jlsgaladriel

Quote: Is there a way to annotate the map or do people just keep like a text file open and jot notes down? I think in-game map annotation sounds like a great idea for future implementations; so much usefulness without a huge programming investment. Hopefully other people will also look at Jeff with big sad eyes and he'll consider this? I actually print out the maps from the game booklet, and make little annotations on them. Luckily, the maps are in a separate section from the walkthrough text, so one can do this without spoiling the game. (I believe the maps are free for the demo area, but Jeff does charge for the full 'hint book' that contains all the maps.) The free way to do this would be to take in-game screen captures as one hits each region, and print those captures. Quote: I did use the Character Editor to give each of my characters a couple of traits. I tried to pick appropriate ones. I'm not sure how much 'cheating' that is, but whatever.... And I gave my Tool Use guy a few levels in that as I think he's disadvantaged by the amount of skill points he has to expend on that. It's not a multiplayer game, so cheating is however you define it. Part of the fun for me is to figure out how to meet challenges given the restraints of the skill system, so while I'd have no qualms about adjusting traits that one time, I'd have less fun knowing I'd cheated myself extra skill points on my rogue. If, however, you're more interested in story, and not so much in the challenge of balancing skill distribution, then of course you should do what makes you happy! Quote: Is it really a waste of money if I buy spells from people? There's been lots of debate about this in other threads, but the bottom line is that the lower-end spells are really very cheap, and I don't know many folks who've regretted having spent money to buy minor heal to maximum power or haste to its best duration. Likewise, at the high end, I can't imagine that spending thousands of gold for an extra half-turn of cloak of blades has ever seemed like a good decision. The only time I buy high-end spells is to obtain a spell I don't yet have, and even then, I only buy this one level of spells I really really want. I'd say it's really only the middle level spells for which the decision matters at all: a few levels of these represents enough money that in buying them one might be foregoing a skill purchase. I personally *do* spend to increase the power of mid-level spells I use very often. Then again, I play on 'normal' or 'hard,' not on 'torment,' so my margins for such decisions are broader than for the truly hard-core.

Quote: You need to talk to Jasmine before you get sent to Silvar. Wait, wait. One speaks to Jasmine, who wants the hero to speak to Levitt. One speaks to Levitt, who sends the hero to Silvar. Jasmine is gone from the courtyard when one descends the stairs, and the mayor of Silvar doesn't clear the quest. I'm just starting my second play-through, so I don't know if the bug will repeat, but I definitely had this trouble on my first play-through: not clearing that quest was driving me batty!

I had exactly the same problem, and the quest remained on my list forever. She never reappeared in the castle courtyard, and she certainly never appeared in Silvar. This might be a bug?

lol randomizer, you forgot to add that one needs to locate and hire a bridge troll...

::sings:: This is the thread that never ends; it will go on and on, my friends. Some people started typing it not knowing what it was And now they'll go on typing it forever just because this is the thread that never ends...

Quote: I can damage the pylons, but they don't die. Is this normal? I think this has been said elsewhere, but the short version is: You might not have triggered the event which allows you to kill the pylons. To trigger it, *don't* enter fight mode when you see them; instead, walk your whole party, even the squishy ones, into the area between the pylons. You'll get a dialogue box letting you know you've triggered the event.

I think the information on individual spells is all listed in the pdf file that comes with the download? Spells do (or heal) a base amount of damage, plus -- in old-school terms -- an extra 'die' of damage per spell strength. Spell strength is mage-or-priest-spell level + spellcraft + specific spell level. Bolt of fire does 10 base damage, plus ssd5. Icy rain causes 10 base damage over an area, plus ssd3. So for every level of bolt of fire you buy you gain 1-5 damage; for every level of icy rain, you gain 1-3 damage per target. Spell strength for non-damage spells typically lenghthens the duration of a spell by ss/2 turns. Levels of spray acid increase both damage and duration of damage over time. Spellcraft is a cheaper way to increase spell power than any other; once your mage and/or priest spell level reaches 17, you don't really need to increase them higher.

Clocknova, it's listed under "unique equipment" in Strategy Central, which is stickied.

I'm pretty sure it was a trap door, not a portcullis.

Oh, that's a nice idea! I didn't have any special moral qualms about Gladwell's quests until the spider egg, which I refused to steal. (Avernum is a better place with ridiculously cute poison-fanged friendly spiders.) So I never did recieve the Erika's tower quest. I feel like I'm missing something, though, so I guess I need to make some qualm-less characters and just do everything.

It's annoying, but it won't mess up the rest of your game. It's definitely not a requirement for any core quests, and I don't believe it's even a requirement for any other side quests.

