Co8 5.6.0 BETA Balance

As mentioned in the Tales of the Wild coast thread,

I managed to hit 54999xp in Vanilla ToEE by the end of the Water Node without random encounters / xp farming at all. I surmise that if it were uncapped, I could probably hit level 12 or close to it by the end of the nodes. So if you're only looking at the end-game level, Co8 hasn't changed it that much, barring the level uncapper of course.

The protos overhaul combined with what's left of the new content does contribute an XP bulge, that can grow to +44% by the end of Temple level 2. This is based on a side by side playthrough of vanilla and Co8 5.6.1, with no RE / XP farming and no character deaths.

IMO, reducing the XP modifier from 0.7 (Troika's solution in vanilla) to around 0.52 (roughly a reduction of 25%) seems about right. Among other things, it would extend the mid level phase of the game, which IMO is the most fun.
Wouldn't want to lower it further so as to not hurt the early game too much, since it's fairly well aligned with vanilla pre-Lareth and fairly tough as it is, and the late game has gotten a a little tougher as well.

To test this, create a file called combat_rules.mes inside your data\rules folder, containing the following code:

Code:

// combat_rules.mes

{000} {0.52}       ;  Experience multiplier

Previously tested with HB, Verbomod, et al here.

 

For the uninitiated - what is the protos overhaul an how does it alter gameplay? Can we manually create the .52 experience multiplier?

 

trying to maintain the original balance, when the original game was just completely broken, is a losing proposition...
We had a level 10 level cap (which I reached with an unmodified game BTW, so who knows how much further I Would have gone). And we had a GODDESS being heavily nerfed to be killable by a level 10 party... I Think we just need to up the difficulty of the end game content. Rather then forcing the party to stay level 10, make the goddess a bit more difficult to kill.

 

My view too. Make the later battles harder, rather than restrict XP.

 

Thank you.

 

Hi Taltamir
I hate to correct you, but Zuggtmoy is/was a DEMONESS, not a Goddess. Also keep in mind that if you destroy the orb, it's destruction weakens her considerably. Keep in mind that the Circle of Eight (the wizards you see in the intro) were able to totally seal her into a small area within her own temple WITHOUT destroying the orb, so Zuggtmoy is not a Demoness comparable to Orcus by any stretch of the imagination. If you think she is eay to kill now, play Vanilla sometime. I do however agree with you that the "endgame" could be a little more challanging.

The Royal Canadian

 

I did play vanilla, I even managed to finish the game in vanilla after a few tries. (corrupt games galore). Did you miss the part where I said I hit the level cap of 10 when I was playing vanilla? Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I "didn't play the game"

And maybe she is a demoness (I always had the impression of her being a goddess, maybe I missed some important text), she is assisted by Iuz and he definitely is a god. Although if you played your cards right Cuthbert comes to help you with his avatar when he attacks you, you still need to go toe to toe with a god for a few turns...

As for CO8 sealing her... sufficiently high level wizards in DnD can slap gods around.

 

If you now are able to reach ~12...13 level as most of the people seem to have, then I think it's okay. If the very end game gets too easy (I haven't reached it yet), then just boost up the monsters there.

IMO, decreasing xp multiplier so that you end up with level 10 feels dull. Then what was the point of increasing level cap to 20, if it's not possible to reach even 11th level? I'd rather even have it so, that by the end of the game I would be in level 16...18 and monsters would be much tougher.

Btw, in original Baldur's Gate you also reached Level Cap pretty early and without level cap I'd have reached at least one or two levels more.

 

And I'd not pay too much attention on the "original balance", since the game was so broken that Troika must have balance in bottom of their priorities to fix/tune.

Btw, is the giant in meadows meant to be really that tough on so early game? It hits three times with so high attack, that it always kill one +4 level PC per hit and the damn thing makes three hits.

And regarding the bugfix on that giant, does it fix the thing that the game freezes up when I try to shoot the giant with a sling? And regarding sling, there is basically no bullets to for sale anywhere in Hommlet. The shopkeepers only have ~10 bullets and none of the monsters/enemies uses sling.

 

The Giant is best taken at a distance. With sumoned creatures and other spells such as Grease to keep it at bay. Also a low level spell- Ray of Enfeeblement (which the Giant does NOT have a good save agianst) is very helpful too. Ranged attacks can have a good sized group of 3rd level characters take him down. At 4th level it is almost too easy.

Kobolds use slings, so there can be bullets found there, and in some random barrels around Homelett there are 10 bullets as well. Just remember that the Smith and the Leatherworker each have 10 nearly everytime you go there, and, yes, use a bow for most ranged attackers, as arrows are so much easier to come by.

 

But why they only have few bullets, but they still have dozens of arrows and bolts?