Randomizer

Quote: Originally written by Student of Trinity: Hey, who ever reads those 'licence agreement' panes, anyway? The Feds cracked down on one company that had buried in the licensing term for free software an agreement to buy more software at a rate of $30-40 per month and that the "free" software would cost you if you got more than 2 of them. They had to pay up for violating a provision in the Unsolicited Merchandise Act. This is why I wasted time reading some of these.

Welcome back Fenwick. I had more fun with Geneforge 4 than the earlier ones.

Most people hold off on training in combat skills until reaching the Rebel Camp in the Fens of Aziraph where the only combat trainer is available. You can get by with increasing strength and/or dexterity if you are using weapons.

It's the human touch that prevents hackers from getting at the mailing list. Your information remains private because it takes an onsite human to get to it.

The complaint about attacking adjacent monsters is old. Hopefully Jeff will bring back keyboard targeting where you can designate a target with a letter or using an arrow key (numeric keypad). It's worse in Avernum 4 than in Geneforge 4. It helps to wait until the target is outlined in white to be certain you have the right one. The dialog boxes depend on the type and Jeff doesn't seem willing to rewrite the old code to make them consistent. Some will close by hitting escape or return.

You probably won't be done with the demo portion before you get your registration code. You are dealing with humans.

He said he was working on it at the same time as he was doing Geneforge 4 for Windows.

Exile, with its ever respawning dungeons, encouraged going in and killing everything in one trip. The only reasons to go back was for easy experience or you missed getting an item. Avernum made it possible for hit and run raids where you kill a little bit every time unless you were forced into a route with no retreat. Avernum 4 meant you didn't lose the loot after a battle outdoors anymore. If someone died the only problem was you couldn't get to their items until they came back. No more hard choices about reloading from a really difficult fight. No more picking up their pile of items either.

Darkside Loyalists seemed almost tacked on to the games as a more organized group of bandits. A little more work and they could have been a real challenge. They would have been a new force in the game series.

A lot was grabbed from Geneforge to save time. Some of the features were okay, but Avernum and Exile games are great for using keyboard commands. At least Jeff said that more keyboard commands will return. I really miss elevations. It made Avernum different.

I like to have a couple of fighters for carrying all that heavy loot and dealing with mung demons and other spell energy drainers.

The game would have been better if the Darkside Loyalists had been the main villans. They could have been working with a Vahnatai sect out to eliminate the other races from the caves and leaving the Loyalists in control of the surface. After all the Vahnatai don't function well up there.

A slow rate of restocking makes sense. It means that you have to hold something back in reserve when going through a "cleared" area in case you get attacked. In Avernum 4, I could wander through a cleared route with 1 health and fear nothing usually. I like the older game save system because you can place all your saved games in one place and not have to shift them for updated versions.

There is something there in the Abyss. Lots of death dealing Empire troops making sure that there isn't anything else. That's why except for select areas you get those automatic killed messages.

There is some mentions in A3 about both sets of adventurers having missions, but nothing definite.

Demonslayer does extra damage versus demons, but there are plenty of other nice weapons. Especially since in Avernum 1 it is two-handed. The only place it is really worth it is the big fight with Grah-Hoth.

In between reloads try using multiple piercing crystals. I don't remember if Exile works like Avernum where multiple uses increase your chances. Now you know why people use mages for singleton games.

Mung demons did the same thing as gazers in some games. I used to send my spellcasters in retreat since they can heal, bless, and haste at any distance. Being able to raise dead characters should have a financial cost so you have to choose between raising a dead party member or reloading and replaying a difficult fight.

Essence is the only stat that doesn't comeback with time. Spell energy returns. Although if you are doing a lot of spellcasting you might want to occasionally use essence pods to speed up the process in major fights.

All those whips and shackles that are left lying around will go to waste. Negative reinforcement training is the fastest way to teach someone. The Trakovite way will stop new shaping. Existing creations that can reproduce get to survive. So there would be more drayks, drakons, gazers, eyebeasts, and similar but no more rotgroths after they acidify.

Goblins always survive. Play Nethergate to see why. The other animals may not be native to the areas that we get to see. The Empire is pretty good about eliminating what it considers undesireables.

The lucky charm is in the building in the last room that you can reach from the entrance. It's on the table to the west in the room with 2 power spirals. You might have picked it up and sold them since they look like dice. The cryoa charm is for slaying the Radiant Cryoa that hides in the area south of the exit to Sandros Mines. You get the message that you feel like you are being watched when it isn't there. It doesn't show up right away so you probably didn't come back to check for it.

Avernum 5 is supposed to be out at the end of 2007 depending upon when Jeff gets around to writing it and how much beta testing it needs. After Avernum 4 there will be a lot of criticism from regulars if they don't like the plot.

In Geneforge 3 and 4, dexterity also helps with crystals and other missle weapons. You can always cache javelins to keep your encumberance down to a manageable level. Just retreat along a cleared route to go back and get more as you need them. It makes a difference when the creation you face goes down after one or two attacks.

As a Shaper it's better to use javelins until you find venom batons. Thorn batons are only useful to sell even though they can kill the low level creations you fight in the beginning of the game. Agents/Infiltrators are better off using firebolt since they tend to do more average damage at the starting statistics.