Mav

I'll be OK with the "get food or you'll starve" game mechanic if food provides more benefits than in, say, A5 or much of the Geneforge series. Basically, if I can get HP regeneration and maybe even some MP regeneration out-of-towns-and-dungeons kinda like Avernum 1 (IIRC) with a not-absurd food depletion rate which I assume would slow down in dungeons, and if characters intelligently consume food based on who has it instead of starving until you click and drag some over to the starving character, that'll be fine with me.

Bring back the ninja avatar from way back in Avernum 1! Best avatar in Avernum, IMHO, shame it disappeared in Avernum 4 or so. Can't wait for the final installment of the series. Avernum 1 was a great game and it'll be fun to see how Jeff decides to finally end things. This time around, I might just register _before_ I play through the demo zone.

Yup. Unstable Mass is a HUGE pain when you first encounter one of 'em, because chances are you're far too low a level to take one on at that point. Once you've got a good collection of buffs and spells and summonables, and your party can deal high damage per round, and maybe a little more trial and error to get it right, you'll be set. With practice, even the Doomguard will be a pretty trivial matter (well, on Normal difficulty anyway, with a full party).

Eventually, you should be able to get through the volcanic vents just fine. Sounds like you'll need to level up and might have to "backtrack" (part of the reason Jeff provided more than one boat for the rapids sections, I guess). This'll help you get through: --Get into fight mode beforehand and buff your characters (Haste, Prismatic Shield to reduce fire damage). In case you weren't already doing this, fight mode lets you move more than one square per turn. Haste lets you cover more ground per turn. --Use highest-HP characters only to navigate through the vents if you're just treasure hunting, and keep your mage/priest/healer(s) back (non-group healing spells have plenty of "range") --Given the area effect of the vents, try to stay away from as many vents as possible to minimize damage stacking per round. --If you've got a mage and priest in your party this'll get much easier when you get to access higher-level spells.

A full dose of buffs will help. Do you have access to at least some of the Divine/Arcane spells? Also, far as I can tell, Slow more or less works on every enemy in the game (with a few exceptions) if you try hard enough, just as long as they haven't been hasted yet. Also make use of Battle Disciplines if you have them. With two fighter types and Adrenaline Rush you can get in 10 total actions between your four party members, and up to 4 attacks from high-quality summons, which should do quite a bit of damage for a first strike before the Doomguard splits. Disciplines such as Shield Breaker will also help. Summons can be very useful if properly buffed since they'll tend to focus on only one enemy.

Is there a scenario (playing the loyal-to-Prazac game) where Cienna isn't hostile once you get to Dorikas' fortress? After I confronted her and let her go at the Static Tower, I got the distinct impression that she'd "changed her ways" and might help me out in dramatic fashion when it came time for The Final Battle™, but as soon as I enter a side door, huh, there she is, and she's one of the hostiles. Did I miss something here, is this a bug, or is she just like all the rest of the irretrievable Darkside Loyalist scum? (Well, they are good for resale-able loot. )

snikrep, Jeff likes his Avernum games to be fairly challenging, and he certainly delivered on this one. IMHO, half the fun is turning the corner, getting your party decimated due to poor planning, reloading, and getting it right the second time...or the third time...or fleeing the dungeon and getting more levels and skills and spells and stuff. I'm not sure Jeff's style of game design is well-suited to getting through dungeons in one shot, especially given the relative lack of potions (_especially_ the all-important energy potions) in this version of Avernum. Like Student of Trinity and Randomizer said, decent Endurance levels are a priority in the early going until you can get the Augmentation and Steel Skin buffs. My mage and priest have 7 Endurance at the Dark River and they're doing just fine. Cross-training your mage and priest types (if you have 'em) so both can minor heal, cast fireballs, bless and very importantly haste also helps a ton, though balancing that against keeping your magic users up to date on the best available spells is a little tricky until you start finding wisdom crystals and knowledge brews. Even though I like well-balanced, prepared-as-possible parties (stacked with all sorts of XP-penalty advantages, to boot), it's really tough to charge through Avernum without being in a constant consumable supply crisis. Adjust the challenge to seeing how far you can hack through a dungeon before your spell energy runs out and that might counteract the problem of losing party members to ambushes.

