Randomizer

If you lead the shade towards a direction with people after attacking it he will sometimes kill people. I saw him kill Hoernell (?), the supply store owner in Formello, when I made the mistake of running south. The shade killed a guard in Silvar when I went north. The safest way to test him is in Formello and head west to the pylon area. He will usually go back to the park if you then head south in hasted mode. Always wait for the message that he goes back to be sure.

While most people should, there seem to be enough that will have trouble. Just using repel spirit burns through spell points very quickly when you don't have to do it. I spend enough time running back to town to recharge and first aid works best when you buff your party and then refrain from major spellcasting until a few battles recharges the spellcasters.

For those starting the game and those who just use Repel Spirit to slay undead there are a few other options. Hrako and company are found in the tunnels south of Fort Monastary. You need Tool Use 8 to unlock the door. Stand in the doorway a slay the skeletons with normal weapons or Bolt of Fire. Just like in the martial arts movies, they come to the door one at a time. The zombies take more damage, usually two bolts. Hrako is the only one that really needs repel spirit. Bring a Fiery Wand along if you need extra fire power. The shade in the first testing place takes damage from Acid Spray. Two doses goes along way to helping you pass. Under Grindstone, there are three types of shades. I think it was the Decaying Wisp that takes more damage from Acid Spray than Repel Spirit. Repel Spirit and/or Bolt of Fire work for the other two. The Crystal Shade has higher health so go upstairs to recharge or save points to nail him. The Haunted Mines have the most undead for the start. A combine spellcraft and magery of 3 boosts damage so Bolt of Fire takes out skeletons most of the time. Add Blessing and you have a good chance with zombies. Ghouls take two bolts or one repel spirit. Use tab to check undead types because there are a few specials in the mines with higher healths. Hrickris's undead have more health than the mines. Repel Spirit or two bolts are needed. Don't get swarmed on the upper level. The testing cirlce east of Formello isn't that hard if you are blessed and hasted. Except for one shade at the end two bolt or one repel spirit will kill each one. The ruined fort of Lord Bragg has an undead room. The crumbling skeletons take two bolts or one Repel Spirit. The Mertis Spiral is where Bolt of Fire really works. It does about 90% of the damage that Repel Spirit does at lower spell point cost. The only undead that takes more damage from Repel Spirit is the the one at the center of the lower level. This should help you with them.

For those who have just bought the game and especially the Windows version, reset the show topics to show all. Then start at the last page of topics and go forwards. Most questions have already been answered for the Mac users. There are lots of help for skill selection, abilities, traits, party selection, and spoilers on how to get through specific encounters. Trying using better topic desciptions than need help, question, etc. It helps to use the area or monster name to avoid topic duplication. Spelling really helps.

In West Cotra, the Potionary has one knowledge brew for sale.

In West Cotra, the Potionary has one knowledge brew for sale.

My OCD isn't that bad yet. Some items like red lamps (value 3) and thread (value 5) will stack so like food does so you can maximize money when selling them. I just leave the rest for now.

I tried a party with a slith fighter with pole weapons, nephil archer with melee, and two spellcasters that had both mage and priest spell. One spellcaster also had tool use. Boost dexterity and defense to 6 each at the start to protect the front fighters. Have mage and priest spell at 5 each to get the maximum "free" spells at the start. Spellcraft of 3 in spellcasters will significantly boost damage but isn't needed until reaching Fort Draco area. Spread out first aid at the start. Nature lore and arcane lore can be added through out the party as needed. Total nature lore of 15 will get all caches through the Eastern Gallery and total arcane lore of 12 will read all spellbooks through Almaria. But don't waste points at the start with them. Tool use of 8 (with later getting unlock doors) will open almost every door, locked box, and trap that you have to go through until at least Almaria. The only two traps that need more are under Grindstone and in Skunky Joe's hideout. Every other place will be a door that opens later after a quest or a box that contains NY (not yours) items.

I guess Jeff didn't do much to address the black backround in some lower levels. It's hard to see things because there is much contrast. There are two bodies in the Haunted Mine that I missed on the Mac version, and a few others elsewhre so it pays to move the cursor around and see what lights up.

Tool Use needs to be given to a mage with unlock door spell (taught in Formello). There is and old thread that shows how they work together. It's a waste to give it to a non-mage. Arcane Lore, Nature Lore, and First Aid can be spread out over the party since the game uses the party's total and not the maximum of any member. One warning, monsters that are calmed by a party's total nature lore will attack later if enough characters "die" so as to lower the total below what was needed to calm them. It's a cruel way to get attacked as a weaken party limps back to town.

It's not that hard to kill him since he doesn't move. Stand back and acid spray him and his pylons. You can wait until the first time that they heal him if you want to play the game straight before woking on the pylons. Acid spray, bolt of fire, and arrow anyone he summons as aid. Take advantage of the blue bowls northeast of him that you can drink. Two of them help you, one is poison, and the last is unknown effect.

