Profile for Synergy
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Synergy |
| Member number | 6292 |
| Title | Shaper |
| Postcount | 2009 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Just hit the registration barrier. in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 18:01
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Do tell, Skippy. I could tell the well was trying to do something, but couldn't figure out what exactly. There are many nods to and relics of old familiar places throughout this retread through Avernum, and you can see how time has changed some of them. But I could not find any hint of the crystal caves in the Eastern Gallery, and I was expecting something to be there. [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 18:03: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| some suggestions after playing a bit. in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 17:55
Profile
Well, it is fixed in the sense that no elevation means no more overlap for lovingly selecting the recipients of your affections. For A5, I do think Jeff needs to find a way to reincorporate elevation. Area spells won't be affected. A way to pick out the right individual target with an arrow or fireball on the backside of a hill will be necessary. [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 17:56: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| So What Makes a Torment Capable Party? in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 17:35
Profile
I keep tinkering around with party construction experiments and I usually make it with them as far as Fort Draco or Formello before wanting to try something else, mostly because I keep learning more about how the game, skills, and stats work lately. I've just put a new party together, and I play on Tricky or Torment always now. I relate to the conundrums of party construction you're going over. Here is my latest brainstorm, and it's not unlike yours: 1) Meat shield human melee man with Elite Warrior & Strong Will. 2) Nephil archer/mage with Natural Mage and Deadeye 3) Human thief/mage with Natural Mage and Nimble Fingers 4) Slith priest with Pure Spirit The two humans are at 25% penalty and the other two are at 35%. These are not bad penalties at all. If you level up at flat or negative rates, you hit diminishing XP returns early in the game. I think it all evens out, but the difference here is the benefits of races and positive traits. My idea is also that mages are more important earlier on, especially through the Eastern Gallery where fire and ice is the best weapon agaist the bugs—especially fire. Two mages and two abilities to hasten in one turn can be very useful offensively when every turn counts. I've settled on Tool Use of 12-15 being enough for one mage, and, combined with decent mage ability, he will be able to unlock doors just fine till the end. The other mage can develop very reasonable worthwhile archery skills, and will also have a sword and shield to offer various benefits. I may stop this mage at Lightning Spray, and focus the rest of his skills on archery after that. The other will be a full mage. Arcane Blow does rather blow. Nothing comes close to the divinely destructive delight of Divine Retribution all in all. The priest follows your blueprint for a slith-priest, actually, though I think a human or nephil variant would work fine or even better. You'd have to accept that no one gets the Jade Halberd in the game. It might be better actually, if playing Torment, to make the priest very focused on his priesthood and archery alone. I give archery skills to every PC in every game. It's just too darn useful too darn often to neglect. All this requires is 4-5 Bow skills and some dexterity which I want them to have anyway. There are exactly four killer bows in the game, and each PC will want one by the end. If you don't do a slith priest, I'd make a Deadeye Pure Spirit Nephil and focus entirely on bows and priest skills. I can see how the Eastern Gallery would start kicking just about anyone's butt on Torment. He who lives by the bow, also dies by the bow. This is why I think two mages where one can drop back partway is a good approach to getting through the game on Torment. [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 17:44: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Reactions - SPOILERS in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 14:51
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In hand to hand combat that's likely true. The sacrifice is less protection against magic and other elemental effects. It's one perfectly good strategy, one more offensively than defensively geared. I may have to give it a try in a future game. Elite Warrior, Fast on Feet with several AP-enhancing items ultimately could be good fun. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Some Simple Suggestions for not Sucking at A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 14:34
Profile
OK, I posted in the Hidden Skills thread what I was finally able to find behind that pesky L35 door we've been bantering about. I think it would be good to keep this thread free of spoilers, so the new gamers can get tips here without ruining the fun of discovery. Here is some resulting advice from my experimenting with Tool Use and Unlock Doors, also now knowing what is behind the two most difficult doors in the game. Giving a mage Tool Use skills definitely does help his magical ability to open doors, so you might want to consider making a Mage/Thief PC, though this will cut into his overall magical strength somewhat. For traps in the game and many doors, Tool Use of 15 is adequate. If you don't want to give Tool Use to your mage at all, any reasonably strong mage by the end of the game can open a difficulty 25 door, of which there is at least one not otherwise opened. If you want to conserve all possible Tool Use points, you can acquire items by mid to late game which will add +3 to your Tool Use, so conceivably, you could stop at 12 Tool Use to get by all traps. There is a slight possibility that there is a trap of 16 difficulty, and if someone determines so, please let us know. Bottom line: The 28 and 35 difficulty level doors aren't hiding anything to die for, and for everything below that difficulty, any decent mage or a very strong thief will be able to open it. A thief with Tool Use of 15 can also serve as a decent fighter, archer, or mage no problem. [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 14:39: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| A4 Hidden Skills [SPOILERS] in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 14:04