Getting a little off-topic to start (or maybe not since it's still an observation), I really miss the departure of the ninja/shinobi from the sprite collection. He was always my primary character. Just something cheeky-cool about a ninja outcast leading a merry band of misfit adventurers in a nation of underground caverns. xerex: I'm no expert by any means, but about the archer situation, I guess it depends on how your characters are built. My frontline characters in Avernum are always warrior-archers, one being the Elite Warrior type and slightly better tank with enough archery skill to always hit his target, the other being the fast-on-feet, better-at-bows type with a healthy dose of roguish skills like higher Dexterity. Both have Quick Action so they almost always get to attack first, and both have sufficient Endurance to stay in the thick of non-boss combat so long as they have Augmentation/Steel Skin buffs as a base. Some of the frustration might have to do with this particular Avernum demanding that you always stay on your toes, casting all of your enchantments as a precaution before you turn the corner in a dungeon. There was a kind of "saved AP" bonus from Avernum 1-3, which IIRC gave you a small parry bonus per AP unused when you ended your turn, but it's gone now.

Yup, I'll give it a shot. I think my lvl 29/30 Semi-Fearsome Foursome is up to the task (though maybe I'll get my healer to level 30 and quaff some of my saved Knowledge Brews to gain access to the top-level priest spells first). The Hraithe Lord kicks my #$$, but the Soultaker's Pit should be more manageable...I hope.

Gotcha, thanks. Off to battle, etc.

It's a pretty seamless transition for me, but I'm running an Intel-based Mac. The specs of your machine (and how many open/active apps you have) may have something to do with the slow loads.

I've kinda ignored the Soultaker's Pit and the "mental picture" shades since it was a bit off the main quest, but I was just wondering if there was really any "backstory" to be had in that section before I do the usual dungeon raid on it. From what I've read the Soultaker himself is the usual bad guy, but is there any reason (to be found in Melanchion's area or beyond) to leave the "shades of a ruined civilization" alone? Or is just a matter of Jeff playing devious mind and morality games on us? (As in "you _could_ purge 'em all for gold/exp/equipment, but wouldn't you feel guilty about it?")

Tried portaling to various areas for a little while with no luck. Thanks in advance for the directions.

mgelman, my guess is that was by design. In the first area (right after you cross the Anama gate and it closes behind you), there's a whole ton of Darkside Loyalists who keep popping out of nowhere that are just like any other enemies, giving XP, adding to First Aid recovery totals, dropping all sorts of sellables, etc. But I _think_ there's a finite number of squads, at least when you finally pass that section of the map. However, the Wolfmaster/Batmaster/pets squads that keep assaulting you later on don't provide any XP/First Aid recovery/equipment of any kind, and won't go away until you meet the boss of the area. IMHO, Jeff made it so you're really supposed to be running for your life through the gauntlet the whole time, which I thought was a refreshingly tense kind of fun when I ran through a couple weeks ago. You can't hang around the Howling Depths and "game" the system for equipment or XP, because the squads'll keep chipping away at you.

Thanks. As for the secret area, I'm not sure if my party will have a combined strength of 30 until the _late_ game at least. Guess I'll have to deviate from my typical role-playing strategy and see if I can play both sides. Or maybe I'll explore the Barrier Passage a bit more and see what else there is to see.

After a bunch of fruitless searching I finally found the hidden entrance to the Giant's Spire. Just wondering, and a non-spoiler answer is just fine, whether I have to help out Highground's mayor before I get the "secret word" to enter without having to turn the whole area hostile. Since the Giant's Spire is a major landmark in that area I figured I could still find my way in and negotiate/sidequest/fight my way around in there before choosing loyalties between Muck and Highground, but I have to say, I like how Jeff subtly prods the player into picking sides. Thanks in advance for the help.

