Can anyone give me some general tips on this game? I've actually come somewhat far and am doing okay, but I think I could do a lot better.
The spell system is confusing as hell. I'm still trying to figure out how to hotkey spells and much of the time I just barely survive battles, use what little heal spells I have, and then rest. Right now I'm trying to save 20k to get some people's help to bust out that chick that was taken from me by the hooded mages, but the towns are just confusing. I'll get a quest and not know where to go, and can these people walk any faster about the town? Oy.
Anyway, I'm having fun with it, I just would like some pointers. The walkthroughs for these games are giant walls of text and I'm not really in the mood for that right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
My own character is sort of a thief chick with some lockpicking skills and is good at the short sword, but overall I find battles to be pretty tough. I'm dying a lot right now just fighting spiders in a cave.
Hmm, okay, thanks for the advice. Yeah I thought about trying BG1, but was like, nah, I'll just catch myself up to the plot and go straight for the second one. Is there a good place in chapter 2 to sell all this armor and weapons I've picked up?
Yeah right now I'm trying to get that book for the Dwarf fella. These tombs are freaking hard though. But I just picked up the Drow chick and she seems to have some good abilities for dealing with undead.
What are these priest scrolls though? They are one of the most confusing things. I've got up to like seven levels of them and some are memorized? I...just don't get how all this spellcasting works.
Basically mage spells are in the mage book and priest/druid/ranger spells are in the priest scroll. They both work the same way. When you find or buy a spell scroll you can either cast it which uses it up or write it in the mage book/priest scroll. You can have your mage book/priest scroll full of spells but you can only memorize a certain amount of them depending on your and the spells level.
To memorize a spell open the mage book/priest scroll and put the spells you want in the squares. Then in order for them to become castable you need to rest. When you rest, all your memorized spells are recharged. If you have memorized a spell only once, you can cast it only once and have to rest to be able to cast it again thats why I suggest choosing a few spells you want to use and memorizing them multiple times.
Hope this helps.
I figured resting had a lot to do with it. I think I can understand the priest scrolls, even though there are still so many spells that I'm unfamiliar with. So far though, none of my characters can access their mage books. It's like disable for all of them. Okay, I'll try some of this stuff out. I also have an energy drain on like four of my characters. It's been there forever. How the hell do I make that go away? Some kind of dispel spell?
He would be able to help you out quite a bit. I was soo lost in the city and he knew exactly where everything was and what spells to cast etc.
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Mages cannot wear armor. If you put armor on a mage they will lose there ability to cast spells. And yes some mages can wear armor. Dual class and multiclass mages can wear armor. ANything other than Elven chain mail kills their spell casting.
You might want to check if your mage is weather leathers, they shouldn't be.
I also have an energy drain on like four of my characters. It's been there forever. How the hell do I make that go away? Some kind of dispel spell?
You can either get a priest/paladin/druid/cleric to use "restoration" to restore the lostenergy/levels or go to a temple and get a guy there to do it. You will want to get it removed as soon as possible, especially if it's a Level Drain.
Also I like to go with the T formation. 3 Melee fighter in front the Healer then theif then mage at the back. That way if anything jumps out in front he has to plaow thru my heavy hitters (usually Minsc, Korgan or Keldorn).
Sounds like you using Viconia she can rock a mace and shield with some deadly accuracy, just watch out if Keldorn is in the party.
Party management is a big part ofthat game. Some characters do not like others, and will flat out refuse to be in the same party as them and leave or kill them. Either way is bad as this removes one of the characters from the game PERMINENTLY! And this is bad if you suddenly find yourself think Anomens self-righteous uppity gitness is too much to bear and Keldorn's just decided to get stabby (literally) with Viconia, and you now find yourself with no single classed clerics.
Single classes level faster than multiclasses. Multiclasses have to split EXP between there class.
For example a 600EXP monster for a single class character such as a Fighter will net him 600EXP to his Fighter class, whereas that same amount to say a Cleric/Ranger character would giver 300 to said C/R's Cleric class and 300 to his Ranger class.
This means mutliclasses casters dont gain spells, abilites and life as fast. You will probably notice Yoshimo if you have him is a leveling machine while Aerie if you have her takes forever to level her weak ass. Awesome spells on that broad though.
