Larian Studios Forums General Chat RPG Chat IWD2-having fun this time!

well, long holiday here and lots of free time so i dusted off the old icewind dale ii that i never finished, installed the ease-of-use mod and off i went, vowing to finish it this time.

boy, was i in for the surprise of the season. the ease-of-use mod (which unfortunately, i neglected before), really brought back fun into this game. no more cluttering of arrows and bolts which made inventory management tougher than those inventory management i took up in college. tears almost fell from my eyes when i found out that i can stack an infinite amount of arrows, bolts, bullets, etc., recalling those days when i spent almost half the time playing just managing an inventory of six people.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> i also liked the teleporting feature; no more endless walking around for all those boring "fetch me" quests.

and i believe treasure drops are now randomized (i can't recall for certain in the readme). for example, i found a keg in a cave that once per day, can give you high-powered items once you destroy it. that's assuming of course that you don't get the misfortune of spawning a very, very tough monster in it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/memad.gif" alt="" /> in the next party i had, the keg wasn't in the cave anymore. my lvl 4/5 party managed to spawn a lot of +3/+4 weapons and other armor/jewelry (took a lot of resting of course) that made the game a bit too easy. i wouldn't do that again. i just carried away by the sheer excitement of a new discovery.

what really made me ecstatic was when i found out that druids (love playing them; had a blast with a greater werewolf in bg2) got a massive overhaul in the mod. i do believe they were severely limited in the original iwd2 game. now they have new spells, and can take on powerful new shapes. as much as i liked playing shifters in hotu, i'm having as much fun with the druid in iwd2 with the ease-of-use (eou). at lvl 5, they can take on the shape of a verbeeg, which is a slow-moving giant but has 3 attacks per round on a critical range of 19-20/x3. 3 attacks per round, at a very young level! my party of 3 druids, a rogue, a bard, and a sorc (all humans and yes, no clerics) wiped the floor out of every monster from the shaengarne bridge all the way to the horde fortress with not a single death. 3 verbeegs made short work of everything (shamans, goblin witch doctor, orogs, ogres, orcs, etc., etc. etc.) while the bard just stood there singing her stupid songs. the rogue? well, he just pretty much opened locks and disarmed traps for the party. i guessed he doesn't want to fight alongside druids that much. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> and the sorc? aside from the occassional flinging of low-level spells, she just walked nonchalantly in her blazing red robe, probably thinking she's a supermodel or something. heh!

by the time i got to the ice temple, my druids already can take the shape of a fomorian giant, which does bludgeoning damage, and thus made golems run for their lives. the giant can also stun foes with their gigantic fists, which when not fighting, they often use to scratch their bald heads. hey no joke here, they really do that. play it and see.

now, i just finished the eight chambers easily with a lvl 12 druid who can take on the shape of a wyvern, which can deal 4 attacks per round at 1d20 damage, plus extra 6d4 acid damage on a crit range of 19-20/x3. or a remorhaz, which also has 4 attacks per round at 4d6 dmg with extra 4d6 fire dmg (goodbye trolls). by the way, i found out in the character sheet that the remorhaz is highly resistant to fire, and that's what i used in the 5th & 8th chamber, the chamber of immolation. true enough, it didn't sustain any damage at all from the flame strikes, and those monks kissed the flames so fast i couldn't believe my eyes. i also took on the feat wild shape:treant at lvl 12. the treant is a powerful melee fighter w/ 4 attacks per round, and its branches can entangle opponents. it's so funny to watch those monsters getting all tangled up by 3 treants. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />the treant has substantial resistances, but is highly vulnerable to fire.

one more level and my druids can take on the shape of a red half dragon. wohoo! isair and madae, your fellow half-breeds are coming for you! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

btw, before you begin to think that druids are overpowering, they still can't cast spellswhile while shapeshifted, no drinking of healing pots, equipment bonuses and char stats are disregarded/altered by the shapes. so i guess it kind of balances off in a way.

now i'm having fun again, and that is what gaming is all about.

err Crusader wanna let us oldies in on where you got it ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/XmasJump.gif" alt="" />

sure mea. you can find it at www.weidu.org

it's pretty easy to install; just download it and run the file. good for a tech-challenged guy like me.

