I've played the game several times now but the one part I ALWAYS have trouble with is that *&%#@ chess game in Durlag's Tower. Does anyone have any idea how to get out of that one without getting flamestrike cast at you every round. I tried moving around as the chess pieces are marked but I can't seem to get my party to stand still and I'm not even sure if that's what I'm supposed to do anyway! Any suggestions would be oh so welcome :(

What works for me is sending a scout a little further ahead, enticeing a couple of pawns at a time forward and killing them before they "queen", then it's just a case of rushing the king, killing anything that gets in the way.

You only need to edge forward a little to get pawns to come! arm the rest of your team with ranged weapons so that they stay in place. Once the enemy king attacks you're more or less save from the kill lightnin' and fire!

Just focus 4 of your players attacks on the King, once he's dead, you win the game. Let the other 2 members of your party interrupt the spells of the Queen and the other spellcasters...

It's pretty vital to have the majority of you're party using missile weapons so that the enemies don't get in close, or at least take a load of damage before they reach you. If you time it right you can edge someone forward VERY slightly to initiate the first wave of attackers, and then obliterate them with a couple of fireballs as they come into view. Then send some cloudkill, stinking cloud, or more fireballs as close to the other side of the board as possible to hopefully flush out the king. As he makes a run for it pummel him with you're missile weapons. Remember once he's gone, the others instantly die. Whatever you do though make sure if a spellcaster is in view that you divert arrows to him before anything nasty comes your way. And if that fails I guess an animate dead spell/monster/animal summoning spell wouldn't go amiss.

All I did was cast like 3 fireballs with my wand and it was over. Do it in the center of the board(make sure its away from u).

Here's a tip for strong parties:
Get your mage(s) to memorize Resilient Sphere (or whatever its called), Fireball, Cloudkill, any area spells.
When you reach the chessboard, lure a few pawns at a time, casting area spells on them (this will damage the out-of-sight monsters too) and shooting at them with ranged weapons. Try to keep out of sight of the king. When the queen comes into view, cast Sphere on her: she won't be able to cast any spells for a while. In the mean time, take out the bishops with ranged weapons which stop their spell-casting in the process. When Sphere wears off, you can take care of the queen with minimum effort. then you can dispatch the king and thus win the game.

The first time I played this, I killed the king straight away and all the others vanished, not leaving anything to pick up. If you kill them FIRST, you get tons of EXP and lots of goodies!!

When i got into this game, it was xtremely easy:
I casted a cloudKill just before the pawns started running on me.
Then, when the queen was coming I used web on the same area.
When she was webbed, i waited for about 30 seconds...and every chess figure died.

Chess game? Well, or I didn't do this tower quest, or I didn't finish it, since more and more people ar placing post with things in it I didn't encounter. That tower is standing in the city of Baldurs Gate right? whit that Crazy mage in it?

Please tell me, I'm getting confused....

No, the tower in question is Durlag's Tower from the expansion pack Tales of the Sword Coast. It's not in the city Baldur's Gate -- it's down by Gullykin.

Do you know you are posting replies to a 2 year old post? Hehe, but if you want the easy to beat the chessboard, put range weapon on everyone and only move one guy enuf to draw enemies to you...just don't move at all. :)

I see it now, this topic IS 2 years old :)! Now I'm more confused as before, I think I did miss that entire quest... It is not the one starting in that cave with those polar bears is it?

But I do remember a tower in BGC what was the name of this one? Our am I mixing things up now? It's more then 2 yearsa ago that I did finish that game...

Durlag's Tower is a standalone area that appears on your map. You learn about it in Ulgoth's Beard. It's also the sole coolest dungeon ever made for BG1 and the entire point of the expansion IMHO. If you managed to miss that, you missed the heart of the expansion. :p

[This message has been edited by Taluntain (edited June 04, 2002).]

So is this that quest where that save game starts that you get with the expansion? You know where your party has the 5 members that would be used in BG2?

