Thaluikhain
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Everything posted by Thaluikhain
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I think its suspicious that people say "conspiracy theory", not "conspiracy hypothesis".
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There's also a decent list of where you can get the various spells and recipes (though I've added to this myself), at least for the E3 one.
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That's true, yeah...though at the level you need to be to cast them, most of the stuff you can nick isn't really worth the effort. Moving barrels and stuff is great, though. I remember one bit in Sharimik where troglos attack the guards...afterwards, it struck me that if I'd not helped so much, the people there would have died and left all sorts of stuff unattended.
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Originally Posted By: Lilith But anyway, the goal of terrorism is generally to make some kind of a statement in a way that people will hear it, not to kill people as such. If you attack an airport and people stop flying planes, you've achieved your goal whether you actually kill more than a handful of people or not. It also has the advantage of not spreading smallpox across the world...it's hard to get diseases to respect political or ideological boundaries. Now, a crop blight, one that affected a plant (or animal, I suppose) that was important for the economy of the enemy, but that isn't important where you are... I like the idea of spraying nitrates around near an airport, so that the security systems nitrate detectors get swamped...cause a massive fuss.
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Hmmm...maybe it's because they spend points on less than useful things like lock picking, archery and thrown weapons, instead of worthwhile things.
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Originally Posted By: Lilith You can begin with even more skill points to spend on spell levels by starting with the pre-generated party and taking all their stats down to 0 instead of just deleting and replacing them, but at that point you're basically cheating and you may as well just use the character editor. Hey? The pre-generated party costs more to create than what you're given?
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To that I'd also add that I felt the interface was much more user friendly in the Exile than Avernum games. Though I would say that I think the Exile graphics were a lot nicer than the Avernum ones.
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I quite liked this scenario. Alot of effort went into creating an atmosphere and a world to put it in, which I feel is always important. Others have mentioned that they liked the town, with its heavy nodework, and I agree with that. The pyramid itself was quite good in parts, but, again as mentioned by others, got rather long. On the other hand, it was one of the few large dungeons I didn't mind getting stuck in. It got a bit tedious at parts, but in my mind, that is alot better than frustrating. Also, the pyramid came across as being somewhat creepy, which is something of a rarity. The custom graphics were quite nice when they worked, though some (the scorpions come to mind) have patches of off-white were they should have been white, which aren't transparent as I assume was the intent. The thing about religion was a bit odd. IMHO, it didn't quite work...but having it somewhat work is still better than not having it, and the scenario would be much poorer without it. Somewhat torn between good and average...I'm going to go with GOOD.
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Yeah, not knowing exaclty how things works keeps an element of mystery. And...I like all the weird and wacky stuff. Loads of spells in the Exile games that don't really work and you'll *almost* never use, but it's still cool to have them.
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The possibility of Vahnatai as a playable race
Thaluikhain replied to Cryolemon's topic in Blades of Exile
Yeah, I know, it'd muck everything up, it just seems a shame the way the weapons work, compared with alot of the other game mechanics. Though, there's alot of things that don't work, but they generally aren't neccesary and don't get used. -
The possibility of Vahnatai as a playable race
Thaluikhain replied to Cryolemon's topic in Blades of Exile
Though it would be alot of work done exclusively by people who aren't me, I would like the way weapons work to be revised. I mean, for armour, with encumbrance you've got actual reasons why eveyrone doesn't just wear plate armour all the time. But for weapons...the one which does the most damage (broadsword (or waveblade if you can find it) for single handed, halberd for double and don't bother with bashing at all) is the one you want, anything else is something you carry round until you get the best. Now, I don't know what you could do, really, to make using other weapons at all viable. Making double handed weapons more powerful, but less accurate or giving them extra encumbrance would make them characterful, if not very accurate. Maybe some kind of bonus or "negative" encumbrance for smaller weapons or double handed ones (that don't do more damage than single handed)? -
Hmm...i had already tried editing away all my food or money, which didn't work, and then I edited myself 100 gold and gave that away at th temple, and it still isn't working.
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Originally Posted By: waterplant Firstly, I think the term 'Muslim World' is an anachronism and quite ignorant in this context. A period existed when Syria and Egypt were the centres of science in the 'Known World', however this period predates Islam. Welllll...under Islamic rulers, much new knowledge was gained and old knowledge preserved. Alot of Greek philosophy caught on in the East, for example, which tends to be overlooked nowdays. Originally Posted By: waterplant 'Feel good' is an unfortunate term for Bolden to use - maybe 'respect, acknowledge, recognise' would be not only more palatable but also more accurate. Definitely.