Hit me up on MSN sometime. I'll see if we can't get a Multiplayer game going. Me walking you thru it is kinda easier and faster than reading semi vague descriptions of websites.
I seriously had to figure that game out all on my own. Saw the box, had a dragon on it. It looked cool bought it. Loved it.
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Hmm, okay, thanks for the advice. Yeah I thought about trying BG1, but was like, nah, I'll just catch myself up to the plot and go straight for the second one. Is there a good place in chapter 2 to sell all this armor and weapons I've picked up?
You can definately skip the first. Dying to a brown bear because you're level 1 sucks to be honest.
And items sell for the same price everywhere, so just dump it when you get the chance to.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
Yeah right now I'm trying to get that book for the Dwarf fella. These tombs are freaking hard though. But I just picked up the Drow chick and she seems to have some good abilities for dealing with undead.
Viconia is hands down the best cleric in the game. She's evil though so your nice and fluffy characters will have problems with her. But so they will with Korgan, and he appears to be in your party.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
What are these priest scrolls though? They are one of the most confusing things. I've got up to like seven levels of them and some are memorized? I...just don't get how all this spellcasting works.
Mages can either use scolls to learn spells, or to cast them without allocating a spell slot to it.
Priests however cannot learn additional spells through scrolls, instead they get spells depending on their level and what class they are. Priest spell scrolls are thus used as one-time spells. Place them in the lower bar where the greyed-out moons and stars are, click on them and select a target. The priest will cast the spell o the target, be it friend or foe.
They are one-time however, so bear that in mind.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
I figured resting had a lot to do with it. I think I can understand the priest scrolls, even though there are still so many spells that I'm unfamiliar with. So far though, none of my characters can access their mage books. It's like disable for all of them. Okay, I'll try some of this stuff out. I also have an energy drain on like four of my characters. It's been there forever. How the hell do I make that go away? Some kind of dispel spell?
Like Elfen said, check and see if the mages are wearing leather.
About the spells, I finished the game first time basically using brute force. Lot's of attack spells, healing spells, good items and high levels. It took until I read some guides that I started understanding what other spells did. There are some realy useful ones in there. The power words for example.
And Energy drain removed levels, essentially making your characters weaker. High level clerics can cure it, but in the beginning it's easier to just go to a temple and have it removed. It costs 700g though I think.
Characters continue to accumulate xp while drained, so it's likely you'll gain a level when you do remove it if you've had it for a while.
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Mages cannot wear armor. If you put armor on a mage they will lose there ability to cast spells. And yes some mages can wear armor. Dual class and multiclass mages can wear armor. ANything other than Elven chain mail kills their spell casting.
You might want to check if your mage is weather leathers, they shouldn't be.
Is that good elf chick alright to wear armor? For some reason she has 2 freaking hit points. And I told her to leave the party cause I couldn't ever keep her alive and it was bugging me to high hell.
Quote from name="Elfen Lied" »
You can either get a priest/paladin/druid/cleric to use "restoration" to restore the lostenergy/levels or go to a temple and get a guy there to do it. You will want to get it removed as soon as possible, especially if it's a Level Drain.
I was looking to see if anyone in my party had that kind of a spell, but I couldn't tell really. There are tons of spells in people's scrolls and I have to hover my cursor over it just to see what it is. Then sometimes they have weird names that aren't exactly self-explanatory so I have to read these long descriptions to see if that is the spell I need. I'm sorry, but I really hate the way spells are managed in this game. Perhaps I'm just struggling with a huge ass learning curve, but goddamn!
Quote from name="Elfen Lied" »
Also I like to go with the T formation. 3 Melee fighter in front the Healer then theif then mage at the back. That way if anything jumps out in front he has to plaow thru my heavy hitters (usually Minsc, Korgan or Keldorn).
I know how to change the formation, but how do you decide who stands where in it?
Quote from name="Elfen Lied" »
Party management is a big part ofthat game. Some characters do not like others, and will flat out refuse to be in the same party as them and leave or kill them. Either way is bad as this removes one of the characters from the game PERMINENTLY! And this is bad if you suddenly find yourself think Anomens self-righteous uppity gitness is too much to bear and Keldorn's just decided to get stabby (literally) with Viconia, and you now find yourself with no single classed clerics.
