwarven Defender/Barbarian so I can test out another prestige class for the review.
Xen and Volgion will be the flagship characters of the review (the ones that complete the game, definitely. I put more emphasis on good and evil completing the game because neutral usually gets shafted and ends up one or the other). Laniel might complete the game accidently if I get carried away testing spells and end up annihilating the universe. It's happened before.
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Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
Fri Jan 02, 2004 2:46 pm |
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goshuto
Wanderer
Joined: 29 May 2002
Posts: 1142
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Bioware says the OC will take you to about level 25, but I ended up with level 27 and, had I really tried, I think I could've achieved level 28.
If you want to see both male and female "romance" options, I think you'll need to play almost to the end with both a male and female character, since the romance dialogues tend to appear rather late in the game.
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"Tree stuck in cat. Firemen baffled."--Simcity 3K
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."--Soren Aabye Kierkegaard |
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Fri Jan 02, 2004 3:56 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Thanks for the heads up. Looks like Xen, Samine, and Volgion will have to have full runs through, then. Liniel wouldn't feel right cheating on Aarin Gend. 
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Fri Jan 02, 2004 4:04 pm |
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konny666
Noble Knight
Joined: 03 Jul 2003
Posts: 219
Location: Babylon 6 |
please keep in mind that when you update your NWN version, savegames are not affected. you will have to re-start the game to reap the benefits of the new version. that said, i assume you started your review with v1.61?
if so, note that spellcaster AI (npc's, not henchmen) is slightly broken (many will not buff themselves when they are supposed to) as is "Improved Invisibility" - it just functions like normal invisibility now albeit for a longer duration. |
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Tue Jan 06, 2004 8:33 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Yes. I had patched my version of Neverwinter and Shadows to 1.61 a few weeks before getting Hoardes. When I went to update Hoardes it said there were no updates available so...
The loss of improved invis is unfortunate, I admit, since it seems to be working just fine for the enemies.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:23 pm |
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goshuto
Wanderer
Joined: 29 May 2002
Posts: 1142
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It's funny it said no update available, because I think Hordes uses a different patch than SoU. When you run NWN, in that window with several buttons (and the picture of the drow in the background), it should say 1.61 in the upper left corner.
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"Tree stuck in cat. Firemen baffled."--Simcity 3K
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."--Soren Aabye Kierkegaard |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 9:50 am |
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ScOut3R
Tempered Warlord
Joined: 15 Feb 2002
Posts: 299
Location: Hungary |
quote:
Originally posted by goshuto
Bioware says the OC will take you to about level 25, but I ended up with level 27 and, had I really tried, I think I could've achieved level 28.
With the 1.61 version? I've finished the game with sou installed (version 1.3x i think) and my character in the end was level 16th.
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 11:02 am |
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goshuto
Wanderer
Joined: 29 May 2002
Posts: 1142
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quote:
Originally posted by ScOut3R
quote:
Originally posted by goshuto
Bioware says the OC will take you to about level 25, but I ended up with level 27 and, had I really tried, I think I could've achieved level 28.
With the 1.61 version? I've finished the game with sou installed (version 1.3x i think) and my character in the end was level 16th.
I meant the Hordes of the Underdark campaign.
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"Tree stuck in cat. Firemen baffled."--Simcity 3K
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."--Soren Aabye Kierkegaard |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:04 pm |
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Lintra
Elf Friend
Joined: 23 Apr 2002
Posts: 9448
Location: Bermuda, the triangle place with SANDY BEACHES |
I *just* finished at level 28 with my hero from SoU. I was surprised at how unchallenging the mod was after a certain point. The last time I was in any danger of dying was in the beholder caves ... hey a failed save versus death is ... well ... death.
The levels of hell were a cake walk! This charachter started the game as a Paladin 10 fighter 3 and finished as Paladin 10, F 10, Champion of Torm 8. I found a kick butt sword that added 8 to str and took off 4 from dex, but was keen and vorpal. After the Drow smith was finished with it that sword was a total game breaker. +10, haste, True Vision, and um... I forget what else .. but it made the game too flipping easy.
Kinda spoiler - The genie will never offer more than 15k for any item, the Drow Smith never more than 10k, but the Demon store owner will offer up to 50k!! And he buys at much better rates than any other, and sells heal potions for less than any other.
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=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Just plain clueless= |
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Sun Jan 11, 2004 6:58 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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You encountered the Epic Reset Law.
See, the idea is that at level 21 characters are basically back to the same roles they were at level 1. Thus, a 21st level fighter type... with his unlimited high impact damage capacity (and oh boy can it get high impact! I was hitting sometimes for upwards of 300 damage a round with crits... no wizard can rival that.) suddenly becomes the 'game breaker' class once more.
WIzards get pooched as ever escalating spell resistances and elemental/magical immunities soar. I suspect my cleric will be the same way, starting with the last fight of chapter 2. A 400 hit point giant is nothing to a fighter with 5 attacks a round, doing 40+ damage an attack... but the same giant is two to four meteor swarms for a wizard and clerics... well... clerics get to act like fighters if they cast divine power ... so I'm suspecting that's how I'll be playing my cleric in chapter 3.
Volgion, my Blackguard, just finished at Blackguard 16, fighter 8, ranger 2. He had no real difficulties in chapter 3, either.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Mon Jan 12, 2004 4:18 am |
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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
quote:
...the Epic Reset Law. .... , the idea is that at level 21 characters are basically back to the same roles they were at level 1. Thus, a 21st level fighter type... with his unlimited high impact damage capacity (and oh boy can it get high impact! I was hitting sometimes for upwards of 300 damage a round with crits...
So, the fighter will be among the most easy class to play in HoUT?
I finished at level 27 as a monk. He had no problem at all with beholder attacks and practically all spell attacks, or any big problem in chapter 1 and 2. But i have to admit the last battle for chap. 3 wasn't very glorious. The End game boss chased my hero all over the place and forced to hastily gulping down truckload of potions: heal, strength, speed, barskin, edurance, dexterity potions...
At normal difficulty level, he can only does 9 points of damage to the final boss for each successful hits. Amor class = 48, strength 28, Dex 21, edurance 16, wis 16.
Attack bonus: +42/+39/+36/+33/+30
Damage:1-20+9 (critical:19-20/x2) + 5 electrical damage
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Wed Jan 14, 2004 8:38 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Monks come into their own in Epic. They're insane... they can blitz through chapter 1 and 2 without even pausing. A high strength monk is dangerous at level 1, though, so the Reset Model holds.
I had to drink two potions of Heal (I had thirty) in the last battle, and my henchman (only had one) had to drink two as well. She had 500 hit points and I had 470.
I just fought for the heck of it after I'd completed with that character and reloaded my final save... the way I'd solved the game meant I didn't have to fight the last battle if I didn't want to. *shrug*
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Wed Jan 14, 2004 3:17 pm |
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Lintra
Elf Friend
Joined: 23 Apr 2002
Posts: 9448
Location: Bermuda, the triangle place with SANDY BEACHES |
quote:
Originally posted by EverythingXen
...
I just fought for the heck of it... the way I'd solved the game meant I didn't have to fight the last battle if I didn't want to. *shrug*
Spoiler:
Xen - your response may count as a spoiler, but let me guess, you took his place?
Edit by Xen: Nope, but your response does. Alerting people to the fact that there is a non-combat option to finish the game is nothing like revealing one of those options.
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=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Just plain clueless= |
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Wed Jan 14, 2004 3:19 pm |
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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
Actually, the difficulty level i used was D&D Hardcore setting. Anyway:
I found out some of my character problems:
- Health/Edurance level rather low (281), no wonder she can only handle few hits from the final boss before drop dead.
- Wisdom also rather low, no wonder my monk never successfully kill anyone with Quivering Palm (always missed or failed).
- Maybe using wrong henchmen? the Drow girl and Deekin drop dead too quickly. The bard song from Deekin also useless and sound more like celebrating my demise...
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Thu Jan 15, 2004 5:20 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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281 certainly isn't bad for hit points. My blackguard had something like 331 for most of the game. I only upped them to nearly 500 for the final battle by putting on boots of striding +10 (replacing my boots of speed) because I know how boss fights go in any game... they're endurance matches and he can hit you on a 2 no matter what your armor class is (that said higher is better as it will prevent them hitting you with every attack on a 2....)
I also increased my follower's hit point by +125 or so for the final battle. Those +10 con boots you can buy in chapter 3 are worth buying three sets of.
If they're properly armed and armored and you've turned their magic off they should do ok.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:21 pm |
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