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Just replayed this one. Losing most of your stats and getting some back was an interesting idea, I thought (I created a new 1pc "party" for this one). The in-game reason for this, the amnesia, wasn't really used that much. The concept has alot of potential which wasn't used...it doesn't have to be the usual "flashbacks at unexpected moments that gives clues about the story" thing (although there was a solitary example of that), but I would have liked the scenario to try bringing this bit to life a bit more. The other thing this scenario is known for is the over-use of Variable Town Entry. Of course there's no particular reason why this is a bad thing (although I like my maps), it's just very noticeable, and gets a bit tiresome after a bit. On the other hand, it did allow people's dialogue to change every time anything happened at all in the scenario. I quite liked how the cost of weapons increases once the murders start, it brings the people to life. Unfortunately, nothing much else did, although this isn't unusual for BoE scenarios. The way important people got killed off could also have done with some jazzing up. There was one or two mentions of the deeper implications of this (along the lines of "not much, but the best the island had, so it's important to you" sort of things), but I think this was an area that could, and probably should, have been developed more. Also, since your stats are zero in many areas, you are reliant on NPCs for some things you'd normally be able to do yourself, and when they start dying, it gets a bit awkward. The combat in this scenario was very hard in parts (though that could just be me). On the other hand, being helpless in the face of mere goblins did make the game more exciting and realistic, it brought you down towards ordinary NPC levels so you could appreciate the danger alot more. Though, being poisoned without any priest spells stops being an annoyance and forced me to use the editor more than once. The monster didn't really convince me. I do like the idea of the clues about what it was, only they didn't really prove it was what it was. In general, I'd say that the scenario had some really great and novel ideas, but that it generally dealt with them in a superficial way. On the other hand, this meant that there was nothing massively frustrating, no maddening puzzles to get stuck in and so forth, which tend to really annoy me. I'm torn between Good and average on this one. I think I'll go for GOOD but only just.
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Over billions of dollars on totally unrelated things. Maybe if the Chinese get their space program going, then the US will want to compete, but otherwise there's always something more important to spend money on.
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whats your favorite sommuning out of the three
Thaluikhain replied to Trenton.'s topic in The Exile Trilogy
No, you only get him once. Fortunately, he's not that important. -
whats your favorite sommuning out of the three
Thaluikhain replied to Trenton.'s topic in The Exile Trilogy
Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel A nice thing about Charm is that they even persist when you leave town. For a time, yeah. In Exile 3, one of the towns east of Kriszan has an evil acolyte named Oppenheimer (IIRC) who Jeff Vogel seems to have forgotten to set to non-hostile as he sits in a shop and you can talk to him (I think he does identification) if you charm him. He'll still be friendly for a while after you do that, but I came back later and he was hostile again. Charm is great for those long dungeons where it takes several goes to completely clear out and/or there are wandering monsters. -
Yeah, ok, true, but my way is almost a whole second faster. Woo!
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Been playing "Brotherhood of the Hand", and it's bit pretty good so far, but now I'm stuck in the bit with all the gelatinous cubes and don't know how to get any further...it seems I have to reach the runes in the middle of the giant monster, which I can't reach. Also can't figure out how to be judged "worthy" in the Vahnatai temple
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Trying to do the impossible... Or the insane.
Thaluikhain replied to Prince of Kitties's topic in Blades of Exile
Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel but it's not like I can stop you. Well, that's not stopping the OP from trying... -
whats your favorite sommuning out of the three
Thaluikhain replied to Trenton.'s topic in The Exile Trilogy
Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel You didn't even list all the summoning spells; you missed Summon Spirit, Summon Host, Sticks to Snakes, Guardian, and Daemon. I think that's all... Summon beast? Something like that, though not very useful, IMHO. Summoning can be useful, but having random monsters pop up is annoying...it's useful to have, say, giant spiders or vapour rats standing back chucking stuff at the enemy to weaken them, rather than attacking them. I prefer using charm spells, though, as you can choose your monsters, and they don't disappear. -
Originally Posted By: Excalibur I admit to accessing some sites by googling their names... (Not this one though) Me too...when can't be bothered typing in the whole address. Or, to avoid it filling my internet history with sites I'm not that interested in, making it easier to find the ones I want. Oh, and: http://galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=378
