So I've decided to try starting out fresh on the C64 version.
The lowbie's life is hard in this game. The first level of the Catacombs contains some truly annoying monsters when I'm only fifth level. A Dark Priest is a recipe for pain.
I can see that taking out Brilhasti Ap Tarj is going to take some time.
Frickin' hard!
Frickin' hard!
Death and drek? WTF?
I got into UnterBrae finally. Level two of the Catacombs was crappily filled with yucky dungeon features, which made keeping my health and spell points up really tedious.
But UnterBrae sucks, too. I can't seem to handle the monsters there. I guess I can wander around in the Catacombs until I level up some more. Grrr!
But UnterBrae sucks, too. I can't seem to handle the monsters there. I guess I can wander around in the Catacombs until I level up some more. Grrr!
Death and drek? WTF?
-
dragonbait
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 12:21 am
- Location: Under the Ruins of Yulash
I am also wandering around Unterbrae on the C-64. Yep. Its definitely tough with new characters. I was playing on an Apple IIe emulator and got up through and into Arboria when I saw that there are so many monster images that don't display correctly. Even the Magic Mouth image wouldn't display, so I switched over to the C-64 version. My magic users just got their level 5 spells.
Yeah, BT3 is pretty hard, even with characters imported from BT2 (they never completed BT2, though, and I didn't have an Archmage with mangar's mallet).
I've also been completely disgusted by the business about the corrupted pictures in BT3, and I'm on a quest to find a working disk image for the Apple II version. Unfortunately.....
I have noticed that the C64 pictures are slightly different in terms of color pallets, though. After looking at the versions side-by-side in windowed emulators, I like them much better on the Apple II, which seems to have brighter greens for trees and grass and things like that.
Marco.
I've also been completely disgusted by the business about the corrupted pictures in BT3, and I'm on a quest to find a working disk image for the Apple II version. Unfortunately.....
I have noticed that the C64 pictures are slightly different in terms of color pallets, though. After looking at the versions side-by-side in windowed emulators, I like them much better on the Apple II, which seems to have brighter greens for trees and grass and things like that.
Marco.
This seems to be a preference based on which version you played first. The bright colors of the Apple version seem garish to my C64-based sensibilities.Marco wrote:I have noticed that the C64 pictures are slightly different in terms of color pallets, though. After looking at the versions side-by-side in windowed emulators, I like them much better on the Apple II, which seems to have brighter greens for trees and grass and things like that.
Actually, I did first play Bard's Tale on the Apple ][e computers at my school, but never grew fond of the bright colors because we had green monochrome monitors. My first Commodore TV was black and white, as well.
Death and drek? WTF?
I made it to Brilhasti ap Tarj's location, finally.
My party is around level 11, and hasn't a prayer of defeating him. His 4 Dark Guards hit and breathe for over 50 points a pop. He summons Greater Demons, which I only imagine can be killed. Lucklaran has been inexplicably removed from my list of bard songs, and the anti-magic spell has no apparent ablative effect. Since Brilhasti start at 60', the only spell available to a magician or conjurer that can touch him is the weak-ass Spectre Touch. Am I really supposed to plink him to death with that?
If interminable farming of xp is going to be a requirement to complete this dungeon, I'm not sure I'm up for it.
My party is around level 11, and hasn't a prayer of defeating him. His 4 Dark Guards hit and breathe for over 50 points a pop. He summons Greater Demons, which I only imagine can be killed. Lucklaran has been inexplicably removed from my list of bard songs, and the anti-magic spell has no apparent ablative effect. Since Brilhasti start at 60', the only spell available to a magician or conjurer that can touch him is the weak-ass Spectre Touch. Am I really supposed to plink him to death with that?
If interminable farming of xp is going to be a requirement to complete this dungeon, I'm not sure I'm up for it.
Death and drek? WTF?
I gave up on playing BTIII from scratch. Just import my "special ops" forces and annihilate...annihilate...annih-ahem, sorry.Horpner wrote:I made it to Brilhasti ap Tarj's location, finally.
My party is around level 11, and hasn't a prayer of defeating him. His 4 Dark Guards hit and breathe for over 50 points a pop. He summons Greater Demons, which I only imagine can be killed. Lucklaran has been inexplicably removed from my list of bard songs, and the anti-magic spell has no apparent ablative effect. Since Brilhasti start at 60', the only spell available to a magician or conjurer that can touch him is the weak-ass Spectre Touch. Am I really supposed to plink him to death with that?
If interminable farming of xp is going to be a requirement to complete this dungeon, I'm not sure I'm up for it.
