Arch-Mage Solberg

Reading 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaband' for the fifth time. I just enjoy reading them over and over! Post #496

I wandered into that very same problem when I first started playing E2 many years ago in 1998. I'm sorry to say that I never was able to find a way out of he situation and was regretably forced to restart my entire game. But don't give up though...someone else here might have found a way! Oh and by the way...Welcome to Spiderweb Software trener...leave your sanity at the door! Post #495

Please don't think I'm stupid or something...but...how can anti-matter be contained by anything made from matter? Do they not cancel each other out at the point they meet? Or am I thinking of Dark Matter or Dark Energy? Post #494

Thanks Triumph...seems so easy now that I think of it...he says it like 3 or 4 times! Post #493

Dang...I have dial-up...that pic does not agree with me! Post #492

Originally Posted By: Masquerade I remember reading somewhere that Jeff doesn't have the time/funds/bother to make more than one character portrait for each character class... I believe that you read it here! Post #491

I feel stupid asking this question having beat the game years ago. I had a hintbook but I lost it somehow. Here's my question; I talked to Iltanor and he told me where the poison was but there's a password...what is it? Post #490

Y'all are so funny! Post #489

Gorgons have very bad breath. May I suggest some mouthwash? Post #488

Originally Posted By: The Mystic Originally Posted By: Arch-Mage Solberg It took me about 2 months of playing to beat E3 (I could only play a few hours a day and not even everyday because of military service.) It only took a little more than 3 weeks to beat A3 (even with the above restrictions). Then again, A3's plot is nearly identical to E3, so there was a lot you should've already known to do, and how to do it. That's true, but some parts of the game went by like nothing. Especially the fighting. I played E3 after playing A3 and confirmed that many of the fight scenes are harder in E3. Sure I might have known my way around better in A3 than I did in E3, but I still think A3 is easier to beat than E3. Post #487

This all sounds awsome. Wish I was good enough at doing that sort of stuff to actually try it though! Post #486

I also try to keep my spelling and grammar in check. I don't have Chrome or anything else like some of you have. In school I gave some thought about what I wrote and would check it often. Now when I write I don't really care if it isn't perfect. I do want my words to look somewhat intelligent. I do care how I am viewed on these boards. Post #485

Originally Posted By: So Much Killing To answer the question in your original post, there is a lot of food throughout the game. As long as you collect what is available, you will have more than enough to get you through. And you can sell or give away (for experience) all of the bags of meal that you find. Thanks SMK, this is what I wanted to know! Originally Posted By: So Much Killing If you're an obsessive collector (like me), it's easy to finish with more than 100 items of several different types of food. I am a total completist. Every nook and cranny must be searched and every storyline exposed before I can rest! Originally Posted By: Khoth The real reason for the famine is that a group of soldiers are running round Avernum obsessively hoarding every scrap of food that they can find. Dang...was that me? Maybe King Starrus will send some other adventurers after me to get me to stop hoarding! Post #484

I misspelled the title for emphasis. I was just wondering, how good are some of y'all at keeping to good grammar on the forums? Post #483

What I was trying to say is that there is supposed to be a famine of sorts going on, but the playing characters find not only enough food to survive, but much more than enough. My first game where I did everything possible in the demo, I had about 30 bags of meal, 15 units of Dried Meat, 11 units of Fruit, 17 units of Meats, 9 units of big Mushrooms, 15 units of small Mushrooms, 8 units of Bread, 14 units of Rolls and 21 units of Fish. With a famine going on, my party was able to scrounge up enough to seemingly feed an entire army! What I was wanting to know was since the Great Cave is stacked on food (apparently), are the other areas nearly as stacked on food? Post #482 Edit: Also, if only the mushroom plants are inedible, why is there a famine with so much other choices for food?

I'm playing through the demo of A6 again and would like to bring up something. There's supposed to be a famine of sorts going on, yet the characters you play find a lot of food around! Is this just how it is in the begining and food gets scarcer as you leave the Great Cave or is it just this way for the characters? Post #481

I also haven't played either E3 or A3 in years. I also noticed the comparitive easiness of A3 compared to E3. It took me about 2 months of playing to beat E3 (I could only play a few hours a day and not even everyday because of military service.) It only took a little more than 3 weeks to beat A3 (even with the above restrictions). Post #480

Originally Posted By: Parahuman Our soldiers aren't keeping us safe. Fighting Germany in WWII was probably necessary to avoid fighting Germany and/or Japan later and alone, but since then we've been fighting others' battles. To some extent, that's an international duty, but our political leadership hasn't managed its military strength well. —Alorael, who also invites anyone claiming a military is necessary to a good life to look at Germany or Japan. Or Costa Rica, especially in comparison with its neighbors. The caveat, of course, is that you don't need a military if you have the right friends and they have enough guns. I do agree that our leadership isn't managing well our military too well. It may also be said that some countries don't have any military forces but have powerful allies who do. America does not have the luzury of powerful allies to defend us from others. We not only have to defend ourselves, but others as well to keep the threat down and manageable. Originally Posted By: Tirien Originally Posted By: Arch-Mage Solberg For those who scoff and speak ill of the military and say that we would probably be better without them, I say if you think that it's bad here...go somewhere else and see how it is. Odds are that while some things are done better in other places, America truly has more freedom and choices. Doesnt really explain why America spends more on its military than the rest of the world combined spends on their's, does it? Probably because the U.S. has one of the best fighting and equipped forces in the world? A great deal of countries don’t even have militaries. Most that do don’t have a lot. Look at the forces in most African and South American countries. Their militaries are living in near poverty. The only other countries that come close are England, Russia, China, Japan, and France. Originally Posted By: Parahuman —Alorael, who doesn't know that it isn't. He isn't a military expert or a political scientist. He does, however, think that the question is sufficiently open that shooting first and asking the questions later is not a good idea. If nothing else, think of what other security measures could be enacted with money saved by not fighting two wars on foreign soil. There probably does need to be more diplomatic means to solve most of the problams we face. But if someone from out of nowhere and with no apparent reason punches you in the face, are you gonna stand there and talk about why he did it or punch him back? What am I trying to say? That sometimes shooting first and asking questions second is sometimes justifiable. Obviously, this doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes attacks are with reason but too brutal or they are justifiable for some reason. Each and every attack is open to question. It's never an easy thing to say to your Generals 'Go out there and attack this country'. You know that there will be bloodshed on both sides. I'm sorry for the long post. I just wanted to respond to a few things directed to me and also respond to other postings as well. Alorael, I hope that you don't think that i'm picking on you or anything because I quoted you twice! Post #479

I have found records of family living in America decades before the Revolutionary War. Some of my ancestors also fought in that war. I have family members that have fought in every major war since then. The war of 1812, the Texas Revolution, the Mexican-American war, the Civil War, the Spanish-American war, the Boxer Rebellion, World War II, and Vietnam. I served in the Navy from March 2001 to March 2006. My dad served in the army from 1972 to 1977. I have a family rich in military background. Veterans Day means more to me than it probably does to some Americans. There are many veterans who served but never saw combat, like me. This does not mean that my, or any one elses, service isn't valid. Not everyone can or is able to serve in combat. November 11 is a day set aside for military veterans who gave their time, abilities and even to the extreme...their lives! We should honor their sacrifice and celebrate Veterans Day the way it's meant to be celebrated. If it wasn't for our fighting men and women who protect us and keep us safe from thse who wish us harm, we wouldn't be able to enjoy all the liberties that we have. For those who scoff and speak ill of the military and say that we would probably be better without them, I say if you think that it's bad here...go somewhere else and see how it is. Odds are that while some things are done better in other places, America truly has more freedom and choices. Post #478

Originally Posted By: rage, rage against the light I'm pretty sure there are walls and gates back in A1. I can't remember all the way back to E1. —Alorael, who knows there are at least a few walls to make things safer. Also patrolling guards to remind you that walls are there for your protection, citizen. In A1, Mertis did not have walls to protect itself. In A2, Mertis could've been a fort with the the walls and troops inside. In A3, we can't see Mertis. In A4, they talk about building walls for protection (maybe they somehow got destroyed between A2 and A4?). In A5, again we can't see Mertis. In A6, apparently (I only have the demo of the game) as some have said, Mertis has walls. Post #477

Originally Posted By: The Mystic Actually, in A1, once you get Unlock Doors at level 3, the spell will unlock all doors, no matter how strong the lock/magic/whatever. Tool use is pretty much only relevant to traps from that point on. I loved that apparent glitch. Even if the door needed a key to open, if you had lvl 3 Unlock doors, it would open. Too bad it spill over to the other Avernum's! Post #476

I thought that remembered some thread about it some time ago. I looked here and found that apparently I was wrong. I appologize to you Lilith and everyone else at the Spiderweb Software forums for being wrong on that note, but stand beside my vote for the canonical ending. Post #475

I love the encumbrance system. It reminds me of times long gone with Exile: Escape From the Pit. My next favorite is the ability to move the screen with the four arrow keys while moving my characters with the main eight keys. My third favorite is the look of the games. Sure A6's screen is a bit clustered, but I like it just the same (At least it's not as small as E1's)! This is a list of my favorite things. Post #474

Although ther are many endings available, Jeff seemed to make certain ones canonical. The adventurers are meant to be sneaky and avoid fights if they can. Remember in A4 when we fought Rentar-Ihrno? No matter what you ending you got in your game, the one that mattered was that you talked your way out of the fight and Rentar was spared. Now obviously not every boss had an escape clause, but some smaller ones did (Hrikis) I believe that the canonical ending to A6 is that you completed all of Gladwell's and Melanchion's quests and killed neither. They rule over the caves in an uneasy stalemate with a smaller Avernum in the middle. These are just my thoughts on the subject. Post #473

Originally Posted By: Tirien Originally Posted By: Arch-Mage Solberg I also love the old Avernum games. In contrast, I love the newer games better! I am surrounded by heretics! The older a game, the better it is. Just look at Pong and Pacman! I still play the old games. When I say I love the newer games better, that doesn't necessarily mean I hate the older ones. People will be drawn towards bigger and better, it's just human nature. Nostalgia is fine and all, but after a while you realize that there's a difference between really liking to play a game and nostalgia. Take it from me, I used to be a real advocate for the Exile Trilogy. After a while, I realized what I said above. Post #472