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Avernum 4 Mac Beta Testers needed! in General
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #19
Here is one of the relatively rare moments when we tenacious minority Mac minions get to enjoy something prior to the Windoze world. Don't begrudge us this. To this day I am still grievously disappointed that the Civilization III add-on levels and Multiplayer followup was never even ported to Mac...to name but one possible example where we suffer.

Hey, someone who's been a Mac beta-tester before...how long does it take to hear back from Mariann whether or not you've been selected to test? Are we talking a couple days here...a couple weeks...or what?

Aha, and I see Mariann is member #1 here. Who is member #2?

[ Sunday, September 25, 2005 16:22: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
It Must Be Magic in The Avernum Trilogy
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #22
So, Drakester, would you say magic is significantly more altered or enhanced for Avernum 4 than any previous changes for the Avernums?

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
What is the name of the Avernum world? in The Avernum Trilogy
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #28
How we strive to put a face of reality on even our worlds of fantasy. We seek to wrap an imagined land around a real globe. We see faces and familiar objects in random ink blots. We instinctively recoil from the abstract and the unknowable. It's just a bit curious, doncha think?

This has been...

Random Wry Observation #537b.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Avernum 4? in General
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #266
You know what totally weirds me out? The way things like this get discussed online as if it were something real and historic to investigate, analyze, and understand. I'll bet Jeff himself hasn't thought half as much about the implications, insinuations, motivations, and inevitable contradictions in his creation of the Vahnatai and their behavior.

Is this a criticism of people who love to dig deep into what is really just a loosely assembled story for a game? Not especially, but it really is surreal to me to witness the depth of discussion and exploration something completely contrived like a game world can generate. I'll bet even Jeff couldn't answer half the questions, because the story is just a means to an end, playing on age-old themes of one sort or another. If you look too closely at anyone's imagined world, you will see the cracks, because no one can imagine something perfectly in harmony with reality--and you know what they say is stranger than fiction. There's just no telling what comes next in future human history. We keep surprising the mystics and experts alike.

The fascination and endless debate over the imagined worlds of Star Wars, Harry Potter or J.R.R. Tolkien are all a bit ridiculous when you remember what you're debating...a story one person made up. I wrote this mostly out of my inclination to make wryly-amused philosophical sorts of observations of the world around me, so no need to pounce on me for stating the obvious. One should be willing to poke fun at oneself, and here I am in the middle of a slightly absurd place.

[ Wednesday, September 21, 2005 22:55: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Avernum 4? in General
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #245
It could be set up as a cut-scene intro using high-level PC's as if from the end of Avernum 3. All the better if I didn't actually have to play another moment involving Vahnatai.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Avernum 4? in General
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #243
I picture a highly gratifying intro mission for Avernum 4 in the flavor of those "wrap up loose end" intros from a James Bond movie.

At the beginning of Avernum 4 you slip in and assassinate Rentar-Ihrno and level Ghikra with quickfire (originally ironically obtained from Rentar). At this point, the Vahnatai are so weary of their own irksome existence that they all go into a new Resting during which an unfortunate cave-quake shatters every last resting crystal, thereafter sparing the once fantasy-focused world of Avernum from any more ridiculous intrusions by sci-fi aliens, factories, and lasers.

Is it too much to hope for?

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #33
Hey look, I can endlessly edit and mangle my words, warping all sense of time and continuity in posting.

All due apologies for my ignorance about double posts. I have been referring to the Forum FAQ because I usually don't go through the main page and haven't been checking the Code of Conduct.

Feel free to have me sacrificed at dawn if it will appease the Byte Gods.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:56: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #29
Forum Leader: Please delete this post. The sooner I stop looking like a moron around here, the happier I'll be.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:46: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #28
Thanks for the zippy help, Master of Disgusting and Unfortunate Medical Maladies--er--Remedies. I hadn't seen the door into that room...barely visible in the dark wall it was.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #26
Forum Leader: Please delete this post.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:45: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #25
All right, fair 'nuff. I'm surprised storage is an issue with a site of relatively limited traffic like this to the degree you describe. Also, if storage is that limited here, why shouldn't it be set up to just roll off the oldest posts perpetually like Usenet?

Meanwhile, I have a new question for the original subject of the Bahssikava scenario:
I'm in the north area from the Steel Door fortress, the one with all the golems along the pathway up the hill by the river, then down the west side with the golem factory rooms. I came to the bottom area in the SW corner, but the gates back to the N on the west side of the map are closed.