Profile
Sounds...um...Delicious, Vlish. [SPOILER AHEAD] I finally opened the L35 Door in the Patrick Tower. It took 12 Spellcraft and 16 Magery to do it with zero Tool Use. Maybe more Spellcraft and less Magery would have the same effect. Leaving my Spellcraft at 8 and Magery at 6, 9 Tool Use did not open the door on about ten tries, but Tool Use of 10 enabled my mage to open it the first try each time. Oh, what is in there you want to know? An Enduring Armor spellbook. Nothing too exciting, and not an Easter egg. There are two doors in the Tower Colony I am going to try next, though I am pretty sure those are not meant to open. EDIT: The doors in the Tower Colony above X and the one in the barracks area upstairs in the Castle do not open. I think that accounts for every last door in the game now. So, if there is an Easter egg, it remains elusive. [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 14:15: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • N:R Items • The Lonely Celt • A5 Items • A5 Map Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Reactions - SPOILERS in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 13:47
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I can see how combining enough Mercuric items could really pump up the AP, though you'll be sacrificing a certain amount of better possible armoring of feet and body to do it. As it seems strength is not nearly so useful in A4 as previously, maybe the penalties aren't so bad and the sacrfice is worthwhile, especially if you had Fast on Feet already. I'd just be afraid of getting mercury poisoning. I hear that makes your Hardiness, Dexterity, and Intelligence go way down. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Reactions - SPOILERS in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 12:49
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Ah, acid and poison combined...Alo, sometimes I think you're too smart for your own good. Naw, not really. You've got great attention to detail. That Emerald Chestguard does seem to become available oddly early in the game (not that I was complaining), and the Oozing Sword was the first I found, followed closely by the Flaming Sword I believe the demon upstairs in the Tower Colony drops. There are a couple anomalies in armor and robes like the one you mentioned where the "better" more expensive one is somehow more disadvantageous than the normal equivalent. And don't get me started on the annoying Mercuric garbage which tantalizes at a cost not worthwhile. :mad: -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| A4 Hidden Skills [SPOILERS] in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 12:41
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What's the problem, Vlish...hard to hit the Edit button instead of the Quote button with that tentacle? EDIT: Doh, you fixed that fast. (Advantages of being a Moderator) I bet no one else noticed, heh. Now I'm the moron stuck with a useless post. ;) [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 12:43: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • N:R Items • The Lonely Celt • A5 Items • A5 Map Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| A4 Hidden Skills [SPOILERS] in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 12:33
Profile
Dexterity adds to armor? How's that? It does look like Dexterity is perhaps the most useful and pivotal skill overall. Strength contribution has definitely been toned down from A3 where I could kill an Alien Beast with two hits at the end. Seems like the path to follow to make a powerful fighter is 6 Dex + 6 Def to get Parry, add some Parry, get Strength, Melee, and Pole all to 6 to get Blademaster, then pump Blademaster. If you want Anatomy, you have to add 6 Intelligence. 8 Anatomy and 8 Blademaster make Lethal Blow trainable, probably not the most useful trait. I never noticed Lethal Blow doing anything with the mild levels I had acquired from magical items later in the game. I just checked Lethal Blow. If you streamline a human warrior straight through to Lethal Blow and nothing else, you can achieve 4 levels of Lethal Blow with 4 SP left over. [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 12:38: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • N:R Items • The Lonely Celt • A5 Items • A5 Map Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| A4 Hidden Skills [SPOILERS] in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 12:07
Profile
Okay, thanks to Hawk King's handy "Experience of a Dragon" editor/cheater, I have been able to easily test out the rest of the hidden skills. Here are the resulting stats: Parry : 6 Dexterity - 6 Defense Quick Strike : 6 Dexterity - 6 Melee or Pole Gymnastics : 8 Dexterity - 6 Strength Blademaster : 6 Melee - 6 Pole - 6 Strength Anatomy : 6 Intelligence - 8 Melee or Pole Lethal Blow : 8 Anatomy - 8 Blademaster Riposte : 8 Parry - 6 Blademaster Sharpshooter : 6 Dexterity - 8 Bows or Thrown Magery : 8 Intelligence - 6 Priest or Mage Magical Efficiency : 8 Magery - 8 Endurance Resistance : 8 Dexterity - 8 Endurance - 8 Hardiness Hawk, somehow you got the total XP about right too...I wound up Level 33-34 at the end of my last game and you set your editor for around Level 34-35 worth of experience. This will also enable easy testing of how high you can reasonably get Tool Use stats or how hard it is to practically get Riposte, so I will tinker with those a bit and add some more results here. [PAUSE...EDIT] Holy