Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul

[Dr Skeleton]

The are a few tricks with leveling, but generally it's fairly easy:
* play solo, your possible companions are all relatively temporary, so sharing exp with them (sharing is automatic on kill) will deprive you of extra strength. Plus, they make sneaking around harder, if you actually use them. So, taking a companion actually makes you weaker, especially in long term.

IMO that's not entirely true, especially once you reach act 3 and just upgrading melee skill by 1 costs tens of thousands. I'd rather take the spear guy and the mage with me, they level up super fast and start with good weapons / spells unlike other companions, you just need to make some armor for them. Plus the mage will be very useful with spells like invisibility or fireworks if you ignored magic completely on your character.

 

[T. Reich]

IMO that's not entirely true, especially once you reach act 3 and just upgrading melee skill by 1 costs tens of thousands. I'd rather take the spear guy and the mage with me, they level up super fast and start with good weapons / spells unlike other companions, you just need to make some armor for them. Plus the mage will be very useful with spells like invisibility or fireworks if you ignored magic completely on your character.

I've played this game several times. My fist playthrough was with at least one companion on every island. The rest of playthroughs were solo, and my main char would always end up much stronger than when I played with companions - 95+ in the main skill, and 50+ in each of the other skills, plus more perks than the "groupie" guy.

Those spells and weapons that companions have? Let them join you and then take both their weapons and spells for yourself. You actually want to do that asap, because companions are invaluable sources of better starter armor, weapons and spells (or at least more money from selling those) to a solo player.

Buying decent armor for companions? Forget about that. A good complete set of armor for a single char costs so much that it usually eats up the better part of whatever money you can gather on an island - and that's with looting the base armor specs from specifie enemies. In fact, attempting to incrementally upgrade armor straight from vendor is a noob trap and a sure way to end up utterly broke and with sub-par equipment.

Not to mention that your companions always leave you at the end of each island forever, taking all their equipment with them. And there is no easy/fast way to take it from them beforehand.

So - a protip: don't buy armor. The default vendor-sold armor is usually inadequate for direct combat (though it is better than nothing). The game features certain mobs (during some main missions) that, when killed, drop armor on a better base than is sold in shops. There are two missions on each island - first gives the slightly better version and is relatively early on, the second mission is near the end of each island quest arc and gives the best armor base for that island.
The same is also semi-true for weapons - the better weapon bases are always found, but it's recommended to get the vendor base weapon with the best vendor-available material asap.
And the best materials for crafting are always drop-only, never sold in shops.

Finally, regarding the support magic - a strong solo char has more than enough skill points to get it. Funny that you mention fireworks, which requires a measly skill of 14 senses magic to use. Skill of 14 costs so little to achieve that you can get it as an afterthough on leftover points by the middle of the irst island. The fact that you start with a skill of 12 in it also helps, doesn't it? Invisibility (with no runes) requires even less skill to use - 8.

As I said in my previous post, you don't ignore other skills once you choose your focus. You simply devote smaller resources to them. and why wouldn't you? As you said, getting a skill to 90 to 91 would cost you a few thousand skill points. OR you could buff a skill from 0 to 50 with that amount. A skill of 50 allows you to do a lot of things competently. Sure, you'll suck as a battle-mage if you went melee as a core spec, but you will have more than enough skill to utilise potent healing and buffing magic, and that is what you want to do anyway. It's especially important considering that you can craft spells into gear, but before you can do that, you need to craft those spells yourself, and for that you must have the corresponding skill - if you want to craft the passive strenght buf into that armor piece, you need to be able to craft the strength spell with the support rune first.
So, you are forced to spread the minor part of available skill points over secondary skills anyway.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Buying decent armor for companions? Forget about that. A good complete set of armor for a single char costs so much that it usually eats up the better part of whatever money you can gather on an island - and that's with looting the base armor specs from specifie enemies. In fact, attempting to incrementally upgrade armor straight from vendor is a noob trap and a sure way to end up utterly broke and with sub-par equipment.

I remember getting two sets of basic mythril armor with healing autocast super early in act 3, only later making a meteorite armor for my main character. Just doing the first few quests and killing random banshees and spiders gives enough money for basic mythril. Also if you keep the best leather from act 1 you can make a very cheap and light armor for the mage and never upgrade his carry weight because he's not supposed to get into melee anyway.

Not to mention that your companions always leave you at the end of each island forever, taking all their equipment with them. And there is no easy/fast way to take it from them beforehand.