Yeah I swear people in my party would just start attacking each other, like right in the middle of me fighting monsters. And sometimes I'll have two guys attacking a monster while the other party members are just fucking standing there. How automated are their attacks? It's just confusing as hell sometimes to know what they are doing and why. And when they have all these little icons on their faces indicating a magical effect, I have no freaking clue what they all mean as there as so many and I'm not exactly used to the game.
Quote from name="Elfen Lied" »
Single classes level faster than multiclasses. Multiclasses have to split EXP between there class.
For example a 600EXP monster for a single class character such as a Fighter will net him 600EXP to his Fighter class, whereas that same amount to say a Cleric/Ranger character would giver 300 to said C/R's Cleric class and 300 to his Ranger class.
This means mutliclasses casters dont gain spells, abilites and life as fast. You will probably notice Yoshimo if you have him is a leveling machine while Aerie if you have her takes forever to level her weak ass. Awesome spells on that broad though.
This is one of the most confusing things for me and probably why I'm hating this "D&D" system. And yes, it seems like none of my party members have leveled up for the longest time.
Quote from name="Elfen Lied" »
Hit me up on MSN sometime. I'll see if we can't get a Multiplayer game going. Me walking you thru it is kinda easier and faster than reading semi vague descriptions of websites.
I'll consider it. Though I do appreciate your help so far.
Quote from "PhrozenDragon" »
Mages can either use scolls to learn spells, or to cast them without allocating a spell slot to it.
Priests however cannot learn additional spells through scrolls, instead they get spells depending on their level and what class they are. Priest spell scrolls are thus used as one-time spells. Place them in the lower bar where the greyed-out moons and stars are, click on them and select a target. The priest will cast the spell o the target, be it friend or foe.
They are one-time however, so bear that in mind.
The only person I recall in my party that could use those scrolls as quick items was that one whiney chick and she was kidnapped by some assholes in robes.
Is that good elf chick alright to wear armor? For some reason she has 2 freaking hit points. And I told her to leave the party cause I couldn't ever keep her alive and it was bugging me to high hell.
Then she seems to have lost a bunch of levels, seems to be down on lvl 1. Not a good thing, you need to visit a temple. there are several in the "temple area" 8can't recall the real name), one in the slums, on in the docks and that's it I think.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
Perhaps I'm just struggling with a huge ass learning curve, but goddamn!
The learning curve is indeed quite steep.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
I know how to change the formation, but how do you decide who stands where in it?
Rearrange the portraits to the rigth. The top portraited character will go first, and the one in the bottom will go last. The portraits are drag&drop.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
And when they have all these little icons on their faces indicating a magical effect, I have no freaking clue what they all mean as there as so many and I'm not exactly used to the game.
Usually there's just a few you need to know what they do. The orange sand-icon that symbolizes level-drain is one of them, and the blue icons symbolize bonuses. They're generally just good to have, and often you don't need to know exacly what they do
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
This is one of the most confusing things for me and probably why I'm hating this "D&D" system. And yes, it seems like none of my party members have leveled up for the longest time.
Once again, you need to get to a temple and get some treatment.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
The only person I recall in my party that could use those scrolls as quick items was that one whiney chick and she was kidnapped by some assholes in robes.
Only mages can use mage scrolls, and only priests can use priest scrolls. They may also need the appropriate level, not too sure about that.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
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Okay then, just a few more questions for now then I'll try to figure out some more stuff and then go fucking scream at God for there being such a frustrating game as this. Seriously, I wanna punch my fucking monitor right now and kill some puppies.
Apparently, my character has the ability to set trap. I have tried doing this several times and I see this little bear trap thing go on the ground then disappear. What the hell is going on?
Next, you say go to a temple. There are seemingly tons of them. I've walked in a few, and none seem to offer restoration. I can be healed and what not, but I can't find a single asshole to restore me. There is no obvious way to tell who does what. Since you can talk to literally every single NPC in the game, and even within a single building there are tons of people, I need a SPECIFIC place to go to get restored. I am so done just walking into random places that may seem like I can be restored at.
Most the time I wouldn't even be this angry at a game because if things were going this shitty for this long, I'd just quit. But I actually have had some fun moments and I suspect it really can be worth my time playing. But fuck this D&D system shit and fuck the godawful way spells are done in this game. I have no success with hotkeying anything and when I'm trying to cure a guy's poison so he doesn't die, can he at least freaking stand still so I can manually cast this slow poison on him?