Oliver doesn't buy things until after he leaves Fort Monastary.

If you feed him you get experience and he will follow you and help you fight goblins. In the Mac version 1.0.1, if you later petted him again he would follow you again otherwise he would eventually return to his cave.

Finally things that you could use only once a day like first aid were upgraded so it was worth training. I rarely used the old special abilities in A1-3 and usually piled them on one character for use when only one character could go through a portal for the encounter. I do miss those adventures and preparing a character for them like getting Demonslayer in A2.

Actually shades respond well to Bolt of Fire for the weaker kinds and some take more damage from Acid Spray. It helps you conserve spell points under Grindstone and in the first test.

Singletons in Torment Damaging monsters is faster than using a herringbone, but you have to use spells and the right one to maximize damage by matching type. I spend a lot of time going back to recharge. I finally got all my singetons through the Tower Colony. After finding since the start 10 Wisdom Crystals/Knowledge Brews (including the one behind the Dispel barrier in the honeycomb). HumanPSEW is at level 30, Nephil PSDT and NMDT are at 28. Natural mage meant I can use more armor options and boost armor to 101. I like the extra damage of the Oozing Blade but have gone with the Ghostly Knife for its defense abilities and lower weight. I've been using the Girdle of Avoidance (DEX+2) to boost dodging. The Crystal Talisman and Incantor's Ring have given my PS singletons two extra levels of mage spells so I'll cap them at mage spell level 9. Now it's on to Almaria and R-I's trap. This will give me levels to boost dodging in my PS's and finally get resistance in my NM.

Singletons in Torment Damaging monsters is faster than using a herringbone, but you have to use spells and the right one to maximize damage by matching type. I spend a lot of time going back to recharge. I finally got all my singetons through the Tower Colony. After finding since the start 10 Wisdom Crystals/Knowledge Brews (including the one behind the Dispel barrier in the honeycomb). HumanPSEW is at level 30, Nephil PSDT and NMDT are at 28. Natural mage meant I can use more armor options and boost armor to 101. I like the extra damage of the Oozing Blade but have gone with the Ghostly Knife for its defense abilities and lower weight. I've been using the Girdle of Avoidance (DEX+2) to boost dodging. The Crystal Talisman and Incantor's Ring have given my PS singletons two extra levels of mage spells so I'll cap them at mage spell level 9. Now it's on to Almaria and R-I's trap. This will give me levels to boost dodging in my PS's and finally get resistance in my NM.

Be glad you have more slots and no maximum weight encumberance. At least you can haul everything of value back without having to watch the weight.

Try fighting Nodicaus with a singleton before leaving the Eastern Gallery. You can't dodge his attacks and there are only so many invulnerability potions available. That is a real challenge to do it without burning up too many magic items. The game isn't as hard for a singleton as Jeff would like, but you have to make sacrifices that restrict what you can do during the game. No looting every cache until the end when all they are good for is extra money and knowledge brews. Torment mode gives the monsters a decent chance of hitting you as opposed to easy where you can just stand there a kill monsters leisurely.

Try fighting Nodicaus with a singleton before leaving the Eastern Gallery. You can't dodge his attacks and there are only so many invulnerability potions available. That is a real challenge to do it without burning up too many magic items. The game isn't as hard for a singleton as Jeff would like, but you have to make sacrifices that restrict what you can do during the game. No looting every cache until the end when all they are good for is extra money and knowledge brews. Torment mode gives the monsters a decent chance of hitting you as opposed to easy where you can just stand there a kill monsters leisurely.

I like that the magic system brought back area effects. In A1 to A3 the only way to truly hit an invisible monster was with a fighter and they were hard to locate without being hit by them. Now if Jeff will bring back Exile's Shockwave to replace Arcane Blow the mages will have an attack like Divine Retribuion. This will keep spellcasters and archers from hanging back from combat. The unlimited arrows for bows unbalances the game. It just is worth training in thrown weapons because they weigh so much for a little extra damage. I only used the razordisks versus Nodicaus because a nephil divine touch can do almost as much damage as lightning spray.

I agree that there should be more choices even if we use the old graphics.

Check the job board in Formello. Scavenging rats are one of the jobs. They repopulate in certain storerooms.

I'll give it an 8 because the spell system brought back true area effects and they don't zap friendly party members like in Exile. The game does run too much like Genforge and the singleton games pretty much devolve into shaper, guardian, or agent style of play. I miss the puzzles and especially the mind ones in Exile where you had to think and not just hack. The money limit (no carrysomething from where it is cheap to expensive) also forces you to prioritize what you buy so you can never max out something for the entire party. I hope A5 goes back to A1 and 2 in that you have more choice in what you do next instead of this forced linearized plot line. At least in the Eastern Gallery you can choose a path until you are ready to slay Nodicaus.

