madrigan

To be fair, naked threats are usually just a fancy alternative to entering combat mode.

Slith shot the food! I haven't noticed, does the food disappear from your pack automatically? Do I have to put food in each character's pack?

There was a chitrach respawn in A4. It was in a tunnel under the Great Cave, you went through there to get to the island with the Slith cultists challenge area. I think it's the one where they are sacrificing a human as you arrive. Anyway, every time you passed a certain junction on the way back, a chitrach ran out. It caused just the sort of problem being discussed here in A6. I would be dragging my still conscious character back to the Castle and would have to run from this chitrach. Also, if I retreated in order to recharge and go back to the challenge area, I would have to spend resources fighting the chitrach on the way back. It was very annoying. Anyway, I am very early in the new game, I just now got into Almaria. All the changes described in the original post here sound terrible, and are the kinds of things that make Geneforge less enjoyable for me than Avernum, but I was enjoying the game before I read the post so I guess I'll just keep enjoying it.

The game will usually guide you to level-appropriate battles if you follow along with the plot. Having to eliminate Hirickis, or whatever his name is, is important to the plot so I always do that first. I try to think of what the characters would do if they didn't know they were in a game, and that keeps me from doing things in the "wrong" order. On the other hand, doing things in the wrong order might net you more XP, but I'm not certain about that.

It all looks great. I was hoping we'd get to find out what happened to Muck and Highground, but I'm glad I'll get to visit Formello and the Castle again. Fort Avernum seems to be gone. Who knows, though, there could be a second map, or some other trickiness from Jeff.

Originally Posted By: Sss-Chah if you want to get different endings, why would you make all of the same choices? I don't want to get different endings, I just want to read different endings. I've started games with the intention of doing something different, working for Gladwell and joining Dorikas, but I lose interest if I don't like my characters. So, I always end up doing the same things.

Originally Posted By: avatar42 did you finish it, or did you restart? (so we should know whether or not to add your ending) I should have said that I'm about to finish the game for the fifth or sixth time with the same options.

Can someone tell me how to view the ending text for all the A5 endings? I'm on my fifth or sixth playthrough with the same choices made -- no Gladwell, no Anama, no DLs, buy the stock. With A6 about to be released, maybe Jeff wouldn't mind if someone told me where to look for this.

Could it be in the application or scripts rather than the save? What if you just reinstalled the game?

Thanks everybody, I got in. I didn't realize that walking over the differently colored ground was the key to opening up the passages. Ripping off that Beholder-guy is always satisfying.

Originally Posted By: avatar42 Originally Posted By: madrigan Originally Posted By: Earth2025 its preferable to go via that underground passage too since there are nice loots and all experience is needed. I suppose you could slaughter all the guards at that gate and open it, but they look pretty tough and the gate might not open anyway. Plus, why murder all those guys just to avoid following the game flow? it also goes with in character playing of empire soldiers who lost many friends during A2&3 and are now hungering for revenge I agree, if you're playing it that way. If you're playing young soldiers tired of re-fighting the battles of the past, and who grew up under Prazac's rule and know of Hawthorne only from stories and books, then it makes sense not to slaughter non-belligerent vahnatai just for convenience or loot.

I completed part of the Lake of Trials, then decided to move on and get back to it later. I'm about to finish the Vahnatai Lands, so I went back to Highground and rowed up to the Lake. But, I can't get into it anymore! All the tunnels that appeared originally are there, but I seem to be blocked from the entrance and the walls do not appear and disappear as I walk through the Slimy Tunnels. Is this normal? Is there an in-game or scripty way to get back in there?

Originally Posted By: Earth2025 its preferable to go via that underground passage too since there are nice loots and all experience is needed. I suppose you could slaughter all the guards at that gate and open it, but they look pretty tough and the gate might not open anyway. Plus, why murder all those guys just to avoid following the game flow?

I'm pretty confused now. 1) To get to the vahnatai, take the road SE (?) from Muck and stand on the little round platform there. Talk to the disembodied voice until it lowers the barrier. 2) To get to the vahnavoi under Thalants, go down the steps within the city and walk around the whole level. I think he is in the N of that level. You have to remove some magic barriers to reach him. This is the Dark Presence quest which you get from Clodeca. 3) To get to the hraith in the vahnatai lands, talk to the Crystal Soul guy and he gives you instructions. This is the Hraith Lord quest that you get from Lark. 4) To help Festante, talk to the Crystal Soul in Thalants and return to Shanker's Tower to complete the quest. This is the Help Festante quest that you get from Shanker. 5) The switches are visible dark spots. Some visible dark spots are not switches. You can use the U command, or just make sure you observe the walls while you're traveling around. If you're in a dark area, light a candle/lamp/lantern. I think all that is right. If you make sure to go every place in every area, and talk to everybody, they will usually tell you where important things are. EDIT: Wait. Do you mean how do you get past the vahnatai gatehouse that is keeping you for moving to the next area? You have to do the Expel Muck quest, which you get from the mortal vahnatai leader whatever his name is, or you have to find the secret underground passage, which is hinted at by the vahnatai swordsman in Thalants.

Originally Posted By: Geneforgeisformeyukkyu I can't seem to find an entrance because HUGE walls are blocking me off, and Idk what to do . Oh yeah and how do I find the switches? I've been randomly clicking everywhere Edit: The one in the dungeun below Thalots. Do you mean the vahnavoi under Thalants?

You can use a melee fighter as a "meat target" instead of a meat shield. I like to give my toughest melee fighter Fast On Feet and charge him/her right into the middle of the opponents with the first attack. Usually most or all of them will surround and attack that character. Then I keep the spellcasters as far away as possible and let them blast. With this tactic you need someone to heal the melee fighter, so I don't know if it would work with two characters. But I think it would work with three, and I know it works with four.

I've used both traits on one character in A5, and I was pretty happy with it. That plus high Endurance and Hardiness saves a lot of healing spells.

Originally Posted By: CobaltDragoon I was rather hoping for a return to the separate isometric maps for indoors/outdoors that were done in Avernum 1-3. It gave the world of Avernum and the Valorim Province a sort of massive feeling, like you were actually travelling the breadth of a massive underground cave world, or a massive unsettled wilderness. No offense intended, but the combined maps in Avernum 4 made travelling really feel more like a grind than an exploration. Avernum 5 alleviated this through the waypoints/pillars, but that grindy feeling was still there. I appear to be in the minority, but I don't like the A1-3 two map approach. I find the transitions between maps jarring and don't have any problem feeling the epicness with the newer interface. I think it's the storytelling, the detail and length of the games, and the number of quests that give the Avernum games their epic quality. It's extremely unlikely Jeff is going to go back to the old approach, anyway.

Originally Posted By: Randomizer So if the map looks like Avernum 4, it is with some changes to reflect the cavequakes since we last played through the area. The map from A4 was fine. Originally Posted By: Randomizer He has added new graphics and spell effects. Great. Originally Posted By: Randomizer This is the last major area that allows you to explore. You're in the army now so you can't go wherever you like as an adventurer. You need to follow orders and get them to get into certain places. Well, I was concerned when Jeff announced that A5 would be more linear, but it still allowed me to re-visit areas and futz around a bit. So this is probably ok. Originally Posted By: Randomizer Because of the Blight, food is really important so you spend lots of time finding it so you don't want to suffer from starvation effects. Get used to using the portal pylons to go back for more every game day. Barf. I don't think I will like this. Having to eat isn't very escapistfantasyish. I suppose it makes sense given the plot. As long as looking for food doesn't became the dominant game task it might be tolerable. It seems like a step backwards to me, though.

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan That's it! The only way to do justice to the series would be to bring back every single villain from the previous games. Imagine a Council of Evil ran by Grah-Hoth, Hawthorne, Garzhad, Rentar-Ihrno, Dorikas, Linda, Adze-Haakai, Sss-Thoss, Sss-Thsss, Pyrog, Elderan, Limoncelli, Vyvnas-Bok, Vahkohs, Anastasia, and Dirty Dan. You forgot Darkseid and Solomon Grundy.

Originally Posted By: Randomizer Dispel barrier is a spellbook quest reward from Tiacourna. The next place is Azure Gallery at Highground. I usually don't complete all of her quests, so I pick it up from Temple. Which just goes to show, there are usually ways to get stuff you missed the first time.

I'm pretty sure I don't normally pick up Dispel Barrier until quite a bit later than Tranquility. You don't need optimal builds to win. I come up with character concepts and force my way through the game with them. That said, you should find a way to get both primary spellcasters to level 17 in their casting specialty, and your Tool Use guy to at least 15, and your total Nature Lore about the same. But none of those things are necessary. As a rule of thumb, I don't like my casting level to fall behind my character level. As for making money, you have alternatives to quests. You can sell a huge amount of stuff that you find. If you find you never use stun wands or speed potions, pawn 'em all. It's good to keep some crystals for crafting, but not all the crystals. And there's always theft if you're desperate. Edit: I think the key to the Prime Sentinel fight is keeping your spellcasters, if they are not also warrior types, as far from the battle as possible. I always have a dedicated mage and priest. I move them toward the east and south corners so they don't get hit by the Wave of Heat or whatever it is as much. Have the priest heal (only) and have the mage blast away. It takes time but if you keep your melee guys upright you'll wear the PS down.

Originally Posted By: Master Ackrovan There is a DL plot in A4, but its a sideshow. It is a secondary plotline, but it ends with one of the two or three best fights in the game.

How do you interpret Jeff's statement about "the end of Avernum"? Do you think he means the end of the game series, or is he hinting at the plot? It could mean that the caves are literally destroyed, or that the Empire conquers Avernum, or simply that the Avernites agree to be part of the Empire again. Possibly the plot will revolve around an Avernite-Empire alliance against the Vahnatai.

Actually, if you're already at the end of the game, it's not like you're going to miss out on a bunch of needed experience if you don't formally complete this quest that might exist. So yeah, just take him out.