Zaram Maldovar's Poorly Played No-Reload Cemetery (Attempt #50: Zork the Fighter/Thief)

[Alesia_BH]

Best of luck with your latest run, ZaramMaldovar! Glad to see another No Reloader here!

Cheers,

A.

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

@Alesia_BH

I don't see myself making it to BG2 any time soon but after a few years of doing this I've learned to think on my toes and it's made my normal runs significantly better for it.

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Can somebody please tell Glam that I love his or her NPCs?

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Wait until he finds out we could've got 400

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This killing blow from Imoen was done moments before disaster would've struck

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When next I do a regular run, I'm taking Vynd along *purely* for his quips

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"Oooh me....MEEEEEEEEE"- Zaram

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This is the way

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Jaheria saves me from almost not getting this quest

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Whye and Vynd have a nice chat about why Vynd left the Underdark while Jaheria is going batshit and killing noblewomen thus preventing us from going back to the Inn

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Umm...that's a mimic. I'm not going near that at Level 2 *runs as far as possible in the other direction*

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Damn pathfinding walked me right into this Nat 20 from a Kobold. I feel so ashamed of myself rn......NEXT!


Attempt #45: Mora the Dark Moon Monk
P.S. I figured out how to stop Monks from being locked to Human so now we have this tiny bastion of evil

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Ah yes I love a good game of knifey fist

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I think I will give this one more go before I put this thread on hiatus to focus on a Minimal Reload run so that I can fully take in some of the mods that I've downloaded. Particularly the BG2 content from the very talented Lava Del Vortel whose Dendjelion NPC (for IWD) Mod I helped provide the custom sound set for

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Tamora's luck be with your halfling monk!

If you feel like it, you're welcome to share your minimal reloads too, of course!

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

@Urdnot_Wrex

Don't worry I plan to, it's going to be a Narrative Run too where I tell the story from the POV of the character (with occasional quips from me of course)

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Mora leaves Imoen behind at the Friendly Arm Inn for her own good

And the mad wizard falls! Saves me the trouble

We got to kill Marl after talking him down so we got both XP rewards, arranged the demise of Xzar and lost 4 reputation points. This must be Montaron's best day ever.

He's not wrong. Talos is a fickle fellow

I already like this bastard. Glam is a genius

We didn't quite stop Silke's lightning bolt in time and Jaheria suffered the consequences. Also Mora and Montatron got nicked a bit too

You know I think this the first time I've faced Goblins and Hobgoblins at the same time

However long this last I think I'm going to enjoy playing a LE character

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Never change, Dave. Plz never change.

Everybody Hates Bassilus: Dave Edition

Dammit Monty!

Stormlord Jeff lol. Imma need a minute after that one

Pathfinding screws me again. This is literally the exact same way I died last time right down to the amount of damage and everything

Well that didn't work out so it's back to the drawing board. I'm going to but this on hold for a little while whilst I share a Narrative Minimal Reload Run but when I return we shall follow the adventures of.....

*spins wheel*

Attempt #46: Ima Gun Di The Mage/Thief

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Yeah I don't really have high hopes for this one

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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I already love the Mark Meer voice over for player characters

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Gotta love a good Backstab

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I had to let these guys catch me to get out of dialogue mode so I could save my game. Unfortunately I didn't have any gold to give the 2nd one but I managed to run back downstairs. Guess I won't be going upstairs any time soon.

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Ima Gun Di and Imoen manage to dodge the Lightning Bolt but Khalid and Jaheria take the brunt of it. Poor Jaheria

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One Magic Missile and Khalid also bites it, but at least we can ressurect him. Damn, now I gotta find another healer *Looks around* DAAAVE!

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Well he certainly lived up to his name and just when I thought I had a good idea what to do with him to

Ok so for my next attempt, I just decided to keep spinning until it gave me something I felt like playing. My life has been pretty stressful lately with money issues and my sister moving out to go to college so I'm going to enjoy my next few attempts by playing classes I like. I know that's technically cheating but it's *my* challenge, so I kinda make the rules, don't I?

Anyway without further ado

Attempt #47: Ivy the Avenger

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Moidre steals my kill *angry Druid noises*

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Flara inspires me to succeed when a misstep throws me into a battle I'm not particularly good at with a low level party (Three Elite Hobgoblins near Bassilus with the +2 Short Sword and Poison Arrows)

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The Flinds die *first*

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Yessss....scatter like rats

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Flara: *Threatens to turn Ivy into a dog*
Ivy: Don't threaten me with a good time *wink*

What? The stereotype doesn't have to *only* apply to Bards

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This is bad

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This is worse

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*Panic*

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"And that as they say, is that. I wish you intelligence on your journey. I would wish you luck, but as you can see that runs out"- Thalantyr

Attempt #48: Min Maxorous The Mage

Is this power gaming? Yes

Is this a little too on the nose? Yes

Am parodying myself at this point? Also Yes

Do I care? Not even slightly

Let's see how this plays out

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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I get a little help from the Watchers after almost dying via Shank

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Min has much better luck with Carbos

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Ack!

