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Of course a wizard thinks 5 pages is a note. All wizards are bad
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Sep 17, 2021 11:31
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dervinosdoom posted:Of course a wizard thinks 5 pages is a note. All wizards are bad
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Sep 17, 2021 11:43
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Pierzak posted:All Casters Are Bastards. 
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Sep 18, 2021 00:07
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Absolutely the best game of the series, and the one which made the Westwood Studios know to me.
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Sep 18, 2021 20:13
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Ah, my dear friend that sent me into a certain deathtrap as a disposable asset without warning me of all the other groups he did that to which never returned. Kind of surprised they didn't do anything with that reveal. It does make him tossing you into the woods before you can get a word in believable if the party is canonically idiots. FoolyCharged fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Sep 19, 2021 |
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Sep 19, 2021 18:11
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FoolyCharged posted:It does make him tossing you into the woods before you can get a word in believable if the party is canonically idiots. Well, that depends on whether we're keeping Anya...
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Sep 19, 2021 19:07
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DGM_2 posted:Well, that depends on whether we're keeping Anya... On that note, today is the last day of the poll to decide who starts this game.
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Sep 19, 2021 20:42
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Beo must feel so loved right now
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Sep 19, 2021 22:12
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FoolyCharged posted:Beo must feel so loved right now Now put his equipment in another slot and watch people scramble to revise their votes. 
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Sep 19, 2021 22:19
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Alpha3KV posted:On that note, today is the last day of the poll to decide who starts this game. Since this isn't a dialogue-based humor LP it doesn't really matter, but... Screw it, let's take whichever two characters are the dumbest anyway just for the LOLs. Team Idiocracy, GO!
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Sep 19, 2021 23:14
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Anya is all heart and she's the only one I really wanted to vote for.
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Sep 19, 2021 23:47
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Pierzak posted:Now put his equipment in another slot and watch people scramble to revise their votes. I presume the winners will be yoinking all the good stuff anyway. 
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Sep 20, 2021 00:12
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TLOD 1: Pilgrimage The characters who start off the second game are Tyrra, Anya, and Kirath, who all definitely survived the battle with Xanathar, plus Ileria, who absolutely did not run away from it. Also Anya ended up retaining her negative HP and the deathlike state that comes with it. Welp, it's fine, they'll all be replaced by the third update anyway.  The character in the top-left position will start with Khelben's Coin, which can be worn as a necklace. All characters had their XP brought down to one point below what is needed to reach level 12, except for Tyrra. She was brought to one point below level 11, and stayed at that level after killing the first enemy:  Wolves. As you can see, there's a bit more variety to enemies of the same type compared to the first game. The layout of the forest has lots of corners and intersections, and the way wolves spawn makes it somewhat likely that you'll have them coming at you from multiple sides at once. They can be a slight annoyance for that reason, but this isn't the start of Baldur's Gate and the party is well beyond them being any real threat.  This is the game's quick start party, consisting of a paladin, a dwarf fighter/thief, a half-elf cleric, and an elf mage. The latter notices this because of her race. Rangers, ostensibly experts in this sort of thing, do not.  Walking into those trees leads to this. Ileria gained two levels, and 4 HP for each. That's twice what it's supposed to be. Characters still get constitution bonuses applied to the static HP gains in levels after their last hit dice are rolled. That's incorrect by AD&D rules.  This cellar has a recolor of the tileset for levels 10 and 11 of the first game. Despite how it looks on the ground, that armor is leather +2 (I don't yet have a way of identifying magical items). These inedible rations were lying next to it. There is also a mage scroll of Blur, a self-cast defense buff. The recruitable mages both start with it so Kirath learns it. It's a 2nd-level spell that was not in the first game. On that topic:  Clerics get two new fifth level spells, at the bottom of the list. Slay Living will at least cause damage if it doesn't live up to its name, making it a good offensive option against anything not undead. True Seeing will make illusory walls disappear while it is active, which includes the trees leading here.  