Harehunter

In Exile you had the option of ending a players turn, or waiting, thus preserving your action points until you had gone through all your PCs. Then the PC you waited on would continue with his remaining action points.

 

Another point on the multiple spells in Exile vs the multi-level ones in Avernum: you had more control over how many spell points you used. Minor Heal cost 1 point, Heal 3, Major Heal 5 and Resurrect 7. Depending on the damage you are trying to heal, you can adjust the level of healing and save on spell points.

Or you can do it the hard way by using the tags [_quote_] (Don't include the '_' marks in the first tag. I just put them there so you could see the rest. Note square brackets, not < >.

Just speculation here. Lost Bassikava tied the sliths to their origins deeper underground. I seem to remember reading that the Nephilim were originally above ground creatures that had been teleported to Exile by The Empire, but that they used a different portal to send them to. This would be an interesting plot enhancement.

The real trick is to present this internal consistency without making it so so complicated that it detracts from the 'reality'. Gene Roddenberry knew that when he produced his 'Wagon Trail to the Stars'. There was some pretty complicated technology used in his stories, but it was explained in detail only when understanding that detail was vital to the plot. When Kirk used a communicator, he just used it. How it worked was not important. Only when Spock was trying to explain the difficulty of changing its function, did we get a glimpse of that technology. The main point was to keep it simple so as not to distract the viewer from the story itself.

I personally liked the effect of the hidden passage where the graphic changed from solid to one with the outline of a door once you found it. Sure this meant a lot of searching to find them, but a good look at the map would show the most likely places to go looking. Sometimes in places that were critical to the game, Jeff would have a message pop up in the journal box hinting that a secret passage was nearby. In a pinch you could always use the spells Magic Map or True Sight to locate them. (Slarty, I also used your technique of save, map, restore.) There were also specials marked with the white dot that would cause the terrain to change, opening up a special area.

 

How about crumbling walls or stalagmites? Move Mountains and Shatter were needed to penetrate those.

 

Having the buttons indicating that there is a secret door nearby seemed kind of cheesy when I first encountered them. They can only be placed on walls that face east or south, since graphic projection hides the north and west facing walls. But every so often I happen across those buttons that don't do anything. This could add to the uncertainty of where the secret doors are.

Having played the entire Exile/Avernum series, my preference is to play all of them in sequence. The UI in Exile is klunky compared to Avernum, and most of the dialog is the same in Avernnum, so I can understand if someone elects to skip them.

 

Which game do you like the best Slarty?

I experienced a bit of plot confusion the first play through myself. While the non-linearity of the game allows you to go wherever you want, it does allow you to bypass sections that form the continuity of the story. You have to really pay attention to the dialog to catch the hints of where the next best place to go to.

My personal preference is 1) a shaman with Elite warrior (mostly melee skills) 2) a shaman with high tool use (pole weapons) 3) hedge wizard (pure spirit, concentrates on priest) 4) hedge wizard (natural mage, concentrates on mage spells).

The best part of Avernum is that there are many ways to combine your parties skills, including different races in order to gain access to inherent skills. In the last three Avernum games a new set of abilities called 'battle disciplines' comes into play; gaining access to these alters the general strategy of how you build and develop your party. Then just for fun, you can replay the games with fewer than four PC's for a greater challenge.

If you are looking for a RPG with an extensive story line, Avernum 3 is probably the best. The only problem I have with starting with A3 is that a lot of the dialog is based upon experiences defined in Avernum 1 and 2. Also in the first 3 Avernum games there are a few places where you can drop off one of your PCs and pick up a NPC to replace them.

Quite right. I think what the hint notes implied is that in order to trigger the Orb quest, you need to have completed both the Slime Quest and the Roach quest, gotten the evidence from both places, and presented it to Berra.

 

Actually I thought that the Orb quest was based on days, rather than events. It is just that after having completed the first two major quests, enough time will have passed for the Orb quest to be triggered.

I have forgotten the nature of these spells. What I meant to say is that they inflicted enough damage that even a well protected foe would not be able to resist it entirely.

I have actually installed Windows 3.1 on DOSBox .74 and installed all the Exiles to the Win3.1.

 

Here is the article I used to do this.

 

I also saw an article on the VOGONS site for running Windows 95/09 on DOSBox, but this is a bit more complicated.

Unless I read my notes wrong, Trenton is right. You should be getting the quest after you have completed the Slime and Cockroach quests. One detail is that you need to have the evidence pointing to Erika and show it to Berra in Fort Emergence. This evidence is found in the Filth Factory, but you have to remember to find it before you blow the place to smithereens.

Not all the spells that were left behind in Exile were truly useless:

Mage spells:

Slow group - useful for those mass-combats

Kill - powerful attack mostly unblockable, cool name

Ravage enemy - slows and curses any enemy in the area of effect

Shockwave - Gets more powerful the further it gets away from you.