If it is this one than I did it, twice, once with the preselected party, and once with my own. But I can't remember a chess game, could you travel past it withoud "playing it"?

No. You can't go by the chess game. You must have missed it. You'd know if you were at Durlag's. It's the only map in the game that only has one huge castle-like tower on it.

For a solo character it is very hard to win, so i had to cheat a little bit. I am playing with a F/M/T. I fired fireballs from scrolls and potions, wands to the table, and hide in shadow immediately before it would hit them. This way they did not attack me, because they didn't see me.
By the way it is not a fair battle for a solo character, especialy when i fought normaly, the Queen appeared 3 times. 3 X 5000Xp is not too bad, but she is quite powerful caster...

Yeah old post or not, the equiping of ranged weapons is total necessary.

You can re-arrange character order to make sure you can move your fighter dudes a bit.
Also: Read the rules on that good 'ol game called chess, and U get no lightning bolts comming at you if U just do it right. It would however be 100% more fun if I could use the pawns.

I am going to try get thru again notite. :)

Three words: fireball, fireball, fireball

That's too easy. I just make my PC walk out enough to entice the pawns down and kill them. Then I edge up enough to bring dow the other pieces one by one. By the end the king is the only piece still alive, so have got all the XP i can.

My solo fighter-thief mopped up the board with arrows of detonation and potions of explosion.

Three words: fireball, fireball, fireball Cloudkill, Stinking Cloud, Fireball...
Make sure to keep your summoned creatures away from the Cloudkill effect...
(Cloudkill kills one strong enemy instantly, I cannot remember which one though)

This topic is OLD...

[Don't bother to post if you have nothing of any use to contribute. Everyone can see the topic's old.] -Tal

[ March 31, 2004, 18:35: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

I'm actually following this topic with anticipation just to see how long it is before one of the mods steps in and shuts it down for being too old.

I cleaned out the Durlag's Tower area south of Gullykin before chapter four and didn't find any chess game. I found a succubus, several basilisks on top of the tower, and some ghouls and ghasts, but no chess game. Now on my world map I can see Ungoths Beard, but I haven't been there yet. Will I find another Durlag's Tower somewhere else or will there be more at the old Durlag's Tower when I go back?

I found a bunch of spiral staircases in the tower going up, but no staircases going down into a dungeon.
What am I missing?

In one of the levels (one down from the entrance I think) there's a hidden door in the northwest corner which leads down to Durlag's Tower proper. The chess game is down there, as well as the demonknight.

But I do remember a tower in BGC what was the name of this one? Our am I mixing things up now? It's more then 2 yearsa ago that I did finish that game...
The tower you're thinking of is Ramazith's Tower.. That's the crazy mage, too..

Wow! I just finished clearing out all of Durlag's Tower.

I agree, that is one big ass dungeon complex. I can't imagine anyone soloing it without a thief, you'd just get crushed, pinholed, and burned to a crisp. Even with a thief soloing, or fighter-thier or F/M/T, I think it would be very difficult. Many times my whole party got beat to a pulp by packs of greater ghouls, and we were all around 7th or 8th level.

The chess game I found particularly hard. I had to do it many times before getting through it without getting anyone killed. Jaheirra kept getting whacked.

Finally I just let loose with two fireballs from Edwin and my cleric/mage, three other characters with potions of explosions, then two more fireballs for good measure, then I only had to mop up the few remaining peices who were running around in yellow circles.

The Greater Wyverns were also pretty hard to kill.

All of this left me dreading the Demonknight, so when I got to him, I really buffed up, three fighters with giant strenght, heroism, and invulnerability, haste, protection from evil, the works. I was kind of disappointed when the Demonknight exploded into bits in the first round. I thought he would be a little harder after all the hell I went through to get to him.

Oh well, it was a really kick ass dungeon.

Don't worry too much. Theres a way harder demon being summoned by a freakish cult back at Ulgoth's Beard.