Jerakeen

Edgar seems to be the worst one for this. But then, you wouldn't expect a homeless beggar to necessarily be easy to find.

Originally Posted By: Dantius ...gefeltefish... Main reason I hate fish.

Damn, I'm too late? Well, if you decide you want another Mac tester: Turtle Mac OSX abell(at)vianet(dot)ca I hate fish

Originally Posted By: VCH but humans are superior to the other species Such rampant speciesism. Tsk.

Not possible.

iampoor-gives 500 c backtostart shouldn't break the game unless you use it in the middle of a scripted encounter. I haven't tried it, but that's what I've read on these boards. Latest word from Jeff is that he fixed it a long time ago.

Keep in mind that they look just like regular mushrooms.

It goes to an area you might have already explored. Go north a bit and down.

Enemy at the gates is a strongly story-driven scenario, set in a small kingdom complete with a richly-imagined history, political intrigue, and even a plausible basis for the economy. Although not set in the Avernum Universe, it still casts your party as adventurers and outsiders, without imposing any other role or ideology. The main plot is fast-paced and essentially linear; you are told exactly where to go and what to do each step of the way. You do have some freedom to roam, which allows you to do a perfunctory side quest and explore an optional area that offers a little more than basic hack and slash. Custom graphics, custom creatures, lots of scripting, all of which seem to work the way they're meant to (in v1.0.1). This is an outstanding first effort. The design of the main town is unlike anything we've seen before. It's a bit odd to see massive stone pillars inside a wooden structure, but who am I to criticize Megiddan architecture? And I would like to thank the designer for making all locks pickable, even though there's nothing much worth stealing. It irks me when all the locks are set to 200 for no apparent reason. A great deal of thought and care went into the appearance and function of the town; it's a pity there's so little for us to do in it. It would have been nice if the priest had sold spell levels; likewise one of the many sage types could have offered mage spells. If the scenario were much larger, the inability to buy missiles or much of anything else might be problematic. As it is, these are minor quibbles. I would like to see more branching dialogue with the main characters--that would help break up the large blocks of text, and make it feel more conversational. Also more fleshed-out dialogue with minor characters. Loot is appropriately modest. It's true that there are lots of kills with drops, but I can't be bothered picking up and selling large quantities of low-value, unstackable items. A couple of collection "quests" will net you a little change, as well. There is one artifact, but it's more quirky than valuable. The optional area is a little more lucrative, as it should be. Combat is on the epic side, which I actually enjoyed, especially as I never felt particularly endangered. I think I detected a slight TM influence in General Seth's unusual ability. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed that my party never got to take him on. Maybe next time. Speaking of next time, the mysteries and teasers in this scenario definitely left me wanting more. Hopefully the sequel will have more in it, but I'm not inclined to complain too much about a debut scenario of this quality. Play it. Rating: [rating]Good[/rating]

Originally Posted By: Metatron Okay, I uploaded V1.01 of Enemy at the Gates to "my" webspace, changing the dialog problems mentioned above. As of 3 am Pacific on 2/15, there is no Mac version. The fix worked, missiles and all. I just copied the cmg file from the original. Looking forward to the sequel!

I say bug. E-mail Jeff.

Aren't they both more or less the same?

On my first play-through, everything went according to plan (I think). Second time around, maybe I killed the Hunan scouts too quickly or something, but I didn't get the death dialogue on the final scout and Deadeye didn't leave. He stayed with me for the remainder of the scenario--I can send you a screenshot of him meeting himself back in the tower if you like! Then, after killing Keria, the dialogue only appears for a split second, as Nioca describes. I didn't notice any error messages. Other than that, everything seems fine. And congratulations on completing a scenario. I hope it's the first of many.

I think you may be referring to the vampire in the outdoor underground area between the upper and lower halves of the school. He's busily raising undead. Kill him, and you won't have as many wandering undead encounters in that area. He's not hard to find if you look, but be prepared to take some heavy damage in the first round unless your PCs are very fast. There's a woman named Littleford in the town of Blinlock who gives you a quest for mining information.

I just replayed this and finally tried the "alternate" ending--on reflection, I think it's actually the preferred ending. I preferred it, anyway. It's a bit ironic that you have to kill most of the ghosts in order to save them, but satisfactory in that you still get cool ghostly loot. Most especially the halberd--probably the best polearm this side of Bahssikava. This scenario is beautiful to look at from beginning to end. Others have raved about it at length, so I'll just say my favourite things were the stained glass window and the view from the second floor galleries. The starting town has adequate shops, providing for all the basic needs of the adventurer. The plot is tight and detailed, with no loose ends. Your actions have logical consequences. Example (without getting too spoilerish): fulfilling one particular quest causes an NPC to take an action which has a real effect on what you can do thereafter. Then you can follow up and see how it worked out for him. The arrest ending is a little jarring, but the other one makes up for it, I think. Dialogue is well-written and believable, with lots of individualism and character even for minor NPCs. Then there's the combat, which is challenging without being impossible, with all kinds of cool tricks that you probably have to be a designer to fully appreciate. But I enjoyed them too. In short, this is one of the best short scenarios out there. Rating: [rating]BEST[/rating]

Hooray for a new BoA designer!

I already emailed Jeff about this. He replied: Quote: Upgrade to v1.0.2 ... this should be fixed now. It is.

Could be awkward if they were different species.

Highground and the Giants seem to be content to stay where they are. It's Muck that's threatening to impinge on Vahnatai territory. Leaving the Azure Gallery unfinished until after you've spoken to the Vahnatai is actually a good strategy, since--as Dikiyoba points out--you can then have your cake and eat it too. Fulfilling Highground's giant quest also satisfies the Vahnatai. Then killing the giant queen cancels the threat to Muck and fulfills their quest, without angering the Vahnatai. Highground notices, but the consequences are minor.

Some things are best not examined too closely. If we want to be sticklers, one character really shouldn't be able to haul around fifteen suits of armour. Or a hundred iron bars. Or a thousand vials of skribbane. Even thirty thousand coins would get a bit heavy. Plausibility is a victim of expedience.

Their maps would be seriously out of date anyway, what with cavequakes and all.

Originally Posted By: Geneforgeisformeyukkyu Should I buy any energy potions for my priests/mages? I tend to run out of energy on them very fast . There are few places where it's not possible to step outside and recharge if you have the patience. If you are willing to do that and save your potions until you really need them, you can probably get by with the potions you find and/or steal. Assuming you are investing heavily in mage and/or priest skills and intelligence.

Originally Posted By: Earth Empires keep food, potions, scrolls, wands and sell rest you don't need. You can probably sell most of that stuff, too. Potions I keep, but any scroll or wand that duplicates a spell I already have gets cashed in. And you don't need to keep very much food.

It's a little bit random, but I remember Battle Frenzy lasting about 5 rounds, and fatigue from it lasting usually 5 or 6 (occasionally 4 or 7) rounds by the endgame. So yeah, you can be in a near-constant battle frenzy. Which is nice. Edit: After checking an old save, I find that this was achieved by Melanchion's keep, with 12 BM, the discipline blade, warmaster helm, and warrior's "vambraces".

Originally Posted By: Randomizer As Synergy pointed out you use summoned monsters to keep unstable monsters away from you. Sure, unless they're coming at you from two different directions, which they do. I'm just saying it would be tricky, that's all.