7-man party

Yup... or the good old "what happens in the mine?" or "recover the lost spellbook".

Seriously, I can guess how hard it is to come up with something original, and I am grateful to you folks for reviving ToEE which, among much more glamorous RPG's, has the best tactical gameplay. So I was delighted at the idea of taking my party to lvl 20, and was imagining I would find opponents of comparable status, say dragons, beholders, multiple balors, maybe a mandatory fight against that evil demigod or against st Cuthbert which in the original were optional. I tried not to read anything about the added content not to spoil the surprise, so I was very disappointed when I found the new locations empty.

Excuse me, thus, if my words seemed to express ingratitude. however, the question remains: are the empty areas a bug? Or should I do something, aside from walking around at night. resting, walking around by day, resting, to start the actual quest?

PS as for nulb I meanwhile remembered burne could give me the location, so that's settled.

 

Welkwood Bog is presently empty because it is unfinished in the Beta.

The original level cap was 10. The game hasn't kept up, level-wise, with all the new content.

 

It seems I unwillingly hurt someone's feelings here... OK, it was probably stupid from me to expect a fully playable version when it's called "beta" after all. It's just that I currently have a few days free, I was elated at finally having solved the problem of how to run the mod correctly, and thus I jumped in expecting some fun fights, that's all. I'll wait till the "issue that fixes everything" comes out, I guess.

Anyway, sorry for what clearly seemed as over-criticism re the mathel story. I was just trying to make some light conversation, nothing more. I suppose the complete story will be great, innovating and totally addictive. Only thing I know ab out it for now is what the captain told me, which - if I may state my opinion - was phrased a bit verbosely, especially if you consider that with an undead threat hanging above the city both he and the blacksmith required me to state multiple times that yes, I was ready for a challenge. But, once again, I don't know the complete story thus maybe there's a perfect good reason for just going along with the daily routine and discouraging brave/suicidal adventurers willing to help.

Once again, I DO appreciate your work, I DO understand it's not easy, I DO know it can't be done overnight (even if, considering almost 3 years passed between version 5.0.0 and version 5.5.0 beta I hope a fully playable version will be out before 2020)

 

Points fully conceded, Gaear.

I indeed played only one of those fights you mention (the ambush leaving the Moathouse, in which a few guys I never talked to before apparently knew me very well). I was more or less resigned to wait for 5.5 to go out of beta or for 6.0.0, but I assume today I'll try again to get some of those fights you say... I guess I'll have to scan the forums to find out who I have to talk to to activate them/get the locations.

As for the verbosity, indeed it IS a fine line. Even if currently I am looking above all for some fights to see how lvl 10+ char's go with the turn-based engine, I too am among those who consider the original ToEE severely lacking on that front. On the other hand, even the RPG with maybe the best dialogues and deepest story (Planescape Torment, IMHO) sometimes felt verbose. My ideal RPG would probably be the storyline of the whole BG-TotSC-BGII-ToB+ascension epic with turn-based fight in ToEE style and 3.th ed. rules.

I just wanted to mention the dialog with the blacksmith especially gave the impression of being redundant, of stating multiple times the same without necessity. And the captain, well, it seemed a long way to tell you "go kill some undead" but again, since the quest is not playable yet maybe I am in for surprises there. Just a matter of opinion. It's not that I am against lengthy speeches in se, you probably remember that the Solaufein mod by Weiner for BGII had even lines of poetry in it, and I quite enjoyed that one.

BTW, any insightful peek-behind-the-scenes about progress on getting 5.5 out of beta?

 

I have played both IWD and Baldur's gate through so have joy in the mix of storyline and combat. In baldur's gate TOB though,gets screwed by out of AD&D boundaries in its rules,so I rejected that game(when soldiers all run around with +2-3 equiptment as 'normal',and +6 weapons are OK..the game has lost the plot). The Co8 mod has done a good job of adding life to TOEE,it is not perfect,but hell beats the normal game and scares the bejabbers out of me(Moathouse ambush,white dragons,spider cave..sheesh etc etc). I rather play this than even a core game,ie BG TOBhaal..lol. So congrats to the Co8 team..^_* .

Will you have Ochre Jellies at Welkwood Bog???? Hmm Meleny was worried when the captain mentioned about the area ^_* .

 

Hi Gaear.

I played through the orc cave and then Hickory Branch. Nice fights, I have to admit. I managed to beat the cave on the first try with a lvl 4 party taking no casualties, but it was fun. HB brought my party from 4 to 6, lots of good fights, the minotaur forced me to reload and rethink my strategy (in the end my W6 and P2/S4 more or less took him out alone without anybody getting in melee range). Now if I really wanted to tick you off I could say the whole area was severely lacking in dialog, a bit of verbosity here was sorely needed

What about the key I got from the corpse of the half-orc commander? Where should I use that one? I think I explored the whole area without results, unless it was needed to descend to the minotaur realm.

So a big thumbs up for those quests. On the other hand, I went through the moathouse again but nothing had respawned. Several weeks have passed in game time since I cleared it up, but it's still empty. As for Nulb revenge and Verbobonc, can you tell me how to trigger them/get them on the map? I also heard from Kylan there are white dragons somewhere... where?

To Kylan: yes, ToB was "larger than life" in magical weapons, but what about NWN2 giving you the ability to craft +8 and +9, with up to 15d6 extra elemental damage? At least in ToB the special weapons still felt unique. A +4 longsword felt ordinary, but the improved Carsomyr was still awesome and, well, as I said unique. And with the Ascension mod installed, it was the adequate conclusion of such an epic tale, and with a very challenging final fight in spite of the abundance of uberweapons.

 

Holy Crap!! I find that fight tough for a 3-4th level party. I always play with max hp on both sides. I'll try it with a 2nd level group; it'll give me something to look forward to.

 

Thanks to both for the info, I'll be checking for the chest (can't remember finding one there). I will try with a lvl 1 party one of these days.

What about Verbobonc? Who should I talk to? And the no-respawning at the moathouse?

 

Pretty sure Ruff (I think that's who made the Orc Cave Pre-spawn) set it up to scale to the party level, so it gets tougher if the party average level is 3 and again at 5, IIRC.

As for the Moathouse Respawn, there are a couple of triggers that I can't remember exactly, but I think it's safe to say the respawn will be there if you go back after starting the Temple.

 

Growlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll I got hit hard by them orcs,all waiting with Rage and Falchion criticals for about 42...huh and huh??? Did not have a chance,had to reload and try again for a better party initiative to get off Entanglement. I play max hps,party and monsters..soooooooo a painful challenge....aghhh bring back Vorpal Reach weapons ^_*.

Lord Ludwig,I have not played NWN2 so not sure,seems like old D&D basic before. I have played since Judges Guild days,so these newber weapons and allowing overstocking seems out of balance to me,where one is used to +5 as epitome of magic crafting and where major quests are done just to find such things. Regardless of the Ascension,I have Dieties and Demigods with lol..+5 diety weapons. So it is not 'normal' to me anything over +5. I do not know 4th edition rules either,maybe new rules???

Verbobonc is found in dialogue with prisoners near Countess Tileri(spelling)and the quickest way is the two girls on Temple 1 with jailer.

White Dragons hmmm,have to play with spiders first...in Verbobonc and hope you are quick with keyboard and mouse as many many spiders,exiting a room quickly is a needed skill!!! You will learn soooooooon enough...(devilish laughter *_^).