Slawbug

A lot of this info is compiled here, up through 2007 anyway: https://web.archive.org/web/20090403085320/http://home.comcast.net/~tom_05/contests.html Which should at least get past the last time the BoE forum here was pruned.

Doh. Thanks for trying, that's too bad. Reading through the OP again... It occurs to me that the "never work" key is something you use in walkabout mode, while the "occasionally or delayed" keys are things you press in dialogue. This combination could be plausible if the issue is one of being constantly bombarded with other keyboard input, like a function key, that the game checks for a potential use in walkabout mode, but mostly ignores in dialogue mode. Years ago (as google reminded me) this came up in a single user's copy of G4, where it was constantly receiving an F12 input. (We never did figure that one out how to make it stop; their laptop was very old and they dumped it a few months later.) So followup question: can you give a complete (as complete as reasonable, anyway) list of keys that (1) work, (2) never work, and (3) sometimes work or have a delay? (my only other thought is to look at anything else you have installed that could cause a conflict. Keymapping or controller software (even LED keyboard software), a particularly zealous antivirus, anything that runs in the background... but that's a slog and it's hard to know what the culprit might be anyway)

Steam can mess around with keyboard input if its controller settings are active. If you find and run the application from outside of Steam, i.e. opening it directly from File Explorer, do you have the same issues?

This is not a known issue AFAIK. That said, G4 is a 17 year old game at this point (!) (even if we love it) so it's definitely possible there's a conflict with a piece of software that did not exist 17 years ago. A few questions: 1. What platform did you get the game through (Steam, GOG, direct from Spiderweb, etc)? 2. What version of Windows? I'd ask about keymapping software, controllers, etc., but the fact that some of the keys work inconsistently or with a delay suggests the problem might not be about input being recognized specifically. Do you notice any kind of other slowdowns, graphics stuttering, anything like that? Or is it solely keyboard commands?

"You reach the end of the passage, and find it has been sealed. Thousands of tons of shattered rock close the tunnel off. You look at the ceiling and see the signs of a massive magical blow, used to cause the rockfall... It is clear that the Vahnatai have left your lands, and left for good. Two chilling questions hang in the thick, dusty air: Where did they go, and can they be stopped?" This is how they leave Ghikra. It's not entirely clear if it's the way they came, though it's a definite possibility. You can't actually find it until they're gone.

On the last question, almost certainly not. It's never made explicit, but of the ToM/Olgai portal, we do get: "This portal was Exile's connection to the lands of the Vahnatai. It still exists, but just barely. It flickers in and out of existance, and is clearly far too weak to use. The room is filled with dust. Nobody has been here in a while." It also seems unlikely that they would have been willing to send all those Crystal Souls through the portal to Upper Exile. And we know they had other ways up, since obviously none of the magic behind the Plagues went through the ToM.

I think this is very true -- with the caveat that not every society is brutal and shallow in the same ways, or even equally brutal or shallow or whatever overall. But there are lots of ways to be harmful. So I think the romanticizing is really about seeing something that is compensatory to contemporary society. It's sort of the opposite project of dystopian literature, which is almost always applicable to something harmful in contemporary society. I'm not sure how interested Asimov was in either one, but Bradbury definitely tried to do both, sometimes at the same time. (The other thing that strikes me, sitting here reading this, is how much the two lines I quoted sound like Bradbury.)

I think, in the original game code, sanctuary only affects melee and missile attacks. I don't think that missile routine is used by spellcasters (except possibly for missile-based spells like Flame Arrows?) but boy it's been a long time.

Bradbury does have some pretty great psychological/human stuff, but it's in his novels. I found the Martian Chronicles to be empty and listless. I don't know why they are held in the regard they are.

I use the flaming weapon augment in Tevrono extensively. (The extra-flame-damage-on-hit, not the use-charges-to-cast-Flame, which is terrible.) Abusing Bless means accuracy isn't an issue, so the higher damage increase is as good as it gets. Gale has a higher +, I want to say +3? The blessing is worthless too, it just uses charges to cast Bless.

@Ess-Eschas please check your messages.

I believe just those two tasks removes the requirement entirely. I'm not sure, but I think the requirement actually starts at just 2 tests, if you didn't do either of those things on the trip down the river.

Ooh, that makes a lot of sense. That's gotta be it.

Yup.

So, um... 16 years ago?

That's _insanely_ horrible luck. Wow. Wow.

Weird! I dunno. It might be worth using the editor to cheat yourself Mage Spells again (or Lockpicks skill and a bunch of Magic Lockpicks), just to try magically unlocking the door. At least then you can rule out any weirdness with the piercing crystals.

Piercing Crystals should work, and it doesn't look like anyone's ever had trouble with this door before. OP, can you confirm that you have already received the "offer" from Vothkaro to kill Elhioc? The one in scroll form. I'm wondering if this door is a plot-skipping protection, essentially.

If Move Mountains isn't the answer, can you post a screenshot?

Looks like we're each half right: you do have to be "altered" to use any of the high level spells, full stop. Tuldaric is the one who invents altering and so when the game opens, only the Awakened can alter you. If you join the Takers or the Barzites, the first thing they will demand, once you've been let in, is to steal Tuldaric's research; after doing so, they will alter you.

The lack of rewards also makes some sense thematically. The Loyalists you can actually join in G2 are Zakary's Loyalists, and they are presented as, well, a little bit dippy and pathetic. The non-aligned ending where you kill all the leaders, including Zakary, was arguably a much better Loyalist outcome. As for the Awakened... wait. Maybe I'm misremembering, but don't you have to join the Awakened for Tuldaric to Augment you? That's a pretty huge reward, considering there's no way to duplicate it.

No, they really weren't. In G1-3, most of the alternates were scaled up in cost far more than they were in power and effectiveness. There could be situational arguments for a few, like Terror Vlish. Some could have been redeemed with better balancing, like Plated Bugs. But the vast majority of them were simply bad values.

Shanti is also, next to Erika, arguably the most broadly beloved character Jeff has created. I sincerely hope the remake does her justice.

The problem before was that most of the alternate creations just weren't very good. Cryoas were the only real standout, and even then regular Vlish were mostly better.