Mechalibur

Because you've probably done about 70% of the game by that point and missed out on a bunch of XP/gear for a completely unnecessary late-game optimization.

You're not really intended to have 3 points in the language by the bridge section. You'd have to take an extremely roundabout path for that to happen.

11 hours ago, Shadow Wulfe said:

Is there any benefit if you join Barzhites and leave Stanis alive?

Not that I can tell.

I didn't include any sarcophagus bonuses since they're conditional on having 0 in the skill. I also highly recommend against getting the +1 from the Sealed Lab.

Yeah I've also stunned a pylon before. Not sure what causes those weird exceptions to 100% resist but it seems pretty rare, at least.

Okay, they're in the corner... but what does that accomplish? Enemies are able to use their spells/ranged attacks just fine while engaged in melee.

2 minutes ago, earanhart said:

Very nice for chipping away at bosses number of actions.

That hasn't really been my experience. Most bosses seem to prefer ranged to melee, so knocking them back just made *me* have to waste AP getting back to them. And the bosses that are melee often have leap attacks they can use even if they are at a range.

8 hours ago, trinko said:

All I've found are potted plants

That's what he wants.

Chain Lightning is also kind of fun in conjunction with a spray baton. It's a decent guardian option for completely clearing out those spinecone formations.

29 minutes ago, mikeprichard said:

3) Say “pro-servile” things to get the Awakened quest from Ellhrah in Ellhrah's Keep to kill Control Four, and complete the quest.

That's not necessary if you just go to Learned Darian to swap your reputation to pro-servile. Finding enough stuff to go at least 20 points down can be annoying (or worse, require "saving" certain reputation conversation to go back to later). Darian makes it so you don't ever really have to think about your point total - just say pro-servile stuff instead of pro-shaper stuff after he swaps your rep.

I think it comes across as underwhelming because it's the highest level weapon shaping skill. Even if it fills a specific niche, it can be disappointing if you were hoping for something more powerful for the most expensive skill.

4 hours ago, earanhart said:

Never noticed the shock damage go off, but that slow was reliable.

It only does shock at level 2 or higher. It's a damage debuff that does energy damage - seems to be the same % as burning or acid.

Essence Lash is the strongest skill by my estimation (at least at level 2+). Higher damage than guarded lunge, access to shock which is pretty rare, and wrack is generally decent on bosses since most don't resist curses. Definitely my go-to in the toughest encounters. 

12 hours ago, Slawbug said:

As for Elissia, the exact text is "She is old and weak. You doubt that she will make it back to the council alive."  It says nothing about the journey at all -- only that she is old and weak.  There's no suggestion that somebody younger and stronger would have any trouble making it.  There's little doubt that Kima, Macnulty, and Bunk, working together, could easily make the journey.  One Agent and an apprentice had no problem doing so.  It also doesn't seem like they are really having much of an effect on Barzahl.  And as for Aodare, he's not doing anything to actually impede the Takers at all.

Random aside: despite this text she's actually one of the more challenging shapers to fight. She summons some quite overtuned rots during the fight which have buckets of hp and hit really hard. Like I honestly had a much harder time with her than Tuldaric 😄

56 minutes ago, alhoon said:

Then why nobody informed the Council? 

I think that's the core issue here. It is kinda weird that despite all the shapers still in Drypeak, not a single one has gone back to the council. Hell, there are loads of unnamed agents/guardians in Drypeak just milling about in Zakary's chambers: not a single one was more loyal to the council than Zakary?

I played an early version of the mod and I'd just like to say that there's a lot of great stuff here and I definitely recommend trying it out on a second playthrough of Infestation! Being able to use any combination of creation types that you want without hurting your overall build is a very welcome addition to the game.

10 hours ago, l33tmaan said:

Yeah, but that wasn't an engineered disease, as far as I could tell. It seems to have just come up from people living in a swamp, which sounds normal to me.

Correct. Per the game text:

"Though we did not make the disease which afflicts Awakened serviles, it is useful. Will watch for infection here. With our work, cure is easy. Look deep within disease. See weakness."

They didn't make the disease, but they did withhold the cure for it.

Ethical concerns, I'd say. There are a lot of specific areas of research they consider off limits, and it makes sense biological warfare would be among those. 

The Taker ending in G2 

In Buck Creek.

Of course, if the Shapers ever find the Sholai homeland, they're going to be at a huge disadvantage if they don't have Shaping Magic of their own.

Infestation adds some interesting lore about it though - apparently the Sholai lands are very difficult to find and when they go on expeditions, only their navigators know how to return (like they intentionally take some wrong turns to confuse the rest of the crew). Their navigators also use magic that straight up kills them if they ever reveal the location of their homeland. Kind of hardcore. 

I did something similar as a challenge run for Mutagen... never again!

44 minutes ago, mikeprichard said:

The melee alternatives to the fully maxed Purifying Blade are the Puresteel Soulblade (with slightly less damage but 15% Lifedrain, which IMO makes it superior)

I think the Purifying Blade is still better - 15% Lifedrain is just a 15% chance to recover 20% of damage dealt with a single-target attack. It doesn't stack with the Lifedrain weapon shaping skill either, which is essentially a buff that gives 100% lifedrain and can be cast prior to starting combat. The 10 melee weapon requirement is also a bit steep (compared to I think 5 for the Purifying Blade)

From his last AMA (after Infestation released) he said "Over the next two years, we want to finish the Queen’s Wish series and remaster Avernum 4," so it looks like it's still planned.

One of the comments in the AMA was "Firstly, glad to hear Queen's Wish 3 is coming. Was a little worried that series would get abandoned for some reason." and he didn't correct them, so that makes me think it's still planned as a full game.

Every single named Obeyer that returns in G2 is now Awakened, I believe.

There's dialogue about it (Jaffee in the Magus Complex) - the Obeyers integrated into the Awakened after realizing the Shapers would never accept them.

30 minutes ago, earanhart said:

And even their leaders aren't totally on the "kill all Awakened" board. There is that one Awakened merchant in Zhass-Uss. They could easily have been killed or even just refused access to food and shelter until they left a long time ago. Their existence is tolerated.

She hides the fact that she's with the Awakened and won't tell you her allegiance unless you're also Awakened. This leads me to believe she's fearful for her life if she were to be discovered.

A bit of an aside, but I think Barzahl is actually the easiest by a fair margin if you take advantage of the machinery in Rising to disrupt the drayks.