BrownieMix

I just did this fight last night, and it was huge pain in the arse. However, I discovered something that might work for others in the future.

 

It's true that the Prime Sentinel has a shield to protect him from attacks from your party...but I found out that, at least on Normal, that doesn't apply to summoned monsters.

 

My mage summoned a wight and a hellbeast, and at various points they both attacked - and damaged - the Prime Sentinel. In fact, my wight took out 1/4 of his health at the end to seal the victory. My summoned monsters did more damage then the unstable servants.

 

Don't know if this is supposed to happen or I got corrupted data again, but if its not a bug, its definitely a way to make that fight go easier.

I don't believe this can be classified as "cheating", because it's entirely plausible that someone would take the ceremonial items to help with the test, then die due to unforseen monster ass-kicking. If a character dies in that test area, unless they have the raise dead scroll they can only be revived at a friendly town...which is far enough away from the clan's base.

 

In fact, that's what happened.

 

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff "fixes" this in the next patch. Those items are pretty sweet - wish I had thought of this trick when I wiped out every last clan member...

SUCCESS!

 

I waited until the beginning of Chapter 4, after getting the Dispel Barrier spell and gaining about 2 levels per character. I was getting the goodies behind the barrier, and decided to take on the Slith Horror...

 

This is how it went down, for anyone who wants to use my experience as a guide:

 

-Before going in, gave EVERYONE augmentation, spine shield, and the two cheap priest blessings. Didn't haste everyone beforehand, but definitely should have done that too.

 

-Sent only my slith warrior in at first, ran up and used Battle Frenzy and attacked, healing curse when appropriate.

 

-Nephil archer held back and shot arrows, either at Horror or summoned shade.

 

-Nephil Priest cast Heal/Smite when appropriate.

 

-Nephil Mage summoned two creatures - a rat and a poison worm/cobra dude from Geneforge 4 - then hasted everyone, then cast icy rain.

 

-I only had my archer and my warrior get the death curse.

 

In the end, it took a long time, but I was victorious. Unfortunately, my archer was coming in to heal the curse and got killed by consecutive searing lightning attacks, but he was my only casualty. The Horror went on a healing spree, but I didn't mind because at least he wasn't attacking me then.

 

Phew-awesome fight. Now on to the rest of Chapter 4!

So I'm walking around through Khora-Vyss, slaying silly slith, when all of a sudden I get jumped by this chief dude. My party kills him and I get me a bloodspear-mwahahaha. Then the mage slith comes to get me, and after reloading five times so she doesn't cast lightning death spell, I manage to defeat her and get whatever treasure she gives me. Frustrated that I haven't learned dispel barrier yet, so I can't get the goodies, I save my game, then decide to go after the Slith Horror-after all, if I've killed the other baddies, how bad can this guy be?

 

Um

 

Yeah

 

The first time I fight him he uses his MEGADEATH lightning death spell and kills 3 of my guys outright, then death curses the last guy and proceeds to kill him in a grand total of 2 turns.

 

I know, I'll go in with everyone hasted/augmented/steel spined/everything else! It shall be a glorious battle...if he doesn't lightning me.

 

Um

 

Yeah

 

4 turns=everyone dead, with my nephil mage's last act being an attempt to get a glimpse of any treasure in the back room so he can have a nice image before going to kitty heaven.

 

Me thinks I'll be waiting awhile before I get whatever he's guarding...I still have Lysstak to kill, after all....

 

Anyone beat this thing? If so, what level were you...and how the @#$! did you do it?

Anyone know where this little creature is? I've been searching mine tunnels for awhile, but so far no Pit Crawler-I want my third ingredient!

 

Also, the area with the fire lizards with those little volcano spots guarding that vest sucks a TON.

I'm starting to question whether or not the way to obtain special skills is the same as in Avernum 4. I tried obtaining Magery by having my priest have 8 pure INT an 6 Priest skill, but Magery never became an option.

 

It's possible I'm missing something, but I would like to know for sure because I have a lot of skill points waiting to be put to good use...

 

Does anyone have the EXACT requirements for Sharpshooter, Magery, Gymnastics, etc?

Although this will be obvious to just about everyone, I highly recommend doing the bubbling cauldron quest as soon as possible, aka right after you get the quest from Intisar.

 

I went through the demo for the third time, and I forgot about that quest until my party was around level 5. When I went back, only four cave worms appeared-no Brainy Worm, no blessed bauble .

Are they same from Avernum 4? For example, does 6 Dex and 8 Bows give me the ability to increase Sharpshooter?

