Difficulty Settings - Set to Very Hard

bariumdose · #1 (**permalink**) 11-03-2005, 10:01 AM

Without giving away too many spoilers, what is the difference in setting the difficulty setting to Very Hard versus the Normal (AD&D rules) setting?

For my Evil Empire party, I set the game to Very Hard but have not noticed any difference in the combat situations. I thought I read somewhere that if you set the setting to Very Hard, you are assaulted by more monsters in each of the combat scenarios. E.g. in the Easthaven Caverns, you get to fight more than one Ogre. But I did not notice the extra Ogres when I went through the Caverns again. Is my game bugged? I applied the official patch already.

krunchyfrogg · #2 (**permalink**) 11-03-2005, 04:59 PM

I'm not sure what "Very Hard" does, but "Insane" defintely adds more bad guys and makes them hit you harder.

If I'm powergaming, I want to play on "Insane" and have a lot of archers in my party. As a matter of fact, the game isn't insanely difficult (har har) when playing with a lot of archers.

Ravager · #3 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 03:13 AM

Heart of Fury mode also seems to add more enemies in the game. In addition to the experience benefits.

bariumdose · #4 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 08:47 AM

I only adjusted the difficulty setting via the slider control under the "Gameplay" button. I didn't see an Insane setting. How do I set the Heart of Fury mode in IWD 1?

Much obliged for all your help.

Ravager · #5 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 01:07 PM

Heart of Fury mode is activated from the Configuration program, but it is only accessible after the Heart of Winter expansion is installed.

krunchyfrogg · #6 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 02:42 PM

Insane is the one all the way to the right.

bariumdose · #7 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 03:31 PM

Arrghh! I don't have HoW! Oh, well, I guess I'll have to imagine what Insane is like . . . . Thanks for all your help, everyone.

Galuf the Dwarf · #8 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravager

Heart of Fury mode is activated from the Configuration program, but it is only accessible after the Heart of Winter expansion is installed.

I thought IWD2 didn't have an expansion.

IIRC, HoW is the name of the IWD1 expansion.

Ravager · #9 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 05:18 PM

This is for Icewind Dale 1 Galuf.

@barium, Insane should be accessible without the expansion. It's a different mode to Heart of Fury.

Galuf the Dwarf · #10 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005, 06:35 PM

*sigh* I sword this was the IWD2 forum. Way too much on my mind lately (please, no alcohol/drug & mental jokes, ok?).

kmonster · #11 (**permalink**) 11-07-2005, 05:45 AM

Very hard only doubles the damage enemies deal out. It has about the same effect as if your party members have their hitpoints halved which doesn't change much.

A level 9 fighter with 18 con and max HP at level up activated has 126 HP.
A level 9 fighter with 14 con and randon HP rolls has (average) 54 HP.

With HoW you get twice as much XPfor everything on insane (or very easy).
Since this is the case playing on insane difficulty might even make the game easier on the long run.

So the insane setting is just there to make you believe how great you are and to fasten levelling.
If you want a challenge, then just create a party with only one stat higher than 14 for each party member.

The extra monsters appear if you replay (independent of difficulty setting) once you have beaten HoW (or in HoF mode which you can activate from external configuration program if you have HoW installed).