It's potato TRADITION. Way back when I was still playing a local MUD, our admins would always promise major changes "after the summer holidays" 
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Completed Let's solo Baldur's Gate 2 on Insane (feat. The Codex)
- Thread starter MicoSelva
- Start date
Baron Dupek
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Messages
- 1,870,826
On Sylvester hangover
some artists write best things when hangover hit
some artists write best things when hangover hit
SymbolicFrank
Magister
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 1,668
While some great games have been created with the Infinity Engine, it is a total mess and only works because of all the tinkering and duct tape.
It started as an RTS game engine, and has been modified and "fixed" so many times, that you need a whole battery of shoehorns to add something. Without NearInfinity, that is really hard to do, and even with that, it is much easier to do it wrong than to do it right. Especially because nobody is going to rebuild it and the documentation is severely lacking.
I would have wanted to see more done with the Silent Storm engine, but that never happened. Or the Fallout Tactics engine before that. And the Temple of Elemental Evil engine, while heavily patched by Circle of Eight, is forgotten as well. Mostly because isometric was frowned upon around that time. But they're all much better than the Infinity Engine.
The IE is like the VHS of game engines.
It started as an RTS game engine, and has been modified and "fixed" so many times, that you need a whole battery of shoehorns to add something. Without NearInfinity, that is really hard to do, and even with that, it is much easier to do it wrong than to do it right. Especially because nobody is going to rebuild it and the documentation is severely lacking.
I would have wanted to see more done with the Silent Storm engine, but that never happened. Or the Fallout Tactics engine before that. And the Temple of Elemental Evil engine, while heavily patched by Circle of Eight, is forgotten as well. Mostly because isometric was frowned upon around that time. But they're all much better than the Infinity Engine.
The IE is like the VHS of game engines.
Baron Dupek
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Messages
- 1,870,826
Ductaping you say...surely you did not saw X-Ray engine powering STALKER games.
btw
But get real here - since F3 was born everyone forgot about his older brothers, barely anyone bother to mod them.
btw
have some mods like Enclave and The Sum, but I wouldn't be mad for more (and there might be some).
But get real here - since F3 was born everyone forgot about his older brothers, barely anyone bother to mod them.
I wish, but it might slip into the weekend.
Ok, bros, here is the deal. I am a bit behind with writing of the finale - roughly 50% done at the moment. It might still be finished this week (meaning Sunday) or it might be late - unable to tell right now. I can also divide the thing into two parts and post one today (or tomorrow, if I get no replies today) and the second one asap.
Let me know which option you'd prefer - first one to get three votes wins.
Let me know which option you'd prefer - first one to get three votes wins.
One large finish.
Baron Dupek
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Messages
- 1,870,826
I'm with one large update too.
Finish it with style, like dropping large rock from your chest or something.
Finish it with style, like dropping large rock from your chest or something.
Krivol
Magister
Put it in 2 parts and let us pay for a DLC with proper ending.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 28,349
Yup.
Indeed.
Yes, finally.
Good.
Yeah, same here.
I know. No problem.
If you say so... Ready?
Oh yeah, that would be a decent theme for a while.
Update #112: Best Wishes
That depends.
What you mean by 'dungeon' and 'crawl'.
It is better not to ask such questions, as everyone who played Diablo III can attest.
And for a moment there I was worried it would be something with actual teeth, like a kobold, maybe.
Yeah, I am not sure it even means anything.
About three seconds less than we expected, to be exact.
Melissan vanishes in a puff of smoke, as badly-written villains usually do.
Even Irenicus' writing sucks now.
Imoen turns into a Slayer.
Death Count: 409
Loading.
Maybe just a little.
We obviously skip the boring dialogue bit.
Death Count: 410
Load game.
But it might!
Horrid wilting incoming!
Death Count: 411
Load.
We are going to need more magic resistance.
Let us hope 80%, on top of protective spells, is enough.
Twilight jokes in 2016.
And there goes our spell protection.
That is a decent question.
Good thing I dusted off the good ol' death counter.
Death Count: 412
LG.