You just need to exit the last area before the act ends, enter the map screen, take everything and go back. Not that this gear helps much or sells for much in the next act, but it's better than nothing.

So - a protip: don't buy armor. The default vendor-sold armor is usually inadequate for direct combat (though it is better than nothing). The game features certain mobs (during some main missions) that, when killed, drop armor on a better base than is sold in shops. There are two missions on each island - first gives the slightly better version and is relatively early on, the second mission is near the end of each island quest arc and gives the best armor base for that island.
The same is also semi-true for weapons - the better weapon bases are always found, but it's recommended to get the vendor base weapon with the best vendor-available material asap.

I know about the armor drops. But IMO you need some sort of armor early (not everything, maybe chest armor and/or a helmet) in the new act because all equipment from the previous act is kinda shit and better armors don't drop that early.

And the best materials for crafting are always drop-only, never sold in shops.

Yeah, and it's super easy once you know where they are. You get steel from the pygmies and meteorite from wormheads basically right at the start of act 2 and 3. Only in act 1 it takes some time to get best bones and leather (I never bothered much with stone weapons to be honest).

Finally, regarding the support magic - a strong solo char has more than enough skill points to get it. Funny that you mention fireworks, which requires a measly skill of 14 senses magic to use. Skill of 14 costs so little to achieve that you can get it as an afterthough on leftover points by the middle of the irst island. The fact that you start with a skill of 12 in it also helps, doesn't it? Invisibility (with no runes) requires even less skill to use - 8.

As I said in my previous post, you don't ignore other skills once you choose your focus. You simply devote smaller resources to them. and why wouldn't you? As you said, getting a skill to 90 to 91 would cost you a few thousand skill points. OR you could buff a skill from 0 to 50 with that amount. A skill of 50 allows you to do a lot of things competently. Sure, you'll suck as a battle-mage if you went melee as a core spec, but you will have more than enough skill to utilise potent healing and buffing magic, and that is what you want to do anyway. It's especially important considering that you can craft spells into gear, but before you can do that, you need to craft those spells yourself, and for that you must have the corresponding skill - if you want to craft the passive strenght buf into that armor piece, you need to be able to craft the strength spell with the support rune first.
So, you are forced to spread the minor part of available skill points over secondary skills anyway.

That's 100% true and something I absolutely fucked up on every playthrough except my last.

Also I won't claim I'm pro at EI but the last time I played it (on hard), I did just fine. If anything act 1 was the hardest because you can't get any decent weapon for the longest time. You should play solo for as long as you can, but getting an archer/mage as support for the main character doesn't handicap you that much in my experience. You could probably still beat it on hard having 3 people at all times if you grind enough.

 

[T. Reich]

You just need to exit the last area before the act ends, enter the map screen, take everything and go back. Not that this gear helps much or sells for much in the next act, but it's better than nothing.

That's why I said "no easy/fast way", because you have to do all those clickety-clicks. And, AFAIR most/all of last locations where they leave you, are made in such way that if you exit the last location, you don't enter the fast travel screen, but enter the last dungeon instead, meaning that you have to go all the way to its start to enter the trave lscreen and take the gear. Super-annoying.

I remember getting two sets of basic mythril armor with healing autocast super early in act 3, only later making a meteorite armor for my main character. Just doing the first few quests and killing random banshees and spiders gives enough money for basic mythril. Also if you keep the best leather from act 1 you can make a very cheap and light armor for the mage and never upgrade his carry weight because he's not supposed to get into melee anyway.

I know about the armor drops. But IMO you need some sort of armor early (not everything, maybe chest armor and/or a helmet) in the new act because all equipment from the previous act is kinda shit and better armors don't drop that early.

Well, the part about mage companions noot needing strong armor is true - they will get raepd as soon as they attract enemy attention anyway. But it's still goddamn expensive, especially on the last island. when I played with my companions, I usually had them running around naked.

But regarding the need for early armor - not really. From second island onward, you have your decent (previously "best") armor from the previous island, which should last you (versus weaker mobs) until you get to that freebie loot armor. And in the first island you can survive for a little while until you acquire your first set (fur suit lol, during very early mission, IIRC).

Yeah, and it's super easy once you know where they are. You get steel from the pygmies and meteorite from wormheads basically right at the start of act 2 and 3. Only in act 1 it takes some time to get best bones and leather (I never bothered much with stone weapons to be honest).

