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E. Gary Gygax passed away in General
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:(
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Item Guides in Blades of Avernum
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RIT seems to have suddenly eaten access to all students' webspaces. Dunno what's up with that - everything's still there when I use my FTP access, but my RIT webspace and everyone else's I know is giving me nothing but 404s.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Item Guides in Blades of Avernum
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They don't. It blocks 1-10 (protection) + 1-10 (extra armor) + 2 (bonus)... or should. I think.

I know my guide has a few miscalculations in it where the descriptions of things don't agree with the engine, with regard to a few weapons and their special damage, and... one of the equippable item types and its protection/bonus values, and I believe an issue where bonus damage blocking is not actually calculated as described, because I go with the descriptions rather than the engine.

I'm considering updating to go with how the engine works if I get the time and I get a list of what I'd need to change, though.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Item Guides in Blades of Avernum
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I wish. :P
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Item Guides in Blades of Avernum
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Anyone remember my old guides to all the items in Blades of Avernum? They're back, and now updated for every scenario out there:

Artifacts by Scenario
Artifacts by Power
Item Guide
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
What is evil in General
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This topic is evil, and I am intentionally causing it harm.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Analysis of Scenario Ratings in Blades of Avernum
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You probably shouldn't include the 0-1 bracket if possible, since sub-1 scores are not legal on CSR.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Blades Scenarios by Starting Level in Blades of Avernum
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You need to not use the version of A Large Rebellion that's on Spiderweb. Instead, grab the one from Shadowvale - it's an unholy hybrid of 1.1.2 and 1.1.5 that I put together, but it's (theoretically) finishable, unlike the 1.1.5 on Spidweb. I think. You might have to tool around with some scripts yourself, depending, but it's most of the way there...
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Homeland : The Stone of Night is now officially a freeware game in General
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quote:
Originally written by The Lurker:

You're a moderator, Imban - and I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to troll in the forum you moderate. Please explain why *you* don't like it, and please don't act like hating Homeland makes you hold the One Absolute Truth in the universe. Believe it or not, there are people out there who sincerely enjoy Homeland.
I was one of Homeland's betatesters and thought it was a righteously lousy game then. I never tried it again after Spiderweb Software picked it up - and in fact, I was quite amused when Spiderweb did - so it's possible that it was much improved later on. The general consensus on the forums seems to be that it's still not a good game, though, so I haven't seen any reason to try it again.

EDIT: I can't, at this point, honestly tell you why I didn't like Homeland back then, since I have only fuzzy memories of the game at best. I can only say that my opinion wasn't intended to be read as gospel truth, and in truth I was intending far more criticism of the idea that ten minutes is too much to wait for anything than of Homeland. Honestly, the only way you're going to find out what you think of the game is to download and play it yourself, and if you do like it, you should thank Lurker.

[ Sunday, February 03, 2008 10:25: Message edited by: Imban ]
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Character Traits / Adventure Log in Blades of Avernum
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IMAGE(http://www.rit.edu/~ipm6435/baddudes.JPG)

Is Pariah really a bad dude, though, or just a low-quality dude?

The Empire's New Grove was really easy for both Avatar and Pariah, obviously, and kinda pointless. It was short, though, so it was easy enough to get out of the way quickly.

Kill Them Dead, while not much longer or more difficult, has optional rooms full of high-level monsters, including two Alien Beasts, a Pack Leader, an Efreet, a Rakshasa, a Haakai, a Mind Crystal, and a Power Crystal. These were all delicious XP snacks for Avatar and Pariah, who handily dispatched them. I ended up getting two artifacts, and while I tossed away Snootfairy's Weird, I'm not sure about Nogan's Glass Eye. Invulnerability is very good, but the very short duration might not make it worth spending an item slot on.

