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Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

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Tenderfoot Thahd

Tenderfoot Thahd (2/17)

  1. Ok, I'm getting close to the end of the game -- around level 28, with mostly just the end game quests left -- and the game is actually continuing to be very, very difficult, probably the hardest RPG I can remember playing, and I've been playing this kind of game since the early Ultima days. In terms of balance, overall the remix achieves its goal as far as the classes tested (swords, polearms, mage, priest). Everything's useful, nothing's really required except priest. Strategically, my sword fighter is front line, and switches between two swords and sword +shield depending on how much offense/defense he needs; the polearm is my heavy hitter; the mage is necessary for area damage and haste; the priest is of course essential. The one change I'd make is that limiting all the mage spells to cones seems like a bit of an over-nerf, especially when coupled with the removal of Frenzy from haste. Some of the item changes are a bit harsh, too: For Torment, going arcane lore is definitely preferable to the sage lore route just because sage lore isn’t really worth it; you can't wait that long to get spell upgrades, and mages have skill points to burn anyway. The various wait-to-get-spells strategies don’t really work because Torment is so difficult you can’t put things off or wait to buy necessary spells or skills. You also need to put about 1 in every 3 stat points in endurance just to keep yourself from getting one-round-killed, but that means you can’t always hit as hard etc; and miss more; need gear. The lack of auto-frenzy with Haste is a huge deal. After a certain point major boss fights seem to require Frenzy to defeat -- the longer fights take, the more chances the boss has to Charm your front line or do something else catastrophic. The battle frenzy discipline is basically a necessity for my fighters and for my two casters I have to use potions and scrolls for just about every boss fight. The hardest battles, though, aren't so much the boss fights as the giant outdoor battles or ones where I can't use terrain for defense. For example, I couldn't beat the Aranea Queen until level 27, I couldn't beat the Fiery Pack until about five levels after I managed to kill the Chasm Drake. The issue is that the -30% penalty adds up when you're facing multiple area-attack opponents at once, and if you can't use the terrain to limit how many you're facing at once, it's a huge issue. You have to save all the various +resistance items and use them; they aren't sale junk. edit: why the hell is north the right-arrow key and not the up-arrow key? After over a hundred hours, that's still confusing.
  2. What's "hostile effect resistance" ? Does it include resistance to everything, including physical damage, or is it just to "effects" like curses and stuns, or ??
  3. Question: is it still possible to get +1 cave lore in the base remix so you don't have to take the skill all the way to 12? It looks like the first expedition ring was one of the things that got changed.
  4. I'm about halfway through my Torment playthrough at this point (level 16) using one sword character, one polearm, one mage, one priest. Again, this is a cold review -- never played this game before at all. So far in terms of game balance: 1) For the sword guy, I found dual weilding was preferable for the first ten levels or so, but after that, once I'd found a decent shield, the added Parry benefit became very useful, arguably even essential, for my lead character. I might go back to dual wielding once I have my Parry skill maxed -- I go back and forth situationally. 2) For polearms overall so far I've found spears preferable to halberds. Part of this is I've just found more, better spears so far, but partly it's that the targeted damage boost is more useful vs. bosses etc; Cleave is just something that randomly breaks Daze, at least in the early game. Reliably does more damage than the sword guy and the two of them can set up backstabs for each other really nicely, but in one-wide corridors this one's useless, so I have to station them back behind a doorway and then have the shield guy "pull" the enemies back to the ambush. 3) Mage is necessary for Daze early on and then for Haste but after that she seems a little underpowered now relative to the rest of the party; she's a walking Haste buff that spits out lightning and cold, basically, and my priest has Call the Storm anyway. Slow is a little useful too, but the whole porting around and point-blank aoe thing is a little underwhelming because it involves getting far too close-range. I probably need to buy some more spells for her but haven't gotten around to it -- in a two-melee, two-caster party the cloaks are less interesting, though I suppose I should go ahead and get them. 4) Priest is pretty cool and the one essential character in the party; the Ward spells are an absolute requirement for survival, return life is crazy useful, etc. She can even stand in for a mage using call storm. Her mana bar is basically my "this much left before you have to return to town" meter. Overall I wouldn't have been able to get this far without the various guides, especially the "What should I do Next" guide - I doubt I'd have ever picked up on how necessary Ward spells are, for example. I really like the very tactical gameplay; this is a punishing game that doesn't forgive mistakes. Tactically, my main strategy so far in dungeons is the aforementioned double-backstab ambush at the openings of corridors. In open terrain I have a harder time; I tend to use daze/snare + call the storm to buy time as a sort of jury-rigged crowd control. In terms of class balance it feels like the "necessary" characters are a tank and a priest, maybe a mage for Haste, and then one open slot. If you go polearm you can set up nice backstab ambushes and trade off hits; it's nice having a second backup tank so the whole party doesn't collapse the minute the front guy falls. Not having tested the other character classes, it feels like if you went archer you (presumably) would have a really powerful conga line for narrow corridors; if you went 2nd priest, especially fighter-priest, you'd have a nearly immortal party; and if you went 2nd mage you could probably clean up with Cloak of the Arcane.
  5. I noticed in one of the slith forts there are broken swords near the anvil. They're fixing them!
  6. The whole rush-stagnant-tunnels strategy seems a lot less viable on Torment just because I can't imagine how you'd ever complete enough fights to level up to that point without buying a certain number of spell levels. I imagine you could still save some cash, especially in a multiple-mage party, but the starting four are not enough -- you need to buy haste, etc., just to stay alive and handle the few level-appropriate quests. I'm on level 9 or so now and yeah Blossthus makes the rest of the neph fort look like pattycake. They should've just been having that dude hang out in front all day. I moved on and left him behind. Hopefully while I'm out travelling he'll step out of his room, realize all his friends are dead, and sink into profound depression by the time I make it back around there in a few more levels.
  7. Good luck! Looks like we're running this together It's a little strange starting with the remix on a first playthrough because all the guides etc. are a little useful but they're all a little bit off too. My party plan is a fair bit more min-maxed than yours but I think I'll have everything I *need*, though I still have a few odd spots to figure out, mostly some extra skill points in my mages that i'm not sure where to allocate. (If I'm making any math errors please let me know!) At the moment I'm up to level 7 and starting to feel like I actually pack some punch. Two fighters setting up backstabs for each other is a really powerful combo, and they're both tough enough to take a hit when they have to. Overall I'm finding the spear more useful than the halberd just because of the potential for really high damage hits against bosses; cleave is nice but anything it'll kill I can just wait a round and kill with a direct hit, plus it breaks Daze. Dual wield is preferable to shield for now but I think once I get my Parry skill up that'll be different. I'm also glad to see the remix doesn't break Steam achievements, which mods sometimes do for some games.
  8. Thanks again! I have read through the forum etc., just couldn't find answers; I think most veteran players just assume this kinda stuff and never explicitly note it. One more question: how persistent is the world? I.e., if I get sick of carrying stuff around, can I just drop it all in the middle of Fort Avernum and leave it all there to pick up later? How much later (is there a running clock in this game?) If I steal something and then drop it in public, is it still flagged as "stolen" such that if I pick it up again I'll get attacked or whatever? Really tempted to just drop all my old stuff in a big heap by the exit from the training dungeon. "Hey newbies! Have some fancy gear on me!" On a similar note, if I sell something to a vendor can I buy it back later?
  9. Thanks! So if I'm reading you correctly, there's a diminishing returns cap at 10 and 20 for skills, but no such cap for stats? One additional question: for Backstab, do the two pc's need to just be next to the monster, or actually on opposite sides? Does it only work 'behind' the monster, i.e., the squares directly behind it? Or can two adjacent pc's on the monster's front both get a backstab bonus from each other?
  10. Thanks, this is a really great guide and very useful for a new player.
  11. Haven't played any of these games before and trying to figure out how some of the basic mechanics work; I've read through most of the posted guides but they tend to assume a level of familiarity with the mechanics of prior games, and I don't have that since I'm starting fresh with this one. 1) Are there any caps to stats or to the benefits from stats? i.e., is there some point at which increasing Strength gives diminishing returns, or is there some maximum point past which there's no further need to increase Endurance, etc.? 2) Looking at the traits, if you're a melee fighter is it always better to get "improved strength" (for a +5% damage bonus and +to hit) before mighty blow/backstab? Similarly, is it always better to get "improved endurance" before getting "good health"? Any other "best order" thoughts? Some guides say "these 5 abilities are good for this type of character" but they don't really address what order they should be grabbed in. 3) Should I be assuming a "soft cap" on character level at around 25/30 before the end of the game (assuming I try to do EVERYTHING)? So does that mean I have a total of ~25/30 stat points, ~50/60 skill points, and ~12-15 traits to play with? Anything else people think I should know? I'm starting my first playthrough on Torment using the "remix" if that matters. Thanks!
  12. In what may be an ill-advised step I'm starting in on Avernum: Escape from the Pit on a first playthrough on Torment difficulty using the remix from the first post of this thread -- I've played a lot of other RPGs of this general stripe (Ultimas, fallouts, etc.) and if I don't go hardest difficulty these games tend to lose my interest, but I wanted a little more complexity to my party than the original game seemed to have (it made me sad that my polearm fighter was going to be less effective in the base game version). I've read the various posted guides etc. but since this is going to be my first playthrough I thought I'd ask and make sure my character plans were at least along the right lines -- apologies if this isn't the right thread for that, but the remix changes enough things that other advice probably won't be applicable. Is this basic party layout a good idea? 1) A tanky polearm fighter dividing stat points between Str and End. Go polearms -> hardiness --> parry. 2) A dual-wielding backup fighter, 2 for 1 str/end.. melee weapons --> hardiness --> blademaster -> quick action 3) A mage, 2 for 1 int/end, starting with 2 in tool use 4) a priest, 2 for 1 int/end, starting w/ 3 in tool use. I guess what I'm wondering is if the remix changes the various long-term party building things. Is it still a good idea to go the Sage Lore route or do more things need base Arcane Lore? Is Adrenaline Rush still worth having your casters train some weapon skills (and is itworth training bow/thrown weapons on your casters if you don't plan to give them any Dex boosts? Or should I add to their Dex instead of some of that End?) Anyway, just looking for general character-building advice for Slartibus's remix. Thanks!
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