Profile for Shadowplay

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Field	Value
Displayed name	Shadowplay
Member number	7830
Title	Apprentice
Postcount	1
Homepage
Registered	Thursday, December 28 2006 08:00

Recent posts

Author	Recent posts
Monty Haul in Avernum 4
Shadowplay Apprentice Member # 7830	written Thursday, December 28 2006 20:01 Profile #4 Message board? I didn't know Spiderweb had a message board. Amazing what actually reading a "readme" file can do ... I think the main easiness of the game was because many of the "rank and file" monsters' special abilities didn't grow as yours did. For example, the Chitrach was a perfect mid-level monster because mid-grade and upper level Chitratches had that extremely annoying parry/riposite skill. Giants, while big and damaging, did not have many special abilities. The blue ones didn't throw boulders at melee range, which made them easy to kill by running up to them and whacking away, and the only other ability was the orange mutated ones' "daze stomp", which they used very infrequently. The Vahnatai Myrmidon was an effective late game opponent because of magic resistance and Parry/Riposite, but I don't think you ever encountered another force like the 4 Myrmidons you fought in the Castle even at the end game. the average Vanhatai fighter is weak and too easily Dazed (don't even need Strong Daze; the average Daze will do just fine), and the Myrmidons were too few in number in Rentar-Ihrno's lairs. One other thing was that SP and HP were very level dependent and not so much attribute dependent, so that even my brain-dead fighters had half-decent spell points in the middle of the game. The one thing I found that was perfect in this game was the cash balance: the available spells and skills ate up your cash at the rate at which it became available. Anyways, there were several things I noticed about the game: 1. I couldn't seem to figure out what the difference was between difficulty levels; they all seemed roughly the same. Also, difficulty levels had a habit of switching from time to time when I loaded the game, or not displaying properly (options would show one thing, the game screen another). Perhaps there's a bug in the difficulty levels? 2. In previous games, there were only 14 levels of spells (7 priest, 7 mage), whereas now there are 34 (17 priest, 17 mage). If you start pumping up your levels, your spellcasters become VERY powerful. The 100-hp Minor Heal, 70-hp level 1 Fire spell, and 30-hp Poison spell got me through a lot of battles because of their very low spell point cost. If you take a look at previous games, you got something like 80 skill points at the start plus 6 points per level, decreasing by 1 every 10 levels. Here you got 5 points per level. 3. Even mass battles become easy if you use Daze/Mass Daze, sometimes even embarassingly so. 4. I don't know about you guys, but later on in the game I was trying to keep my spellcasting down to make sure I broke even on spell points every battle so I could dungeon crawl longer and have plenty of spell points for big battles. I think there's something wrong when the average encounter actually increases your current SP. For most encounters I just let the fighters wade in and kill everything in sight, and healed them a few times when necessary. As I said before, a 100hp minor heal goes a long way. 5. If you boost your spellcasters' Intelligence trait, after a while you get a phenomenal amount of spell points. 6. I don't know about you guys, but I found the Pylons more bothersome than challenging with a "bait and bow" strategy: sent one person about 5 squares away from the pylon to stop regeneration, and then whack it to death with everyone else hasted and blessed shooting from 1 square outside the pylon's range. Put Fire and Frost resistance and an Endurance Girdle on your baiter and he'll last a looooong time (assume Enduring Shield/Armor, Steel Skin, and Augmentation as available). Add a 100hp Minor Heal every 2 turns and he'll last forever. 7. One thing that I found strange: I couldn't seem to figure out if Demonslayer had any special properties against demons. Maybe enhanced critical hit probability? Also, did Heartstriker have any special powers other than doing huge damage? At the end of the game I had: 2 x Level 35 Custom Class: Human Paladin (level 4 priest + sword/bow fighter) Level 35 Custom Class: Human Mage/Priest (level 17 priest/mage, level 5 spellcraft). Level 35 Custom Class: Human Mage/Priest/Rogue (level 17 priest/mage, level 10 spellcraft, level 12 tool use, GREAT for Unlock). Gave her all of my Skill potions/gems and got something like 600 spell points at the end. If you want a great investment, think of a few levels of Priest for your fighters. They become a fountain of free pre-battle Bless/shield and post-battle healing. Are those undead or demons troubling you with their melee resistances? Have your fighters zap away with Repel Spirit. Anyways, have fun. Those of us who aren't playing on fruit will have to wait a while for Geneforge. Posts: 1 \| Registered: Thursday, December 28 2006 08:00

Author

Recent posts

Monty Haul in Avernum 4

Shadowplay

Apprentice

Member # 7830

written Thursday, December 28 2006 20:01 Profile #4

Message board? I didn't know Spiderweb had a message board. Amazing what actually reading a "readme" file can do ...

