The Reverend

Actually, when you consider the savings on training that you can get from the Freehold of Kyass if you do enough of their quests, they may be the best reward. See the series of posts starting here:

http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubb..._fro#Post266347

The followup by Slarty a few posts later has more details.

They'll also see things that reinforce their beliefs, like the Demon at the Tower of Magi, and just meeting some of those crazy mages like Linda...

 

Being human, they will tend to selectively pay more attention to those things which confirm their beliefs - and less to those that would contradict them.

Possibly



The Anama sell various wands and crystals in their stores in A3 and A5, so they seem to be okay with magical items. A bigger stretch might be working with Erika, and letting her teleport them to the surface. But they may be willing to bend the rules a bit in order to rid the surface of Hawthorne and his oppression of their brethren.

Mild A3 spoiler:

I posted an early update last week on the thread I started about the playthrough:

http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/280070/Playthrough_as_sent_down_Anama

I plan to post another update, including current stats, once I reach level 10. That should be fairly soon, since my characters are currently all almost to level 8. So far things are going fine - not missing mage spells that much, yet...

Nicely done! It's good to hear that torment is beatable without a completely min-maxed party. That gives me hope for my current "Anama" playthrough.

 

The escape quest is certainly the most "annoying" of the three endgame quests, IMHO, due to the forced darkness in the final room before the exit.

I thought I remembered the Anama making a small appearance in A6?

I think that might be enough - I thought the stagnant tunnels spell books only required 8 arcane lore.

 

I don't usually bother trying to wait for them, though, because if you avoid buying levels of some of the important spells it makes the early game harder. And, now that the game has been updated to make the second level of training cost the same as the first level, money is not as tight as it used to be.

They first showed up in A3, I believe. I can't remember if they are in A4 or not.

There was a series of posts about this a while ago - it looks like the chances of getting 2 extra AP from gymnastics are not as high as the tooltips imply. The posts started with this one, I believe:

 

http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubb..._Ave#Post253587

 

However, the chances of getting 1 or more extra AP (which can be combined with a single AP boosting item to get two attacks) are pretty decent.

 

To get your gymnastics up to 10, though, you have to invest 10 points in bows AND 10 points in gymnastics (you can lower that a bit by spending money at trainers). So you end up wasting quite a few skill points, unless you are running an archer.

 

For non-archers, if I have money to spare I generally will buy two levels of archery from Hrror after doing all the Kyass quests (to bring the prices down to average), then spend two skill points on gymnastics, and then buy two more points of gymnastics from Hrror, bringing it to 4.

The broadswords all have a 10% cleave chance. I think that might include Demonslayer and the Spectral Falchion (one of the best swords in the game due to its huge blademaster bonus). At least, this list seems to imply that it does include those two:

 

http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=252979#Post252979

 

I can't remember if the halberd cleave chance is the same as broadswords or slightly higher. In any case, I don't think it's high enough to make up for the greater damage that you get from dual wielding, especially if you are dual wielding a pair of the really nice blades in the game. I haven't played much with pole weapons, though, so I don't have a lot of experience to speak from here.

I've also seen war curse and slow work on difficult enemies. I assume those are both determined by curse resistance, which seems less common than mental resistance (which presumably determines whether terror works).

I believe that the tooltip damage numbers for spells and weapons don't show the percentage bonus increases from things like spellcraft (for spells) and blademaster (for weapons). They should still add onto the final damage delivered, however. Given that that helment gives you nice armor as well (and poison/acid don't seem to be a hug problem in this game), I'd use the helmet - getting an extra 4% damage is better than not getting it ...

As the first game of the series, set in a brand new world, E1/A1/A:EFTP are all more about exploring the underworld, and learning about it's people, culture, and history. There's a bit of a story, but its really more about immersing yourself in the world and discovering what it is all about. The later games of the series have more overarching storylines, although none of them to the same degree as Avadon. Avadon and E1/A1/A:EFTP are really opposite ends of the open-world exploration vs. linear storyline spectrum, as far as Jeff's games go.

 

Personally, I enjoy both, although I'd lean slightly towards the open-world exploration end if I had to choose. As good as Jeff is at story-telling, computer games have trouble matching books when it comes to story-telling, IMHO.