The pygmies and the "mind flayers" require some foreknowledge and powergamig, though. And in the latter case - a good deal of early effort, since you're not coming back to that particular dungeon once you leave it. Act 1 is relatively easy once you memorise where the good stuff is:

Spoiler

*the best leather is easily-farmable from friendly green lizardmen, as long as you carefully backstab them without anyone looking.
*I don't exactly remember when you get the yellow stone (tier 3 out of 4), but I think it comes from orcs in a cave where you need to go before you can go to the witch. After that, you buy and craft a basic axe or spear for max backstabbing damage. Once you do that, it really pays to visit the south orc lands from the west entrance (easily accessible from the SW islands area) and kill a few stronger orcs for obsidian.
*You get 2x gren dragon bones as a reward from Babur for some quest. Around the same time (I think) you also get a bone spear. Combine both for the best weapon on the first island (enchantable with weakness for maximum derp). I still kept the obsidian axe (with weakness) for ogres/trolls, since those are highly resistant to percing damage.

That's 100% true and something I absolutely fucked up on every playthrough except my last.

Also I won't claim I'm pro at EI but the last time I played it (on hard), I did just fine. If anything act 1 was the hardest because you can't get any decent weapon for the longest time. You should play solo for as long as you can, but getting an archer/mage as support for the main character doesn't handicap you that much in my experience. You could probably still beat it on hard having 3 people at all times if you grind enough.

Well, I don't say that party playthrough isn't viable, because it is, I just say that solo playthrough is noticeably easier. Not just because you have more money for fancy stuff earler, and that you overlevel content (or, in case of entering the next island, you're not as horribly underleveled), but mostly because sneaking around becomes so much easier - you only have to manage one char after all. I'd say that if the game actually had companions that persisted through the game (the semi-official add-on had a mandatory companion that was pretty useful) or at least had easier combat (because open fights with more than 1 "evenly-matched" enemy already run a high risk of you dying fast), I'd go party most of the time.

 

[Fenix]

If anything act 1 was the hardest because you can't get any decent weapon for the longest time.

Well, you can get decent weapon very-very early in game. Just reach the Settlement, don't take there any mission in Foothills, go to Foothills, and there, near chieftain and his wife will be third - the assistant to the ataman, of course you can't beat them all, or even one of them, but you can steal (you need 16 in stealing) from assistant very good stone hammer (crushing damage, good vs skeletons and wisps) which is far better than all you can buy at that time. )

 

[Fenix]

ataman

is a chiftain of course.

 

[T. Reich]

Well, you can get decent weapon very-very early in game. Just reach the Settlement, don't take there any mission in Foothills, go to Foothills, and there, near chieftain and his wife will be third - the assistant to the ataman, of course you can't beat them all, or even one of them, but you can steal (you need 16 in stealing) from assistant very good stone hammer (crushing damage, good vs skeletons and wisps) which is far better than all you can buy at that time. )

It involves a bit of sequence-breaking and a a good deal of foreknowledge, though.
99% of players wouldn't even go to that camp until they took the corresponding mission.

It's one of those few scripted one-off opportunities that only rewards the most curious. Then again, some other scripts of that kind punish them.

 

[Fenix]

True, but it require minimal sequence-breaking, and rest of the game you can play as usual. )

 

[Fenix]

So, I finished my coffee break-Rage of Mages Nercomansers.
Here is a brief report.

Spoiler

I was exloring new, and not obvious power of min-maxing on Strength.



I started from looting dead Skrakan , just to progress faster in game, because previous attempt failed due tachnical reasons.



So, let's look at fist damage. Max Str you can get on start = 43, and with it your damage is 3-6 and to-hit 14. Not impressive in any way.



Base 43+31. wel, that is something - dmg 57-114 to-hit 233. Damage is already decent, to-hit is not.



Throw in another 8 points of Str, and what we see? Dmg 123-246 to-hit 498 - that's enough for rest of the game.
But...



...let's throw in another 5 point! Result is marvelous. ) 199-398 and 800 to-hit. You just can't reach these numbers without Str, even if your weap skill is 100. I'm not even talking about huge HP pool.



Test with sword - dmg is ~270.



...and with fists. 386 all the way. Damage from fists somehow almost unresistable.



Final fight was a fistfest, boss cried like a baby. )

Now, I can get back to Evil Islands. ))

 

[Fenix]

Just learned that there is a "Genocide-light", or Easy Genocide project.