It is probably best if we limit ourselves to +4 and better weapons from now on.
You know, that is also always my goal, but then I waste countless hours online, looking for price deals on games which I will not even play later.
Can you even cast Projected Image if you already have a Simulacrum?
Watch out for falling comets.
Nice timing with the vorpal hit and comet there.
Death Count: 413
Game -> Load.
Let us skip a bit to the part where we horrid-wilting carpet-bomb everyone.
We try to lure some of them out, and get a partial success.
I wonder what happened to our stoneskin.
Looks like Imoen is best ignored and left alone.
That have been a Projected Image and you dispelled it.
We hit him with dispelling arrow, btw.
FYI, solars are now fighting each other.
Since that Irenicus you dispelled was a Projected Image, then this must be a Simulacrum... I think?
Greater malison is our bane.
Death Count: 414
Loady-load.
I know.
Once again, we skip some reptitive bits and move straight into the action. Poor hakaeshar is not doing so well in there.
I guess we wait now.
Maybe they are hardwired... to self-destruct.
(Yes, we have multiple arrows of dispelling.)
I wish I remembered how we died here. Alas, I do not.
Death Count: 415
Re-load.
That is probably due to excessive use of whirlwind ability.
Spell trigger, or a script. It will probably disappear when our time stop expires.
How THE FUCK did that happen so fast?
Death Count: 416
Quick load.
What do you mean?
SAVE GAME!
Well, since this is a Bioware game, it may be guarded by magical paratroopers.
Yes, we died here, although I have no death-screen-shot.
Death Count: 417
L.O.A.D.
(The Codex got scared before he died previously.)
We are so close! Try not to die!
Alright, we've made it!
Just forget it.
(I am not sure what they meant by 'teleport freely' - maybe I have missed something.)
(Such retreat-stoppers also appeared in the previous fight, but I did not capture them on screenshot then.)
Balor gates out. Later, when inquired about the event he is heard to say 'I'm done with this shit'.
Note: the cambion was hastened due to his use of whirlwind attack and very hard to actually attack in melee, since it was moving erratically.
Only the third and final node left.
We got XP, so something died.
Not according to plan.
Death Count: 418
Yes, please, load.
Not counting replays.
Our golem does not seem to be much of an obstacle for them.
I will be honest with you. This is not looking too great.
Even though...
I knew he was dead right when he said that.
Death Count: 419
Reloading.
After a little while we managed to escape the previous situation, only to find ourselves in a new, even worse one.
And yes, we died here.
Death Count: 420
Load that save file!
Another glabrezu suddenly recalls it's laundry day in the Abyss and disappears.
Do not count your chickens yet. That marilith looks very much alive.
In the meantime, magical sword and marilith are keeping each other good company.
Again, I found no way to use that Time Stop immunity. It could be we have encountered a bug of some sort, or maybe I am just stupid.
Actually, since you get double damage from everything, and therefore can only receive even numbers of damage, it is actually every other hit point that counts.
Actually, it was them who joined us, so technically she was wrong.
And then we died. I did not remember this part from the regular game, so it must be an Ascension thing (fuck you David Gaider).
Death Count: 421
Load the game.
That's a clusterfuck on a whole new level.
Indeed. Time for plan B.
Meaning what?
Meaning, have you noticed what you have in your item belt?
Uhmmm... maybe?
You also have a certain spell prepared. A one we have not used before.
Hey, I can see myself from here (so handsome!).
Bottoms up.
Objection!
Well, is this what we wanted?
No. We are going to have to try another scroll.
I only have one more.
No worries, you have plenty of Project Image spells prepared, not to mention Simulacrum.
Any better?
Not really.
One of these good?
Still no.
What exactly are we doing? Hi everyone, by the way.
Looking for an opportunity to cast a certain spell. And it is none of these.
My guess is... no?
That would be correct.
What are we looking for?
You will see.
FINALLY!
Oh.
I get it now.
I feel greatly refreshed! Like I could set a whole bunch of new traps.
Good, because for some reason we did not save the game after defeating the last bunch of demons.
