Profile for Tom
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Tom |
| Member number | 497 |
| Title | Warrior |
| Postcount | 116 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Where the hell is Erika? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Saturday, November 12 2005 01:01
Profile
Go through the garden and pull the levers at the south end. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| What is the name of the Avernum world? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Tuesday, September 20 2005 00:14
Profile
Earth. The name is used in Avernum 3 and I believe it may have been carried over from Exile 3, but I have no desire to play through the game again, looking for it. [ Tuesday, September 20, 2005 00:15: Message edited by: Tom ] -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Avernum 1 Ancient Crypt and assorted randomness in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Saturday, August 20 2005 23:12
Profile
There should be enough piercing crystals in the Grim Cavern to take care of the entire dungeon. It may be that one of them is behind a set of magic barriers (along with some other stuff, so the one you use to get there isn't completely wasted), but there is certainly one available, if you know where to look, that gets you in to the final chamber. Of course, if you wanted to hold off on it and use the crystals elsewhere, that might not be a bad idea. I never had the registration problem, so I would simply wait until I could grab Dispel Barrier and then sell the crystals for decent cash. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Wrapped-Up Bug in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Saturday, August 20 2005 23:04
Profile
Watch it with the tools, though. You can take them from the supply depot with no trouble, but the man who wants them is not exactly on the bright and sunny side of the law. In other words, you lose reputation. It probably doesn't make much difference in the long run, but there's something deep in the numerically subtle, but sentimentally profound difference between 'Beloved' and 'Worshipped'. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Food... in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Friday, July 29 2005 12:17
Profile
There are places where food can be useful, but I generally have to leave and reenter dungeons anyway to haul stuff, and there's usually an inn in whatever town I use to unload. For that matter, all I really need is an energy potion for my priest and Mass Healing. I don't use inns unless I get a significant return on the investment--in other words, the time spent in the inn is less than the time I'd spend walking around trying to recover MP. Usually, this is an issue only when dealing with the Trogs or the Giants and they have raiding parties running about, since that constitutes a drain on my MP (either because I have to heal it when they beat me with sharp things, or because I have to fry them before they get the chance). Magic regenerates at least twice as fast as health, and Mass Healing, especially at level 3, is a bargain in restorative power. [ Friday, July 29, 2005 12:24: Message edited by: Tom ] -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Hintbooks... in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Friday, July 29 2005 12:07
Profile
Well, since the point is to have fun, and I don't have much fun sitting there doing nothing, I don't mind using the hintbooks at all. I don't usually get stuck too badly (exceptions being things like the Tower of Zkal), so I tend to use them like Alorael and read through after I've finished an area, checking to see what I've missed. Still, I've no compunctions about reading a walkthrough for an area before I've finished with it--for example, the Fading Tower or the Filth Factory, because you can't go back to get things you've missed. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| A4 in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Monday, July 25 2005 21:23
Profile
Well, the problem with playing the First Expedition to Avernum is the obvious fact that you would have to play to lose if you wanted to preserve any continuity with the existing games. The problem with playing anything in Avernum after A2 is that Avernum has been covered twice now; everything that could be explored was explored, explored again, and if whatever baddie was in there wasn't cleaned out on the first shot, it was on the second (like the undead pit near Mertis). There's nothing left in Avernum that presents a significant challenge to anyone: the Slith Wars are over and most of the Sliths themselves are all gone, murdered by the thousands by the Empire; the Nephilim are either decidedly on Avernum's side or in small, isolated bands with no real structure or supply beyond basic subsistence; the dragons are all gone; the various undead problems have been sanctified out of existence or are about to be, because Avernum has quite a large number of competent magi and clerics--magic being, after all, Avernum's great strength; the Empire War is won and only isolated pockets of Empire resistance remain. Let's not also forget that Avernum and Valorim already have bands of exceptional adventurers trolling through, keeping things civil. It was said in A3 that the adventurers from A2 were still roving around, cleaning things up and protecting the state. The adventurers from A3 undoubtedly will do something similar in Valorim; not only are they the saviours of Avernum, they are the saviours of the Empire as well. They should have no trouble at all moving anywhere and doing anything that needs to be done (like, say, forcing a regime change