The time of eradication of all "unkillable" of Gipath takes two to four hours.

Not required knowledge and experience of the game.
The order of quests is not violated.
The plot is not affected.
Play how you want.
You can even play with NPC, but have to kill almost everyone on Gipath.

Spoiler

The main requirement to keep alive one of the lava elemental, guarding the rune in Tunnel zone.
By the end of Gipath assemble the spell with effect is greater than 50.

Recommendations:
easier to play alone
pump up melee to about 35-40, elemental magic to 53, take Endurance level 2. It's enough to kill less than half of the living creatures of Hypatia.
When playing with a NPC do focus on elemental magic and Endurance to have enough experience on the spell.

https://vk.com/album-99140_219574166

So, it is a way to refresh your memories AND to see new facets of the game without metageming (at least without THAT much of it).
Definitely a good reason to make another playthrough of Evil Islands one more time! :D

 

[Jack Of Owls]

The end boss in this game killed me - literally and figuratively. I just didn't have the patience to play for 2+ hours straight through to grind him down and bring the game to its conclusion. It reminded me of one of the late game bosses in the PC remake of YS I & II - some vampire lord baddie that would morph into a mass of bats and back again. A boss that literally took hours to defeat. Just no fun in that Otherwise I enjoyed Evil Islands a fair amount despite the atrocious voice acting from gay actors.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

The end boss in this game killed me - literally and figuratively. I just didn't have the patience to play for 2+ hours straight through to grind him down and bring the game to its conclusion. It reminded me of one of the late game bosses in the PC remake of YS I & II - some vampire lord baddie that would morph into a mass of bats and back again. A boss that literally took hours to defeat. Just no fun in that Otherwise I enjoyed Evil Islands a fair amount despite the atrocious voice acting from gay actors.

You don't kill him yourself, buff the old wizard, debuff the boss then distract him with a bow and run. It's really fast and easy once you know how to do it.

 

[T. Reich]

The end boss in this game killed me - literally and figuratively. I just didn't have the patience to play for 2+ hours straight through to grind him down and bring the game to its conclusion. It reminded me of one of the late game bosses in the PC remake of YS I & II - some vampire lord baddie that would morph into a mass of bats and back again. A boss that literally took hours to defeat. Just no fun in that Otherwise I enjoyed Evil Islands a fair amount despite the atrocious voice acting from gay actors.

You're doing it wrong on so many levels. The boss goes down in 30 seconds, just cast strength on the old wizard dude, apply the weakness spell on the boss, and see the wizard's lightning tear him a new one. Just don't forget to heal yourself/the wizard depending on who's the target of the boss.

If anything, the boss is utterly underwhelming.

 

[Fenix]

The end boss in this game killed me - literally and figuratively. I just didn't have the patience to play for 2+ hours straight through to grind him down and bring the game to its conclusion.

Well, actually final boss was designed in a way that it is not you who should kill him, but yes - it is the worst part in game.
I specifically did not say it before, just not to upset newcomers before the time.

Also you actually can kill him himself if

Spoiler

you are an archer or mage and a powergamer, that's it

despite the atrocious voice acting from gay actors

You mean English version? Because Russian voice acting just brilliant, many phrases become very popular among the people. ))

 

[Fenix]

So, I'm done with Gipath. Already miss it, and feel nostalgia. )

Advice me with some hosting for pics, it would be sad if after month they will disappear (I tried Minus but don't understand how to make accaunt there lol I'm bad at tech stuff). Hmm, service I used say "if pic was not viewed throughout the year it will be deleted" so I hope all will be fine. Game deserve it.

Spoiler

That's before Iry (granddaughter of quack (right word?)).



After trick.



Bye lil Sebastian! Bye Zak!



Green Hawk Down! Tiny 140 exp...



Such homelike cozy look! I feel I can live in such a place!
Note that women - lovely, isn't it? Always dreamed about green tattooed tits.



Output data. Leaving Gipath...

 

[JiminyCrickets!]

So, I'm done with Gipath. Already miss it, and feel nostalgia. )

Advice me with some hosting for pics, it would be sad if after month they will disappear (I tried Minus but don't understand how to make accaunt there lol I'm bad at tech stuff). Hmm, service I used say "if pic was not viewed throughout the year it will be deleted" so I hope all will be fine. Game deserve it.

Spoiler

That's before Iry (granddaughter of quack (right word?)).



After trick.



Bye lil Sebastian! Bye Zak!