So I'm wandering around in the demo, and I stumble upon a stolen courier satchel that is real important to the Anama Church. So I go see Minister Pilhofer, and he gives me a letter to bring up north...but he never mentions the courier satchel I found. Checking Synergy's items megalist, I see the Courier Satchel listed with Pilhofer, so now I'm wicked confused-does this item come into play later? Did I somehow screw up?

Not for me-the strange graphical lines and Dock bug still happen.

I have installed 10.5.1 and the iMac Firmware Update, and I am afraid this problem has not been resolved with the Universal versions of A4 or G4.

 

Also, the random Dock small/large icon bug still exists....

 

Sorry Jeff-at least A5 still works great!

Hello everyone,

 

I thought, since most of the people who have posted opinions on the game seem to be either beta testers or have vast knowledge of the Avernum series, that I would post my relatively nOObish thoughts on this game as I progress through it. I can't promise I'll write every night, or even end up finishing this, but I'll do my best to add my perspective on what so far has been an AMAZING experience.

 

First, a little background: I am 25. I have played Geneforge 4 (my first Spiderweb game) and Avernum 4. I have not beaten either of them, but enjoyed playing them a lot...up to a certain point, when I lost interest for various reasons. I have been an RPG fan since I played Dragon Warrior on my still-functioning NES. I can't read or write, and think eleventy billion is a real number. I name my characters after Final Fantasy II ones, because Final Fantasy II is my favorite RPG of all time. I play basketball on Wednesdays...and I like to think I have a sense of humor.

 

Right-on to my totally random thoughts! (NOTE: These will be less spoilerish and more general opinions,though some details will likely be revealed. Just a warning.)

 

I have just completed the tutorial and have just made it to the Outside Outpost region with an All Nephil party, and so far...

 

PROS

-Whoever created that music at the intro should get a raise-I LOVE it! It makes me feel like there is something sinister afoot, and puts me right inline with the overall mood at the beginning of the story.

 

-Kudos for the improved art at the beginning/loading screens/character portraits/anywhere else I've missed. Looks VERY good.

 

-Yay for more character models! Yay for kitties that look like they are on steroids! I almost did an all Human party just so I could have all the varied character models in my party.

 

-If you ever need a lesson in how to write a tutorial, look no further. I thought Geneforge 4's tutorial was pretty awesome, and this one manages to top it. Great balance of feeling like I'm learning how to use the game while still feeling that I'm making progress with the story AND hunting down an enemy. Not boring in the slightest.

 

-Do I hear different/more sound effects? Do I see my arrow "flying" as opposed to traveling in a straight line? Why, yes, I believe I do.

 

-Battle Disciplines...haven't used them much, but what little I have has worked out very well.

 

-Elevations make the world a LOT more interesting.

 

-Story...one of the reasons I stopped playing Avernum 4 was that the story just never really pulled me into it. To each their own, but it just didn't do it for me. This, however, has already got me really excited, and I haven't even done anything yet! The few conversations I've had make me want more-more power, more glory, more questions as to just what's going on? What's going to happen? Why do I make my steroid kitties light green, especially when I haven't seen The Incredible Hulk?

 

CONS

-Experience Gained Isn't Displayed...this is something I like better in Geneforge 4 then A4 or A5. Called me old fashioned, but I like knowing how much XP I get when I kill something/finish a quest. Sure, I can look at the character screen and manually calculate it, but I prefer having that info given directly to me. Jeff has written a lot of articles on RPG's, so I'm sure there's a reason for going against the "Conventional/old fashioned" way, but I'd just prefer to know exactly how much XP I get when I complete something.

 

umm...thats all the cons I have for right now...yeah, I know-lame. What can I say? I like the game so far-when I find something I don't like, I'll let you know. Also, I'm familiar enough with A4 and Spiderweb games in general to be used to, and like, things that total newbies might think of as "bad".

 

OTHER THOUGHTS

-I feel like I got decent items WAY earlier in this game then either G4 or A4. I already have 2 "magic" items and some seemingly good regular equipment. Maybe the monsters beyond are harder, hence the need for it, but it was definitely noticeable.

 

-I don't know what an Anama is, or how to play one, or how I can find one (yet)...but I want to. Reminds me of the Trakovites from G4 a little bit...but then again, I don't really know, do I?

 

-Secret doors? Tiny buttons in the wall that I wouldn't know existed if my mouse hadn't accidentally gone over it? Being a soldier of the Empire? COOL.

 

Phew-ok, that's all I got for now. Sorry this is so long-it will be a lot shorter next time, assuming the mods don't ban me and someone actually reads this.

