Profile for Or else o'erleap.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Or else o'erleap. |
| Member number | 335 |
| Title | Law Bringer |
| Postcount | 14579 |
| Homepage | http://www.polarisboard.net |
| Registered | Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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| How to raise money? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Sunday, October 3 2004 14:01
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I don't think either Morgan or FBM are American. I also don't know what FBM is ranting about this time. Up coherence levels and restate, please. —Alorael, who is not a member of the Gas Processing Association. He can't help you with your GPA needs. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Favorite Race? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, October 2 2004 17:59
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As always, my response is vahnatai. They're the least cookie-cutter of the races Jeff uses. They are, in fact, fairly original. —Alorael, who also happens to really like the fact that they turn into blue rocks (undead blue rocks?) that are filled with amazing power. Never argue with an undead blue rock! Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Best? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, October 2 2004 12:37
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Avernum 2 has the best plot and some more polish, Avernum 1 is the introduction, and Avernum 3 is the largest. A3 also has slightly different systems for equipment and damage calculation, so it plays a bit differently. I'd save up a little bit more money and get the trilogy CD. You save $20 and avoid all the prioritizing worries. But if you need a game now and can't come up with an extra $30, I'd go with... well... decide for yourself! All three demos are large, free, and well worth playing to get a feel for the games. —Alorael, who definitely thinks that A2 has the best demo. A3 has the largest, and just playing the A1 demo will give you a lot of background that helps with the next two games. The A2 demo gives you most of what you need to know about a certain group. So even if you end up buying A3, be sure to play all the demos. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Koriba's Statue in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, October 2 2004 08:50
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Lost Bahssikava is a slith-filled town and multilevel cave crawl that showed up in Avernum 1 but not Exile 1. It gives some slith history and brings up the real slith civilization that doesn't appear at all in the games. —Alorael, who used that as his example of the only major plot addition in the Avernum games that he could think of. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Koriba's Statue in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Friday, October 1 2004 11:36
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The Avernum games are remakes of the Exiles, so of course they're similar. Still, there are differences. The ToSF of Exile lost its shifting floors and got lasers everywhere, caches appeared, and little things like that. —Alorael, who knows A1 got Lost B. He isn't sure if A2 and A3 got any really important new places like that. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Avernum 4 in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, September 30 2004 16:50
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Nethergate was (mostly) bug-free, although it had occasional weird graphics glitches and druid circles could be abused during character creation. I can't speak for Geneforge, but I'm unaware of anything game-stopping there, either. BoE and BoA were pushed to the limits by other designers. When Jeff can control everything that happens, he can get it right. The new engine is unlikely to be the source of problems. —Alorael, who thinks the plot is far more of a worry than the engine. As long as Spiderweb doesn't fall to the all shiny, no substance philosophy, it still has a chance to fill its niche's needs. And no, the Avernum engine is not all shiny. Just look at Nethergate. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| How to raise money? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, September 30 2004 16:28
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On what basis do you proclaim that Emode is the best? I know the site makes the claim, but I wouldn't trust a company's own advertising, especially on such a subjective matter. Furthermore, I hope the rubric given isn't from the site. IQ tests don't measure your intelligence relative to everyone, you see. It compares you with others of your age. (That's the quotient part: mental age divided by real age, with real age stopped at an arbitrary number so adults don't become progressively stupider.) And yes, children are able to reach ridiculous IQ levels. Differences in development speed mean that some children are very "stupid" for their age, while others are extremely "smart." This tends to balance out as everyone levels off at peak mental capacity. —Alorael, who hasn't taken an IQ test and has no interest in taking one. If he finds that he has a high IQ, he'll be insufferably arrogant for the next few decades and everyone will hate him. If he finds that he has a low IQ, he'll lower his expectations for himself and be insufferably arrogant because he functions so well despite the handicap of stupidity. No, IQ is pretty much worthless in the real world. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Spiderweb Software - One Year On in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, September 30 2004 10:16
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Welcome back! Oh, sorry. I got confused. —Alorael, who has seen all kinds of crazy things on Spiderweb, many of which were never meant for the eyes of man. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Avernum 4 in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, September 29 2004 17:33