I did them in the order Lilith suggests (escape, grah-hoth, hawthorne), although not because I knew the relative difficulties. It's just the order that I did them in the Exile 1, and again in the first Avernum remake. I would agree that Escape is the easiest - I was a couple levels lower than I was for the other two, and still found the fight easier.

Thanks!

 

It seems like the 30% resistance penalty makes endurance more important, since you're always going to be taking a decent amount of damage when you get hit (40% even if you manage to hit the maximum resistances, as opposed to 10% on easier levels).

 

It also seems to make parry more valuable, since that allows you to avoid getting hit altogether some of the time, and doesn't seem to suffer from any penalties on torment.

 

I'm also wondering if a DEXT-based healer/archer as a lead character/tank might be viable on torment, since Intelligence doesn't affect healing, and the high DEXT will enable evasion of many physical, fire, and energy attacks. They would be the primary healer, so having a weaker attack (bow) wouldn't be as big of a deal. Poison and acid aren't a huge problem in this game, so the main weakness would be against cold-based attacks. Perhaps a summoned shade could help there, since, if I remember right, shades are immune to cold.

1. I discovered Exile 1 via a web search back in the mid-90s (I think it was my freshman year of college, so the '95-'96 academic year). Probably on Yahoo, since I think it was pre-Google. I don't remember the search terms I used, but they probably were something like "mac shareware games".

 

2. Most of my friends aren't gamers, and those who are prefer action/quick-reflex oriented games.

The torment differences that I've see mentioned here on the boards are higher-level enemies, and a flat 30% subtracted from all the resistance values displayed in the player character stat window. Are there any other known differences between torment and other difficulty levels? (I've mostly played on hard before.)

Geneforge 1 has a place where you can buy points of luck, if I recall correctly. That allows you to get it pretty high, which certainly helps - but I don't think it makes you "god-like".

 

I just checked the G1 Walkthrough - it's sold by Dig @ The Patrol Bridge, for 500 coins a point.

I got to put in a couple hours towards this playthrough over the weekend. In case anyone's curious ...

 

Backstory:

 

Brutus was an Empire soldier who had started to become disillusioned by some of the atrocities he had witnessed during his service - particularly those committed by Empire army mages. While stationed in a remote village, he met Cecilia, the daughter of the local blacksmith. Cecilia was a gifted swordswomen, who had been practicing with her father's blades ever since she was a young girl. She had recently learned of a religious group known as the Anama that preached the evils and danger of magic. After hearing Brutus' stories of the magical atrocities he had witnessed in the army, she decided to bring him to one of the Anama's services. The Anama's anti-magic message resonated with the young couple, and they became regulars at their Sunday services.

 

However, the Anama were on an Empire watchlist due to their heretical beliefs, and Brutus's unit was ordered to raid their local temple. When Brutus learned that this was about to happen, he slipped away and warned Cecilia and the leaders of the local Anama group, Father Fred and Mother Mini. They managed to escape minutes before the raid and went on the run.

 

They were able to evade capture for a couple monthes, during which time Fred and Mini taught Brutus (now Brother Brutus of the Anama) and Cecilia (now Sister Cecilia) more of the religion and some basic rituals. However, no one can evade the Empire for long, and they were eventually captured and banished to Avernum.

 

Party build plans:

 

Brother Brutus and Sister Cecilia are dual-wielding swordsmen/women. Brutus is a bit more defensively oriented due to his soldier training, and is also fascinated by the healing rituals. He will eventually get his priest spell skill up to 10, and his spellcraft up to 10 (8 trained, 2 bought), enabling him to train his resistence to 10 and then buy it up to 12. He will also be the primary healer of the party. Cecilia will only get her priest spells up to the minimum required by the rules of the playthrough (5), limiting her maximum resistence to 7. She will spend the extra points improving her offensive skills to become a more deadly swordswoman. Father Fred and Mother Mini will devote themselves to their priestly rituals, and also study a bit of lock picking on the side. They will eventually put some points into weapons in order to unlock hardiness and also enable adrenaline rush.

 

They will use the sage lore traits to replace arcane lore as much as possible. They will not worry about the stagnant tunnel priest spells book, because they will probably need to purchase most of the important spells in that group before they are ready for the tunnels.

 

Getting their Bearings (exploring the Eastern Gallery, aiding Silvar):

 

Despite mild resistence from a bandit with delusions of grandeur, Brutus, Cecilia, Fred, and Mini quickly made their way out of the arrival caves and discovered that the people of Avernum had managed to create a liveable world for themselves, albeit one which relied far too heavily on magic. They decided that their banishment was actually the gods' way of showing them their new calling - to spread the faith of the Anama to the caves, and show the people of Avernum the dangers of relying on magic.

 

Our party began exploring the towns and forts of the Eastern Gallery, and performing a few simple tasks to raise funds. After seeing all of the troubles faced by the people they met, they quickly realized that the best way to spread their message would be by showing the Avernites that they (the Anama) could solve their problems without resorting to magic.

 

They found a sympathetic healer in Fort Dranlon who charged only a very modest fee to teach Fred how to improve the ritual of smiting and Mini how to perform a ritual that calls forth a heavenly storm to damage and throw back groups of enemies. They were unfortunately unable to afford any additional training because they had discovered that without better negotiating skills they were unable to sell the items they found for a resonable price. They elected to hang on to them in their heavenly junk bag until such time as they were able to study the arts of negotiation (aka, get the negotiater trait).

 

With their newfound rituals and some additional combat practice from wandering nephil and goblins (aka, reaching level 3), Brutus and co. were able to earn the gratitude of the city of Silvar by clearing their sewers of an infestation of worms and the nephil who was summoning them. The citizens and mayor thanked them, but it was clear that this was not going to be sufficient to convince the Avernites that all of their problems could be solved without the aid of magic. The mayor advised them that they might be able to gain access to the the Avernites' seat of government if they assisted the northern city of Formello, but they elected to hone their skills further in the Eastern gallery (and continue to spread their message) prior to making the journey north.

 

To be continued...

Jeff is not that cruel, don't worry ...

 

Okay, maybe he is, but not in this particular case.

Shadowwalkers also get 2 area attacks early - razor spray and blade whirlwind - and because of the way the tree is set up, if you want razor spray, you need to put 6 into blade training anyways, which gives you whirlwind. They are both Dexterity-based, so you don't have to choose between pumping different stats to optimize them. Blademasters on the other hand don't get a similar area attack until the tier 4 blade sweep.

 

I also really like the free battle frenzy that shadowwalkers sometimes get when hit in melee (once steel discipline gets to 10), and the nice resistence bonuses from earth discipline.

I recommend playing A5 at some point because its the only chance you get to see that section of the underworld. I really enjoyed the sense of exploring a whole new cave system that you don't really get in the other Avernums (except for part of A2, where you get to explore the Vahnatai caves). You also get to meet for the first time a "very large" character that plays a big role in A6.

Some of the actions you take do affect the ending slightly.

 

If you choose the right dialogue option with the main Dhorl Stead Runners and get them to not fight you, I believe it does change the ending a bit and give Dhorl Stead a better fate.

 

Also, I think your choice of what to do with the Titan Papers and whether or not you kill Zepheryne affects the ending a bit in terms of what happens in the Kva.

 

All in all, I came into this game expecting that I would be drawn to the rebel/conspiracy cause, but by the end I was convinced that the folks behind the conspiracy were no better, and probably worse, than Redbeard. There were a couple times I disagreed with him, but it felt like he was at least trying to do what was best for the Pact. You can argue about the morality of the Pact, but I doubt a

led alliance would be any better.

 

My decision was confirmed when Miranda admitted that she was essentially grooming us to rebel by sending us on missions that made Avadon look bad, and pairing us up with the most potentially-rebellious other hands. I got the impression that the whole mess in Khemeria was essentially set up by her, the Wayfarer, and

to make me angry at Avadon.

I'll probably end up meditating at Fort Emerald (gives you cloak of the arcane) alot to make up for the lack of the cloak spells. As for haste/battle frenzy, I'll have to make judicious use of the appropriate potions, wands, and scrolls (rather than just selling them like I did when I had a mage).

Thanks for the tips - I like Randomizer's idea of getting priest spells up to 10 for my defensive warrior-priest, so I can give him 12 resistance. He should be able to soak up a lot of damage that way, and survive long enough to heal/unshackle mind the other characters. I don't think 10 is enough to cast raise dead, though, alas (although I'm not sure).

 

And that would also work well with Lilith's point about healing and summoning not depending on intelligence. I could have my tank summon a pet before the battle to soak up even more damage, just like shamans in Avadon.