Puksis

I am terribly sorry about the necro. I'm currently playing G3 after playing through G1 and G2. And I don't hate the boats either, quite the opposite. They sort the levels themselves into hub worlds, making it easier for the player to know which areas can be beaten and which can't. E.G. so far I'm at the latter half of Island III and haven't found areas that I simply can't beat on Torment, apart from the Training facility tests, as it laughs at Cryoa and Vlish damage. Unlike, Cough.. Cough.. Clawbug are of G1.

All the usual good stuff: -Torment from the start. -Two characters. -Only one advantage with sluggish and completely inept as the disadvantages. -Rush priest spells 18 for both. -Join Anama. Result: Dear Lord. Might as well start from the beginning. I have beaten most SW games on the hardest difficulty. Many of them with a single character. But this time I have found a worthy opponent, in a 20+ year-old computer game. First battles were very RNG heavy, due to the Shade AI being whatever. Otherwise you were just ran over by the enemies due to smite being a single target spell. Then you had to get 900 gold out of nowhere, as exploring was hazardous. Just to unlock level 2 Smites. Killed some goblins for levels and proceeded normally and began to deal with the slimes. Dungeon crawling without Light is awkward to put it mildly. When fighting the pits, I had to get lucky with the sleep my melee priest was put, just to kill the ponds. Because obviously they are immune to smite. After beating the Alien slime, I went on a country journey around the Isle and joined Anama. Then I began to clear the Cockroaches, only to get stuck due to not having enough TU.. Because obviously no Unlock Doors. Why am I ranting or rambling about it? Because I am happy. For once the game feels like a fresh challenge and forces you to think differently. I wholeheartedly recommend pure Anama runs for everyone!

I wouldn't be surprised if someone here was actually into anvils.

He does have a point though. Why surround oneself with anvils, golems or demons, when they could do that with magic ladies?

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/327971375874572288/443336870504693770/unknown.png Magic ladies.. :3

I feel A6 was the easiest of the 2nd trilogy. Although it is hard to exactly point out why.

I honestly think A4 isn't as bad as people say. Quite the opposite, I feel it is the best of the 2nd trilogy. I have beaten it with a full party, a duo party and a singleton with disadvantages only - on so-called "torment". As with all Avernum games I've played (A bit of the OG, fully completed 2-6), the games seem to just give up anyways, no matter the difficulty. When it comes to the AP system, it is a matter of getting used to (and balance reasons). With the 1 AP casting being possible, melee-based enemies were in a major disadvantage. -Laati, who thinks Oliver single-handedly makes A4 the best game of the whole series.

Out of curiosity, can you give the stats of the weapons you compared?

IIRC, in the 2nd Avernum trilogy, Spellcraft = Magery = Mage spells, when it comes to calculating spell effects. Spell level acts as a point of Spellcraft to that specific spell.

Began to replay A5, as I don't remember a lot from it. Made an Elite warrior/Frail frontline tank priest Slith and a Deadeye/Frail backline mage Nephil. Chose to play on Torment. An unorthodox and not a meta party, but challenge = fun. Currently, I'm quite close of leaving Exodus. I did have to skip the dagger as well in the ambush before the Docks. Compared to A4 and A6, A5 might have the hardest early game. But as I'm now level 19 and 20, things have slowly began to smooth out. In conclusion, keep on going. It is worth it.

Your skill point spending seems to be ok, even though I wouldn't use a dedicated archer. For me, this seems to be a matter of too high difficulty or you aren't using your characters to their full potential. Some tips: 1) Whenever possible, try to fight as few enemies at a time. Use corridors, lure them out, do anything you can. 2) Don't forget your summoning spells and daze. In the early game, summoned shades deal nice damage and summoned beasts are a nice distraction. 3) Do the simpler jobs and plot quests if possible. Some side quests, especially when it comes to killing enemies, can be quite brutal for a low-level party. Imo, A6 was the easiest of the 2nd trilogy.

As I child, I used to think A3 was the best of the original Avernum trilogy. But as time has passed, I have began to realize that the A3 is actually the weakest of the series. Even though the world feels vast, it gets boring after a while. The plot is quite weak and predictable. On top of that, A3's torment was silly easy.

Swapped Magus Vest for Robe of the Magi. Defeated Rentar on the 2nd try, without the Vahnatai. 5 Wands of Death, 3 Pots of Invulnerabilities, 6 Elixirs of Immortalities, 2 Scrolls of Madness, 2 Scrolls of Group haste, 2 Energy Elixirs, many melee hits, many Lightning sprays and Fireblasts later, the journey is over.

Most likely the lost chapter to my monologue, as I reached the 2nd Fort of Rentar. I beat all the shades, all the testing areas, Dorikas (well, can you call it beating). Nuked the Spire and spared the GIFTS (I mean, how cruel monster one needs to be in order to give their hideout away?). In the end, with really limited NL, I managed to get 14 knowledge brews made to me - and naturally didn't find the Heartstriker Bow. I also could not read a few spell tomes either. But on the other hand, I could not manage to reach Arcane Blow and the Mid-to-high tier Priest spells anyways. If I ever do a Torment singleton run, what would I do differently? 1) I would choose a human. The Slith pole weapon bonus gets quite high. 2) I would put a few more points to Strength, one more to Mage Spells, and would equip the Emerald Chestguard. I would take away a few points from Endurance - as in the late game the enemies barely damage me anyways. Overall, the early game was frustrating. Mid-game was tolerable. Late-game began to be too easy. End-game has been almost trivial. Yet, I still think I could do better (like only using 4 out of 5 skill points given.) What next? I think I'll start another Avernum 5 Torment run with a duo party. Both with one Advantage and one Disadvantage. I think I'm in a need of a more casual run :). The last stats (with and without equipment) and equipment used: -Eliavri's Bow -Incantor's Ring -Flowing Silk Cloak -Answering Gauntlets -Jade Halberd -Clover Boots -Infernal Helm -Airy Vambraces -Clarity Talisman -Magus Vest -Lightning Gird (When needed: Silk-Woven Cord, Crystalline Aegis, Tinker's Bauble and Gloves, Explorer Ring) Stats with items: (Edit. All the hp values on this topic are without Augmentation, ie base values.) Spells: Stats without items: Thanks for the (possible) readers. -Laati

The amount of min-maxing needed depends on the chosen difficulty. If you play on easy or normal, anything can work. But if you play on Torment, some thoughts should be put in. Imo, if played with 4 characters (which I never do), I'd go with: 1) An Elite warrior-based tank Slith with either Divinely Touched (or a disadvantage, if you are a man.) 2) A Nephil archer with Deadeye and Divinely Touched. Also pump up Arcane and Nature Lore to him. 3) A Slith Natural Mage-based mage with either Divinely Touched (or a disadvantage, if you are a man.). Quite self-explanatory. Add some Arcane and Nature lore. 4) A Priest. As Priests don't have armor limitations, pretty much anything goes. Perhaps Pure Spirit and Strong Will. But as silly as it sounds, I'd go with 3 party members only, and combine 3/4 or 2/4.