On the mage side, Stoneskin has actually been removed from Kirath's spellbook. The devs thought it was too overpowered.  In the northeast we find graves. Only a fighter will make this brilliant observation.  This comment comes from a cleric. If you click on one of the graves, you will be asked if you want to dig it up. If you say yes:  A cleric or paladin will object to it, but you can still go through with it.  Doing so can get you some femurs, which can be used as very weak blunt weapons, or skulls.    A paladin will not object to this.  The earliest solid confirmation that the temple is up to no good comes from your party themselves being major shitheads. Let's try to act in accordance with their alignments:  If you refuse:  I opt to earn her a silver:  The following screen is accompanied by an ominous chime:  That's what we're here to do.  After taking one step in the temple we are greeted by these two. If you pick leave:  Let's actually try to do our jobs and inquire.  There is a door to the west. When you try going through it:  We'll listen for now.  On either side of the door:  This game is more elaborate with decoration than the first.  They really went all out on the Fantasy Catholic aesthetic. The door is still open, and you can return to the forest until you do something to make the clerics hostile.  Just south of that we meet Ira, whose name is only given in the clue book.  I have a suspicion that Nadia won't "take care of her" in the way she's hoping for.  You can break the fancy stained-glass windows around the entryway. Doing it just once won't earn the clerics' hostility. The west door leads to a short hallway with stairs on either side. We go up first.  I'll obey since we need keys to actually get anywhere up here.  Going through the door made the greeters attack. They don't give a second warning. Getting further in the game requires your party to be the aggressors in this situation. The Aid spell no longer has the bug where it can act as a full heal, though it's still a helpful buff.  Once the clerics have become hostile, the temple door will be closed permanently, locking you in. The only way to go is downstairs now. Alpha3KV fucked around with this message at 04:48 on May 21, 2022 |
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Oct 4, 2021 08:08
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Alpha3KV posted:
Dear God what's wrong with their faces. Please tell me she's a sahuagin concealed by a poorly constructed illusion or something.
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Oct 4, 2021 08:55
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So you have to get into a temple probably with no reason to suspect anything and just be a terrible rear end in a top hat to progress. The developers know their RPG players.
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Oct 4, 2021 08:58
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By popular demand posted:So you have to get into a temple probably with no reason to suspect anything and just be a terrible rear end in a top hat to progress. The developers know their RPG players. That always bothered me. How difficult would it have been to put some evidence of wrongdoing somewhere you'd find it so you could confront them with it and trigger the fight that way? As a child, I assumed I was missing something or doing something wrong because there didn't seem to be any way to progress. You could attack them (obviously wrong), break the rules for no reason (obviously wrong), or... get stuck with no way to proceed forever.
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Oct 4, 2021 11:07
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I think it’s downstairs where we meet my favorite enemies in the series. If not, probably close by.  Funny, those wolves never seemed dire to me.
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Oct 4, 2021 11:22
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PurpleXVI posted:Dear God what's wrong with their faces. Please tell me she's a sahuagin concealed by a poorly constructed illusion or something. Are you kidding, the art is great. Just look at this handsome fella!
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Oct 4, 2021 11:59
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Guessing just healing magic isn't going to unfuck -127/-127 HP...By popular demand posted:So you have to get into a temple probably with no reason to suspect anything and just be a terrible rear end in a top hat to progress. The developers know their RPG players. Putting aside the tl;dr manual you at least have Khelben's assurance that something evil is going on in the temple and a minimum of two people mysteriously just having gone missing in the area. For evil and/or reloading parties, the knowledge that an old lady's family is being held hostage so she'll keep sending strangers to the temple is pretty damning all by itself. They should perhaps have made that note easier to obtain... Tiggum posted:break the rules for no reason (obviously wrong) We ain't got no room for that lawful kind of talk here 
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Oct 4, 2021 12:39
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How hard would it have been to have the old lady accidentally drop the note as she left and/or add a 'spend the night' option to that temple where the party can't shake an ominous feeling and the priests' attempt at a surprise night attack fails? I'm not asking for even an entire day of coding and writing here.
