So, I'm playing IWD 1. I really like it too, it's my first time playing it. I beat IWD2 before this, and I think IWD1 is a much better game (although IWD2 was good too).

I'm near the end in Dorn's Deep, where I inserted all the badges and went to fight Poquelin. The bastard swarmed me with salamanders, minotaurs and whatnot, but after a long, long furious and hard battle in the southmost corner of the room, I beat his troops and went against Poquelin. He tried to overcome me with Creeping Doom swarms, but I managed to slay the guy nevertheless.

Those of you who've finished the game probably know where I'm going at.

I searched the place, but found no exit anywhere. I began to wonder, if the game glitched on me, and then I looked at a walkthrough...

....turns out I should've gone after Poquelin right when the battle started and ignore all his troops. Then a cinematic would've played after he's had a little bit of damage, and I would've been teleported to Easthaven. Bullshit. I beat his troops, PLUS killed the guy fair and square. Now I have to do it all again because of a flaw in game design. Good thing I had multiple saves, otherwise I would've been screwed because my last save is after I killed Poquelin. The other one before that is when I'm at the idol, so not too far. I'm mostly pissed about the fact that I triumphed in an epic battle, without casualties even, but that it was in vain and I have to beat the guy again. Hmmph.

Wow, that's really cool actually. I've never beaten him despite trying again and again. Not because he's killed my party but because the teleport always kicked in.

I'm curious: did he have any loot when you killed him? I've always wondered if he'd drop anything if you managed to beat him.

Nope, he didn't leave anything behind. The only thing I was kinda wondering, was the seeds. They were in my inventory, but I can't remember picking them up anywhere. But yeah, no visible loot to be found on him (not even a corpse, mind you)

Anyway, I reloaded and went straight to Poquelin this time and completely ignored all the minions. This time the cutscene happened, and I'm now at the Crystal Tower, trying to figure out how to get to Jerrod's Stone. Still kinda sad about the whole epic battle being erased though, it was so cool. Surely in the top 3 "coolest battles in IWD". I really had to pay attention to the surroundings and every enemy, because they just seemed to keep coming and coming. Compared to that, going straight to Poquelin and obliterating his ass in order to get the cutscene was a walk in the park.

I love this game. Probably in my top 5 of all time, but I agree with you on the final battle. I really hate these cheap setups that do things like this. But yeah, great game overall.

BTW, you mentioned seeds in your inventory in your earlier post. In case you missed it, those are part of the quest in the Severed Hand to restore the arboretum.

Any +3 weapon or better can damage the golems (the same applies to Poquelin), no special items are needed. The Vampiric Touch spell works against him quite well but you can do without.

In the final battle it's important to pause often and give commands manually, your characters don't have to walk into the dispel traps (casting find traps before the confrontation helps locating them) and can drink potions during the battle.