cow...I used up all but one Skill Point making a human fighter with no Traits able to train Riposte...this is all of 35 Levels worth of SP going into what it takes to make Riposte alone. This means, in order to get Riposte, you have to follow the training path pretty much exclusively and give most or all of your Wisdom Crystals and Knowledge Brews to the same fighter. This isn't cool, or Jeff didn't intend for it to really be trainable, only acquired through magical items. I suppose giving a human PC two negative traits could give him a couple more levels worth of skill points to play with, but that would be worth all of 2 Riposte or so. On Tool Use, I used up ALL the Skill Points just to give one non-traited human PC 30 Tool Use. At that point, TU costs 16. That level 35 door is not going to be opened by a thief. It will take a mage powerful enough to do it. I had a mage able to open a level 25 door, but not a level 28 door at the end of my game. If I had streamlined him as a thief/mage with Tool Use and Mage strengths combined, maybe he could open that level 35 door. Hmm, know what else, even if I edit in more SP after level 35, the Train screen will not permit any Tool Use over 30 to stick to my PC. It will definitely take magic to get in that door, because even with magical items to help, max Tool Use is 33. I think the Easter Egg for this game is behind that door. [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 12:24: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • N:R Items • The Lonely Celt • A5 Items • A5 Map Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Editor avaliable in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 11:45
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Nice job, Hawk. I'm using it right now to determine which stats in which quantities give you all the hidden skills. Thanks! -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Reactions - SPOILERS in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 11:36
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I don't remember it at all in my first beta game. I think it was added in later, but I did find it somewhere quite near the end of my second more recent game. I can't remember exactly who had it, but it might have been under E's Ruin where you know who was holed up. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| some suggestions after playing a bit. in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 11:33
Profile
To most efficiently pick up and drop stuff, try this: To pick up, while in a PC's inventory screen, click on the item, type 1-4 and it will be dropped into the inventory of the PC with that number. You can do this while in combat, even, have one PC next to something pick up an item and drop it onto a PC ten spaces away from him...occasionally very convenient. You can also move, equip, and unequip items while in buy/sell mode. Just click on the item instead of the little coins to move it instead of sell it. To drop something, just click on it while in a PC's inventory, and press "a"--it will drop onto the ground, just as you can type a, b, c, etc. to pick up items lying around when you press "g" or "i" to bring up a PC's inventory. I find this in particular very convenient when hoarding thing like heavy iron bars or bags of meal for later transport and sale. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Reactions - SPOILERS in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, December 13 2005 11:25
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SPOILER ON OOZING SWORD LOCATION I also used that friendly oozing blade for almost the entire rest of the game, only interchanging it with Demonslayer when appropriate and replacing it near the end with the fantastic Radiant Soulblade. The Oozing Blade can be found in the very SW corner of the Honeycomb area—really it's more a part of the wilderness between the Tower Colony and Fort Samuels. You can access it through some tunnels which emerge on the west side of the river there. I remember going under the river through a cave and coming up on the west side and facing several very hard to kill slimes on a little swampy shore with some herbs. The final slime drops that Oozing Blade, which might almost be appropriate since I think the slime liked to ooze acid as well. That other blade you are remembering is the Venomous Blade (12-36 damage, +12 acid and poision resistance, drips poison), which Craftmaster Strine makes for you out of a Fine Waveblade, or you can get one at the very end off the Vahnatai Lord I believe. I think the Oozing Blade is better overall, as acid is more effective than poison. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Some Simple Suggestions for not Sucking at A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 21:00
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My human swordsman had Strong Will and my slith pole fighter did not. The slith definitely got charmed or terrified more often, though I didn't do a careful analysis of stat comparison, so it will take more experience and report to get a better grip on how useful it really is. Intelligence doesn't help a whole lot, that's for sure. Not really worth the investment as just pointed out. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| The Worst Game Ever in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 19:59
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It's always amusing when two of us make nearly identical posts at almost the same moment. Ash, you said the other half of what I was thinking, but didn't say...especially the part about ADD and 3-D shooters, heh. -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| The Worst Game Ever in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 19:52