You guys are so stupid, it is astounding you managed to even reach this place.
Stop complaining and get to work.
How many of these do we want?
How many do you have?
Learn to love your simulacrums, they disappear so fast.
Let's get back to business.
What now?
Ah, more of the same shit.
You will run out of simulacrums eventually, you know.
No problem.
Slowly looking better.
This part of the area is too trapless for my taste.
Nice.
Time for the next bunch.
Ready.
I will not force you to watch setting of each and every trap, but I do not want to skip this process entirely, so you have some understanding how tedious and time-consuming it was (not like I can stop you from scrolling through anyway).
Yes, this.
This should be enough.
Now, let's make sure these demons die.
And in case they do not...
...We will be ready.
I might as well cast this too.
Because why the abyss not.
No, I don't want these.
Try again.
I DON'T EVEN HAVE FUCKING PARTY MEMBERS! HOW DID THIS OPTION GET HERE!?
I thought it would never appear.
Let us prepare for combat against The Five (if they survive traps) and Melissan, so we can move swiftly onto that when we explode those demons.
Are we ready?
H-H-H-H-Hunger!
I detest you all.
Looks like we are. Let us see how this works.
Click... click... Boom!
That went better than expected.
Except it used up many more traps than we would want to...
I was afraid you'd say that.
'Greater Deathblow' sounds like an ultimate move for an uber-prostitute.
YES, KILL ME NOW!
You mean 'heal'.
I wish.
Third time's the charm.
Lemme guess? MOAR TRAPS?
You always were the smart one.
This actually helps, since it speeds up trap-setting by a lot.
But it's still annoying to see it pop up instead of the option we want.
This is so cheesy we might as well be on the moon.
Ok, that's enough! Let's do some action before I die of tediousness!
For some reason we did not level-up after the demon fight this time. Not that it matters.
Oh, I can. But I won't have to.
In hindsight, focusing on explosive (fire) traps near the place where Yaga-Shura spawns might not have been the most brilliant of ideas, but still, the result is pretty good.
I guess I will have to finish you up by hand...
Or... not?
Quick, my skellies, stall her!
Looks like our ability to resist Time Stop does not work automatically. Also, this seems to have stopped Melissan too.
Am I am not sure whose Time Stop this is...
*urk*
I need healing. Let's start casting those wishes!
Yeah, that's NICE, but I said HEALING!
Again, COOL, but NOT WHAT I ASKED FOR!
And yes, Wish-Time-Stop does work on Melissan, unlike regular Time Stop.
We need allies, meatshields and diversions, which are essentially the same things.
Wait, Dark Planetar has healing spells, right? COME FORTH!
(In the end he/she/it did not heal us, but I forgot why. Might have died too fast.)
And this to keep enemies busy for a while.
Some more protection spells, toensure increase chances of our survival.
I think I forgot to screenshot casting horrid wilting or some other AoE spell.
Wish spam continues.
Those Gates, caught in their full glory.
We need some form of crowd control, because right now we cannot even reach Melissan.
Let's throw this in, for good measure.
I am not sure what is going on here any more, but I LOVE IT!
Fucking demons! Stop triggering these traps, they are meant for Melissan!
Uh-oh...
We try out one of our new abilities. It turns out to be slow and unreliable.
I need that healing!
OKAY! WHY NOT!
We got 18HP from this. It counts as a sort-of healing, I guess...
Yes, this! I want to wake up fresh as a morning dew!
Oh, wait, that did not heal me at all.
Well, this sucks.
Death Count: 422
Indeed. Time for plan B.
Meaning, have you noticed what you have in your item belt?
You also have a certain spell prepared. A one we have not used before.
No. We are going to have to try another scroll.
No worries, you have plenty of Project Image spells prepared, not to mention Simulacrum.
Not really.
Still no.
Looking for an opportunity to cast a certain spell. And it is none of these.
That would be correct.
You will see.
FINALLY!
Good, because for some reason we did not save the game after defeating the last bunch of demons.
How many do you have?
I will not force you to watch setting of each and every trap, but I do not want to skip this process entirely, so you have some understanding how tedious and time-consuming it was (not like I can stop you from scrolling through anyway).
Now, let's make sure these demons die.
And in case they do not...
...We will be ready.
Let us prepare for combat against The Five (if they survive traps) and Melissan, so we can move swiftly onto that when we explode those demons.
Looks like we are. Let us see how this works.
Except it used up many more traps than we would want to...
You mean 'heal'.
This actually helps, since it speeds up trap-setting by a lot.
For some reason we did not level-up after the demon fight this time. Not that it matters.
In hindsight, focusing on explosive (fire) traps near the place where Yaga-Shura spawns might not have been the most brilliant of ideas, but still, the result is pretty good.
Looks like our ability to resist Time Stop does not work automatically. Also, this seems to have stopped Melissan too.
Am I am not sure whose Time Stop this is...
And yes, Wish-Time-Stop does work on Melissan, unlike regular Time Stop.
(In the end he/she/it did not heal us, but I forgot why. Might have died too fast.)
Some more protection spells, to
I think I forgot to screenshot casting horrid wilting or some other AoE spell.
Wish spam continues.
Those Gates, caught in their full glory.
We need some form of crowd control, because right now we cannot even reach Melissan.
Uh-oh...
We try out one of our new abilities. It turns out to be slow and unreliable.
We got 18HP from this. It counts as a sort-of healing, I guess...
Well, this sucks.
Death Count: 422
Restoring previously saved game.
I get it. It's ironic humor. We wanted the 'heal all party members spell', which we complained about before. So funny, ha, ha, ha....
You do not seem actually amused...
No shit.
Let's set more traps.
MORE!
Ok, enough.
BRING IT ON!
Look at how much damage Yaga-Shura is taking compared to everyone else. Ridiculous.
Abazigal and Balthazar cease to be a problem at this point. I think Illasera and Sendai die too.
Try to keep that giant away from these traps, I want Melissan to trigger them.
I will do as you ask, but only because I must.
Spoiler: Yaga-Shura still triggered them before Melissan reappeared.
Yes, yes, the battle of destinies begins now. Also, in case someone did not notice: EPIC!
Dark Planatar has mostly fire-based spells and is mostly useless against Yaga-Shura, but not against Melissan.
Ok, I get it, you're protected from everything. Catch me if you can!
Only a few steps further...
That's what I'm talking about!
Come on... Come on...
No, don't stop there!
You were never good at luring women to you.
And now there's a bunch of fucking solars or planetars or some shit.
And she keeps summoning more crap. Fuuuuck!
I WANT ALL OF YOU TO DIE!
It works, but not well enough.
Let's try again then.
Hey, she actually took some damage from that. 
I think we might have made her angry.
Things we can do right now: none. But if The Codex survives this, all those traps should hit her.
YES!
DIE, YOU BITCH!
NO!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
No... Just no.
Death Count: 423
This is the last time we have to load the game, I am sure of it.
That was our best shot yet. Can we do something to improve our chances?
Maybe we can.
Skeleton warriors. Seriously? That's your idea?
Well, do you have a better one? Setting more traps in this area is pointless, The Five trigger them all.
Fine, whatever.
Melissan's spawn point has shifted because of our summons. I wonder where could we force her to appear if we strategically placed various summoned creatures all over the place.
Again, everyone dies, except Yaga-Shura.
He truly is immortal, even if he had to die to achieve this.
And we even managed to keep some traps for Melissan this time.
However, the damage she receives is disappointing. My guess is she gets some damage resistance boost when she appears, exactly to not get killed right away like this.
A few seconds later, traps seem to work much better.
Let's hope she follows me now.
As usual, this does not bode well.
I can hear screams of pain! It seems to be working!
What, there is another stage to this fight?
And she gets automatically healed too. FUCK YOU, GAIDER!
What? Nooooooooo!
A bunch of demons teleports in, triggering most of the traps in this area.
Most, but not all of them. Melissan gets hit too.
We can still do this!
And she teleported away! Fuck!
