Ishad Nha

A6 has a Haste spell that hastes the entire party, right from the start of the game. This is probably the result of feedback from players of A4 and A5.

If A4 was not as popular as the other Spiderweb games then there won't be as many people watching the Let's Play. A1 and A2 remakes are new and hot ditto the Avadon games.

I think you are meant to be able to clear most of the dungeons, there will just be a lack of sages and shopkeepers.

If Celt, Spirit Ceremony is the cure. Hathwisa can avoid any poison at all.

You normally won't get the Tower disaster unless you use the Character Editor to advance the game day to around 161. You could research this difficulty aspect by altering the difficulty and seeing if this brings the disaster forward.

The Mungs really blaze away at front rank warriors while the real spellcasters massacre the demons.

Useful if the Priest is incapacitated, dead or charmed. Especially if you are short on healing potions.

Avernum games have no provision for recording barriers that you can't yet bring down. I use the journal to indirectly record the barriers that we can't break down. In my Journal I record a piece of dialog from a nearby person or a message from a nearby placed special.

When the Mage's skill in Dispel Barrier increases, I use the Journal to tell me where there are barriers that might now be vulnerable to this spell.

Ditto rocks that can be removed by the Move Mountains spell.

For me, A4 was good but it did not thrill all that much, it was like Geneforge light.

Dumbfounding was fun, give your front two guys some levels in Priest or Mage spells, the monsters would blaze away at them with dumbfounding rays. Meanwhile the two spellcasters would usually escape dumbfounding.

If your front rank guys have three levels in Mage spells, one of them can Haste the party. It is not likely that in one move they will destroy a dangerous monster. This frees up the spellcasters for serious damage/healing spellcasting.

My approach: spellcasters major in their chosen field, Mage or Priest, then they minor in the other spellbook. If one spellcaster is terrified or dumbfounded, the other can heal them.

A Priest will have access to Icy Rain, just the thing to finish off a group of badly wounded foes. It will cost only a third of what Divine Fire costs.

PM Harehunter and hope that he is still with us.

How about a no-Dual-Wield party? That would present some challenge if no-one ever equips a second weapon.

Party would then rely more on spellcasting. It is viable in the demo area of AEFTP.

Beginning is different for a Custom character, you can only attain a maximum of 3 in Mage Spells, and you only gain the first four spells, even though you would be entitled to the fifth spell on the basis of your level 3 in Mage Spells. Ditto Priest spells.

Thus you can't start the game knowing Icy Rain, the GA1 equivalent of A1 Ice Lances.

Intelligence does increase spell energy but the increase is not as huge as all that. Ditto, Endurance does increase health but the increase is not so huge again.

No Safe Travel spell exists, hence you can never cross lava outdoors, unless you get the Orb of Thralni. Indoors, you can never cross lava unless there is a bridge available.

First Aid is very useful in GA1, restoring both spell energy and health. You won't normally need to use Energy Potions or Elixirs.

If you were helping yourself to everything that was not nailed down, people in every town you passed through would figure that their property was missing thanks to you. You would soon be Wanted all over Avernum.

He probably has a lot of high powered programs to do a lot of the work for him, at one point in the manual of a game, that I don't recall, he talked about a program called Code Warrior.

If surrounded, use the Daze spell. I think that is what you are meant to do.

Odd feature of the second trilogy, First Aid is actually useful.

You don't need too much Cave Lore or Arcane Lore. For the latter you have the Sage Lore trait.

Some collated data on the spells.

Mage Spells

Cost, Lvl, Name, Effects

1, 1, Bolt of Fire, Strikes one foe for a small amount of fire damage.

6, 1, Call Beast, Summons a single beast to aid you in combat.

12, 2, Cloak of Curses, Gives your group's attacks a chance of putting a random curse on the target. You can only have one Cloak at once.

8, 2, Daze, Confuses all nearby enemies. They will have a chance of not being able to move or attack for a short time.

8, 3, Haste, Enables the recipient to perform more actions in combat for a short time.

10, 4, Slow, Slows nearby enemies, causing them to occasionally miss a round in combat.

10, 5, Icy Rain, Strikes all foes in a small area with a damaging rain of ice.

8, 6, Spray Acid, Covers target with a large, magically-summoned globule of corrosive slime, which damages it over time.

