Anti-gotcha hint list?

[ribidons]

I'm playing this game mostly guide-free, but from long experience, I'm also accustomed to RPGs having poorly-marked gotchas, missables, and points-of-no-return. Most of these can be described briefly and without much spoiling of plot or gameplay.

 

So, does Avadon contain much material of this sort? For instance, should I be gathering (and not selling/destroying) any particular "junk" for a quest? Are there any really awful quest resolutions? Is there a major way to bork character development? Is there some big item I need to buy now, not later (because the merchant goes to visit the parents in the Yukon halfway through)? Will stuff I've stashed in my room poof to be replaced by a candlestick, a napkin, and a bread roll? And so forth.

 

Update: Hint list from the thread (in case someone else has the same basic question later):

Originally Posted By: Various Friendly Forum Members

• Hold on to Arcane Scrolls and Drake skins for a quest. All other items can be used, sold, or otherwise disposed of freely.
• Check NPCs frequently for sidequests; some are not available forever.
• Purchase lockpicks whenever possible, and don't use more than one lockpick at a time on an object until some party character has learned level 4 lockpicking. Lockpicks are a limited resource.
• Don't worry too much about level-up stat and skill choices; an NPC later in the game can retrain them as often as necessary for free.
• Points of no return in the main quest are clearly marked. To be safe, simply save when the game suggests saving.
• The main character will occasionally have to travel and fight by themselves for brief periods. If the main character is a very focused build (i.e. no offense or no healing), bring along some damage-dealing or healing items.

[Dikiyoba]

Keep arcane scrolls and drake skins for a quest. Keep your companions happy with you if you intend to go for the challenging ending. Sometimes a companion will go off on their own, so you temporarily lose access to anything in their inventory. It's easy to miss sidequests, so constantly go back and talk to people to see if they have anything new for you to do.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Alorael at Large]

The worst you can do with character development is end up with characters you don't like for half of the game. At about that point you'll meet someone who can, for free and as often as you want, let you redistribute all attribute and skill points.

 

There aren't really critical purchases.

 

When you hit a point of no return, the game will quite clearly inform you that you're heading into the dangerous unknown and that you probably want to save and tie up any loose ends.

 

—Alorael, who otherwise don't think there are any big tricks. It's hard (impossible?) to "fail" quests. Even subpar character builds should do just fine unless you're on very high difficulty or try to take them well past the point where you can retrain and fix the problem.

[ribidons]

Thanks for the responses. I'm enjoying the game so far (just met Zhethron); if the game has a retrainer, only two "all the buffalo brains you can spare" quests, and a clear indication of the Very Final Dungeon, then I'm probably good to go. I AM playing on the hardest difficulty, but I don't foresee an issue yet, ESPECIALLY if I can retrain people to meet specific late-game challenges.

[Marak]

Aloreal summed it up quite nicely. The only "lost forevers" I can think of occur very late in the game, and only because your actions finally cause the quest givers to depart. The only thing you lose at that point is obsolete, low-level quests that you wouldn't have gotten much out of any way.

 

The game warns you very, very clearly when you hit the Point of No Return that leads to the game's end, so when you get that warning, you have the opportunity to go back and do whatever before continuing on to the Endgame.

 

Also, unlike earlier Spiderweb titles, there are no otherwise-worthless items to lug around to turn in later, no saving sticks and gems to make wands, no Herbs to haul to the apothecary to be brewed into Elixirs, etc. The only 2 items you need to save are Arcane Scrolls and Drake Skins: everything else that has a value but you're not going to equip can be safely tossed in the almost-bottomless Junk Bag and lugged back to town whenever you're done questing in a region.

 

P.S. who else had to stop themselves from clicking on every Iron Bar and Bag of Meal they came across? Old Avernum Training dies hard.

[Micawber]

One potential gotcha is that, at a certain point, you are forced to rely solely on the combat skills of your main PC (with no aid from other characters). If you have been developing a passive character build i.e. all blessing, cursing or healing, and minimal offensive capability, then this moment will cause a lot of cursing.

[Marak]

At least these little solo side quests are fairly short and not too brutal. And even if you're all passive, that's a good excuse to burn up some Wands or Scrolls or buffing consumables.

[Randomizer]

Originally Posted By: Marak

P.S. who else had to stop themselves from clicking on every Iron Bar and Bag of Meal they came across? Old Avernum Training dies hard.

Worst part about beta testing is there isn't anyone to ask whether I should keep anything for quests and crafting. Then going back for all those arcane scrolls because Jeff hadn't added that little hint, yet.

[nikki.]

Originally Posted By: Marak

At least these little solo side quests are fairly short and not too brutal. And even if you're all passive, that's a good excuse to burn up some Wands or Scrolls or buffing consumables.

Click to reveal..

Are you kidding?

Doing most of the stuff as a sorceress was actually alright, but dammit, the return to Avadon during the endgame was ridiculous. I ended up having to basically run through the enemies as fast as I could - even the initial group you meet was too much for me.

[Alorael at Large]

Originally Posted By: Micawber

One potential gotcha is that, at a certain point, you are forced to rely solely on the combat skills of your main PC (with no aid from other characters). If you have been developing a passive character build i.e. all blessing, cursing or healing, and minimal offensive capability, then this moment will cause a lot of cursing.

This is just after you've gotten to the trainer, though, so you can retool if you need to.

—Alorael, who happily and frequently used the "retrain" debug code to retrain as well. Using it early or in the dungeons that you can't easily leave is definitely cheating, but using it just because you don't want to walk through several zones to get to the trainer is just a nice convenience.

[Marak]

Re: Strumpet

 

Yeah, but you can avoid pretty much all the fights if you're careful about watching for patrols and take the correct path. As for the first, unavoidable fight, follow the guards and don't engage until you're right next to them when they hole up in that one room.

 

Of course, being a Shaman meant I could send my pet Drake in to take most of the hits. >

 

If you're a Sorceress, that'd be the perfect time to use up your Call Beast wands. Why fight alone when you can summon up a pet with an AoE special attack to tank for you?

 

However, the fight with

Click to reveal..

Heart Miranda was quite daunting until I realized that I she didn't really have all that much health and with a full Fatigue bar I could outlast her and let my Drake breathe fire all over her until the cows came home.

[nikki.]

Oh, you can actually fight her? Something to do differently this time.

 

I mean, yeah, I managed - if it was just one-on-one with those guys, I managed. It was when they teamed up and I started getting stunned that really sucked.

[Cala]

Other topics seem to suggest that the end-game sneaks up on you, while this one says it's very obvious when you hit the "point of no return". Maybe this is something that is a bit more objective?

[Jerakeen]

It only sneaks up on you if you're not paying attention.

[Alorael at Large]

As I recall, you get an entirely meta-game message telling you to finish quests and save your game.

 

—Alorael, who did both. You have to assiduously not pay attention to miss that sort of warning.