Synergy

I, for one, would have been upset if the opening graphics and music had not been retained. This is a reworking of NG for more modern systems, not a sequel or reinterpretation. I want it to retain much of its old charm, while looking better and playing well. N:R does have two very wicked new dungeons. If you don't like some of the newer sprites, download Tyranicus' handy original sprites file found through the NG forum main page header. You get the original goofy yellow goblins and all. I believe Jeff didn't make it easier to create custom characters at the beginning, because it would have been a lot of extra work. It's a small inconvenience to have to manually zero or adjust the default stats, but it's not that bad now really, is it? I think Jeff did a worthy job with the tools on hand reasonably, for a cheap upgrade for those who once bought the original game. -S-

I might be inclined to take issue with how you spelled "Infiltraitor." Though it can be fitting enough, depending on how you choose to play her. -S-

So far we've got four votes, four different faves. Vivé la difference! -S-

Rolvas, please use the Edit button to fix or add to one of your posts, rather than make a new, largely redundant post. You probably didn't need to create a new thread on the subject either, but maybe that wasn't intentional. I'm going to delete it since you already have all the same info posted here in this thread where it is relevant. -S-

What a greedy well. It's amazing how mercenary inanimate objects which have no use for money can be. -S-

SUNSTONE BELT — Grosch Pits — Perfected Belt / Deep Focus Orb / Unmelting Ice (+14% Armor / +40 Radiance (Undead Bane) / +20% Fire Resistance / +20% Energy Resistance) Yeah, this is really quite worthless, especially since no one has been able to demonstrate that Radiance actually has any observable effect against undead. Can anyone else verify that the Shapemaster boots only add +2 to skills? I'd have thought I'd have noticed that or that someone would have pointed it out long ago if it were true. -S-

GLOVES OF SAVAGERY — Perfected Gloves / Blood Poison / Essence-Infused Skin (+6% Armor / +2 Strength / +2 Melee / +4 Quick Action / +2 Creation Strength) Useful to pretty much any build. IMPERVIOUS CAPE — Perfected Cloak / Purified Essence / Essence-Infused Skin (+12% Armor / +5% To Hit Chance / +10% To Hostile Effects Resistance Of Creations) This could be minimally helpful to a fighter/shaper combination, but there are better cloaks to wear instead. LEGS OF THE TYRANT — Perfected Greaves / Blood Poison / Essence-Infused Iron (+14% Armor / +8 Vampiric Touch / +5 Melee Weapons) I like the Flameweaver Greaves better, but this is good for a fighter. FLAMEWEAVER GREAVES — Perfected Greaves / Crystalline Fibers / Solidified Flame (+16% Armor / +2 Battle Magic / +2 Fire Shaping / +20% Cold Resistance) These are important for Fire Shaping if you don't want to invest expensive skill points into Fire Shaping. I made them as my Infiltrator in order to maximize skill point allotment, and they helped me make Ur-Drakons. SHAPEMASTER BOOTS — Perfected Boots / Ur-Drakon Skin / Deep Focus Orb (+3 Fire Shaping / +3 Battle Shaping / +3 Magic Shaping / +10% Hostile Effects Resistance Of Creations) These are also important for shaping ability to avoid spending expensive skill points on shaping instead. GIRDLE OF SUCCOR — Perfected Belt / Ur-Drakon Skin / Unmelting Ice (+14% Armor / +2 Blessing Magic / +2 Healing Magic / +8% Creation Armor / +4 Hostile Effects Resistance Of Creations) Pretty unuseful. Magic sorts (if not most sorts) will want the Girdle of Intelligence usually instead. CLOAK OF THE SHADOWS — Perfected Cloak / Pure Crystal Shard / Purified Essence (+10% Armor / +2 Leadership / +2 Mechanics / +2 Stealth / +1 Action Points) This would be more useful if it were accessible much earlier in the game. However, that +1 Action Point can be combined with other gear to give you double action unhasted by late game. Very useful for the nasty bonus areas and the end game. Overall, the artifacts are a bit disappointing and uneven, but about half of them are fairly useful at some point. It all depends which kind of character you are running, of course. Some benefit more than others. -S-

In Solberg's case, if I were to assign him a surname, it would have to be something a bit absurd, pretentious, yet ultimately nonsensical like Sulfinious Solberg. I found names like Linda, gleaned from Jeff's personal acquaintances, both kind of sweet, yet distracting from the otherwordliness of the games. I have to admit I did personally appreciate the names of local Washington State towns in the Monroe Province of Avernum III. Monroe is the name of a town near Seattle where a state prison is housed. Paulsbo and Bremerton are towns on the Olympic Peninsula. Some of these names actually sound odd enough to fit in a fantasy world. We also have a lot of tongue-mangling native American named things up here, like our rivers: Stillaguamish, Duwamish, Skagit, Snohomish, and Lake Sammammish and the town of Issaquah, and so forth. What's in a name? -S-

Don't let Salmon, Andraste, Zewiz, Riibu, or any number of others here suck you into the very silly online game, Kingdom of Loathing. Of course, if you like very silly... KoL -S-

I should have included the spore batons. If someone wants to assemble specific locations/requirements to acquire for me, I'd be happy to add them in. The Rivergate Keep one needs to be specified in exact location. I remember it up in the NE area somewhere. The E. Checkpoint one I have enough to go on so far. There are around four or five green batons and two or three brown ones total as I recall, plenty more than you need to use. I would use about one and a half to two of the green batons and less than one whole brown baton. -S-