Don't Piss Off the Flesh Golems: And 684 Other Ways to Avoid Certain Death by Zaram Maldovar

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Min Maxorus gets a much needed charisma boost (and pets his cat)

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And thus ends the tale of Min Maxorus (for now anyway, he's far too hilarious to pass up as a Narrative Run Character in the near future)

Attempt #49: Crimson the Beserker

Win or lose, she shall cut a bloody swath across the Sword Coast

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Crimson died a rather unceremonious death at the hands of a Flind after besting far more impressive foes. So I'm going to use the screenshots I took for a Narrative Minimal Reload Run as I've grown quite attached to the character.

But alas let's see who's up on the chopping block for next time, shall we?

My rage against Flinds grows.....


Attempt #50: Zork the Fighter/Thief

But for now, this thread is once again on Hiatus as I explore a different story

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

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Well damn....

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You kill stealing.....*grrr*

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Why oh Why do I always do this to myself?

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Thanks for not accidentally summoning a demon with that Chromatic Orb, Neera! You're a life saver!

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I've been attacked by Six Assassins and you're worried about my love life? Priorities, Imoen!

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Jaheria you're the Druid...you need to stop dying.

AN: So it's been a while! Lol, I'm alive everyone. Now let's see if I can keep my character alive tho.

 

[JustKneller]

I'm trying to figure out why you're dying so much, especially so early in the game based on your graveyard. Are you playing with SCS? Is part of your challenge to face tank everything? Tell me more.

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

@JustKneller
No lol. There are a few mods in there that add some stuff that's more challenging than the normal stuff but I'm not using any SCS or Tactics Mods and I'm playing on Core Rules difficulty.

I'm just not the greatest player in the world when it comes to no reload. I'm used to just reloading and trying again when I die but this has been a fun excercise. I did manage to Finish BG1 during Attempt #11 but I haven't pulled that off again just yet.

 

[JustKneller]

@ZaramMaldovar What did you add? I've seen some dialogue in your screenshots that I've never seen before. I'm not sure if it's an EE thing or something else.

And, I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but reading this over has me feeling invested. There's a lot of stuff in the graveyard that's killed you that hasn't killed me in forever (and I'm not exactly the most talented player either). I'm inclined to figure it out. For example, with Tarnesh, if I'm in a situation where the odds aren't good, I just trigger him, run and hide. If I can't interrupt it, his casting of MI gives me a good head start. Then the guards can deal with him. If I have a cleric, then I open with remove fear, which wastes his second round. With something like Carbos and Shank, if I can't melee (i.e. a mage) then I kite and use ranged. I haven't been killed by a trash mob in forever (though I've had an NPC mage go down with a stray arrow due to sloppy pathfinding). It would be cool if you posted a more detailed AAR specifically on the fights where you went down. It would give us something to talk about.

I can definitely see how a Power Word: Reload approach can reinforce not great play styles, though. There was once a time where I would go on about have there's an absurd amount of money in the game (I'd easily get to the hundreds of thousands). However, once I started dialing down the rinse, reload, repeat approach the economy became more real and I started to have to make choices. I'm paying for raising dead, multiple scrolls from shops when I blow a scribe check, and even healing/antidote potions. I'm in BG1 on my current run, and sitting pretty with gold (27k at this point, and not much left worth buying), but it took some time to get here. I just started DT, not sure what I'm going to do with all the $$ from there.

I also approach things a lot more gingerly now and am careful with how I move my party, even if I know I'm "safe". Playing a point character (i.e. paladin) makes me a little nervous. A magic user isn't so bad since I can cluster my party around them. I'm currently playing an off-tank second line fighter and that's pretty secure.

Just curious. How are you randomly choosing your next character? I think that's an interesting twist. Do you just have a list of all options and then roll dice or something?

 

[ZaramMaldovar]

@JustKneller
I literally spin a wheel lol. As for what mods I've added, I've added so many that I've honestly forgotten

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Imoen falls victim to the Chesley Crusher. Thankfully she was avenged and not beyond resurrection. Onward! To Victory (hopefully)