I'm sure it's something simple I missed somewhere, but what opens those gates? I looked at the hints and it didn't appear to mention this.It just says continue north through the gates.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:44: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #23
I don't get what's up with the fuss over how many posts someone makes.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:42: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Question about Magic Levels in BoA in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #4
Yeah, I prefered the simpler three levels with each third level of a spell being a bit of its own minor quest in the game. Increasing intelligence, mage & priest levels, and magery seems like plenty in addition with which to increase the strength of spells. I wonder if Jeff is making this more or less complex for Avernum 4.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Does anyone remember in General
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #33
True confessions of a video game junky:

1977 Discovered some weird new gaming device called Space Invaders at my local Pizza Hut. Instant addiction. Too much of newspaper route money went to feed The Beast and I even sneaked out in the middle of the night and walked over a mile to play it.

1978 My best friend gets an early Atari system. I am not permitted to spend as much time at his house as I would have liked.
early 80's: The arcade explosion. Pet favorites: Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Galaga, Joust.

1981. First home computer game experience ever. Dad built some sort of PC and it had Adventure (?) on it. You know, the original Zork with the big cave with the "twisty passages all alike" which Jeff V. likes to refer to in the Avernums. I could never finish the damn thing. I got the Trident, couldn't get the magic carpet away from the dragon.

1985. Got my first Apple, a //c and my game trading days began. Wound up with way more cheesy little hacked games than I ever played, but one favorite was surely Loderunner and I even built some of the most brain-wracking Loderunner levels I wager anyone ever saw. The only RPG I ever playe through on the Apple was Ultima IV.

1988-1996. A nice long reprieve from the gaming addiction until I bought my first modern Mac and got online, etc. in 96. Had to get caught up on Doom, Hexen, Myst, Dark Forces, 7th Guest, and much else I'd been missing.
2000's Game playing reduced to Civilization addiction.

2004. Discovered the world of Avernum and slowly got sucked in, never having been a fan or player of D&D type games. Now I feel a lot more geeky than I ever was before. lusting after that Radiant Slith Spear or whatever. Sheesh.
I'm sure this has been utterly fascinating for you to read, but my sympathies if you made it this far. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled deprogramming.

[ Wednesday, September 21, 2005 14:03: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Question about Magic Levels in BoA in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #0
I have noticed that in BoA, levels of spells learned go from 1-5 now. I also have noticed that some scenarios offer magic learned at even higher levels....which is confusing. The character editor only goes up to 5. What happens at even higher levels? Spell strength just keeps stepping up at some regular interval? How much difference is there between level 3 (which I am used to) and level 5? I was familiar with how useful level 3 of spells were in the trilogy. I'm not clear on the breakdown into five levels now.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #17
Forum Leader: Please delete this post.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:31: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #16
Forum Leader: Please delete this post.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:27: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #15
Holy hopping Hakaai, Batman! Kel, I'm battling the demon hordes at present and have encountered two, no wait, three little anomalies in case you'd like to know.

1) In the control room that holds the slith crystal souls, when a switch is in center position, the dialog box when looking the switch control says the switch is in the right position. The choices for movement are correct: left or right. I already solved this puzzle, but it was confusing with the incorrect position being indicated. It was consistent though.

2) In the big battle room fighting the Hakaai leader along with the imps, etc., the flying demons do something weird under the following conditions: I have entered fight mode, then ended combat in an effort to get everyone in the same area again. The next flying demon which crosses the chasm flies off to the southwest and completely off the screen into blackness at which point the game freezes. It's not a fatal freeze. I can force quit BoA to escape.

3) Another curious anomaly: If I move my party leader into the one square that the first flying demon intends to occupy after flying over the chasm, he blinks back onto the bridge instead of landing. Muahuahaaaa...

QUESTION: I have Phaedra and the former slith prisoner in my party now. I haven't been able to get them to round the pit room in this battle with my main two PC's. They stay off to the west. If I end combat to get them to rejoin me down south b the bridge where my PC's have migrated, all my party members instead reform back on the west entry area by the 5th and 6th members. Is this intentional?

More random notes:

1) "Khassper" the slith ghost. Very funny.