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Strange argument going here. Myst/Riven represent a certain kind of game which a person might really enjoy, or might really not enjoy. Falling into the latter category doesn't mean they are bad games–they probably represent the best of their genre, and many many people enjoyed them immensely. I might suggest to consider a difference between, "I don't personally enjoy this sort of game" and "this is a BAD game." There are lots of sports games out there. I have zero interest in any of them because I find simulated sports really really boring. But I wouldn't say they are bad games because of that personal preference. Does someone really need to be making points like this? [ Monday, December 12, 2005 19:55: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| So where is the character editor? in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 18:59
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Jeff says, "No character editor for A4, just cheat codes". That web page must be either old or thrown together from templates from a previous game. I played both my first two games with less than optimal usage of my skill points, as I didn't yet understand how many of them or the game worked in the long run. It didn't diminish from either my success or my fun. If you're any good, you'll prevail, despite "mistakes". Just don't neglect giving someone Tool Use, and you have to have a mage to dispel barriers. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Some Simple Suggestions for not Sucking at A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 18:43
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Yeah, I like your Slith priest idea. The priest is the one PC who can most affordably spare some points to be a bit of a figher too, as the priest has cheaper spells/faster priest spell level up due to the Pure Spirit trait. The top is 17, not the 18 it was in A3 as I recall, at least to cast all spells. Mages take more to power up, and really need some potency for Lightning Spray in the mid-game, speaking of which...yeah, it can be kind of unpredictable which three foes are going to be the recipients of your lovingly bestowed electrical greeting. I have had Lightning Spray go literally straight forward and 180 degrees to each side if those were the only three targets nearby. LS only hits three targets for the entire game, in case anyone is wondering. I think that my next game may employ a slith priest, and I will makeone or two meat shield melee fighters, probably one fighter/archer and one fighter/thief. I keep wanting to make a fifth PC for this game so I can have: one melee, one pole (or second mage), one mage, one priest, and one archer/thief. It is always a strain to cover all these skills with only four PC's. The mage suffers if you make him your thief or archer, but I don't like sacrificing one whole fighter just to be an archer or thief, especially to be as good a thief as I want to try to make, to get in that L35 door. You know, it's probably not worth pumping up the thief that much for one or two doors in the game. Like I said, my mage opened a L25 door magically. I'd just like to know what's behind those L28 and L35 doors. Hey Ephesos, why don't you use the cheat code to pump up your powerful thief to level 35 and tell me what's behind the door in the library in Patrick's Tower? -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Some Simple Suggestions for not Sucking at A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 17:42
Profile
Well, you guys are right in the facts, though my slith was typically always doing more damage than my melee man. Conversely, and I haven't figured out why for sure yet, my human melee fighter had much more consistent Quick Action double strikes than my Slith pole fighter. The thing about Avernum IV that seems especially poignant this time 'round is that any choice you make in your party makeup and skill-spread is going to mean sacrificing something else, and leaving a weakness of some kind. It is fun to experiment with and try different possibilities. There are a lot of great swords and shields in this game, and at least 2-3 excellent pole weapons and a couple more quite good ones. Having a pole fighter means passing up a good shield possibility for that PC. If you are an especially aggressive offense-oriented kind of player, then a spear-user will probably be more gratifying through most or all of the game, though he will likely die more often too. If you are going to play on Tricky or Torment level difficulty, the better defense with swords and shields may be more effective. That's one fun aspect of the game...there are some significantly different ways to strategize and specialize and still be able to succeed just fine. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Some Simple Suggestions for not Sucking at A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 16:19
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quote:You used that in past tense, Eph...does that mean you gave up on that game? I was curious how it went for you and whether or not it was sastisfying. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 16:17
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Which beta version did you play when you got the Emerald Chestguard, Vlish? In the first game I played a month ago, it was pretty easy, at least after a couple attempts. My second game, on V1.0 or the final beta before it, the fight was significantly beefed up and it took me many attempts and strategy experiments to pull it off. Many fights have gotten harder than they were in the earlier betas. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 15:33
