Edgwyn

Corrupt graphics file, maybe the Character Graphics file? I really don't have a clue. I just booted it up on a MacBook Pro (non-retina) early 2011 with OS X 10.10.5 and every thing worked, so I am thinking either the retina display (though that does not explain why only certain graphics) or more likely a corrupt file.

I would agree, but I have a problem with figuring out how many Hands the powerful Pact has. On one hand, it seems like a large organization that has its claws everywhere, and the odds of the PC being sent on the mission to rescue the Scout is so poor that the rebels should not even consider it. On the other hand, the Black Fortress is in such bad shape that some random person with a dagger, no clothes and a couple of weeks of scout training is the perfect person to team up with a group of nut jobs and send off on important missions.

Recruiting a hand would definitely be worth more than the random disaffected folks, but if the Black Fortress had a large enough staff to actually do anything then it would be almost impossible to arrange for the Scout and the PC to run into each other in the way that they do.

I enjoy the Avadon series, there is a lot of interesting background, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

The whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense however you think of it.

Either

1. The scout had already defected and they pulled the scout out of a place where the scout could have been really useful as a double agent and as a recruiter for more disaffected folks (of course if you assume that the rebels are complete idiots, which based on their other actions in this game is a fairly reasonable assumption, this objection goes away)

2. The scout completely changes every one of their feelings in captivity, except for those for the PC who she had only known for a few weeks.

That said, I thought that the scout storyline added some interest to the game and was glad that it was there.

Slartibus and I discussed the "min/max is the only way to play" issue a little bit a few months ago. Seeing it pop up again caused me to re-read a lot of the early posts on various skills. I think that the perception of some of the people who believe that the very useful posts on skills are "directing" people towards a particular style of play could be mitigated a little by focusing on the positive and less on the negative. There are various statements about certain skills being useless or sucking. I think those are more off-putting to people than the statements that spells are more powerful than weapons or that hardiness is very useful. In other words, I think that it is tone more than content.

And I do agree that nobody was telling anyone that they had to play a certain way.

You need three items in the Halls of Chaos, all of which are already present. If you have explored the area at all, one of the three items is obvious enough that you should be able to think to yourself: "I remember where one of those is". The hourglass and the other item are not necessarily as obvious, putting a sign on a room with a label of lab supplies, or maybe a label of math equipment on one room and time keeping equipment on another would probably work. If you hit the room in which you need the three items first, then it can be frustrating, but if you have explored the open areas of the level then it might be less so.

Unfortunately, Jeff tends not to reveal/create a canon future for the PCs. He does a great job with the NPCs, but with the PCs he doesn't seem to want to imply what path that the player should have taken.

The items that you need in the Halls of Chaos are in the Halls of Chaos which is why they were not added to the list of things to keep for quests

If we are talking about the A:CS version, there is also a magical barrier after you go through the second group of hidden switches that Randomizer mentioned.

You need crown clearance to get into see him.

Maybe in the time before the assassination of Hawthorne the empire sent down loads of robes, cloaks, pants and tunics. Of course that would have then stopped.

Lizard skin for the poor, Slith skin for the rich until the peace with the Sliths.

Jeff is extremely unlikely to issue a patch to A:EFTP, since he has not patched it in the last 3 years and not much more likely to patch A:CS. These forums have identified multiple balance issues/exploits that have not been patched in various of Jeff's games. If you can really do what you are saying that you can do, there is no point in withholding it.

If you are only going to play once, then I would do each companions side quests. While some of them seem like bad ideas from a role playing standpoint, you will get to see the whole game that way.

I finally read the Chronicles of Amber a year to two ago. I had been wanting to read it a while, as it is very well regarded. I did not particularly like it which surprised me, but then around the same time I read Downbelow station and the Faded Sun trilogy which were also award winning novels and did not like them either. I guess it says something about my tastes. Right now my SF/Fantasy is limited to a very small pool of authors since my attempt to branch out to some of the classic authors of the 70s failed.

Mushroom flour?

The ones that i have played are older than Valdain's list and I agree with Lilith's statement about trial and error. There are plenty of times that I retreated with only one or two out of six characters still alive because a rouge was much stronger than a thief or some other similar change because I was onto a new level with different enemies. It took my teenage self a much longer time to beat the games that I played back then versus my adult self playing Jeff's games. There are some that I never did finish.

I am okay with this.

I am as well, I thought that part of my reward for doing the side quests was becoming more powerful making the game easier.

The Deadeye Cloak requires 1 Fine Leather and1 Focusing Crystal

The Mercuric Leather requires 2 Fine Leather and 2 Focusing Crystals

The Drakeskin Shield requires 2 Fine Leather and 1 Focusing Crystal

There are some, but it seems to me like there are not as many. In A:CS, the empire archers have a chance of immobilizing you if they hit with their arrows which can make it hard to close with and kill them.

Sleeping is certainly an essential way to pass time on Pacific or US to Africa flights, they are just so long. Having a way to keep your devices charged that long can be problematic so a book or two or a book of puzzles is normally part of my travel kit in addition to my electronics.

I did them all, my completionist tendencies outweigh my role-playing tendencies. Plus I want the experience, the loot and to keep my options open for the endgame. Finally, I want to see all of the content in the game.

Getting to this late, but what you have laid out is clearly a pattern of behavior and getting you mom to call the hot line was exactly the right thing to do. The next step is to support her as she follows the recommendations that the professionals give or gently encourage her to follow those recommendations if she disregards them.

All of those are correct. I sort of miss being able to move barrels, but not much. The slowing penalty for moving away seems enough to me. I am very glad to no longer have to deal with the tight corridors with only my lead character being able to attack and if the greater maneuverability has caused the loss of the ability to attack in travel mode, I am all for it.

I had a hard copy of the BoA hint book somewhere, and I am pretty certain that it covered all four scenarios. I am not sure about BoE.

There are a whole lot of them. Jeff seems to enjoy putting them in, especially in the older games. This thread Name Cameos in Jeff's Games has a pretty good summary of them, including several other AbFab characters.