Stats getting edited in later, probably. Any ideas for what I should do after Witch Hunt, Outpost Valley, and Express Delivery? I'm looking at A Small Rebellion, Shades of Grey, and Echoes: Renegade as possible choices.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Character Traits / Adventure Log in Blades of Avernum
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As hinted on the other thread, Avatar and Pariah have currently completed, vaguely in order: Nine Variations on Point B, Babysitting, A Good Beginning, The Cave of No Return, Roses of Reckoning, A Perfect Forest, Lord Putidus, Death at Chapman's, Xerch'de, Valley of the Dying Things, Mad Ambition, Emerald Mountain, Rats Aplenty, Settlers, Embers of Rebellion, Aphobia, Dallerdin's Scenario, Kill Prize Win Ogre, Bonus Army, and now Avatar.

Out of those, I only really regret not having commented on Embers of Rebellion when I played it. It's a great short scenario, with an amazing amount of interactivity and replayability for its length due to how almost everything can only be done at the appropriate time and a lot of those things have consequences. It also got Avatar a new and excellent weapon in Iracos' Pike, which is unfortunately bugged - Ephesos changed its it_name rather than its it_full_name, so it's just called a Steel Pike once identified.

Avatar - Level 28 - 87 HP - 54 SP
12 Strength, 8 Dexterity, 7 Intelligence, 6 Endurance, 2 Nelee Weapons, 12 Pole Weapons, 2 Bows, 2 Thrown Missiles, 5 Hardiness, 8 Defense, 1 Assassination, 7 Mage Spells, 10 Priest Spells, 5 Arcane Lore, 14 Tool Use, 6 Nature Lore, 5 Luck, 1 Parry, 2 Blademaster, 2 Gymnastics, 1 Pathfinder, 3 Resistance
Iracos' Pike, Zenbu no Yoroi, Steel Helmet, Loyalty, Magic Greaves, Titanium Boots, Lucky Cloak, Nimble Band, Priest's Bracelet, Gimeit Ambiere

Pariah - Level 49 - 219 HP - 57 SP
16 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 12 Intelligence, 8 Endurance, 12 Melee Weapons, 6 Pole Weapons, 6 Bows, 2 Thrown Missiles, 5 Hardiness, 10 Defense, 5 Assassination, 6 Mage Spells, 10 Priest Spells, 10 Arcane Lore, 3 Potion Making, 9 Tool Use, 6 Nature Lore, 1 First Aid, 5 Luck, 1 Parry, 6 Blademaster, 2 Gymnastics, 1 Pathfinder, 3 Resistance
Blessed Claymore, Klinger's Bow, 97 Steel Arrows, Zenbu no Yoroi, Steel Helmet, Liberty, Magic Greaves, Titanium Boots, Lucky Cloak, Nimble Band, Priest's Bracelet, Gimeit Ambiere

The next few updates will probably be me bashing through some of the last remaining low-level scenarios: The Empire's New Grove, Witch Hunt, Kill Them Dead, Express Delivery, and Outpost Valley. Currently I'm leaning towards The Empire's New Grove and Kill Them Dead for my next update.

[ Friday, February 01, 2008 10:17: Message edited by: Imban ]
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Avatar Waves Hello in Blades of Avernum
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IMAGE(http://www.rit.edu/~ipm6435/avatar1.JPG)
IMAGE(http://www.rit.edu/~ipm6435/avatar2.JPG)
IMAGE(http://www.rit.edu/~ipm6435/avatar3.JPG)
IMAGE(http://www.rit.edu/~ipm6435/avatar4.JPG)
IMAGE(http://www.rit.edu/~ipm6435/avatar5.JPG)
IMAGE(http://www.rit.edu/~ipm6435/avatar6.JPG)

...So I was having a bit of fun with it since I had to edit the scenario anyway.

Anyway, I've decided to get back into BoA and take my heroes Avatar and Pariah on more zany adventures. Avatar was pretty much a joke with Avatar after I edited out the prefab-forcing, as I expected - I wonder how the two of them will do once they finally get to move on to the higher-level scenarios, since they're not really getting anything but gold from the few low-level scenarios left on the list.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
SimCity: the greatest evil? in General
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I'm amazed that you didn't mention how SimCity 3000 forces you to take drastic measures to lower the life expectancy in your city to avoid a cataclysm where essentially all of your citizens are out of the workforce at once due to old age, Scorpius. That's a far, far more amusing reason to rant against SimCity.