if i can only see the person who made those mods for iwd 2 and bg 2, i would kiss him in utter delight. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> he has revived my interest in iwd 2 most especially. i regret so much i haven't installed this mod before, as i was frustrated with the game when i got to dragon's eye and gave up on it. the author of the mod seems a very nice person, as he has made sure that his mods are all user-friendly and come with a readme file. in my humble opinion, his mods for both bg2 and iwd2 more than make up for the shortcomings and rough edges of those games.

by the way, the undead targos mod for iwd 2 is quite fun and very challenging. it's a separate mod from the ease-of-use (eou). instead of 1 hp goblins w/ a lousy bab, you now will have undead populating the targos docks. undoubtedly, they are tougher but they give better xp. however, be prepared for a fight in the palisade. really takes a lot of tactics to get past there.

well, i just finished the guardian quest and the kuldahar battle today. and the fun factor just keeps on increasing. i found a lot of new items that weren't present in my first run-through. chohapek the guardian dragon didn't last long to three white half dragons (not red as i originally stated in my first post) with five attacks per round and dealing extra cold damage. i'm hoping to level up some more probably to level 17-19 by the time i'm about to finish the game so i can get the red (deals extra fire dmg), blue (extra electricity dmg), and black (extra acid dmg) half-dragon shapes, because they are really kick-[nocando]. not to mention that they look so cool. i cranked up the graphics to full and they all look so nice. one thing i don't like though, they look like madae to me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" />

now i'm off to dragon's eye which, unfortunately, is the place i hate the most in all my rpg gaming. if only there was a mod that will eliminate this area and give xp pts as well, but that's just like asking for the moon and the stars. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

well at least, my druids are level 14 now and a few more xp points away from lvl 15, where i can get the red-half dragon shape.

good luck & have fun!

Thanks Cruz, you made an old man happy, I was all set to start taking the game apart again with the tools supplied by TeamBG, just for these little old things that used to drive me crazy, I remeber running around with Imoen and the only thing she had in her backpack was arrows and arrows and then some more <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/XmasJump.gif" alt="" />

hey, no problem. hope you'll try it out and make it work. glad to be of help in this season of giving. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

yeah, i remember the pain of managing your inventory in those bg days. so little inventory space, and they were all clogged up with missiles. really took the fun out of my gaming experience. now, with the ease-of-use mod, there is an unlimited stacking feature. heh, my ranged characters has something like 10,000 arrows/bolts/bullets in their backpack. and it doesn't even encumber them so much.

if you read the readme of the mod, you'll also find out that the holy avenger sword useable by pallies is now a greatsword and therefore must be wielded w/ two hands. it also has the dispel magic effect, as it should have like in neverwinter nights sou. much, much better damage overall.

[nocando] swords, which seem to be nigh useless in the original iwd, have now been given a massive upgrade, and deserving of the fact that you have to take an extra feat for them. i was tempted to start a new party, made up of 3 fighters this time, as i found a lot of excellent weapons which my druids cannot use. and if they can use them, they get overridden by the druids' shapes.
the "wroth" [nocando] sword is now "bloody wroth", and its benefits have been doubled. wielding it gives the bearer "animal rage", plus 8 to str & con, and movement speed is increased by 40%. my half-orc barb now has 30 str and massive hp's, and he's still in chap 3. hehe. i also found the "[nocando] sword of heroism". it does insane base dmg, 4d10, even higher than a monk's 1d20 fists. if only i've taken the dual-wield feats for my barb, imagine the damage he can deal out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

there are other excellent weapons & armor. most of them i found in chapters 4 & 5. demon's breath flail +5, rage of chaos, mage killer throwing axe, flail of flame +5, resistant hammer of liquidity, protean hammer +3 (deals acid, fire, & frost damage in one), hammer of dispelling +5, chains of the righteous strength +3 (really nice story behind this weapon;enjoyed reading it), black chimes of the bell warden +5, brilliant flail of wounding (ignores all of enemies' armor & shield bonuses), and many other armor, rings, etc., that i couldn't recall now.

one of the features i liked so much in the mod is that now, armor and shields give you damage resistance, which only makes more sense. heavy armor can encumber you and you can still be hit, but it should do a better job of absorbing/resisting damage. my biggest gripe against infinity engine games is that you must get a high AC, but if you get hit, you still take full damage. now there are times when my fighters get hit, but i see in the combat feedback window that they they totally resist it, or absorb some damage. realistically speaking, that's the way it should work. btw, it works for your enemies as well, to balance the game i think.

good luck & have fun!

Enjoy. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

They did the Thief Back Stab perfect in IWDII.


Kyra_Ny <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />