The Lurker

EDIT : Nevermind, Thuryl beat me to it.

NEVER leave combat mode in the Syracuse unless you get a "can't go there in combat mode" message. Even then, make sure that your two PCs are as close to each other as possible. You get the 'three spaces back' problem due to the BoE engine; this has nothing to do with the scenario.

Huh. I had played the AT demos before playing A4, and I still liked A4 better. And honestly, I'm with Jeff Vogel on this one - A4 really does remind me of A1, now that I've played it. And I still like A4 better right now. Also, I really enjoyed The Valley of Dying Things, A Small Rebellion, The Za-Khazi Run, and Diplomacy with the Dead. (EDIT : However, I do agree that there are better scenarios out here, but I did enjoy the pre-fab scenarios)

I voted 'ok'. While I think it can be fairly easy if you do lots of subquests, if you skip most subquests some parts can be really hard *cough*Mindreaper Lich*cough*.

Quote: Originally written by Ayami xx: I like the vampire graphic that Enraged Slith reposted, and want to use it in "Twilight Vale", my next project. I thought your next project was 'The Demon Stone'? Or maybe you gave up?

Quote: Originally written by Garrison: I think you missed his point. Regarding Divine Host, I think it is unfair that in the previous Avernum games this has been the highest level priest spell, described as "awesome" in the documentation, and required a huge amount of spell points when it summons shades that are relatively useless by the time you learn the spell. It was positively ridiculous, and the Arcane Summon spell for the mages was far better at the highest level. I just never saw the reason why priests could not have had a good Divine spell before. That I agree with. Divine Host was pretty useless in most previous Avernum games (however, Blades of Avernum allows you to summon Fierce Shades at high levels, which are quite strong). EDIT : And there's no way to unsummon creatures. They should disappear after a while, though.

Quote: Originally written by Euphoriasis: —Alorael, who is in part prejudiced by earlier games in which summoning was entirely useless except when a smokescreen of cannon fodder was necessary. I think the Demons' Firestorms can be useful in Blades of Exile. As for previous Avernum games, you've got to be kidding. Arcane Summon can be extremely powerful at high levels (EDIT : especially in Avernum 3), and Capture Soul and Simulacrum are wonderful.

Quote: Originally written by BrTarolg: yes i AM playing a 4 person party atm.... consisting of one tank, and 2 mages <and one priest> anyways ive found that most summons are ofc.. useless. however, have also found, that shades are extremely useful. in big fights, or "boss fights" - when hasted, blessed, protected etc. <things you should ALWAYS have before boss fights> - they deal on average 40-50 damage per turn each, and double curse - aswell as tank - and are immune to those damn freezing particles that many bosses cast. not only that, greater shades are REALLY strong, and have a HIGH to hit percentage. although they not may seem much - against nicoduas <zomgz impossible battle> - i didnt use a single potion during that battle <cept for a few energy potions - no invuln potions though> - before i got into the "hes about to cast a spell" - i summoned 8 shades <4 of which were greater shades> and then mass haste - bless etc. - through all previous metheods i didnt stand a chance against him, but this time i outright killed him before he even cast his demon spell does anyone else use shades? Yes. Divine Host is in my opinion extremely powerful in most battles (and Summon Shade, the spell you're talking about, is pretty good too). The Vengeful Shades are very powerful, and the Divine Shades are simply awesome. In fact, once I got it, I used it for almost every battle. I didn't use it for the last gauntlet due to lack of SP and the super-long battles, but Divine Host was my main spell for the Vyvnas-Bok battle. I also tend to use other summon spells from time to time, even with my 4 PCs party. They're useful if used wisely, especially Arcane Summon.

Quote: Originally written by chicho1102: So the quickfire really has no sense...so bad,it was in theory a very good spell...with some modifications it would be awesome... I dunno about the Exile Trilogy, but Quickfire can be extremely powerful in Blades of Exile. You just have to wait a very long time if you want it to be really useful. But hey, we can't make it too powerful, or else most players would always be using that spell against non-fire-immune enemies. That wouldn't be fun, now would it?

About switching sides... I can understand this if you're a human, but what if you're a servile? Will you also be able to switch sides? (If so, I'm wondering how and more importantly, why.)

EDIT : Ack, wrong button again.

Quote: Originally written by *i: Quote: Originally written by ginger8445: If you didn't turn off the Charcter Editor use it to boost all your skills so you never have to train and you can now kill anything with 1 or 2 shots. Also if you have the A3 hintbook it tells you exactly what to do. I'm sorry but you will have to fool around with the mirriors. This is probably the weakest suggestion I've ever seen. You have troubles, just cheat your way out! Who cares about enjoying the thrill of winning combat and solving puzzles legitimately? I must say, I kind of agree with Stareye. I do think some games/scenarios can be more enjoyable if you cheat (EDIT : although perhaps not to the extent Ginger 8445 suggested), but I don't think Avernum 3 (which by the way is IMO the easiest of all the Avernum games) is one of them. On the other hand, there are some people out there who mostly play RPGs for the story and the puzzles, and thus they will cheat to get past the combat (or impatient people who will only finish a game legitimately after first finishing it with cheats).

Um, yes. But by "very-high-level" I meant Ur-Drakons, Eyebeasts, and those green humanoid beasts that ooze acid and have an unpronouncable name.

Quote: Originally written by Spidweb: That is a very kind way to put it. About a month into Geneforge 3, I slapped my forehead and went, "Wait! I'm doing this AGAIN!?!?" Whoa. I'm sure Terror's Martyr would love those lines. Anyway, Geneforge 4 looks very promising, to say the least. By the way, would you mind making the very-high-level creations (eyebeasts and such) available a bit earlier in the game, so that they would actually be useful? (other than for clearing the two über-hard areas there are in each Geneforge game, I mean.)

