Mea Tulpa

Update: Well, I discovered one roadblock (Nociduas) and the one element of the game which pumping dodge a lot doesn't make very easy: area effect spells! You can't dodge 'em at all. This may become frustrating later in the game. It is making me glad that I cut off Dex and Defense at 8 and 6 respectively, as the priest points give me more power for Steel Skin. I *am* starting to wish (pre-emptively) that I could access Prismatic Shield. Hmm. If I'm going to get Dispel Barrier *anyway*... oh geez. Vlish, I don't know what the Tower Colony encounter is that you were so worried about, as I've finished that area and nothing was any trouble. The nasty upstairs was annoying, but not too hard to take down.

It's not torture, Alorael, it's beautiful love-making. Now, where did I put that apostrophe? Oh, oh my!

Hmm. Khyryk and Sharon, perhaps, if they decided to grow spines. You're probably right, though. So, barring a minotaur invasion or a truly horrendous Avernum crossover, that suggests either the Sholai or a regular joe. I suppose Jeff could surprise us by replacing the shaping mechanic with something else. I'd sure be surprised...

I dunno, Bless and Protection are up in a snap for me -- they don't even make it through a single protracted fight. I've also always found that very annoying. While the Enduring spells are very good on this count, they DO decay over time -- the dodge bonus does, anyway. First Aid, combined with the typical relative ease of clicking five times to get back to town and instantly heal up, make running out of spell points less of a big deal, though.

There are lots of examples of serviles who didn't follow those paths. Most productively, the G2 Awakened. If they could modify themselves to use magic, shaping doesn't seem like it would be so out of the question. The Awakened may be gone, but it does seem that Jeff will have to invent some kind of third element, some "other" (much like the Vahnatai in Ex/Av) in order for the story to really progress at all. The war is too massive, the powers involved too great, for anything interesting to happen otherwise. I suppose this could be the Sholai's cue to return.

From the Spidweb newsletter, on Geneforge 4: "And, unlike the earlier Geneforge games, you will NOT play a Shaper." To me, at least, this comes as a welcome change after G3. I'm psyched. So... whaddaya think? Human, servile, or minotaur?

Yes, even a meta stuffed shirt

At this point I think the people pointing out the off-topicality are rather more off-topic.

I keep waiting to see some character (say... Hawkwind) who punishes you for looting his stuff.

That brings up an interesting question. Do any friendly characters have significant item drops? Now I'm gonna have to go murder everyone I can find in the name of science...

I suspect that the job board would seem a lot more welcome if you played A4 without it. A4 seems to have FAR more short quests per area than any previous Ex/Av game, and managing them all might become tedious without the board and the job log. ...On the other hand, I wish there were fewer quests, but that they were more complex, particularly the main missions. The quests are mostly formulaic, and dungeons seem watered down compared to previous ones. Where are my Kothtars and my Pyrog Labs, my Abandoned River Forts and Tombs of Dahris-Bok, full of surprises and exciting twists? Even the goblin and nephil maps used to be less repetitive, I feel like. Come to think of it, G3 had the same plot problems, with a very Lufia-esque, undeviating and repetitive sequence of events... -- Slartucker, who still really likes the game, despite all his negativity

PS only claims to give a chance at preventing such freezing. I'd guess it's based on cold resistance.

PS only claims to give a chance at preventing such freezing. I'd guess it's based on cold resistance.

*stifled giggling*

Hmm... he doesn't drop anything?

Hmm... he doesn't drop anything?

AAaaaahAHhhh! Shikeys but this guy is tough. Wow. Even on Easy, he seems a bit much for my singleton to handle. The demon is pretty much irrelevant. I suppose I could just shell out the cash for Heal, and cast that and shoot my bow every turn, and use some very large number of energy potions... but jeez. There's gotta be a better way. Synergy, any thoughts? I think I'm just gonna have to wait for a second +AP item, and come back once I've gotten that significant power boost.

AAaaaahAHhhh! Shikeys but this guy is tough. Wow. Even on Easy, he seems a bit much for my singleton to handle. The demon is pretty much irrelevant. I suppose I could just shell out the cash for Heal, and cast that and shoot my bow every turn, and use some very large number of energy potions... but jeez. There's gotta be a better way. Synergy, any thoughts? I think I'm just gonna have to wait for a second +AP item, and come back once I've gotten that significant power boost.

