A6 - Favorite quest and least favorite quest

[Superchief]

Looking back on the game my favorite moment was the end part of the Cotra quest (the unexpected betrayal and ensuing combat sequence), but my least favorite part was the Slith Spy quest.

 

Here's why: the problem, as you soon figure out, is the spy always runs away. So I thought the solution was obvious: use mind control on the basilisks he summons so that they'll freeze him and he can't escape. I mean, why else would basilisks appear on this specific quest? While they certainly freeze him, it's not possible to kill him (he gets down to a sliver of health and then can take an infinite amount of damage).

 

I thought from a game design standpoint that this is confusing. Why put monsters with a freezing ability in a quest where you are trying to stop someone from running? I can see someone argue that they're a red herring, but the fact that you can't actually kill the guy when he's frozen is lame. Also, the actual solution to the problem, which I later stumbled upon while exploring, was not very satisfying.

[Randomizer]

That's the problem with scripted combat. No matter how powerful you are the target will survive until it gets to the part where you are allowed to kill it.

 

Favorite was Purging the Haakai because after all these games I got to see the X's Anvil Spell.

 

Least favorite was Noams' Rats in the Basement. It was just a pain to do for so little reward.

[Lilith]

Yeah, most of the scripted battles in the game are pretty cool, but that wasn't really one of the better ones. I did figure out what was meant to happen once he didn't die after a few hits on his last sliver of life, but it's not hard to mess up that battle unintentionally. There's another scripted battle elsewhere in the game (under the Dragon's Gate) where you can actually break the AI beyond repair and make the fight unfinishable if you do too much damage too quickly.

 

The Cotra quest was nice, although it was really obvious that there was going to be some kind of running battle down there while the explosives went off, so I was expecting a betrayal as soon as she showed up.

 

I haven't quite finished the game yet (I'm up to Formello), but from my perspective the best quest so far has been the one to get the papers from under the Great Portal. If you attempt it early on, it requires a mixture of good tactics and knowing when to just run away, and the monsters respawn when you leave, so you have to conserve resources instead of just running back to town. The "kill X monsters to collect Y items from them" quests are pretty much universally the worst ones: the chitrach one deserves special scorn because you actually have to pick up the egg sacs manually.

[Superchief]

The X quest was fantastic. Also, what makes it even more enjoyable is that X can be seen as a metaphor for the game's creator: They both took the entire series to complete something and they're both moving onto something new.

[Ephesos]

Best quest? A tie between Cotra, X's Anvil, and Solberg's Finale. The common element between them is the closure they bring. Fort Draco was also pretty good, though...

 

Least favorite? Probably the main Silvar quest, if only because it took me way too long to get the hint about how to finish it non-violently. Well, still violently, but directed at the right people.

[Fael]

Least favorite: Crypt Wight. It has almost everything I hate in a combat -- a puzzle with a solution that isn't obvious even with several replays, scripted possessions, and enemies that respawn on death. At the same time, the enemy's major weapon -- it's AoE attack -- is essentially useless, since it's trivially easy to stand out of its range and use its own summons to keep it from getting close. So, it manages to be both too difficult AND too easy, which is actually pretty impressive. Runner up: Escape from Fromello with it's endless respawns of 1,000 hp slith.

 

Favorite: That's much, much harder because there are so many possibilities. Probably the Blessed Atheme, just for it's three-way fight between the PCs, the Darksiders, and the tunnel monsters. But then there's the Fang Clan fortress (although it may be better for the ending to leave that be); the chitrach-taming bandits, which is just a cool hack-and-slash; and the finale, which is my favorite final battle among any of the Avernums that I've played (which is not the whole series; I came in late).

[monolith94]

I have to say that I really liked the (SPOILER!) fight against the Scourge near the end. It really challenged my party at the time, and it felt appropriately epic.

[Student of Trinity]

I liked fighting through the sewers under Cotra. I did it with a singleton on Torment, after finishing the game in beta with a normal party of four. The Torment singleton makes most battles a bit of a grind, frankly; I should probably stop doing things like this. But I got through the Cotra sewers okay, by running and charming a lot, and it really felt pretty epic. A lone nephil bewitching all these vicious slith warriors, weaving through their ranks to escape while they all blow up.

[ewan]

Least favourite would be either the final battle (because the sudden, anticlimactic ending annoyed me as a big let-down after an excellent game) or the rebel Vahnatai (because it just seemed so silly: if he has an impenetrable shield usable at will until I stand where he wants, how come no-one else does?).

 

Favourite probably the anvil, like others; I enjoyed the mass battles against Slith horde with copious use of Spineshield and divind retribution, though, also . And taking down Gladwell felt very just. I was sad to see that I could not get back in the spiders' good graces for doing so, though - would have been nice to be able to return the spider's egg.

[elchipeo]

The spiders didn't even notice when i stole the egg... bug?

[Randomizer]

They will if you return later. I forgot and lost getting a quest reward.

[Rionep Ecnirp Etlevs]

Originally Posted By: Thuryl

but from my perspective the best quest so far has been the one to get the papers from under the Great Portal. If you attempt it early on, it requires a mixture of good tactics and knowing when to just run away, and the monsters respawn when you leave, so you have to conserve resources instead of just running back to town.

Maybe it bugged out when I played it, but I remember fleeing the imps that attack you before the sentinel room, and when I returned later, they were all gone. I just had to send one of my party members in to claim the papers and save the sentinels for a later day.

[BrownieMix]

By far the most satisfying "quest" of the game so far was killing Gladwell - complete all of his quests, take all his rewards, then when he's done with me, I finish him. Payback for A5 and all those horrible things I did under his geas for the sake of being a min-maxing munchkin - felt incredibly good. He also managed to kill one of my party members, which prompted me to restart the fight with everyone using some of the 20 invulnerability potions I have stored.

 

I'm going to let the dragon live, do all his quests, then finish this game. With my party all around level 44, I think this one is in the bag.

 

Worst quest: Probably the lich quest, only because it is very hard to win using the intended strategy. Still felt great killing him, though.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Svelte Prince Penoir

Maybe it bugged out when I played it, but I remember fleeing the imps that attack you before the sentinel room, and when I returned later, they were all gone. I just had to send one of my party members in to claim the papers and save the sentinels for a later day.

The demons disappear after you complete the quest, but they keep respawning as long as the quest is active.

[jlsgaladriel]

I haven't quite finished yet, but I'm pretty solid on my Most Hated quest: Lark's quest to kill the hraithe under Tenevra to get to the crystal shards.

 

The fourth time -- despite the protection of ward of thoughts -- one of my characters got terrorized into running out of the effective area, ending the assault and forcing a retry, I decided I really really wasn't having any fun. Combining a limited-area-but-not-enclosed quest with fear-casting monsters is just evil! I hate cheating in a battle, but owmybrains has never felt so good.

 

I've got lots of favourites so far, but the quest I was most surprised to have enjoyed was the Fort Draco quest. Perhaps I'm just conditioned by WOW to groan when faced with an escort quest, but this was well-scripted and varied and surprising. It definitely wins the Surpassing All Expectations award.

[*i]

I really liked the end of Solberg part. It seemed fitting. I just wished he had sort of done more in the actual games as opposed to just the history books. It was cool to finally see him in action though.

 

Otherwise, Fort Draco was fun, as were the kill the Scourge quest near the end. I loved the concept of the battle with the half-spirit Slith. Very innovative. I liked the Blosk Food quest as well as the Almarian

 

Least favorites were the Rentar-Ihrno Cultists, it seemed so much like a fan-wank to affirm "Yes, Rentar is really, really dead!" The fight of staying in the circle was too annoying. I just cheated my way through that. Fort Monastery was just a big fight...felt like Jeff just ran out of ideas here.

 

Overall the quests were really, really good. Much better than any other Avernum game.

[jlsgaladriel]

Quote:

I really liked the end of Solberg part.

Definitely the most touching moment. I'm glad Jeff gave us a chance to fight beside him.

[Mac]

My favorite was the Fort Draco quest. Solberg was awesome!

 

The Scourge quest, not so much. I probably did it wrong (while I tackle head-on battles with enthusiasm I more than make up for it in incompetence), but tank-pounding the half wraith guy for thirty minutes while my mage and priest stood back healing, slowing and hasting was just tedious. If I hadn't landed a lucky corrupting wand attack, I'd probably still be there.

[*i]

He had a bit of HP, but I don't think it was unreasonable. Yeah, you probably did it wrong. The solution is to use the big clue Jeff offers about the basins when you see him. The northern one gives you a Death Curse, but allows you to harm him reliably. The southern one cures the Death Curse, but takes the ability away.

 

My strategy was to have my mage (with speed enhancing items to get an AP of 10) drink the Death basin. I blast him with Arcane Blow until I get the message that my mage is almost dead, and then drink the south basin. Battle took between 5-10 minutes, not bad for a major fight.

 

Granted, I do wish he had like maybe 50-70% of his HP or did something more as you wore him down, but it was still pretty neat.

[Randomizer]

I found on one attempt in that Scourge battle if all your characters are near the basin then they all will be affected. So you can get all your characters hitting and move down to cure them together.

[Mac]

Well, DUH! I just figured the Death Curse was a straight up trap and reloaded the first time I had my lead drink it.

 

Thanks. That's very helpful for next time.

[Fael]

Originally Posted By: *i

Fort Monastery was just a big fight...felt like Jeff just ran out of ideas here.

Fort Monastery would have been a lot more fun if the soldiers actually followed orders and let the Slith run into the courtyard to fight. Instead, the challenge was to figure out how to keep the priest from running out of the fort by herself and getting killed. I ended up fighting the battle inside the gate while half the soldiers sat around the courtyard doing nothing.