Fractal — you're right, I must have missed finding that hidden cubicle. I remember the room behind the barrier with the Wind Warrior. I remember being disappointed there was nothing worth the bother behind it. Somehow I missed the secret area. Thanks for the addition. -S-

I said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm really looking forward to A5. To put things in perspective, A4 was a good game with some room for improvement. I got a lot of mileage out of it, even though I sorely missed elevation in particular. So much was new and reworked with the new engine and graphics for A4. A lot was improved. It had room to grow, and Jeff is very good at being attentive to the praise and criciticisms of his fans. A5 sounds highly intriguing and promising, and I really am amped to explore it. Jeff is really on a roll, as I think G4 well indicates. A5 should be, well, fantastic. It's great to have a designer you respect who continually improves his craft. I think it's important to remember than anyone thrives on appreciation, and there's a lot of whining that goes on here, and precious little appreciation by comparison, if you ask me. I don't know how Jeff endures it as well as he does. I am so glad there is one game designer who is accessible, tireless, responsive, and interactive with his fans. You actually have a good chance of helping shape or change the next game by being involved here. As I am fond of stating, it's not what you say, it's how you say it. I personally am ecstatic that elevations will be returned to the A5 engine. I am extremely grateful that requests like this are heard and accommodated. As is clear, much of what Jeff does is what it is possible and feasible at the present time. Complaining about graphics is pointless and unuseful, because we can trust Jeff will always employ the best he is able to afford and utilize as the tiny company of effectively three he heads. I personally am amazed how much he achieves and how consistently he produces new games. I want to say, thank you Jeff for being a responsive, creative human being in the process, rather than a faceless, cold corporation who has little interest in the ideas and concerns of his fans. Thank you for making so many great games from which I have derived countless hours of pleasure. Thanks for sticking with it all this time, despite so many of the thankless factors and gruelling challenges. May the games of Jeff continue to delight us for a long time to come. Cheers. -S-

I'm not afraid to admit I rather liked Starship Troopers. Sci-Fi with style and a sense of humor. Too much sci-fi is so hard-core serious about itself. I'm excited to see A5. I can't believe it's already nearing the beta phase. I must be getting old or having too much fun...time is going by fast. -S-

Good thinking. -S-

I agree with Diki—Dillame, Ilya Safehouse, and Rivergate Keep were all very unrewarding to clean out, in every sense of the word. The Western Rise is always a good challenge, though. -S-

And now we know why Dorikas was unkillable in A4. -S-

Welcome. You're not saying that Nethergate is a cure for your insomnia, are you? Well, let's see here... You won't be able to get into the Spire for some time, and you will know when you can, so don't worry about it too much just now. There is more to Galag-Trav than you have yet found. It doesn't go down another level, but there are four secret areas to be found on level two, plus two more minor ones. Keep poking around. If you're out of patience, you can find them listed by general location in my NR Items list linked below. The list is basically full of spoilers of a sort, so don't look unless you're sure you want to. Also, there is a FAQ to the old NG game linked through the header in this forum, which is still useful for much of Resurrection for many more tips. Do you remember where you found the lost ball? It's not far, as the crow files, from the boy who lost it. -S-

Thanks for assembling this list, Random. I've put a link to this thread on the Nethergate forum header for future convenience. -S-

The Runeshield and Knowledge Charm are working properly now too. So far, so good. -S-

No way...someone else from Kirkland? How very cool. Have you tried going back up to L1 and down to L3/L2 by the stairway in the NE corner of L1? I may be forgetting how the Romans get around the levels, and the Celts do it differently, but on L2 you do each half from separate access areas, as I recall. I think you have more to do on L3 in order to finish up and get out of Goagh-Nar. You were sent down to L3 to get the skull, right? Some of L2 is on your way out, not on your way in. If I am murking this up, someone will further clarify. It's been a while since I was there as Romans. -S-

After years of inquiry and conjecture, Jeff gave the final word on the Puzzle Box and Pearlblossom's Necklace here. -S-

game...good. get it. -s-

Crossing the rune is what gets you thrown in jail in this case. I did that alone without opening any of the boxes and got incarcerated for it. Also, there is a bug in the game still in which you can look at Poot's right box down by the runes and decide to "1. Leave," and it will open up anyway and let you take the Blessed Shield without even having "opened" the box. Surely someone else has noticed this. Jeff will probably have it fixed by the patch, so take advantage of this exploit while you can. -S-

Not at all, BenS. It's a nice way to play the game. When I first played Avernum 3, my first SW game, I didn't steal anything that wasn't mine. I was a very polite PC. A PC PC? Thanks for clarifying about the bricks, ewan. Yeah, good thinking, that maybe if you collected enough and put them somewhere they'd do something. Maybe they are kind of an easter egg in that unless you do exactly the right thing with them, they won't demonstrate their amazingness. Or maybe Jeff got less than mind-bendingly creative with Sylak item #14 and made it just like the Exuberant Trash and the Nourishing Bowl and the Dancing Cloth. -S-

Quote: Originally written by ewan: Sylak's bricks sure multiply fast, huh? I've tried dropping *large* stacks of the(m), but no effect - another trash item? They replicate AND you can't drop them? How could that be? I carried the bricks around a while. Nothing happened, so I put them down somewhere. What do you mean, "no effect?" -S-