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Oct 4, 2021 12:49
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Now that is a mustache I can get behind!
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Oct 4, 2021 21:16
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it would have been nice to get an official letter or private correspondence or a signet ring to show that we can be trusted or have these guys attack automatically or add a romance or charm option to allow temporary access to a private chamber where we discover the big secret
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Oct 4, 2021 22:28
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30 years of RPGs in general have conditioned me to inherently distrust any church or member of the clergy that isn't a direct party member (so I can ask the player if they're actually good or if they're planing on being a dick
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Oct 5, 2021 12:46
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Randalor posted:30 years of RPGs in general have conditioned me to inherently distrust any church or member of the clergy that isn't a direct party member (so I can ask the player if they're actually good or if they're planing on being a dick I now have a vision of a bright-eyed, well-meaning clergyman coming up to you in the street asking for alms for the poor and you jamming a dagger up his nose. What are you guys, Randroids?
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Oct 5, 2021 16:38
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JustJeff88 posted:I now have a vision of a bright-eyed, well-meaning clergyman coming up to you in the street asking for alms for the poor and you jamming a dagger up his nose. What are you guys, Randroids? If he's just asking for alms, yeah, sure, here's some copper/silver/gold. If he then gives us a Quest to recover some priceless artifact that the Evil God needs to destroy the world, but don't worry, the cleric totally knows exactly how to properly dispose of the artifact... yeah, that's a dagger to the frontal lobe. I mean, if the cleric later on turns out to have been legit, resurrection spells exist.
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Oct 5, 2021 18:04
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Maybe it's all the years of accrued genre savviness, but even without the note those clerics saying, "nope, don't know anything about your missing person!" with another traveler looking for a different missing person right there kind of flags them evil as all get out.
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Oct 5, 2021 18:05
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I think it actively depends on two things. Firstly, is this religion very vengeful and/or does it involve robes with large hoods? Dagger to the brain. It's some end-the-world bullshit. Secondly, is it patterned in an extremely Catholic way? I.e. large hats, cathedrals, hoods, choirs, etc.? Dagger to the brain. The GM has played too many jRPG's and they're almost certainly trying to end the world and/or destroy all heretics.
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Oct 5, 2021 18:52
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PurpleXVI posted:I think it actively depends on two things.  Immediately distrust fancy churches. If you're looking for alms, don't have cathedrals!
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Oct 5, 2021 19:06
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FoolyCharged posted:Maybe it's all the years of accrued genre savviness, but even without the note those clerics saying, "nope, don't know anything about your missing person!" with another traveler looking for a different missing person right there kind of flags them evil as all get out. I feel like they are also banking on players natural inclination to ignore someone telling them where they're not allowed to go. "Don't go in there" is pretty much universal video game code for "go in there".
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Oct 5, 2021 19:26
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#DefundVaticanCity2021
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Oct 5, 2021 19:26
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If JRPGs have taught me anything it's that the church is up to no good and all it takes to kill God is a ragtag group of young adults and the power of friendship.
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Oct 7, 2021 23:46
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In my experience, even if a God is good, people will often mess up their analysis of Their teachings and abuse the power they derive from them. This is bad. And if a God is evil, well, they need to be put down for obvious reasons. A Temple called Darkmoon that's not to any specific God in a region where people have been disappearing lately? Suspicious. Bears investigating. And if they attack you for poking your nose in? Bad. Obnoxious fish-faced greeters are bad too. I've never known a religion that does well with them.
