am I punished for exploring??

[Derell Licht]

I'm at the point of just getting reading to enter the Northern Territories. I have three different quests which appear to have been short-circuited because I explored the world before I went to cities to start talking to people:

 

1. scuttler eyes

By the time I got this quest, I'd already cleared out the caves, northwest of New Harston. When I go back now, there's nothing there. I can't find any un-explored caves to deal with.

2. rat bounty

By the time I picked up this quest, I'd already cleared out the caves, defeated the Rat Lord, talked with the mayor.

3. Rogue Kherrrrrrrrrr

Once I finished the test, I went back down there, but Rogue K is nowhere to be seen.

 

These all seem like punishments because I didn't do things in the correct order - but the reason I love the Avernums in the first place is that I can wander the world for awhile, filling out the maps and getting the lay of the land, before I dive into the main quests....

 

So... have I, in fact, missed out one all these quests?? or am I not looking in the right places?? I *think* I've thoroughly explored everything "northwest of New Harston" ...

[Tom]

I can't speak for Kherrr, but I think you've missed out on the other quests. There are only a few batches of scuttlers that give eyes, and unless you saw a counter when you started killing rats (in the main text area at the lower right), then you've missed out on that one, too.

 

As a thumb rule, go straight to town and pick up all the quests you can. Then go exploring. The job board is always the first place I go.

 

In the older Avernum games, you could get away with wandering because there was a discrete outdoors, which tended not to have anything major or plot-related going on. Since there is no more outdoors, you can get away with less.

[Lilith]

You've probably missed out on the first two, but Kherrr is in a room at the very end of the test. You can go back down there and find him even if you've already finished it.

 

Most of the permanently missable quests come from job boards, so make sure you visit the job board in every town and pick up all the quests as soon as possible. The good news is that the rewards are rarely anything crucial.

[Derell Licht]

Okay, thanks for the clarifications...

 

I *may* end up going back and replaying anyway; I just encountered this drake that I'd like to try to free, and of course I can't because I made the mistake of accepting Gladwell's geas, and he wants me to *kill* the poor thing.

 

I *really* wish I'd gone with my moral instincts and ignored that turkey (Gladwell)'s offer; he raised the hackles on my neck the first time I spoke with him... hmph

[Callie]

SPOILER

If you free Anemona, Harkin's Landing will become hostile.

/SPOILER

[Ishad Nha]

In the absence of a BoA style Character Editor there is still something you can do to correct all of those problems. Find a town script and alter its Init State as shown below. (A town script like "z17Tblackcr.txt", the script for the starting town.)

 

SPOILERS

 

GEAS

sf(170,6,0);

set_spec_item(3,-1);

 

QUESTS

Edit:

( for Scuttler eyes:)

set_spec_item(30,1);

 

The Rat Bounty does not involve a special item, it involves a Stuff Done Flag.

(From z44rathunt.txt)

one solution would be:

sf(60,2,23);

 

EDIT: once you have finished altering the game, remove the bits you added to the relevant Init State.

Also, if you have a script file open while playing Avernum 5 you will crash the game should A5 try to access that script.

[Derell Licht]

Wow, game-hacking has sure changed from the old days, when you'd just edit a data file!!

 

For now, I just left the drake alone; I didn't (couldn't) free him, and I had no intention of killing him if I don't have to. We'll see whether I can stick with that decision later on, but for now it'll do. Otherwise, I'll try Ishad Nha's hacking technique to undo my earlier error; that's a better decision than starting over, and having to re-play all the territory that I just played...

[Ishad Nha]

If you want to know what all those "calls" (instructions) in the scripts mean: read the documentation that comes with the Blades of Avernum Editor. This can be downloaded for free from the relevant page:

http://www.avernum.com/blades/scen_workshop.html

 

Now Avernum 5 has a lot of calls that Blades of Avernum does not, but understanding BoA will give you a broad idea of what is happening with the A5 scripts.

 

This whole approach would be impossible in the first three Avernum games because everything is compiled, hence you can only follow the dialog.

 

Spoiler

You can't enter Tranquility until you get rid of Gladwell's geas or you kill the drake.

[Derell Licht]

Quote:

Spoiler
You can't enter Tranquility until you get rid of Gladwell's geas or you kill the drake.

Whoa, I just discovered that!!
I'm glad you gave the previous hint about removing the geas, otherwise I would have had to go back and replay the whole game, because I am NOT going to kill that poor drake!!

I put your code in z100Texodusdlg.txt, at the section that dealt with opening the gate; it worked great!!

And I think I *will* go look at those BofA docs, just for my edification!!

[Drakemoore]

I myself quite dislike the way it is now because I automatically just go out and start exploring.

 

Jeff needs to make it so that:

 

A) If you kill a quest specific creature before accepting the quest, you can still complete the quest.

 

or

 

Lock off quest specific areas.

 

I'm just tired of picking up a new spiderweb game and going off exploring, then coming up to a new town later on and it turns out that I just wiped out the new quests and can't finish them because there are no respawns.

[JP]

I agree with you, I now go directly to the jobboard and talk to everybody before exploring but I still fear to lose a quest each time I attack a group of monster.

Part of the problem is that the amount of XP you may gain in the game is limited. I don't want to lose the 50-100 I get from a quest. Even if I won't miss them to finish the game, it may prevent me from developping my character as far as I wish.

I miss Exile 2 and its respawning dungeons where you could always get the 50 XP or 500 GP you may feel you need.

[Drakemoore]

Aye, I miss the way the exile series worked.

[Derell Licht]

Well, at a minimum, I think it would be reasonable if quest-related items are found even if you don't have the quest yet (at A5 did with the Chitrach claws)... until you obtain the quest, they are just garbage items; once you have the quest, they then have meaning. I collected over 25 Chitrach claws before I ever look at the related job board, yet I was still able to complete the quests. I sort of feel like the issues with the earlier quests were simply oversights in implementation.

[Grimm]

It doesn't matter, really, when you go to the job board. The game still knows whether or not you've killed those 20 rats. Just go back and talk to whoever sent you on the quest. I've done it with Bohrrr's "kill the worms" quest, and "scuttlers eyes".