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Akhari Blaze

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Posts posted by Akhari Blaze

  1. My question, quite seriously, is this: Where is Flawless Throw at, anyway? I still see just Flawless Shot within the Battle Disciplines area. Maybe I'm the crazy one or, far more likely, I'm not looking in the correct location for it. That would be why I made mention what I did above. I could never find it within the game.

    On the plus side? The Bladeshield bug, I can confirm, is now fixed and works correctly at all levels of Resistance.

     

    I never used Flawless Throw before, and I thought it would replace automatically Flawless Shot whenever a javelin/razordisk is equipped. But it doesn't happen.. not even in the unmodded game, so I really don't know. Could you ever use it before? And how?

     

    If there's no solution, I can make the discipline dependent on Sharpshooter so that also a javelin user can benefit from it, and make Sharpshooter Spray dependent on Sniper.

  2. I love the remix, and I love the "remix of the remix" even more. But, at least in the mod of the remix, there are a couple of minor Battle Discipline bugs. No idea if they have been reported already, or if there is a quick and easy fix to said bugs.

    1. Flawless Shot says that it is dependant on your combined skill with Bows and Thrown Missiles and requires 4 points to work at all. The problem is that Thrown Missiles has exactly 0 effect on how powerful this skill can become. It doesn't contribute to the use of this ability, which is a problem. On a similar note, I noticed that the Sniper tooltip indicates that it assists the power of Flawless Shot as well, which I have not noticed at all.

    2. Bladeshield, which really is only useful for a mage or someone similar, has a serious flaw with it. It works fine at 0 points, generating 2 rounds. It works fine at 3 points and it works fine at 10 points. But, for some really odd reason, it fails to work at all at 7, 8 or 9 points. Admittedly, I only found out about this while mining for data on the new versions of the Disciplines via the Editor. (I don't use it in general, but it still has its uses if you don't want to break the game.)

     

    To make it clear, the version of the game I am talking about specifically here is Ahkari Blaze's "Enhanced Mod" of the game. Please let me know if I am doing something seriously wrong here. Thank you.

     

    Thanks for the feedback, I've taken the game for a ride and made some changes to my mod too, and fixed these two issues. Issue n.1 wasn't a problem actually, maybe the tooltip wasn't clear. You get bonus for Flawless Shot from Bows skill only, and for Flawless Throw from Thrown Weapons skill only.

     

     

    New version is 2.0 (link in first post). Thanks for the feedback and thanks if somebody wants to try it out.

  3. I've made a couple of modifications, the ReRemix was posted in the Remix thread, I'll post it back here. Moreover I made a graphics mod that replaces the cartoon-like pictures in the statistics page with fantasy pictures.

     

    Graphics Mod

     

    Avernum Graphics Mod

     

    Original Graphics

     

    Unpack in your "Avernum Files" directory and overwrite, the original graphics are there if you want to revert the changes. These are some of them:

     

    http://www.fastpic.info/image/20130313/f6523d1fd6_tn.gif

     

     

     

    NOTE : just to clarify, I'm not the author of any of these pictures, they were all found on the web. Many are from illustrations for cards of the "Magic: the Gathering" game, others are obtained from fantasy pictures of diverse authors. I simply resized/cropped the images or did minor edits. I hope this won't be a problem, if it is I will take it back.

     

     

     

    ReRemix v2 (changes at the end of this post)

     

     

    NEW ReRemix mod 2.6 (latest version)

     

    ReRemix mod 2.5 (previous version)

     

     

    ***************************** Details for version 2.6 *****************************

     

    The ReRemix mod is based on the remix by Slartibus, but some spells have been reverted to the original ones (Icy Rain, Howl of Terror, Call the Storm, Summon Shade, Divine Fire), even if their damage is closer to Slartibus' Remix, and also some items (especially the First Expedition items). For items, often I reverted only the name to the original, and kept the altered stats. It also includes many more changes, I tried balancing it the best I could but maybe I'm not finished yet. I also tried to balance items in a way that it's very difficult for spellcasters to find gear that confers melee damage protection (in my now finished torment playthrough my mage had a final armor rating of 63%, 66% for fire/etc, my secondary mage/archer had much better ratings but had the swordmage trait).

     

    About the difficulty, I reduced overall spell damage (closer to Remix), and even increased casting costs in many cases. The goal (I don't know if I'm quite there) is to make the game slightly (only slightly) more difficult overall.

     

     

    Armors, Weapons and other Items

     

    Main change is that plate armors and shields are much heavier, and they confer a parry bonus.

    Low level creatures, archers and spellcasters use shortswords, higher level variants use broadswords (more damage, cleave chance), sliths use spears (immobility, extra damage!).

     

     

     

     

    - Armors are much heavier, so heavy that only the strongest can wear a full plate (breast + greaves + bracers), but metal armor gives a parry bonus, similarly to shields (iron 5%, steel 7%, consecrated 10%). You need strength 25+ to be able to wear good plate armor. Strong Back becomes also a useful trait.

     

    - Shields have received a similar treatment: fixed hit penalty (5% for all), varying parry bonus (5-10%) and armor bonus, but iron/steel weight a lot more.