Also, can I revive dead players? I've reloaded games hundreds of times just because I'd do a major battle, and barely manage to survive myself but I almost always lose on person in my party. Is combat really supposed to be THIS hard?
Apparently, my character has the ability to set trap. I have tried doing this several times and I see this little bear trap thing go on the ground then disappear. What the hell is going on?
Never been a big fan of traps, and I don't remember. Sorry.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
Next, you say go to a temple. There are seemingly tons of them. I've walked in a few, and none seem to offer restoration. I can be healed and what not, but I can't find a single asshole to restore me. There is no obvious way to tell who does what. Since you can talk to literally every single NPC in the game, and even within a single building there are tons of people, I need a SPECIFIC place to go to get restored. I am so done just walking into random places that may seem like I can be restored at.
In the slums, there's a big platform in-between all the buildings in the middle of the map. Go up onto it by the stairs next to the Copper Coronet, and head to the end of it in the northwestern part of the platform. There's a temple there, and inside will be 1 or 2 guys. One of them will offer healing, and scroll down to the bottom of the list with his services.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
I have no success with hotkeying anything and when I'm trying to cure a guy's poison so he doesn't die, can he at least freaking stand still so I can manually cast this slow poison on him?
In the bottom right corner of the screen, there are two buttons. The one to the right, when clicked, selects all your party members.
The one to the left, which I suspect is highlighted for you, toggles NPC AI. Click it so the colored border disappears, and your characters will not run around anymore unless you tell them to. I much prefer this way of playing; you need to order them to attack or they won't do anything, but at least you have total control.
As for hotkeys, I'd recommend pausing often and manually selecting spells and the like. There's way too many of them to hotkey all.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
Also, can I revive dead players? I've reloaded games hundreds of times just because I'd do a major battle, and barely manage to survive myself but I almost always lose on person in my party. Is combat really supposed to be THIS hard?
Oh... What difficulty are you playing on? In the options menu, under game setting or soething like that, there's a difficulty slider. If you're playing "core rules", then I can understand your frustration. I definately recommend playing the second easiest (out of five), if not the easiest the first time through.
As for reviving, if you are indeed playing core, then characters can permanently die. If they are permanently dead, their protrait disappears from your sidebar. If they can be revived however, their portrait will be grey, and they can be resurrected at the same temple as you restore your levels in.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
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Okay, I thought I'd give a little update as to my progress on this game. First of all though, thanks to all of you who took the time to give me all the useful advice despite my excessive bitching.
So I've figured out how to get my guys revived and restored; that's good. I've also gotten a pretty good grasp of how most things work in combat. As far as equipment though, I really don't understand it at all. You can tell if one weapon is really better than the other. It's not like in Diablo where you see your damage amount change when you equip a weapon. And every time I put on any kind of armor whatsoever and whichever character, that little number there in the shield icon always goes down. I know certain classes shouldn't wear certain kinds of armor, so I avoid that. But all these other things that they are allowed to wear, I'll equip them and all I see is my armor number there drop. What is is up with that? I haven't upgraded anyone's armor for the longest time because everything I put on them makes that number go down. And I still have yet to find a single pair of boots anywhere. Just seems so silly, no?
I am on chapter 3 though and progressing fairly well through the game. Some of these quests have been particulary fun. I loved the quest where the Harpers use you to expose this one guy, then later you have to kill some Harpers cause this one guy acting alone wants to imprison you to make himself look better. Many of the sidequests are really entertaining. And I like it when members of my party have conversations with one another. This is one things I like about parties. Reminds me of Mass Effect when the two other people in your squad would have little exchanges during the elevator ride.
I hated that Planar Sphere quest. It took me maybe 30 tries to kill that Diablo looking demon, the one whose heart I needed to power that machine. Cause I was down to about 4 people including myself and all of us had our levels drained (I had only learned how to restore while I was still stuck in the sphere). It was insanely gratifying to finally kill that guy. But still wasn't sure how worth all the frustration it was. Anyway, still having fun with the game. Just solved the murder mystery in the Bridge District but the guy ran deep into the ground and now I gotta go after him.
