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Are even the medium-level priest spells really necessary? You can use potions for armor where you need to, and nothing else looks too important, really. That would save a lot of dear, dear skill points. A singleton MUST be played as a tank, really, and every point of Dex, Gymnastics, Defense, Parry, Endurance, Luck, Resistance, etc. really counts.

Are even the medium-level priest spells really necessary? You can use potions for armor where you need to, and nothing else looks too important, really. That would save a lot of dear, dear skill points. A singleton MUST be played as a tank, really, and every point of Dex, Gymnastics, Defense, Parry, Endurance, Luck, Resistance, etc. really counts.

(goes up levels) (ahead of everyone else) not (goes up) ((levels ahead) of everyone else) He's only 500 or 600 XP up, right now; each level he gets about a 50 XP lead on the others, which makes sense given that he gets 50% of normal experience and the others get 45% of it.

(goes up levels) (ahead of everyone else) not (goes up) ((levels ahead) of everyone else) He's only 500 or 600 XP up, right now; each level he gets about a 50 XP lead on the others, which makes sense given that he gets 50% of normal experience and the others get 45% of it.

Heh. I may try a singleton in a bit, but I'm not going to just yet. Synergy -- what difficulty level are you using? Clearly, Arcane Lore is a lost cause. It would cost 110 points to raise either one to 20. Spells will have to be bought. Or are the highest level spells not sold by anyone? That would be annoying. Nature Lore I'm not sure about -- if there is a lot of Graymold and Mandrake hidden in dirt piles, it might be worth investing in in order to get more Knowledge Brew. Prolly not, but there are so many dirt piles I've yet to dig in! *rolls eyes* I'm a little bit worried, Synergy, about what will happen at higher levels. Given the necessary investment into magic and tools, I don't think you'll have the skill points to develop both a good defense and a good attack. I suppose you could use magic and bows to attack, and rely a lot on energy potions; but I'm not sure that's feasable, and even if it is it sounds pretty annoying.

Heh. I may try a singleton in a bit, but I'm not going to just yet. Synergy -- what difficulty level are you using? Clearly, Arcane Lore is a lost cause. It would cost 110 points to raise either one to 20. Spells will have to be bought. Or are the highest level spells not sold by anyone? That would be annoying. Nature Lore I'm not sure about -- if there is a lot of Graymold and Mandrake hidden in dirt piles, it might be worth investing in in order to get more Knowledge Brew. Prolly not, but there are so many dirt piles I've yet to dig in! *rolls eyes* I'm a little bit worried, Synergy, about what will happen at higher levels. Given the necessary investment into magic and tools, I don't think you'll have the skill points to develop both a good defense and a good attack. I suppose you could use magic and bows to attack, and rely a lot on energy potions; but I'm not sure that's feasable, and even if it is it sounds pretty annoying.

Symbiosis would have been a potentially REALLY useful spell, if it had actually worked well. The cool thing about the spells in Exile (2 and 3, really) is that they were willing to break the rules in balanced ways. Experienced game designers often avoid doing that because they are aware of how easy it is to mess up and ruin game balance when you break rules. But in Exile they were done very well. The field-creating spells in particular expanded strategy by a lot; and Mindduel, Envenom, Shockwave, Stealth... so many ways to attack. I think it's telling that the most powerful magic was often to Simulacrum a Null Bug.

Symbiosis would have been a potentially REALLY useful spell, if it had actually worked well. The cool thing about the spells in Exile (2 and 3, really) is that they were willing to break the rules in balanced ways. Experienced game designers often avoid doing that because they are aware of how easy it is to mess up and ruin game balance when you break rules. But in Exile they were done very well. The field-creating spells in particular expanded strategy by a lot; and Mindduel, Envenom, Shockwave, Stealth... so many ways to attack. I think it's telling that the most powerful magic was often to Simulacrum a Null Bug.

1. I am quickly concluding that the worst thing about Deadeye is that it ONLY penalizes 10% rather than 15%. Now my archer goes up levels ahead of everyone else, thereby reducing the amount of experience everyone else gets! Very annoying. 2. Luck has a very small effect, but it has a very small effect on a number of different things. It definitely affects hostile effect resistance and item drops. I'm pretty sure it affects hitting, dodging, and damage as well. (If past games are any guide, Luck will give +1% where most skills give +5%.) I imagine it affects saving throws for charm and such, and there are probably other effects. So it's a very good value, it's just unfocused.

1. I am quickly concluding that the worst thing about Deadeye is that it ONLY penalizes 10% rather than 15%. Now my archer goes up levels ahead of everyone else, thereby reducing the amount of experience everyone else gets! Very annoying. 2. Luck has a very small effect, but it has a very small effect on a number of different things. It definitely affects hostile effect resistance and item drops. I'm pretty sure it affects hitting, dodging, and damage as well. (If past games are any guide, Luck will give +1% where most skills give +5%.) I imagine it affects saving throws for charm and such, and there are probably other effects. So it's a very good value, it's just unfocused.

