Jim Mazurek Interview
Dragons, Dragons, Dragons!! Tell us what you can about them-we want details and tips on fighting them!
Holy cow, I don't even know where to start. Here's what I had in the Monster Appendix about them:
We don't care what anybody says about how the dragons in BG2 are "too easy to kill." Trust us, you'd be hard pressed to fight anything tougher than a Dragon in any game ever made, period. Some may argue that Liches are more frustrating, and that Beholders (in vast numbers) can deal out more destruction, but none may disagree that with the fact that Dragons have the absolute raw strength above all.
Offense Against Dragons
First and foremost, try to accumulate weapons that give bonuses against Dragons-the same goes for armor and extra equipment. The more special bonuses that you can get (i.e. +damage, save vs. breath weapons), the better your chances of defeating the almighty reptilian beast. Characters like cavaliers and paladins (with Carsomyrs!) fare exceptionally well against dragons. So if you think you'd like to be a dragon hunter, save yourself some time and go create one now. Archers (of the ranger class-kit) with Racial Enemies set as Dragons can totally tear it up from long range, as long as you keep a few blockers absorbing melee damage (and holding the dragon in one spot).
Wing Buffet Attacks
Dragons will use their Wing Buffets (A LOT), which will immediately push back any and all of your front line attackers. Usually, they use the down time after a Wing Buffet to charge up for a big attack with their Breath Weapon, or maybe even a high-level spell combo. All dragons will use Wing Buffet attacks-there is nothing you can do to prevent this. Just take it like a man and keep on fighting!
Notes
o Black Dragons are immune to acid, Red Dragons are immune to fire, and Silver Dragons are immune to cold.
o Dragon claw attacks can be fierce, often dealing out 30-40 damage in one hit.
o Watch out for the Black Dragons with their nasty Entangle spells, and high level Insect Swarms. They are both excellent mage disrupters. Keep a good supply of Extra Healing Potions on every character to counteract this.
o If you're going to cast magic, use guaranteed damage spells like Magic Missile. They won't inflict massive damage all at once, but when Spell Sequenced, they can be lethal.
An argument I'm already hearing is that people think there don't seem to be enough dragons in the game. I'm thinking about it now, and I can think of four places in the game where you actually fight dragons, one of those being a bad choice for good-aligned parties. Still, it was more than enough for me. Any more and they would have been way too common to be realistic, don't you think? What do people want, dragons parading around in town?
My protip is to try and borrow as much stuff (i.e. CDs, books, games) from your friends before you start playing BG2 - odds are that you'll never see them again once you start.
The Versus Guide uses a magazine format with glossy pages and tons of color. How do you acquire all the graphics and how much more work is it to make such a graphically intensive guide?
The graphic design consumes a good deal of time as well. We can thank our designer [Tim Davis] for what I think is one of the coolest looking guides in a long time, ANYWHERE.
He's the man when it comes down to color coordination, spicing up the layout treatments, yelling at me for putting too much stuff on one page, creating borders and backgrounds, etc. If there's anything that you see and say "Wow, that looks cool!" odds are Tim D. was responsible.
The end result is a strategy guide with so much more flavor than the standard PC guide, don't you think?
Which guides do you plan to do next?
Well, the PC market looks pretty dry in the next couple of months, but I for one just cannot wait for Neverwinter Nights. I think this game will be nothing short of revolutionary for RPG'ers everywhere. We finally get an MMRPG with AD&D rules… rock on!
I don't know how we'd tackle the guide, but I'd really like to be a part of it one way or another. We'll see I guess…
Thanks for the interview, MageDragon!
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