Randomizer

The black fang quests are deliberate in that you have always one unfulfilled quest. I gave up in A2 on fighting the black shades and guardians since I was using up too many energy potions trying to finish it. I had the spellcasters buff up the fighters and summon hordes of monsters. The monsters occupied the guardians while my fighters slowly tracked down and killed the invisible monsters. I got about half before I got bored and tired about keeping track of the invisibles as they revealed their positions attacking. The only area effect spell is cloud of blades and you still have to target on your own creations and watch the pitiful damage.

Dikiyoba the two battles are nagas and basilisks. The trick with the basilisks is to have crystal shields and other anti-stoning items on the characters closest to them. Nagas are just a grinding battle with the fighters having to hack their way through them.

Oliver is in Formello until you go into the Eastern Gallery and then return to tell him that you are sure that barrier is down. He then goes to the Tower Colony. His next quest is to find the way past Almaria. He will buy things from you until you get past Alamaria, then he appears in Dharmon with a different inventory. You can find him near the north entrance to the colony although he moves around.

I found fighting multiple drakes is that hard if you plan what you are doing. The spellcasters are not meant to close with drakes because they don't have the health to withstand multiple attacks. You need to take advantage of their strengths to buff up fighters, cast protection spells, and use long range spells to damage drakes. They can also summon allies to give drakes something else to waste their attacks on instead of frail spellcasters.

Quote: Originally written by Spoilt Salmon: There is nothing that says you can't make a Geneforge world using the BoA engine. The only problem is creations. Running an agent or guardian is fairly easy.

Jeff warned that he was changing tool use and minefields. Now you have to do it the old fashioned way and risk yourself.

I think I opened the door the first time with the unlock spell and tool use 12. Avernum 4 is the first game where the tool use is combined with mage skills to unlock harder difficulty doors. Although if you ask around there is a key. Athron's lair is supposed to be doable after finishing the Mertis Spiral. Even a singleton can do it if you are prepared and pay attention.

I'm getting tired of the plot. Maybe Jeff can do something interesting in GF5, but I would like to see something seriously different. There is a whole world where Shapers aren't known or weren't in GF1. The Sholai had't heard of them because of the ocean. You could have a more advanced shaper going through an area where there isn't the support for learning except for combat and magic skills.

Did you check preferences? There is a setting for machine speed although the default should be ok and the same for all the games.

The NW lever is in one of the small prison cells in the NW corner. I don't remember if you need to go through a secret door so check all of them and look for a blank spot on the map. The monsters are wimpy and there is a prisoner there.

I think that it's in the preferences, but I never tried it.

You could do this in the other games (Avernum and Nethergate) because of the way that NPCs are listed. Jeff probably could add it by making the inventory system a two dimensional array instead of a one dimensional list.

I didn't think that Jeff was far enough along for beta testing. Welcome back Synergy. There are a lot of discussion threads that Slarty did a few months ago that will help. If you are using creations then you want to put points into intelligence to increase essence and spell points. Also concentrate on one shaping skill instead of being a generalist at the beginning so your creations start out being more powerful.

Thanks to the new weight scheme I can pile on the equipment into the pack and switch out as needed. I'm trying to remember what they called the Dungeons & Dragon character that had a backpack twice his size. Edit: I think the miniature figure was the complete dungeoneer. Although the complete packrat was more accurate.

Jeff occasionally lets you get additional allies, but they usally count against your creation slots and depending upon the type against the different creation type numbers..

If you haven't tried restarting the game then you probably have a corrupt file and need to reload from the original disk or unstuff the download in a new folder. Then transfer the saved games over to the new copy and try again.

The caches that I remember are: The one west of Fort Draco that you find in the beginning that you can't open, one west of Fort Dranlon across the river and then north at the lake, and there are two north of Fort Dranlon on the east side of the river. Most of the caches are hidden so you have to find secret passages to access them. I never can remember where the last one is but check your map for areas that you can't get to and search around them.

Just push your strength and blademaster skills and you can be a slap happy monk. Bare handed damage isn't that great, but the game allows it. Don't forget quick action for multiple slaps. I wouldn't mind a monk character in A5. No armor and increased hand damage would be nice. There could even be a monastary like in E3/A3 where you could train.

You can't relearn from the same book. This is painful if a party member "dies" just before your party reads from a book. If your skill level increases with a spell you should have gotten it. Check your character's spell list by going to training and go to spells/traits. You may not have been able to cast the spell because of your current mage spell level.

I have to agree with Delicious Vlish in an earlier thread that Vlish (magic creations) are great in the early game for their stun effect. If they can't attack from lack of AP then it doesn't matter what monsters you face. I tried it in GF2 and it's working great.

Hawthorne's prism is a special so you will know when you get it. Try the mines entering from the east of Fort Kentia section and head east and north towards the center. It's in a room guarded by 3 turrets.

Essence pods can only replace essence used in spell casting. You can't exceed your maximum essence or replace essence used in shaping creations as long as the creation is alive. You can use essence pods to replace the creation essence if the creation is dead and you don't have time to go back to a friendly town or use an essence pool, You always get the message that you get essence, spell points, and healing even when it doesn't increase your level. Just stand next to a pool and see what I mean.

Between dexterity and quick action the fighters should always go first. There are very few encounters where high dexterity is needed for spellcasters so they can go first.

Missle weapons is always good for javelins and crystals. Spray and swarm crystals are the only real multiple attack for guardians when you face groups of monsters. It doesn't take much to get decent damage.

I don't remember the combination, but it's a vee shaped path. Start with the far right control and adjust until an empty square appears next to the entrance. Get all the controls to the same number. Then adjust each control until you get a path to the door into the Khazi's area. Keep going back and forth between the controls and the entrance.