Clearly I need to attempt this challenge. On Easy, of course. And I am sympathetic to Jeff's unsympathy. Unlike in Exile there's nothing more 'convenient' about playing singleton. Nephil, Divinely Touched, Elite Warrior. There's going to be no avoiding melee combat and the parry bonus will be very helpful. NO skills will be bought before they are trainable. That means going back for herbs and spellbooks at some point, but that's fine. Hmm. I suppose putting off Tool Use is a little masochistic, though...

Clearly I need to attempt this challenge. On Easy, of course. And I am sympathetic to Jeff's unsympathy. Unlike in Exile there's nothing more 'convenient' about playing singleton. Nephil, Divinely Touched, Elite Warrior. There's going to be no avoiding melee combat and the parry bonus will be very helpful. NO skills will be bought before they are trainable. That means going back for herbs and spellbooks at some point, but that's fine. Hmm. I suppose putting off Tool Use is a little masochistic, though...

Well, I happened to raise a whole bunch of luck at once, and noticed I was suddenly getting more items. Then I recalled that luck had a huge impact on item drops in Geneforge, and voila. Since the item and creature scripting appears to be lifted unchanged from Geneforge, it makes sense that's the same. So I'm pretty sure.

Well, I happened to raise a whole bunch of luck at once, and noticed I was suddenly getting more items. Then I recalled that luck had a huge impact on item drops in Geneforge, and voila. Since the item and creature scripting appears to be lifted unchanged from Geneforge, it makes sense that's the same. So I'm pretty sure.

I have heard a few comments as to the difficulty and/or impossibility of running a singleton party in A4. Certainly it seems like it would be much harder than the cake walk it was in older games. I'm not about to try it (not yet anyway) but I'm curious, how would you attempt to go about it?

I have heard a few comments as to the difficulty and/or impossibility of running a singleton party in A4. Certainly it seems like it would be much harder than the cake walk it was in older games. I'm not about to try it (not yet anyway) but I'm curious, how would you attempt to go about it?

*facepalm* I can't believe I forgot this before! The answer to the financing problem is LUCK. Luck, luck, luck. Okay, it's a very partial answer. But bringing your luck up to 4 or 5 will net a dramatic increase in the number of enemies that drop treasure. Lots of enemies drop jewelry. Since luck is fairly useful in general, it's not a trainable skill, and you're not really in a skill crunch before the Eastern Gallery, it's easy to pick it up early on.

*facepalm* I can't believe I forgot this before! The answer to the financing problem is LUCK. Luck, luck, luck. Okay, it's a very partial answer. But bringing your luck up to 4 or 5 will net a dramatic increase in the number of enemies that drop treasure. Lots of enemies drop jewelry. Since luck is fairly useful in general, it's not a trainable skill, and you're not really in a skill crunch before the Eastern Gallery, it's easy to pick it up early on.

I was loathe to make the change from 640 x 480 because I'd rather have a small space used carefully and well, than a large space used carelessly. On larger screens one of two things happens: either everything gets bigger (icons and fonts in the Finder and now default to almost twice as big as they were originally), or I start squinting. Neither is an improvement. There are a few tasks where having a large screen can be really useful, but usually it doesn't add anything. I use 1024x768 habitually now, but under protest... web pages these days are so cluttered with big useless graphics that it's very difficult to use the web on anything smaller. To bring up a very old analogy, 640x480 is to 1024x768 as Exile is to Realmz. And we all know who the winner is there! — Slartucker, who just before downloading Avernum 4 was involved in a game of Wizardy VI, in order to run which he has to emulate a black-and-white Mac Plus with 512x342 resolution. Now that was hot. Interestingly, the feline race in Wizardry (Felpurrs) was also somewhat overpowered.

Synergy, you and I are following almost exactly the same game plan! It's almost as if we were discussing this before we started playing... heh. I am just around Draco at the moment, and I'll probably progress more slowly since the maps are all new to me. I have to say, I am really astonished by how powerful First Aid is. I only have 6 points and yet my SP get refilled at a very pleasing pace. Oh yeah, I made a new party with 68 points of First Aid as a test, and didn't get any more effect than usual from rats... so it seems there's a creature-specific cap. That would have been a real sad skill to be broken, eh?

Synergy, you and I are following almost exactly the same game plan! It's almost as if we were discussing this before we started playing... heh. I am just around Draco at the moment, and I'll probably progress more slowly since the maps are all new to me. I have to say, I am really astonished by how powerful First Aid is. I only have 6 points and yet my SP get refilled at a very pleasing pace. Oh yeah, I made a new party with 68 points of First Aid as a test, and didn't get any more effect than usual from rats... so it seems there's a creature-specific cap. That would have been a real sad skill to be broken, eh?

OS X is a good thing. After the time I refused to upgrade to System 7, I've learned to be receptive to new OS's, if nothing else.

The other option I've considered is to only allow myself saves in friendly territory, much like some console RPGs. That way I can still reset if I need to, but I can't (not efficiently anyway) force a battle to go well by reloading when it doesn't.

The other option I've considered is to only allow myself saves in friendly territory, much like some console RPGs. That way I can still reset if I need to, but I can't (not efficiently anyway) force a battle to go well by reloading when it doesn't.

Yeah, but this quote tag takes up so much space... I know, I know, I'm a real minimalist Luddite. You should have seen how long it took for me to be willing to switch my monitor resolution up to 800x600.