Clearly, Alorael is a he. But Aloreal is a he/she/it. Alorael, did you know you have an evil twin?

Arcane Shield is, however, the only spell that will give you mental shielding.

Arcane Shield is, however, the only spell that will give you mental shielding.

Enduring Priest Update: I've now completed most of the Eastern Gallery. Well, not the chitrach tunnels. Ugh. I think I'll take those out with Bolt of Fire. Even if I have to go back to town once to restore MP, that's better than sitting through each bug swinging and missing five times in a row. I'm at level 20, and the game has become *laughably* easy, a lot like singleton play in Exile, except slower. It's still fun though, or at least it is in the areas that have more than 1 or 2 types of enemies repeated ad naseum. I have been switching around the difficulty a bit, to see how challenging the higher levels are... they aren't challenging at ALL. Counting item bonuses I have 10 Dex, 10 Luck, 3 Gymnastics, and 6 Defense. Enduring Shield gives me an extra bonus of 40% or so, and rising as I start buying Spellcraft and Magery. On the higher difficulties things will hit sometimes, but still infrequently enough that all my MP (I bought up to 6 Intelligence, for Magery of course) makes them easy enough to take care of. The game does become more tedious on the higher difficulties, though. I haven't missed Tool Use at all. After getting Augmentation, I haven't met a trap that can stump me. (Except that *blasted* town alarm trap in Grindstone, that really pissed me off.) Unlock Doors is fine for doors. I will probably buy some Arcane Lore (4 points of it, to get to 6, or 12 with equipment) but not till I find a good spellbook. Kelner's Dispel Barrier spell only requires 5 arcane lore, by the way, Synergy... not a stretch at all. If I really wanted to buy Nature Lore (or more Arcane lore, or Tool Use) it wouldn't be a problem. Not on Easy or Normal, anyway. Having 20 fewer skill points would not make a big deal to me right now, and passing up the next 20 would really not be a problem.

Enduring Priest Update: I've now completed most of the Eastern Gallery. Well, not the chitrach tunnels. Ugh. I think I'll take those out with Bolt of Fire. Even if I have to go back to town once to restore MP, that's better than sitting through each bug swinging and missing five times in a row. I'm at level 20, and the game has become *laughably* easy, a lot like singleton play in Exile, except slower. It's still fun though, or at least it is in the areas that have more than 1 or 2 types of enemies repeated ad naseum. I have been switching around the difficulty a bit, to see how challenging the higher levels are... they aren't challenging at ALL. Counting item bonuses I have 10 Dex, 10 Luck, 3 Gymnastics, and 6 Defense. Enduring Shield gives me an extra bonus of 40% or so, and rising as I start buying Spellcraft and Magery. On the higher difficulties things will hit sometimes, but still infrequently enough that all my MP (I bought up to 6 Intelligence, for Magery of course) makes them easy enough to take care of. The game does become more tedious on the higher difficulties, though. I haven't missed Tool Use at all. After getting Augmentation, I haven't met a trap that can stump me. (Except that *blasted* town alarm trap in Grindstone, that really pissed me off.) Unlock Doors is fine for doors. I will probably buy some Arcane Lore (4 points of it, to get to 6, or 12 with equipment) but not till I find a good spellbook. Kelner's Dispel Barrier spell only requires 5 arcane lore, by the way, Synergy... not a stretch at all. If I really wanted to buy Nature Lore (or more Arcane lore, or Tool Use) it wouldn't be a problem. Not on Easy or Normal, anyway. Having 20 fewer skill points would not make a big deal to me right now, and passing up the next 20 would really not be a problem.

Digression is a natural part of conversation, especially in group conversations. It's something that many people appreciate and there's no reason why you wouldn't expect to find it on a message board.

Friend of mine from Chicago, he's a grad student there now. *shrug* Worth a shot. There have been several attempts made to phoneticize English spelling in this country. They all died out pretty quickly, though we can still see the results of one in the White Sox and Red Sox baseball team names. (YEAH sox!) Personally, I think it would be fun to force all languages to transliterate into IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), but then, I'm crazy. -- [slar'tUkr]