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Oct 7, 2021 23:55
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TLOD 2: Cata-Cata-Cata-Comb They also look very brown. Better get used to that for the next few updates.  The temple was built on top of old drow ruins, which gives some explanation why this area's tileset is a recolor from the latter parts of the first game. There are doors to the east and west. The east one is locked, forcing me to go west.  There are two guards to the side of a door. They have a scripted event, and won't do anything until you step into the tile that triggers it behind the door. Cone of Cold still ignores walls, and does spread out as its name would imply. This can be used to pre-emptively kill a lot of enemies. The guards here are 7th level fighters and can have HP up to the 70's.  This event still happens, but they don't attack due to already being dead. One of them had the key for the east door, so we head back there. But first an aside with the quick start party.  North of that encounter are some barrels, which can be smashed. Rations are in these ones, as well as on shelves around the room.  Going further on the path from the west door brings us a return of the classic "leave an item on the pressure plate" mechanic.  This happens in the room it leads to. Unlike the two before, this guard can't be pre-empted by Cone of Cold. Not just because this party has no way of casting it, but because he actually doesn't exist until you step into the tile triggering this event. He throws a dagger, which the previous guards also do at the start if you properly fight them. No other guards have daggers to throw. He drops some lockpicks.  North of there a barrel has magic dust, which can cure petrification and allow you to unequip cursed gear.   This locked door conveniently has its key right next to it.  Insal was mentioned in the journal at the beginning, having been briefly hired as Wently Kelso's guide. If you refuse his offer:  If you accept:  He starts off in terrible condition and with no items.  I feed him then take a rest to heal him, since I need some spells restored anyway.  He takes a sword, three rations, and two rings if your party has them. Any items in his own inventory will be dropped on the floor. He also leaves a note:  May as well check that out.  This comment has a chance of happening if there's a dwarf in the party. The short sword is back since I actually did this and the following before rescuing Insal.  Here's where it leads.  At the south end of the corridor we find three scrolls and a copper key that can be used on the upper level. One scroll is Neutralize Poison, one is Magic Missile, and the third is a partial map of this level.  We're currently at the south end of the northeast section. At the east end:  Giant spiders spawn on both sides of the party, prompting this comment from a fighter. Several monsters return from the first game, mostly among the most annoying and/or dangerous of its roster. Spiders are near the lowest end of that list.  A thief will warn that this pit is slightly more complicated than just closing it from the east wall and moving on. This is the last we'll be seeing of the quick start party, back to the main one.  A pressure plate will open a door with four guards behind it and also re-open the pit behind you. Backing up will drop you into a cell, which you can escape by throwing an item through the bars. Stairs will go up to a hallway with a hidden button at the end, also shown on that map. The guards will likely be back there to meet the party. One of them drops a key. A lever at the other end of this hall will close the pit so that you can go back to ground level.  In the small cell block below, you can find this lock. There is no key for it, so the only way to open the door on the other side is by picking it. There's a scroll of Lightning Bolt in that cell.  The corridor winds and goes past the guards' quarters, consisting of three rooms. The one on the north wall opens behind you when you step here. One of these two undressed guards has another key.  The two rooms on the south must be unlocked by you and have four guards each.  This note is found in the west room, along with the horn it's referring to:  It can be worn as a ring, which can free up more inventory spaces.  The east room has a dagger +1. The stairs north of the barracks go down into a short landing, where a hidden button uncovers a shelf with a scroll of Raise Dead and a Sling. After that...  The stairs down trigger copy protection, with the same scheme as the first game. The word is "greater" here, but again the GOG version is cracked to allow anything. Alpha3KV fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jan 30, 2022 |
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Oct 15, 2021 01:17
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Drow left this region long ago? Funny, I thought according to Khelben's intel, the bad guys we're after prominently included drow. Didn't know Cone of Cold could be used to kill enemies that way. Awesome to find out a trick I missed twenty plus years later. And those undressed guards are my most enduring memory of the game for some reason... Good to know they've disabled copy protection if I ever get the urge to play these games again.
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Oct 15, 2021 05:38
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Is there any payoff to letting Insal steal your stuff? Does he pop up again later?
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Oct 15, 2021 09:13
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PurpleXVI posted:Is there any payoff to letting Insal steal your stuff? Does he pop up again later? He does, near the end of the game. I think it also might happen if you rescue him but don't allow him to join.
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Oct 15, 2021 16:30
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I'm sure you would have just given him the stuff if he asked. He was naked and penniless after all, and We Are Heroes
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Oct 15, 2021 17:40
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I never saw Insal return because i very heroically allowed him to sit in the front row until his naked rear end got killed and then used his corpse for extra storage space until i could replace it with less hazardous npc options. They can't troll you if they're dead  Huh, i had no idea the spider comment was fighter-exclusive. I just knew it didn't always trigger and wondered if it was random or tied to some specific npc. The guards in their underpants are very good 
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Oct 15, 2021 18:45
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TLOD 3: Assembling a New Party We enter the second level of the catacombs, and go west.  This is the last door to be unlocked with a grey key. It leads here:  A lever will make a skull key appear on the shelf next to it but also launch a fireball from the north. That key can unlock a door to the north, but I'm using it for a different one and going east.   The east path leads to what looks like a dead end with an illusory wall. This is a good time to show how True Seeing works.  This type of button is somewhat common in these levels, and they always remove the wall they're on.   The southernmost section is where the key found earlier will be used.  After going a couple tiles through that door, another one opens. Enemies still can't open doors, even when they're humans. Any door that opens without the player doing it is a scripted event. These clerics can cast Hold Person, which is especially annoying in this game since the whole party being paralyzed is now a defeat condition. On of them drops a holy symbol, and the other drops a Dark Moon key.  This pile of items is a +1 Helmet (that doesn't actually affect AC), Iron Rations, a Long Sword +1, Plate Mail +2, a Shield +1, a Skull Key, and a Spellbook. Some of these items, particularly the casting ones, seem to indicate characters who can use them nearby.  Here's somebody in the same room. This is Calandra, the sister of Ira, the woman we met in the temple's entryway.  If you refuse her:  We accept her into the party and leave the cell.  Just northwest of it is another pair of priests. Like the first guards we encountered, these two are part of a scripted event and won't do anything until it's triggered. Also like them, you can pre-empt it with Cone of Cold.  There's no special screen for this one, so we get a warning from nobody.  We find this in one of the northern cells. There are no elf NPC's to recruit in the first game.   When you release him, one of two things can happen:  He will either just leave on his own or offer to join you. The outcome can be changed by reloading a save.  If you refuse him:  Here are the stats and acceptance messages of our new recruits:  I didn't heal or feed Shorn, he actually does start in perfect condition despite what the text might indicate.  I'm going through this from the east, but it seems like the other way is what was intended. The party should be well aware of what this place is by now. Especially Shorn, who made this comment because most of them are randomly assigned.  A mage will point out another illusory wall. I do still have True Seeing active, and can't recast it because of that. However, causes its effects to no longer be visible. If you're facing the wall when you get here or the other side, the mage will call it a "second-rate illusion."  This is in another cell near where we found Calandra. We head back upstairs and rescue Insal, who replaces the literal dead weight Anya. Ileria has two 6th level spells, both of which are Heal. That restores a character's HP to full. I use it on Insal and Calandra, as well as Create food. From there we go back up to the entryway.  This button is between the staircases. It removes the wall to reveal a teleporter.   This ankh is the only way to revive elves. As the plaque says, it can only be used three times, and there are two sets of elf bones to find. Those characters will just immediately join your party without even introducing themselves.  We have another mage now. He scribes some scrolls brought over from the first game:  He and Shorn memorize spells while I drop the remaining members of the previous party. The four character minimum is absolute. Insal can only run off from a party of five or six, not four. With that, it's possible to force him to stay around for longer, even up to the end of the game.  The ankh room has two teleporters. One goes back to the entrance hall, and the other goes to an identical room with a non-functional ankh. Next time, the real challenge will start.
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Oct 30, 2021 23:33
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Yet more tricks of this game I did not know.
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Oct 31, 2021 00:29
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