I'm seriously considering that. I could bring three of four of your mega-party down with me, and try to get the from-scratch guys a victory that way. I think a single victory over Brilhasti should be enough for everyone.
Farming xp until I get to level 13 and maybe a bit higher won't be that bad, though. I'm going to see how long my patience holds out. I doubt a few Sorcerer spells will make the difference, though.
The final battle in this dungeon seems strong enough for a BT1 party to actually break a sweat defeating. Well... I guess not after converting to archmages. Brilhasti will probably fall to MEME and DEST like all the others. The Dark Guards lack of a special attack except for breath weapon will seal their irrelevancy. O, the temptation!
Farming xp until I get to level 13 and maybe a bit higher won't be that bad, though. I'm going to see how long my patience holds out. I doubt a few Sorcerer spells will make the difference, though.
The final battle in this dungeon seems strong enough for a BT1 party to actually break a sweat defeating. Well... I guess not after converting to archmages. Brilhasti will probably fall to MEME and DEST like all the others. The Dark Guards lack of a special attack except for breath weapon will seal their irrelevancy. O, the temptation!
Death and drek? WTF?
So I gave in.
I hacked my character disk to bequeath myself roughly 200,000 xp. That got my spell-casters to level 9 sorcerers. My other characters aren't even up to level 14 yet. Estimating the speed at which I earn XP in this dungeon, I'd say I saved myself between five and twelve hours of boring XP farming. Now to find out if Brilhasti ap Tarj can be defeated at this level of power. I'm not really optimistic.
I hacked my character disk to bequeath myself roughly 200,000 xp. That got my spell-casters to level 9 sorcerers. My other characters aren't even up to level 14 yet. Estimating the speed at which I earn XP in this dungeon, I'd say I saved myself between five and twelve hours of boring XP farming. Now to find out if Brilhasti ap Tarj can be defeated at this level of power. I'm not really optimistic.
Death and drek? WTF?
A 380,000 XP party is virtually powerless against Brilhasti and his Dark Guards. After around 15 attempts, the best I've been able to do is kill two of his Dark Guards before I'm wiped out.
All the following spells have minimal effect:
PHBL, INVI: Lowering my AC is useless against the Dark Guard's (possible) MIBL spell. I can't get them to miss me much, either, even when my AC approaches -30.
ANMA: It doesn't seem to do anything. If it's lowering the damage done by the monster's spells, it's not lowering it enough to make a difference. My characters can survive roughly one and a half spells, and then they start dying in droves.
FAFO: This one is really perplexing. Far Foe has no effect on the Dark Guards. WTF? Is the spell broken?
The Bard songs are useless, obviously. One additional attack or lowered AC can be applied each turn. Big whoop! The Fire Horn is useless against nearly all monsters, not just the ones in this battle. It is painfully easy to resist its effects. Even Pumas in Skara Brae laugh at it.
DIIL and DISB: I was hoping I could get away with dispelling the Dark Guards as illusions, but either they aren't illusions, or the spells are not powerful enough.
WIDR: Disbelieved after the first round. His breath weapon is utterly useless anyway, about on par with a Fire Horn.
Attacking: I don't know how many HP a Dark Guard has, but well more than the amount of damage I can do with my "studly" Kiel's Axes.
OGST and GIST: These spells are hilariously awful. Try them and see.
Stuff that does work:
DEST: My one magician can sometimes kill a single Dark Guard. The spell is resisted often, however.
INSL: If he hits, he kills. The Slayer in BT2 didn't get critical hits, but this one does. Hilariously, he always attacks Brilhasti at 60' the first round of combat.
REST: Healing all damage every round ought to count for something. It's just too bad this character is needed for killing Dark Guards. A strategy involving casting this spell every round could work if I get very lucky.
The party gets a few advantages.
The Dark Guards and Brilhasti all start at 60'. This gives the party one round of preparatory magic before they start getting pummeled. Unfortunately I haven't found any magic that helps my survival rate.
Brilhasti is immune to most magic at 60', but the party is also safe from his spells, except for the Greater Demons his sometimes summons. This means it should be possible to do away with his guards first, and then tackle him alone. Unfortunately, doing away with his guards is not easy.
I'm just about to pump another 300,000 XP into my characters and see what I can do with that. Preclusion would save me from Greater Demons, and perhaps Rimefang will be effective against the Dark Guards. But I doubt it.
This is appalling.
All the following spells have minimal effect:
PHBL, INVI: Lowering my AC is useless against the Dark Guard's (possible) MIBL spell. I can't get them to miss me much, either, even when my AC approaches -30.
