So, Balan leads the Company through the locked door (the receptionist gave him the key), where they discovered another group.  These new guys were people who left the cult, and were trying to get the rod coveted by the beholder.  So the ex-cultists give the Company the exact same quest as the faithful cultists: retrieve the rod, which they claim to have figured out a way to use to kill the beholder:
Ex-cultist: “Pick up that rod, hide behind the boulders.  The beholder will come around the corner.  The minute its head comes into view, HIT IT WITH THE ROD!” 
Balan Pshaw: “My way isn’t very sportsmanlike.”

Balan heads further into the sewers, wisely avoiding the interesting-looking coffin that holds the body of a lich.  The Company reaches a broken bridge, and a mysterious riddler.  Anomen tries to answer the riddle, but gets it wrong, and nearly gets everyone killed in the process.  Balan takes over, and flawlessly answers the riddler’s riddles.  They pass over the magically repaired bridge, and Balan levels up.  This wizard now goes to eleven.

I never finished Baldur’s Gate 2, because I got bogged down in the many, many quests in which your character can get involved.  I think this time, though, I’m going straight for the main quest: save Imoen.

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Balan: “Oh great.”
Jaheira: “What’s wrong?”
Balan: “The only person who stuck by me through the whole previous adventure, and now she’s gone.”
Jaheira: “Dude, you ditched me and Khalid *sniff* in a tent at the fair.”
Balan: “…Yeah…that’s right, I did.  <snicker> Which reminds me: Could you go over there and look at that thing over there for me?”
Jaheira: “Jerk.”
Minsc:  “What about me?  I was there to kill Sarevok with you!”
Balan: “Oh, right.  And kudos to you for that, too.”
Minsc: *beams*

I think this was “Sharwyn” from one of the Neverwinter Nights mods

to this:

 The Company discovered a portal that led to an upper level, where they met a bounty hunter.  The bounty hunter gave them a heads up about what was in the next two rooms, so Balan let him join the party.  I can’t remember his name right now.  In the next room, the Company fought off a passel of them there mephits, who nearly wiped the party out.  It was a clost thing, but Minsc charged ahead and took out the spawn portals, while the other four handled the mephits.  It was in this room that they finally found Khalid–at least, what was left of him.  It looked like he had been tortured to death.  Jaheira took it really hard, and started snapping at everyone.  Then, Imoen spoke up and said that Khalid was already dead before his body was mutilated.  It seems Irenicus did evil things and forced Imoen to watch.  Poor kid.

I spoke about Might and Magic 6 because it was released right around the time that Baldur’s Gate was, and I wanted to compare the playing experience of each game as I remember it from the time.  MM6′s rules made sense, the story was (for me) compelling, and the gameplay was fun.  BG had arcane rules, the game play (especially navigating the trap-filled mazes) was difficult at times, and I would become frustrated trying to figure out what to do next at times.  And yet…I’m pretty sure I remember that I preferred Baldur’s Gate to MM6.  Maybe it was the challenge; perhaps it was the “prestige” of finally playing using the D&D rules (of which I had no prioir experience).  I know that I preferred the isometric view to the first-person view of MM6.  The graphics, for the time, were superior in my mind.  The character portraits of BG were exponentially superior to MM6′s.

Maybe I’m only now comparing MM6 favorably to BG because I no longer can play the former game, and so cannot spot its flaws.

In any case, this time around I had more fun writing my little narrative than actually playing the game.  Part of the reason is that I’ve played it through several times (but only really completed it once before).  It also may be that I’m jaded over the fact that, despite the fact that it is “World of Warcraft on paper”, D&D 4e never got a computer game based on a close interpretation of its rules.   “Heroes of Neverwinter” on Facebook gets the closest (it is turn-based, at least), but even it falls far short with its reinterpretation of the rules.  I would have liked to have played a remake of Baldur’s Gate using the 4e rules; before 4e came out, I daydreamed of playing BG using 3rd edition rules.  But now we already have several really good games that use 3rd edition rules, and none using 4e.

I’ve already started BG2, and will begin the narration soon.  This is the game from which I get my handle:

Cavalier
This class represents the most common picture of the knight: the gentleman warrior who epitomizes honor, courage, and loyalty. He is specialized in battling ‘classical’ evil monsters such as demons and dragons.
Advantages:

• Bonus +3 to hit and +3 damage against all demonic and draconic creatures.
• May cast Remove Fear 1 time per day per level.
• Immune to fear and morale failure.
• Immune to poison.
• 20% resistance to fire.
• 20% resistance to acid.

