HoF mode

[Krysalyn]

for those who have played on HoF mode -

did you start with a new party?

or did you start with the party that had just finished the game on normal difficulty?

are the items a lot better?

is the exp awarded a lot better?

is it feasible to start with a fresh party of ECL characters and have them gain enough exp (due to the higher exp awarded) to progress at an adequate enough rate to succeed?

[bellock]

I started playing the game with a new unexperienced party in HOF mode to see if I could make it through. I got to the werehouse of goblins in Targos docks and died for about 30 reloads. I cheated my group up one level and just made it past. I then played untill I got to mid-chap 1, fortress gate. I could not beat this. My party was about level 14 by this point. I exported the party and began again in HOF with level 14 party. I did fine, but the game is very unbalanced in HOF mode. Some of the hits I received from badies were 50-100 or more. Hand to hand combat is not possible. I used all ranged weapons and created lots of high level elementals to do my dirty work. There are some good weapons and armor, but with the high damage inflicted with each hit, I could not stand toe to toe even with powerful swords and armor. My main character had an armor class of 37 and was always haisted and the badies would hit almost every time and do tons of damage. I made it throught the first 2 levels of battle squares, but I found to make it all the way through level 10 you have to fight some characters with over 1000 points to kill. Yes over 1000 points in 60 seconds!!! There is alot of experiece point in HOF, but after a while you kill some badies and you will not receive any points? The are some cool items, but they are not even close to offsetting the difficulty of HOF. And I thought I was good enough after playing Baldars gate 1 & 2 and the first icewind dale to start in HOF... Good luck and keep us informed.

[Patrick]

I was just wondering, If I do play in Heart of Fury mode how and when is this decided, is there an option to select this? Also Do you acually get more experiance in HOF mode ???

[bellock]

You select HOF mode in the configuration setup under game play. In HOF you get alot more experience points than in normal mode.

[Skooter327]

When I started HoF, I took two characters from the end of the normal game, then gave them a few good items to share, and exported them. Then I created four new characters to round out a full party in HoF. I highly recommend this practice. In the early parts of the game, the two high-level chars did the lion's share of the fighting. After the other four accumulated some levels, they were able to help out more and more. My rationale was that the four L.1 chars enlisted the help of a pair of seasoned adventurers--not too much of a stretch, actually.

Many of the items in HoF are similar to normal items, but with abilities and such added to "upgrade" them. For instance, a particular sword now hastes the user in HoF mode.

For me, the EXP awards were massive at the beginning of HoF, but quickly wane as the party gains levels. My four "new" chars are just over L.10 at the goblin fortress, and the other two are just over L.20 (they started HoF at about L.17).

For someone trying HoF for the first time, I recommend taking at least one good tank and maybe also a good healer with fairly high levels from a previous game. The tank can carry the party at first, and the healing spells will really help out as the new chars begin to help the tank in melee.

[Patrick]

How do you export charactors that have already completed the game and add party members to them?

[Skooter327]

Originally posted by Patrick
How do you export charactors that have already completed the game and add party members to them?

Go to the Character Record screen (where you level up your chars). There is a button labeled "export" on that screen. Click it, you'll be prompted for a name to save under. Save it, and thats it. Your char will be exported as he/she is, and with the items he/she currently has in his/her inventory. Some "quest" items and items in containers (and the containers themselves) will not be exported.

When you have exported a character, you can load that character into a new game at character creation by clicking the "import" button instead of choosing a gender.
To bring the char into a game in progress, go into the "modify characters" (IIRC) screen, and delete unwanted chars to make room, then create a new char, importing as described above.

Feel free to ask if you have more questions on importing and exporting characters. You can also use the export/import technique to duplicate items.

[darktroll]

I it possible to import back characters and fourth as you like from heart of fury mode and back to normal mode