in Gale). I look at the speculation that A4 would have to do with restless people being upset with the Empress for allying with Avernum, but it seems to me that allying with Avernum was be the best thing to solidify her power. Avernum has proven now that it can destroy the Empire (look at A2), save the Empire (A3), and that no one, and no one is protected from its exceedingly long reach (A1 and A2, with Hawthorne (on his own throne!) and Garzahd, respectively). With the rest of the Empire firmly under control, there is only one really feasible story on the surface: the dragons' revenge. It might be interesting to see how that plays out. The dragons will have their revenge, but with Avernum now allied with the Empire, would Avernum be obligated to come to the Empire's aid and slay the dragons? The problem with that is that it would make a nice scenario, but not much of a game. The continuation of the Vahnatai story might be another outlet, but it's been done, obviously. However, Bon-Ihrno said that there was a faction that opposed Rentar-Ihrno's methods. That faction was growing smaller, but that only means that it was growing more desperate. Plus, if The Valley of Dying Things is to be taken as canon, there are other factions of Vahnatai who've never encountered humans before. Maybe Rentar-Ihrno, seeing her plans in ashes, will go to them looking for help, only to find them aghast at her actions, if not her motives, and thus we have a problem best solved by Vahnatai adventurers (which, I think, would be cool in the utter extreme). The Sliths might be another way to go; they supposedly have a civilisation in caves even deeper than the Vahnatai (after all, one should bear in mind that Avernum covers old Vahnatai lands, and the current Vahnatai lands are only the next level down). [ Monday, July 25, 2005 21:25: Message edited by: Tom ] -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| A3: The first party of explorers. in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Friday, July 22 2005 10:14
Profile
Actually, the fact that no one seems to make it through the game without dying a couple times raises a good point. You can't cast Raise Dead on yourself. Splitting up was the worst thing the party could have done. Maybe they would have done alright in pairs, but going each his own way was a stupid thing to do. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| A3: Scared gremlin near the golems? in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Friday, July 22 2005 09:44
Profile
How does one catch the gremlin north of Lorelei? This would be the one that runs into the bushes, not the frightened one, north of Gale, who gives you Gymnastics. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| A2 - knowledge brew in The Avernum Trilogy | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Friday, May 13 2005 18:51
Profile
I find it better to simply buy out Silverlocke's stock. Since that section of the caves deals almost entirely with wandering Empire soldiers, you wind up with a surplus of really good iron and steel weapons which sell for the piles of cash you need to buy out her stock time and time again. Plus, you can resell what potions you don't want to get decent chunks of change back, which you can use to go buy more potions or just to reduce your cash load. What I would do is run over to Silverlocke every time I came close to the 15,000G cap, buy everything I could, and then resell it in Blosk in order to keep from going over and to work toward buying out her stock again. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| LOOK!!!!! in Geneforge Series | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Monday, April 4 2005 02:10
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*Smacks forehead* That was his point. There is one, but not many would have believed the first person to do it until they did it themselves. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Concerning the November Sale in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Wednesday, November 24 2004 21:23
Profile
Well, NG lists for thirty on its own, and I'm not going to be an even worse miser and try to get away with taking ten percent from half off. And no, shipping is not included in the ten percent. The discount applies only to what Spiderweb sells, and shipping fees are not a product. The same thing goes for taxes and other such; if the company doesn't control the cost of shipping and handling or taxes, they certainly can't cut it. Not that I'm complaining--twenty-five dollars for a game of Exile's and Avernum's calibre was crazy in '94, let alone ten years later. I'm just taking advantage of the offer to the fullest extent I can, while it's available. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Concerning the November Sale in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Thursday, November 18 2004 11:35
Profile
What, exactly, does and does not qualify for the ten percent off? I recall similar sales in the past where the discount was not valid with other offers and promotions. I am about to basically go on a binge and order A1-3, NG, and GF1-2. I'm getting the trilogy CD for A1-3 because I'm a cheapskate and prefer to keep my $21, but I'm registering GF1-2, which qualifies for the NG promo--which, itself, is $12 less than it would be even with the ten percent discount. So if the November sale is good for everything, I can slash ten percent all at once. If not for the NG promo, do I need to simply leave it out of the equation, or do I also have to buy a GF registration at full price as well? [ Wednesday, November 24, 2004 21:15: Message edited by: Tom ] -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Inner Sea in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Friday, August 13 2004 17:48