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You can dislike Geneforge. I'm not a huge fan myself, although it's for reasons of engine and not of plot. I, however, fail to see the hand evil pokespiracy in every game that involves summoning creatures. It's present in some, yes, but not all. Geneforge isn't one of them. —Alorael, who also thinks complaining about the plot is questionable. Okay, you disagree with it politically. Does that make it bad? Doesn't it at least beat A3 (and 95% of other games available)? Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Koriba's Statue in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, September 29 2004 17:24
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Go into the Wolf Pit and head to the northeast corner via several secret passages. Go up the stairs. The statue is there. —Alorael, who believes it's technically in the bandit lair. However, since you can't get to the statue directly from the lair, just go through either that or the goblin area to get to the Wolf Pit. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Avernum 4 in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, September 29 2004 11:35
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On the bright side, there will be a demo. We'll be able to see if the game is worth playing or not. And if there are enough people who hate it, it will send the right message to Jeff. This assumes, of course, that the community here and at closely connected boards (Lyceum and company) is a significant portion of Jeff's playerbase. He doesn't seem to think so, but I'm sure a real rejection just by the people here would hurt. —Alorael, who supposes that if enough people bought four or five copies of Nethergate Jeff might be persuaded to go with that instead of Avernum. So if you have more money than sense, go for it. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| OMG HI ALLZZZ!!! in Richard White Games | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, September 28 2004 16:52
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My locked topic collection is reaching a satisfying size again. Good job, spammers! —Alorael, who admits that this topic isn't the worst. It's also an unsightly abomination and will die the death promptly. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Some more help for a noob in Nethergate | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, September 28 2004 16:45
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Hathwisa's father gives you the quest to rescue her if you're playing Celts. He won't speak to a Roman party, so the noises are just there for completeness. Galag-Trav still has some nice treasures, including a special item for a quest and one of the few opportunities for Romans to get some Faerie Lore. —Alorael, who wouldn't pass up all the irritating buttons and portculli for the world. Well, not for a very small world. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| attn alorael in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, September 28 2004 16:41
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It was deliberate, TM. I'm only willing to carry the resemblance so far. Besides, I think the banned account is still using the reversed version, so that moniker isn't available. —Alorael, who doesn't care to test and find out. Maybe tomorrow, when he needs another mildly amusing and/or mystifying PDN. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Avernum 4 in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, September 28 2004 12:00
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FS, before you start complaining that A4 can't have anything that BoA doesn't have already, remember the sparkly new engine. I happened to like the change from Exile to Nethergate, although I'm less crazy about Geneforge. Maybe Jeff will pull something amazing out and bowl us all over. Hey, we need a little bit of optimism here! On the plot side, I'd like to give Jeff a little bit of credit. With the slight lapse of E3/A3, his games have had succesively better plots (I'm extrapolating from the details of the Geneforge demos). Hopefully Jeff is savvy enough to fall into the pitfall of milking his cash cow of the Avernum plot arc when the arc is clearly over. The new engine makes me think that he's also going to be going in a slightly different direction even if he does keep the same world. —Alorael, who also wouldn't mind seeing more of Ermarian. Yes, the problem of revisiting places that came up in scenarios is present and in fact inevitable given the scope of history (from vahnatai creationism to Stareye's scenarios). Still, it's possible that Jeff won't invalidate anything too harshly, and even if he does, it certainly doesn't turn At the Gallows into a worthless waste of time. Even if history becomes a muddle, the scenarios and game can stand on their own merits. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Jeff's rep and the Perils of Creating a Scenario Editor in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Tuesday, September 28 2004 11:46
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I agree that Jeff could have maintained a better reputation if he hadn't released BoE, but he also would have lost a fair number of customers and community. He may not care about the latter, but the former is what his budget is all about. On the other hand, judging by the number of very good, very popular BoE scenarios, his product isn't a total failure. Yes, he could make it better, but arguing that BoE is unusable is ridiculous. It is quite usable. Parts don't work, but on the whole it does. [Edit: He^H^HI will get the pronouns right.] —Alorael, who concludes that Jeff's inexplicable failure to fix the very basic problems with the editor is, well, inexplicable, but that releasing BoE in the first place was a very good decision from a business standpoint. It drew in new customers and created new communities that were more likely to draw in yet more buyers and get people to buy more games. Now if only Jeff would see the light, however late, and release a patch... [ Tuesday, September 28, 2004 11:47: Message edited by: Star's Terror, Eye's Martyr ] Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Avernum 4 in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, September 27 2004 18:12