Disadvantages:

• May not use missile weapons

In the first big dungeon–a cave filled with spiders–one could use a technique of perpetual retreat while firing arrows at the monsters.   One of the best ways to level up.  There were secrets scattered throughout the land, like the hidden scroll of “Fly”, which the characters could use to reach the top of a certain tower, which was a portal to a temple in which the characters could easily gain all sorts of treasure and experience points.  Levelling up required the characters to find a trainer, which could get annoying, but seemed more realistic than the characters automatically gaining new fighting techniques.  Each new level allowed the characters to increase not only attributes and attack powers, but to add points into certain skills.   Putting ranks in “learning” increased the XP of each encounter.

I liked how the “prestige” classes like paladins were hybrids of two base classes (Paladin was Priest and Knight, Archer was Sorceror and Knight, Druid was Sorceror and Priest, etc.).  I also like how the classes matched unit types used in HoMM2, and how gaining new titles reflected the “level ups” in the earlier game.  Paladin–>Crusader–>Hero; Knight–>Cavalier–>Champion.  I was disappointed that it was Archer–>Battlemage–>Warmage instead of Archer–>Ranger–>Ranger Captain, which would have matched HoMM2.  I liked that you had to perform prestige quests to gain these new titles.

In short, MM6 was awesomely fun, and I wish I still had it today.

When I first played Baldur’s Gate, it was my first time playing a game that used the D&D rules.  I couldn’t understand why the character’s attributes would never increase.  I didn’t like that I kept having to buy arrows.  The Vancian magic system seemed awkward and limiting.  Still, I liked playing it; the story seemed more “Tolkien-ish” (not surprising, as I discovered later, since the Forgotten Realms are basically Tolkien’s Middle-earth with a facelift and gods).  I wasn’t very good at playing it, though, because I didn’t know the strategy involved.  Paladins and Fighters were the characters I paid attention to;  I made sure they always had the best armor and weapons available.  Wizards were annoying to manage, and were relegated to providing magic artillery (which was annoying, because the mage was as likely to fry his own team mates as the horde of goblins).  Thieves were annoying to manage, and I would have done without them except for traps.

Playing it through this latest time was more enjoyable, because I am much more familiar with how things are supposed to work: the dumb jock fighters are supposed to bum-rush the enemy, buying the clever wizard enough time to pick the perfect spell to end the encounter (“Sleep”).  Later, the dumb jock fighters are there to stand in awe of the clever wizard’s capability to handle everything by himself.

In game time, it took the characters about 2/3rds of a year to finish off Sarevok.  So, in less than a year, a character can go from level 1 to level 9 (for a wizard).  I point this out for no other reason than that I find it interesting; I would suppose that going from level 1 to level 9 would take several years (9 years, perhaps?).

To be continued….

The Company actually killed him outside the house, but dragged him inside so the cops would think it was self-defense.

The end result is that that weird “turn into magic dust when you die” thing now happens to Sarevok instead.  The dust floats down a deep crevice, in which is revealed a cylindrical room hundreds of feet high and filled with statues.  A statue that resembles Sarevok crumbles into dust and falls to the ground. The End. Except, of course, now Balan gets to head into “Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn”.

The squeaky wheel gets the kick!

Minsc needs help rescuing his companion, Dynaheir, who has been kidnapped by gnolls.  So the Company heads over to Gnoll Castle and rescue her, defeating a couple of goons along the way that have a pair of Bracers of Dexterity.  Now, Kaigan’s AC is down to -7.  They rescue Dynaheir, and then head to the caves just south of the stronghold, where Balan obtains the Charisma Tome. Back to Baldur’s Gate, where the Company finds that they are wanted criminals.  They get arrested by the Flaming Fist, then break out of prison, then enter the Flaming Fist Fortress and slaughter everyone.  Making their way to the Commander’s quarters, they discover that the “healer” who is supposed to be trying to cure the Commander (and even though I played this last night, I can’t for the life of me remember his name; Scar got killed, though.  His nephew sent him away and the hyenas got him.) was actually a doppleganger trying to poison him.  They killed the dopple, and took the Commander to the Harbor Master’s Mansion, where he’d be safe until they took out Sarevok.  (actually, the Company did this quest more than once, and I noticed that killing every last member of the Flaming Fist had no negative effect on the team’s reputation, but trying to bribe the Flaming Fist soldiers knocked the reputation down to 3, labelled as “despised”.  Freaky.) Pshaw & Co. then spent some time trying to find Sarevok’s two assassins, a married couple.  Not for long!  “Till death did them part”, as it were.  There was an invitation to the Ducal ball, where Sarevok planned to get crowned Grand Duke, then have all the nobles killed, then start a massive war, then become the new god of Death.  You have to admit, the man is ambitious.  Too bad he didn’t count on a little thing called “getting his clock cleaned by Balan Pshaw”, which will happen very soon.

Damn.  And I though Horse Archery was fun.

