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Displayed name	Thuryl
Member number	869
Title	...b10010b...
Postcount	9973
Homepage	http://thuryl.desperance.net/blades.html
Registered	Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00

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The Dingoes Ate My Baby! in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 23:39 Profile Homepage #92 quote: Alorael, for me, has four syllables. A - low - ray - el, first and third syllable stressed. It sounds sort of like the biblical name of an arch-angel, if you can imagine an arch-angel with a sniper rifle. I had exactly the same thought upon first seeing the name. It's the -el ending in particular that gives that impression, of course. I pronounce it slightly differently, though: a (as in "balloon"; an undifferentiated vowel) - LO (as in "loss") - ray (as in, well, "ray") - el (as in "elephant"). -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Scenarios in Development in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 23:04 Profile Homepage #17 DG, if you do finish your scenario, I'll be very interested in seeing what it's like, and I mean that with the utmost sincerity. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Article - Party vs. Designer in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 22:55 Profile Homepage #31 Well, the trouble is that the only way to make a highly durable enemy without banning Cloud of Blades is to give it a ludicrous amount of melee resistance, which would mess with melee-based parties. The way I see it, removing CoB was the lesser of two evils. (It's literally possible for a priest-heavy party to kill off any single non-melee-resistant enemy within a round or two.) Just because taking a percentage of HP is the way the spell works, by the way, doesn't mean it's not unbalanced. All it does is show that there are situations where the spell itself is unbalancing. The BoA engine has problems, and I think designers have every right to work around them. EDIT: Wow. You just gave me a great idea on how to weaken CoB without banning CoB or breaking melee/mage balance. Raise all the enemy's melee and elemental resistances to some high level (70-90%), and adjust its HP down accordingly. Relative damage of all attacks except CoB remains constant even though absolute damage decreases, while CoB takes a double hit in power, from both the increase in resistance and the decrease in HP, thus bringing its power back to a reasonable level relative to other forms of attack. Thanks for the inspiration. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 23:10: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Bahssikava released! in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 19:14 Profile Homepage #68 The way I see it, a finished work is a finished work. No need to rewrite it now. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Machinery in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 17:50 Profile Homepage #4 There are only three puzzle rooms. You do, however, need to light all four sources. Use the mirrors in the hallways to light the fourth. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Who is your favorite exile? in The Exile Trilogy
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 15:59 Profile Homepage #21 quote: Originally written by TakenName: teh lady who was 'studying' Motrax I really hope you are not trying to imply anything unsavoury with those quotation marks. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
desperate for GF3 in Geneforge Series
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 15:58 Profile Homepage #33 Funny you should say that; lots of Exile fans complain that while Avernum's graphics may be 3D, the people look an awful lot like stick figures. I suppose it's just a matter of what one is used to. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
desperate for GF3 in Geneforge Series
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 15:58 Profile Homepage #33 Funny you should say that; lots of Exile fans complain that while Avernum's graphics may be 3D, the people look an awful lot like stick figures. I suppose it's just a matter of what one is used to. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
desperate for GF3 in Geneforge 2
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 15:58 Profile Homepage #33 Funny you should say that; lots of Exile fans complain that while Avernum's graphics may be 3D, the people look an awful lot like stick figures. I suppose it's just a matter of what one is used to. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Bahssikava released! in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 15:48 Profile Homepage #65 quote: Originally written by Kelandon: EDIT: This reminds me a bit of a few conversations that I had about the combat. People kept telling me, "Make it interesting! Make it interesting!" I'd ask, "What wasn't interesting, and how could I make it interesting?" They'd reply, "Make it interesting! Make it interesting!" :P Hey, I thought we did a pretty good job of telling you which parts lagged. Telling you how to make things more interesting is harder, because for it to be interesting there should be something unexpected about it, and for obvious reasons it's hard to imagine what something unexpected would be. Anyway, we motivated you to make the Tunnels sequence, so obviously our haranguing achieved something worthwhile. :P -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Special skills question in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 15:40 Profile Homepage #2 I think EW is something like an extra +5% to hit and +1 die to damage every few levels. Not sure how many "a few" is. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Article - Party vs. Designer in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 15:35 Profile Homepage #29 quote: Originally written by Solomon Strokes: hingent Best TMism ever. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Hi, new here, compelling game ! in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 02:48 Profile Homepage #4 A Perfect Forest's beatable with a beginner party, but the combat's on the tricky side. Most of it will be very easy with a level-10 party, but if you don't mind that, go ahead (there isn't a huge amount of combat anyway). No, there's no single place to see all your bonuses to hit, your damage and total armour, unfortunately. Which is a little strange, because Blades of Exile (the precursor to BoA) had the first two of those. Archers are pretty good all the way through. I find that it's best to give them a couple of levels of priest spells as well; you can never have too many healers. Don't bother giving them Strength or melee skills; it's too dangerous for a part-time fighter to mess around at melee range. It's good to have at least one fighter in your party for defensive reasons, to draw the attacks of melee-using opponents away from your vulnerable spellcasters. Fighters also do a lot of damage at higher levels, if you give them good weapons and build up skills like Assassination. Mages are powerful early on, but in high-level scenarios they start to lag behind and are mostly useful for summoning allies to protect you (which is still a pretty useful function, but not one that you need more than one part-time mage for). Priests are necessary all the time, because you're always going to need healing. Also, priests have a couple of excellent spells. Enduring Barrier is a great priest spell in the early stages of the game; it gives you a large amount of extra HP above your normal maximum. For higher-level parties, Radiant Shield is an awesome defence against enemy mages, and War Blessing can haste characters once you build its level up enough. And if you do need attack spells, Divine Fire and Divine Retribution dish out almost as much damage as Fireblast and Arcane Blow. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 03:04: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Hi, new here, compelling game ! in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 02:00 Profile Homepage #1 Hey there. It's always nice to see a new member here. It's usually a good idea to keep a number of different saved parties at different levels so that you'll have an appropriate party for any scenario. Either that, or keep a beginner party and use Kelandon's very useful High Level Party Maker to raise it to appropriate levels. Anyway, A Small Rebellion is a good scenario to go into with a party that's just finished VoDT. Cave of No Return and Babysitting are appropriate for beginner (level 1) parties; both (especially Babysitting) are quite short, but entertaining enough. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
how to develop a scenario? in Blades of Avernum Editor
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 01:28 Profile Homepage #5 You don't really need to read the editor docs at all; most of what you need to know you can learn by osmosis by opening up scenarios by other people and browsing through their scripts. (It's probably a good idea to read up on custom object scripting yourself, though, since scenario data scripts aren't very informative to look at.) As for the appendices, they're meant to be used as a reference, not memorised. You'll get a feel for the basic calls pretty quickly on your own, and the other calls are used uncommonly enough that they aren't worth memorising. And of course, you can use the map editor without knowing any scripting at all. The map editor is a bit of a pain in its own ways, though. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 01:29: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
how to develop a scenario? in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 01:28 Profile Homepage #5 You don't really need to read the editor docs at all; most of what you need to know you can learn by osmosis by opening up scenarios by other people and browsing through their scripts. (It's probably a good idea to read up on custom object scripting yourself, though, since scenario data scripts aren't very informative to look at.) As for the appendices, they're meant to be used as a reference, not memorised. You'll get a feel for the basic calls pretty quickly on your own, and the other calls are used uncommonly enough that they aren't worth memorising. And of course, you can use the map editor without knowing any scripting at all. The map editor is a bit of a pain in its own ways, though. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 01:29: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Canopy Help - spoiler - in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, February 28 2005 01:22 Profile Homepage #9 Toward the south end of the bugbear caverns. There are two boxes of them. You only need to use one, but there's also a use for the second... -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 21:39 Profile Homepage #18 quote: Originally written by bjlhct2: Thuryl: Are you seriously saying that it is better to make a player do something they need not do for the story than to just tell them that it is there? Depends. If part of the scenario is really, really good, sometimes it's nice to draw it to the player's attention by tying it in to the central plot. I agree that if part of the scenario could be left out without harming the plot at all, it should be optional. If you can suggest the player go through a particularly well-made or interesting part of the scenario instead of forcing it, by all means suggest, but suggest clearly, strongly and visibly within the main plot, so that all players at least know there's something to look for. And I think we can also agree that if the party must be put in a certain situation in order for the story to make sense, the designer should do his damnedest to make sure that situation is enjoyable to play through. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 01:16: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Million Dollar Baby in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 20:26 Profile Homepage #1 You know, you're probably just going to end up starting a euthanasia debate instead. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 19:59 Profile Homepage #14 quote: Of course many people don't try to hide it. Multiple unavoidable several minute long cutscenes with cheesey dialog and nothing you don't know already is an example of linearity that slashes you across the face until you bleed. Most of us don't disagree with you that excessive use of cutscenes can be a bad thing. Part of the problem may be the fact that BoE designers are used to the fact that players can easily skim over text they don't want to read, and this isn't so easy with BoA-style cutscenes. (If you want to avoid them, though, the two currently released scenarios with the greatest number of cutscenes have a Set Cutscene Speed ability; at the highest setting you can breeze through most cutscenes in very little time.) quote: Regarding the idea that I'd like the best Blade of Exiles scenarios if I played them: Very doubtful, based upon comments I've seen on them and the "design" philosophy their creators tout on these boards. Out of curiosity, what would be your ideal scenario? quote: As far as changing my tune, absolutely not. I know what I know from countless years of playing, GMing and designing RPGs and games. It's possible that some of those scenarios are enjoyable despite their linearity, but they certainly aren't enjoyable because of them. Enjoyable to you, that is. At least one player has already mentioned that they dislike scenarios with branching plotlines because being unable to see the entire scenario in one playthrough annoys them. De gustibus non disputandum est. quote: As far as the supposed most successful RPG franchise being Final Fantasy, I think that depends upon what you mean by successful RPG. I'd say the most successful RPG franchise would be Dungeons & Dragons, pen and paper version. Perhaps single-player computer RPGs just aren't the medium for you. Having designed BoE scenarios, and both designed and GMed a tabletop RPG system, it's my opinion that trying to make single-player computer RPGs feel like multiplayer tabletop RPGs is counterproductive. Tabletop RPGs work best when they're relatively light on mechanics (not many people like to spend all day rolling dice). They're essentially collaborative storytelling games with a referee and a few rules for settling disputes. In CRPGs, on the other hand, mechanics aren't a problem because the computer handles them itself, but the game itself consists of little more than a range of pre-determined story elements and puzzles (combat, after all, is just a certain kind of puzzle). Therefore, interest can be added to a CRPG either with a good plot or good puzzles (and a combat system relatively heavy on mechanics is one of the most valuable puzzle design tools at a designer's disposal.) Genuine interactivity in CRPGs is limited to what the designer foresees and allows for. It's better to be honest and acknowledge that rather than try to create a false sense of complete interactivity. Giving the player a range of options is a good thing in case he doesn't particularly enjoy some parts of the game or gets stuck on them, and a player can also be given choices regarding which of a number of predetermined possible directions the plot will progress in, but having a range of options is not the same kind of interactivity as that which involves an active exchange of ideas between designer and player, and the gap between the two is one which it is impossible in principle for CRPG game and scenario designers to bridge. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
A3: The first party of explorers. in The Avernum Trilogy
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 19:26 Profile Homepage #14 There's also the fact that the first group up were basically scouts, not fighters. The monster plagues weren't anticipated, and they certainly weren't going to be fighting the Empire in any case. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
desperate for GF3 in Geneforge Series
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 19:03 Profile Homepage #31 If you can tolerate the engine (it's somewhat, uh, retro), Blades of Exile has lots of excellent scenarios. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
desperate for GF3 in Geneforge Series
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 19:03 Profile Homepage #31 If you can tolerate the engine (it's somewhat, uh, retro), Blades of Exile has lots of excellent scenarios. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
desperate for GF3 in Geneforge 2
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 19:03 Profile Homepage #31 If you can tolerate the engine (it's somewhat, uh, retro), Blades of Exile has lots of excellent scenarios. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Article - bjlhct2 On Scenario Design pt 1: Linearity in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, February 27 2005 18:57 Profile Homepage #11 So you're saying that making a scenario more linear is always a tradeoff? That's probably true in many cases, but I'm not entirely convinced. Linearity often has the disadvantage of making the player feel restricted, but open-endedness often has the disadvantage that players can unintentionally miss significant parts of the scenario. This is a disadvantage of open-endedness in itself, regardless of plot considerations. Allowing things to be done in any order may be liberating to some players, but unfortunately it leaves open the possibility that players won't do them at all, even if they would have enjoyed them had they found them. This is part of what people mean when they say non-linear scenarios suffer from a lack of direction. (Of course, it's also not impossible to provide direction in a non-linear scenario, but it takes much more work.) (By the way, I disagree with Kelandon's claim that Alcritas's scenarios are linear; indeed, I found many of Alcritas's scenarios very frustrating when I first played them precisely because they're not linear. In Redemption, if you run straight through the story without exploring, you miss half the plot. In Falling Stars, if you run straight through the story without exploring, you miss half the plot and have a hell of a time with the final battle. FS is a great scenario, but the way it pretends that it's basically linear and best completed as quickly as possible has always struck me as a bit of a cruel trick.) [ Sunday, February 27, 2005 18:58: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00

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