Spell Poll

[Nioca]

What is your favorite/least favorite of the spells in A4?

 

EDIT: The title was mildly misleading.

[be_cavalier]

Arcane Summon didn't seem powerful enough to fall into the "Arcane" category.

[Nioca]

It appears my vote for Control Foe is alone...

[ex post slarto]

Now this is actually a somewhat interesting survey.

[Randomizer]

This is a bit more useful than the last spell poll. The Arcane mage spells are not as powerful as the Exile versions. Arcane shield is great but in A4 by the time you get it there isn't as much use as in the earlier games. I've never used the mage summon spells and Arcane Blow is too weak compared to the priest spell Divine Retribution.

 

Mages need a strong high level attack spell like the Exile spell shockwave.

 

Divine host is weaker than in the A4 than in the older games. You only get one instead of more spirits and the few times I tried it it was killed as fast as I summon it.

[be_cavalier]

Divine Host was always a sort of luck thing for me. I remember when you first get it, vengeful shades are actually somewhat useful, and the random divine shade is great. I think I had a divine shade wipe the floor with the big group of vengeful shades that the Shade of Ice summoned.

 

I refuse to type the word shade one more time. Except that one.

[Ephesos]

Ahem... RETRIBUTION!!!!!!!!!

 

But anyway, Daze might've been my second favorite, and Arcane Shield was downright overpowered.

 

All the mage summons were disappointing, and the shade-summoners were overpowered (yet overcosted). Haste was a disappointment (every other status has ways to achieve group applications), as was Control Foe. The lack of a plural is a major factor.

 

None of the priest spells were really that bad (okay, Control Foe), though Return Life was basically useless with the new death system. I'm really surprised that so many people disliked the shades...

[Nioca]

Am I the only one who liked Control Foe? I found it useful in several situations. Honestly, it was overpowered in BoA.

[Fort]

Control Foes is one of those priest spells that are overpowered just to keep the craft on par with magery.

[ex post slarto]

Huh?

 

Since when were priest spells underpowered? Even if you discount Divine Retribution as being late-game, healing is absurdly cheap in A4, and priests have a variety of useful support spells. The only thing mages really have going for them are Haste, Slow, and Dispel Barrier.

[Nioca]

Being able to charm a Vahnatai lord is underpowered? My mage and priest frequently use Terror and Control Foe to cause mayhem among an enemy. Why destroy them when you can get them to destroy themselves?

[Randomizer]

Summon shade is worth the cost since the shades can't be charmed and are immune to cold spells. Against Nodicuas I summoned over a dozen as a singleton (torment) during the fight since they kept the demon busy and slow down Nodicuas from bothering me until it was just the two of us.

 

The mage high level spells no longer have a really powerful attack. Priest's divine retribution is way better than arcane blow. The arcane shield spell is great defensively and now priests no longer have divine warrior (I'm replaying A1 as a singleton and divine warrior allows me to mop up the monsters).

[Midknight Warrior]

Personally, I liked the wide variety of spells available in the exiles. Just trying them out was part of the fun.

 

In A4 I hated how haste was one by one... Arcane blow is fabulous, what are you guys talking about? Yes, divine retribution has a bigger pwn area, but rarely is there erver so many monsters that a hasted 2xarcane blow can't handle.

[SevenMass]

Arcane Blow costs a lot of manna, and Retribution is good enough most of the time.

 

Heck I even use Fire Bolt until the very end of the game, whenever it is more efficient than "higher level" spells.

[Emperor Tullegolar]

I always got the impression that fireblast did the most damage. Maybe I just liked the way it looked, it looked damaging. Arcane blow looked cheesy and purple. Red or blue would do more damage than purple in real life.

 

What about demons that are immune to fire? Well, that's why repel spirit is the best priest spell.

 

Best overall spells are unlock and dispel barrier. What would I do without them?

[Ephesos]

Quote:

Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar:
What about demons that are immune to fire? Well, that's why repel spirit is the best priest spell.

Um... there might be seven of those in the game... so RETRIBUTION!!!!!!! wins, hands-down.

Quote:

Best overall spells are unlock and dispel barrier. What would I do without them?

Use lockpicks and crystals.

[nikki.]

Quote:

Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar:
Red or blue would do more damage than purple in real life.

I like this logic

My favourite spell was Healing. I didn't like traipsing to town to recover health.

[Emperor Tullegolar]

There are not nearly enough piercing crystals in the game. You need dispel barrier. As for lock picking...

 

*pick breaks*

 

Unlock Doors spell at its highest level even lets you unlock doors that should never be unlocked, like that one upstairs in the Castle. I love unlocking doors that should never be unlocked.

 

As for divine retribution, I don't like that spell. I just use mage spell when I want to do serious damage. The only time I have my priest use offensive spells is against demons and undead. I hate skeletal warriors.