Initial impressions:

• I am riding a horse very fast, throwing spears and darts at people at high speed.  It’s like lancing people but I can hit them behind me, too.
• I kill horses much faster than horse archery.
• I kill people much easier when I do hit them.
• 7 Power Throw mean Lances, and I can 1-hit kill medium-heavy armour cavalry who chase me (speed bonus adds a ton of damage).
• I look like a badass throwing stuff.
• This might be cheaper than Horse Archery.
• Ammo is not too bad.  I carry two stacks of Throwing Spears for good damage (8 ammo total there), 1 stack of War Darts for cleanup (6 ammo there), and 1 Throwing Lance for last-ditch efforts or to obliterate a stubborn, straight-moving pursuer.
• I  could get good at this.  I can see it.
• Hitting is easier than arrows, since these are larger projectiles and launch much differently.

I’ll report more once I play more.

I think, think, I may retire into a mounted thrower.

A huge part of this frustration is tiredness.  I’ve been up late/early the past few days, so I get annoyed easily with my mistakes in melee.

Another part of this is my attempts to play a 1-hander/shielder with 6 WPF in one-handed weapons.  It isn’t easy.

Polestun is really driving me mad.  So are heavy strength builds.  Both are tough to fight, and usually cause my annihilation swiftly.

Horse archery is great, because I can forget about melee.  While I am sure this isn’t helping my melee skills, I do not really care.  This game is shifting for me, from a win-the-game to a tell-a-story.  It inspires me to think, to write, to imagine.  To goof off with swords and axes and armour.

My only two sources of pain as a horse archer are horse crossbowmen and teammates.

Horse crossbowmen have pretty much every advantage over horse archers except firing speed.  That, too, is nullified, as they can usually ride more maneuverable horses and have easier times dodging and shooting.

For some reason (maybe inherent hatred towards the class), I (or my horse) get teamwounded more often as a horse archer than any other class I’ve played, even more than one-handed cavalry, where I would regularly barrel into clashing infantry.  This is particularly troublesome because my horse is essentially my lifebar as a horse archer.  Without the mount, I’m a slow archer who hits for far less damage than an average dedicated foot archer.

Another great facet about horse archery is I can annoy and possibly neutralize the lancer cavalry who kill a sizeable portion of my team (including valuable archers) within 45 seconds of a round starting.  People need to pay attention, stick to polearmers, stick to cover.  I can also shoot up the “Hollywood Heroes,” as I call them.  The two-handed-sword strength-stacking people who are too dense to carry a shield.  Two of these monsters can wipe out a large portion of my team, but two decent archers can tear these people apart.  As a horse archer, I can shoot them and run them over at incredibly inopportune times (such as when they are swinging at a teammate).  If these players took shields they would be much more dangerous.  I suppose that in all the movies, though, none of the protagonists get killed by a horsearcher who rides circles around them, shooting them full of arrows.

It is easier to complain about ranged and not carry a shield than to lose a few points in Ironflesh and block the arrows with two Shield skill.

My, this post came out bitter.

In other news, I have not played WoW for about a week.  Too much cRPG I think.  Soon, I will return.  Soon.

I have also started playing Neverwinter Nights.  I picked up a bundle of NWN and NWN2 with all the expansions for $20 a few months ago.  Finally started playing it.  Neat game, lots of content.  I am playing a “recommended” Human Fighter, with a longsword and shield.

I am tentatively trying to break this turn system through my spear-and-shield user (a “hoplite”), by using holds and spinstabs to attack when my turn should be long over.  It is working well against many targets.  Somehow it is possible for my stabs to wrap around enemy shields, and hit them in the back at full force.

Holds in general seem to fool players more than any feint combo I can pull off.  Throw in a full-circle spin hold (I keep my weapon swing ready and do a full circle in front of them) and it can be very unsettling.

I’ve discovered a few new techniques, and will probably post them once I hammer them out more.

Current spear-and-shield favourite:

Keeping the stab ready, and spinning circles while moving forward (so I move towards and then away from my opponent), and stabbing once a circle (or two, or three) is completed.  Video eventually, I expect.  Easier to show than tell some of these moves.

His cow still has a tummy ache.

as well as–and this is really awesome–some new ones.  Just outside the keep’s door, Balan meets Cadderly, the hero in Salvatore’s “Cleric Quintet”, and one of my favorite fantasy characters.  I mean Drizzt is awesome and all, but Cadderly is the kind of guy that one wouldn’t mind having a beer with.  Plus, he fights with a yo-yo.  Here’s the conversation:

 After speaking with Cadderly, Pshaw & Co. enter the keep.  They meet Karan, who tells them that someone named Koveras was looking at some old prophecies, and that Balan might want to look over them, as well. 