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We know the name of the game, though not what comes after the colon (did the Avernums get colons like Exile #: Blah blah blah?). We know the world and, despite the protestations of certain individuals, I happen to think it's a fine world. We know absolutely nothing at all about the plot, but we do know that it will be a different engine. In short, we know almost nothing at all. I put this in the same category as most preliminary scenario plot announcements by novice designers: it could be great, it could be terrible, or it could be somewhere in between. It's all in the execution. —Alorael, who liked all the Exiles/Avernums and Nethergate. He thinks he might like Geneforge if he could get past the engine and register. So besides the Blades games, which A4 is not, Jeff hasn't done so badly. As long as A4 isn't a slap in the face to the BoE/A community, it should be a good thing. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Romans Goblin Cave in Nethergate | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, September 27 2004 06:37
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As someone playing through the Celt side of Nethergate again, I agree with Thuryl. Everyone hits less, does less damage, gets hit more, takes more damage, casts spells with fewer targets, casts spells with lessened effects, gets diseased more easily... Being cursed makes your party rather awful. —Alorael, who originally intended to try playing through the game while cursed. This became painfully irritating and he gave up the attempt. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Why does Jeff have a bad rep? in General | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, September 25 2004 08:09
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He's making money. From his perspective, that's all that matters. —Alorael, who doesn't agree with this view. On the other hand, he understands it. The strange superiority and condescension is the inexplicable part. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| Edit CLevel? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, September 25 2004 08:08
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On Mac OS 9, you can get a nifty program called Pandora's Box that will let you edit experience in Avernum as well as just about any numerical value in any application. I'm sure there are equivalents for OS X (or maybe Pandora's Box still works) and Windows, but I have no idea what they are. —Alorael, who supposes you could also just use the editor to send your character's endurance through the roof. It will make him slightly stronger than the higher level characters, actually, but you can reduce his endurance as his level goes up. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| dood in Richard White Games | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Friday, September 24 2004 10:34
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TM is broken, FS and ADoS are damaged, and a moderator has acted. Idiocy is not appreciated. —Alorael, who doesn't appreciate most of RWG. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| InterClass in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Friday, September 24 2004 10:13
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I'd take a single character with decent fighting skill, high priest skill, and some mage skill over anything else. None of the preset skill allocations are something I'd want to use solo, although berserker isn't bad. —Alorael, who thinks there may be a mistake here. Avernum "classes" just assign starting skill points for you. They have no effect at all past level 1. The only advantage is that some "classes" have more skill points than custom, but this is offset by the fact that many points are wasted in worthless skills. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| so what u guys think?? in Richard White Games | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, September 23 2004 09:40
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I see dead topics! —Alorael, who would like to know why RWG is the victim. Why, TGM, why? That's rhetorical. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| A1 Gloves and Spiral Pit in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, September 22 2004 17:33
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You probably missed at least one of the many secret doors in the Spiral Pit. Keep going further and further towards the center until you reach a central room with corpses and, I think, a magic barrier. Kill some moderately nasty but mostly unimpressive undead thing there and the quest will be as done as it gets in A1. —Alorael, who found the end of the crypt to be a great disappointment. It's only moderately more satisfying when you finish the job in A2. Mostly, the Spiral Pit is an annoying waste of time. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
| A3--Vahkohs, I thought he was dead? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, September 22 2004 10:30
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Once a topic is revived, it's not a crime to keep talking. That said, usually topics like this should be permitted to die gracefully again. Also, as Angry Ogre notes, DwtD explains that Vahkos was killed by adventurers, presumably in A3. So Jeff wasn't entirely ignoring it, just ignoring the part were the vampire is permanently and emphatically deceased. —Alorael, who also feels a need to point out that the "Anama guy" Ahonar can only cure Dread Curse and regular problems. For Vahkos' special curse, only smashing the crystal will help. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |