Ephesos

Yeah, he pretty much summed it up. This kind of discussion has seen its day, over and over and over again. Besides, you didn't include the other, better races (granted, they're unplayable).

Ice Drake, no need to post such a short response... you don't have to post whatever comes into your head. Still, it's encouraging to see that you're learning.

 

You've got to wonder how the Triad managed to get so much of the caves lit... and if they had that much power, why not try to light the farms better (and grow something other than mushrooms)?

 

Also, why doesn't Avernum's messed up day/night cycle (or lack thereof) interfere with the Avernites more?

'Tis downright depressing to see how many people lack the language abilities to hold a conversation outside of instant messaging language (which is, after all, a completely different tongue).

Example of actual English: "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue;"

Hm... I wonder what that'd look like in chatspeak?

I was wondering when you'd send this to the boards for testing, Chris (I assume I'm right on this one, if not I'll be somewhat embarrassed).

 

Send it along if you need more testing.

EphesosSH@aol.com

Yeah, you'd think that with a primarily agricultural economy there'd be some harvest-time style holidays. Although, that wouldn't mean much to an adventurer, I suppose.

Very true... Jeff did a good job of getting those little details in. Truly enriches the gameplay, and helps you forget the little annoying bits.

That's kind of what I meant...

Actually, I'm curious about the Anama's presence in Valorim pre-Empire. I wonder how much of a hand they had in things...

Yeah, he just gets killed anyway... though he does give you some tips on how to deal with Rentar's Keep.

 

EDIT: Wait... you killed a Crystal Soul in Ghirka? How, or rather why, did you do that?

Well, don't forget about the Keep of Tinraya area, that's got a few cities in it. Still, the distribution is a bit weird there... particularly when you consider the isle of Bigail.

 

Could just be a matter of indigenous people who had already settled the southern coasts before the Empire arrived...

Best plot: A2. It all flowed together quite nicely, and the weapons were never made obscenely powerful (nor were they downgraded... *cough* Jade halberd *cough*).

 

Biggest: A3. Takes a while to finish... though it does have a bit more replay value than A2, and the branching missions can be nice.

 

I think they're both great. I think I enjoyed A2 more, though... particularly since A3 doesn't let you do anything else after winning.

Uhh... I believe there's a topic already devoted to this kind of thing... just follow the link and head toward the light.

 

The Abominable Party-Building Topic

Oh... of course I got it... how could you ever suggest such a thing?

 

(dashes back into Canopy)

My mage has enough dexterity to get fairly good priority, and thus has a fairly good amount of accuracy with the scepter. Try increasing Mage Spells, though.

 

Which scenario is Maximilian in?

Well, I admit my strategy could use some work, but here's my contribution to this already abominable thread...

 

My structure (and I use this same party in every scenario... they're level 50 now):

 

-Fighter: Yes, he's a bit of a tank. With the Halberd of Calindor (thank you Kelandon) he can deal absurdly huge amounts of damage, sometimes close to 400. I've found stuff like Plate of Electrocution (or Razor Plate... that kind of works) helps soften up attackers a bit. He has a passing acquaintance with Priest Spells (healing & blessing himself). Also, he's loaded down with extra AP items (though everyone in my party is by now). Lots of Quick Strike and Blademaster really help with this, and he's got huge amounts of Pole/Melee Weapons skill. However, I learned not to make him too strong thanks to Kelandon's interesting trick in Bahssikava (turning your first character against you). He had Manslaughter then, and it was impossible to get by him (I had to take his weapons from him before trying again).

 

-Archer/Rogue/Assassin - A bit of all three, with some basic Mage Spells thrown in. And he's a Nephil. Lots of Sharpshooter, Bows, Dexterity (to get high combat priority), and Melee. Absurdly huge Tool Use (I think I might've used the Char. Editor a bit). Nimble Fingers & Fast on Feet definitely help. For some reason I had him using Hendrickson's crossbow, but Alderague is much better. Nothing but Acid/Blessed Bolts, and he carries Manslaughter now that my fighter has Calindor's Halberd.

 

-Mage - Ever since he got Morog's Scepter, he's been very useful. Anything that can't burn gets smited by that scepter. 11 Luck right now, 16 Magery, and 9 Magical Eff. Natural Mage, of course. For equipment, Robe of the Magi, Dagger of Defense, Miracle Shield, and of course the Scepter.

I'd like to speak up for mages, as well. Fireblast has saved me quite a few times, particularly for those melee-immune monsters (Dark Chitrachs in Bahssikava) which my priest just can't quite do much to. Slow also helps quite a bit, for when you just need that moment's reprieve.

 

-Priest - My priest is a slith, and she's naturally got high Priest Spells, along with Potion Making and Magery (a bit of Mag. Eff. as well). Potion Making really does work wonders, and it really lowers your dependency on the Character Editor. She wields a sling (blessed), the Black Dress of Speed, a Magic Slith Spear, and she has enough combat stats to do a bit of damage (not much, but still helpful).

 

Anyway, this format has served me well, and is getting me through Bahssikava with minimal difficulty (except for the part when your 1st character goes crazy).

 

As a side note, I find an interesting challenge in fielding an all-priest party (like the Anama, but not quite), all with huge Nature Lore scores. I dub it a Druid party, and I'm looking at ways of improving it (not surprisingly, everyone in that party wields special weapons from my still-in-development scenario).

Now that could be interesting... I can see slith having a fire fixation (divine fire-esque... gotta keep the holy element), nephilim focusing on summoning, and humans focusing on ... whatever's left. I don't know quite how it'd work, but it would definitely be cool.

 

On the other hand, programming 40 unique spells per species (well, minus the standbys like healing and Light) would be a living nightmare for anyone.

Okay, how would that one work? This isn't exactly an online-play-friendly game... you'd need an über-sprawling world like Valorim, and tons of endless monster plagues. (Which I am personally sick of, I'm not sure about everyone else)

Why on earth would it need an editor? That's Blades!

 

Oh yeah, it'd be great to see a few of the half-finished promises of A3 be fully realized. After all, "buying a house" should mean having more than one option. Not to say that Hawke's Manse wasn't cool, but it'd be nice to have a house where my equipment didn't start disappearing at random.

 

Also, true open-endedness would entail being able to join the dark side, correct? Thus, A3 should've allowed you to join Rentar's army, or (even better) get all of Avernum's forces to cooperate with the Vahnatai.

Let's see... I don't think there's anything more satisfying than using Fireblast to roast 8 targets for 200 damage. Also, Simulacrum is definitely a good last-resort tactic.

 

Oddly enough, I'm getting a lot of use out of Create Illusions (level 10) now ever since I got it in somebody's scenario (probably Canopy).

 

Still, I think my priest runs out of SP much faster, if only because she's so busy casting multiple radiant shields per turn, and my mage has higher Magical Efficiency.

 

In the end I think that both are necessary, because forgoing either is expensive and heavy.

Okay, I stand corrected, though I still have my doubts as to when it'll come out.

 

I just don't want to see another "stop these plagues" story. They're interesting, but get old quickly (you can only kill so many roaches before you get bored).

 

EDIT: I forgot.... bring back Beast Ceremony!!!

There have been numerous threads about this sort of thing... Jeff has even promised it on the main Spidweb website.

 

Really, I don't think it'll happen. Ever. After all, Blades is already inspiring so many sideline plots (not to mention ones that build off of A1-3) that an attempt at A4 would doom many a scenario idea.

 

Although I must admit that it'd be cool to see what Jeff could do to follow up on A3... a mission to thwart the Vahnatai?

Awesome! Thank you!

 

I think I might have had a corrupted resource... switching a new one in seemed to help things.

Well... I tried that, and now it just quits when I try to open the PICT part of the resource. Just how much memory did you guys set aside for it?

Okay, I'm using ResEdit (and a Mac) and trying to add in some graphics for the intro sequence of my scenario. It just won't let me copy them over from Appleworks. I hit Paste, but nothing happens.

 

The images I'm working with are screenshots from the 3D editor, and I'm opening them in Appleworks so I have somewhere to copy them from. Each time I try, it gives me an "Out of memory! Please try again later!" error, and won't let me do anything else.

 

I'm out of ideas.

Really, it's easy enough to just slip out after grabbing the package... you shouldn't have to fight everyone.

Depends... are you using a Mac? That can really make a difference when you're importing graphics (curse you, you stupid black line).

 

I know if you're using Appleworks to load graphics into something like ResEdit, you have to copy the image from the far upper-left corner of the document, otherwise some pixels don't match up. Don't know why (or if it'll help you here), but it works that way.