Alex
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Are there still only two different nephilim models in Avernum 4?
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Originally Posted By: AvadonWorld of Avadon, an MMORPG.
It's an amusing coincidence that this was brought up just before The Elder Scrolls Online was presented. Never say never... -
It seems that the priest spell Repel Spirit has been removed and replaced by a cold damage spell (largely redundant, since mages have one). Are there any demon-slaying or undead-slaying items other than Demonslayer? Do you miss this classic priest spell? Although it's hardly a big deal, it makes spellcasters less diverse.
Also, 1000 posts.
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The graphics are prettier. Before, the resolution was fixed at 800x600, of which a large part was devoted to the UI:
Avernum in its first incarnation
The skill system has been streamlined - you get fewer skillpoints, but you can add traits as you gain levels. Of course, these new traits are generally weaker than the old ones.
Some new content, for example:
Click to reveal..A new starter dungeon - you start in a cavern below Fort Avernum. -
I've managed to avoid the roamers, too. You can come back later and enter their room from the other side.
EDIT: Mechanics 8 is required to keep the roamers locked inside.
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I managed to register the Windows version.
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Originally Posted By: Othar Trygvassen: GentlemanQuote:all of Rawal quests are the equivalent of bonus quests, no real opinions.
Not quite true. If you do Rawal's final quest (the one in the Dera Reaches), you can't join Taygen's faction. You don't lose anything for doing his first two quests, though.
Indeed. It's worth mentioning that you can still do the quest - and get the reward - after joining Taygen's faction, though. Munchkins rejoice! -
Originally Posted By: DragoWaffleDo you not remember:Quote:for whatever reason
I don't think if you played a shaper or some other weak pc, that it would easy.
If you stand right next to the healing pool, it shouldn't be that hard, only tedious. -
Originally Posted By: HarehunterHow does this relate to the James Byrd case I was talking about?
It does not, I was actually inspired by Kelandon's fiery rant against The Man. Maybe I should have quoted his post. -
A black guy being sentenced to death by a mostly black jury is clearly part of the giant white racist conspiracy. Also, any crimes committed by black people are to be blamed either on the victims, or on the white racist conspiracy, of which Barack Hussein Obama, who is secretly a KKK member, is also a part. He is one of the secret masterminds behind the heinous genocide against black people, due to which there are hardly any blacks left in the world. Most of the nearly one billion people claimed to be living in Africa are the either propaganda lies or neo-nazi skinheads posing in blackface.
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The only thing that happened to me was that Rawal himself refused to speak with me. All other NPCs I talked to continued to offer services.
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It seems that killing Greta is indeed the key to preventing Rawal from heading the council, at least if you side with Astoria.
Doing none of his quests - except the mandatory first quest - did not prevent him from heading the council when I let Greta get away.
Doing all of his quests except the "lapdog poor ending" one did not help him when I killed poor old Greta. However, Astoria did not head the council either. After a peek at Dahak's GF5 endings page, I don't think it's possible for her to do that.
The control tool was removed in both cases.
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Does the removal of choices during character creation make Avernum gameplay faster or more fun, though?
I suppose a simplified Avadon-style system won't make it unplayable, but what was wrong with the old system was poor documentation and buggy implementation, as in traits, attributes and skills that don't do what they are claimed to do. It isn't really a very complicated system, either.
It's amusing that Jeff mentions - in this context - that players seeking excitement should try a higher difficulty setting. 4000hp enemies do not give you greater variety in party design, it gives you even fewer options, and also more grinding and longer-lasting battles with longer recuperation between them. Click...click...click-click-click. I suppose a World of Warcraft player such as Jeff might find killing 4000hp boars more exciting than killing 100hp boars, though.
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Erm, you start out with 8 skill points, unless you choose custom class (perhaps because Jeff's prefab party is kind of crappy), in which case you get 65 (in Avernum 3, I don't remember if it was the same in Avernum). In contrast, you can gain hundreds of skill points later on, both from leveling up and from knowledge brews. Then there are mind crystals, trainers, special skills that are unlocked etc. A character editor is available for those who need respec, and unless you try a tank with "completely inept" and "brittle bones" on torment, the traits you pick shouldn't really make things much harder.
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The elephant in the room here is the aura attacks that boss-level opponents usually have. You can't dodge those with high Dexterity.
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Yes, those are not in the small part of the dungeon that is accessible only to Taygen's faction.
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Milking all factions is much easier than in, say, Geneforge 2. Just keep a neutral reputation and postpone giving your opinion to NPCs who will wait for it. High Leadership also helps. Warning: Much munchkinism and minor spoilers ahead.
You don't need to join Alwan's faction to get access to Control Core B, just a not-too-rebellious reputation. After doing that quest, you get access to skill training (in Shaping and magic skills). I don't think you need to join for that either, but I'm not sure. You do need to join to get access to advanced creations (cheapest War Tralls in the game).
Taygen's faction offers you some minor rewards (a Healing Craft canister, a sword with +2 Mental Magic, a ring with +2 Mental Magic, some gold and sellable trinkets), although you miss out on the Guardian Claymore and Tek's Spectral Dirk. Ghaldring won't care about the Serviles you slaughter, but the Drakon Sighting side-quest could make you miss out on some information for a Ghaldring quest.
You can also get to Control Core B by joining Litalia, although her quests actually make one of Ghaldring's quests slightly harder.
If you join Ghaldring, you won't get Ur-Drakons or Eyebeasts, by the way.
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Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIESPerhaps she had mercenaries from other tribes. Gaddika and company were certainly opportunistically traitorous.
But let's look at Vahantai attitudes in X2. In general, they are not a particularly suspicious and untrusting people. However, they were uniformly furious towards the abductors of the Crystal Souls. The only real difference of opinion was whether it was OK for them to treat Exile as a different tribe from the Empire, or if all humans were bad.
I have forgotten many details of the quests, but I don't remember that anyone in E2/A2 made a big deal of the traitorous Vahnatai. No one suggested that the Vahnatai should all go kill themselves for belonging to the same species as Gaddika. Double standards FTW!
I wouldn't be too surprised if Rentar actually played a part the abduction, or at least was pleased to have an excuse to wage war on the humans. The brief alliance with Exile/Avernum could be seen as part of a divide-and-conquer strategy. -
Indeed, their resistances according to the scripts are pretty high:
Shapers: 40% physical, 50% fire, cold and energy
Guardians: 60% physical, 30% fire and cold
Agents: 40% physical, 30% fire and cold, 60% energy
All three get 70% mental effects resistance, but I'm not sure how much it matters for player characters.
Poison and acid are still problems.
One might consider it an exploit that makes the game easier, of course.
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Hit chance was 90%; I would have become suspicious if it were 95%. It would be surprising if dexterity increased damage without increasing hit chance.
+5 missile weapons did increase damage, though.
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I did some quick tests with a level 3 Warrior in the tutorial area. Increasing Dexterity from 3 to 8 did nothing for the hit chance with javelins against Thrasher. Damage data could benefit from a larger sample size (it was 11) and more tests on it, but the damage was also the same, more or less. Increasing Missile weapons by 9 roughly doubled the damage.
Is this the case with other missile weapons? Does Strength or Luck increase damage or hit chance? I might check this myself sometime.
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I did a new test with a level 5 fyora (base stats, except for +2 INT) versus a level 2 PC with 0 luck, 0 armour. Average of 10 attacks versus Lifecrafter: 16.9 fire damage, 0 resisted. Versus Shaper: 7.6 fire damage, 7.8 resisted.
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While I was playing with a Shaper (strictly for RP reasons; the character created is obsessed with trying to become a true Shaper, although most Shapers regard him as an abomination), one of my cryoas went rogue. What struck me was how little damage it did to me at this early point in the game. So, I did a brief test (v1.02 for Windows, Normal difficulty) with a newly created Lifecrafter versus a newly created Shaper. Both removed all armour, made a fyora as soon as possible, and ordered it to attack them. The Lifecrafter resisted nothing, while the Shaper resisted roughly half (I did not conduct a large number of tests) of the fire damage.
Has anyone else observed something like this? A brief look at the scripts shows that the rebel classes are the ones defined for player characters, whereas the only entry for a generic Shaper has 50% resistance to fire and cold.
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I'm not sure the CIA or their superiors are a trustworthy source regarding their assassinations. Just consider their track record.
My first reaction was that he got what he deserved, in some sense, but a few days after the deed, I think that even mass murderers deserve a fair trial, even if it's not a realistic demand for someone who was Public Enemy No. 1 for several countries.
The eyewitness accounts of an execution of an unarmed person, and of civilian casualties from the destruction of the top secret helicopter, worsen my opinion of the assassination. I doubt we have been given the full truth.

2012 Election Season
in General
Posted
Regarding colonialism and the environment:
Well, even if those noble savages hadn't been the object of colonialism, they would probably have found out at a later date that other people have cars and refrigerators, and wanted to have them, too.
My point is that development, whether spread peacefully or not, is the underlying issue here. I suppose that the polar bears were better off in the Stone Age, but were humans better off? If you want to go "back to nature", you're free to do so. There ought to be some nice little uninhabited island in the Arctic where you can live like an archaic hunter - and hope the polar bears don't get you.