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In Progress Lets play the best Storyfag RPG of all time: Betrayal at Krondor!

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
The Codex has spoken: To Sarth!

However as soon as we take a few steps we find more enemies waiting for us.

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The sneaky gods are on our side today.

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Owyn rests.
Locky charges and hits opponent for 21. Glad damage is back to normal.

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Gorath tries to do the same but misses. His enemy does not - 14 damage.

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Owyn charges Locky's opponent - is parried.

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Locky lands a swing through block - 31 damage.

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Gorath does too! 39.

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Owyn finishes an opponent with a swing for 14.

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Locky finishes the other guy through block with a hit for 24.

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I love the sight of gold. Looks like this merc was just paid has has not had time to spend it all on whores yet.

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Huh, wonder if they were on a mission to plant these in some chest.

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Some of these were poisoned too.

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I look forward to the writing on our guys taking a swig of this.

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Shortly after - we see a temple.

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Sung is the god of healing I believe.

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Let's see how the pricing for teleportation works now that we have more than 2 temples connected.

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Looks similar to airline ticket prices - more distance is more expensive, but not by much.

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Let's go talk to the temple priests...
I was going to make a joke about her having a really good time - but waking up screaming isn't quite the same screaming during the night.

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Ah. Looks like Nago's sendings had some side effects.

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Nice segway Owyn!

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Spells are expensive. This is a very welcome bonus.

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So we won't actually learn what this spell is until after we get into a fight. But I'll give you guys a hint - we saw it used by Nago in the last battle.

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We proceed further and I keep looking through nooks and crannies. Eventually I spot some chests in the woods but as I approach...

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This trap is kind of crowded - but it looks like I need to shoot the fireball from the gun trap onto the staff trap. So let's move the big block out of the way.

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And trigger the fireball with the clear block.

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Bingo!

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There are 3 chests - all of the puzzle variety. Here's the first one.

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The possibilities are:

WORGSEL
HBNBMSE
SHINETN
AAEOTAR

There are the other two.

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Second one -

i-n7CfkSQ-M.png


RSOE
SERN
ENAT
LAIO

And the last one -

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WSTE
AINL
FORN
BREH

I leave them alone for Codex to solve and soon arrive at Sarth!

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Yes, lets go in.

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This reminds me of Meteora. Beautiful place.

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Let's see what kind of shop this is. Our bags are full of swords and armor.

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Oh! A Magic store. Our first one. Think the Academy of Magic is on an island in the bitter sea - its possible Sarth has the closest port to it.

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Surprisingly the store accepts our swords/armor and crossbows. Even the Lamprey. Not sure if its an oversight from the developers or what.

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Aside from being significantly better than the Wooden staff at combat - this thing has 40 charges of a spell that hits enemies with a lightning bolt from the sky. I believe it deals 40 damage.

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Too bad we can't see the stats. I'm curious.

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Whoa, restoratives are a LOT cheaper than I thought.

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Think this spell is a before battle spell that creates a fog and makes it a lot easier to sneak. Given that losing initiative isn't normally a dealbreaker due to a lack of opponent spellcasters - this is not a high priority spell.

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Not sure why its sold - Owyn already has it - and I believe spellcasters we'll meet later do too.

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That generic Fireball we found in a chest already.

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This is that lightning spell that can be triggered from the staff.

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This can be cast out of combat to detect certain items (so say if there's a chest behind a hill - the chest will show up on a mini map all of the sudden). I don't remember what kind of item this looks for. I know there's one for food for example.

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More spells!

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I'm not sure what this does. Maybe raise picklocking? I guess it could be useful for trapped chests. But we already have to cast the spell for detecting traps - now if we have to cast this too - Owyn will be at a lot lower hp total if the damned thing explodes anyway.

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I have absolutely no idea what this does.

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This is maybe the best spell of the game. Basically makes a character immune to damage, lol. Really useful when we start meeting shades/rusalkis. Those just shoot projectiles and automatically hit every time. So its either this or put them down in a hit or two. I definitely recommend getting this spell.

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I... think this makes spellcasters be unable to cast. But not 100% on that.

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Ok, enough store for now. Let's see what they have at the temple.

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No teleporter this time :( Ishap is the god of knowledge.

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We go to talk to the priests.

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Sounds like we'll need to find Brother Marc.

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Hmmm. What's this?

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Aggressive trees.

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I though Owyn had the lowest Scouting?

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I don't remember this. Maybe this leads to Oracle? Will check it out later.

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There's another area we can enter.

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Ah, the famous library!

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Unfortunately there are just flavor text icons everywhere.

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But they are unique.

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A little foreshadowing to what we'll meet in some later chapters.

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Lets look at this section.

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Oh, a free skill increase???

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Ah, sounds like this scribe does not know what he's writing about.

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Moving on...

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Lets see if these guys know what they write about...

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The font changes are a good addition. Maybe normal books should have them.

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Useful stuff! Out of those we've only seen the one in Loriel. As I recall the prices were good. Was that where we got our 2 handed broadswords from?