 

So far, this game rocks.

 

BrownieMix

I am kinda confused as to the difference between Quick Action and Quick Strike. Which of the two is better to focus on? Should all my characters have Quick Action to start?

An excellent question. I'm currently living at home, but I'm moving into my own place in a few weeks. Living at home is nice (especially when I'm paying no rent), but I have almost no privacy of any kind-we have a large family but a smallish house. I'm using my parent's Mac Mini to play because my old G4 is kaput, but I only have at most 30 min a day to play. That's fine as far as the demo is concerned because I'm new to the game, and I'm still trying to figure stuff out. When I play the full game, however, I want to have a lot of time to focus solely on the game-Avernum 4 is too well done to not give it my full attention. Since the new iMac is coming out almost the same time as I'm moving into my new apartment, it just seems to make more sense to wait until then to buy the full version.

Also, thanks for the info on moving saved parties!

In a few weeks I will be buying a new iMac (whenever Apple decides to upgrade the things), and one of my first acts will be to buy Avernum 4 so that I may get past the demo and fully enjoy this really awesome game.

 

I have about 3 parties that have made it to the end of the demo, and I was hoping that maybe there is an easy way to transfer my characters from one machine to another so I don't lose these guys when I get my new comp. I guess it could be as easy as copying the save files to the new Avernum folder on my new iMac, but my experience tells me sometimes it's not as easy as that.

 

Anyone know the way to accomplish this?

After reading through the various threads, it appears that the following points have been generally agreed upon:

 

-On lesser difficulties, you can make just about any party you want, and as long as you play intelligently, you should be fine.

 

-The "best" party seems to be either 4 nephil, all divinely touched with a combo of priest, mage, archer and front line fighter, or 3 nephil and 1 slith, all divinely touched, with the slith being a warrior priest.

 

I am curious as to whether anyone beat the game on Torment with the parties mentioned in the various threads. I really enjoyed reading about the challenges of playing on Torment, but I never read that anyone actually beat it. I assume people have, but I'd love to hear final impressions of the "best" party to fight in Torment.

Hello everyone,

 

Perhaps I missed it, but there is a fellow named Giscard near Formello who doesn't seem to want to speak to me (I didn't let that stop me from ransacking his loot). I checked the walkthrough, and it says I need to find a letter to Giscard before he is nice and lets me do a quest for him. That's all great...but where is the letter? I can't seem to find it anywhere...

Is the Haste spell the same as the Speed spell? i hope so...because otherwise I don't have it.

 

synergy-teach me your wisdom!

 

thanks a lot of the help everyone-i'm going to try again tonight.

I figured as much, but wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something. I managed to make it all the way to the essence fused skin the first time I tried to sneak past everyone...but then that Shaper saw me, shaped a wingbolt (I think it's called), and..um...well...lots of swearing ensued.

Must get essence fused skin. Cannot get past guards. Die every time. Someone help.

 

Please.

Ok, so this is a totally newb question, but I'm finding that certain areas are better off not killing everything in site (pity). For some of the difficult areas I have come here for hints, and I've read suggestions such as, "go into haste/stealth mode".

 

How, exactly, does one go into Haste/Stealth mode? Is it just casting Speed on myself? Is there a super secret Haste button?

I think you can get a Mandrake Tincture in Rocky Road-because I just did.

 

Help the rebels escape, then go back to the villagers hiding in the NE house. Talk to the leader-I think if you have a high enough Leadership skill, he'll agree to sell you cool stuff...including a Mandrake Tincture.

So I got my hint book today, and I'm reading the section on crafting, and I notice that there's this "Purified Essence" supposedly in the Circle of the Drayk. That's funny, because I cleared out that enitre area, and didn't find it. Fortunately I have a saved game right there, so I load it up and go through it again-and again, no essence. Then I check the Inflitrator guide on these forums that's being done (excellent work, btw),and apparently there IS some purified essence there.

 

Where is it? Is this a randomly dropped item? It is something obvious? I can't find it anywhere.

Cool cool-if I'm supposed to find out about it later, then I'll allow myself to find out on my own. I was just worried I had missed a chest or something, and I've seen references to it elsewhere, and I was slightly worried I had missed something for the umpteenth time.

I'm sorry if this seems like a silly question, and maybe I just haven't gone far enough in the game, but how does one get a perfected anything for crafting? I'm about to tackle the anvil quest, and I can't recall ever coming across a perfected anything, and I'm slightly paranoid I've sold whatever I need to get one.