Eye of the Beholder - first impressions

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So I started to play the Eye of the Beholder module. I must say I am quite impressed so far. Since I did not see many comments on this module in places I looked, I thought I'll post here my initial experiences.

First of all, this module is geared to a party. If you play it in single player, you will have the option to hire some henchmen, but not from the start. This means that until you get company, the fights are hellishly hard.

Lets put it this way: in the first battle, I died like 15 times. And to nothing more than a bunch of kobolds. Which were roughly of the same level/strength as my char, but there were 4 of them. So while one on one you'd have 50% chance of staying alive, when confronting a pack is almost impossible to prevail.

Almost but not quite. After thinking a bit, I decided that jumping directly in the dungeon without too much preparation was a bad ideea. So I reloaded a previos game (one feature of this module is that it doesn't seem to allow you to go back to start; once you set your step in the dungeon, a cave-in seals you in) and went to a shopping spree. I bought from the available merchant stuff like chocking powder, alchemist fire, some bracers of protection +1, whatever I could afford. Also I spent 100 gold to identify a wand of missiles, which strangely enough you find lying around in the shop (together with some magic boots and arrows,and a magic bag). The most important item, though, was a simple archer's belt; with its 5 piercing damage reduction, I could hope to get past the kobolds.

Why do I go into this much detail: because it shows that while the game might seem frustratingly impossible at moments, there are ways to get around obstacles. And I found it kind of nice (after I stopped cursing) that the module actually requires you to think before jumping into the dungeon. Although if there'd be ways to go back without reloading would be even nicer.

Another thing I liked was that the gameplay seemed to be balanced between fighter/rogue/spellcaster types. A fighter would have had an easier time with the early battles. I started as a rogue, so my AC was quite low (16) and my attack bonus not so great either. But then I had skill points in Use Magical Device, and I could use the magic missile wand I found; which came it pretty handy when I met the kobold shamans. These guys can incapacitate you easily by using color spray and daze; so the first order of business one spotting one was to MM him. Unfortunatelly, I did not put any points in Lore at start, which is somethink else a first level character would greatly benefit from (since you cannot go back to the merchant to identify things for you). There are a number of magical items you find in the merchant shop, which I just picked up and carried with me. Actually, on the first body in the dungeon I found a magical large shield which later turned out to be +2 vs reptilian - not that I could have made use of it at start, but fighter types-could. Additionaly, there was a large number of items I could not identify till leveling up and getting my lore high.

So, the first level was tough (the footpad and archer kobolds did not pose much of a threat since I had the archer's belt, but there were some kobolds yielding maces; more than two of these in any encounter would spell trouble). It turns out that I was able to level up once I cleaned the first map; and by that time i also found out a scroll of ressurection which allowed me to ressurect the dead henchman I found at the start of the dungeon. so, once I added a level of fighter and get somebody else to help (by the way, this guy seems to be some sort of god, he's a rogue with 18 in CON and 20 in DEX, 14 STR, two-weapon fighting feats,...) it was much easier to go on.

So far I was able to clean the first dungeon level (that's two maps), kill a kobold boss, found another henchman (a dog), and level up to lev 3 character (bard this time). Got quite a number of magical items (mostly +1), but still don't know what half of them are. We'll see how it goes from here on.

 

yes, Tal, I saw that one And while it was nice (I picked the module to play based on this review and the others in the respective forum), it still did not really go into much detail, and I figured some extra info could not hurt.

I also wanted to mention some stuff about installing the module, since I did not find any clear instructions anywhere. There are two files available for download. One contains the hack pack (is about 140 MB in size) the other the module proper (only 40 MB). You need both; after you unzip the download, copy the hack pack in your hak directory in the NWN install, and the .mod file in the modules directory. Quite obvious, but it took me some time to figure I was somewhat confused by installation instructions in an .rtf file with the module download, which mention running some .exe file (they might refer to an earlier version).

 

Well, maybe I'll try for a review/mini-walkthrough in the end. It's going to take some time, though . In the meantime, I'll continue posting my impressions as I advance through the game, if that's okay.

So, Sewers, second level. First impression: this is going to be tough Here you meet zombies and skeletons (this is the undead level). As a side note, it is sort of funny how the game tells you what to expect: in vanquishing the boss on the first level, you get a small shield +2 vs undead, and as you set step on lev II, you encounter a corpse with a dagger + 4 vs undead. That's like somebody hits you over the head with a clue .

The zombies: some variants explode you can get damaged up to +10, if you are close to it. This is not such a big deal towards the end of the level, but at the start, with a party of level 3-4, you got to be careful. The skeletons include some skeleton warriors (which can hit you for some 20+ damage a pop, so again take note) and skeleton mages, which are quite annoying at low level, since they cast sleep on you, and if sticks, some skeleton is bound to coup-de-grace and you are dead (lost henchmen two times this way in the first two encounters with these mages, and while there are some ressurection scrolls in the dungeon, they are not exactly plentiful). Ah, and its a pain to take them out, too; magic missile doesn't work half the time (on account on Magic Resistance) and arrows don't really work. So you have to resort to melee; but rememeber that while you swing at the mage, a skeleton warrior swings at you.

On the other hand, you advance quite fast. Started the level at lev 3, and after the first couple of battles I was able to advance to lev 4 (the zombies are worth over 100 xp each, and since they came in packs of 2-3... quick xp gain ). By the time I finished the level, I was several hundred points shy of level 8 (my char is a bard, mainly, so this migh account for the rapid advancement).

