Side of Victory

[Chaosfox]

Which side in your opinion would be the best or easiest to beat the game with. The warrior empire guys side or the barbaric side.

[Rupert]

Weeelllll now... the whole point of it is that they both have advantages and disadvantages that level it out, the Romans have superior fighting skill (by a few miles), aren't so good with magic, they also have most of the forces of Shadowvale allied against them, but do have the crones on their side. Meanwhile the Celts, while their fighting skill isn't SO great, they do have some pretty powerful magic, the problem with this, is that you rely on having SP at the time, but the potion skill they have can make up for this, the forces of Shadowvale are on their side, but the crones aren't which does lead to difficulties. All in all the Romans generally are easier to play, though you do have to fight ALOT more than the Celts.

[Alorael at Large]

I had a much, much easier time with the Celts. I think I overuse magic. The Celts don't need to carry around all the items like lockpicks and torches because they can use magic. A few energy potions can easily get you through most areas, and if you run out you can leave and rest. A few points of sling skill can make druids useful even without spells, too.

 

—Alorael, who also had supply problems as Romans. He ran out of lamps and candles, javelins, and healing potions. He wasted skill points on magic and ended up with puny semi-druids. Ugh.

[Doctor Albert Halfmann]

I agree. I found it extremely hard to play as the Romans at all, just because they were so, well....ugly. Nothing like the wild-looking, rakish Celts. Slings make a far better missile weapon than javelins, as they can do a comparable amount of damage and do not need to be replaced at great cost every few hours. And although the Celts are unable to utilize the extra protection offered by heavy chain mail and plate, they more than make up for it with their masterful command of magic.

[sheesh]

I actually think the Celts are better even *without* taking into account their magical superiority; Berserk is much more useful than Roman Training (plus picking it as a character attribute nets an experience bonus), and using slings rather than javelins certainly doesn't hurt.

[Chaosfox]

Thank you all for your feed back and the Celts were definitely better then the Romans. I got a lot better with them.

[micman]

The Romans have 1 small advantage - tool use attributes to item lore and has a base value of INT + DEX / 4, which isnt great but it helps a little. The Celtic farie lore (the opposite of tool use) has no base value.

But there is 1 signifigant advantage to the Celts. its sort of a bug. Bump ur INT up to 4 (which will increase ur druidism to 2) and then increase the war and health circles to 2. Drop ur INT back down to 1, and u can train as high as u want in magic without the hinderance of druidism levels. This works for Romans too, only u cant train in the higher types of druidism.

Using this method, i have started the game with a druid who can break barriers... very useful in the goblin fort.

*Sigh, ive gotta find something better to do with my time

and yes, i have email spiderweb about this.

[Talent in a Previous Life]

That's a fairly well known bug.

 

I found the Romans easier. I'm more of a melee player anyway and since my spell use is mostly limited to blessing, I didn't find the magical restrictions too hard. In addition to which, since I can still have the trait berserk and make up for it with Roman training, I'm able to hack through pretty much anything.

[Jame]

A side of victory? Sure, I'll have two, along with my fries of freedom and my steak of salvation.

 

Seriously, I prefer the Romans to the Celts. But that's just me, and it suits my style of play - melee and theivery...

[millakko]

I prefer the celts. Not sure are they easier to play, but when playing celts I feel I'm on the right side, if you know what I mean...

I'm a bit rebel myself, so celts are my choice

Celts are also the reason I like Nethergate the most as a game. The plot rls

[Ironweed]

Somehow I symphatize with the Romans. Probably because of the burning alive thing (bless you, Lord Summerisle).

 

Anyway, the Celts are more interesting to play with since they get along significantly better with the powers of the Sidhe than the Romans. More mysteries, magic and mythology. And a spell is always better than a sword. At least it looks cooler.

 

Romans...weak in the beginning but later on very strong. In combat, take out the druids first and watch the so called "warriors" flee the field. Also, you get to fight the Sidhe, a very rewarding thing if you've had enough of elves, goblins and the rest of the critters. See how superior and better they think they are when they're bleeding at the end of your spear. Brutal but satisfying. Or just brutal.

[Jame]

Just wondering, how does one win as the Romans, i.e. kill Sylak without his finishing the spell?

[Doctor Albert Halfmann]

There's two ways you can do it. One way is to put on the disguising cloaks in one of the side rooms near the platform, then get onto the platform and remove Cathrac's Eye from its pedestal. Attempting to remove one of the other two artifacts will result in your cover being blown, I believe. If you wish to attack Sylak directly rather than removing the Eye, you can do so, and although it's a bit more difficult, if you manage to do him enough damage, you win the game. However, don't expect a very happy ending, although it's the best you'll get playing as the Romans.

[Alorael at Large]

I like Nethergate's ending a lot. For one thing, it fits the story well. For another, it fits the other side of the story well.

 

—Alorael, who has given enough spoiler for today. He was very happy when he saw the Roman side of the ending, though. Well, not happy, precisely, but satisfied and semi-pleasantly surprised.

[Jame]

First, what disguising cloaks? Where?

 

Second, thanks - both for the above and for the below. Thanks!