So I've figured out how to get my guys revived and restored; that's good. I've also gotten a pretty good grasp of how most things work in combat. As far as equipment though, I really don't understand it at all. You can tell if one weapon is really better than the other. It's not like in Diablo where you see your damage amount change when you equip a weapon.
Right click on the weapon, and it will show you a short story of the weapon (if it is a magic weapon), as well as the damage and any additional effects.
There are, above all, two things you want to look for in items.
First is the +damage it has. Regular weapons have none, but all magical weapons have a value between +1 and +5. The higher the better, because harder monsters are immune to weapons unless they have a high enough + to damage (with one exception, but that's in the expansion, so don't worry about that :P).
Other than that, check what the special ability of the weapon is. They can be very nice.
Other than that, the rest is pretty much fluff that you needn't bother with ever.
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
And every time I put on any kind of armor whatsoever and whichever character, that little number there in the shield icon always goes down. I know certain classes shouldn't wear certain kinds of armor, so I avoid that. But all these other things that they are allowed to wear, I'll equip them and all I see is my armor number there drop. What is is up with that? I haven't upgraded anyone's armor for the longest time because everything I put on them makes that number go down. And I still have yet to find a single pair of boots anywhere. Just seems so silly, no?
Ahaha. I remember that feeling, I thought the same when I started playing. However, I trusted my instincts that fat armor was better no matter the number
The numbe ris supposed to go down, the value is added to your enemies attack rolls. Meaning of you have 10 in armor, they get +10 chance of hitting you. While if you have -10, they get -10 to their chance. So get that armor on
Quote from "Siaynoq" »
I hated that Planar Sphere quest. It took me maybe 30 tries to kill that Diablo looking demon, the one whose heart I needed to power that machine. Cause I was down to about 4 people including myself and all of us had our levels drained (I had only learned how to restore while I was still stuck in the sphere). It was insanely gratifying to finally kill that guy. But still wasn't sure how worth all the frustration it was. Anyway, still having fun with the game. Just solved the murder mystery in the Bridge District but the guy ran deep into the ground and now I gotta go after him.
What difficulty were you playing at? Were you able to resurrect all your dead allies?
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
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anyway, I wanted to ask is there a way to beat that dwarf and his gang in the beginning of the game? there is that inn called "den of the seven vales" and upstairs you find some edgy dwarf whose gang you can fight. and every time they kick my ass. I get owned by a familiar with the confuse spell. I sometimes manage to kill the familiar but the rest of the gang just pass by my tank and go for the healers and it's over.
I don't remember him, but I'm sure you can. Depends on how good you are though
You could always wait, very few things disappear in this game just because you don't do them immediately. The fourth and fifth acts however do not return, so make sure you do whatever you want to while there.
Quote from "milanv" »
do you know all those equations for hitting, damaging, taking damage?
Nope, and you certainly don't need them. However if you can find the ruleset for Dungeons & Dragons, it should be the same.
Quote from "milanv" »
and btw, what does THACO stand for? what does it do?
It's actually THAC0, and it means To Hit Armor Class 0. This is the chance you have of hitting someone with 0 armor. If their armor value is higher, it is added to your chance; if lower, it is subtracted from your value. THAC0 increases as you level up.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
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Eh, well first off, theives aren't exactly that great.
I'd go with a wizard/sorcerer, mages can pretty much fuck anything up.
To get rid of that energy drain, go to a priest and have him cast restoration.
Some of your casters may also be able to cast this spell.
Also, something that REALLY helped me was the auto-pause options.
Go to options, and find the auto-pause feature, then just check off whenever you want it to pause.
I'd seriously suggest making it pause whenever somebody finishes casting a spell, this game isn't like D2, it takes way more strategy and having the game pause helps so much.
Anywho, good luck with the game, you'll love it ^^.
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Quote from "Sixen" »
"One in every 10 million people can potentially have a headache from this pill." God forbid she is the 0.000000001% of having a headache.
Baldur's Gate has really made me hate magic in games. I can't go against a single wizard without him turning my whole party either against me. That or suddenly my party just wanders off on their own and I can't access them. You don't even have time in the middle of a battle to circumvent all that shit. Unless you do it with that auto pause that you were talking about.
But seriously, the second a battle starts with a wizard and his gang, I'll like instantly lose control of all party members and watch them as they walk in circles and get attacked. Really fucking annoying. One of the weaker things about this game overall. Makes my nose itch just thinking about it.