     

    - CtH penalties: Chainmail -5%, breastplates -15%, all shields -5%, plate greaves -5%. Leather gear no longer carry a hit chance penalty. Bracers, gauntlets and boots give a smaller penalty.

     

    - Very few items give a CtH bonus, so that also Swordmage trait could become viable in some builds.

     

    - Spears are 1-handed weapons, with a -10 dual wielding modifier, to discourage it (unfortunately the penalty won't be less than the normal 20%, but it will counter the benfits from training the skill). They are also too heavy to be wielded in the off-hand. This is to allow spear users to carry a shield. They have 50% additional chance to immobilize 2 rounds, and they can do extra damage as in Remix. Some enchanted spears have a new ability. All spears have also -5% parry.

     

    - Two-handed swords (waveblades, iron claymore and Greatsword of the Depths): similar to halberds in damage output, but smaller cleave and critical chance and a 3% parry bonus.

     

    - Quarterstaves (Mage Staff and Staff of Arcana): parry bonus, CtH and energy damage that scales with intelligence, not strength, and they benfit from investment in pole weapons. Damage multiplier is low, but they give also a passive bonus useful for mages.

     

    - Halberds do more damage. More points in Pole Weapons will increase the damage even more (more than natural increase, max result with 15 skill: this is true also for 2H-swords). They have a -5% parry penalty (like spears).

     

    - Shortswords, daggers and light weapons that can be wielded off-hand carry a 3% parry bonus. Broadswords have cleave chance (20%). Some swords are heavier, and can't be wielded in off-hand anymore (flaming/oozing sword, Demonslayer, Radiant Soulblade).

     

    - Removed bonus to hit from bows, as in Remix, and from most items.

     

    - Frozen Blade renamed to Frozen Mageblade (it inflicts cold damage and thus intelligence is used for hit chance and damage, not strength).

     

     

     

    Spells and Magical Gear

     

    Some spells have been reverted to the originals (Icy Rain, Howl of Terror, Call the Storm, Summon Shade, Mass Healing, Divine Fire). Other changes:

     

     

     

     

    - Spell damage is intermediate between regular game and Remix (closer to Remix, though), minor healing spells are less effective, many spells have increased casting cost, from priest spells (slightly increased) to some mage spells (so that casting high level spells is more often preferable).

     

    - Healing spells are sligthly less effective, and regeneration has 50% chance (75% for Heal, 100% for Divine Restoration).

     

    - There are only two damage spells that affects a round targetable area (Icy Rain and Divine Fire), and their damage/casting cost ratio is not very convenient to discourage spamming.

     

    - New spell: Rune of Madness (replaces Summon Aid), teleports to new destination, but first do an AoE (range 3) centered on the caster, inflicts random ailments with different probabilities (slightly increasing with level): weakness & war curse (always), daze (80% at lev 1), stun (40% at lev 2), charm (20% at lev 3), range 3.

     

    - New spell: Prayer, replaces Minor Heal, chance based. Healing/curing/regeneration chances: 25/20/20 (L1), 50/40/30 (L2), 75/60/40 (L3). No more low-level guaranteed healing for all, use Heal spell or bandages (that are better than before).

     

    - Divine Restoration: 1 (cures 1 effect)/ 2 (cures 2 effects + 1 mental) / 3 (regeneration 5 turns, 20% bonus)

     

    - Return life now is different depending on the training: 1 (weakness/war curse on the caster), 2 (nothing), 3 (bless party)

     

    - Spray Acid: at level 3 it affects all enemies in range 1, even if the lightning effect affects only the targeted enemy. Reduced cost (10->5).

     

    - Mass Healing: at level 3, the chance for regeneration has become a chance for curing (50%).

     

    - Mass Curing has been replaced by Spine Shield, that also cures 1 effect at level 2 and has chance for regeneration at level 3.

     

    - Wands are stronger: they hit more often and do more damage. Terror and Inferno wands are untouched (they were already level 50), other wands range from level 30 to 45, depending on value. Also non-defensive scrolls are somewhat stronger.

     

    - Invulnerability potions replaced by Heroism potion (battle frenzy + bladeshield)

     

    - Better bandages, food and purging crystals (also cure 1 mental effect)

     

     

     

    Disciplines

     

    Disciplines benefit from improving skills. Compared to the original, expect the same discipline to be less powerful if the governing skill is undeveloped, about as powerful if moderately developed, more powerful if well developed. Fatigue is generally lower across the board, though.

     

    Discipline		Skill		  Fat.	Improvements
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Well-Aimed Blow		Blademaster	3	3/6/9/12
    Flawless Shot		Sniper		3	1/4/7
    Shield Breaker		Riposte		3	2/4/6
    Leg Sweep		Gymnastics	3	3/6
    Blade Sweep		Quick Action	5	3/6/9
    Focus Spirit		Hardiness	3	3/6/9/12
    Mighty Blow		Lethal Blow	4	1/4/7
    Adrenaline Rush		Gymnastics	4	3/6
    Bladeshield		Dual Wielding	4	2/4/6/8
    Sharpshooter Spray	Sharpshooter	6	3/6/9
    Sword Dance		Dual Wielding	7	3/6/9
    Battle Frenzy		Quick Action	7	2/5/8

     

    Disciplines in detail:

     

     

    - Well-Aimed Blow: improves with Blademaster, cleave at BM 6

     

    - Flawless Shot: improves with Sniper, ensnare chance from SN 3. Great damage and can apply extra bonuses from Sniper skill (negative effect, extra shot).

