BenS

To be fair, I had the meta-advantage of having played the game 3x before I attempted Torment, and even then there were some tough times ahead. I talked about it in more detail in a thread I started about Torment. I give a lot of credit to Jeff and the beta-testers for ensuring the various difficulty levels were indeed balanced and offered their own levels of satisfaction upon completion. I fully expect a multi-game run w/ the future remakes. I can hardly wait.

I also loved this remake, playing it 4x--a record for me for any SW game. I also completed a Torment run for the 1st time. I'd say this all bodes well for the future remakes.

I sit corrected. I guess I conflated the 2 series.

Like you, my last SW game was Queen's Wish, but I had forgotten about those stone blocks as resources. My problem was an entire 1st run collecting sacks of meal, waiting for the merchant/quest-giver who wanted them...and realizing that had been taken out of the remake. D'oh!

I cannot wait to see those again. Though one nice thing about this remake was the ability to get top (3rd) tier creations well before the end of the game. I always struggled w/ the original games to get the top (4th?) tier creations...and then the game was essentially over. Or that's how I remember it these days. If so, I hope that will be addressed in the further remakes.

I think I used them mainly to clear the Guarded Docks, as a Shaper on Normal (so, no friendly fire). I believe I had pairs of Cockatrices, Cryodrayks, and Ur-Glaahks so I could enjoy a big ol' brawl. Fun times. But I only played a Shaper 1x; the next 3 games were as Guardians & Agents so no, didn't use them.

I love playing Jeff's games, true. I hate that I have to wait 1-2 years for the next one, true. Huh, guess you were right about the love/hate thing.

I don't know how the mechanics of a Hydra would play out, but I'd love if that was the "new" creation for a future GF remake. Whether or not that meant a KS stretch goal. Maybe higher levels could increase the # of heads/attacks?! And to distinguish it from the highly magical Cockatrice, it would be hardier (inherent resistances) and deal more straightforward dmg. Maybe even have an upgraded version like Fyoras < Cryoas 🙂

Wow, the things we do for 1 xp point. I did not know about the replenishing spawns, though the ghosts makes some sense, and at the time I was there, definitely gave out more than 1 xp pt!

I'm guessing in Avernum (forget #) you got the medal for joining the Anama by never casting...what was it, wizardly spells? Anyway, I don't think you'll have a huge stash of wands & crystals at the end of the game like I did!

I just popped in for a moment and here you are again. No...magic...(starts to shake uncontrollably)...are you saying you will not cast any spells, use any wands, etc.? I could not have survived the bulk of the early levels w/out Daze, for example. I had intended to go heavy Missile W-s but there are so many damn leapers that I felt I needed parity for a while w/ Melee W-s. All that said, you seem to have a clear idea of what will work for your build & run, and I'm eager to hear how it all turns out. Best of luck!

Point taken. Best of luck to trinko.

As a fellow Mac user/player, I'm sympathetic. Unfortunately I have no xp w/ that sound bug nor the F(3?4??) freeze, but I've played the game w/ a 2-year old 10.14.6 OS. Sorry to hear there might be a slight incompatibility w/ the latest OS update and the game, if that's indeed what the problem is.

I have to say the game is fairly generous w/ wands in particular. Even this last game, I had tons of wands left over at the end, including lots of discipline wands. I could have used more battle pods, but one can't have everything. As to luck, well, RNG Jesus must be prayed to in a game like this, at a difficulty level like this, etc. Especially for the more epic fights (some of which are of course optional). Obviously prior xp w/ the game will be extremely helpful. I'm assuming you're rolling w/ a Guardian w/ melee & missile weapon parity for a while, then having one dominate? Or are you going to tough it out (cough*suffer*cough) w/ a late-blooming Agent and then become a screen-clearer w/ Airshock & Spell Mastery, along w/ the occasional Dominate? Good fortune to you either way (see, I avoided the word "luck").

I wish you luck w/ it. I was sold on it from the moment those 3-4 Battle Betas (literally) cornered me at the northern end of the map just south of Kazg, and I outslugged them 🙂 I'm getting ready to try a new game (Legend of Grimrock II) that I've owned for years, but have put off playing b/c I prefer turn-based. But I did play the 1st one so...I should at least try it; I did pay for it and own it.

Are you going to try a solo Torment non-canister run?! My hat's off to you. I did a reduced-canister run, to the extent that I ignored all shaping canisters after the first one (which gave me xp), but only to see if the ending text would say something about my canister usage. However, I probably still ingested too many of them overall to have that slight reduction noted anywhere.

Yeah, Goettsch was not an easy fight by any stretch, and took a # of tries @ 18th level.

Oh, no apologies needed. Certain fights are going to be tougher for certain classes; obviously I'd never try a pure Shaper solo on Torment, for example. And I didn't feel bad about not attempting to best those spirits b/c they weren't intrinsically hostile to begin w/. It's the equivalent of being caught stealing and the town turns on you, but on a smaller scale. I took the main point of that temple being the rather interesting historical detail you learn there; all the more reason not to fight them.

I should add there was 1 fight I felt was going to be too much, though I only tried it 1x; that was the western temple spirits. W/ no chance at dominating 1 for an ally, and my chance at hitting them even w/ War Blessing relatively low, and their insane amounts of magic damage...anyway, I didn't pursue that. Probably an Agent w/ a solid Essence Shield and Airshock could have done it (I did it so on Veteran, w/ an Ur-Glaahk, which didn't last long, so essentially solo). Also should have thanked the beta testers for ensuring the varying difficulty levels were balanced.