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I must say that Jeff almost entirely succeeded in his stated intention of removing the annoying, boring, and repetitive aspects of the previous games. Things I don’t miss: • arrows • lockpicks • potion making skill • unswappable PC locations during combat • lost items after battles if you couldn’t pick them all up on the spot • absolute weight carrying limitations (which also once affected the previous point) • item identification • automatic absolute penalty for visible theft • poisonous swamps/the need for pathfinder skill • the need for food (food is pretty worthless in A4 and should have just been done away with entirely) Things I kind of miss but can live without: • light spells and torches • move mountains • far sight Added things which I appreciate: • Fun and useful archery • Even more weapons and armor to choose from than ever • Improved spells and area spells, including useful acid (use acid on the skeletons and undead around Mertis for startling effective results, even before learning how to disrupt their magic). Things that need to be added: • Better info on what certain skills do or affect. I keep not being able to tell for sure if things like Blademaster or Quick Action apply to both poles and swords. • More moddable beginnings. Maybe a game as a duo or singleton would be fun and doable if I had all the skill points for four available PC for just the singleton to match the overall party skill level, but housed in one superman. I don’t want to type cheat codes over and over to set up a game like that A4 is best with four PCs overall anyway, though, so it’s not a big deal. • More, not less PC graphics. Where’d the cute blonde gal go? Not the sprites, which are fine, but the faces and bodies in the PC info screens. Only two slith possibilities? And I have ever only barely liked the look of one nephil. Of course, cat people are hard to take too seriously, period. Things I miss: • Elevation, elevation, elevation. It must be brought back for A5. • Even though perpetual town mode has its advantages, I still kind of miss getting a bigger view of the outdoor world and often felt unsure just where I was. Yes, I know there is a map, but that’s an extreme scale. • Using boats. I spent most my first game waiting for the part of the game where I got to finally make boats work and explore places by water, but it never came. Heck, there were even parked boats here and there you couldn’t hop into that made me think I would eventually be able to. I agree that the solution to the water monster problem was never handled very sastisfactorily. I wanted to be more involved in it somehow. • Group haste. Considering you can still group everything else, why not haste? I think Jeff considered it too much of an advantage, but it isn’t logical to not be able to do when you can mass heal, mass cure, mass shield, etc. • The ability to improve barter, though in a way it’s nice not to have to worry about. I just didn’t feel right getting only 37 gold for a suit of chain mail the whole game. Not that money was a problem, but just the ratios felt so miserly. I’d have been happier to get 33% or 50% as the fixed resale value, but have everything be accordingly more expensive to buy. Same deal for the Skill Points for levelling up. 5 SP feels miserly. I’d rather get 8 or 10 and have skills be more expensive. This is all just psychological, I know. • More quests for legendary items. I like the feeling of going through something brutal and harrowing like the Pit of the Wyrm to get the Fury Crossbow in A3. The only real such quest in the game is for the Emerald Chestguard. Even the challenge to get Demonslayer didn’t seem that monumental once I figured out how to go about it. Something equally amazing in way of a bow or magician’s tool to hunt down in some difficult and farflung location would have been nice. I think there should be four such legendary items per game, at the least, one for each PC potentially. “I have some KILLER ideas for Avernum 5. - Jeff Vogel November, 2005” The plot strongly invites an A5, and Jeff suggests he may be inspired to do it. One day perhaps we’ll see how “killer” it is. Maybe if he’d let some of us help him write the plot...I know I have some fresh ideas. [ Monday, December 12, 2005 21:41: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Some Simple Suggestions for not Sucking at A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, December 12 2005 14:40
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quote:Yes, one will be just fine going with either or both weapons in A4, and there are plenty to choose from for each. There are spears with some impressive “extra ablities” as well. I never got my melee ability up to par with my pole use. I suppose it’s how you concentrate your skills. I still think it takes more of an investment to make a good melee fighter than a good pole fighter. Note that the strongest pole weapons outpower the strongest melee weapons by +12 hit points, if I recall all my weapons correctly. Pole weapons will be more potent for a good while into the game or at least much more affordably so, though I suppose someone could beef up a melee figther with nothing else but strength and melee skill and get close. Bottom line: go with which you enjoy more. I think you’ll be happy either way. quote:It happened to me in a recent experimental game. Heavier armor (basically anything heavier than leather) cut off my mage casting abilities entirely. [EDIT] NOTE that this was on a mage with no Natural Mage ability, as it turns out. But I also seem to recall it happened to my Natural Mage (cutting off all but spells 1-3) when using seriously heavy plate mail toward the end of my second game before I boosted his strength or dexterity a bit, and I think it was actually strength that fixed it. He was very low on strength...maybe 3. quote:My first party was all human because I was focused on minimizing experience penalties, and it did quite well too. Basically, things seem pretty balanced so you can pick and match whatever combinations please you without inordinately advantaging or disadvantaging your party as long as you specialize appropriately. Because experience penalties really aren’t too bad over the whole run of the game, best I have checked so far, loading up a slith won’t be a huge disadvantage, just as making a human with two negative traits is not going to give you any real net advantage either. He’ll level up too quickly and start getting 0-1 experience points per kill and then be hampered by his disadvantages more than anything. [ Monday, December 12, 2005 16:30: Message edited by: Synergy67 ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |