First impressions of the demo
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Agent
Member # 1993
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 16:57
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I just completed the demo version of BoA. Here some of my first impressions - to all the poor fellows out there without a true computer ... There is a tutorial. Oops, really ...if somebody is not able to read docs and walktroughs, he will be overcharged with playing BoA, in my opinion. (Reminded me to that indescribable stupid helping computer, pre-installed in certain MS applications ...) o.k., if you endure that tutorial, you get 3 amber gems. After all. BoA has some new designs. For example you can have a pretty female(?) slith in a pink(!) hoodcape in your party ... Some NPCs show their portraits by talking to them (exonerates from own fantasy ...) *cough. New weapons and scrolls. Modern chairs and lockers. Drugs are mostly re-designed: Potions come in different phials, there are powders in pouches. Powders? hmm ... No, I didn't find skribbane now. New sounds, e.g. doors open now with a pneumatic hiss. Monsters: well known enemies from A3 - Golems, Altered Beasts - appear rather early in the game. Fortunately, they come alone or in twos only ... Gremlins are a new class of annoying foes: puzzling different appearences, not strong but small, hard to see and quick. Beware of their magic! Doors: totally modificated. The good thing: once opened, they stay unlocked, when you re-enter the place. The complication: to open locked doors, you need strenght or mechanical skill and lockpicks. Good old spell Open Door affects only the few magically locked ones ... damn. Spells & skills: Save Travel has been replaced by Enduring Barrier (whatever that means... a masochist thing?). In the first scenario you can buy only the first two spells until L2. No more fast raising of skills ... *sigh. But you can train your PC everywhere indoors - new comfort. Another new suitability: picking up Items goes - swsh, swsh - easy by clicking, without dragging one by one anymore. What an improvement! Money: Good news for collectors: The cap is at 30'000. Hourglasses increased in value. Healers (at least the one I met) offer a fixed price for service, no matter if they heal, raise dead or resurrect. Traps: They brought in the landmines from Geneforge! Nasty, especially early in the game. The nastiest thing: When you re-enter the place, all traps are re-activated. NPC: A skilled archer will follow your party after you have done a quest for him. LOL - I was searching the whole valley for a room to store one charakter ... before I found, that you can have 5 members in your party! But he does not appear in the characters, means: no training. Story: ingenious, once more. You must discover and eliminate the source of a water pollution, that sickens a whole valley. It appears that the source is a hidden waste depository with leaking barrels. I don't know, if the other three scenarios cohere with the first adventure, but I really appreciate this one. Environmental pollution is a very actual and urgent topic, especially, where the government couldn't care less. Thank you Jeff for sensitizing the playing children. Sorry for the talkative post ...*waiting for my registration code... :D ) (o (( hail BoA! -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 2711
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 17:10
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well, most of what you say is true, but it is usually a good idea to do all the side-quests of a scenario before going for the big thing...entering the altered beasts part of the tower at lvl 2 isnt exactly brilliant... by the time you pass every side quest you should be lvl 7-10 which goes to about 15ish by the time yiu get to altered beasts. i like the new 5th and 6th npc thing and even though you can't train or move them, they kind of adapt to the scen (dont expect to get a dragon sidekick in a 1-10 scen... as well nobody will be cruel enough to give you a brigand archer for a 40-50 scen...right guys...? :eek: PS: the 2 side quests that arent worth it: find mining scrolls: you get 200gp for wasting about 30 mins... healing sceptre thing: you give up a very good item that heals disease on all for a cheap 150gp....damn poor farmers... the rest are pretty good Posts: 126 | Registered: Wednesday, February 26 2003 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 461
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 17:24
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Thanks spy.there! This is exactly the sort of thing I was asking for in my earlier post. I have a few more questions though. quote:So they're different from the old gremlins, which used annoying confusion rays? quote:What does enduring barrier do? quote:So you can train your dudes anywhere in a friendly without going to a training pit? Is that what you're saying? quote:Do you get to control him? -------------------- "If you held a weapon to Fwiffo's head, he would say anything you wanted him to. In fact, if you held a vegetable to Fwiffo's head, he'd say whatever you wanted him to." - Spathi high council, Star Control 2. Posts: 346 | Registered: Sunday, December 30 2001 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 1723
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 17:31
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Yes, some gremlins look different and have new abilities. Some grey ones put you to sleep, red ones breathe fire, and some frighten and enfeeble you. Enduring Barrier increases HP over the max, just like Divine Restoration without the restorative effects. Yes. No. -------------------- I hate signatures. Posts: 277 | Registered: Tuesday, August 13 2002 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 1505
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 17:40
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Actually, I found I could train in several hostile dungeons, for some reason. -------------------- -Newtfeet Posts: 151 | Registered: Saturday, July 13 2002 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 246
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 17:42
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Sounds as if Jeff is trying his best here. Instead of just porting the old stuff it sounds like he's creating nearly all of it from scratch. Can't wait for the Windows version to come out. Posts: 117 | Registered: Friday, November 2 2001 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 1993
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 17:49
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quote:I didn't give it away, greedy me. You can re-do the whole VoDT: All chests and boxes will be re-filled with all the items and you can pick up a second healing rod and a second flaming sword ... All the monsters will be back too, but because you keep your stats, it will be much more easier the second time. I have two rods now :P -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 1993
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 17:59
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quote:No, but you can put spells on him, e.g. healing or haste. He might get killed by enemies - I didn't try out that. And I don't know, if he will follow us into another scenario. -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00 |
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BoE Posse
Member # 112
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written Sunday, March 21 2004 18:09
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You think VoDT is ingenious? Geez, you have no idea what you're missing. It's probably about average, certainly there's nothing incredible about it. The CSR rating of VoDT (BoE version): Here [ Sunday, March 21, 2004 18:13: Message edited by: The Creator ] -------------------- Rate my scenarios! Areni Revenge To Live in Fear Deadly Goblins Ugantan Nightmare Isle of Boredom Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sunday, October 7 2001 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 126
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written Monday, March 22 2004 10:30
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Slith in Pink hoodcape -> Awww... Isn't that CUTE?... if you ignore the scales and the teeth and the pain-causing potential. I'll miss the training pits, If I understand it correctly, you don't need 'em? I might put a few in scenarios I make, anyway. Put teachers who'll give you neat quests in 'em. I memore of the training pits must not diappear, for they were good things. [ Monday, March 22, 2004 10:33: Message edited by: Captain Uglyhead ] -------------------- Fly beyond the ocean, over the mountains, past the moon and across the face of the sun, never to come home again. Posts: 161 | Registered: Monday, October 8 2001 07:00 |
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Triad Mage
Member # 7
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written Monday, March 22 2004 15:01
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The teachers in the training pits could sell you skills for money instead of skill points, like in Geneforge 2. -------------------- "At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander ==== Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet ==== You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse! Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 1993
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written Monday, March 22 2004 18:15
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quote:You are right, VoDT seems not to be Jeff's masterpiece. I just played it the second time and had the feeling, that it's rather a quick shot, with few of all these little loving details you find in A3. But still the idea is ingenious, to bring up the theme of pollution of nature. I like that educational ethics in SW-games. Now, I'm curious about the other three scenarios ... got my password! :P -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 65
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written Monday, March 22 2004 18:20
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I read the Scenario Editor documentation appendices yesterday and I was suprised to see that capture soul and siraculim were both in the spell lists. Does this mean we actually have these spells? -------------------- Milla-Displacer Beastie This is also a good site Posts: 650 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 4000
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written Monday, March 22 2004 18:24
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Yep, and you can probably use them as well without a soul crystal. -------------------- ♫ The truth is screaming BIG ♫ ♫ A light so bright ♫ ♫ Whether day or night ♫ ♫ It can't be hid ♫ § realitycorp@gmail.com § ►► Chance is back online! ◄◄ Posts: 245 | Registered: Tuesday, February 17 2004 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 455
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written Monday, March 22 2004 18:40
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Not Capture Soul but Capture Mind: "This spell attempts to take control of the mind of one of your enemies, causing it to fight on your side for a short time. . . ." Likewise, Simulacrum is not the same spell it once was: "This spell creates a copy of one of the enemies attacking you, which will fight on your side" -- no storage for future use. (From the spell descs. in the main game docs.) -------------------- Forgive them, for they are young and rich and white. Posts: 265 | Registered: Saturday, December 29 2001 08:00 |
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Post Navel Trauma ^_^
Member # 67
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written Tuesday, March 23 2004 01:46
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I think the best addition is that new sexy Slith girl. -------------------- Barcoorah: I even did it to a big dorset ram. New Mac BoE Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Triad Mage
Member # 7
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written Tuesday, March 23 2004 01:48
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I like the cutscenes and the ability to create monster behavior scripts. Very good, very powerful, and really adaptable. -------------------- "At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander ==== Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet ==== You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse! Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 1505
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written Tuesday, March 23 2004 07:48
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My main problem with cutscenes is that they don't hide the interface. When I ran into the one in VoDT, I thought the computer had crashed; the "spinning pizza" cursor appeared and the screen jumping around. It took a while to figure it out. -------------------- -Newtfeet Posts: 151 | Registered: Saturday, July 13 2002 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 1249
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written Wednesday, March 24 2004 15:49
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quote:I always considered VoDT better than most BoE scenarios. However, I haven't rated it yet on the BoA CSR tables - I'm waiting for other scenarios to compare it to. (I haven't even played Diplomacy with Dead yet.) My first impression is that it (VoDT) has improved and hasn't lost its charm a bit. It's a matter of taste. ;) Posts: 259 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00 |