Green Hawk Down! Tiny 140 exp...



Such homelike cozy look! I feel I can live in such a place!
Note that women - lovely, isn't it? Always dreamed about green tattooed tits.



Output data. Leaving Gipath...

Try imgur.com
You don't need to use an account and it hosts pictures permanently.

 

[Pww]

Hello All, if you still remember Evil Islands, please visit my website - http://freei.fulba.com/

and here is another website with my mods:

http://chomikuj.pl/powiev

I assure you that you will see what you never saw befor in Evil Islands ...

.

.

Come and see my website and play my mods!





http://freei.fulba.com/
http://chomikuj.pl/powiev

 

[Fenix]

Did I mention before, that there are servers with player-made quests, and multiplayer? Sadly, only in Russian.

 

[Pww]

Servers you can change in game - using program for example: Ei server changer or manually in register you change server number (more info about it on my website)

not only in russia you can play on map-made by player.
My website is in polish language and an this server you can also play it, also many players from Poland and Russia change their server and they play on f.exm. American server or England server

on this website you will find who recently play and where - http://www.gipatgroup.org/master/all

all you must do to play another map is change your server country, ( or create you own server on your country server, on active [no passive] mode and wait as someone join you and ask to play on his own server which one he will create on you country - server)

visit my website :


http://freei.fulba.com/
http://chomikuj.pl/powiev

...

.

.

http://freei.fulba.com/
http://chomikuj.pl/powiev

 

[Baron Dupek]

I rather enjoy english translation of Lost in Astrale.
PS. chomik is not particularly popular outside of Potatolande. Just sayin'...

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I oughta get back to this game, think I'm somewhere in the last mission of the 1st Island.

 

[Pww]

You should back to game and pass all of it, single player have very nice fabula, but dont be bored in some missions - you will be satisfied on the end, trust me. Many peoples who end this game lost in it for much more time. In my opinion single player is very interesting, and nice in all things ... you will relly enjoy it

http://freei.fulba.com/
http://chomikuj.pl/powiev

 

[Fenix]

Examples from Evil Islands (someone of you can actually wisper to Tranny devs where they can find inspiration):

It is item-craft. Weapon consist from blueprint - that gray bone spear, materal may be different, like different kinds of bones where bones of green dragon is a better from all.
Quality of material determines the quality of the finished product - damage, defence and energy wich determine how many times you can cast spell from inner reserves of item.
Also it determine level of difficulty for item, which determine how strong will be a spell you can embed/insert in item.

Spell craft is different a little.
You also have blueprint (or basis or how it was translated) which you can use as basic spell, or you can enhance it with runes.

There are many of them http://evilislands.narod.ru/magic_runes.htm
Rine adds difficulty for spell and increase stamina consumption for casting.
Runes R+ and R++ are Range of Action - how far your average fireball can fly.
Runes T+ and T++ are Additional Targets - your spell will affect additional 1 or 2 targets besides main.
Runes A+ and A++ are Area of Effect - doubled and tripled AoE for spell.
Runes E+ and E++ are Enchancement where you get doubled and tripled effect of your spell.
Runes L+ and L++ are Long Term Action for your spell, doubled and tripled.
Runes S- and S-- are Stamina Reserves - lessen stamina needed for cast.

And there are special runes.
Rune Sa allow to cast spell from item every time you hit with item or this item was hit.
Rune Ca allow to cast spell from item untill item's energy running out.
Also there are 4 runes + and ++ that allow item to regenerate energy faster or lessen consumption of it.

Also there are runes that define target of spell - spell with En acts only on enemies, same for Fr - on friends, Hu for human only, also goblins, orcs and lisards, also they are rarely used.

Let's see if spell craft in Tyranny will be more rich than in Evil Islands.

That's my post related to Tranny, but I decided it is decent enough to put it here.

 

[Tito Anic]

Beat that fucker back in the days, it was challenging comparing to other rpg games of the era (BG2, IWD2, DX, Nox). It has good stealth mechanics, crafting.

 

[Fargus]

Fun game. Used to play it with my brother when i was kid. Evil Islands literaly had one of the most hostile in-game worlds i've ever seen. As i recall the game was hard as fuck, and most of the fights ended up with me being raped. Had to utilize stealth and tactics a lot as opposed to just walking around and killing everyone. The multiplayer where you could create your own character was particularly fun, but full of cheaters, and i had a shitty connection and limited traffic back then. Oh and the crafting system was great.