When she tells you that she wants to kill you, don't reply. Just end the dialog, and run away from her. That should do it (at least it worked for me). It's a known bug, if what I said doesn't work, you'll have to kill her (you could also try killing the Eye at maker's end before facing Litalia; not sure who suggested that though).

Quote: Originally written by Ap'str'e: From everything we've seen, Avernum has only one AI, and it's an AI that doesn't cheat and doesn't learn. You can sort of make your own AI in Blades of Avernum, though. (but you'd have to do it for every monster. Yikes.) EDIT : Okay, it's actually pretty limited, but you can still do some cool things.

Quote: Originally written by radix malorum est cupiditas: Using your entire party to attack it is suicidal. No it's not, provided you've got Arcane Summon.

Quote: Originally written by 84,000 Stupas: Anyway, it seems more reasonable to take the Shaper ending, as that includes less power escalation for either side of the war. SPOILER * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mr. Vogel will use the rebel ending, unless he changed his mind. That is what I was alluding to when I suggested Khyryk would be dead. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * END OF SPOILER EDIT : And Litalia doesn't necessarily dies if you're rebel. Yeah, there is a bug, but there are ways around it.

To Delicious Vlish : I don't Khyryk will be seen in Geneforge 4. At least, not alive. To Kelandon and Randomizer : I never was really bothered about this. I don't think you are supposed to have your character say whatever you want. As a Shaper who's willing to change the world (isn't that why you're playing the game?), your dialog options are limited. But hey, if you don't like this, you can always kill both Rahul and Akhari Blaze, only you'll end up dead or stuck, but it is a path. At least it's realistic. About TM's scenarios : again, I don't really mind the 'forced philosophy'. See, sometimes the characters in TM's scenarios have a 'predefined' personality, and the story is not open-ended, which means you rarely get to choose what you say. The main characters' opinions (or behavior) are not necessarily supposed to be yours, or even TM's (in fact, it's quite the opposite in Corporeus, since you play as a 'bad guy'), but they're part of the story. Sometimes you can have an open-ended game and you get to choose what to say (Echoes : Black Horse); sometimes the focus on one particular character makes the story more interesting than it might have been otherwise (it was probably best to tell the story in Corporeus from Scilt's point of view rather than from Corporeus's point of view, just like the story in Echoes : Assault was probably best told from Boston's point of view rather than, say, Tobit's).

Quote: Originally written by Aaron Kashtan: Quote: Originally written by radix malorum est cupiditas: You need to find R-I's first hideout before you can complete that quest. The demon in the ToM is nothing compared to the vahnatai trap in Fort Remote. You seem to be thinking of Correlea's "kill a shade" quest, which is different from the Shade Experiment quest. Shade Experiment just requires you to attack the shade in Blosk and then run away. I believe you can receive and complete this quest as soon as you go to the Castle. Yes, that's what I was talking about. This quest wasn't too hard, but the shade did kill several of my party members (two? three perhaps?) before I was able to hit the shade hard enough and then run away.

Quote: Originally written by radix malorum est cupiditas: Completing Castle quests before ToM quests? What kind of wacko order did you play the game in? Well, duh. Dispel Barrier isn't useful immediately after you get it. I just rushed past Almaria and into the Castle, then I did some quests/bought some spells and waited until I could defeat Kolokh without too much trouble (as it turned out, I was able to defeat Kolokh shortly after I got Arcane Summon, and I think the Shade Experiment quest was the first major Castle quest I did).

Quote: Originally written by roadtoady: Talk to Kelner in the Tower Colony, get/complete his (somewhat tough) quest), and you're rewarded with the spell. Smite works well against Kolokh, and so does Arcane Summon (you can easily get it from Correlea after completing her Shade Experiment quest).

You can recruit a Roman warrior in Vanarium, and he's pretty good (read : he's very useful). There is no way to make your Celt Warriors/Druids wear body armor.

Quote: Originally written by Thuryl: Quote: Originally written by The Lurker: The Lurker still keeps getting 69ned. I certainly hope that you mean "86ed". Well, since Echoes is by Terror's Martyr... The '69ned' thing was more or less an Unbalanced Accounts reference.

Very interesting strategy. I almost never use batons when playing as a Shaper and I only use crystals when really necessary or when I'm fighting turrets, but your strategy sounds like a very useful one. Basically, here's what I usually do in a Geneforge game : -I give lots of Intelligence points to my shaper. -I make powerful creations, especially vlish. -I also use my shaper as a spellcaster, though not before some time because he dies easily at the beginning of the game. -I mostly use my creations to attack at the beginning of the game. If necessary, I make several waves of creations to clear one area (I leave the area to get some essence and replace the creatures that died). -I use shieding spores/rods for very tough battles only. Mind you, in Geneforge 1 I was able to cross the river using the Guarded bridge (I did almost immediately after finishing the Kazg area. I had not crossed the river before, nor had I been to the mines, or Kantre's realm, or the wastes). I kept making waves of artilas and other creations until they were all dead. I also cleared the Patrol Bridge area quite early, but this one was extremely difficult. I had to use vlish and reload a lot. I did the Inner Crypt area as soon as I had the crescent stone, using vlish, drayks, and glaahks. Once I had Danette's belt, most of the game was extremely easy. I didn't even bother to get an entry baton, I just destroyed the sholai at The Front Gate. I finshed Geneforge 1 with three vlish, two cryodrayks, and two glaahks. Also, in Geneforge 3, I was able to kill Diwaniya before leaving Harmony Island, using vlish. It was tough, but I succeeded.