     

    - Shield Breaker: improves with Riposte, knocks back, can daze (RI 2), high damage and strong weakness curse (RI 6).

     

    - Leg Sweep: improves with Gymnastics, chance to immobilize improves with skill. At GY 6, weakness curse and chance to stun.

     

    - Focus Spirit: improves with Hardiness. Cures 1-3 effects, regeneration starts at 6, heals 80 damage at 9, +3 AP at 12.

     

    - Adrenaline Rush: improves with Gymnastics, fatigue 5. Slightly less powerful than the original, but fatigue is lower.
        0-2: 10 AP, weakness curse 2 turns
        3-5: 20 AP, weakness curse 1 turn
        6+:  30 AP

     

    - Battle Frenzy: improves with Quick Action, fatigue 7.
        0-1: 3 turns, weakness curse 3 turns
        2-4: 4 turns, weakness curse 2 turns, +2 AP
        5-7: 5 turns, weakness curse 1 turn, +5 AP
        8+:  6 turns, +8 AP

     

    - Bladeshield: improves with Dual Wielding, duration starts at 2 and can improve up to 6 for 8 DW.

     

    - Sharpshooter Spray: is the same ability as in Avadon, but is cone-shaped. Works with thrown weapons too. Improves with Sharpshooter skill.

     

    - Blade Sweep: improves with Quick Action, and has range 2.

     

    - Sword Dance: improves with Dual Wielding. More powerful than Blade Sweep: range 3, chance to ensnare (DW 6) and daze (DW 9), damage increases with DW skill. High fatigue.

     

     

     

    ***************************************************

     

     

    Changes in 1.0

     

     

     

     

    - Many enemies use the same disciplines and spells used by the party, so there were conflicts (disciplines with requirements used by monsters didn't do anything at all). I imported the old disciplines as new abilities and changed all references used by enemies, so they use the original ones, there shouldn't be any conflict among them.

     

    - Some disciplines I modified depended on wrong attributes (as intelligence), now they mostly depend on strength (also Blade Sweep and Sword Dance)

     

    - I beefed up many disciplines (Flawless Shot isn't based on Sniper anymore), fixed some scrolls, and replaced invulnerability potions with heroism potions (bladeshield + battle frenzy). Halberds are better, extra damage for spears down to +50% from +100% (50% probability), since they are now 1-handed. Immobilize chance from spears lasts 2 rounds (since 1 round didn't seem to do anything).

     

     

     

    Changes in 2.0

     

     

     

     

    * Armors are much heavier, so heavy that only the strongest can wear a full plate (breast + greaves + bracers), but plate armor gives a parry bonus, similarly to shields (chainmail 5%, iron 10%, steel 15%, greaves up to 5%, bracers up to 3%). You need strength 25+ to be able to wear good plate armor.

     

    * I reduced the parry bonus for some items and weapons (5% max). Max parry you can have is 23% (full plate) + 30% (skill) + 10% (shield) and 10-15% from items/weapons. This parry bonus should 'emulate' armor penetration (not all strikes penetrate the armor).

     

    * Hit chance penalties for most armors have been reduced (5% for chainmail and iron, 10% for the heaviest plates). Now either you're strong enough, or you can't simply wear them without AP penalties.

     

    * Shields have received a similar treatment: fixed hit penalty (5% for all), varying parry bonus (5-10%) and armor bonus, but iron/steel weight a lot more.

     

    * Changes to weapons: some swords are heavier, and some can't be wielded in off-hand anymore (flaming/oozing sword). Shortswords, daggers and light weapons that can be wielded off-hand carry a -5% parry penalty. Removed bonus to hit from bows (again), as in Remix. Broadswords have cleave chance (20%).

     

    * Changes to creatures: weak fighters and non-fighters have shortswords, tougher fighters are equipped with broadswords, sliths use spears.

     

    * Fixed some descriptions and the Bladeshield bug.

     

    I hope I didn't exaggerate with parry bonuses; considering you won't have easy access to heavy armor soon in the game, this could be ok.

     

     

     

     

    Changes in 2.1

     

     

     

     

    * Fixed Flawless Shot to use dexterity

     

     

     

     

    Changes in 2.2

     

     

     

     

    * Changes to spells: Haste at level 2 has 30% bonus instead of 20% (for 1 extra round duration); Spray Acid has cleave chance increased at level 2 and decreased cost (8->6).

     

    * Changes to disciplines: Flawless Shot depends now on Sharpshooter. Sharpshooter Spray depends now on Sniper, and is cone shaped.

     

     

     

     

    Changes in 2.3

     

     

     

     

    * New spell: Circle of Madness (replaces Blink Burst), AoE centered on the caster, inflicts random ailments with different probabilities (slightly increasing with level): weakness & war curse (always), daze (80% at lev 1), stun (40% at lev 2), charm (20% at lev 3), range 3.

     

    * Changes to spells: spell damage has been somewhat reduced (now between original and remix). Spell costs have been revised (it's more worth to cast higher level spells now), and overall increased. Minor heal and mass healing are sligthly less effective, and regeneration has 50% chance (75% for Heal, 100% for Divine Restoration).

     

    * Changes to Armors. CtH penalties: Chainmail -5%, breastplates -15%. Steel/Consacrated breastplates are also heavier. Reduced parry bonuses (iron 5%, steel 7%, consecrated 10%), also for greaves. Iron/steel shields slightly heavier. Various very minor changes to item bonuses.

     

    * Changes to weapons: Frozen Blade renamed to Frozen Mageblade (it inflicts cold damage and thus intelligence is used for hit chance and damage, not strength); better enchanted spears.

     

    * Changes to Disciplines: increased fatigue for Well-Aimed Blow (3->4), decreased for Sharpshooter Spray (8->6). Blade Sweep does more damage. Focus Spirit based on Priest Spells (was Parry) (2/8/12), reduced fatigue (6->3).

     

    * Wands are stronger: they hit more often and do more damage. Terror and Inferno wands are untouched (they were already level 50), other wands range from level 30 to 45, depending on value. Also non-defensive scrolls are somewhat stronger.

     

    * Better bandages (more or less like Minor Heal).

     

    * Other fixes (Focus Spirit, minor changes to items)

     

     

     

     

    Changes in 2.4

     

     

     

     

    * New spell: Prayer, replaces Minor Heal, chance based. Healing/curing/regeneration chances: 25/20/20 (L1), 50/40/30 (L2), 75/60/40 (L3). No more low-level guaranteed healing for all, use Heal spell or bandages (that are better).

     

    * Two-handed swords (waveblades, iron claymore and Greatsword of the Depths): similar to halberds in damage output, but smaller cleave and critical chance and a 5% parry bonus.

     

    * Quarterstaves (Mage Staff and Staff of Arcana): 5% parry bonus, CtH and energy damage that scales with intelligence, not strength, but they need investment in pole weapons (2 for 50 flat damage, 6 for scaled damage, 10 for more damage and cleave chance). They give also a passive bonus useful for mages, though.

     

    * Changes to Disciplines: fatigue adjustments (Bladeshield 6->7, Well-Aimed Blow 4->3, Flawless Shot 4->3, Battle Frenzy 8->9, others), some high-level improvements for some disciplines. Battle Frenzy requires QA 2 (improvements at 6 and 10).

     

    * Changes to items: restored some low CtH penalty on gear, general item rebalancing.

     

    * Return life now is different depending on the training: 1 (weakness/war curse on the caster), 2 (nothing), 3 (bless party)

     

    * Fixed shattering blow (monster ability)

     

     

     

    Changes in 2.5

     

     

     

     

    * fixed Flawless Shot (broken in 2.4)

    * better Divine Restoration: 1 (cures 1 effect)/ 2 (cures 2 effects + 1 mental) / 3 (regeneration 5 turns, 20% bonus)

    * spears have also -5% parry

    * better food

    * better purging crystals (also cure 1 mental effect)

    * fixed tooltips

     

     

     

     

    Changes in 2.6

     

    Spoiler

    - short swords have a parry bonus (+3%) instead of a -5% penalty
    - parry bonus for two-handed swords reduced to 3%
    - halberds have a parry penalty (-5%) (same as spears)
    - removed parry bonus for metal greaves
    - disciplines: general rebalancing
    - disciplines: removed strict skill requirement
    - Circle of Madness becomes Rune of Madness (teleports after AoE)
    - fixed Flawless Throw

     

  4. Yeah this is probably one way in which the game mechanics can be abused, but and I'm probably being a bit ridiculous here, if you are bothered by something that seems like an abuse then you can always choose to not use it.

     

    Yes but I don't really like when I have to be more honest than the game allows me to be. It's like 'don't sell stuff if you think there's too much money' (not the case in EFTP) or things like that.

  5. What bothers me most is actually the fact you can hit things you can't see, like in locked rooms, with the monsters inside that can't get you. It's like cheating for me, yet you can do it. If you open a room to see inside, leave the area and come back, then the door is closed, but you can target the room inside and kill the stuff in it. Maybe it isn't efficient in terms of spell energy, but you don't die.

  6. I'll add my opinion: the most unbalancing thing about AOE spells concerns, imho, non-cone AOE spells like Icy Rain. It's absurd that they have unlimited range, and even more absurd that they can target squares that aren't in your line of sight (like an adjacent locked room where you know a certain boss is hiding). It makes me feel like I'm cheating, still only cone-shaped spells is boring and sometimes unpractical. The targeting reticule should be disabled (or made of another colour) for over-range and out-of-line-of-sight tiles.

  7. Akahari Blaze -- I really like what you've done with this. You've fixed / improved some of the balance issues in the original remix. You should post what you have in it's own thread.

     

    Well thanks :) I left it a bit unfinished though, I still have to finish my play-through, I really left it on hold. I think there are still things to correct (like weapons used by enemies, last time I checked it even skeletons had cleave since I brought back the distinction between short/broad swords), I should play the game to see what's left to do. Also, making spears 1-handed means they look in-game like swords, only 2-handed polearms have the sprite appearance of a polearm. I like them better 1-handed though.

