GolfHacker

Heh, I struggled with that too. Well hidden, indeed.

Anyway, I for one am glad that the 'pick one of three' quests from EftP aren't around anymore. They annoyed me enormously, particularly when one of the requesters was someone I'd already killed, making it impossible to ever 'clear' it from my list. Three quests for black fangs, three fangs to find (though some are easier to get to than others) - that's the way it SHOULD be.

Hm, I liked that in EftP - not the bug about it failing to clear a quest from the list, but having to decide who to give the item to. I wouldn't want all quests to be like that, but I didn't mind the few that were like that in EftP.

I love how the NPCs all refer to my PCs from the first game as "the great heroes". They don't know what happened to them, they just disappeared one day. But they wish they knew what happened to them, because Avernum could sure use their help now. Haha!

Hey, we're right here! Same foursome, same portraits, and even the same names!

And then at the end, when King Micah tells us that we're just as good as the great heroes... IT'S US, DUDE! WE ARE THE GREAT HEROES! haha!

All those mushrooms must mess with people's minds over time...

Love it!

What are the fire lizard eggs and drake eggs used for? The caption on them says that they are highly prized by certain artisans and collectors, but I didn't encounter anyone that requested them.

Also, what's the black basalt for? The caption on that one says it's a crafting material, but I don't remember encountering anyone that could do anything with that either...

Ah, good to know. Thanks, guys!

(I'm still fairly new to these games, and still figuring out all the mechanics. I love the depth of strategy, though, and the stories are great.)

Strength and Dex are basically worthless for a caster, but the bottom-level weapon skills (Melee, Pole, Bows, Thrown) can be useful for two reasons:

 

1) Melee and Pole let you raise Hardiness, which is a good defensive skill for anybody

2) Get 15 points total across all your basic weapon skills and you can use Adrenaline Rush, a very useful battle discipline that only becomes more useful in the hands of a caster. Your mage and priest both using 3 AoE damage spells in a turn can end a fight before it begins.

That strategy never occurred to me! Pure awesomeness! Eventually I'll replay this game, and when I do, I'm definitely trying that!

When you say "all basic weapon skills", which do you mean? My tank only has sword skills and high strength, and only a few points in thrown weapons (no bows). I'm curious which skills/attributes are absolutely necessary to unlock Adrenaline Rush...

In Crystal Souls, is it worth building up str/dex melee/range for your casters? Or is it better to just focus on magic to the exclusion of all else?

 

My current game has two level 20 casters, one priest and one mage. I've just been raising their intelligence and endurance, and putting almost all their skill points in magic related things. Should I keep doing this, or is it worthwhile trying to give them a little bit of archery skill or some melee ability?

One thing I've discovered while playing that nobody else has mentioned yet is that eventually you're going to run into enemies that apply a "nullity" effect to you, which means your characters can't use disciplines and your spell casters can't cast spells. My mage and priest had been focusing on their spell casting abilities to the exclusion of all else, and when I ran into that effect, those 2 characters became suddenly useless in a fight. None of the potions, elixirs, or scrolls seem to remove the nullity effect. Even if they have some spell scrolls/wands in their inventory, those don't seem to be very effective (not as effective as spells). I don't remember seeing this nullity effect in the first Avernum game (Escape from the Pit), so it must be new to episode 2. So I wasn't prepared for it. I wish I had known, because I would have made sure the spell-casters had some kind of decent self-defense skills to fallback on.

At this point, I'm too far into the game to start over with new character builds (all my characters are level 32). And I'm a bit of a purist, so I'm not willing to use the character editor yet. To workaround it, I've done 2 things: 1) gotten combat training for them where I can (some trainers won't train me because the tank in my party is too skilled, and they say they have nothing they can teach me), and 2) stocked up on invulnerability potions and wands/scrolls for my spell-casters so they can survive a fight and at least contribute a little bit of support to my other characters.

I didn't know about that! It wasn't in the cheat code section of the hint book, and I don't remember seeing it in the user manual either. Thanks!

Ah, I finally found the switch. Must have run my mouse cursor over that wall a bunch of times, but didn't see it. Oh well. Thanks!

I made it across the bridge and into the maze on the western side of the map. I stepped on the runed circle, which opened a secret door, but it doesn't go anywhere. I also dispelled the nearby barrier, but that didn't seem to unlock anything either. On the other dead-end corridor, I see a window and what looks like a hallway beyond, but I don't see how to get there. What am I missing?