 Okay, so…weird.  And more than a little disturbing.  Bhaal knew his time was short, and so spawned several children before he died.  It seems that several of the Bhaal Spawns are destined to fight each other.  Something seems to click in Balan Pshaw’s mind about Bhaal Spawns, like there’s something important about Bhaal Spawns that relates to Balan Pshaw somehow, but he just can’t put his finger on it.  Not sure why Koveras was interested in the prophecies, either, what?  Balan heads upstairs, and meets another old friend, who tells him that several of the Candlekeep monks are acting weird.  Balan proceeds to the next floor, where yet another old friend informs him that Gorion’s old room is where it always was, and that there may be something left there for Balan.  Balan enters the room, remembering how things used to be, and swipes anything not nailed down.  One of the items he snatches is a letter from Gorion, explaining Balan’s own heritage.  Balan drops the page and stumbles backwards against the bed.  In his mind’s eye, the letters of his name appear, glowing, before him, and begin slowly rearranging themselves until they spell: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT Weeping bitter tears over how unfair life is, Balan leads his companions back through the shelves of Candlekeep, and run into Koveras himself!  Koveras offeres Balan Pshaw a ring that was supposedly left to him by Gorion, but Balan politely refuses.  Koveras storms off in a huff, and Balan next enters a room where the top brass of the Iron Throne are having a business meeting.  They demand that Balan leave, and he does.  He heads up to the next floor, where a member of the Candlekeep guard arrests him for the murder of the members of the Iron Throne he had just left.  Framed!  Balan feels confident that he and his team will be cleared of all charges, and so goes quietly with the guard, and is thrown in a jail cell until he can be transported to Baldur’s Gate where the trial will be held.  But another old friend shows up and fixes it so Pshaw & Co. can escape, explaining that Koveras, who is really Sarevok, is close to gaining control of the entire city, and that Balan could never hope for a fair trial.  The Company wanders through the catacombs, and Balan picks up both a tome of strength and a tome of wisdom (both of which, of course, he uses on himself).  In the catacombs, dopplegangers approach, each taking on the appearance of some old friend of Balan’s.  But Balan has dealt with too many of those creatures in Durlag’s tower to be taken in here.  He kills them all, even the two pretending to be Elminster and Gorion.  The Company exit Candlekeep, knowing that they will have to sneak back into Baldur’s Gate and take care of the Iron Throne once and for all.  But first, a little detour to pick up the Tome of Charisma and the Gauntlets of Dexterity.

If this post seems sort of rushed, it’s because I’m eager to get through Baldur’s Gate 1 (which I have already won–as a paladin) and start playing Baldur’s Gate 2, which I haven’t completed.  There are a LOT of side quests and mini-story arcs that Pshaw & Co. skipped over, because, frankly, they don’t need to do them.  Balan’s already at level 9, as is Imoen, and Branwen and Kaigan are each at level 8.  There is an experience point cap in the game; originally, it was 89,000 XP, which meant your character (depending on his class) could only reach around level 8.  “Tales of the Sword Coast” raised the XP cap to 161,000, which is not enough for Branwen to reach level 9.

For gaming, this can mean many things.  Hybriding your skillset, your character’s skillset, using different equipment, servers, et cetera.

For cRPG, this means, build-wise, is it better to lean towards Strength, Agility, or to use a balanced build?

I honestly think balanced, 18/18 is the ultimate melee build for an average player.  For pure melee users, there is a lot of flexibility.  18/18 allows two-handers/polearms to take Shield or Riding along with the usual Power Strike/Weapon Master/Athletics.  6 Weapon Master means around 120 Weapon Proficiency in two weapon types.  Power Throw can be taken, or the Weapon Proficiency split for a crossbow. For those who want just melee without a shield or horse, Ironflesh can be taken.  Archers can mix in melee and Ironflesh.

Taking an 18/18 shielder with 6 IF. 6 PS, 6 Shield, 6 Athletics, and 5 WM (with all in 1-Handed), this means decent hitpoints (65), decent damage, decent speed, and a tough shield.  Faster than Strength-heavy players, more damaging and sturdier than Athletics-heavy users.  This player has enough tools to fight everything without any obvious advantage.  Taking Crossbow proficiency would be even better (6 WM/5 IF, with about 120/120 points-wise), allowing the user to shoot down other ranged or horses.

However, this is not necessarily a score-topper build in most hands.  Strength-heavy builds have a much easier time scoring killing strikes.  They can decimate clumps of players very quickly if allowed.  Agility-focused builds are more for utility: Strafing opponents, dragging apart groups, using powerful shields.  I know that I could easily reach a high killcount with a 33/6 build, and rarely reach the top 5 with a balanced build.  Agility builds did worse score-wise, kills are tough to nab with 5 or less PS.

There are times when I wish I was a little faster or a little more hard-hitting (especially when fighting heavy strength builds that can obliterate me in two swings).  But trading points to one area weakens another.  Better to be useful in many situations than just a few.

Fun factor plays a part here.  Balanced, for me, can be a bit dull compared to the speed of Agility or raw power of Strength.