The Reverend

There's a guy I work with who is always posting messages in the wrong chat room on our company IRC server. For example, someone will ask him a question in one chat room, and he'll reply in a different, generating great deals of confusion. We've even coined a term for that based on his initials. (Edit: I think you may have intended to post this on the thread that is currently one below this on the list - "hooked on exile").

The optimal/best party for torment probably doesn't contain an archer, however you can have one (or even multiple) archers in a very good party that is perfectly capable of beating the game even on torment difficulty. The biggest advantages of archers include early game damage (as you've noticed), and evasion to the most common types of attacks (assuming your archer pumps dexterity, which they should do since their attacks depend on it). The high dexterity also means that they act very early, which can be an advantage in some situations. I like archers in this game, but I will concede that they are not the *best* possible characters.

I was doing the same thing this past winter quarter. The advice I got (and tried to follow, with varying degrees of success) was to dedicate one full, uninterrupted day a week to dissertation research. The class I was teaching had lectures Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I work on Thursdays, so that met Tuesdays were (in theory) my research day. Some weeks I (mostly) succeeded. Other weeks, not so much. Going into it, though, I knew I wasn't going to get nearly as much done that quarter. But, as long as you are making at least a little forward progress then at least you aren't slipping backwards (which can happen if you completely ignore your research for 10 weeks...)

You can upgrade the video quality by clicking the little gear in the lower left corner. I agree about not much new that we didn't see in the screenshots - I was hoping for more tidbits ... The only thing I gleaned was the name of the heart we report to, and some of the places on the map we get to visit. I was hoping for tidbits about the new character class, but I guess we'll just have to wait until it comes out. Or bribe the beta testers.

In case you missed it (it doesn't appear to be linked from Spiderweb's site yet, although I'm sure it will be soon): [media] [/media] Edit: I'm trying to just get it to post as just a link to youtube, but the board software seems to be insisting on trying to embed the video into the message ...

The straight battle is doable (even on torment) without invulnerability potions, as long as you concentrate on taking out each batch of summoned help as soon as it comes, and try to avoid hurting Grah Hoth too much until that batch is cleared out. The new batches of summoned help seem to be triggered by Grah Hoth reaching certain lower health thresholds. It's not easy, and takes a while, but it is possible. Energy potions/elixers can be helpful.

I heard about that tactic after my last playthrough, so I haven't tried it - but it does seem like it could make Grah Hoth the easiest of the three, from what I've heard.

Excellent, Cryptonomicon was my introduction to Stephenson, and one of my favorite all time books. Looking forward to Reamde!

What do you think of it? It's on my list - I've enjoyed a number of Stephenson's books, but haven't gotten to Reamde yet.

Excellent point - I usually save up the invulnerability potions for the final room of Hawthorne's tower, but if you're not doing that, they could make either of the other two endings much easier!

The darkness is very annoying, and there are a lot of fights, but I found that none of them on its own was as tough as the Grah Hoth fight, so I think it might be doable at a slightly lower level. But I know others disagree and think Grah-Hoth is easier.

It will depend on difficulty level, but I think if you focus on just one ending (I'd go for Escape, personally, as I find it easiest to do at a bit lower level than the others), it might be doable in roughly the time it takes to do a really complete playthrough of Avadon. To be honest though, I've never bothered timing myself on any of these games, so I could be way off here ...

I'm still trying to figure out what to dress up as when I take my daughters trick-or-treating. If Avadon 2 is out by Halloween, I may just dress up as Redbeard...

Despite the criticisms (which I won't argue with), I've been enjoying the GRRM Ice and Fire books. I'm currently about half way through Feast of Crows (#4). Yes, there is more violence than I would like, and yes it is hard to find a true "good guy", but I still find the story compelling. To be honest, the lack of a real hero doesn't bother me - everyone is shades of grey in the series, and I find that interesting.

Now I'm really confused ... I've had summons killed by enemies, so clearly they must get hit. Are you saying they don't get hit if you hide and can't see them?? If so, that certainly is an exploit!!

Really? I thought that the center space (that you target) of the AoE has to be line of sight from the caster - the other squares in the AoE don't, but that doesn't seem too unrealistic if you view the AoE like something that explodes from the central/targetted square.

I'd call it a tactic, not an exploit.

The biggest spoiler issue, IMHO, is finding out who is responsible for the problems of A3. So I'd suggest at least playing A3 prior to the later Avernums.

I personally prefer to play the Avernum series in order, to avoid spoilers, so my recommendation would be to avoid A4-6 until you've played the earlier Avernums (or their remakes). Geneforge 1 is a great game, despite the somewhat dated interface, and is a great introduction to the world of the shapers. If you can tolerate the interface, I'd suggest playing that before any of the other Geneforges. Nethergate:Resurrection is also a great game, if you can tolerate the older interfaces.

That's how I survived my CS classes as an undergrad. In grad school, the classes required a bit more thought, though, so I saved the drinking until after class. Most of my classes met before lunch, though, so ...

The demos on spiderweb games have been getting shorter relative to the full game length recently. It's a balance between providing enough of a demo for people to get a taste of the game, without giving away so much that people decide they can have all the fun they want with just the demo. A:EFTP (the full game) feels at least as big as Avernum I and Exile 1. Edit: Ooops, didn't see that that comment had already been made on the second page ....

I went on a Geneforge binge a couple years ago, and blazed through G1-3 pretty quickly. Right after I started G4, though, A:EFTP came out so I switched to that, and haven't been back. I never really track the number of hours I spend playing games, but if you go by number of calendar days from start to finish, those early geneforges would probably tie with Avadon for the shortest. I could believe that I was spending more game playing hours than normal during that binge though, so maybe by actual hours played they are longer. I really do at least feel like G1, in particular, was a pretty short game. Fun, certainly, but short.

It think that Athron gives part 1, Aimee gives part 2, Patrick gives part 3, and Erika gives part 4. This is based on Synergizer's item list, linked from the strategy central post. It can answer many questions ...

There is a small friendly slith village near the entrance to the waterfall warren that is probably the best option for this - buying them out is expensive, but not completely outrageous, and some of the things you end up having to buy are useful (e.g., I think they sell wisdom crystals and mandrake to make more wisdom crystals - but it's been a while so I might be misremembering). I ended up buying them out once or twice (can't remember) to get them to restock during my no-mage playthrough.

If you're not playing on a tablet, you can use the keyboard to target single-target spells. That doesn't solve the issues with targeting area-of-effect spells on terrain, though - I often end up not quite placing it right due to the terrain, and hitting fewer enemies than I intended ...