I think the main easiness of the game was because many of the "rank and file" monsters' special abilities didn't grow as yours did. For example, the Chitrach was a perfect mid-level monster because mid-grade and upper level Chitratches had that extremely annoying parry/riposite skill. Giants, while big and damaging, did not have many special abilities. The blue ones didn't throw boulders at melee range, which made them easy to kill by running up to them and whacking away, and the only other ability was the orange mutated ones' "daze stomp", which they used very infrequently. The Vahnatai Myrmidon was an effective late game opponent because of magic resistance and Parry/Riposite, but I don't think you ever encountered another force like the 4 Myrmidons you fought in the Castle even at the end game. the average Vanhatai fighter is weak and too easily Dazed (don't even need Strong Daze; the average Daze will do just fine), and the Myrmidons were too few in number in Rentar-Ihrno's lairs.

One other thing was that SP and HP were very level dependent and not so much attribute dependent, so that even my brain-dead fighters had half-decent spell points in the middle of the game.

The one thing I found that was perfect in this game was the cash balance: the available spells and skills ate up your cash at the rate at which it became available.

Anyways, there were several things I noticed about the game:

1. I couldn't seem to figure out what the difference was between difficulty levels; they all seemed roughly the same. Also, difficulty levels had a habit of switching from time to time when I loaded the game, or not displaying properly (options would show one thing, the game screen another). Perhaps there's a bug in the difficulty levels?

2. In previous games, there were only 14 levels of spells (7 priest, 7 mage), whereas now there are 34 (17 priest, 17 mage). If you start pumping up your levels, your spellcasters become VERY powerful. The 100-hp Minor Heal, 70-hp level 1 Fire spell, and 30-hp Poison spell got me through a lot of battles because of their very low spell point cost. If you take a look at previous games, you got something like 80 skill points at the start plus 6 points per level, decreasing by 1 every 10 levels. Here you got 5 points per level.

3. Even mass battles become easy if you use Daze/Mass Daze, sometimes even embarassingly so.

4. I don't know about you guys, but later on in the game I was trying to keep my spellcasting down to make sure I broke even on spell points every battle so I could dungeon crawl longer and have plenty of spell points for big battles. I think there's something wrong when the average encounter actually increases your current SP. For most encounters I just let the fighters wade in and kill everything in sight, and healed them a few times when necessary. As I said before, a 100hp minor heal goes a long way.

5. If you boost your spellcasters' Intelligence trait, after a while you get a phenomenal amount of spell points.

6. I don't know about you guys, but I found the Pylons more bothersome than challenging with a "bait and bow" strategy: sent one person about 5 squares away from the pylon to stop regeneration, and then whack it to death with everyone else hasted and blessed shooting from 1 square outside the pylon's range. Put Fire and Frost resistance and an Endurance Girdle on your baiter and he'll last a looooong time (assume Enduring Shield/Armor, Steel Skin, and Augmentation as available). Add a 100hp Minor Heal every 2 turns and he'll last forever.

7. One thing that I found strange: I couldn't seem to figure out if Demonslayer had any special properties against demons. Maybe enhanced critical hit probability? Also, did Heartstriker have any special powers other than doing huge damage?

At the end of the game I had:
2 x Level 35 Custom Class: Human Paladin (level 4 priest + sword/bow fighter)
Level 35 Custom Class: Human Mage/Priest (level 17 priest/mage, level 5 spellcraft).
Level 35 Custom Class: Human Mage/Priest/Rogue (level 17 priest/mage, level 10 spellcraft, level 12 tool use, GREAT for Unlock). Gave her all of my Skill potions/gems and got something like 600 spell points at the end.

If you want a great investment, think of a few levels of Priest for your fighters. They become a fountain of free pre-battle Bless/shield and post-battle healing. Are those undead or demons troubling you with their melee resistances? Have your fighters zap away with Repel Spirit.

Anyways, have fun. Those of us who aren't playing on fruit will have to wait a while for Geneforge.

Posts: 1 | Registered: Thursday, December 28 2006 08:00