I was thinking, now that I am close to finishing the game for the first time, that my next pass-through would either be a solo character game or a "no reloading and no raise dead" game. I have read about many people doing solo games in the BG-series, but I have never tried. That end game was pretty tough for me and my party. I can't imagine doing it solo. Have many done TOEE solo? But I was really thinking about doing a no reload/raise dead game with a normal party. That to me sounds more interesting. If somebody dies, then go back and look for a new recruit or chug on without a replacement for a while. And no reloading after something dire happens. Think about P'nP games. Real DMs won't allow a "re-do". I guess it would be easier for me if I had more of the game memorized, so I could plan ahead, but that just means more fun with surprises. Again, more like a P'n'P game. Our DM use to change premade modules so if we cheated and read it on our own, then we still wouldn't know what would be happening. Reloading would be allowed only for bug issues and crashes. Even right now, now that I am close to the end game I am in, I walk through most battles without much damage, so there many times that I reload to re-do something, but there are still times I get hit hard and something really bad happens. Have many people played TOEE like this?
One thing I like to try is 4, 25 point buy characters. It makes the early stages of the game somewhat difficult, but as with any combination, later stages of the game become, for the most part, too easy.
My cleric Maktoum is on a solo quest. He is a power-hungry sociopath who only invites NPCs when a particular feat is impossible for his skillset, or when a dangerous foe must be defeated. He doesn't even raise NPCs from the dead if they die in battle! Having just made it to the temple, Maktoum is struggling to overcome his shortcomings in burglary and conversation. Chalenging so far.
The Elves in the Temple thread tells the story of a party played in a no reload game, with no cheats or console tricks. If you're cautious, you'll rarely need to reload or raise dead. I've soloed with a Wizard as far as digging through the Temple, before getting bored. I've heard credible stories of folks finishing with a solo rogue; it's not that tough as long as you don't try to go through every fight.
I've played solo as the four standard classes to the end. Rogue was the hardest, but fun; you have to get the mindset: sneaking and outwitting. It's ridiculously easy to solo as a wizard once you get a decent level. Cleric's almost as easy. Fighter is a massacre if you get you-know-what from you-know-who. I like the idea of a no-reload/no raise game. Raising dead is incredibly cheap in this game. Oh, when I think of the gold I spent, and the quests I undertook, to bring back friends!
*LOL* That's what you save games so often for when you play a game. Seriously though, you can do what you are thinking aloud without selecting to start and play an Ironman game. The Ironman game has problems. Additionally, we would recommend do NOT use autosave and do NOT use quicksave.
I have completed the game solo as a Druid and found it too easy as you went up the levels. And you go up through the levels fast!
I've never palyed a solo game but I've played a few 'pairs games' which seem to work well and a few more three's games. I'm normally severely lacking in magic, both the arcane and divine sort but thets no biggy.
ive solo'd as an evil cleric, evil sorc, evil druid, and evil rogue (ring of invisibility + bow was pretty essential here but this strat is TEDIOUS and difficult. lots of reloading.) with no npc followers, except to take them to the moathouse and kill them for their gear, and no fragarach or scather (evil/prince thrommel killers ) you level a lot faster and have to worry less about equipment dispersement, i think soloing is actually easier because of this, if you are capable of doing it. even if you have trouble, once you get the orb and kill a demon you have a badass summon you can do once a week. if you beat the vrock, glabrezu, and hezrou you have a gang of demons that can rape the balor and zuggtmoy, though i prefer to not rely on this. the key to soloing as clr/wiz/src/dru is to buff yourself RIDICULOUSLY before you go into a fight, and craft all kinds of twinked out gear for yourself. make it almost impossible for the enemy to lay a finger on you, protect yourself from anything you know they can trouble you with, drop whatever nukes you have on them, place whatever summons that will keep the enemy busy for the longest, and then procede to tear them up in melee with your buffs and magic weapons for me, the hardest thing to solo in the game is the broken tower ambush, due to the excessive tripping that goes on there, the unlikeliness of you getting a turn early enough in combat, and how low of a level you will be. as a cleric you can use commanded undead as blockers, but as the rest you need to use summoning spells or spells that limit enemy movement. if you dont feel like the grueling process of saving and reloading until luck goes your way then just save the ring of invis you can get from the rogue in the bar, and sneak past them, until youre high enough to come back and teabag them all, i had to wait til lvl 12 on my rogue to be able to defeat this encounter.
In my line of thinking, soloing should include a couple or more NPC characters along with the solo PC character. Now, if someone said solo ironman adventure, that'd be different and I'd want a few extra levels before going too far in to the adventure with a single character by theirself.
A 20th level cleric/wizard with 150HP, AC39, and lot's of spells and wands, and crafted things can make it thru Hedrack/level 4. Never tried the nodes. Scather helps and the Staff of Life comes in handy. Good time killing adventure.
