Randomizer

A2 requires retreating to the Fort to rest in the beginning. The Nephil fort takes several trips. Also you might as well take advantage of those trips to haul items back to sell off since you will easily exceed carrying capacity. There are several places that require more fighting at the start than in A1.

Avernum 4 is the first game that doesn't give you stacking benefits. I think you might get longer duration, but I doubt it's worth it. There are plenty of potions available if you are worried about APs being used to get all the buffing spells cast.

Avernum 4 is the first game that doesn't give you stacking benefits. I think you might get longer duration, but I doubt it's worth it. There are plenty of potions available if you are worried about APs being used to get all the buffing spells cast.

For the Orb, you find its resting place that it was stolen from in the south part of the Castle. One of the mages in the entrance courtyard is looking through maps to figure out where it has been taken. I don't remember who in Fort Remote mentions the theives flying past them.

You and your character where you ask that rebel leader in Chapter 4 when you get that dialog option. Go ahead knock your self out. In the last chapter I started using them to save money and get all the ones in the expert area that's the equivalent of GF1's Shapers crypt. By that point I no longered cared about canister madness. The first time that I never got to finish I used everyone I could get. So I had to kill some worms. Big deal they were only worms.

Don't get your hopes up about Geneforge 4. I didn't like any of the endings that I saw. It sets up Geneforge 5 - The Quagmire I will say the Shapers are a little, very little, bit more reasonable than GF3. The Rebels are more reasonable since they've had some victories.

Actually I got through to the middle with using only one canister and I could have skipped it except that I wanted a better result with that spell. You can play a no canister game if you want. Using fewer canisters allows you a few more options since you don't always have to chose to fight. It seems to work the same as in the earlier games. When the game is released I'll post the great quotes Jeff has about canister usage.

One thing to remember in Avernum 2 and 3 is that a few encounters require just one party member. For those I always use a mage/priest spellcaster. I always used a nephil archer/sword/thief, a slith pole weapon, and 2 human mage/priests where one gets all the mage spells and the other gets all the priest spells. Both spellcasters have the first 8 levels or so of both spell categories for when you need extra firepower or healing in the beginning of the game. Make sure you give at least one spellcaster Natural Mage to increase the armor. There are lots of different combinations that will work so pick something that you will enjoy.

For Demonslayer you need permission from King Micah that requires retrieving 2 crystal souls. I think Rone tells you to go see Patrick who reveals the location. The Orb is mentioned as being stolen and seen heading for Fort Remote. I don't think there is any one person who actually tells you where to look.

There are a few hints about the Vahnatai starting with the mysterious blue crystals and Motrax's comment.

The magic system could have been replaced with a more technological system with spells being gene enhanced abilities that draw from your bodies abilities. The explanation would have been ignored as long as the results were the same.

The review is accurate except for misspelling fyora. The details about the AP system aren't complete. There is one major difference that isn't mentioned in that you can get killed in the very first section of the tutorial. Most people won't be that careless, but I explored the area and found at least 2 ways to die. It still doesn't give away that much more than Jeff has already revealed in posts and screenshots. The third way is hinted at in the tutorial, but you don't really get to it until chapter 2. The new fyora graphic is better than the old one. There is one new creation that is really nice, but you don't see it until chapter 2 when it kills you for going where you shouldn't.

I missed that entirely. I didn't see a Phoenix Egg until A2. Thanks, I'll have to try it some time.

I found in beta testing that you have to be pretty amoral and mercenary to get a chance to explore the whole game. I'm on my second time through the complete game in order to see all the areas I missed the first time. Picking one side limits you way more than in the earlier games. Jeff went out of his way to make your choices have definite limitations on you future actions.

Killing Hawthorne is hard because I wasted so many spell points and energy potions buffing my party before the big fight while I looted and dealt with the guards. I almost died looting his room after the fight because I wanted to see what was there instead of just leaving. Grah-Hoth and other dumbfounding demon encounters are hard if you aren't prepared. I got through that fight fairly easily and redid it so I could kill all the demons.

As Bill Cosby once said an American can eat anything if it's between two slices of bread. Although I think vlish would need plenty of ketchup (catsup - variant spelling) to make it delicious.

Try kyshakk steaks, where one kyshakk feeds a hundred. (It's in the screen shot for GF4)

It's not enough to do the quest, you must report it to the proper person. What's worse is if he or she is dead then you usually don't get credit.

Nah, just loot their treasury. After all they are a suspicious lot that spy on their members and ruined Kneece. One of the things I like in Exile 3 was after looting the place, the fight to leave Shaydar. The Empire Dervish is a wimp.

Geneforge 4 is pretty much decided except for the fine tuning. Geneforge 5 is going to be well over a year away since Jeff announced that he wants to revise Nethergate to OS X and do Avernum 5. You might as well wait to see all the changes in Geneforge 4 so you can at least make informed suggestions since the combat and creation systems have changed. Mechanics and tool use are also a little different in how they work for locks, traps, and mines. Still you can always do it the old fashioned way and set them off and hope to survive.

In the first 2 games all the sects are trying to destroy each other. They don't have the strength to do so without leaving themselves open for the sect that they are not attacking from stabbing them in the back. So they spy on each other, kill the other spies, and try to recruit you to tip the balance in their favor.

That's why you should also save the few spell books that you can find. There is also that strange mage in Periges in southwest Valorium near the mines.

Self chilling.

Shaping is different enough that you can't assume that things will work the way it does in GF3. Most of the changes will be liked and some won't if you liked some creations. More will be known in a few weeks.

Since you still are on the first island you could just replay the game in about 6 hours. That would help with your desire to complete all the quests and you could make any changes to your character that you want. The first quest for Hawthorne is a prism that show up as a special item. The book is wanted by the other mage.