Lattan

Quote: Originally written by Student of Trinity: There are keyboard shortcuts for casting spells, just not for targeting them. Yeah, and we want shortcuts for targeting. If we had to choose to cast a spell and then select it with the mouse....*shudder*

Quote: Originally written by *i: TM, I'm getting sick of you quoting me by editing my posts. Your opinions are not god, so please stop acting like it. I didn't even notice the first time I saw him do that; I just wondered why he wasn't commenting after the quote.

I'm pretty sure the traps are level 12.

It will eventually appear after you do some stuff.

Quote: Originally written by Ephesos: Distances are perfectly realistic. Have you noticed how long it takes to run from Fort Draco to Fort Monastery? It takes about five times longer than it takes to run through Fort Draco. So, not really that long. In an older game it would probably have been only 2 map distances, but those two maps would have been 15 or 20 times as far as outdoors-level map of Fort Draco, which is much more realistic. I'm not really arguing for the old style or the new style here; I really think it's just more of a sidestep. Oh, and there actually is a grid when you go into combat, you just have to look closely.

Quote: Originally written by Kelandon: This happened to me several times, but then I checked the automap and saw a red dot somewhere in sight but hidden behind a tree or something. You've made sure to check the automap for red dots? The first thing I tried. Now it's vaguely possible there's also an automap bug that kept it from updating properly, but I don't think we want to go there just yet.

Quote: Originally written by Kelandon: You know, I thought that too, but the OED didn't mention anything about that. The dictionaries I checked only made a passing reference to the idea. It's not as integral to the definition as I thought. The Oxford American Dictionary (through the built-in Dictionary widget) carries "bad or unsatisfactory" as a denotated meaning of the word. And while I like the new death system, am I the only one who thinks it lets you off a little too easily?

Is that new to A4? Because I thought I saw in a previous game how you could make all of the archetypes with the 75 skill points. Of course, it's also harder for the archetypes to waste points in this game given the reduction in useless skills.

Is that new to A4? Because I thought I saw in a previous game how you could make all of the archetypes with the 75 skill points. Of course, it's also harder for the archetypes to waste points in this game given the reduction in useless skills.

Oh, yeah. I only noticed that in a few battles, but it did indeed suck. Something he could have fixed for this engine!

Quote: Originally written by Ytterbium-Enhanced Razor: It works with any letter A through L. Those correspond to the 12 slots on the ground from which you can get stuff. When you press one of the letters, a ground slot is selected, and if you have an item selected the item is dropped. If you don't, an item in that slot is picked up. Well, that makes sense in a strange kind of way. Quote: —Alorael, who is just glad to see that pressing A with an item selected doesn't swap it with the item in the A slot. That would imply that pressing A is the same as clicking the A slot, like targeting in A1-3, and that design was always singularly nonsensical. I agree swapping the item with the ground's "a" slot would be wierd, but are you saying you didn't like classic Avernum targeting? EDIT: I apparently still suck at this UBB Code.

Quote: Originally written by Synergy67: To drop something, just click on it while in a PC's inventory, and press "a"--it will drop onto the ground. With "a"? You can do it with "d" too, which makes me wonder if there's yet another keyboard shortcut for it. "D"(rop) makes sense to me, but "a" not so much.

I wasn't referring so much to the graphics as the keyboard shortcuts. Am I the only one who misses being able to target spells by hitting letter keys? Or being able to use a shortcut for every button on the screen. Or being able to use "look" which I think would still be nice to have; there have been a few times I missed stairs or whatever because they were mostly hidden behind walls.

You don't need lockpicks any longer.

Okay, well, the graphics engine is the same then. And if he was going to such great lengths why didn't he just give us a new one that looked a little more like Avernum?

One of the prefs lets you turn on an autoscroll to move with your party. As for characters not dying...well, it works better for me this way, anyway. It used to be that whenever one of my characters died I'd just reload; I don't do that any longer. It's more fun!

It's been a while since he wrote a totally new engine--Geneforge was the beginning of his current one, and that was 3.5-4 years ago. He's not going to take that kind of trouble until he's ready to do another new engine, which could be a while. BoA's engine had its roots in Nethergate from a very very long time ago. Essentially he seems to like the game-writing much more than the coding, so he spends lots of time on the former and as little as possible on the latter. And porting may take more time, but that's time that's later rather than right now.

A few times in A4 I've tried to exit combat only to be told an enemy is visible, only to have it not be in sight. The most recent example was in a dark cave and the enemy was a few bats perhaps 3 squares past visible range (I moved a character ).

I believe the blackness-not-clearing has to do with tabbing out of A4; I just experienced it for the first time after an extended browsing session and switching back in to A4. Shorter switches haven't made it happen, though. (OS 10.4.3, Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz 12")

Video drivers for this? Heh. I've never found Jeff's newer engines to be terribly efficient; when I was using my upgraded-to-G3 400MHz system Geneforge and BoA had some noticeable slowdown points. If it helps you any, sometimes when traveling long distances it burps on my 1.5 G5.

Characters don't die, they just go unconscious. And then you magically transport them around with you until you get back to a town, at which point they revive. I believe all that's lost are the XP they miss in any battles. However, it can be irritating since you also lose access to their inventory while they're dead.

Quote: Originally written by Spidweb: "A mage with tool use will not help unlock doors the spell." This was probably a misunderstanding of one of my E-mails. Tool use spell DOES help a mage's Unlock Doors spell. - Jeff Vogel Augh! Another restart! Oh well. I didn't even get out of Fort Monastery this time.

Quote: Originally written by Spidweb: "A mage with tool use will not help unlock doors the spell." This was probably a misunderstanding of one of my E-mails. Tool use spell DOES help a mage's Unlock Doors spell. - Jeff Vogel Augh! Another restart! Oh well. I didn't even get out of Fort Monastery this time.

Quote: Originally written by Delicious Vlish: Jeff told me in a long argument in email that the tool use skill and unlock doors have no bearing on each other. A mage with tool use will not help unlock doors the spell. Jeff made this clear to me. What? But, but... Quote: Avernum 4 Instructions.pdf: Unlock Door (Min. Mage Spells skill 6, Costs 12 spell energy) - Attempts to pick the locks on nearby doors. The higher the skill with this spell, the better the chance of success. Increasing the caster’s Tool Use skill also makes this spell more effective. Effect: Improves the caster’s Tool Use skill by about .75 plus .75 per point of spell strength. Are you saying he just outright lies in the manual?

Quote: Originally written by Delicious Vlish: Jeff told me in a long argument in email that the tool use skill and unlock doors have no bearing on each other. A mage with tool use will not help unlock doors the spell. Jeff made this clear to me. What? But, but... Quote: Avernum 4 Instructions.pdf: Unlock Door (Min. Mage Spells skill 6, Costs 12 spell energy) - Attempts to pick the locks on nearby doors. The higher the skill with this spell, the better the chance of success. Increasing the caster’s Tool Use skill also makes this spell more effective. Effect: Improves the caster’s Tool Use skill by about .75 plus .75 per point of spell strength. Are you saying he just outright lies in the manual?