Normal Difficult to hard?

[Sarkas1704]

Hey there i have played BG1 in Storymode because normal mode was a little bit hard. Now i load up my Charakter in BG2 and try normal difficult and see there is the same. I Play a Warrion Class and have a 1 Armorclass and a Firesword. But sometime my Char dies with one hit. At the moment im in the Bridgedistrikt and at the night some Vampires came and kill me instand and my whole group. What did i wrong? and yes i use pausemode but sometime it is so fast i cant even hit pause. Why is Normal Difficult so hard?

[amigastar]

I also play on Normal and i find it hard too, so you're not alone.

[Drake]

It's not that it's too hard, it's that you played on storymode. Storymode is 0 difficulty, so you didn't have to learn any rules, so you don't actually know how to play the game.
The game does have mechanics and rules you need to learn, rushing into battle and trying to hit stuff won't work.

You need to play with the strength of your party (the composition is important too, a mage and cleric are needed, at the very least get scrolls), buffing is mandatory. Having the right spells for the encounter is what will make you win fights. Use enemies weaknesses (having different weapons for different types of enemy is a necessity for a fighter).

Also if you have issues with starting combat, use the auto pause in the setting. Activate the auto pause on enemy sighted and hidden spots detected (so that you don't walk into traps).

That way the game will pause before combat starts. That will give you time to buff before the fight (you should always be buffed before afight, not wasting time doing in combat).

[red255]

....how old are you? Its important to get your age to value my response.

games have design choices. you are a warrior, the important things with warriors are the 3 stats, STR,DEX,CON.

To get why they are important we need to go to a table.

STR between 8 and 15 you actually get no penalties to thaco and damage.
from 15 to 18 18 has -1 +2 to -3 +6 because not all 18s are created equal which is just 2nd editions way of being stupid.
so we really want 19 strength, which is start BG1 with 18 strength and find the book that raises it to 19, and consider drinking potions or other buffs.

theres a level 2 mage spell that gives you 18/50 strength and 18/00 strength if you already had 18/50 strength.

point is if you have 18/01 strength you get the -1 thaco +2 damage. and if you have 19 strength you have -3 thac0 +7 damage.

which is a world of differnce. higher is better too. you can find potions to raise it to 20-24 25 is more a matter of gear or buffs.

you get the draw upon holy might spell for instance as a bhaal spawn ability to raise your primary a good deal.

Dexterity is used for AC and ranged attacks. having 18 again really helps, doesn't have the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ STR 18/xx has but again more is better check out a table for breakpoints.

and CON. CON is HP. the first 9 levels you get HP per levelup based on class and CON.
starting at CON 15, and +4 at Con 18, if you buff con further with draw upon holy might you get +7 HP for the first 9 levels.

so a level 9 fighter could Draw upon holy might. and go from 18 to 21 CON. which is +6 (+7 is 24 CON)

and basically add in 18 or 27 HPs. its significant.

could get into gear, but really if you are having difficulty with normal its probably because your stats are garbage.

[Sarkas1704]

Originally posted by red255:

....how old are you?

Im 37 and yes i done BG1 alone Time ago. But on Easy Difficult and yes sometimes that was hard too.

But before i start BG3 i just want to go back and finish BG1 and BG2 to remember what happend. And i Finish BG1 EE in Storymode because rush story... And now i try to finish BG2 EE but first i play on Easy and yes it was easy but than i think "Oh come on give me something" and now it feels like "Okay you want some come and get some *Punch in the nuts*"

That why im asking Easy is Okay but Normal are to hard? I dont want to know what comes after that.

[Hopper]

I don't think age has much to do with it.

You have to remember 90s games were often extra difficult. For example, the default difficulty of these games in the 90s was CORE RULES, but it's since been lowered to Normal, but many newer players still find Normal mode too difficult/frustrating, so they lower the difficulty even more...

That's fine on some games, but it wont help much on Baldur's Gate where there's ridiculously long stuns/holds, fears, instant death spells, level draining, brain draining, etc. You have to learn how to counter all these things, even on Easy mode.

Vampires cause Level Drain. You can counter it with Negative Plane Protection or Berserker/Barbarian rage. If you get level drained, you cure it with a Restoration spell/scroll or by visiting a temple. A high level cleric with Turn Undead can kill whole groups of vampires instantly.

Vampires become almost like free XP once you learn how to beat them. All enemies are like that, you just have to figure out their weakness.

Like Drake mentioned, Auto-Pause will help a lot.

[red255]

Originally posted by Hopper:

I don't think age has much to do with it.

if he was like 12 feeding him some tables vs apparently 37 explaining the numbers would be ....vastly different results.

my first BG character (which was in BG2) I booted up the game and probably didn't reallocate my stats.

made it halfway thru the first dungeon, and quit.

Came back 6 months later, rolled a half orc fighter/cleric and beat the game. probably normal, maybe on core.

18 in STR/DEX/WIS/CON. 3's in everything else. (actually 19 in STR and CON because half orc)

as the STR gets to 25 easily enough with draw upon holy might and righteous magic. I would recommend a dwarf fighter cleric

this build I find impossible to ♥♥♥♥ up.

i would also give your main character the tomes and manuals of boosting stats you should have picked up in BG1. so 1 of each stat and 3 of wisdom.

so he should start with 19 STR, 18 DEX, 20 CON, 21 WIS, 4 CHA 4 INT. I mean if you get extra stats dump them in INT but this is enough. you can always drink potions of genius or mind focusing if you don't want to be dumb.

you only get 2 pips and can only use blunt weapons so maces, warhammers flails. so you'll be built in whatever you find. usually at 25 strength and always rolling max damage.

lets take a step back, show us the character you are playing at that dies in one hit on normal.