30, 6, Cloak of Bolts, Makes your group's missile weapons do more damage. You can only have one Cloak at once.

15, 7, Minor Summon, Summons a creature to aid you in battle.

10, 8, Lightning Spray, This spell sprays lightning at several foes, doing considerable damage.

10, 9, Blink, Ensnares all nearby foes and teleports you to a new location.

40, 10, Cloak of Blades, Makes your group's melee attacks do more damage. You can only have one Cloak at once.

30, 11, Dispel Barrier, Has a chance of destroying all nearby magical barriers.

25, 12, Summon Aid, Summons a powerful creature to aid you.

30, 13, Howl of Terror, Terrifies all nearby foes, causing them to flee from battle.

30, 14, Fireblast, Strikes all foes in a small area with a powerful rain of fire.

35, 15, Arcane Summon, Summons one huge, dangerous creature to fight for you.

70, 16, Cloak of the Arcane, Makes your group's spells more effective. You can only have one Cloak at once.

40, 17, Arcane Blow, Strikes all foes in a cone-shaped area with an intense magical blow.

Priest Spells

Cost, Lvl, Name, Effects

3, 1, Minor Heal, Heals some of the damage inflicted on one character.

2, 1, Curing, This spell cures one or more of the non-mental hostile effects (like poison and acid) afflicting the target.

4, 1, Smite, Calls down wrath upon one of your foes, inflicting a magical blow.

4, 2, Protection, Shields nearby allies. Enemy blows have a lower chance of hitting and will do less damage.

6, 3, War Blessing, Blesses nearby allies, enabling them to hit more often and do more damage in combat.

8, 4, Call Storm, Calls forth an icy wind, freezing your foes and knocking them back.

10, 5, Summon Shade, Summons a shade to fight for you.

25, 5, Ward of Thoughts, Gives your group an extra chance of resisting mental attacks. You can only have one Ward at once.

8, 6, Unshackle Mind, Cures those in your party who have been charmed, dazed, or terrified.

12, 7, Heal, Heals much of the damage inflicted on one character.

18, 8, Mass Healing, This spell functions exactly the same as Heal but benefits all nearby allies.

15, 8, Mass Curing, This spell is the same as Curing but benefits all nearby allies.

40, 9, Ward of Steel, Gives your group resistance to physical attacks and acid. You can only have one Ward at once.

30, 10, Divine Fire, Creates a deadly cloud of fire, affecting all foes in a small circle.

20, 11, Domination, Clouds the mind of the target, potentially causing it to fight on your side.

75, 12, Ward of Elements, Gives your group resistance to magical attacks. You can only have one Ward at once.

75, 13, Return Life, You can use this spell to restore the life to your fallen comrades (instead of having to return to town).

40, 15, Divine Retribution, Calls down a cloud of holy power, searing all nearby foes.

40, 16, Divine Restoration, Heals damage and cures or reduces all negative effects for all nearby allies.

50, 17, Divine Host, This awesome spell summons a powerful shade, who will fight to protect you from your foes.

Cost = amount of spell points required to cast this spell.

Lvl = level in Mage Spells or Priest Spells that you must attain before you can cast this spell.

Coming from A3 I found that A4 felt overly-simplified by comparison. It had the simple Geneforge feel without any of the interest provided by the creations.

Daze is apparently the party's ticket to survival, when it is surrounded by enemies Daze will stop them long enough for the party to survive. This is true for the early stages of AEFTP too.

Potions are all unnecessary except for those that have effects that cannot be replicated by spells.

Energy Potions/Elixirs and Heroic Brews are possibly necessary, ditto anything that gives an Invulnerability effect.

Tower of Magi gets seized by demons around day 160, you won't see this whole battle unless you advance game time by use of the Character Editor. (Jeff will need to rectify this for the A3 remake.)

Your next Let's Play could be A4. A good idea is the A1 remake, that needs something to explain it to those who played A1.

Where the Third Level Spells are found:

Bolt of Fire: Shayder Sewers, Spell Tome

Light: Portal Fortress, RR of 20

Call Beast: Lair of the Ursagi, Spell Tome

Spray Acid: Lower Tower of Zkal, Spell Tome

Haste: Erika's Tower, Spell Tome

Slow: Inn of Blades, Arion's quest. (HM, Spell Tome.)