Yeah, that is one of the more annoying points of the game.
Which is why you need to get yourself a wizard, or somebody who can cast dispel, or something to get rid of that shit.
I always remember having the same problems, it's REALLY frustrating :/
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Quote from "Sixen" »
"One in every 10 million people can potentially have a headache from this pill." God forbid she is the 0.000000001% of having a headache.
Yeah, they're a complete bitch to find.
I usually threw those on my casters so they would be unaffected, and thus able to free the rest of my party.
Man, I really want to dig that game out again...
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Quote from "Sixen" »
"One in every 10 million people can potentially have a headache from this pill." God forbid she is the 0.000000001% of having a headache.
Wait until you reach mind flayers and underdark. You need to save a lot cuz you wil screw up fast. I really like BG2 because of its complexity in magics, spells, penalities, lore wise items, and unique quest.
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The spell system is confusing as hell. I'm still trying to figure out how to hotkey spells and much of the time I just barely survive battles, use what little heal spells I have, and then rest. Right now I'm trying to save 20k to get some people's help to bust out that chick that was taken from me by the hooded mages, but the towns are just confusing. I'll get a quest and not know where to go, and can these people walk any faster about the town? Oy.
Anyway, I'm having fun with it, I just would like some pointers. The walkthroughs for these games are giant walls of text and I'm not really in the mood for that right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
My own character is sort of a thief chick with some lockpicking skills and is good at the short sword, but overall I find battles to be pretty tough. I'm dying a lot right now just fighting spiders in a cave.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
What are these priest scrolls though? They are one of the most confusing things. I've got up to like seven levels of them and some are memorized? I...just don't get how all this spellcasting works.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
Like I know what any of that means.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
He would be able to help you out quite a bit. I was soo lost in the city and he knew exactly where everything was and what spells to cast etc.
Folks will always come and go, so enjoy them while they're meant to be in your life.
You might want to check if your mage is weather leathers, they shouldn't be.
You can either get a priest/paladin/druid/cleric to use "restoration" to restore the lostenergy/levels or go to a temple and get a guy there to do it. You will want to get it removed as soon as possible, especially if it's a Level Drain.
Also I like to go with the T formation. 3 Melee fighter in front the Healer then theif then mage at the back. That way if anything jumps out in front he has to plaow thru my heavy hitters (usually Minsc, Korgan or Keldorn).
Sounds like you using Viconia she can rock a mace and shield with some deadly accuracy, just watch out if Keldorn is in the party.
Party management is a big part ofthat game. Some characters do not like others, and will flat out refuse to be in the same party as them and leave or kill them. Either way is bad as this removes one of the characters from the game PERMINENTLY! And this is bad if you suddenly find yourself think Anomens self-righteous uppity gitness is too much to bear and Keldorn's just decided to get stabby (literally) with Viconia, and you now find yourself with no single classed clerics.
Single classes level faster than multiclasses. Multiclasses have to split EXP between there class.
For example a 600EXP monster for a single class character such as a Fighter will net him 600EXP to his Fighter class, whereas that same amount to say a Cleric/Ranger character would giver 300 to said C/R's Cleric class and 300 to his Ranger class.
This means mutliclasses casters dont gain spells, abilites and life as fast. You will probably notice Yoshimo if you have him is a leveling machine while Aerie if you have her takes forever to level her weak ass. Awesome spells on that broad though.
Hit me up on MSN sometime. I'll see if we can't get a Multiplayer game going. Me walking you thru it is kinda easier and faster than reading semi vague descriptions of websites.
I seriously had to figure that game out all on my own. Saw the box, had a dragon on it. It looked cool bought it. Loved it.
And items sell for the same price everywhere, so just dump it when you get the chance to.
Viconia is hands down the best cleric in the game. She's evil though so your nice and fluffy characters will have problems with her. But so they will with Korgan, and he appears to be in your party.
Mages can either use scolls to learn spells, or to cast them without allocating a spell slot to it.
Priests however cannot learn additional spells through scrolls, instead they get spells depending on their level and what class they are. Priest spell scrolls are thus used as one-time spells. Place them in the lower bar where the greyed-out moons and stars are, click on them and select a target. The priest will cast the spell o the target, be it friend or foe.
