Going back in

It's been one HECK of a long time since I've played ToEE, but I'm looking forward to another run with the latest Co8 patch.

I had a "dickens" of a time working around the anti-virus thing last night. ToEE.exe was being deleted without prejudice, even with live scanning supposedly disabled. I ultimately had to switch to a different antivirus program that, even though it still identified ToEE.exe as a trojan, was kind enough to prompt me with regards to how I wanted to handle the situation. Once I said "leave the file alone" my problems went away. I'm keeping a backup copy of ToEE.exe in a subdirectory, just incase.

Ironically, it was the antivirus program that I paid for that wasn't flexible enough to give me a choice on this file. A free download of AVG resulted in an application that handled the situation far more gracefully... and freely.

I've got my party created, equipped, and we just arrived in Hommlet. The game looks great in 1680 x 1050 resolution! My monitor's native resolution is 1920x1080, but still, I'm not complaining, AT ALL! Good stuff!

 

As Gaear said. I do not know you, but wish you a grand time with the new mod pack and all the added stuff in NC, if that is the one that you are playing. Lots of interesting quests and detail to be discovered.

 

Definitely using the version of toee.exe from the mod.

And definitely using the NC version of the game. Currently getting my butt whipped in Welkwood Bog. I went there at level 1 thinking it was a "replacement" for the FedEx quests. Well, because I'm not in the mood to reload a lot, I'm at least going to FedEx my way to level 2, before I head back to try the main baddies again. I know Elmo can tag along, but my party won't be taking outsiders along as a general rule, personal preference. Looks like a very well done addition Gaear. I'm particularly impressed with the writing. The captain of the militia sure is one well-spoken dude (perhaps even a tad too well spoken for what I'd expect of him). Really a nice change of pace. :thumbsup:

Sure, I'll report back periodically.

 

I did beat it, but with one party member slain. All of my party members have to make it through battles -- a house rule of mine. That said, I don't think I ever faced them with 100% of my resources... I do try to role play through this, and there really weren't any "opportune" rest areas in the bog, so I didn't rest there. I also think there have been some unlucky die rolls for my group, and some lucky ones for the enemy. My bard was 1 shot killed due to being critted, for example.

So we went back to Hommlet to rest, and decided we weren't that eager to rush back to the bog. My bard fell in love with a girl named Melanie and that slowed us down (okay, I just wanted the sword, and a bit of XP). We're also identifying some of the scrolls/potions we've found using read magic, so that slowed us down. I'm nearly level 2, and will head back shortly, and I'm guessing, will wipe the floor with those foes the next time.

As for voicing characters, I understand your challenge. I've written 1 1/2 fantasy novels and several smaller works, and it's always a challenge to figure out how other people should talk. The temptation is to use your best prose, but that's often not right for the character. That said, perhaps Captain Renton used to be a scholar, and for reasons that would be interesting to explore, ended up in charge of the militia. Burne's Badgers used to be a group of brigands, so maybe Renton fell into some hard luck and chose a less savory profession. Now he's the most articulate militia captain you're ever going to meet!

 

I'm not published or anything. Fantasy writing is more of a hobby/escape for me, which I rarely get to indulge in these days. I did most of my writing some 5+ years ago, when job and family life were simpler.

That said, I might be open to taking a stab if I find some free time and inspiration.

 

Here's a quick update on my impressions thus far:

Before I start, let me point out that so far I have done the Deklo Grove, Welkwood Bog, Moathouse, Emridy Meadows and Hickory Branch... pretty much in that order.

General comments: There is lots more atmosphere in the game than I remember from last playthrough in 2006ish. The text based descriptions in each new area are fantastic -- well written and really help to round out the mood. The sounds in Emridy Meadows had me a bit spooked. Very cool.

The battle with Lareth was absolutely epic. It started in a small hallway with a few guards, and continued down the hall way growing in intensity, until Mr. Beautiful himself joined the fray. I loved every second of it.

As for some of the new content:
-Welkwood Bog - a truly enjoyable addition, with a funny twist to the story. I had some difficulties at level 1 taking on the final boss battle... I just kept getting my guys knocked over by the main boss, and seemed to roll like crap when trying to hit him. At level 2 it was much more managable.

-Hickory Branch - LOTS of action in this place. Really fun, and the final boss fight is a real blast. I went back to Hommlet to rest before doing that battle, and loved that my enemies used that time to erect a barrier in front of their cave, and then taunted me for running home first.

The fiendish minotaur was pretty tough, but made for another fun, challenging battle. The equipment gained from his chest looks absolutely awesome on my wizard.

If I'm worried about anything it's how much xp I'm getting. I'm already level 6 and haven't even been to Nulb yet. Not sure if the later game is going to become too easy.

The arena of heroes will be next!

Awesome work Co8 team!!