Hey, look at the bright side. At least we have managed to kill Yaga-Shura.
Do your worst.
She has an ability called 'storm of vengance'? I want an ability like that too!
She also claims that 'Doom awaits thee'.
I am pretty sure that's not an RPG.
But it can be.
She's just dropped a comet on me, and my magic resistance's fucked, so I guess this is goodbye, yeah?
Yeah...
Death Count: 424
Gaming the load.
Any new ideas?
No... But...
"But..."?
Since those traps work so well...
I shouldn't have asked.
This is probably our best screenshot ever.
Note: I forgot to screenshot casting protection from magical weapons (which is kind of important).
Guess what, 'absolute immunity' ain't so absolute at all, if your opponent wields Carsomyr +6. And, coincidentally, I do!
Her weapon may be ineffective, but The Codex, being so close to a woman, was not able to keep his consciousness.
I'm ok now!
And this should prevent you from summoning the whole fucking pokedex in here.
Keep her busy, while I renew my spell!
I may not have 'storm of venegance', but I have other cool sounding powers!
This is going surprisingly well.
We have, however, run out of skeleton warriors.
Shit, shit, shit...
I think that Power Word: Silence may have expired.
And she dispelled our protection. R.I.P.
Well, at least that was a fun attempt.
Death Count: 425
One more time.
I liked that... Until the part when I died, obviously. Let's try again!
First, so I don't die.
Second, no demons.
Third... why is that planetar hostile?
Anyway, these skeleton warriors fell faster than I wanted them to.
One more time!
Now, die!
I wish I had screenshot of how much DAMAGE we have dealt to her in this moment (I do not even remember).
My are only surviving by the stoneskin of our teeth.
Not any more!
I am Murder, and this is my Hand!
CHAAAAARGE!
The damage is not impressive, but you are doing pretty ok. Keep it up!
For some reason, Yaga-Shura wanders off, gets hit by a bunch of traps, and dies (he is not yet dead in this screenshot, obviously).
Eventually, we manage to whittle down Melissan HP to the threshold when she moves into the next (final?) stage of the fight.
Whew. I was starting to lose hope.
This is a good moment to retreat, by the way.
Good idea!
We should be relatively safe here.
Let's try for that healing wish then.
Xedoc, you're going to tank for us, if needed.
I was 'hoping' you'd say that.
You do not seem actually amused...
Look at how much damage Yaga-Shura is taking compared to everyone else. Ridiculous.
Abazigal and Balthazar cease to be a problem at this point. I think Illasera and Sendai die too.
Spoiler: Yaga-Shura still triggered them before Melissan reappeared.
Dark Planatar has mostly fire-based spells and is mostly useless against Yaga-Shura, but not against Melissan.
You were never good at luring women to you.
It works, but not well enough.
I think we might have made her angry.
Things we can do right now: none. But if The Codex survives this, all those traps should hit her.
YES!
NO!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
No... Just no.
Death Count: 423
This is the last time we have to load the game, I am sure of it.
Maybe we can.
Well, do you have a better one? Setting more traps in this area is pointless, The Five trigger them all.
Melissan's spawn point has shifted because of our summons. I wonder where could we force her to appear if we strategically placed various summoned creatures all over the place.
Again, everyone dies, except Yaga-Shura.
And we even managed to keep some traps for Melissan this time.
However, the damage she receives is disappointing. My guess is she gets some damage resistance boost when she appears, exactly to not get killed right away like this.
A few seconds later, traps seem to work much better.
As usual, this does not bode well.
And she gets automatically healed too. FUCK YOU, GAIDER!
A bunch of demons teleports in, triggering most of the traps in this area.
Most, but not all of them. Melissan gets hit too.
Hey, look at the bright side. At least we have managed to kill Yaga-Shura.
Do your worst.
She also claims that 'Doom awaits thee'.
But it can be.
Yeah...
Death Count: 424
Gaming the load.
No... But...
Since those traps work so well...
This is probably our best screenshot ever.
Note: I forgot to screenshot casting protection from magical weapons (which is kind of important).