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Just finished this and I have mixed feelings about it. The plot, generally, is fairly good. Yes, it's just another secret conspiracy of non-humans taking over a government agency for their own sinister taking-over-the-world ends, but with enough creativity to stop it being such a tired cliche. I thought it could do with a bit more to really stand out from all the other variants of this, though. Some parts I rather liked...the hints that the Empire fort is up to something wrong weren't much different from all the other depictions of a cruel Empire, but enough to raise interest (I was expecting them to be making mutants made from captives, personally). I also liked how in the destroyed fort, most of the bodies are clustered next to the blocked off exit without a message about how they were trying to escape and couldn't. The creator just placed them there and left it at that, which worked fair better at being creepy. I also liked hastily looking for the last survivors...though in part this was becuase I knew I only had until day 4, because I saw it while checking the walkthrough for something else...if this had been told to the player, it would have helped the tension alot, IMHO. I wasn't quite sure about the setting...it was set quite definitely just north of Valorim, only they've got a dam for producing power, and modern seeming offices with air vents and cafeteria and message boards...was this set in the future of the Empire? Why didn't this group do anything of note during the Exile 3 time period, given that they are almost literally next door to the problems? The conspirators, I thought, were fairly inventive. The acid splash thing got annoying very fast, though, especially as it did 20+ damage to everyone and the game mechanics weren't able to tie into the description (it affects everyone in the party, regardless of where they are, for example, not in an area centred on the dead thing). I liked how after you found out who they were, they became known as "hunters" rather than "dark warriors". Though...how they were able to wander round Kleptus without anyone noticing seemed a bit suspicious. They could have been explained as teleporting in or whatever, but this wasn't the case. The "ordinary man" thing was a nice idea, but didn't make too much sense...he can blend into a crowd in a totally empty room even if you suspect everyone nearby is hostile. Walkthroughs...absolutely ESSENTIAL. I spent most of the game wandering around, knowing there was something I was supposed to do so I could go onto the next thing, but not being able to figure out what it was. There was much swearing while in the Spire in particular. Wandering round not knowing what you are doing AND being drained AND being unable to go back AND monsters keep popping up AND it makes no logical sense AND you can get sent right to the very beginning again, right at the very end. But worst of all was that it didn't do anything to advance the plot, which was the strength of the scenario. All it did was make me wonder if it was worth persevering to see what happened afterwards. The Lorax were almost as bad (the mega-lorax excepted), and the barrier bit and the end boss likewise. Almost literally had to end combat mode and save every round, to use the editor. 40 odd damage, then lose all positive conditions, get slowed and dumbfounded than 40 more EVERY round...that's no fun. Eventually I gave up on fighting him at all, summoned a bunch of low level monsters with my one action point remaining after drinking the invulnerability potion I needed to survive the next round. Everyone had to drink 1 more potion every round, and I still had to save and edit far too many times. The custom graphics, I thought, were quite good. Not too many bugs, one or two messages that should have been displayed once were displayed every time, some annoying "can't enter in combat" nodes in awkward places, but mostly ok. Some parts were oddly repetitive; at least 6 characters had the same description about not looking like someone you'd want to mess with when you talked to them, and a number of chests with exactly 13 pieces of gold in the Spire. Although it had some quite good bits and ideas, it also had too many insanely frustrating bits, so I'm going for AVERAGE.
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One of my favourite BoE scenarios. Although pretty small...with only one "town" town, and with not many people in it, the creator really made the valley come to life. The characters have believable motivations and desires, which conflict with each other in a nicely awkward way. The custom graphics were fairly good, and I liked the idea that the story is never really explained, but that there is plenty of backstory for you to guess at the truth of things. There's a few little annoyances though...the scenario is spent in a giant swamp, meaning you spend too much time casting weaken poison on yourself, which gets annoying fairly quickly. The town on the river was a nice idea, but it means you have to walk through the town every time you simply want to cross the river, which also is annoying. Those are only petty annoyances, but, for me, they spoil enjoyment a bit. Also, the end dungeon is a large, multi level maze which you are locked in until you blunder across the area you are supposed to be looking for, and find the way to proceed. I really hate things like that. Admittedly, this one is broken up by plenty of inventive features, and the dungeon makes perfect sense from an in-game perspective, which helps alot, but it's still a pain. Not sure about the last shopkeeper at the end, sort of snaps you out of character, though it was handy. GOOD.
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This scenario was a bit hit and miss, for me. It had some clever and innovative bits. The way you solved a problem by travelling back in time and preventing it from occuring, which changes all sorts of things in the present, beyond what you intended, was rather nice. Also, the society was inventive. On the other hand, the ancient civilisation with their strange magical nuclear weapons was a bit cliched and felt rather tacked on. Also, why where there aliens? What was the point of them, beyond some half-hearted Star Trek speech about peace they give you? Also...the "message" of the scenario was a big let down. Mind you, I'd just played Nephil's Gambit, so I was comparing it to that a bit, which'd make anything look bad, but...to find out that the scenario has a deeper meaning, and then to be told it was "really about" an argument between anime fans over which of two anime creators was the best...um. That really lowered the tone of it, right at the very end...which is where you really don't want it to, because it's what you take away from it the most. I'm torn between GOOD and AVERAGE for this one...I think I'll got for AVERAGE.
