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madrigan

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Everything posted by madrigan

  1. Welp, I've played through QW three times and I'm not sure I want to try a fourth. I think SW used to do one game a year, alternating all-new with remakes. Is this still going to be the case? And if so, what's up for next year? Geneforge 1? Avernum IV (that would be my vote)? Or are releases on a longer cycle now? Maybe I will play A4 again. I don't really want to do the Honeycomb or the Mertis Spiral again though. I probably finished A4 a half a dozen times and I got lost in the Honeycomb every time.
  2. I thought there would be more responses to this. I am glad you're getting so much out of this game. It's doesn't feel analogous to my life, though. The only things in it that I relate to are the basic conflict between parents and children, which is nearly universal; and the last line of the endgame, when it says that despite your activities and efforts, an eternal machinery grinds on all around you, beyond your control. The latter is much closer to how I experience life than your description of a spiritual journey. I'm not saying that you haven't been on a spiritual journey, I'm saying that kind of life isn't universal. We're all wired differently and we come from different kinds of cultures, different kinds of families, and different times. Recently I saw one of those "if you could live life over again, what would you change" discussions, and I realized I had no idea what I would change or not change, because I have no idea what really led to what or what would have happened if I had done anything differently, or everything differently. Everything I ever wanted has turned out to be unimportant, and everything I didn't plan for has become crucial. I'm almost fifty years old, and my life is not what I thought it would be, at all. But me at fifty doesn't even want what me at twenty wanted. I believe that randomness is the most powerful force in the universe. Having a life that seems like Queen's Wish sounds pretty good though -- for some people. 😐
  3. What I mean is, I'd like the option of having all my skill points available at the start of a game, so I can play around with the combinations immediately instead of gradually. Sometimes it is fun to play that way. In A5, if I recall, the character editor lets you do anything to any ability but does not let you increase your actual character level or add gear. But as you know, in QW most of the best gear is purchased in your own forts.
  4. I've finished the game twice. My problem is the opposite of Kelandon's. I don't want to end the game. It's so open-ended that I don't really want to start over. For at least a week in RW-time I have been walking around the map re-visiting places I've already been to see if the mine or the prison has been restaffed or repopulated, or finding things I didn't kill the first time and killing them. My resources are all maxed. I keep watching the endgame and then reloading to just before I enter the portal, and walking around again some more. I built a library in Fort Haven. I suppose this is an odd problem. Two years until QW2 seems like a really long time. I think what I'd like right now is a character editor like in A5, so I can play around with different ability combinations and see how they work out.
  5. OH MY GOD I didn't realize I could remove shops. That worked. There were a ton of resources in the Smoky Peaks I had never found, also. I built the portal, returned to Sacramentum, and now I am jumping from Ahriel to the Vol back and forth until I can upgrade all the forts. Thanks all.
  6. I'm on my second playthru and this time I wanted to get all the best gear early, so I really emphasized building shops. Now I have re-vassalized all three nations, killed the Nisse, and completed almost every quest in the game but I don't have the resources to build the portal home. I also want to upgrade all the forts, but I don't have enough materials to do that either. I am a couple of resources short every month. I have plenty of cash, but I am perpetually low on iron and/or stone even though I have the Ukat and the Vol working at full capacity. Is it actually possible to mismanage resources so badly that the endgame becomes impossible?
  7. Two comments on relatively peripheral matters. One, whoever drew the spiders should get the Spider Drawing Award. They are realistic enough to be recognized as spiders, but stylized enough to seem like tabletop miniatures. Scary but not gross. That was a great job. Two, once I was done with everything else I wanted to do I started playing around with the furniture and decorations. It was pretty fun. I built a beer garden near one of my distilleries and then put a bookshelf and a plant in the barracks, you know, because one's living quarters should be as pleasant as possible. I made a little park next to the water with chairs and trees. I tried decorating my room in Fort Haven but there's wasn't much I could do. I realize it has no effect on gameplay but I'm glad it's in there. Also one last thing, I'd like it if buildings I create had a sign on the outside saying what they are. I often had to go from building to building trying to find the smithy or whatever. Ok I think that's it.
  8. This is a supplement to my earlier post on this thread now that I've actually finished the game. I always play on Casual. I don't like min-maxing and I don't have the patience anyway. I found the last stage of the game -- the battle with the nisse -- very frustrating. I tried to get into their tower and was slaughtered. I went back to Fort Haven, spent a bunch of money upgrading gear, and got slaughtered again. I looked up the cheat codes and started using "mothersblessing" and still lost party members. Ultimately, in order to get into the tower and win the final battle, I just used that code every round whether I had taken damage or not, because in some cases the nisse can kill a character in one round. This is how I was able to see the end of the game with the nisse mission complete. I realize that there are people who are great at games and have beaten the nisse on Torment with no codes. This is fine but I am not one of those people. I've never actually seen the end of Geneforge 5, because even with every cheat code and editor I could find I couldn't even get into the fortress for the final showdown. Yes, I could go back and finish all the sidequests and level up higher, but I don't think that would have made a difference. A few years ago Jeff wrote a blog post saying that designers should make their games as easy as they possibly can, and then go back and make them even easier than that. I don't know if I would rather have a level below Casual (I suggest "Incompetent" as the level name) or an always-on cheat code that just keeps your health and energy at maximum at all times. I do know that I would like to see the whole story without typing in the same code thirty times. I'm impressed by people who are great at games, but they're like people who can do a backflip or that understand calculus -- my body will never do those things. Nonetheless I'd like to finish Spiderweb games without being so aggravated. So, short version, I'd like this game to be even easier so that even I can enjoy the whole thing.
  9. You mean the sage upstairs in the main building, right? He keeps telling me he has no more information. I have spoken to Ragala and to the Watcher in the Ahriel woods.. Do I have to visit all the survey points to activate the necessary dialogue?
  10. I just finished the game -- I think. I was wandering around for hours trying to stop the Calamity, and then it seemed like this could not be done, so I went to the endgame. My reactions in no order: I still want races, character classes, ability scores, and skills. But, it's true that you can simulate multiple character classes just by distributing the skill points in different ways. I liked the skills setup better than the one in Avadon. I was sure there was a sneakier way to open the Thabhlen Gates, but all I could come up with was brute force. I thought there would be more than one way to do it. But I always enjoy Jeff's "set this bomb and run oh no there's someone blocking us" scenes. The choice to support the Owen seemed required morally, this was much less gray than most of Spiderweb's ethical dilemmas. It also seems relevant to our time out here in the RW. I thought the characterization of the Mascha got too close to some real-world ethnic stereotypes. I'm sure this was unintentional, but I kept noticing it. The butler character is hilarious. I like that I can start working on a territory, then leave and go do something else. I liked solving personnel and legal problems for Miranda. I don't understand how potions work -- I never seemed to have enough flasks. It was very difficult to buy better equipment. Either I didn't have enough skill in Combat, or I didn't have enough skill in Magic. I'm not sure I should need Magic skill to use a magical spear. I am not sure how the code I got at the end will affect QW2, but I swear I will not lose the code for two years. My ending was very depressing. Since Avernum VI or so the endings have become less fantasy-fiction and more gritty. Your character does some great stuff, but ultimately it makes no difference, and heroes are barely different from anyone else, and the world falls into chaos. It's very fatalistic. I like the endings of Avernum 2-4. But that's a different kind of game. I will probably play through again, but I was satisfied with all my major choices so I'm not sure what I will do differently. There's no way I'm supporting the Mascha, or the Blessed.
  11. Yes I would like larger text as an option also. I believe this was added to another recent game within one of the updates.
  12. The only thing I really don't like here is the unlimited retraining. I like role-playing. If I can just change things around whenever I want, then the characters aren't characters, they're, I don't know, mechs. This is easily overcome though, by just not retraining and playing on casual. And as Jeff noted I will be happier with the release of more games with character classes and ability scores.
  13. I didn't screenshot it. When I tried to move, I got the "that space is blocked or it's too far" message.
  14. Perhaps someone has noted this already, but I placed a smithy where I was standing and was stuck in the equipment, like a Star Trek transporter accident. I couldn't move so I had to reload.
  15. I created a new character and added her to the party. She has no gear. The character I removed from the party has gear, but I can't access her inventory without removing the new character from the party. I ended up adding Elspeth back to the party, putting all her gear in a box, then adding the new character back and placing the gear. Is this actually the way to do it?
  16. I was a Kickstarter supporter, but I don't care what site the game comes from. I got some long code from Steam, but I didn't need it for the direct download. Am I going to need it eventually?
  17. In this game he doesn't have a lot of Hands to choose from. He is stuck with anyone reasonably competent. Besides he still has Eyes working for him who can probably monitor you.
  18. I agree with the general idea that the Avadon world holds many more stories. I would play Av4 for sure. But my understanding is that Jeff will be starting an entirely new series after the A3 remake and I will play that too.
  19. You can't sneak out without fighting anybody. Once you reach the exit you have to fight your way out.
  20. Heh. Who can create the best summary of Avadon 1-3 in the fewest words? "Secret police work for crazy guy, feel bad no matter what they do."
  21. FWIW I suck at games but I have played through this one three times. I always play on the easiest difficulty. If the game is not fun because it's too hard, lower the difficulty if you can. If you think your characters might be badly designed, there is the trainer in Goldcrag. You could save at a particular point and retrain your characters, then try any particular battle with multiple configurations.
  22. 1) I have played through three times now. I am not smart enough to manage inventory for six characters so at the start I pick two companions and ignore the others. I have tried Blademaster/Botan/Rudow, Shadowwalker/Khalida/Nathalie, and Tinkermage/Botan/Nathalie. That third group was clearly the best combat unit. 2) I would like it if, after I tell Rudow that I am not going to help him on his quest, he would not show up in Kirik-tor and force me to walk through the whole thing anyway. 3) There is just no way I am helping Khalida with her crazy quest. 4) Love the temporal pylon. It is the best thing ever. Even the sound effect when you create it is great. The visual for doublestrike is also excellent. 5) I would like it if I could control the placement of turrets and pylons so I could use them to prevent melee attacks from two sides. 6) If I fight Redbeard, all the people on his side attack me while the people on my side run around making turns take a long time, but don't actually fight. This is very annoying. 7) My favorite fights are against the doomed trio of Protus supporters that won't let Redbeard into Fort Foresight, and against Everybody after I escape from the Antitia Ruins. The first because it seems like a very even fight, and the second because just everything in the world is thrown at the characters, and I love the moment when your companions make their surprise entrance. It is very summer blockbuster. I am not really into the fights with a lot of scripted events. 8) On my first playthru I was sure it would turn out that Redbeard and Protus were working together, because I couldn't figure another reason for Protus to let me walk freely in Avadon. 9) On my third playthru I was still finding areas and quests I hadn't noticed before. 10) This is the best Avadon. I did like the first. The second was a drag because the Corruption was so hard to get through. It was like the Eastern Gallery chitrachs in Avernum 4, but with tougher monsters. Thank you, that is all.
  23. I'm not sure -- I accidentally saved over my game which had the character with that ability. Anyway I think it's both, but definitely from walking through afterwards. Was this the case in Av2? If so I don't remember it.
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