Dear Potato

Thanks Triumph, Cmiller and Randomizer!

I had the feeling that I was too confident with my endurance stat... I hope the endgame does not kick my agent's ass!

Anyway, the "green crystal" I was talking about is this:

Oh, and about the "-3 attack skills", as Cmiller said, some heavy armors have this penalty. I always guessed that refers to melee chance to hit...but, who knows? xD It seems that does not affect anything important, since I never melee, but I'm just curious to know. There is nothing as "attack skills" in the atributes/abilities window, so...

Hello again!

I keep moving forward. Right now I'm at level 18, and I'm completely used to play the solo-agent with ease I can kill almost every enemy with two bolts of fireball or searer, and I obliterate groups with orbs; if things get complicated, speed and war blessings turn my Shaper into a kickass-unstoppable-baddass I'm enjoying the game, a lot. I'm happy to have kept to my idea of a Mage-agent, despite some difficult moments at the beginning.

Anyway, I have some doubts:

In order to survive ambushes or unavoidable-unexpected melee fighters, I chose to wear heavy armor. The problem is that "-3 attack skills" modifier. What is exatly refering this to? Melee chance of hitting? Melee damage? Both? And what I fear most, it affects battle magic spells? I've tried to fight with and without armor to see the effects, but I fail to notice anything. Just for the sake of knowing, I would gladly appreciate any explanation about this (or a link to a place wich explains it, of course )

Also, I've noticed that I keep finding "Green crystals" here and there (not the gemstones or the emeralds). The item description says something about Shapers using those crystals to make magic objects, but it does not have any use in battle. It does not sell at high prices, neither. But, I keep gathering them in case someone opens a quest for retrieving them, like the shaper records or the shaper tools. I'm guessing right? If not, I would gladly throw them far, far away (every **** crystal weights a ton).

By the way, I've spent some points on Intelligence and Endurance, (both are at 5 right now), but I always have the feeling that I'm missing chances to be even deadlier with spells. That's the reason I was a bit unsure about that before. But I guess I desperately need to grow endurance if I want to survive the last battles... or so I guess!

Anyway, thanks everyone for the support!

All right. Things are starting to get a bit more complicated -my fault, on the other hand, since I tried to explore places with rogues a lot thougher and leveled than me (basically, two maps on the wastes, deserted and full of those scorpion creations). But it was fun nontheless. So far, I find the difficulty more or less attuned with Avadon and Avernum. Also, things got much easier the moment I got searing orbs and speed, so, despite the difficulty growing, I'm still moving forward!

One thing that really annoys me is the essence; I understand that higher spells need that energy pool for balancing issues, but I was expecting that spells only drained the spell energy pool... anyway, that brings me to the matter of spending skill points in the general attributes (strenght, intelligence and so on); it is wise to do so? Many times I'm tempted on spending some in Intelligence to grow the essence/spell pools. And strength, too, since the carrying cap. gives me headaches!

Thanks!

Great Thanks for your info on general skills and leadership; I've already reached the max (12) needed for the game. I guessed that most skills would have trainers and such later on, so yes, I focused the level ups in spellcraft and battle magic. Also, I spent one point in "melee" summonigns just in case, and thanks to the canisters and tombs it's even better. I thought that the melee combatant could help me in tight situations, but so far, I've had only one combat difficult enough to make me summon the thing I will see more info on luck and how to improve it, also.

I had doubts when I started the character creation... but now I'm very happy with her. I can play as a baddass mage with a golden tongue Not sure how I will handle the later stages of the game, but it seems it won't be a real problem.

I'm afraid that my only real problem with Geneforge 1 is the name of the island: Sucia ("sucia" means "dirty" in spanish; it's a bit weird reading that name again and again )

Be careful not to over-invest in leadership, you don't need more than 12 and you can get quite a few points from items+canisters and it can be bought as well.

Thanks! And I'm glad you mention it, because I tend to get very excited with this kind of skills and I was already planning how maximizing it

All right, I've been playing for some time now (right now I have just followed the Awakened sect quests until the point you can join them).

So far, I'm not having problems at all. Some parts are a bit tricky, but I only died once. I've decided to build a Battle mage specialist (giving priority to spellcraft and battle magic, of course) and a minor emphasis into developing a melee servant (to make him some kind of cannon fodder for some turns) and leadership -I REALLY like leadership; a way to solve things with diplomacy and conversations is greatly welcomed-.

So, in summary, I'm advancing without problems and enjoying the game a lot. At least, for the moment!

All right then. Thank you very much for your observations

I've decided to try my luck with an Agent, an do my best to specialize in magic. I will post problems here about my build -if I encounter any!

Agents arent as powerful in the 1st game (that was the class I used when beating the game). It was very frustrating. However, now that I know how they play, I would say agents arent the hardest class. Guardians are the hardest class to use in all games except 2nd so yes the agent is more than doable it just depends on you specializing in magic type. Late in game, agents are powerful even alone, something the shapers dont have as they rely more on creations.