2) Poetry--so far--is wisely not overly self-indulgent. ;)

3) I have noticed that fifth and sixth party members will often get left behind if they begin combat too far away from or out of line of sight with some immediate adversary. I have gone through a few battles here now where Phaedra and/or the slith hung out just around the corner the whole time. I realize this is not in the hands of the scenario builder to remedy, but it became especially apparent playing this scenario. If I want them all in the fight, I have to get closer to the foes in town mode before entering fight mode. It means more damage up front.

4) I have received now two awesomely potent spear weapons in this scenario. Too bad my fighter happens to be a melee master. :(

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:39: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
It Must Be Magic in The Avernum Trilogy
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #7
Oops, with all due apologies, Ephesos, for the double post, I knew there was something in Canopy I forgot to pursue...some specialized weapon the snobby smith in the main castle would make for me if it was worth his bother. Funny, I poke around pretty thoroughly, but don't remember finding any mithril anywhere. I was in a hurry to get the hell out of there, though, heh.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
It Must Be Magic in The Avernum Trilogy
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #6
Kel, yeah, Divine Warrior was fun. It seems like each new Avernum both adds and takes away something I like. I've peeked at Exile III spells and can see what some of these which people miss might be...Shockwave (if I recall) looks like fun to name one. And it's very odd to me that so many foes can Curse my PC's but I can no longer return the favor.

Blister...sounds like an ambitious and intriguing project you're working on. 100 different spells though? Yikes!

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Blowing the lid off the Canopy in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #18
Kingy, I repeatedly acknowledge the creative and technical prowess of TM. In many regards, Canopy does deserve to be high up on the heap (the heap is not very high yet for BoA).

If it didn't sound so daunting to really master using the scenario editor, I'd be building my own right now. I'd love to try something really experimental and unusual, while being aesthetically and functionally very pleasing. It sounds like it takes a hell of a learning curve and a lot of time to make one of these things, so all due respect to TM and all others who have taken it upon themselves for people like me to try and in all fairness voice my displeasure over the experience. I'm one person with one person's opinion.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #7
Because there's no such thing as bad publicity. A lot of people secretly or openly enjoy generating controversy or even outright antipathy. If TM is either of those sorts, I think he'd surely be the latter. Notoriety is simply another form of fame.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #4
Ha ha, I do love wordplay. Good one, Arancaytar. Oddly, I somehow imagine my statements about Canopy would be gratifying to TM if anything.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
It Must Be Magic in The Avernum Trilogy
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #2
quote:
Originally written by Ephesos:

Wow... you really don't start short discussions, do you?
That capacity seems to elude me despite my best efforts.

...

So, with the differences in the similar priest and mage spells, the only real use for the lesser redundant priest spells occurs when you have no mage or only need to use a small about of spell points to finish someone off it would appear. Are there other practical reasons to use the priest version of the mage spells?

What I was suggesting with Spray Acid was not to use it on inanimate objects, but that it could be designed to be especially useful on something like a Doomguard or a living statue which are made of dissolvable substances...or maybe you could use it on anything wearing armor to make any further assaults more effective (the armor has been damaged by the acid).

What did you mean by super-broken items?

Which scenario has Maximilian? I either haven’t played that one or didn’t keep it. I did keep the Adlerauge crossbow (insanely potent) from Mad Ambition and the demon sword from Canopy (which is not as normally powerful as a blessed greatsword) and a whole bunch of souped-up magical armor and jewelry.

Resurrection: if I can be resurrected from dust for a bit of spell energy, life force, and alchemical ingredients, what good is it to assassinate Hawthorne or evil mage whats-his-name in Avernum 1? Surely their powerful priests could infinitely resurrect them as necessary, just like my one priest or a local healer is able to do for any of my PC’s when needed. This is why resurrection bothers me. It’s a non-sequitor never taken to its logical conclusion in the fantasy world. If resurrection is really possible, no death of anything living is necessarily permanent.

And practically speaking, how many players actually use resurrection instead of just reloading a saved game and not dying at all? Ultimately, what’s the difference? Resurrection is really rather dispensible. I can see it as a carry-over from the D&D world which is really not necessary in a comptuerized game world where saving and redoing is quick and easy and expedient.

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
Delving Deep Into Bahssikava in Blades of Avernum
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #1
Forum Leader: Please delete this post.

[ Monday, September 19, 2005 20:49: Message edited by: synergy67 ]

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00

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