Earth

what thyrul said, got any older save game?

if you have quest to deliver skribbane then there is secret road to gale bit up from gale. i think hint of excact location of that secret road is gotten from some1.

yeah only "few" hundred years has passed between games so no big rush.

nice, now we have pylons list twice.

soon he starts a5 and finds truth.

I moved my chars that 1st fighter was at down, 2nd fighter at left and magepriests at right and top (both capable to do mass healing) and buffed them all with haste, blessing and protection (maybe i used few buffs more not sure) and used bows (had quite good bows by then) and spells to kill enemies and spellcasters killed long range giant hitters with spells and fighters hitted giants who were closer with bows and when long ranges were dead spellcasters were able to help fighters with their enemies and I healed all my chars when health dropped under certain level and renewed buffs (haste, blessing and prot if they were gone) and kept hitting giants with bows and spells until they were all dead and after that battle I ended combat to regain sp and hp. Drake I killed same way except spellcasters used spells which did most damage to it. My party wasn't anywhere near best possible at that time (I had used only needed skillpoints to get needed skills like Arcane Lore to 1st fighter so spellbooks could be deciphered, Tool Use to 2nd fighter to open locks and spellcasters to get more sp via intelligence and spell-levels) but I passed all tests (even last where giant used charm or daze (spellcasters did only healing, unshackling mind and buffing 1st fighter (2nd fighter hitted so that it wasn't at giant's sight)) even I needed to reload few times due dead of char. I won't say 1st test was easy cause it was hard due restriction not to move.

Buffs exist to be used when needed.

nope, many avernum enemies have returned from death's land just to be sent back there.

although not same cheeseball, a5 has(/had if decided to kill solberg after all) cheeseball number .......

if sub-bosses/bosses are too difficult then skillpoints have been spent on wrong things. all enemies except that mad sentinel require smashing via swords, bows, poles or spears with help of spells again and again etc. i agree that most enemies at melanchion's area were difficult but buffing up before fights and healing when needed and not going on hand to hand combat when enemy was capable to freeze character and keep priest(s) close enough to release charmed/terrorized/etc characters back to fighting. i fought against black horror few times until i found strategy to beat it.

basically all towns have pylon.

tip: always go through all conversation options, you get info you might need later or quests to do.

and so? we killed garzahd way back in past and still he/it was at a4 and didn't we kill some demon at a2 who returned at a3?

i wouldn't be surprised even if we saw erika again.

so true, a4 he had demons under his castle and a5 he had mad sentinels and darkside loyalist in his castle. at a3(?) he was quite secured with his isolated tower.

you've got quest from erica to talk to athron and thompson?

killed that demon?

yes dio's quest pass is at mel's area and after you've found it go back to tell dio and that quest is done. have fun with mel's quests.

same here. move a bit and voila there are few chitrachs ahead of you.

pass to vahnatai lands is near muck and D's 3rd quest (if it is that path-quest) won't get resolved until near end of game.

Nice. Many will love to rob Gladwell after killing him.

True but many are very hard to miss unless is half-blind.

Are you sure? I'm near sure at least some bugs had riposte (although so many enemies had riposte that mixing is possible).

Nah unless they kill those Nagas or Demons on 1 shot.

Oh well. It doesn't matter to me but some won't like that.

You find better armors/weapons/shields from caves/monsters/rewards etc than you can craft at beginning/middle of game.

To get money you can sell potions, magic staffs, scrolls, stuff you get from enemies etc you don't need. Collect everything which has selling value and sell it, money ain't so common in A5 than it was on A4. If you are really desperate on getting money then take Gladwell's geas and start selling health potions which his female slave gives you everytime you visit there.

Yes and damn effectively they throw rocks. My party prolly didn't manage dodge much (if any) of thrown rocks.