 

I would say if you want to make a character that is a tactical commander that leads an army or even a small army of creations, take the shaper. If you want to use a character that is a lone wanderer that uses magic and an ocassional creation as an ally or assistant, then an agent.

Thanks!

When you say late in game Agents become strong, do you mean late in the first geneforge or late in the sequels? Keep in mind that I'm starting with the first game!

No, it's extremely hard if not impossible to play a shaper without creations, however in my personal view it's pretty enjoyable and easy playing a shaper with creations,

Agent is a very powerful class as well but it can lead to problems if not handled in an optimum manner and I wouldn't really recommend it for a first time player.

Thanks! I fear that my inexperience leads to an unplayable Agent, but also I don't really like the idea behind the Shaper class. I guess that Shapers are meant for the first playthroughs and newcomers as me, but Summoners never were my cup of tea.

----

I'm still unsure. Sometimes I say: "Go ahead and play the better you can with the Agent; after all, you have plenty of experience with RPGs". But the next minute I think that's a bad idea. Maybe I can make a Shaper with strong magic spells? Or that's not possible at all? The game says Shapers are strong with magic, but not as much as Agents...

I've bought the Geneforge saga (from 1 to 5) recently and I'm about to start the "journey" from the first title.

I've only played Avernum (the last remake) and Avadon from Spiderweb -and I really enjoyed both-, completing them without too much problems in normal difficulty.

Yesterday, I started the character creation in Geneforge 1. After half an hour of inner struggle (insert epic music here) I was unable to decide for one of the three classes. I know that geneforge's charm resides in creature summoning, but I'm not very fond of that kind of magic -I'd rather play as a pure-damage spell mage, something like the Soreceress in Avadon. The problem is, it seems that the only class resembling this archetype is the Agent, and the warning about the game being harder makes me hesitate.

How much difficult the game could get with the Agent, playing her as a pure caster spell mage? And what about the Shaper? Can I play it without relying in summonings? Or should I forget my bias and play a Shaper with powerful summoning anyway?

So? any recommendations?

Thanks!

A:eftp is only the eastern gallery.

What? Is this true? I assumed the remake-remake was 1:1 in that regard...the original ones have even bigger worlds? if thats the case, could anyone explain me how? Thanks!

It's a pity that Jeff said that... I somewhat had hoped some music for future games. In fact, my major drawback with Spiderweb games so far is the music absence.

Well, I've just signed in after some problems -not sure if related to the forum change or not- but my first impression is positive

At first glance, the forums seems neater to me. On the other hand, I'm pretty new to the spiderweb community, so the changes are not so...dramatic

I loved the game... but it was my first Spiderweb game.

Never tried myself, but I've read on these forums that Torment can get pretty challenging; and you can turn the difficulty up at any moment.

As much as I like Avernum, I prefer fixed classes over the absolute freedom to build characters

I wonder what class would fit in Redbeard's role... maybe a prestige class, a Blademaster with a lot of ranks (maybe..."Bladelord" or something xD), along with passive natural buffs and some minor magic. Something in the line of Epic characters and classes.

By the way, I agree - Miranda is a Sorceress in my book. What I wonder is... Eye Leira? She seems the older one. Not sure if she says something about, but I'm curious.

I like what Randomizer said about Duke Griffin; he is something like Hawthorne in Avernum Escape from the Pit. Extremely powerful only due to his magical artifacts and zealot followers.

@The rev: I normally do the same with other games; but, this is my first time replaying a Spiderweb game, and reading some posts in the forum made me think that Avadon could get pretty irritating on higher difficulties... but I guess you are right. I've been playing RPGs since childhood and I have the experience of a first playthrough I'm curious, though, if I will be able to kill certain dragon and certain demon...

@Randomizer: Thanks! The final part is one of my most feared parts. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it, sinde I don`t like the idea of pumping points on dex. I'll look at builds on the forum anyway By the way, I was thinking of the left and center column for this sorceress.

Lilith: Thanks! I dindn't thought that. I'll try torment and see... but I'm not sure if I'll be capable of going through the hardest parts! I also find the left path better; I trained my sorceress that way the last time, and Nathalie in the right path... and frankly, I never find her very useful, except for some encounters.

Thanks for all your answers!

I'm about to start a new game of Avadon - my second playthrough.

My idea is playing again as a Sorceress (I have soft spot for magicians; I really like playing caster classes). My first experience with Avadon was in Normal difficulty; I consider myself a competetent player, but not a master. I found normal very enjoyable, and I liked how the challenge pace grew with every new mission (except the optional final fight, of course, wich is... well).

So, without having more experience, I thought that Torment could be extremely irritating since I don't really like too hard challenges. I'm assuming hard would be difficult, but not just irritating. Is this the case? Is there much difference between normal and hard?

Also, it's possible to advance in this difficulty level with a damage-spell based Sorceress (the left path, I mean).

Thanks!

Woah, thank you all for your answers!