  8. Thanks, I seemed to notice that my main mage can daze/slow enemies whereas with my other mage (low int) I got statuses like poison for daze or 'daze immunity', but maybe it's just because I use those spells more with my mage so I notice them more. My fighter/mage still dazes and slows effectively, with very low intelligence (right now). I was wondering if I can safely skip intelligence for my fighter and specialize him in cursing spells without drawbacks.

  9. I made 2 versions of the mod, or better said 2 mods, since they have little in common.

     

    Downloads in its own thread

     

    The first one is based on the original game: same spells, same disciplines, same items, same everything. Only thing that has changed is the behaviour of bows and polearms, like in the remix mod. Also thrown weapons are not stackable, as in the remix. Other changes:

     

    1. spears have 50% additional chance to immobilize 2 rounds.

    2. bracers, gauntlets and boots no longer give a hit chance penalty. Neither do leather greaves, and penalty for iron/steel greaves has been reduced to -5. Metal bracers are heavier, though.

    3. All magical bows/polearms have the same bonus that the normal weapons of the same category have

    4. shields grant the protection bonus they have in the original game, plus:

     

    wooden: no hit penalty, parry 5%

    bronze/iron: -5% CtH, parry 10%

    steel: -10% CtH, parry 15%

     

    *********************************************

     

    The second mod has extensive changes. It is based on the remix, but many spells have been reverted to the original ones, and also some items (especially the First Expedition items). Often I reverted only the name to the original, and kept the altered stats. All changes:

     

    Weapons

     

    All changes from the first mod, plus:

     

     

     

    - spears are 1-handed weapons, with a -10 dual wielding modifier, to discourage it (unfortunately the penalty won't be less than the normal 20%, but it will counter the benfits from training the skill). They are also too heavy to be wielded in the off-hand. This is to allow spear users to carry a shield.

    - some enchanted spears have a new ability.

    - halberds are the only 2-handed weapon and do more damage.

     

    Spells

     

    Some spells have been reverted to the originals (Icy Rain, Howl of Terror, Call the Storm, Summon Shade, Mass Healing, Divine Fire). Other changes:

     

     

     

    - Spray Acid: at level 3 it affects all enemies in range 1, even if the lightning effect affects only the targeted enemy.

    - Mass Healing: at level 3, the chance for regeneration has become a chance for curing (50%).

    - Mass Curing has been replaced by Spine Shield, that also cures 1 effect at level 2 and grants regeneration at level 3.

     

    Disciplines

     

    I changed a lot of dependences and set minimum skill requirements (in brackets):

     

    1 = "Well-Aimed Blow" Blademaster (1) fat.3

    2 = "Flawless Shot" Bows/Missiles fat.3

    3 = "Shield Breaker" Blademaster (3) fat.4

    4 = "Leg Sweep" Quick action (1) fat.4

    5 = "Blade Sweep" Blademaster (4) fat.6

    6 = "Focus Spirit" Parry (1) fat.6

    7 = "Mighty Blow" Lethal Blow (1) fat.5

    8 = "Adrenaline Rush" Gymnastics (0) fat.6

    9 = "Bladeshield" Resistance (0) fat.8

    10 = "Sharpshooter Spray" Sharpshooter (3) fat.8

    11 = "Sword Dance" Double Wielding (4) fat.8

    12 = "Battle Frenzy" Quick action (0) fat.8

     

    Disciplines in detail:

     

    - Well-Aimed Blow: min 1 Blademaster, improves with skill (cleave at BM 6)

     

    - Flawless Shot: based on bows/missile skill, ensnare, more damage at skill 8, cleave at skill 12.

     

    - Shield Breaker: daze + weakness curse (lev 6) + knockback, min 3 Blademaster.

     

    - Leg Sweep: requires Quick Action (1 point). Weakness + immbilize, increased damage at QA 3 and 6.

     

    - Focus Spirit: requires Parry (1 point). Cures 3 effects, regeneration at 3 (3 turns) and 6 PA (5 turns), heals 80 damage at 6 PA, +3 AP at 8 PA.

     

    - Adrenaline Rush: depends on Gymnastics. Gym 0-1 +12 AP, 2-4 +15 AP, 5+ +20 AP, Weakness Curse 2 turns, fatigue 6.

     

    - Battle Frenzy: based on Quick Action. 2 turns for QA 0-3, 3 for QA 4-7, 4 for QA 8+. No curse, +8 AP in the same round.

     

    - Bladeshield: depends on Resistance, lasts 2 (0-2 RE), 4 (3-5 RE), 6 (6-9 RE) or 8 turns (10 RE). I think spellcasters need some extra armor more than fighters.

     

    - Sharpshooter Spray is the same ability as in Avadon, with a recover time of 8. Works with thrown weapons too.

     

    - Blade Sweep: requires Blademaster (skill 4 minimum), and has range 2 (all nearbies enemies in range 1, plus the 4 squares in the cardinal directions at range 2). Damage isn't high at first but there's a bonus attainable with higher Blademaster skill (up to +50%): damage is strength-based.

     

    - Sword Dance: based on Dual Wielding (skill 4 minimum). Compared to Blade Sweep, is a specialist discipline, and is more powerful: range 3, ensnare, daze at DW 5, +50% damage at DW 6, +100% damage at DW 8. Slightly less damage than Blade Sweep, but added effects and greater range.

     

    Bladeshield, Adrenaline Rush and Battle Frenzy have no base requirements, so they can be cast by anyone with sufficient melee/missile skill, but are far more efficient if cast by specialists.

     

    *******************************

     

    Downlads:

     

    Normal game mod

     

    Enhanced mod

     

     

    **********************

     

    EDIT: Many enemies use the same disciplines and spells used by the party, so there were conflicts (disciplines with requirements used by monsters didn't do anything at all). I imported the old disciplines as new abilities and changed all references used by enemies, so they use the original ones, there shouldn't be any conflict among them.

     

    EDIT 2: Some disciplines I modified depended on wrong attributes (as intelligence), now they mostly depend on strength (also Blade Sweep and Sword Dance)

     

    EDIT 3: I beefed up many disciplines (Flawless Shot isn't based on Sniper anymore), fixed some scrolls, and replaced invulnerability potions with heroism potions (bladeshield + battle frenzy). Halberds are better, extra damage for spears down to +50% from +100% (50% probability), since they are now 1-handed. Immobilize chance from spears lasts 2 rounds (since 1 round didn't seem to do anything).

  10. Maybe you're not interested, but I'm tinkering a bit with the mod and trying to make some changes that I find useful. So far, this is what I've done, feel free to comment (or not to). Sorry if I changed some spells/disciplines from the remix, I can still bring them back. As a base I've taken the remix, not the original, so most items that were changed are still as in the remix.

     

     

     

    ****** Items **********

     

    Short bows have the same bonus as long bows

    Long bows have additional +5% HC

    All magical bows/polearms have the same bonus that the normal weapons of the same category have (the bonuses introduced by the remix, with small variations for magical bows)

     

     

     

    ****** Spells ********

     

    Some spells have been reverted to the originals (Icy Rain, Howl of Terror, Summon Shade, Mass Healing, Divine Fire). Reasons are, that one non-cone damage spell for the mage is something I didn't want to surrender, Splinter is rather awkward and dangerous for a spellcaster, idem for Heartshock, the last two because I wasn't sure. I kept Holy Scourge, Blink Burst, the new summons, the new version of Haste. Other spells are as in the remix version, if they were changed.

     

     

     

    ****** Disciplines *******

     

    I changed a lot of dependences and set minimum skill requirements (in brackets):

     

    1 = "Well-Aimed Blow".........Blademaster (1)

    2 = "Flawless Shot"...........Sniper (1)

    3 = "Shield Breaker"..........Blademaster (3)

    4 = "Leg Sweep"...............Quick action (1)

    5 = "Blade Sweep".............Blademaster (4)

    6 = "Focus Spirit"............Parry (1)

    7 = "Mighty Blow".............Lethal Blow (1)

    8 = "Adrenaline Rush".........Gymnastics (0)

    9 = "Bladeshield".............Resistance (0)

    10 = "Sharpshooter Spray".....Sharpshooter (3)

    11 = "Sword Dance"............Quick action (4)

    12 = "Battle Frenzy"..........Quick action (0)

     

     

     

    Changes from the remix:

     

     

    Shield Breaker and Leg Sweep are as in the original (I introduced requirements and made them improve with investment in the appropriate skill, added Weakness Curse to SB as in the remix)

     

    Focus Spirit: regeneration at 3, +8 AP at 6 Parry.

     

    Adrenaline Rush: depends on Gym, so it's better suited for spellcasters. Gym 0-3 +10AP, 4-7 +15AP, 8+ +20AP, no curse as in remix, fatigue 6.

     

    Battle Frenzy is based on quick action and thus suited for fighters. 2 turns for QA 0-3, 3 for QA 4-7, 4 for QA 8+. No curse.

     

    Bladeshield is thought for spellcasters, to make it more similar to Avadon's, and it depends on Resistance (lasts 2 turns + Resistance skill). I think spellcasters need some extra armor more than fighters.

     

    Sharpshooter Spray is the same ability as in Avadon, with a recover time of 8. Only problem, chars with javelin use Blinding Throw instead, so I'll have to change that too.

     

    Sword Dance: I based it on Quick Action, since I think that Riposte is a silly skill and it's better not to consider it at all, just to get a discipline. The other "sweep" is based on Blademaster, so you can't develop both well, and every fighter build would have one to use. Blade Sweep is pure damage, Sword Dance have now ensnare (skill 5), ensnare + daze + 50% damage (skill 7), 2x damage (skill 9). I wanted to give it a property like earthshatter (knockback nearby foes), but I couldn't guess the number. BS is cheap but is based on Blademaster that gives more damage, SD is more powerful but comes later and requires QA (skill 4 minimum).

     

    Blade Sweep requires Blademaster (skill 4 minimum), so that archers and spellcasters will find it less appealing to get access to BS and SD.

     

    Note that Bladeshield, Adrenaline Rush and Battle Frenzy have no requirements, so they can be cast by anyone with sufficient melee/missile skill, but are far more efficient if cast by specialists.

     

    ****** To do / ideas ********

     

    fix blinding throw

    adjust damages

    curse for Adrenaline Rush (only 2 turns) and Battle Frenzy (for its duration)

    maybe replace Mass Curing with Spine Shield, and give 1 curing effect to lev 2 Mass Healing.

  11. I changed some spells in my game, then. Basically, I think priests are mainly healer, and mages should be somewhat useful. I changed the energy costs as follows. For priests, I reduced costs for healing spells and increased costs for damaging spells. For mages, I brought back in Icy Rain, and made Fireblast an area spell (Fire Storm). Cost of area spells (icy rain 20, fire storm 30) is higher than cone-shaped or single target ones (spray acid 3, lightning spray 10, arcane blow 20).

     

     

    Minor Heal 3 -> 2

    Heal 8 -> 5

    Holy Scourge 4 -> 8

    Call the Storm 8 -> 20

    Mass Healing 18 -> 15

    Divine Restoration 40 -> 30

    Return Life 75 -> 60

     

    I also made splinter non-melee, and called it again summon shade (there's still something different from the original scroll, I don't know if the shade is stronger).

     

    Fire Bolt -> damage x level 1-4 instead of 1-3

    Spray Acid 8 -> 3

    Icy Rain (area) 10 -> 20

    Arcane Blow 40 -> 20

    Fireblast -> Fire Storm (area, not cone) 20 -> 30 (damage x level 1-5, for flamestrike is 1-4)

    Howl of Terror 30 -> 40

    Haste 8 -> 15

     

    I improved fire bolt too, wondering if it could be worth to add a small area effect (range 1) at level 3.

     

  12. There is one thing that I find strange: ok, I'm finding the remix extremely difficult on torment, but maybe it's normal. But my mage sucks completely.. all of his damaging spells are cone-shaped (even the priest has flamestrike that isn't), and as a result he barely casts ice cones, either the fights are easy and it isn't needed, or the fights are so difficult that he must heal every turn. Only thing that saves me atm is a slith spear that I found near Fort Dralon. Has anybody else found this kind of difficulties?

  13. I'm going with these heroes, I'll see how they fare smile definitely I'm going to make some of them double class, or at least partially.

     

     

    e93fd7c391.jpg

     

    He's going to be a dual wielder fighter/mage.. I just discovered that mages cannot cast spells in armor so I'll need that trait that I don't even know how it will work.. I'll see.. going without shield I might be able to spare some need for that trait, at least I hope.

     

     

     

    cb1a456306.jpg

     

    He's going to be my tank, with focus on endurance and strength. He's also my cave lore/tools specialist, but I might change this. I hope I will find some resurrection scrolls because he seems more likely to stay alive than others.

     

    f8912411e2.jpg

     

    She is my main healer and archer, with focus on dexterity and intelligence.

     

     

    383e0e5af7.jpg

     

    She is my main mage, but I'd like to make her an hybrid mage/priest, with focus on wizardry, with high intelligence and some endurance, and no weapon skills. I'm wondering if it would be better to divert to her some tool/cave lore, because she won't need to develop many skills. Hardiness seems important, but for a mage that won't touch a weapon for the most time it seems too big an investment.

     

    Suggestions?

  14. I killed him with pleasure since he's been so keen on murdering Shigaz who was totally innocent, and by the way he tried to murder me too. I don't know how he can fit the definition of 'good guy' only because he didn't murder his own folk like others.

     

    Anyway he wasn't so tough. He calls 3 incubus, all of them are immune to energy, 1 of them is immune to fire and 1 to physical damage. 1 razor spray, 1 firestorm and acid/ice cone are enough to kill them in 1-2 turns, before they can hurt. They didn't appear again in my fight because I killed the duke before he could summon more. Even if he has reflection, it's better to hit and heal than not to hit with magic, I think.

     

    You can also try to change your companions' stats (Shift-D + retrain), 20 in strength and endurance means you can't inflict much damage, I think it would be better to sacrifice endurance for dex/int depending on the class (personally I never raised endurance).

  15. I finished Avadon too, finally. Wow.. It’s not been always great, but a couple of battles compensed for everything else. I played on torment with a shaman, it took me a couple of hours to beat Readbeard, a couple of days to beat Zephyrine. Both fights were really hard though. I chose the shaman because I never played one, then coming from the Geneforge series I wanted a summoner, just to keep the continuity. I chose it also because I read it is the weakest class and wanted some challenge. Ultimately I think she isn’t weak at all, certainly weaker than the sorceress (if I start again I would pick a sorceress), but definitely better (for my playstyle) than the blademaster. I gave her the fire/ice cones scarabs so she had some alternatives (acid/poison in the endgame really sucked). I liked to have 2 casters and one for physical damage, so the blademaster didn’t fit my party. I started it two times actually, the first time I arrived at the first Castle Vebaux quest, then started it over (I messed some item enchantments up and it did seem a good excuse, then it turned out unnecessary), in my first try I mostly went with the blademaster to accompany my shaman and Nathalie. Actually it seemed to me that a blademaster, with around 22 strength and the rest in dex, with missile damage items, did more damage than a shadowwalker, so next time (if there will be a next time) I’ll try BM+SO+SH. This party can even butcher enemies from the distance (sharpshooter spray + spirit charge + ice/fire storm, it’s enough to kill most weak enemies without even letting them move).