Thanks for the good advice. Time to turn my unused gems, crystals, precious metals and enchanted gear...into CASH!

War blessing and protection are must-use spells. As for duration issues, it's tedious, but if you suspect a fight's around the corner, go into fight mode while it's still safe and do your 20 or so buffs before scouting for enemies. One square in walking mode is a round in combat mode.

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW *** *** IF I DON'T HAVE TO PUT THIS KINDA WARNING UP, PLEASE LET ME KNOW *** Yes! I spent more than a few tries figuring this out...since Jeff's games are always fiendishly difficult I don't mind load/saving millions (ok, thousands ) of times a playthrough. All you need to do is survive. What worked for me is sneaking up to the "interesting pillar" in fight mode with a fully hasted/spell-buffed party and running the heck away as soon as I was able to trigger it. Putting a summon or two in the golem's way is a huge help, since he'll pound most parties into paste if you don't smash it first, which Foramon _doesn't_ want you to do. Play keep away as much as possible and after a few scary area-effect attacks, you'll know when you've done the quest right.

Hey guys, I'm currently finishing up the Solberg "chapter" of Avernum 5 and it's been a pretty fun ride so far, seeing how I can't put the game down as always. Anyway, I had a maybe-kinda-sorta "spoiler" question seeking a vague, nonspecific answer about retaining some of the more valuable/exotic items you come across. Now I know stuff like fine steel, fine leather, focusing crystals and other "building block" materials should be hoarded instead of sold (gotta love my Blessed Broadsword, even though it seems like my lvl 17/7 Str/6 Melee/5 Blademaster Elite Warrior does far less damage with this kinda weapon than he did back in Avernum 1/2). But what about, say, the tens of Beautiful Crystals lying around? The 20 or so emeralds coughed up by the tough-as-nails but kinda-poor-EXP-for-level-16s Sentinels? Platinum rings? Blessed items? Fancy mid-level items like Pustulent Vambrances or the Lava-Fired Spear? Geneforge 3 taught me to hoard pretty much everything in sight since they might be "recipes" for mega-items later on. But y'know, I could get a few nice spells and skills with the cash value from all the stuff I've littered around Shanker's Tower. General, not-too-spoilerish advice greatly appreciated. I'm pretty sure that I won't be caught flat-footed in case I ever get a shot at an Emerald Chestguard-type item or better, but just thought I'd ask people who're farther along in the game. Cash really is king in Avernum 5, and I'd like to have as much of it as possible. That ridiculously expensive 1100 gold wisdom crystal in the shop window calls out to me...mmm...skill points... XD

Yep -- after completing Phasia's Quest, I found only one other ring of puresteel. Better base protection or even a 13-52 damage sword just doesn't make up for the benefits of enchanted gear. Just for fun, I mixed and matched my equipment a little while back to come up with a set that gave me an armor rating of 102%. Didn't make much of a difference against the spawned rotgoroths/cryodrayks/Ur-Glaahks in the lower Monastery (gotta love how spawned creatures give 0 xp now! ). I still got hurt, though a little bit less.

Well, some creation parts might be worth it. By the time I found the component in question (Rotgoroth Fang), it wasn't of much use to me (especially since I burned the first Purified Essence I found on an All-Protector), but the +4 Strength Talisman of Might ain't so bad to have as a necklace.

Quote: Originally written by Slartucker: GF3 is definitely *not* the first Spiderweb game run that way. I can't remember how Nethergate handled things, but the earlier Exile games definitely did not keep track of items you sold. Almost no RPGs will keep track of that, frankly. Correction: Spiderweb game _I've_ played. That means Avernum 1/2/3/Blades and GF1/2/3 (at least, I don't remember having a buyback problem in GF 1 and 2).

What must've played some role in me never selling a bunch of higher-end equipment was the distant fear someone might want it for a quest. AFAIK, GF3 is the first Spiderweb game where things you sell can't be bought back. Not sure if it's a bug, but I'm reasonably sure it'll be the last game with this unique feature.

Btw, where exactly are the demon claws?