Her weapon may be ineffective, but The Codex, being so close to a woman, was not able to keep his consciousness.
We have, however, run out of skeleton warriors.
I think that Power Word: Silence may have expired.
And she dispelled our protection. R.I.P.
Well, at least that was a fun attempt.
Death Count: 425
One more time.
I wish I had screenshot of how much DAMAGE we have dealt to her in this moment (I do not even remember).
My are only surviving by the stoneskin of our teeth.
The damage is not impressive, but you are doing pretty ok. Keep it up!
For some reason, Yaga-Shura wanders off, gets hit by a bunch of traps, and dies (he is not yet dead in this screenshot, obviously).
Eventually, we manage to whittle down Melissan HP to the threshold when she moves into the next (final?) stage of the fight.
This is a good moment to retreat, by the way.
We should be relatively safe here.
But before we managed to do anything else...
...Melissan tried to follow us through a trap field, and, well, died.
What.
Well, she did not actually die, but received enough damage to lose the battle.
So... our original 'kill her with traps' plan worked when we gave up on it and tried to kill her by hand.
Yup.
Also, she died off-screen.
Yup.
That is fucking hilarious.
Yeah, I told her that before, but she wouldn't listen.
FATE unlock codes, amirite?
That is so old it ceased even being a meme years ago.
If I want wisdom, I will drink it from a bottle. And I don't mean potion of insight, if you catch my drift.
Go on...
Interesting...
I disgust her, so I guess a dinner-date is out of the question?
Our readers have voted for you to seize the essence and become a god, by the way. Six votes to two.
They did? Why? I though they hated me?
Maybe they feel like you have deserved it? After all this.
Well, I don't care. Not sure why they would even think this is some sort of a democratic decision. Because it is not.
When it comes to gods and all that shit, I am fucking done. Done!
I guess I'm as prepared as I'm ever going to be.
Tha- tha- that's all folks!
Or is it?
Actually, that ending kind of sucked. I mean, that's it? After all these years and all these updates? 'You lived happily ever after with your companions'? FUCK YOU, BIOWARE! I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ANY COMPANIONS! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT!
...Melissan tried to follow us through a trap field, and, well, died.
Well, she did not actually die, but received enough damage to lose the battle.
Yup.
Yup.
That is so old it ceased even being a meme years ago.
Our readers have voted for you to seize the essence and become a god, by the way. Six votes to two.
Maybe they feel like you have deserved it? After all this.
Bonus feature: I thought it would be cool if our hero got his own musical theme, so here it is:
Touching. However not nearly as good as the original video for this song.
Well, hard to argue with that.
Well, hard to argue with that.
And another bonus: If you want to relive The Codex's adventures yourself, here is a link to a save game package which will allow you to start from almost every moment of this LP. Sadly, I misplaced BG1 save games, so only those from BG2 are available.
The Codex will return... Maybe...
Seriously, he might return, either in Siege of Dragonspear or some Shadowrun game, but do not really count on it - much stuff needs to happen before that.
That is all.
Last edited:
Krivol
Magister
Someone should pdf-ize this. Best LP in my life (so far - we are waiting for Shadowrun very badly 
).
).
Baron Dupek
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Messages
- 1,870,826
Nah, I rather get massive break if I were you. From gaming and buying games that you won't play *zink*
Gonna check tomorrow if every pic is in place to PDF shit out of this thread (when this LP started I was still on adsl 4mb slugfest, now things have changed).
Gonna check tomorrow if every pic is in place to PDF shit out of this thread (when this LP started I was still on adsl 4mb slugfest, now things have changed).
Woho, great work there
Wayward Son
Fails to keep valuable team members alive
Amazing. Epic! A six year long journey finally over (even though I was only here for the last year of it). How does it feel to leave a chapter of your life larger than high school behind?
Like this:
Andnjord
Arcane
Six bloody years of pain and suffering culminating in the cheesiest of cheeses. The whole of the Codex just inclined. I'll voice the others and admit I'll miss this too
pippin
Guest
One of the best threads of the Codex
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