They are one-time however, so bear that in mind.
Like Elfen said, check and see if the mages are wearing leather.
About the spells, I finished the game first time basically using brute force. Lot's of attack spells, healing spells, good items and high levels. It took until I read some guides that I started understanding what other spells did. There are some realy useful ones in there. The power words for example.
And Energy drain removed levels, essentially making your characters weaker. High level clerics can cure it, but in the beginning it's easier to just go to a temple and have it removed. It costs 700g though I think.
Characters continue to accumulate xp while drained, so it's likely you'll gain a level when you do remove it if you've had it for a while.
I was looking to see if anyone in my party had that kind of a spell, but I couldn't tell really. There are tons of spells in people's scrolls and I have to hover my cursor over it just to see what it is. Then sometimes they have weird names that aren't exactly self-explanatory so I have to read these long descriptions to see if that is the spell I need. I'm sorry, but I really hate the way spells are managed in this game. Perhaps I'm just struggling with a huge ass learning curve, but goddamn!
I know how to change the formation, but how do you decide who stands where in it?
Yeah I swear people in my party would just start attacking each other, like right in the middle of me fighting monsters. And sometimes I'll have two guys attacking a monster while the other party members are just fucking standing there. How automated are their attacks? It's just confusing as hell sometimes to know what they are doing and why. And when they have all these little icons on their faces indicating a magical effect, I have no freaking clue what they all mean as there as so many and I'm not exactly used to the game.
This is one of the most confusing things for me and probably why I'm hating this "D&D" system. And yes, it seems like none of my party members have leveled up for the longest time.
I'll consider it. Though I do appreciate your help so far.
The only person I recall in my party that could use those scrolls as quick items was that one whiney chick and she was kidnapped by some assholes in robes.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
The learning curve is indeed quite steep.
Rearrange the portraits to the rigth. The top portraited character will go first, and the one in the bottom will go last. The portraits are drag&drop.
Usually there's just a few you need to know what they do. The orange sand-icon that symbolizes level-drain is one of them, and the blue icons symbolize bonuses. They're generally just good to have, and often you don't need to know exacly what they do
Once again, you need to get to a temple and get some treatment.
Only mages can use mage scrolls, and only priests can use priest scrolls. They may also need the appropriate level, not too sure about that.
Apparently, my character has the ability to set trap. I have tried doing this several times and I see this little bear trap thing go on the ground then disappear. What the hell is going on?
Next, you say go to a temple. There are seemingly tons of them. I've walked in a few, and none seem to offer restoration. I can be healed and what not, but I can't find a single asshole to restore me. There is no obvious way to tell who does what. Since you can talk to literally every single NPC in the game, and even within a single building there are tons of people, I need a SPECIFIC place to go to get restored. I am so done just walking into random places that may seem like I can be restored at.
Most the time I wouldn't even be this angry at a game because if things were going this shitty for this long, I'd just quit. But I actually have had some fun moments and I suspect it really can be worth my time playing. But fuck this D&D system shit and fuck the godawful way spells are done in this game. I have no success with hotkeying anything and when I'm trying to cure a guy's poison so he doesn't die, can he at least freaking stand still so I can manually cast this slow poison on him?
Also, can I revive dead players? I've reloaded games hundreds of times just because I'd do a major battle, and barely manage to survive myself but I almost always lose on person in my party. Is combat really supposed to be THIS hard?
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
In the slums, there's a big platform in-between all the buildings in the middle of the map. Go up onto it by the stairs next to the Copper Coronet, and head to the end of it in the northwestern part of the platform. There's a temple there, and inside will be 1 or 2 guys. One of them will offer healing, and scroll down to the bottom of the list with his services.
In the bottom right corner of the screen, there are two buttons. The one to the right, when clicked, selects all your party members.
The one to the left, which I suspect is highlighted for you, toggles NPC AI. Click it so the colored border disappears, and your characters will not run around anymore unless you tell them to. I much prefer this way of playing; you need to order them to attack or they won't do anything, but at least you have total control.
As for hotkeys, I'd recommend pausing often and manually selecting spells and the like. There's way too many of them to hotkey all.