Profile
quote:Actually, that river is the one you travel down to reach the Vahnatai Lands. It eventually disappears into a giant hole in the ground, going yet deeper into the earth. quote:You're thinking of surface water. Surface water is predominantly rainwater, and since it has been through the purifying process of recent evaporation, it can better act mechanically to dissolve rock and such. Cave water is groundwater. Groundwater is hard; it is saturated with minerals taken from the soil up near the surface. In Avernum, the only reason a river would take a new course would be because it deposited enough mineral encrustations on the old riverbed to force it to change course. Eventually, the caves won't be cut deeper until the world is one big hole. Instead, the caves of Avernum are slowly being filled in as water leaves stalactites on the ceiling and builds stalagmites on the ground. The counter to this process is volcanic action: the fumeroles evaporate the water, thus purifying it so that it may again dissolve the minerals left on the ceiling. More, they also melt the mineral deposits that the evaporating water leaves behind and take them to the surface. quote:You bet they would. Avernite Sliths are exiles from the main Slithzerikai nation which, as is told in Gnass in Avernum 1, is deeper in the caves. The only issue left is that of how water returns to the surface. It has to get there, else all water would long since have been at the bottom of the caves. quote:Like capillary action? Take a glass of water and hang a strip of paper towel into it. The water climbs up the towel. It eventually reaches (and soaks) the top. Eldiran's suggestion also has some merit; wherever an exit to the surface world exists, so too exists a vent for water vapor. However, the cooling, dehumidifying effect of cave rock and extreme distance which the vapor must travel to the exits (not to mention the fact that the Empire shut most of them--possible plot here: Empire creates worldwide surface droughts and mass Avernum floods by preventing vapor escape) puts the kabash on the idea of all the water escaping that way. Instead, I submit that somewhere, and possibly in many places in Avernum, there's dry, semiporous or porous ceiling that sucks up condensing water and wicks it to the surface water table. -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Languages of the World in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 497
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written Saturday, February 28 2004 13:03
Profile
I know exactly what you mean, Kelandon. When I first joined this site, I had no idea what people were talking about; I knew the games themselves, but I had absolutely no reference upon which to base most of the objects and events referred to. So, being possessed of what I'd hope would qualify as an analytical mind, I've decided to go out and figure things for myself. Naturally, this puts my information at odds with the "accepted" norm, but until now I haven't mentioned it. For example, I've noted that one of the critical elements in Vahnatai Creationism is the purported "Warmaster Golem." WTF is that? I've never heard of it, and there's nothing, anywhere, substantiating the claim that it is the reason for the Vahnatai entering the caves. For that matter, there isn't much evidence saying that the Vahnatai ever did arise on the surface. There are some rather old ruins, but why do they have to be an origin? That they may be older than anything in the caves means nothing, since in the caves, Vahnatai civilisation is repeatedly destroyed by primitive insects and natural events as they hibernate. Maybe the Vahnatai on the surface were exiles who rejected the Crystal Souls and instead worshipped demons. Maybe their leader was called Sss-Thoss-Bok. Maybe they did arise on the surface and create everything, but maybe it was an Ice Age that drove them to the stable climate of the caves. Maybe it was a meteor. Maybe it was a Warmaster Golem--but I'll believe that when I see it. Until then, I'm not even going to speculate on the colour of my socks without lifting up both pant legs and checking. The current theory of Vahnatai Creationism is nice, but it doesn't hold up, IMHO. We already know that there are gods who take direct action in world affairs--explain Priest Spells to me if this isn't the case. Are we calling them inept, now? If all races aside from the Vahnatai are created by them as little more than science experiments, then why is it that these gods are at all willing to listen to, let alone assist, these "pets?" There are factors which the current theory completely ignores. There are other places where it makes wild leaps into speculative fantasy (relative to the world in which we're dealing, of course) in order to make itself work. I don't buy that--I want a theory which stands upon the evidence which we've been given, and can actually say, "I don't know," when there are unexplained phenomena. More than anything, however, I want a theory which can be worked on, added to, and most importantly, changed when the need and new evidence arises. It would be nice, as well, if it could remain grounded in the trilogy of games and leave the holes which it will undoubtedly have (we're playing adventurers here, not paleontologists) to the scenario designers--if they so choose. [ Sunday, February 29, 2004 23:27: Message edited by: Tom ] -------------------- Evil comes in many forms. I am but one of them. Posts: 116 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |