BenS

Can you have more than 1 arcane + 1 priest-based summoned creature at a time?? I thought these games had moved away from more than the 2 maximum creatures. I ask b/c it sounded like TriRodent had up to 3 summons at a time.

^ Noted; thank you as always for being so helpful. If I figure out what actually causes the visions, I'll come back to post it here...

13 minutes ago, Randomizer said:

Definitely separate from the visions.

 

I remember Dark Thoughts from the Tower of Magi spell book, and one in Tomb of Vahkohs.

Very strange. I did read a spell book in the south/center area of the Tower of Magi in a hidden room, that gave me a level in Arcane Summon (which I can't obviously cast at my current level). It appears Jeff decided to penalize me for doing that. What's further odd is that the hint book does not reference this as the Tier 3 location for Arcane Summon. So I'll just ignore it for my 2nd game. Lesson learned.

As for the Tomb of Vahkohs, the hint book shows that as the location of a Tier 3 priest spell, however. I'm really hoping the book that gives you Dark Thoughts is in addition to the "good" spell book, as I don't think we should be getting penalized for learning a Tier 3 spell...

RP aside, it's an interesting choice to make re: all-human or mixed race party. I altered the default group and swapped out the Slith Rebel for a Nephil Archer, and swapped out the Nephil priest for a human priest(ess). I've just done the minor quest that happened b/c I had a Nephil in the party; not worth that much to be honest, but I still like the racial bonus to my ranged attacks. Though I might think differently if I figured out how many traits I've walked away from...

Next party should be a human soldier; Slith something (but pole-arms user); and then human priest and mage. Though even here, having a good archer has been invaluable, and I'm not sure I'd want to give that up. Maybe I go w/ a Slith soldier for pole-arms, Nephil archer, etc. We'll see.

1 hour ago, Randomizer said:

Dark Thoughts are a minor curse to your attacks that occurs when you read the wrong spell books.

Ugh. Well that's annoying, as now I'm stuck w/ it for the entire game. For future reference, can you clarify what the "wrong spell books" means? I would assume either I had the accumulated lore to read a spell book or I didn't. I find it odd that the game would penalize me like that and then not give me a chance to remedy it.

In any case, I think you're saying that the Dark Thoughts are separate from the visions, right?

I had a related question re: dual-wielding, which I haven't tried (and won't on this 1st play through on Normal). I know physical attacks get resisted more as the game goes on, so I'm wondering why dual-wielding--which represents a bit of what I'd call a "feat tax" in D&D or PF terms to offset the various penalties, using skills & traits--is a recommended strategy over skills like Blademaster or Lethal Blow.

In other words, I'm not sure 2 hits, oddly enough, are always better than 1. Using fake #s, let's say I hit a foe while dual-wielding 2x, but of 100 points of damage for each hit, his resistance blocks 90 pts. So now I've done 20 points of damage. Now let's say that Lethal Blow let's me hit 1x, kicks in, and does some amount of damage much nicer than 100 points. While 90 is blocked, if I did over 110 points with that 1 hit, that would be a net win, wouldn't it?

Are these the "Dark Thoughts" (noted as a Special Item, but sadly incurable per the Hint Book)? If so, I'd love to know what I did to contract them...

Interestingly, 1 of them seemed to be about those refugees from the slimes you meet just a bit W/SW of the Dryad's Grove. After I cleared the slime plague and spoke w/ them, they returned to their homes and I think I got a Reputation boost.

I've been having some visions even though I haven't defeated the first plague yet.

Are the wisdom crystals just blanket, fixed xp, or are they the crystals Randomizer is talking about to get past 12 skill ranks? Also, doesn't Luck only go up to 5??

Thanks for clearing that up, Slarty. Now I'll know how to distribute them better.

There are a few nice items that will increase by a certain percentage curses & blessings "you cause". I know Blademasters, Shamans & Sorceresses have abilities that do one or the other of these, and would benefit from such items.

But what about Tinkermages? Their turrets can do these things. Do their turrets indirectly benefit from such passive bonuses on the Tinkermages? If so, there are a few nice items I need to switch over to Silena. If not, I'll leave them w/ others.

Thanks in advance.

I must have a false memory of my 1st play through, b/c I thought I came back after the quest was completed and they had vacated the premises, as it were. Leaving me free to loot the area of the NY items ;-)

Another issue I'm having, that I don't remember w/ 1.0 (though it has happened in earlier games), is that the map starts moving and I can't keep the party in the center of the screen. It wants to shift to the NW (or N if you will); upper right-corner in any case. It happened once in the W/SW of Camp Nightshade and I thought it was just my mouse bugging out. But now I'm in Four Circles and I had to save/quit out of the game, it got so bad. Just moving the mouse cursor to the edge of the screen doesn't help when the map keeps fighting me to move N/NW. I'll update this post if I come up w/ anything more on it.

Edit: I'm about to head to Monitor Base C. The problem has not reappeared. Hopefully it's just a rare bug. If anyone else gets it, just save/quit, reload...should be fine.

Edit 2: Happened again in Avadon. Save/quit/restart game works, though.

Jeff, I could be wrong, but I think the portraits (not the sprites) for both Linus and Geert are the exact same when you come across them in Vana's Reach.

Forgive a stupid question, but, if I redownload from the Humble widget, and start playing now...what happens to my game on Steam come Monday when it gets rolled out there? Would I have to start a whole new game on Steam on Monday?? If so, I can wait a few days (I'm thinking about Achievements mainly, though I don't need too many more). But if the game I would start soon from Humble Bundle could get...I don't know...ported over to the one I'm playing on Steam...

Sounds a bit stupid as I type it. Maybe if magic was real...

Anyway, regardless of the answer, I've been looking forward to my 2nd play through. Fingers crossed.

I don't mind checking back in daily to see if 1.0.1 is out, but will it garner a post when it happens?

I'm going to try, as I said earlier, a turret-less Tinkermage for more of a challenge. I am chomping at the bit for 1.0.1, though; I would prefer to play a 2nd game fresh w/ whatever changes make it into the game, rather than fire up Steam one day and find out certain things work differently...

aka what I missed out on in the 1st game:

1) never hit 30th level. Part of my problem was that by the time I realized I had missed the entire Temple of Velusa map, and went back to Redbeard, I couldn't get the option to open the map up. Maybe I did something wrong? But at that point, I didn't want to lose out on hours since my last real save, and went ahead and finished the game. That said, after finishing the game, I did go back to that earlier save just so I could finish more quests and do that map (and get some more Steam achievements along the way while I was at it). But I stopped playing after finishing that map. I seem to have missed a few quests; or maybe, they weren't available to me b/c I was pro-Redbeard? Hard to say.

2) never got all 8 rare items for Nicodemus. I got 6 of the 8; didn't even know how many there were until consulting a pinned list by Randomizer (thank you).

3) after playing on Normal, I'd like to try (gulp) Hard for a change. I'm a little worried about friendly fire (sob*Daze*sob), but we'll see how it goes. Another play through (spellcatcher keeps making that 2 words...maybe it is...) will give me at least 1 more main companion to try. I created a Shadowwalker and took along Khalida & Nathalie. In my next game, I'd like to try a Tinkermage (maybe even disregard the turret-focus altogether for a challenge) and bring along Botan & Nathalie (how can anyone not take her--she's awesome in battle).

4) figure out what to do w/ all those Potions of Disguise. When a 2nd one dropped, I thought it was a bug! Then others came in time.

5) I need to think about whether I want to try 2-handed weapons for a change. This might be good early-to-mid game, when physical dmg is still worthwhile, but I worry that strategy won't serve me as well (and by me, I mean Botan) late game. Maybe I could switch to sword & shield by then. This is a tough one; shields are great in this game. Though w/ a little micro-management based on my enemies, nothing says I couldn't switch between them throughout the game I guess...

6) I was so paranoid about wasting an inferior runestone on my gear, I never did buff up my best stuff and stupidly hoarded a ton of runestones. What a waste! Now that I know what's available, I won't be so stupid the next time through.

7) As long as I'm confessing to stupidity, I also hoarded all kinds of potions/elixirs and never used them (beyond healing potions and the occasional speed potion). Of course, on Hard, I'll be hard-pressed not to use them I suspect. I did use the various wands (except the Corruption ones--D'oh!) and scrolls (no Resurrection b/c I wanted a particular Steam Achievement).

8) Maybe try some different skill-sets for Nathalie & Botan. Though I need to make sure they complement my own, especially if I more or less ignore Turrets.

That's all I can think of. I know the Avadon series has been a divisive one for long-time fans, but I've enjoyed them very much personally. I'm a little sad it's over.

Just checking in to report that I finished my 2nd playthrough w/ this custom party just fine. I did get melee skills & hardiness for the archer, who survived just fine. Maybe it helped having already played the game, w/ copious notes (and great advice on these boards), but it was no more difficult than the 1st (default party) playthrough.

I think I'm going to replay A:EFTP w/ this kind of custom party now...

The only PC I'm nervous about is the single spellcaster, priest/mage. I've pretty much always played the Avernum games w/ separate priests & mages, and the dedicated priest to save my bacon in a tough fight while the mage pours out damage. Having a (non-hasted etc.) PC have to choose between 1 or the other might be tricky, but I'm willing to try for the novelty of it (for me, anyway). Since that PC will also be responsible for Arcane Lore, I think that means my spell progression is going to be slower than otherwise would happen, so I'll have to make the most of what I get, when I get it.

Unless I compromise on the Archer (giving him sword skills to get some Hardiness), that PC is also in danger of taking frequent dirt naps, so that'll be another challenge for me. Again though, this is just an exercise in trying something different than I typically do. Hopefully the novelty won't wear off.

Thanks for the comments.

Thanks, Slartibus & Lilith!

I don't mean Singleton playthroughs; that's beyond me. I just mean a party that is far from optimal, on Normal setting. I've spent many an hour poring through these forums, and know all about what's optimal (hint: non-melee, non-ranged). But I've now beaten the game w/ the default party, and want to try something different.

For example:

1) Dual Wield fighter (never played one in an Avernum; nerfed a little since A:EFTP I understand);

2) Archer (yes, I know!!!);

3) Sword & Shield fighter (just too many fun swords in the game, and some nice shields to boot);

4) and here's the crazy one: a single spellcaster (Priest/Mage).

All human b/c I'll need every single trait I can scrape up. Obviously 2 & 4 are problematic, but again, the point is to have fun w/ a 2nd playthrough w/ different characters. Simply boosting the difficulty setting by itself is not what I want, nor do I want 3-4 spellcasters (which is optimal), just b/c I like the variety of a more "traditional" group of PCs.

Anybody doing something like this?

Normal setting; default party; made it to 36th level w/out XP traits or farming for Wisdom Crystals:

1) Fate of Kyass quest

2) Abandoned Farmhouse--had to look this up for the answer as it was bugging me; otherwise didn't look up spell locations (and see next)

3) Never found 3rd-level spell tomes or the like for: (Priest) Sanctification Ritual; Divine Restoration; Divine Host; (Mage) Icy Rain (*), Howl of Terror, Cloak of the Arcane, Arcane Blow

4) How to get to the body in the innermost circle of magic barriers outside the Barrier Tower

5) What to do w/ post-quest Aranea Fangs, Fire Lizard Eggs, and Wine--nobody buys them

6) Worse, nobody buys Drake Eggs as far as I remember

7) I missed out somehow on 2 of the 4 pts in Vahnatai Lore. Wasn't clear to me the difference between V- Lore and the acquirable trait, V- Secrets. I understand the former boosted AL at times, but the latter...maybe I don't remember what it did.

(*) If I understand this correctly, as to its location, I tried to go back through the portal w/ a TU PC, but still couldn't find any secret areas. So no idea...

These are minor things; I enjoyed the game very much, and had forgotten enough since the earlier A2 that it was mostly fresh and new.

I'm contemplating a 2nd playthrough, so would appreciate help w/ 4-7 especially. Thanks in advance.

Also, thanks to the regulars here who provided many fine tips through Strategy Central and regular forum postings. I should have read some of the suggested character builds before getting deep into the game, but...next time!

I emailed something about this to Jeff, b/c I think the way it works is problematic. I successfully did the companion quest, and then returned to wipe out the Gray Raptors without Yoshiria even being in my party. But at the end of the game, she wasn't loyal and went up to die needlessly in Fort Foresight. That's not right, when the other PC that acted like that was Khalida--and that's b/c I failed her companion quest. If Yoshiria won't stand w/ me at the end b/c of my attack on the Gray Raptors, the game text should at least make that explicit. As it is now, it just seems like something's broken.

Luckily I made do w/ 4 PCs ;-)

Given the vast number of enjoyable hours I get from these games (and I play them 2x), I had no problem paying the $20 at this site rather than a reduced price elsewhere. I even bought the (now digital only) tip book just to give Jeff more $. Given it'll be a year or two before I can play the next one he puts out, I feel it's the least I can do to support him making these fun games.