So I forgot to post this after finishing Gryphon Point, which is where it logically belongs, so sorry for things being out of order.
The game divides nicely into four sections - the elven forest, the enchanted woods, the ancient elven city, and the bonus levels. As such, at the end of each I'm going to take the time to do a little retrospective on my experience and see how the heroes have done overall.
Using a scale of A = 4, B = 3, etc., we can calculate a GPA for them all and see what the rankings look like:
- Wilbur - 4.00
- Faustus - 4.00
- Phoenix - 4.00
- Vez'nan - 4.00
- Durax - 3.89
- Bravebark - 3.83
- Prince Denas - 3.56
- Lilith - 3.50
- Arivan - 3.50
- Xin - 3.44
- Eridan - 3.44
- Bruce - 3.39
- Lynn - 3.39
- Reg'son - 3.39
- Razz and Rags - 3.33
- Catha - 3.33
There certainly aren't any surprises with our straight-A honor roll. Even before I began this project I could have told you that Wilbur, Faustus, and Phoenix were the three best heroes in the game. I don't think it's coincidence that all three of them do true damage with their attacks, either, which is what will eventually cost Vez'nan his straight-A record when we get to maps heavy with magic-resistant enemies.
I am shocked to see Bruce and Lynn in the bottom five. I know they're better heroes than this, and I think it's just a reflection of the type of maps in the first third of the game. Their kits just aren't designed for Perythons and Hyenas, and later on when we start dealing with Razorboars and Twilight Golems I feel confident we'll see them shine and rise back up in the rankings.
I'm not surprised to see Razz and Catha in the bottom two spots. Like I knew who the top heroes were before I even started this project, I also had a good feel for who the worst heroes were. Unfortunately I have a feeling they're pretty much going to stay there. I think there will be a handful of maps later that will play well to Razz's strengths and he might grab a few more 'A's, but I just don't see it happening for Catha.
Ultimately though no one finished with worse than a B average. Obviously there was a lot of grade inflation in the first part of the game, with lots of trivial maps where everyone got an A. The hardest map was, not surprisingly, Royal Gardens iron, where the average hero grade was 2.75. I'm pretty sure we won't see any more trivial maps, and I expect by the time we finish the next set of maps the scale above will be quite a bit more stretched out.
Overall this project has been a lot of fun so far. I feel like I'm really mastering the game far beyond even where I was when I finished my impossible mode walkthrough. I didn't expect to plow through it this quickly, and really have been meaning to get back to Baldur's Gate, but I've just been enjoying it so much it's been hard to put down. I suspect that will tail off as the maps get harder and I have to work a lot more to drag some heroes through with Cs or Ds, especially because I know I'm going to fight tooth and nail before resigning myself to handing out the first F. But I'm still looking forward to it, and I hope you'll stick with me for the journey.
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