So, after completing SoZ with two-man party and also soloing it, I felt the urge to write something about it. On hardcore difficulty and with a smaller (1-3) party, the game can definitely be hard and I would recommend this "adjustment" to anyone who's looking for a challenge. That said, with 3+ party members, it becomes trivial besides the final fight, which can be a real pain in the ass unless you have a proper Tank and/or divine caster. Well, that's not exactly true, because you can actually finish the game with many different builds (provided they're thought out) if you know what you're doing. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason why SoZ is one of the best RPGs ever made and the reason why I'm writing this - because this game actually makes use of the 3.5 DnD ruleset. It's known that SoZ is quite special because it tries to include all the skills gameplay-wise, which finally makes classes like Ranger and Druid unique and desirable. But this also transfers to combat; my two-man party consisted of Ranger (archery) and Bard (melee, tank). When you're playing under these conditions, you have to think about what you're doing and I was amazed to discover that there really are multiple (meaningful!) ways of dealing with shit. Something you never really find out with full party/proper party composition (mage, cleric, fighter, rogue...). With my two guys I was forced to make use of everything there is and the one thing that really got me through the toughest shit were the traps. They can be really powerful, there are various types and more importantly, the design allows you to use them properly (well, unless we count one particular engine bug that is quite annoying - all your buffs, traps etc are not loaded in the module when loading your saves, which means that you have to prepare for encounter every single time...). Besides random encounters on the Overland map, you always have a chance to make the areas your playground. Thanks to Survival, your Ranger knows exactly where the enemies are. Thanks to Hide, Move Silently and Set Traps, he can set them strategically and overall prepare for everything, striking when ready. This is NOT something you can do in NWN/NWN2 OC + expansions, Dragon Age, Pillars of Eternity etc. consistently and in any meaningful way. And frankly, there's no reason besides for shit and giggles... Thanks to Use Magic Device skill of the Bard, you're actually forced to use wands, scrolls and items in general. And holy shit the itemization is fucking great and certain items are really handy. And it's just those small things you know, like if you don't have anything against Mindflayer's psionic attack for example (Protection from Evil etc.), your're just fucked, good bye, go get the shit or you're stuck. That's so fucking refreshing! Sure, with full/proper party chances are you're prepared automatically, without even thinking about it, because someone in your party is just gonna be well suited for the situation. With less guys/solo, it's likely you'll be forced to adapt. And again, the sweet thing is that the game gives you means to do it (lot of skills, itemization and thoughtful area+encounter design). I guarantee you there's no way you're fucked unless making really stupid decisions with you builds.
When going solo or with weaker classes (basically all the non casters), you'll be forced to multiclass. You're definitely not gonna beat the game with pure fighter, no matter how carefully built (Fighter is meant for multiclassing an. I won't write a guide because there are better people than me who already did. Like here:
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/129068-how-to-build-a-decent-character-in-nwn2/ I did my solo run with Eldritch Knight (SR of Yuan-ti pureblood and UMD helped a lot).
It's a real shame those talented designers didn't have more time and money, because when judging the game as standalone, it's modest and little bit hollow... But still, SoZ and MotB are Obsidian's best work, each in their own way.
PS: Advice for all the Rangers: Main boss is not a Monstrous Humanoid but Outsider (try get to lvl 21 and get Bane of Enemies, it can make a huge difference).