     

    A few considerations:

     

    1. graphics are great, I mean they’re good on their own, not only in relation to previous SW games.

     

    2. the story, although rather uninteresting for most part of the game, had a final rush where loose ends got tied, and made it enjoyable. I also liked that (as in Geneforge) the ending took in account your actions. I forgot to kill the wizard’s demon and it’s still trapped in the tower..

     

    3. the UI and the inventary system is a giant leap (thanks to the junk bag) from Geneforge.

     

    4. I liked the tree-like skill system: I liked it because it forces you to specialize the character, but I found many 4th tier abilities not very good, and also the right branch wasn’t up to the others. Only with Shima I reached 6 (with items) to get steel tornado, and probably it wasn’t worth it. Generally I found better to maximize the basic attacks (ranged and melee and magic) and the whole left branch for the sorceress, specializing 3 times in the center branch to get the most defensive bonus. And 4th tier abilities, I could forget about them. I just got Janell have drakes for the last fight, since they could keep Redbeard busy.

     

    5. as somebody else wrote, it woul be better if you could remove or “overwrite” enchantments on items.

     

    6. often, when I issued the command to hit for a character that wasn’t in range, it moved for more squares than it would have been necessary, sometimes losing the turn, so most times I moved them personally 1 square at the time and had to check if they were in range to attack (for casters, the only way to check this is to select a cone-like ability and check if the target is in range). A bit bothering. I lost a fight with Redbeard (who had almost no life) for this.. Nathalie was in range to unleash its dark bolt but made a step too much, next turn my party was slaughtered.

     

    7. I liked that some quests were like fake decoys, and you couldn’t finish them (Gavin, Tarkus). I didn’t like that quest givers told you “come back later”, what’s the problem if a quest is too difficult? You’ll face the danger later, and the next quest from the same person will wait the same. I’d prefer that the quest were assigned like in Geneforge, maybe with a hint that it could be too difficult. This also forced me to come back unnecessarily to places to see if I was ready to take another quest (like for the wrech envoy, Abi, Leira and others for which it isn’t clear that there’s a new quest waiting, as for others that you visit when you’re sent back to a certain region). Even in this last case, how can you know, without having played the game, that new quests will be available when you're told to come back by Redbeard?

     

    8. I liked the map-to-map traveling system of Geneforge, where you can enter a map from different sides. In Avadon, instead, you enter a map always in the same spot, and you are forced to travel a lot and lose much time, since maps are very big (not a bad thing in itself). I think this was a major step back from Geneforge. I didn’t like much traveling through pylons either, they damaged the feeling of immersion and of world continuity, hopefully they’ve been destroyed in the attack in the end and won’t be there in Avadon 2, even if I doubt it.. I’d like much more to be free to travel like in Geneforge.

     

    9. I liked that you cannot know how many HP creatures have.. Maybe a function for the right mouse button and mouse wheel support would be nice (I remapped the right button to the TAB key with Autohotkey to show the map). Also, the small map is a bit uncomfortable to scroll (maybe with press&drag you could be able to fast-scroll it? And maybe right click on the map to move the party where you click?). Also I read the suggestion to make the big map (TAB) clickable, I also think it would be good.

     

    10. I also liked A LOT (contrarily to many other people) that secret buttons can be very hard to find, especially on brick walls (where you had to look for them with the mouse and couldn’t find them just looking at the screen). Secrets must be hard to find! I hope this won’t be changed just because some people complained.. maybe there could be buttons that are easier to spot, others that aren’t.. but it is like this already (depending on the kind of wall). Still, it is rather obvious sometimes, looking at the automap, to know were a secret wall could be. It would be nice if maps didn’t have a fixed dimension, that could have different width and height, so that you could never be sure that there isn’t a secret, if you don’t check it.

     

    11. Overall I liked how characters were developed. Only, there were some clichés, like Kellemderiel being like elves or nordics, Kva being like southerners, Khemerians being like American natives (with shamans too) and so on. A bit of already-seen with changed names. I found Nathalie terribly stupid, after having become the keeper I would have liked to be given the choice to dispose of her (like hanged). To feel forgotten by Avadon just because it didn’t help her chasing a dragon in the middle of a civil war was too much to bear. In Baldur’s Gate you could attack your party members, and members had feelings toward each other so some would defend others if attacked (even by you). Now, I wouldn’t expect Sevilin and Janell help me in butchering Nathalie if I felt like it (and I did), but some help from Shima would have been reasonable.

    On the other hand, I felt really sorry when I killed one of the main characters (Lord Carsta'Arl, Lady Antje) and I even doubted having done the right thing when I killed Duke Gryfyn, I didn’t mourn him though; also Moritz'Kri was very enjoyable.

     

    12. Also, another step back from Geneforge, is that you can’t attack neutral people. I don’t like this. It’s a big limitation for the sense of freedom. I cannot think a reason for this, other than making the game simpler and tightening the scope of the game, but I prefer freedom (maybe with consequences, like being fined, or executed, by Redbeard if you kill innocents and you are caught by doing it).

     

    Others will probably come to mind later.. very good game overall, now I’ll start the Avernum EFTP..

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