 

If you have a cleric with Improved Turning, or Sun domain, Mathel goes down instantly at level 1. Otherwise, he's tough with pretty high AC. The goblin is much more of a hassle, though, since he can backstab and has AI to utilize that. If your wizard can survive long enough, a Sleep spell can incapacitate the minions one by one, though. The battle is really easy once you figure it out, but really hard if you try to brute-force it.

The Minotaur (just like almost any enemy in the game, really) is a one-hit kill if your Wizard can land a Ghoul Touch - or slightly slower kill with Tasha. The most fun thing in Hickory, though, is charming your opponents to fight against each other.

About XP, I have found that for reasonable balance you have to play either strictly NC or strictly vanilla, otherwise - except for a few high-level fights that are as challenging at 15 as they are at 20 - most of the game becomes too easy. If you avoid vanilla content - other than Moathouse that's mandatory to clean out, and the Giant for the Smith quest - the difficulty evens out a bit.

As for Arena, better hope you're prepared for surprises.

 

Not a fan of this personally. I LOVE having the expanded campaign. It just opens the world up more and makes an overall more enjoyable experience having all the side quests worked in. It reminds me a lot of Baldur's Gate. So I'm all for some late game balancing to make it all work well together. Just my opinion.


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As for Arena of Heroes... fights 1 and 2 were pretty straightforward, but man, fight number 3 is kicking my butt at level 6. How do you counter stinking cloud anyway? I really got thrashed on my first few attempts because I was effectively losing half my party to stinking cloud or paralysis.

I tried again, and had all my party members run in different directions so that stinking cloud would have minimal impact. That worked well, and I managed to have the initial wave of enemies all turned or dead before the second wave came. I really thought I had I the fight in the bag.

Well, all was going well until a giant skeleton critted my paladin, bring him down to 1HP. I started focusing my other characters on healing him up a bit as I didn't want to lose my main tank. Well, that's when things really went bad. 1 heal resulted in an attack of opportunity against my cleric, and she died. My druid got paralyzed and couldn't help. I got to a point where I simply wasn't taking down my enemies quickly enough. Then some of the turned creatures came back and I found that I was outnumbered. The paladin went down. So did my rogue. Then my barb1/bard5.

My wizard had been sick for the whole fight, and he finally came back, so it was down to my wizard and my druid, who eventually regained her movement. I managed to kill both giants. And I was trying to kill an undead wizard, which was the only hostile creature left (there were a few other undead that had run so far away while they were turned that they were no longer rolling initiative). My wizard was out of spells, and only had his bow. My druid was running up to engage the wizard... while the undead wizard was lobbing damage spells at us. I thought we just about had the wizard when, boom-- fireball killed my druid and my wizard.

It was AT LEAST a 20 round battle.

Game over.

I might try it again, because it was a fun fight. If it doesn't work out, I might wait for another couple of levels to try it again.

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Edit UPDATE

I tried again, and defeated the battle without too much issue. I had 1 character die, my wizard, taken down in one shot by a phantasmal killer spell. I had my cleric ressurect him with a scroll before the battle was even done.

This time the giants weren't rolling as well, so they didn't pulverize my team like last time. I used my druid to do a lot more summoning, and her lightning spells were great too.

I primarily used my cleric for healing and buffing rather than combat.

A few stupid mistakes I made in previous attempts weren't repeated in this battle.

1 death, and a few close calls, but otherwise, a pretty rewarding victory!



My prize is very nice

 

@marceror: The fight isn't that bad. Your cleric should've just concentrated on turning, all undead in the battle can be destroyed that way - except the giants, I think (at your level anyway). I was just playing the same battle with my lone hero who had 4 cleric levels and improved turning (that makes it lv5) and Great turning (Sun domain - insta kill instead of cowering), and she destroyed everyone, even wizards, in a few turns. Also, use consecration (level 2 cleric spell) to make the undead weaker. Glitterdust to blind the giants is another option.

I don't really know how to counter stinking cloud. Theoretically, Gust of Wind should disperse it. Or just have high enough fortitude save (bear's endurance helps). Phantasmal killers shouldn't be bothering you at all, just buff everyone with "protection from Evil". Level 1 spell and works like a charm.

Of course, it's still challenging first time through since you don't know what to expect, so congrats on beating it

I dunno, I always end up playing the NC content for the most part. Sometimes I don't even bother with nodes/Zuggy, cause they're pushovers compared to some of the high-level quests in Verbo.

 

I definitely used my cleric to turn also. Her first 3 rounds or so she just turned undead and once or twice again once the second wave joined in. Her first turn took out TEN undead!

With a lvl 6 cleric, 14 CHA, and no improved/greater turning she could destroy MOST of the enemies, but only turn the wizards. A few undead other than the giants weren't affected by her turning at all.

My cleric took war and healing domains. I might want to think about the sun domain next time.