How it plays: in my opinion, this level is geared towards fighter type chars. I think a pure mage would have a horrible time of it (being that at such low levels you don't have good offensive spells, and if you don't wear armor you can't tank either). A rogue would find the going easier (it's quite easy to take the zombies out with arrows) but when fighting skeletons you have to get into the thick of it, and light armor without shield does not cut it either (to add insult, undead are immune to sneak attack). The only way I could keep my rogue henchman alive was by tanking myself (wearing some half plate and a small shield, for a total AC of 24) and trying to convince him to use ranged weapons, for god's sake

Weapons and loot: you get some decent magical weapons you can use (a heavy crossbow +4 vs undead, assorted maces with elemental damage and bonus vs undead), and plenty of other loot. Every other skeleton or so carries a chaos large shield (10 Magical resistance, -5 slash damage reduction) and a magical short sword or spear. It's quite impossible to carry all this around; I just filled my magic bags (by the end of the level, I had 5 or 6 of them) with shord swords, and some unique items, and left the other stuff on the ground. (On the next dungeon level, you meet a trader; unfortunatelly, she'll give you a max of about 1000 gold per item; just for the heck of it, I want back and collected most of the loot on second level, and was able to make close to 100K gold). Of course, in order to make use of these magical items, you have to identify them first, which can be a problem . I found a potion of lore when I entered the level, (which I used to identify the loot I gathered on the first level), and then a couple others when descending into the associated dungeon. (responsible for all these undead is of course a lich - the level boss -, which you can find in a small dungeon minilevel; he's kind of a pansy, though).

 

Just gotta point out the starting Hell. As khaavern said, it's utterly silly. I enjoy a good challenge as well as anyone, but that just isnt it. My second time at it (both solo) i started as a mage and it truly was hell. Buffs did little enough - Shield does not last, Mage armor at least does, but it's not enough. Ofensive spell dont have enough potency. Sleep as the only spell that does work isnt enough though. There's never a kobold alone and if either one of them suceeds at his save, you're screwed. Wizards generaly dont have high strenght, making them a lousy hand-to-hand attackers, while at lvl1 their protective magic doesnt suffice.

It really is meant to be played in a party

 

It's kind of a pity, really. A magic user would be interesting to play at higher levels (by contrast, with a fighter type it gets kind of boring). But the first level would be pure hell for a mage.

I finished the third (and last) Sewers level, and this one was rather underwhelming. The nicest thing was that you meet a merchant right at the start, which gives you the opportunity to trade a little. There is not much to buy, but... at least you can get rid of accumulated junk.

Otherwise, I wanted to get through this level as fast as possible. The biggest challenge is navigating the map: there are long hallways, with sections covered by poisonous gas. You cannot disable the gas, just pass through it, you take damage, but by now you have enough hit points that is not life-threatening (more of a nuisance, really). The fights are not really interesting, just hack and slash. You encounter two types of enemies here, flinds and Kuo-toa. At the start it might be a bit challenging (the flints have reasonably high AC), but once you level up, is as easy as cake (and sort of boring, too). You might get overwhelmed by the number of enemies a couple of times, but is more a problem of quantity rather than quality. No mages worthy of the name; some pathetic lizard shamans, which apparently can cast only lightning bolt (who-ho, 10 damage, if I miss the save).

Another bonus is that towards the end of the level you can get another henchman, a human (female) warrior by name Anya, with training focus in large swords. I let the dog go (he was not very useful by now, couldn't really deal enough damage to matter), and took her in. She starts with a two-bladed sword; however, she does not have any feats in dual-wielding, so I gave her a greatsword instead. She does a decent amount of damage (she has improved critical in greatsword, with 20 strength also, so it hurts when she connects ). The rogue is getting to be pretty good, too; by now his sneak attacks are getting to be really painful.

What I find remarcable is how huge these levels actually are. I only finished the level 3 in the dungeon, but I am close to character level 10 now, and I must have spent over 20 hours of play (others have estimated that the game is good for about 30 hours of gameplay, but at the rate is going, I think it will take me close to 50).

Ah, and for the next level, I think I'll be going to see spiders. After dealing with the level bosses (wimps here too, can't they come up with some real challenge) I got some shield and armor with bonus vs vermin

 

Right. Spiders, and a lot of them, too. They are pretty much the only creatures you fight on the 4th level. At the beginning, it's pretty challenging, too; they have decent attack and their bite can poison. I almost ran out of potions of antidote/lesser restoration, before finding a merchant. So this makes this level a little bit more interesting than the previous one.

It is actually quite bigger, too. If I am not mistaken, it has four maps; and navigating it can be quite a pain. Frequently you encounter blocked corridors, which later you may be able to access coming from a different direction, or maybe not be able to access at all (there are some areas to which I could not get). It is also possible that the map changes depending on which way you access the level; there are two ways down from level 3, which lead you to different maps on level 4. Actually it might make a difference which one you take, since one brings you close to a dwarf merchant, with helpful equipment and potions, while the other brings you in the middle of a spider-infested area, and requires a long trek through the dungeon till you get to the merchant.

Also, the mechant will bring you up to date to what's happening around here. Apparently the dwarves are fighting a spider infestation. There is a reward for killing the spider queen (of course); this also seems to be the pass needed to advance to the next level. There are inklings of more adventures involving dwarves in the future, since you are strongly advised to consult with the dwarf leader on the level below.

All in all, a pretty interesting level, with some things happening, and the promise of more to come. The fights are reasonably challenging (more so at the beginning - for the first meetings with the spiders, I felt the need to soften them up a little bit with fireballs and such before engaging in close combat). You will encounter some other challenging enemies (clay golems, ogre mages, a couple of giants), but they are not too tough. Of course, by now you get to be quite high level (I think I got to lev 12 by the end of the area), so you can take care of yourself. You get acces to some good equipment too (from the dwarf merchant), and there is money enough to spare. Actually, in this portion of the dungeon gold is lying around on the gound in small piles; dwarves seem not to care very much about wealth