Mea Tulpa

That's my point. Most people here are accustomed to using AIM and not accustomed to using IRC, so why switch to IRC?

Faithful: The confusion is over what qualifies as "DRM". Spiderweb Games (when purchased directly from Spiderweb Software) have no DRM. You never have to play with a CD inserted, or with an active internet connection. You DO have to enter a registration key ONCE per computer. Basically, this key is particular to the computer you installed the game on -- if you put it on another computer (or another OS on the same computer), it will generate a different registration code and you will need to get a new key to unlock it. Spiderweb provides these free of charge to registered users. That's the extent of SW's anti-piracy measures, which don't really qualify as DRM.

Because clearly, taking 10 seconds to create an account is the difficult part here?

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel It was mostly working, except that not all files would be listed. If my disk drive lists most of my files, that doesn't mean it's mostly working. That means it's very broken! I really think you are better off using a disk image. Much cleaner and less room for error.

What do you mean transferring the files to Basilisk ][? You don't transfer anything to Basilisk ][, you transfer to a disk image. You need to make a correctly-formatted DMG, and then you just load it up in the Finder and copy files into it.

Really, that's a bizarre assertion. I adore IRC more than most people here, I'm sure, but most people here do have AIM accounts, most of them do not have IRC clients, and creating an AIM account is much simpler than downloading, setting up, and using an IRC client.

Specifically, Pure Spirit, Natural Mage, and Elite Warrior each end up granting you about 45-60 skill points worth of skills, over the course of a game (for a character that is already investing moderately in those skills). EW potentially saves more since both Blademaster and Parry have to be unlocked, which can be a bit of a waste. Divinely Touched is worth even more than that, without even accounting for the 20% armor bonus. Dual Wielding saves about 30 skill points for a dual wielder. Nimble Fingers is similar, though has the disadvantage that you usually want Tool Use early and not late. Deadeye is similar as well.

All the Exile games run flawlessly for me on Basilisk ][. It does take a little effort to set up, but there are web sites out there that give very clear, step-by-step instructions. 20 minutes is a small price to pay for being able to revisit Formello in its antique beauty.

The real insight though is not measuring based on 10's, but measuring with the same base you use for your counting system. If we counted in base 8, the metric system would be foolish rather than simplifying.

The answer you're looking for is that Spiderweb games have no form of DRM. However, some of the games have been licensed to third party vendors that use built-in DRM (usually connected to their fee-to-play) for all their games. Therefore, buy direct from Spiderweb.

Surely you guys realize that orthography and pronounciation do not align on a 1:1 basis in English, particularly not for diphthongs?

If you save it, you get a little more XP, while if you kill it you get a better reward. Since the quest is so early in the game the XP difference is essentially meaningless. The Fine Leather is a more valuable reward, but that doesn't make much difference either. However, I discovered on going the kill route that, while there is a dialogue option to inform Dominica of her lizard's demise, you cannot remove the quest from the quest log unless you keep the lizard alive. That's a bug!

Any response, Randomizer?

You are correct, and have uncovered an error of mine. A6, as with every SW game since Exile 3, has set prices for every item and ability and a single integer "modifier" that determines how much an individual merchant raises or lowers prices from the default. For merchants whose prices can change, sometimes there are entirely different shop calls in the script, and sometimes a variable is used to represent the price modifier. Since I did my research by copy-and-pasting shop calls into the first zone of the game, the value for this variable was left at its default -- 0, extremely cheap -- while it is normally set to 5, or to 2 if you've done the quests. I have re-checked the scripts and of the A6 trainers, this only applies to Seleass. Thanks SevenMass!

Dexterity has absolutely no impact whatsoever on melee attacks, whether with one blade or two.

Jeff has previously discussed how much he hates starting from scratch and how much he loves using components of previous game engines. Although he sometimes scraps certain elements of an engine, I suspect that Exile: Escape from the Pit is the only game of his written entirely from scratch. That said, it could possibly apply to Nethergate or to Geneforge 1.

I'm not a developer, so there may be roadblocks to this suggestion that aren't apparent to me. But I have other games of similar graphical and mechanical intensity that have an option to limit CPU usage to a certain amount of the available power, say, 50%. This does not directly control the fans on my laptop, but the effect on the system is pretty clear. FWIW, on my MacBook with the same crappy GMA 950 video card, A6 runs fine and doesn't even cause my fans to turn on.

Exile 1 and 2 did not have "really terrible graphics." Exile 3's graphics were shinier and glossier and more varied, and some of Exile's original graphics were crude. However, they did a perfectly good job at creating the atmosphere of Exile. So if you happen to prefer graphics that are less shiny and less glossy -- or just if you prefer caves that are light grey and not neon turquoise -- there is reason to play with the original graphics. At least a few people here, myself included, prefer them to any other graphics set SW has used.

FWIW, I ended up going with the good old A4 party of four Nephils. It was very tempting to include a Slith. Sliths are, in fact, better than Nephils in A6, now that they finally have solid HP and resistance bonuses, and now that bows suck. However, there is still the XP penalty, a minor consideration -- but 10% extra HP is a minor consideration too. I finally decided that my priest, with all his Magical Efficiency, wouldn't get much benefit out of using a pole weapon instead of just casting Smite; and that my wizard, with the emphasis on daze, wouldn't want to blow the skill points on Quick Action to make the halberd worthwhile. The 10% HP is still tempting, but unless you really pump Endurance, that amounts to about 1 extra point of Endurance. But when even a single level-up is worth 1/4 pts of Blademaster, Spellcraft, and Sharpshooter, plus 1/6 of Magical Efficiency and Priest Spells and 1/8 of Bows, plus 5 skill points on top of that, plus a handful of HP and SP... at that point it beats +1 Endurance. The one possible reason to pick a Slith would be for a priest, if you want to maximize the number of enemies who act before you by avoiding Gymnastics, so you can cure poison and acid before they take effect. However, if you do that you also have to avoid Quick Action, and then your pole skill is essentially useless outside of battle disciplines. Picking 4 Nephil sprites is no walk in the part but it's much better than it was in A4. After some fussing and trying to decide what to name my bizarre pale squiggles, I ended up with: Nephil DT EW -- dual wielder, tank (Buriki Daioh) Nephil DT EW -- dual wielder, tool use (Torneko Taloon) Nephil DT NM -- mage, spell skill focus (Mewtwo) Nephil DT PS -- priest, effiency focus (Seri Flamehair)

Did you just say there are no problems in the world?

It's only 42 skill points to get to 12. Really this is a small package. I find the mages and priests require more skill points to really reach maximum usability, so it's best to give the tool use to a fighter.

Thrown weapons do more damage because if they didn't, there would be no reason to use a weapon that runs out over one that doesn't. In addition to the base damage difference, regular (non-longbow) bows do about 1.13 damage per point in a Bow-type skill, while javelins do about 1.63 damage per point in a Throws-type skill.

How did MagmaDragoon end up on a list with SMoE and Dragyn Bob? Very different eras.

I would bet that this is based on the creature_type variable in the creature definitions. Interestingly, gazers have the same type as goblins and gremlins (type 1). Luckily, this is easy to test. I'll try to remember to test it as I go through the game.

Well, what were your stats and what were your equipped weapons? The comparison tells us that all things being equal, DW will do more damage. All things are not always equal, however.