(At least, I think needing to kill the old was SimCity 3000, and not SimCity 4...)

[ Wednesday, January 30, 2008 08:05: Message edited by: Imban ]
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Glued much? in General
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Er... Blades of Exile and the Blades of Exile Monster Arena? The Arena community was the first online community I joined, back far, far too long ago, and I've just hung around since.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Special spells in Exodus in Blades of Avernum
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While you're at it, the Hat of Stability might not be providing all of the bonuses you wanted it to:

it_ability_1 = 57; // resist magic
it_ability_str_1 = 8;
it_ability_2 = 58; // resist mental
it_ability_str_2 = 8;
it_ability_2 = 61; // bonus AP
it_ability_str_2 = 1;


[ Wednesday, January 30, 2008 07:55: Message edited by: Imban ]
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Homeland : The Stone of Night is now officially a freeware game in General
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quote:
Originally written by Janitorial Closet:

I tried downloading the stupid file, and guess what? My computer said the download would take 10 minutes! And it was still rising. Like I would download that. :D

Seriously is it good enough to download as a 10 minute wait?

I could understand your position if it was actually going to take... significant time to download. Say, eight or more hours?

But no, Homeland probably isn't worth a 10-minute wait unless you're really bored - heck, it's not really worth the time to play it unless you're really bored - but 10 minutes isn't a wait at all.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Poll Advantage in Blades of Avernum
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It does, but higher-level characters gain less XP because the formula for determining XP gained is based on the level of the enemy you just killed compared to yours.

For comparison, Avatar needs 2000 XP/level, but gains XP from almost everything since he's "only" level 28. Pariah only needs 100 XP/level, but as a level-49 character, only monsters of level 25+ give him any experience whatsoever, and even then it takes boss-level monsters to actually give him large chunks of XP.

[ Tuesday, January 22, 2008 19:47: Message edited by: Imban ]
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
The Graveyard Thread in General
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Pariah

BoA, singleton Human edited to have Divinely Touched and every Disadvantage.

In the scenario Mad Ambition, about halfway through you are struck by the armored superNephil Zenbu and sent flying across the room "severely wounded" in a scripted event. This is accompanied by unblockable damage equivalent to something like 80% of your current HP.

Pariah has the Brittle Bones disadvantage, which doubles the damage you take from physical attacks. Unbeknownst to TM at the time, this includes unblockable damage. Unblockable damage in excess of your current HP also, unlike regular damage, kills you immediately rather than leaving you at 0 HP.

"Severely wounded" my foot.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Poll Advantage in Blades of Avernum
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I have to say, I'm honestly surprised that few people seem to use Completely Inept. From my play with Pariah, a human who uses the HLPM to have all five disadvantages, Completely Inept doesn't seem to be adversely impacting his performance at all, once he got past the very low levels. Which, well, he did almost instantly.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Hardest Spiderweb Game EVER!! in General
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I'll go with Blades of Exile here. Blades of Avernum has some scenarios which are difficult at times, but Blades of Exile has Echoes, Echoes: Black Horse, Demon Island, Demon Island II, and Doom Moon II.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Who celebrates Christmas? in General
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I'll be eating Chinese food on Christmas, yeah. I don't really celebrate it so much, but my family and some of my friends occasionally exchange a few gifts around then.
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
IMAGINE THIS SCENARIO, Aphobia, and Avatar released! in Blades of Avernum
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[15:19] terrorsmartyr: Where did I get the name "Pilgrim's Rest?" It's literally a place for pilgrims to rest at.

That... yeah. :P

EDIT: Also, IMAGINE THIS SCENARIO and Aphobia are about TMery. Avatar is about religion and is an actual scenario with actual combat and plot and stuff.

[ Friday, October 05, 2007 10:24: Message edited by: Imban ]
Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
IMAGINE THIS SCENARIO, Aphobia, and Avatar released! in Blades of Avernum
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TM's three 24-hour scenarios are out:

http://www.geocities.com/terrorsmartyr/scenariosboa/index.html

I personally recommend Avatar.
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noob info in General
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That is certainly no longer applicable, if it ever was. TM has been, shall we say, dis-membered. :P
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