In case anyone cares, on the C64 version each Balder Guard killed is worth a ridiculous 27,776 XP each.
Given that in the battle where you encounter them you have to kill 60 of these stupid things, that means a party will earn 1,666,650 XP from the final fight in the game.
Sadly, the C64 caps combat XP awarded in any given battle to 65,280 per character; this means that, assuming a full party of 7 characters, each character loses 172,800 XP (Lagoth Zanta notwithstanding; he's only worth 384 XP).
That's kind of friggin' ridiculous. Sure they're tough, but they are far and away the most high value monster XP-wise in the entire game.
Balder Guards give stupid XP
Re: Balder Guards give stupid XP
Just for trivia's sake, there is a monster that outdoes the Balder Guard.
It's "Dexter", who is found on Destiny Stone level 2. He's worth 41088 XP. He appears in a group of...one. He melee attacks 75% of the time, and breathes at the party the other 25%. His melee attack turns characters hit to stone.
I still think the BGs are over-XP'd.
It's "Dexter", who is found on Destiny Stone level 2. He's worth 41088 XP. He appears in a group of...one. He melee attacks 75% of the time, and breathes at the party the other 25%. His melee attack turns characters hit to stone.
I still think the BGs are over-XP'd.