[Kelandon]

Not answering from my own knowledge -- it's been a while since I played Nethergate, hmm, maybe I should play it again -- but from Stughalf's post: "the disguising cloaks in one of the side rooms near the platform." So far as I know, there are only two side rooms, in the southwest and the southeast (not counting the ones in the north). From Schrodinger and Zeviz's Nethergate page (at the top of the Nethergate topic), the cloaks are in the southeast room. Walk near the wall so that you don't get seen.

 

EDIT: and come to think of it, I was somewhat frustrated with the Romans' ending -- it made me feel as though my actions hadn't made any difference -- but I would've been more unhappy with any other ending that I can think of.

[Frozen Feet]

If you want a singleton, romans are far better than celts. Why? Cause they can use armor. Not having the ability to wear armor is the worst disadvantage celts have. But a group of celts is more powerfull than a group of romans anyway.

[The Killer Of All Innocents]

i found the celts much easier beacuse they can use magic and i never have to buy more javilins and i dont care about armor- i stay away from enemy and attack them with slings and magic

[suiraCLAW]

Celts and romans are great, here are my best characters of Romans and Celts at the begin of the game:

 

Gordon:-darts of ice (2 targets).

-beast call (2 beasts).

-74% chance to hit with a spear.

-70% chance to hit with a sling.

 

Publius:-96% chance to hit with a spear.

-94% chance to hit with a javelin.

-4 at strengt (much damage)

-armor use, hardiness and shielding at 2

 

If you play with these characters, boths sides are fun

[Nicothodes]

I prefer playing with Celts, because I hate how few spells the Romans know.

[bogus standard candidate]

Romans: had the usual trouble. But liked the fact that I could concentrate on the melee aspect. Missed Magic a great deal, though.

 

Celts: same as above, but found them, overall, more balanced to my taste. Could enjoy both the melee and magic aspects.

 

Wish I could've played Goblins or the People of the Raven, though, 'cause maybe it would have interesting just to see.

 

Both endings were wonderful. Playing both sides, in general, was wonderful. This game is wonderful.

[Dan Z]

With enough patience, killing things and solving puzzles isn't a problem. For me, the deciding factor boils down to 1 spell, the Craft Magic spell that lets you see through walls. How else are you going to find all those secret passages? Every time I tried playing as the Romans, I gave up in disgust after hours or walking around dungeons, bumping into every bit of promising-looking wall. It was such a pain in the arse! The alternative is not to bother with the passages, but then I'd miss out on most of the special keys and, therefore, most of the interesting items. That just bugs me. I simply can't stand the fact that the only way to experience the whole game as the Romans is to try and walk into every stupid wall!

[Rupert]

A tip to you sir; this topic was several months old and you just rez'd it. However, you had something meaningful to say and you are new. So we shall most likely, ignore the rez'ing.

 

It's merely a matter of perseverance finding passages as Romans. Of course, I think you can get scrolls which cast the relevant spell. The easisest thing to do is to explore all of an area where you can, then using the automap, look for spots where a secret area is likely to be. Jeff really likes stuffing his maps to the brim.

[Dan Z]

Umm, sorry. What did I do, exactly? Are you referring to a "resurrection" of a dead topic?

 

Didn't know that was a bad thing. I figured, if there's a topic for something, use it, don't reinvent it!

 

But anyways, the mapping out of a whole area and bumping into every bit of wall that borders a "black" tile on the overhead map is EXACTLY what I find annoying when I play as the Romans. You did suggest a workaround which I didn't think of: buy a bunch of scrolls and cast them when you need to. But that's a LOT of scrolls, and the Romans have to cart around too much junk, anyway. Piercing crystals, special healing potions and scrolls, and the hated javelins - heavy AND numerous, oh joy!

 

Things like this really take a bite out of the fun aspect for me. It's enough to make me cheat and give my Roman healer the Craft Magic tree

[Lord Sylak]

wehat it all boils down to is this: if Nethergate was teh first Spiderweb game ever, go with the Romans. If it isn't, go with the celts, because thoose of us who've played other ones have a hard timi not giving everyone magic, along with thoose of us who play fantasy RPG's just for the magic.

[Lilith]

Dan Z, if you can handle playing as far as Vanarium with the Romans, you can get Rhian as an NPC; she starts with several levels in Craft Circle. You can also get Craft Circle spell levels from Hagfen for completing the hags' quests.

 

And yes, this forum doesn't exactly approve of resurrecting old topics. Creating a new topic is considered a lesser evil than making people scroll all the way to the end of an old topic to find your message.

[Dan Z]

Been playing with Rhian for a while. She helps out a lot, although her Craft Circle skills are not so good, and she can't train in them as a Roman soldier. Once I learned the required spells from quests, it got a lot better. So now all I have to do is map out all the old dungeons I already went through in order to find all the hidden rooms I missed. Not as bad as I thought. But could be better. How about an "Engineering" or "Architecture" skill for the Romans that allows them to guess what a building design looks like?

[Walter]

You don't need a bunch of scrolls, just one. Save, use it, then load. If that feels like cheating to you, console yourself that you'd find them anyway by bumping against the walls, and just think of it as saving yourself time.