ANMA: It doesn't seem to do anything. If it's lowering the damage done by the monster's spells, it's not lowering it enough to make a difference. My characters can survive roughly one and a half spells, and then they start dying in droves.
FAFO: This one is really perplexing. Far Foe has no effect on the Dark Guards. WTF? Is the spell broken?
The Bard songs are useless, obviously. One additional attack or lowered AC can be applied each turn. Big whoop! The Fire Horn is useless against nearly all monsters, not just the ones in this battle. It is painfully easy to resist its effects. Even Pumas in Skara Brae laugh at it.
DIIL and DISB: I was hoping I could get away with dispelling the Dark Guards as illusions, but either they aren't illusions, or the spells are not powerful enough.
WIDR: Disbelieved after the first round. His breath weapon is utterly useless anyway, about on par with a Fire Horn.
Attacking: I don't know how many HP a Dark Guard has, but well more than the amount of damage I can do with my "studly" Kiel's Axes.
OGST and GIST: These spells are hilariously awful. Try them and see.
Stuff that does work:
DEST: My one magician can sometimes kill a single Dark Guard. The spell is resisted often, however.
INSL: If he hits, he kills. The Slayer in BT2 didn't get critical hits, but this one does. Hilariously, he always attacks Brilhasti at 60' the first round of combat.
REST: Healing all damage every round ought to count for something. It's just too bad this character is needed for killing Dark Guards. A strategy involving casting this spell every round could work if I get very lucky.
The party gets a few advantages.
The Dark Guards and Brilhasti all start at 60'. This gives the party one round of preparatory magic before they start getting pummeled. Unfortunately I haven't found any magic that helps my survival rate.
Brilhasti is immune to most magic at 60', but the party is also safe from his spells, except for the Greater Demons his sometimes summons. This means it should be possible to do away with his guards first, and then tackle him alone. Unfortunately, doing away with his guards is not easy.
I'm just about to pump another 300,000 XP into my characters and see what I can do with that. Preclusion would save me from Greater Demons, and perhaps Rimefang will be effective against the Dark Guards. But I doubt it.
This is appalling.
Death and drek? WTF?
XP requirements for Paladins, Rogues, Warriors and Bards who are over the level of 13 have been increased in BT3, from 200,000 per level to 400,000. That gives transferred characters another unearned-advantage.
I don't know yet if the XP requirements for other characters have increased.
I don't know yet if the XP requirements for other characters have increased.
Death and drek? WTF?
If you have a thief, hunt around UNterbrae until you find a Shadowshiv. Then give it to the thief and engage Brilhasti.
Just jump into the shadows and assassinate each monster. Everyone else will (probably) die but the thief should survive and when you win and get teleported out, go to the temple in the wilderness to resurrect everyone before speaking to the Old Man...
You can also pick up a Powerstaff or some other spellcasting item and give it to the thief, then have him hide in the shadows. Once he's in the shadows he can invoke items without giving up his cover...
Just jump into the shadows and assassinate each monster. Everyone else will (probably) die but the thief should survive and when you win and get teleported out, go to the temple in the wilderness to resurrect everyone before speaking to the Old Man...
You can also pick up a Powerstaff or some other spellcasting item and give it to the thief, then have him hide in the shadows. Once he's in the shadows he can invoke items without giving up his cover...
Even assuming I can find a Shadowshiv, my rogue hit rate is really bad; he has I think only three critical hits in his whole career. Part of this is that the battles are really small in BT3--usually less than four monsters to kill, so if he spends a round hiding, there's nothing left for him to kill.
Thanks for the practical advice. Trawling the net for hints on how to do this without cheating has so far been fruitless. I couldnt do it with cheating. Actually, I did transfer in your megaparty and held a lynching. But I'm still keen to do this the straight way, if possible. It really looks like they expect you to make level 20 or so before it can be solved.
The other worrysome thing is that the Old Man in the Review Board stopped asking me to kill Brilhaste way back when I hit level 5. I hope that doesn't mean I'm ineligible for the big reward.
Thanks for the practical advice. Trawling the net for hints on how to do this without cheating has so far been fruitless. I couldnt do it with cheating. Actually, I did transfer in your megaparty and held a lynching. But I'm still keen to do this the straight way, if possible. It really looks like they expect you to make level 20 or so before it can be solved.
The other worrysome thing is that the Old Man in the Review Board stopped asking me to kill Brilhaste way back when I hit level 5. I hope that doesn't mean I'm ineligible for the big reward.
Death and drek? WTF?