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Just finished Avernum 5


the shadow

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I was about half-way through Avernum 6, and decided to give it a rest and try Avernum 5. I'd heard a lot of negative stuff about A5, so I'd put off playing it. I decided to review a lot of Strategy Central so that I knew what I was getting in to.

 

There were two things I noticed first off. Firstly, A5 is far more linear than Avernum 6. In a way that's a detriment to a series that has revolved around open-world exploration. However, the one benefit is a clear progression in skills and items. In Avernum 6, you can obtain equipment that is superior to even mid-end game equipment (eg. Runed Plate) early on. In Avernum 5, you are always upgrading your weapons/armor until the end game.

 

The second thing I will say is Avernum 5 is much, *much* harder than Avernum 6. Lystakk was a nightmare of a boss, and Tranquility was brutal due to sentinels using their ranged attacks. My party practically limped through the Sentinel Workshop, and only one PC came out alive by the skin of their teeth. Once I got to Vahnatai lands, I could pretty much beat anything I came up against (with a couple of exceptions). The hardest fights in the game were:

 

Moref the Shade - I was forced into combat against him because I took Gladwell's geas early on, and it was by far the hardest battle in the game because there are no tricks you can use to even the odds. I had to use several invulnerability potions just to scrape by.

 

The chitrach queen - Another brutal fight. I was getting completely annihilated when I faced her in her lair with the acid geysers, so I had the bright idea of luring her away into a narrow corridor. Strong Daze and Terror made the queen and her consort... managable.

 

The final shades at the Portal Fort - I couldn't beat these guys in a fair fight. However, I found that if you travel to New Harston to heal, you can return to find the shades still at hit points you left them at.

 

Nashazar - I hit a brick wall with this guy. Even though every PC had battle frenzy, it would eventually wear off, and everyone would get annihilated by his area of effect attack. I tried having the death of the soultender imps overlap with the battle frenzy wearing off, or using invulnerability potions to plug the gaps, but to no avail. Eventually I found a sure-fire way to win. Battle-frenzy everyone, do as much damage as possible, and then climb back up the steps to heal up/lose fatigue. Rinse and repeat. If you can't get your entire party out alive, just make sure you priest makes it out (might need to use a few invulnerability potions), as he can raise dead and heal.

 

Just some idle observations about my game in general:

 

- I know that people lean towards favouring poles over melee due to the higher damage die, but I don't think this is fair. Melee is inferior to pole up until you reach the Azure Gallery. One you get the blessed broadsword, you're doing about 20-30 damage less than a pole user against low physical resistance opponents, but the flaming blade allows you to do *far* more damage than pole against low fire resistance opponents. Once I got the Radiant Soulblade+Assassin's Shield, I found that the damage between melee and pole was comparable, despite the Slith's small advantage.

 

Then again, there is absolutely nothing stopping a slith specialising in pole weapons from using the Flaming Blade effectively, since most of your damage stems from Blademaster/Anatomy/Strength/Quick Action/Lethal Blow.

 

- Bows suck. I know that Bows are recommended as a secondary attack, but they suck even as that. I can't think of one instance where they were useful during the game.

 

- I regret taking Gladwell's geas early. In theory you can squeeze everything you need out of towns before upsetting, but in reality it puts a lot of pressure on you. As I mentioned earlier, I was forced to fight Moref prematurely (otherwise I would have broken the Lark quest chain), and couldn't milk the priest in Harkin's Landing for free skills due to lack of funds. Power-game wise, the geas is still worth getting, but not until you've passed Vahnatai lands.

 

- The 'Slow' spell is just fantastic. It worked against every enemy, and caused them to miss every second round (essentially cutting their damage output in half). It's even better against mages (eg. Solberg), since they reflexively cast Haste to negate it, hence wasting a round.

 

- Having every PC move before the enemy can move is crucial to surviving some fights. Giving your mage and priest quick action is a cheap, cost effective mechanism to give them a significant advantage in battle.

 

- This may sound blatantly obvious, but armor made a significant difference to surviving, to the point I would consider giving my mage the heaviest plate mail they could find, instead of robes which boost spellcraft. Thankfully, blessed plate mail is available early on in Exodus. Physical damage became a non-threat to my warriors from Anama lands onwards.

 

- Finding new spells also greatly decreases the game's difficulty, particularly steel skin, terror, strong daze, control foe, lightning spray, divine fire, return life, divine restoration, and arcane blow. Everything else is gravy.

 

Overall, I enjoyed Avernum 5. Oh well, back to Avernum 6.

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Not sure what you are on about but Moref and Gladwell are not connected at all. I also don't see how you could break Larks quest chain there ? Or does Kingston go hostile too when you steal the anama prayer scrolls and you would lose the mindwarp chitrach quest ?

 

How did you like Khora-Vyss ?

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Having every PC move before your enemy moves may be crucial, but even more crucial it is to have your priest act before your warriors. At least this is my opinion. I like it this way because oftentimes warriors naturally have weak mental resistance, so I like to have my priest unshackle the melee warriors' minds before they act, should this happen. Nothing frustrates more than to have one of your melee warriors charmed and run up to your priest or mage and kill them before you can do anything, should they be unfortunately low on health at the time.

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Not sure what you are on about but Moref and Gladwell are not connected at all. I also don't see how you could break Larks quest chain there ? Or does Kingston go hostile too when you steal the anama prayer scrolls and you would lose the mindwarp chitrach quest ?

 

Yes. Kingston goes hostile if you steal the Anama Prayer scrolls. So if you want to avoid breaking Lark's quest chain, you have to learn about the Mindwarp chitrach *before* stealing the Anama scrolls, which means having to beat Moref first.

 

How did you like Khora-Vyss ?

 

I found the upper level easy to clear before my party had even reached Tranquility. The lower level was easily cleared once I had cleared about half of the Azure Gallery. This was on Torment difficulty.

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- Bows suck. I know that Bows are recommended as a secondary attack, but they suck even as that. I can't think of one instance where they were useful during the game.

 

 

This is unfair, bows are better in Avernum 5 than other avernum games, except heartstrike in A4. Bows are not much weaker than swords, and able to attack more often (swords/poles may take extra AP to move, or it may be too dangerous to close up) even the damage out. It is probably the only Avernum game where a archer and three spellcasters is an optimal build. Bows are even better as secondary attack, comparing to other Avernum games.

 

Having every PC move before your enemy moves may be crucial, but even more crucial it is to have your priest act before your warriors. At least this is my opinion. I like it this way because oftentimes warriors naturally have weak mental resistance, so I like to have my priest unshackle the melee warriors' minds before they act, should this happen. Nothing frustrates more than to have one of your melee warriors charmed and run up to your priest or mage and kill them before you can do anything, should they be unfortunately low on health at the time.

 

You point is right, but this is unfeasible in Avernum 5. You have to either invest heavily in QA for your priest, or little for your warriors. It works much better in Escape from the pit, or crystal souls.

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There are a lot of exploits you can use in Avernum 5. Your strategy with the shades in the portal fortress works for a lot of tough foes. Another one is with Lystakk, you can lure each one out to the elevator area and take it down and he won't move. So if he kills one or more of your characters, just go back to town and heal up and when you get back he'll still be there and you can use spellcasters to kill him without taking any damage. Rinse and repeat for the other two Lystakks as well.

 

Even then though, I agree. Avernum 5 is still pretty difficult compared to every other Spiderweb game I've played.

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