Oh... What difficulty are you playing on? In the options menu, under game setting or soething like that, there's a difficulty slider. If you're playing "core rules", then I can understand your frustration. I definately recommend playing the second easiest (out of five), if not the easiest the first time through.
As for reviving, if you are indeed playing core, then characters can permanently die. If they are permanently dead, their protrait disappears from your sidebar. If they can be revived however, their portrait will be grey, and they can be resurrected at the same temple as you restore your levels in.
So I've figured out how to get my guys revived and restored; that's good. I've also gotten a pretty good grasp of how most things work in combat. As far as equipment though, I really don't understand it at all. You can tell if one weapon is really better than the other. It's not like in Diablo where you see your damage amount change when you equip a weapon. And every time I put on any kind of armor whatsoever and whichever character, that little number there in the shield icon always goes down. I know certain classes shouldn't wear certain kinds of armor, so I avoid that. But all these other things that they are allowed to wear, I'll equip them and all I see is my armor number there drop. What is is up with that? I haven't upgraded anyone's armor for the longest time because everything I put on them makes that number go down. And I still have yet to find a single pair of boots anywhere. Just seems so silly, no?
I am on chapter 3 though and progressing fairly well through the game. Some of these quests have been particulary fun. I loved the quest where the Harpers use you to expose this one guy, then later you have to kill some Harpers cause this one guy acting alone wants to imprison you to make himself look better. Many of the sidequests are really entertaining. And I like it when members of my party have conversations with one another. This is one things I like about parties. Reminds me of Mass Effect when the two other people in your squad would have little exchanges during the elevator ride.
I hated that Planar Sphere quest. It took me maybe 30 tries to kill that Diablo looking demon, the one whose heart I needed to power that machine. Cause I was down to about 4 people including myself and all of us had our levels drained (I had only learned how to restore while I was still stuck in the sphere). It was insanely gratifying to finally kill that guy. But still wasn't sure how worth all the frustration it was. Anyway, still having fun with the game. Just solved the murder mystery in the Bridge District but the guy ran deep into the ground and now I gotta go after him.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
There are, above all, two things you want to look for in items.
First is the +damage it has. Regular weapons have none, but all magical weapons have a value between +1 and +5. The higher the better, because harder monsters are immune to weapons unless they have a high enough + to damage (with one exception, but that's in the expansion, so don't worry about that :P).
Other than that, check what the special ability of the weapon is. They can be very nice.
Other than that, the rest is pretty much fluff that you needn't bother with ever.
Ahaha. I remember that feeling, I thought the same when I started playing. However, I trusted my instincts that fat armor was better no matter the number
The numbe ris supposed to go down, the value is added to your enemies attack rolls. Meaning of you have 10 in armor, they get +10 chance of hitting you. While if you have -10, they get -10 to their chance. So get that armor on
What difficulty were you playing at? Were you able to resurrect all your dead allies?
You could always wait, very few things disappear in this game just because you don't do them immediately. The fourth and fifth acts however do not return, so make sure you do whatever you want to while there.
Nope, and you certainly don't need them. However if you can find the ruleset for Dungeons & Dragons, it should be the same.
It's actually THAC0, and it means To Hit Armor Class 0. This is the chance you have of hitting someone with 0 armor. If their armor value is higher, it is added to your chance; if lower, it is subtracted from your value. THAC0 increases as you level up.
I'd go with a wizard/sorcerer, mages can pretty much fuck anything up.
To get rid of that energy drain, go to a priest and have him cast restoration.
Some of your casters may also be able to cast this spell.
Also, something that REALLY helped me was the auto-pause options.
Go to options, and find the auto-pause feature, then just check off whenever you want it to pause.
I'd seriously suggest making it pause whenever somebody finishes casting a spell, this game isn't like D2, it takes way more strategy and having the game pause helps so much.
Anywho, good luck with the game, you'll love it ^^.
But seriously, the second a battle starts with a wizard and his gang, I'll like instantly lose control of all party members and watch them as they walk in circles and get attacked. Really fucking annoying. One of the weaker things about this game overall. Makes my nose itch just thinking about it.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
Which is why you need to get yourself a wizard, or somebody who can cast dispel, or something to get rid of that shit.
I always remember having the same problems, it's REALLY frustrating :/
I usually threw those on my casters so they would be unaffected, and thus able to free the rest of my party.
Man, I really want to dig that game out again...