I'll try Geneforge next, then. I was about to buy the Genforge-saga pack at GoG, but I ended up with Avernum because the idea of commanding monsters never was my cup of tea.

By the way, I'm not sure if I understand; why locking content to those players who focus on combat and not diplomacy isn't fun? As I see it, is a perefectly valid way to increase replayability.

I've finally beat this new version of Avernum, and I want to express my opinions and feelings about the game, along with some summarized elements that I wish, someday, Spiderweb games implement.

Please, note that english is not my language, so excuse me if I make grammar atrocities.

First of all, I want to say that Avernum is my second game from Spiderweb; my first title was Avadon (I really liked Avadon, and that's the main reason I bought Avernum blindly). So, when I started playing Escape from the Pit, I was utterly surprised with the freedom and gameplay it offers; I knew gameplay was not as story driven as Avadon, but I didn't expect the scope and enormous world that awaited me. The amount of content and details of Avernum as a world is surprising.

On the other hand, I missed some of the party interactions and story driven elements from Avadon. A mix between the two gameplay styles could be epic

I don't know how was the skill and level up system from the original Avernum, but taking Avadon as a referent, I must say it's a clear improvement. It provides a neat canvas to make very interesting characters, without absurd restrcitions or non-personal complete freedom.

One little detail that I really appreciatte is the way that max level capacity is handled; also, I love how boss fights, no matter what level you go for them, always show some kind of challenge. The battle with the emperor and the big-badass demons are truly masterpieces

At artistic and technical level, despite being almost identical to Avadon, I reaaaaally enjoyed the more coherent size of maps and dungeons. Not only everything looked like better, but also was much more fun to play.

So, I'm going to try and summarize some elements that I've missed or wished for both Avadon and Avernum, specially concernign the interface:

- More user friendly windows: Given the amount of loot that these games tend to offer, I always miss something like the Divinity way to handle tabs and windos (just a simple right click on any part of the window to close it)

- Music: Probably discussed a lot and explained here, but since I'm new, I feel the urge to say that these games would feel even more great with a proper OST. There are lots of great independent composers out there that could make impressive works.

- Categories and tabs to arrange quests; especially in Avernum, the seer amount of quests could benefit form such thing.

- Magical items: There are some cool magical pieces of equipment in Avernum, but few of them are really useful or remarkable. I think some better magical equipment, with unique and interesting descriptions coul add to the already great setting.

- More skills or abilities not combat focused, that let the player make interesting things (for example, a particular skill tree for thieves for thieving; or crafting for warriors; or diplomacy for mages).

- More chances to solve quests without violence. In this case, the aforementioned non-violent skills could be useful.

And more or less, I think that's all. Apart form the letdown with Athron that I posted the other day, I think Avernum: Escape from the Pit is a wonderful game. Thanks to it and Avadon, I'm eager to see what comes next

Well, I understand the value to keep faithful to the original, but as I understand, many other changes have been made to the gameplay (I never played the original ones). I just believe that this particular issue could have been adressed somehow, for the benefit of gameplay.

But, anyway, it's just a little mistake in a game that I have enjoyed inmensely.

I'm about to complete the game, and I must say that I have enjoyed it as much as Avadon (my first spiderweb game). Unfortunatelly, I left the Scimitar "final" quest for my last important quest.

I wandered Avernum for hours and hours until I realized that there wasn't any other means apart from Athron to obtain the first password key. She was my first dragon killed in the game, but after talking to Erika, I was sure that there was an altenative to obtaining the password she had; so, as I said, after hours of frustrating explorations, I gave up and looked at the forums. I was surprised to see that in fact, I did broke the game, and I put myself in a non-win situation.

Is there any reason to keep this "feature" in the remake? Yeah, I know, it was not wise to kill Atrhon so soon, but the punishment is waaaaaay to harsh. I can't win the game without using cheats because of this decision? Thats going too far.

Anyway, I'm just curious; is there any thorough reason to keep this non-win situation? As for me, I'm a bit disappointed.

Thanks!

Yeah, it's true, but she wore a pretty decent helmet with 20% resistance for poison/acid. Since I'm using her as the front character, I look thoughtlessly to pump all resistances. When the resistances go dwon, I panic xD.

At the end I put the new helmet anyway. Better armor after all

I see. So, probably, that 4% is not worth wearing the helmet, anyway...

I always try to max the damage output for mages, and this helmet was a nice surprise

Thanks!

Hello again! I have another little doubt; hope anyone can answer me again

I have maxed out my "Spellcraft" skill with my main mage, but I found a helmet that increases it two points. Now, in the mage skill tab, despite being maxed out, the +2 benefit still seems to apply. Is this for real? Her spells don't seem to benefit at all (every one of them does the same amount of damage, having the helmet or not).

So, the passive benefits from equipment cannot help to surpass the skill limit? The skill part of this guide seems to imply that the +2 really works... but I'm confused since it doen't seem to reflect in the spell damage numbers.

Thanks!