Ice Lances: ToM, Solberg, after ending Slime Plague.

Unlock Doors: House on the Hill, protected by Barrier.

Create Illusions: Erox, Spell Tome

Far Sight: Sharimik, Starcap's quest

Lightning Spray: ToM, Solberg, after ending Cockroach Plague, (HM, Tome)

Capture Soul: Ghikra, protected by Barrier. (HM, Spell Tome)

Simulacrum: Ghikra, protected by Barrier

Dispel Barrier: Tome: Piercing the Lost Portals

Summon Aid: Tower of Zkal

Forcecage: Below Agate Tower, RR of 30

Fireblast: ToM, X, after Barrier goes down

Arcane Summon: Lair of Khoth, Footracer quest

Arcane Shield: Inner Lair of Drakos, Spell Tome

Arcane Blow: ToM, X, after Barrier goes down, after Golems are beaten.

Healing: Storm Port, after Vahkohs quest

Curing: Temple of the Anama, Spell Tome, RR of 25. Also, Stone Circle 1

War Blessing: Stone Circle 2

Terror: Tomb of Vahkohs

Repel Spirit: Remote Cave (Black Halberd Cave)

Smite: Torria

Summon Shade: Chasm of Screams

Safe Travel: Erika's Tower, rear entrance, RR of 30.

Unshackle Mind: Monastery of Madness L2

Move Mountains: Gale Library. Also, Stone Circle 3

Mass Healing: Lower Giant Caverns

Mass Curing: Pit of the Wyrm, L1

Radiant Shield: Defiled Crypt

Divine Fire: Stone Circle 4

Control Foes: Under Castle Troglo

Cloud of Blades: Blackcrag Fortress

Return Life: Lorelei Library, after Barrier goes down, (Vahnatai Lore)

Divine Retribution: Spiral Crypt, Isle of Bigail

Divine Restoration: NE Valorim, challenge of the tome

Divine Host: Moon Library (Grimoire of Thren quest). Also, Stone Circle 5

RR = minimum Rune Reading skill needed.

HM = a tome found in Hawke's Manse.

ToM = Tower of Magi, if it has been destroyed the relevant spell-giving Wizards are found at Fort Emergence.

Blades of AEFTP may or may not be even possible. Nearly all of the town and outdoor placed specials seem to be hard coded.

New AEFTP scenarios would need to be able to bypass the hard coding. I don't know if new or existing town/outdoor scripts can override the hard coded specials or not.

Edit:

Message dialogs are no problem, they are found in a text file. Ditto dialog.

Regular placed specials can't be overwritten. As their location in the Avernum program is currently unknown, you can't be sure how many states each town has.

Object scripts are one possibility, along with Init State and Start State of the town script.

I think Bliss Elixir is quite good but other potions/elixirs do more for you.

You should have 36 or 37 of the third level spells. You missed another one in Blackcrag Fortress,

Hierarchy of skills complicates things in that regard. To get all the Disciplines you must have high Sword/Pole Weapons skill, which cuts into the points left for higher skills.

Resistance was not a trainable skill in A1, here it is a magical skill, not helpful for front-line fighters. To get 1 point in

Resistance you must spend 2 points on lesser magical skills.

Mages should find the Swordmage trait deals with the effects of encumbering armor or shields.

If you live long enough to get them.

During combat you can use Haste Potions and Elixirs but one Slow spell wipes out the whole effect, ditto War Blessing spells.

Anama parties will lack the Slow spell themselves...

Has anyone ever won the game with an Anama party, without cheating?

Coming from Avernum 1, the remake sure does look different. The people and the terrain is still familiar. But the game is different, Jeff tried to make it a real remake.

GA1 is simplified in the area of missiles, resting, food and identification of items.

Bowdlerized or Geneforge-ized in certain areas: no shock floors, no swamp floor, no Safe Travel...

If there are no life drain attacks that is good for the PCs.

If there are no Recall Crystals, you could find yourself being pursued by a group that you can't handle. You can use them from anywhere at all.

Spell levels don't seem to mean all that much. In A1 the levels meant a lot for some spells, but not all of them.

Press that 'U' key in every room, it reveals all objects of interest, (containers, buttons and so forth) including the ones that you just missed.