Protection - Put the total immunity on your 'tank' and watch him go

 

Priest spells:

Wound - a good, cheap ranged attack spell, completely unblockable; not even Garzahd was immune.

Ravage enemy - like the mage spell, but concentrated industrial strength on a single target.

Divine Thud - one of my personal favorites - would mostly overcome even the strongest armor.

Avatar (E2-3) - this was a good defensive spell, but it could only be cast on oneself; for a fighter to have this kind of one-shot boost he would have to be trained in level-7 priest.

 

Most of the cool spells that existed in Exile came out in E2. The area effect spells such as Wall of Blades or Protective Circle were particularly useful against mob attacks. Unfortunately, in Avernum, the 'mobs' are diminished or gone; therefore there is no real need for those spells, unless Jeff brings back the mobs of 20 or more.

 

Many other spells Capture Soul and Simulacra pertain very specifically in EA2-3 since we are dealing closely with the Vahnatai. While they are still interesting and useful, I don't miss them in A4-6.

 

There are many spells that were dropped because the plot points are not used, or implemented in the new engine. Ritual of Sanctify was useful only against Evil Altars. Move Mountains / Shatter - no crumbling walls or stalagmites. Sticks to Snakes? Cute but of limited use. Martyr's Shield - now we have riposte if you can get it. Getting/casting/cleansing webs was interesting. Magic Map/ True Sight - good for finding hidden passages; now we have visible buttons indicating a secret door is nearby. Mana - no waterfall warren or dark river, no need. Light - now we have candles/lamps/lanterns. Firewalk - no lava pools/rivers to cross. Identify - no objects of unknown capabilities such as cursed armor.

 

Many of the spells that were dropped in Avernum were variants. So instead of having increasingly more powerful spells available as you added skill level, you learn one spell and add levels to it.

 

There were other spells of limited useability. Who ever used Invisibility or Sanctuary? Once you started attacking something, the effect was lost.

 

Anyway, most of the cool, seldom used, mildly interesting spells did not come out until E2.

That is until you've seen a nutria. Now that is one hefty rodent!

Like I said, I know too much about how computers are programmed to trust them. Not my secondary point; my primary point.

I am no Luddite, but I do refuse to use all the latest technology. As someone who spends at least ten hours a day looking at its interface, I tend to agree that it is good to unplug. People are far more interesting to interact with than some idiot computer. And as a programmer, I have too much knowledge of their inner workings to fully trust them.

Remember the Gremlins Gold maze from Exile I? You could never map it. Or the Mertis Spiral which you could never get any light to illuminate it.

Lilith, you've read my book! Now my strategy becomes vulnerable.

Once again I get bitten by the case-sensitivity monster. That is what I get for developing on a windows platform, and publishing on a unix platform.

 

I also have a custom version of the Blades of Exile Scenario Editor. I have tested it to the extent that any programmer can; that is I have tested for all the things a user may try that would break it. But as noted by my second remark, no program can ever be thoroughly tested until it get into the hands of a user.

 

Thank you for your input.

I would like to take this time to note that I have added a BoE Graphics Search engine to my web site. It is modeled on the the same method as Brett Bixlers Louvre for BoA. I found it just lying around in my library where it does no good at all. I don't know how useful it is; just putting it out there.

While it is possible to wield two swords, there is a limit as to the weight of each sword. Two rapiers or two short swords is possible. But can you imagine wielding two swords the size of a Claymore? I think that it would encumber the player more than it would be worth.

You noticed that as well. Some people you just can't convince, no matter what. I doff my cap to Slarties for his stick-to-itiveness.

While this little debate has been lively and, for me at least, entertaining, I think I shall return to the land of the living and to completing my cartography projects.

That is indeed the one big advantage. I'm guessing that you are going with a shaman (fighter/priest). What race and traits are you using. I'm thinking that a Slith, Divinely Touched and Natural Mage would be a good combination. (With a singleton, who cares what the XP penalty is.) Slith would give good combat skill bonuses. NM would allow you to wear heavier armor without interfering with using mage spells as well as giving its share of bonuses. What does Divinely Touch do besides giving points in Blademaster, Magery and Sharpshooter?

This is why in a 4 PC group I always train mage to my priest and train priest to my mage. That way if one of my PC's becomes disabled, slowed, charmed or such, I have the other one to bail him out.

Unfortunately, for your case, I have no advice for a solo game; not even a twosome. I can only wish you good luck.

I'm not sure I understand you.

I concede that the points gained by certain stats depending on level are dependent upon the bonuses gained by character type and traits; only those stats are affected, not all of them as I had originally presumed.

I still contend that training in multiple skills has its advantages as opposed to concentrating in a single skill. I will admit that there are certain disadvantages in multi-talented PC's, such as not gaining access to some special skill or battle discipline. On the other hand, the single specialty model also has its advantages and disadvantages. Which strategy is best? I think that the answer to that question is that it depends upon an individual players mind set; the way they think.