--

To make things easier you should grab a thief NPC early on. and feed him potions of master thievery and rob all the scrolls and ammunition from the stores in amn, and sell the ammo to the thieves guild. use this shot in the arm of cash to buy gear.

also have the thief set traps for tough fights.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Sarkas1704:

What did i wrong? and yes i use pausemode but sometime it is so fast i cant even hit pause. Why is Normal Difficult so hard?

Actually I think it is quite normal
You need to understand that
1. the difference between normal and insane (and I always play on insane) is not so big like one should think, because it is mainly about the damage received by monster. ANd since the surviving strategy is DO NOT TAKE damage, x0.75 or x2 damage don't really change the game difficulty so much.
2. If you don't understand the mechanics of the game you're dead, expecially the THAC0, AC and critical damage system. Do you have NPCs with very low AC and an HELM in front?
3. Have you tried multiple shots during character creation and rearrenged stats or are you playing with the first result obtained? Because in the second case also a playthrough at normal can be tough.
4. The starting parts of both games are tough, at any difficulty, have you tried to raise it up later?

[Hopper]

Originally posted by red255:

Originally posted by Hopper:

I don't think age has much to do with it.

if he was like 12 feeding him some tables vs apparently 37 explaining the numbers would be ....vastly different results.

Maybe so, but I was 14 when I first finished BG1, but I did have to study the dusty old tome known as the player manual. Many newer players don't realise these games come with detailed manuals.

These games are horribly frustrating if you don't take time to learn the basics.

Originally posted by red255:

lets take a step back, show us the character you are playing at that dies in one hit on normal.

I guess he didn't realise he was level drained. It can seem like you get one-shotted if you get drained enough.

[red255]

Pretty sure we used Gamefaqs and their forums back in the day.

where I learned using project image to bypass the summon limit is a bug not a feature.

cuz I'm pretty sure my first playthru I used to just slot project image and animate dead and summon 50 skeletons and not realize thats not the intended strat.

someone on a forum told me that was cheese, and I was like, oh I guess their is a 5 unit summon limit (which doesn't make sense if you got 5 summoners why can one summoner summon 5 shouldn't 2 be able to summon 10?)

but yeah, animate deads and hasted my first time thru BG2 before being told thats a bug.

[Hopper]

lol yep. I think that's how many people beat BG1 too since there was no summon limit in the first game.

I think we're all guilty of some cheesy tactics in these games. I still play peekaboo against the lich at the city gates. And one of the first things I always buy is the Shield of Balduran because sometimes you have to fight cheese with cheese.

[red255]

for beholders I just send in skeletons in groups of 2 or 3 to bait out his death spells then send in a big squad of buffed skelies who are immune to all their stuff and make short work of them.

[Centurion]

I can feel this both ways. When I played the original (and even more IWD) I got to the point where I had to play it at the hardest level, and even then was busting the games out. EE are new games. Since I last played 12 years ago, I decided to go Core rules this time. BG1 was tougher than I remembered and I was really challenged. SoD was crazy (I will admit to re-loading some of those battles.) But now BG2 I am running through on Core like it was Story Mode. Part of the reason is so many high-level items, IF you know how to use them, can cheese most battles:

1) Shield of Balduran and Beholders are just bonus XP.

2) Azuredge and/or Mace of Disruption, Vampires have no hope.

3) Vhaelor's Helm, ultimate cheese. You can then use Protection Undead/Magic spells from the simulcrum and never burn a real one. Those two scrolls cheese almost everything. Took out 3 liches with just one use, and they never got a hit! Took out Kangaxx without a scratch. Twisted Rune, easy-peasey.

4) Cloak of the Sewers. Do you know what Mustard Jellies are immune to?

And tactics, tactics, tactics.

[khumak]

Originally posted by Sarkas1704:

Hey there i have played BG1 in Storymode because normal mode was a little bit hard. Now i load up my Charakter in BG2 and try normal difficult and see there is the same. I Play a Warrion Class and have a 1 Armorclass and a Firesword. But sometime my Char dies with one hit. At the moment im in the Bridgedistrikt and at the night some Vampires came and kill me instand and my whole group. What did i wrong? and yes i use pausemode but sometime it is so fast i cant even hit pause. Why is Normal Difficult so hard?

First, make sure to pick the option that guarantees max hps per level. You do NOT want to subject yourself to the RNG for that and be stuck with a level 10 character who only has 10 hp because you got 1 hp per level.

For pausing, make sure to enable whichever auto pause options make sense for your play style. You can set it up so it pauses after every round, etc.

Melee types and clerics are going to want decent armor for tanking. Squishy casters are going to want things like stoneskin that make them immune to damage.

Also if you know what type of enemy you will be facing, make sure to exploit immunities and weaknesses. One of the most common tactics I use is to give my tank 100% fire or magic resistance, send him in to draw the enemy around him, and then lob fireballs or skulltraps right on top of him. Decimates the enemy and does zero damage to the tank. If his resistance is more than 100% the AOE actually heals him.

[Sarkas1704]

Everythings fine guys. I figure out that my Cleric and my mage has no spells ready because im stupid and forget to put spells back in the action :D That was the Simple problem