When I started this, my 4th game, I had modest expectations. Finish the game, and get 2 of the 3 last Achievements left undone (last being Pacifist). Playing a Guardian, I had a few assumptions; perhaps the biggest being that I would be forced to join the Takers & Trajkov so as to avoid certain Sholai-heavy zones that would be especially punishing. Certain optional fights I thought I might have to skip, or perhaps try after I had indulged in the Geneforge. Levels 2-9 were rough, as I slowly built up a Melee & Missile warrior, w/ Evasion, Leadership, and Mechanics to boot. I relied on Daze and winnowing out the enemy, not to mention every ally I could get w/ Leadership. Then around 10th level I started to get more comfortable (and reload less often). By 14th level, I had an entirely new set of objectives: clear every zone, optional or not, w/out partaking of the Geneforge or joining a faction. I did it, somewhat to my surprise. Ascended Ouroboros (though I tricked her into the incinerator area); the 2 Shaper crypts; the final Cockatrice brawl (insane); Goettsch; the Front Gate; and the Guarded Docks fights were rough, obviously. But eventually I managed them, and finally destroyed the GF before departing (this bumped me to 19th level). I had tricked Trajkov into destroying himself, so no fight needed. Final gear: Charmed Plate (I relied on Dominate to get me through many tough fights!); Danette's Belt; Guardian Claymore; Guardian Cloak; Bracers of the Hammer; Stasis Shield; Zavor's Band; and the Quicksilver Boots. Reaper or Spray Baton as necessary. Final (gear-added) stats: Strength (12); Agility (12); Intellect (7); Essence Mastery (5); Endurance (9); Melee Weapons (10); Missile Weapons (15); QA (10); Evasion (14); Magic: Battle (1), Mental (5), Blessing (1), Spellcraft (4); Shaping: Fire, Battle & Magic (1), Healing Craft (2); Leadership (9); Mechanics (10) w/out Tinker's Gloves; Stealth (2). Anyway, I had never attempted a Torment run of any SW game in the roughly 20 years I've been playing them, so to manage it also solo was a pretty nice feeling of accomplishment. I don't think I'll try a Pacifist run; 4 games is a lot and it's time for a break. Thanks for everyone who was friendly & helpful on these boards, and see you around for the next game in the cycle. If anyone has any questions, I'll stick around for a few days to answer them, otherwise, rock on.

Assuming you have the right baton (usually green or grey, but rarely red), a good trick to maximize the # of mines you can defuse is to into combat mode (w/ grid mapping on) and figure out how close you can get to the most of them while remaining 5 spaces away. They'll start to trigger at 4 spaces. EDIT: Hey, I'm no longer a Garrulous Glaahk! 😉

The Servant Mind shuts down the chronic poison/acid dmg you take from walking around, but not the red pools which will nail you if you get too close. Still, Essence Shield and healing will see you through that. I don't know if you've left this area yet, but there are some worthwhile things there.

According to Randomizer's notes, the spectral dirk requires Melee Weapons 5, fyi. I'd say you want Missile Weapons at least 6 (hello Spray Baton), if not 8 (hello Reaper Baton). But keep in mind I was trying to achieve rough parity in Melee & Missile Weapons. Other players go whole hog on 1 or the other. I put some points in Evasion as well, but ended only at 7 for that. I also rolled w/ Magic Shaping, and a Searing Artila (acid almost always helpful) & Energized Vlish (vulnerable targets take that much more damage) for that run, after playing w/ the Roamer for a while. I like to get Leadership up to 8 and Mechanics up to 11 (+2 w/ Tinker's Gloves of course), but again, that's just my own personal preferences. If you can hold off, don't put initial points into Mental Magic, Blessing Magic, Spellcraft, or Magic Shaping, b/c you can get a free point in The Tombs or Southbridge. Cheers, and have fun!

Oh, I could never finish a SW game in 20-40 hours, I'm w/ you. I take extensive notes for the 1st game, b/c I know there will be 1-2 more. W/ this remake of GF1, I've even gone a little overboard, given I'm on a 4th run, which I've never done, as well as solo/torment (also never done for GF). Though I'm only 9th level; I can't guarantee I won't run into an insurmountable problem due to my build choices. Thanks for the answers. If I go Achievement crazy and try another game to grab the pacifist one, I'll have a benchmark for xp level to think about. The thing about the FSG, which I probably didn't even acquire until I was about 9th or 10th level, having had only xp w/ the upgraded Helix Bracer, I didn't know what to expect. Which is to say, I think I was going for a dual melee/missile Guardian, up to a point, b/c I knew the "best" sword (arguably not true) required 8 Melee W-s and the best baton the same for Missile W-s. So I got Melee W-s higher than I needed, as what I rolled w/ ultimately was Tek's Spectral Dirk for the great defensive boosts, when I realized my damage output came from the FSG itself. So, I didn't start pumping STR until relatively late. I suppose it wasn't a bad thing to have focused on Melee W-s for as long as I did, as it got me to the point where I acquired the FSG in the first place, but if I were to do it again, I would have cutoff Melee W-s at a lower point and focused on STR earlier. But maybe that's just a min/max attitude, IDK. I also only reached 20th level, I think, b/c I both used & destroyed the Geneforge; I reached 19th level w/ my Shaper & Agent runs.

Funny we were posting at the same time. I forgot to ask you 1 thing about the pacifist run; at what level did you finish the game? Ok, 2 things, and roughly how long did it take you, if you remember? If I can answer specific questions about the FSG build/run, just let me know. For now, off to work.