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Thaluikhain

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Posts posted by Thaluikhain

  1. Well...a lot of those monsters are fairly standard in various fantasy, but it's how they are used that's important.

     

    I mean, Vahnatai are Roswell greys, which have been done a zillion times in (usually bad) sci-fi.  But putting them in fantasy was different, giving them kris blades and ninja stars and having crystal magic and crystal souls and hibernating underground...that's a different take on it.

  2. On 9/5/2023 at 1:08 AM, Randomizer said:

    The clue is on the lower level and is easy to walk past. :)

     

    Also you can't go back to this dungeon unlike all the others.

     

    Pretty sure the first time I walked past it, or perhaps triggered the quickfire first and then had other things to do.  Though, the clue for slimes is easy to miss as well, you might not go back to the crystal in the Troglo/giant one, due to running from monsters, though you can't miss the golems one if you persist that far.

     

    On 9/4/2023 at 3:10 AM, Randomizer said:

    I do remember you needed Move Mountains at level 3 to reach some other places for more loot. The idea being you have to get that before you ever do this area. I did it once just to see what I missed and it wasn't worth doing it. Although this area is easier since you are at a much higher level.

     

    Good luck.

     

    There's a few dungeons that have things hidden behind magic barriers and you'll probably not have dispel barrier at the level you'd reach them.  And often, yeah, not really worth going back for.

  3. Ok, I completed the game a couple of times before (ages ago), and it's the only Spiderweb game I've ever finished.  I should finish some others at some time.  Anyhoo, the end battle was a bit emotional, saying goodbye to the game.  Seems fitting that only 2 party members survived.

     

    Some thoughts:

    Floors full of conveyor belts might be fun (might) if you aren't getting fireballed all the time or monsters attacking all the time.

     

    Multiple Bless Part spells...I didn't know how broken bless was until this playthrough.

     

    It was Bon-Ihrno helping you, the dead thief was a total coincidence, been wondering about that for ages.

     

    Casting Force Barrier on a monster can damage it.  Doesn't work on Doomguards, but oddly the Flaming Blade does give bonuses against them.

     

    There's Vahnatai civilians in Rentar-Ihrno's keep, in the kitchens.  Just feeling good about not having to kill any vahnatai children before I ran into one of those I had to kill.  And then one more and 2 human kids to kill in the bonus dungeon.  Talked to Jeff (the in-game character, not the real one), was tempted to see if killing him does anything, but I didn't.

     

    The Knowledge Brew recipe is found in SE Valorim, near where you can buy Mandrake Root and Ember Flowers, which you need to make the Brew, and near the courier mission to get as much money as you need.  Convenient.

     

    I spent lots of money on archery and thrown missiles, but almost never used them except fighting Rakshasas in the Keep.  Discovered that the iron razordisks I picked up explode the hard way there, was going to use them and various potions in the final battle, but forgot.

     

    Was nice to see some of the old monsters again, makes sense there were efreets and nagas since they were in with the giants (and efreet in Ghikra), but why were Dark Wyrms in with the Alien Beasts?  Why were there rakshasas?

     

    Even with lots of Knowledge Brews and refreshing shops to get best magic items on sale and using hints, still had to use the editor a lot. Game gets very frustrating and grindy and dunno how people wou solve the puzzles fairly.

     

    Anyway, this game was a big deal for me in my earlier years, and IMHO, still holds up today.  Well done Jeff Vogel!

  4. Ok, almost finished E3 now, and in the final cavern, at least the map in the hint book there's a town marked called "Small Crypt" next to a big block of rock walls in the centre.  But I've not been able to find it when I go there.  Is there something I need to do to make it reveal itself, or did I just miss it?

  5. Oh, and in Ghikra there's a ghost messenger not unlike the other ones around, so yeah, that was probably one of the friendly Vahnatai being cryptic and not putting on a Vahnatai way of speaking.  And that it appearing in the secret room in the animal shed to give you hidden items is unrelated to the dead person who would secretly hide items in animal sheds.

     

    Oddly, after the Vahnatai had departed, I still run into Vahnatai patrols looking for bandits, who I guess were left behind and nobody told them what was going on.

  6. Oh, just finished the Tower of Shifting Floors (I have 199 golem gems to sell now.  Also, argh!!!!!!), and the book there you get Mindduel from has Erika's name on it.  Also, there's razordisks and a hraithe there (not sure what's with the hraithe).

     

    And then the evidence from this one unequivocally tells you who it is behind everything, making the above less important.

     

    (Did the Vahnatai come to Ghikra via the Portal Fortress like everyone else in Upper Exile (barring monsters) did?)

  7. On 1/20/2023 at 3:32 PM, handle with air said:

    I use the flaming weapon augment in Tevrono extensively.  (The extra-flame-damage-on-hit, not the use-charges-to-cast-Flame, which is terrible.)  Abusing Bless means accuracy isn't an issue, so the higher damage increase is as good as it gets.

     

    Gale has a higher +, I want to say +3?

     

    The blessing is worthless too, it just uses charges to cast Bless.

     

    Hmmm, is the augment in Tevrono in that one destroyed building there?  Always get there late in the game and never seen it, maybe I'm too slow.

  8. Was wondering, since the hint book doesn't seem to have if, if there is a list of the different augmentations you  can get for weapons in Exile 3, and if anyone actually uses them?

     

    I know Farport has a smith that gives you a bonus (I guess +1), Sharimik has a smith gives them the limited number of flame shooting ones, and Lorelei has someone that can bless weapons, was wondering what else are around.  And if you could get someone that'd give you a bonus to a non-magic weapon that's better than just getting the magic version.  Also, not sure what blessings on weapons actually do.

  9. Ok, bit of a necro-bump, but I'm playing E3 again for the first time in aaaages, and just done the roaches and slimes (weird doing them in that order, always did the slimes first before).  And in the tower owned by Jordan (the "archmage" who copied the slime making thingy) there's a Vahnatai cloak?  How would he get one of those?  Well, he did infiltrate the Slime Pit, so it makes sense.

     

    (Also, the spirit in the destroyed town says something about you being "up here", so it seems that it's from Exile.  And there's an unnamed force that told the wizard tat gives you the Phoenix Egg to deal with the roaches to do so, but I still don't know who that is)

  10. 8 hours ago, handle with air said:

    Exile didn't tunnel to the surface, though, nor did they "choose" Valorim.  They teleported to another set of caves that already existed.  They didn't get to pick a continent -- they didn't even realize just how fortuitously unsettled Fort Emergence's surroundings were until they finally sent explorers to the surface.

     

    Ah, ok, I thought they chose Upper Exile on purpose because it was under Valorim.  But then they'd have to know what Valorim was like and would know about the plagues if they did, I guess.

     

    Oh, that's a point, you run into various other Exiles on the surface, how come none of them mentioned the plagues or anything before you?  Or did they leave after you but went straight to wherever you find them while you were wandering around?  Also, didn't the Exiles scry and teleport samples down and stuff, why didn't they know about the plagues then?

     

    8 hours ago, handle with air said:

    It does seem plausible that all or most of Exile was (very deeply) below Valorim, specifically, given that that's also where the dragons ended up -- though the dragons do settle on the opposite end of the continent from Upper Exile.  I'm not sure if this is ever explicitly confirmed.  The fact that the Vahnatai also ended up there (and started the plagues there) might say less, given that they quite openly followed the exiles to Upper Exile and for some time Rentar-Ihrno resided there.

     

    Dunno about the Vahnatai, didn't they teleport in their slime pools and filth factory stuff before Fort Emergence got built?  Unless their teleporters only work to a maximum depth and they had to be close up there.

  11. On 10/1/2022 at 2:28 AM, handle with air said:

    The dragons are a little more complicated, because there are three of them.  You could definitely see Sulfras wanting to take revenge, but perhaps not being patient enough to follow through.  I can't see Khoth (who was perfectly willing to deal with Empire humans prior to E1) keeping up the sustained focus on creating rampaging monsters either; it's just not their interest, and I don't know why they would go after podunk provincial territorities at all.  Athron, of course, is right out; they are the most reclusive and self-protective being in the series, and would never risk making themself a target of attention.  (Additionally, Athron and Sulfras also both assisted adventurers looking to leave Exile and return to the surface, so it would be an about-face for them, too, to want it uninhabitable.)

     

    Actually, why did they choose Valorim to hit with the plagues anyway?  For that matter, why did the Exiles tunnel to there and why did the dragons decide to live there, is that all a coincidence?

     

    Personally, Exile 3 was the first Spiderweb game I've ever come across, which I imagine is true of a lot of people, so I could see E1 and E2 not being that helpful to the story.

  12. If you get up to the end of the Alien Beast section, you can't help but find out, whether or not you've guessed beforehand.

     

    Spoiler

    It is the Vahnatai, or at least a faction of them, evidence being crystal magic tech used in the Giant/Troglo section and the Golem bit.  Would have been easy to copy Erika's Rune, but then no reason for her to put her signature in the Slime Cave, though I don't know where they got dragon scales to put in the Filth Factory, where there's also a wave blade.  Though, there's a wave blade hidden in Hawke's Manse and I don't know if that means anything.

     

    I'm also unsure who that ghost is that sometimes gives you hints, if it's the same ghost in the secret room in the animal enclosure in the town destroyed by slimes and if that ghost was the person who liked to hide treasure in animal enclosures.

     

    I'm not sure how obvious it would be, I didn't guess beforehand and it doesn't seem too weird for any of the others.

     

    There's also (kinda) various other plagues of monsters that are unrelated, or at most taking advantage of the empire not having the resources to deal with them at the moment.

  13. Summon Host was pretty decent for filling space with 4 cheap bodies and 1 spellcasting monster that usually summons another cheap body anyway.  As an aside, isn't "Summon Shade" called "Summon Spirit", but confusingly summons a shade, not a spirit.   Both monsters use the same graphics, but spirits are way more powerful, which is a thing that can be annoying.

     

    I like flame cloud when you are defending a doorway or something against a tough monster that will stick around for a few turns and you can do a bit of damage over time that way.  Or goo, for much the same.

  14. Yeah, I also struggle to get into the later gates.  Avernum and Nethergate just seem a bit less polished and the interface less user friendly to me.  I bought Nethergate and the first 2 or 3 Avernums, but never finished them, but I did finish E3 a few times (aaages ago though) and start BoE every so often.

     

    Now, E3/BoE were limited, but what they did do just seemed to work for me.  Gotta move with the times, and most people seem to favour the new semi-3D stuff. but for me, it's the difference between watching an old good black and white movie or show and a later good enough colour one.

  15. Yeah, while armour is just complex enough to make different armours valid choices (or at least look like them), weapons (until you get weird magic stuff) are very simple, and it's very easy to see which are just better than others, which I always felt was a shame, but would need a big change in how they work to get around.

  16. 8 hours ago, Dintiradan said:

    It's not that people are offended on behalf of fictional orcs, it's that people are bothered by how orcs are frequently racially coded, in a way that, say, nephils and sliths aren't. This has its origins with Tolkien:

    These days, the concern seems to be less orcs-as-yellow-peril and more orcs-as-black-people, though really they can be stand-ins for any group that's othered. More than once I've seen authors make pretty clear parallels between orcs and North American natives while still casting them as unambiguous adversaries, which is concerning when you consider the philosophies of Gary "Nits Make Lice" Gygax. Moreover, a lot of the narrative write-ups for half-orcs mirror real life anxieties about miscegenation in a way that you don't see for, say, half-elves. Again, see Tolkien and the Uruk-Hai.

     

    Yeah, and even if racial coding the race of monsters as a specific real world race is avoided, the basic idea that there's a race of sentient humanoids who are evil (or stupid or barbaric or otherwise lesser than the heroes) and you can spot them by their different skin colours and facial features is not a million miles away from certain sentiments in real life.

  17. 1 hour ago, SoulScroll said:

    Edit-to-Add: If the question I asked above has significant truth to it, I think it's pretty sad that the almighty dollar has superseded raw, unfiltered artistic expressions designed to be interacted with by the consumer, otherwise known as gaming creations. If people feel offended, just don't look at it, buy it, or play it!

     

    Eh, businesses do tend to end up following the money.  Look at that movie franchise that started out ok, but they kept adding more sequels and it got rubbish.  Daresay you won't guess which one I mean if I give you a dozen guesses.

     

    As for just not buying offensive stuff...that's a bit trickier.  There's offensive and then there's offensive.

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