Beating parts of a game WAY above your level

[Dario ff]

If there's something I loved from open CRPGs it's that you could end up in places where everyone was much more skilled than your PC(or your party). More funny is, that even with a low-level character, you knew the game's mechanics so much you could actually defeat them.

I'm just ranting here, because I started playing Baldur's Gate 1 for the first time using EasyTutu with Tales of the Sword Coast. Yeah, I know, many of you hate it, and I gotta admit it's a lot slower than Baldur's Gate II. But BG1 Npc Project is helping a lot.

Anyway, the point is, I don't know half of the stuff in BG, but the funny thing is, that with a party of average level 2 or 3, I end up in Durlag's tower. IDK what's the recommended level for going to this dungeon, but I'm sure level 2 or 3 wasn't the right one Just at the start of the area, I run into some battle horrors, which slaugthered the party in little time. One could think, "Well, I'm not high-level enough to come here yet", and this is when I had the suspicion that it was intended for Tales of the Sword Coast.

But I didn't give up. I planned well my spells, equipped all my party with bows and slings, and did a hell-lot of micromanagement. I actually beat the entire tower, [spoiler:56a98032f9]and even defeated the boss without breaking the mirror.[/spoiler:56a98032f9]

That said, my party came up with a lot hell of loot, great items, and average level 8. Now Baldur's Gate is so easy and faster.

Did you have any similar experiences in other games, that even when you were really low level, you managed to beat the area with cheese or tactics? (I guess most diplomatic solutions would go here)

 

[Xellos]

Vanilla BG 2 was a breeze even solo on highest difficulty. Kensai/rogue with use any item FTW. Time stop from scroll, whirlwind and smash anything to bits. Vanilla BG serie is just way to easy. I remember beating drizzt in BG1 solo with warrior/rogue/mage on about level 6 combined ...

 

[Dario ff]

Solo is much easier IMO. You get much more exp, and management of your party is easier. I played through BG II with 3 solo characters already, it's really fun.

Handling a 6 member party is narrow spaces against buffed up bosses can be pretty hard though. I hate paying resurrection at low level with not even having raise dead(Imoen just loves to die if you leave her alone for a sec.)

EDIT: BTW, have you ever played a Fighter/Cleric/Mage solo with no level cap? It's a fun combination too.

 

[rcorporon]

I never found BG to be "too easy..." but that was alright.

I like the way Demons Souls handles levels... you can finish the entire game as level 1 if you're extra careful, although it would be quite hard to do so...

I don't mind having areas of a game that are just too hard at low levels though. Morrowind did a good job of this, gently (or sometimes not so gently) guiding the player around areas that were meant for more "endgame" stuff.

 

[alec]

Did you have any similar experiences in other games, that even when you were really low level, you managed to beat the area with cheese or tactics?

Huh. yeah: Fallout and Fallout 2 and Arcanum and Commandos 2 and Age of Empires 2.

Pretty much just the games I love to death.

 

[Serge 13]

Yes, mostly in Demon's Souls. My character ain't that strong and i don't have any super strong weapons but i did beat the shit out of some bosses in Soul form!

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Huh. yeah: Fallout and Fallout 2 and Arcanum and Commandos 2 and Age of Empires 2.

Arcanum mostly cheese though, right? *cough* stun *cough*

First playthrough of Troika's TOEE, clearing the Temple Tower at party lvl3 (i.e. no fireballs), Imeryds at lvl 4, Hedrack on lvl 6-7 (skipped levels 1-2 of the temple). Not impossible, but definitely looooots of retrys to have the party survive.

 

[Xellos]

Solo is much easier IMO.

Vanilla, maybe but not with mods As I said vanilla BG is just way too easy if you know game mechanics, even "hardest" encounters like twisted rune or kangaxx can be defeated easily. Now, when it comes to the topic of this thread, I finished BG 2 with Tactics mod twice, once with party, once solo. Having to defeat 18-22 lvl party with yours lvl ~8, whicj you must do in Irenicus prison (without any decent gear) was WAY over the top, but fun nevertheless. And with elevated diff, party is so much easier to go with their pure number of attacks and spells.

EDIT: BTW, have you ever played a Fighter/Cleric/Mage solo with no level cap? It's a fun combination too.

Yeah, but lack of "use any item " on higher levels is disturbing

Other than BG series, King's Bounty on highest diff level is also throwing you at (at least) twice more powerful enemies from the very beginning

 

[Ravager69]

Yeah I had a few situations where I beat much stronger enemies using my wit and knowledge of the game mechanics.

But usually when I play RPGs I create the kind of character I'd like to play, not the strongest one I could come up with. So I usually spend attribute points on mental abilities to unlock conversation options and do other managing mistakes on purpose. This make beating the game much harder for me, since my chars are usualy pretty weak in combat.