Um, have you found the gazerbeast yet? You need to go south from the big chitrach infestation, confront all the eye-worshipping cultists, and make your way through their lair to find Asterios.

Go up the stairs where Kelner is, in the northeast: it's a different tower from the one with the demon.

Originally Posted By: slarty The Misspelt Denomination. ::hangs head in shame::

If one can genetically modify cows to talk, one could certainly modify them to eat chitrachs. --jlsgaladriel , who still thinks the vahanati are really shapers, despite Jeff's protestations to the contrary. (Apologies to Alorael for the format stealing.)

Dahak, does it not matter *which* two enemies one kills, or do those decisions not matter at all?

Quote: if I had to chose between an infinite supply of new and mediocre Jeff games or his current repertoire and that's it, then I would pick the former, and so has Jeff. Wow, that's... strong. Have you read Jeff's blog? Have you heard his media interviews? Yes, Jeff's running a business, and he most certainly pays attention to whether or not his games make money. But he also most certainly has put a lot of thought into game design, has good ideas about what makes playing games fun, and has designed his new games to match his evolving theories. That's not mediocre.

Welcome to the forums joe_cool.

lol, yes, I was just thinking how very patient *i was being.

Oh! The problem I first had with that quest was that in order to trigger the start of the battle, you need to walk your *entire* party far enough into the center area between the pylons. I'd been keeping my mage and my thief/archer/backup-caster back, and closing only with my tank and my slith priest -- two characters weren't enough to trigger the event. If you don't put everyone in, the four pylons just remain ridiculously un-killable, and you never get the shifting one-vulnerable-at-a-time thing.

Originally Posted By: thuryl Besides, there are RPGs already out there that model active characters and a living, atmospheric world better than SW's games do. I'm not really arguing the point, but I'm wondering which games did you have in mind? Having played WOW pretty seriously for a while -- I even led a raiding guild for a bit, until I realized I wasn't having fun any more -- I know that WOW can feel pretty immersive. I wonder how much of that feeling can be chalked up to a huge art budget, though: witnessing the full moon while on a bat-flight over the spooky forest or the sunset over the bay is pretty awesome, but indie gamers rarely have the ability to evoke things visually that way. Cities populated with real people also help create atmosphere -- no non-multiplayer city has ever felt as real as Ironforge or Undercity. I'm assuming then it's not stunning visuals you're seeking, and not a multiplayer experience. It's just a better balance of textual storytelling and gameplay? Do you have examples of games in which you think this balance is well handled?

Quote: The simple fact is that this is a hack n' slash game series where combat is the core of the gameplay. If you want to see what the major powers are doing, then you should play a different kind of game. As folks have pointed out, though, this is a standard feature of most rpg campaigns, both tabletop and computer-mediated. At the end of one of the very early sets of D&D campaigns, after fighting increasingly more powerful giants and drow, one kills the avatar of a Goddess. What the heck is left to do, if one is as strong as the gods? The brilliance of A6 is in the balance. I never found myself feeling sidelined, waiting eons for my computer allies to finish their turns so I could have mine. (There's nothing to make one feel wasted time and money like waiting for the computer to finish playing with itself.) But I also felt like Solberg was really contributing to the battle one fights alongside him. (Fight the sliths outside the horned gate without him, and this will show -- it's possible to kill them alone, but more painful, and of course the battle inside the gate is harder.) Ultimately this balance makes for the best gameplay, imho. But this sort of balance is really very hard to create and maintain: there's a reason this is the last of the avernum series. Lacking the ability to keep that sort of balance, it's much more fun to throw realism out the window in favour of keeping the players actively involved.

Quote: I'd like to see the other ending texts too Well, this is almost the anti-completionist ending; I tried to make whatever decisions I thought would make for the strongest Avernum. So, scourge and loyalists dead, melanchion alive, spire mayor dead but farrar alive: http://pics.livejournal.com/jlsgaladriel/pic/000abaa6/g16 I'd be interested to see a racist ending (if it's slith, nephil, dragon, vahanati, or otherwise unhuman, squash it), but I don't think I have the stomach to actually play that game. I'll probably play a completionist game myself, if only for the pleasure of killing gladwell and the challenge of killing melanchion, but I wouldn't mind seeing those screenshots if anyone has them. I do also wonder if anyone managed an ending which is even better for avernum, or if I succeeded in that task?

One of the things I appreciate about Jeff's games is his attention to detail in world-building. Many of these little details are very funny. The one which just struck me is Melanchion's first reward room. The reward for finishing one's first quest for the dragon is access to a little cell with an arcane blow spellbook and the gorgeous fatigue-reducing warmaster's helm. The room also contains a skull. Apparently the dragon didn't bother to remove the helm from the head of its previous owner.

Thanks, sent.