Ash Lael

Member numbers in the 3000 + range and they're called oldbies? Good grief. (I'm an exception)

Getting free games off him isn't hard. Getting cash? I wish you luck.

Well, he certainly wasn't addressing those who were saying that Blades wasn't dying. It would make no sense if he was. So who does that leave? Eh, forget about it. It ain't important.

See, I was just noticing that the people who were saying that Blades was dying (and thus the people who you were addressing) were the ones who have been the backbone of Blades for a long time. Stareye has made six scenarios (three of them are immense), I, in partnership, have made six, and TM has made some utterly ridiculous number. Plus all the other stuff we've done. So it's an odd sentiment to be directed at people like that, from someone who has done a couple of graphics and has a couple of unfinished scenarios. Blades isn't dying because of OUR lack of commitment to it. Just saying.

Kel: Yeah... I know. I really ought to do that at some point. Enraged Slith: Remind me... how much have you done to stop Blades dying?

Quote: Originally written by Kelandon: EDIT: I'm reminded of a thread on the Lyceum, probably deleted now, that described the BoE community as dead sometime before the 6th Contest. TM was one of the few who was saying that he was still around and designing scenarios, but everyone else was gone. Right after that, we had the 6th Contest, with not many entries, and then the 7th Contest was one of the strongest so far. These things go in waves. The 7th contest was lucky enough to have a handful of really good scenarios. But in terms of total entries, it didn't outstrip the 6th. I've been around a long time, and I'm with Stareye. I don't doubt that Blades will occasionally spit out a new scenario, or that it could experience a revival, but this is definitely the least alive that I've seen it. EDIT: That said, I'd probably have a go at a scenario if I had a registered copy of BoE - one of my disks died, so I can't get it on my new computer. Yeah, I bought BoE on floppy disk. That's how old I am.

Fatigue (Revenge), Night/Day cycles (Shadow of the Stranger) and Hunger (Election) can all add a lot to a game. But the game has to be designed that way. You can't just slap them on top of some other formula and expect them to make things better.

Sorry, the fights don't get easier by any means. Some are really nasty. Thus my admiration for your courage. I hope you picked up the amulet the Nightmare Guardian dropped. That will have a large influence on one of the toughest fights. That's a weird bug... never encountered that one either. I assume they're set to not move, but I neither have a copy of the scenario or of BoE anymore, and as I've already demonstrated, I don't remember the intricacies of the scenario too well. I don't think it would be stupid to have the Skree be charmable. It's a tactical puzzle. It's not like you could win every fight with it. That said, looks like I was wrong anyway. You CAN get some to fight on your side later, though, which will really help in the mean fights.

Just so you know, I'm Creator. It's just been a long time since I made that scenario. Now that you mention the Skree, that twigs something in my brain - I think it's actually that thing that you can charm. Or something. The particulars of individual monsters and fights have kind of faded with time. In general, the two best tactics to beating spellcasters are 1) be out of sight when it's their turn or 2) hit them with lots of melee fast. In the case of Selene, I had 3 priest/fighters, so I had them cast Avatar before every big fight. That doesn't really apply here.

I suppose there's bound to be a few side effects when you use a hacked editor to raise stats beyond their normal maximum. I never had that one, though. For the tunnels fight, I may be forgetting here, but I think the rocks he animates are charmable. Give that a shot. By the way, I admire your courage in trying it with a level 5 party.

At this point, I'd support combining the BoE/BoA/BoA Editor forums into one.

Oh my gosh, what a great topic, and I missed all the fun! Well, I'm saying my bit anyhow. Way too much Bob talk for me (and I came up with the term). He's an inevitable symptom of putting the player in a situation where they can do pretty much whatever they feel like. There are much more important things to worry about. What *I* would like to see is a story that is more personal and less political. When was the last Spiderweb game where the story wasn't all about faction X fighting faction y? Having that stuff in there is cool, as a background, but it's not engaging as the main plotline. With war movies, the movies aren't actually about the war, it's just a backdrop to the story about the characters. Imagine the next Geneforge game running like this: Battle lines are being drawn between the Shapers and those who oppose them. You're a farm boy living under Shaper rule, who gets drafted into the army. Under the command of a Shaper, your troop (or whatever) goes to seize/destroy some bunch of canisters/something along those lines that the rebels have. Through a twist of circumstance, you find yourself in the room with the canisters. A bunch of rebels burst in, and you look doomed... only hope is those canisters. You heard they made you powerful or something. You quickly use them and trash the rebels. Then in comes your commander with a few other soldiers and creations. Your commander looks at you, at the empty canisters, and at the dead rebels before you. He orders everyone else out of the room. He explains his problem. They won the battle, the canisters are destroyed, so the objective is complete. Trouble is, you, a regular human, have come into possession of Shaper power. Shaper law makes no provision for circumstance, you're pretty much up for the death penalty here. He shows mercy and tells you to run. Out on your own, as a fugitive from the Shapers, you decide to go home and try to find your family. You haven't heard from them since you were drafted and are worried about how the war might have affected them. ...and on it goes. That sort of beginning sets the stage for a very different kind of game; one that is much more personal than political, and as a consequence, feels fresh.

I'm glad someone asked. Believe it or not, I was kidnapped and held as a hostage by a bunch of terrorists. The cops decided to blow up the building we were in, but since I was locked in the basement, I survived the blast. I stayed alive by feeding on my fellow hostages while I waited for the rescue teams to dig me out. Actually, I've been on holidays. (on topic, post away)

Quote: Originally written by BainIhrno: I'd like to point out that Ash has been gone for a really long time. I sure hope he comes back, though. I was missed. Yay. In other news, I approve heartily of this topic.

Quote: Originally written by Delicious Vlish: Quote: Originally written by Ash Lael: Is playing A4 singleton seriously that much harder than playing Diplomacy With The Dead level 1, fully disadvantaged, and with no magic? Ever seen that movie Starship Troopers? Avernum is swarming, SWARMING with bugs now. There are also ogres, capable mages, archers that hide behind well defended murder holes, more bugs, assassins with absolutely deadly poison attacks and insanely high levels of quick action that will pump you full of poison, undead that you must allow to hit you first before you can damage them, and they hit hard, more bugs, demons, insane necromancers, power hungry necromancers, insane power hungry necromancers, gazers, eyebeasts, giants that will overrun you in swarms, terror wolves that will chomp your bones, drakes, crocolisks, basilisks, mutant lizards by the dozens, liches, more bugs, and let us not forget the pylons. LOTS of pylons. Pylons that fire mind control terror rays, death rays, freeze rays, burning rays, pain pain pain! Oh, and more bugs. Remember to bring your bug spray. You are going to be cleaning out many bug infestations. People's cellars are infested with bugs, various caves, a hive, oh geeze there are bugs everywhere. Edit. Also forgot. Muggerers, buggerers, murderers! That's Hedley! I'll take that as a no.

Quote: Originally written by Delicious Vlish: Quote: Originally written by Ash Lael: Is playing A4 singleton seriously that much harder than playing Diplomacy With The Dead level 1, fully disadvantaged, and with no magic? Ever seen that movie Starship Troopers? Avernum is swarming, SWARMING with bugs now. There are also ogres, capable mages, archers that hide behind well defended murder holes, more bugs, assassins with absolutely deadly poison attacks and insanely high levels of quick action that will pump you full of poison, undead that you must allow to hit you first before you can damage them, and they hit hard, more bugs, demons, insane necromancers, power hungry necromancers, insane power hungry necromancers, gazers, eyebeasts, giants that will overrun you in swarms, terror wolves that will chomp your bones, drakes, crocolisks, basilisks, mutant lizards by the dozens, liches, more bugs, and let us not forget the pylons. LOTS of pylons. Pylons that fire mind control terror rays, death rays, freeze rays, burning rays, pain pain pain! Oh, and more bugs. Remember to bring your bug spray. You are going to be cleaning out many bug infestations. People's cellars are infested with bugs, various caves, a hive, oh geeze there are bugs everywhere. Edit. Also forgot. Muggerers, buggerers, murderers! That's Hedley! I'll take that as a no.

Is playing A4 singleton seriously that much harder than playing Diplomacy With The Dead level 1, fully disadvantaged, and with no magic?

Is playing A4 singleton seriously that much harder than playing Diplomacy With The Dead level 1, fully disadvantaged, and with no magic?

Caught out. Yes, I'm guilty of not reading the thread properly. Sorry about that, but there's only so much tactical discussion of a game I can't play that I can find interesting. Anyway, levelling up problems likely won't be much of an issue. "Be tougher than the other guy" is an effective tactic, but I don't use it too often. I'm more a fan of "Don't get hit". Okay, I'll stop flexing my e-muscles now and just wait for the windows version so we can see how it goes.

Caught out. Yes, I'm guilty of not reading the thread properly. Sorry about that, but there's only so much tactical discussion of a game I can't play that I can find interesting. Anyway, levelling up problems likely won't be much of an issue. "Be tougher than the other guy" is an effective tactic, but I don't use it too often. I'm more a fan of "Don't get hit". Okay, I'll stop flexing my e-muscles now and just wait for the windows version so we can see how it goes.

Quote: Originally written by Skippy the bush kangaroo: Quote: Originally written by Ash Lael: Seriously, I can't imagine it would be that hard. Jeff's combat is really easy. Expand your mind and be a bit more imaginative - it can be that hard. Particularly if you can't level up... Why would I not be able to level up?

Quote: Originally written by Skippy the bush kangaroo: Quote: Originally written by Ash Lael: Seriously, I can't imagine it would be that hard. Jeff's combat is really easy. Expand your mind and be a bit more imaginative - it can be that hard. Particularly if you can't level up... Why would I not be able to level up?

Quote: Originally written by Synergy67: PARTY SIZES: Forget playing as a SINGLETON. I doubt it's possible to win a game with one unless you are a serious glutton for punishment, mind-numbing tedium, multiple reloads, and crippled leveling up early on leaving your singleton way behind the level-up curve. Jeff designed A4 for a party of four in particular. Jeff’s word on this matter was that playing A4 as a singleton should be like playing Civilization campaigns with nothing but phalanxes. This challenge of course will only prompt someone to prove that it can be done. More power to you. Let’s hear how you did it when you pull it off......you deranged lunatic. Bring on the windows version! Seriously, I can't imagine it would be that hard. Jeff's combat is really easy.

Quote: Originally written by Synergy67: PARTY SIZES: Forget playing as a SINGLETON. I doubt it's possible to win a game with one unless you are a serious glutton for punishment, mind-numbing tedium, multiple reloads, and crippled leveling up early on leaving your singleton way behind the level-up curve. Jeff designed A4 for a party of four in particular. Jeff’s word on this matter was that playing A4 as a singleton should be like playing Civilization campaigns with nothing but phalanxes. This challenge of course will only prompt someone to prove that it can be done. More power to you. Let’s hear how you did it when you pull it off......you deranged lunatic. Bring on the windows version! Seriously, I can't imagine it would be that hard. Jeff's combat is really easy.

What's the matter, Kel? Can't you respect other people's internets, just because they're different? It's not like they have a choice, that's just the way they're connected. Why must you discriminate so?