Singletons in Torment After reading this topic, I decided to try one of my own in torment mode. This has eventually become three different singletons with each one emphasizing a something. The first was a human pure spirit elite warrior (HPSEW) with only a 30% experience penalty. I thought that this would give me more levels than Synergy's nephil divine touched elite warrior. It appears that this will only give 3 or 4 more levels at the end. The second was a nephil pure spirit divine touch (NPSDT) with a 55% penalty and damage avoidance through dodging. He still gets hit, but I think that is a result of torment mode. Boosting dodging means sacrificing spell levels and arcane lore. The third was a nephil natural mage divine touch (NNMDT) where I tried for damage resistance through hardiness with the goal to get resistance skill and damage resistances above 100%. I wanted to get Dispel Barrier and other spellbooks so I bought Arcane Lore from Cecil in Cotra and trained with 10 skill points in the Eastern Gallery to get Arcane Lore 6. This gave me Smite, Cure Poison, Haste, Unlock doors, Minor Heal and Heal, Enduring Shield (2 levels), augmentation, and Lightning Spray. After Tower Colony and 8 more skill points I now have Arcane Lore at 8 and went back to get another Heal, Repel Spirit, Summon Shade, Unshackle Mind, Call Beast, Minor Summoning, Mass Healing, Terror, and Prismatic Shield. Going up to Arcane Lore 12 will have to wait. First Aid is not worth training and Nature Lore will have to wait until the end. At Nature Lore 15 (2 bought in Fort Duvno, 1 in Fort Dranlon quest, Explorer ring for 2 more, and 10 trianed at 30 skill points) there should be enough ingrdients in caches to generate more Knowledge brews than I used up to get there. Tool use needs to be trained to level 8 in order to open all doors and locked boxes around Fort Monastary and Grindstone. I usually started with 5 to get a most of the places at the start. Tinker's Bauble and Gloves give 3 more levels, but I will need to raise it again after Alamira to a natural 12. Open Doors spell helps if you have enough health points to survive the traps. For instance under Grindstone needs 60 to get to the piercing crystals and Skunky Joe's needs about 80. That all the different singletons have survived shows that it is the player's style that should determine the form. I relied on spell damage to get rid of monsters and used weapons only against much weaker monsters that could't hit me. Summoned Shades helped against Hrickis and I couldn't have defeated Nodicaus without them. Otherwise I had to find the most effective damaging spell type versus the monster to slay it without running out of spell points. For example, spellcasters tend to waste time if you slow them and then damage them with Acid Spray. This will give you some indication of what the singletons can look like and how many levels they will have as they progress. I would do it a little differently if I did this again. I was too slow building up dodge ability in my NPSDT. The initial singletons were: All started with Mage Spells 5 and Priest Spells 5 HPSEW - Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Intelligence 2, Endurance 4, Spellcraft 1, Tool Use 5,and Luck 1 NPSDT - Str 2, Dex 2, Int 2, End 5, TU 8 NNMDT - Str 2, Dex 6, Int 2, End 3, Luck 1 I found that Blademaster 2 at Str 2 allows you to slap a goblin for 10 to 11 points damage with your bare hand. I ran out of spellpoints when I was suprised by a goblin and slapped him to death. You shouldn't sell all your weapons to buy spell before getting the Shielding Knife. When you have EW instead of DT you need Spellcraft to makeup for not getting Magery. EW does increase carrying capacity and give you parry to block damage. Entering the Eastern Gallery after using 5 Wisdom Crystals/Knowledge Brews: HPSEW is at level 16 - Str 2, Dex 6, Int 4, End 5, Mage 6, Priest 7, Spellcraft 5, TU 8, Luck 4 NPSEW is at level 15 - Str 2, Dex 5, Int 6, End 6, Mage 6, Priest 7, TU 8, Luck 4 NNMDT is at level 15- Str 2, Dex 7, Int 5, End 6, Mage 7, Priest 6, TU 8, Luck 2 Leaving the Eastern gallery after 2 more WC/KB and buying and quest rewards Nature Lore and First Aid 3: HPSEW is at level 25 - Str 2, Dex 7, Int 5, End 5, Mage 7, Priest 9, Spellcraft 5, Arcane Lore 5, Hardiness 2, Defense 7, TU 8, Luck 4 NPSDT is at level 23 - Str 2, Dex 7, Int 6, End 6, Mage 8, Priest 8, Spellcraft 2, Arcane Lore 6, Hardiness 2, Defense 3, TU 8, Luck 4 NNMDT is at level 24 - Str 2, Dex 8, Int 5, End 8, Mage 9, Priest 7, Spellcraft 2, Arcane Lore 6, Hardiness 6, Defense 1, TU 8, Luck 2 The extra level appears to be because having Lightning Spray earlier I went after the Sliths across from Fort Dranlon a few levels earlier to get more experience points for the encounters. I didn't have enough money to get an extra level in Defense.