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Lets see if there are more useful subjects to read about.

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I suppose when you know nothing - anything whatsoever is an infinite increase is knowledge.

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Oh how useful! Now we know how to be more efficient at recovering from such a state.

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Last shelf we can read.

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Free mage training? Oh...

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Maybe you guys should gate the area off or something.

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Ok. The head priest mentioned someone named Brother Marc. I remember seeing a field as I was coming up on Sarth and monks do like their farming...

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Let's see if Locklear's stealth is better against the monk than the moredhel.

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The monk takes it in stride.

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Lol. Locklear can be a bit of a troll.

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Come to think of it - why is he holding a book while hosing his garden?

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It appears Locky can't read the character names that are so clearly visible for us.

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Yes, we'd be surprised if you weren't of Sarth... And... Did you just call us illiterate?

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This place sounds famous and is not that far from Krondor - I'm surprised Locky only seems to have passing knowledge of it.

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Sounds like they're not very religious. Think Ishap is supposed to be dead, so maybe that's why.

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Not a whole lot of topics.

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Aren't you supposed to be the expert on that Owyn?

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Hehe. Sounds like learning wizardry involved a lot of waiting.

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Locky has been so patient with Owyn's foolishness.

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Huh. Owyn's begging for knowledge might pay off once again.

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50 is very affordable for us now.

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Thank you for consulting the party Owyn...

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Helps to have an enthusiastic teacher too.

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Perhaps not so enthusiastic now...

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The concentrate increases casting accuracy skill temporarily.

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New topic.

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Once you give Owyn an inch - he starts asking for a mile.

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Even the ordinarily quiet Gorath is losing his patience.

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Owyn definitely picked the right strategy to get the party on board with his arcane thirst.

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We already know Flamecast - shoot. That price was good, but I suppose we got it for even better price - free.

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We say no.

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Yeah...

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Sorry Marc, we don't need it.

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Where is Vault 12? We are looking for a Water Chip!

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Oh. That vault.

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That must have been the ass that slapped the magical book out of Owyn's hands.

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Yes, that was our experience in the Library.

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We say goodbye to Brother Marc.

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Hmmm, the skill increase was quite large! Too bad Fireball isn't quite worth the health investment.

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OK. We have 1065 gold after selling our loot and paying for casting training. Do you guys want to buy any of the spells? We can afford 2.

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Next the plan is to check out the cave below Sarth and then... Did anyone else want to clear the road between Sarth and Questor's View before heading back to Krondor or was it just Arrowgrab?

Don't forget to solve the puzzles!
 

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
Patron
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
2,912
Location
Ardamai
and yes, learn spells you think will be useful, don't save all the cash for drinks (half a thousand will be enough for that, specially now that we can make money through Owyn's mad lute skills)
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Alright - I'm playing the next section and found another puzzle chest, would like it solved before I continue:

i-S2mD8KT-M.png


The possible letters are:

SAETES
CTRLUT
WHLORD
ARSNSY
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Today we check out the caves below Sarth.

But first we spend half our gold on two spells: Eyes of Ishap and Skin of the Dragon. The first should help me make sure I don't miss any hidden loot, the second is for emergencies.

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Then we proceed inside the caves. Before I advance too far - let's look at the non-combat spell. You'd think I could just give 1 health and have the full effects - but as I found out later: anything buy full 10 hp invested leaves a chance that the spell does not fire.

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So we light the torch and proceed. Eventually there's a side tunnel that opens on the right.

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This leads to a door.

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Damn, its locked.

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The keys don't work. And neither does lockpicking.

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But I decide to keep on trying to pick until I break one of the picklocks - we have so many now. But they never seem to break. I think that means Locky's skill is ALMOST good enough to open the lock. So I just keep on going. 40 something attempts later:

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Locky's skill went up quite a bit during this excersize.

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Some sort of spiders seem to infest the room behind the door.

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We decide to attack and succeed in our stealth roll.

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Before we deal with the fight - lets check out the new combat spells. First the spell we learned at the temple. This will give the target a temporary health shield.

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And next - the spell that makes Hocho's Haven obsolete. Why get temporary health when you can be invulnerable?

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Owyn assesses what we're dealing with. Looks like these guys are tough.

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Locky misses.

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Spiders attack Locky and Gorath and miss both.
Gorath misses with a swing.

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Owyn blinds Gorath's spider.

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Locky and his spider miss each other (Locky swung).

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Gorath swings again - misses the blind spider. It seems their defense is good.

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Owyn blinds Locky's spider.

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Locky's thrust finally hits a spider - 24.

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Gorath has no such luck.

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Owyn reblinds Gorath's spider.
Locky's thrust hits again - 24.

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Gorath's misses again.

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Owyn rests and Locky finishes his spider with a hit for 25.

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Gorath still can't hit his :(

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Locky hits the last spider for 24.

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Gorath is missed by the spider - retaliates - and misses.

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Tired of waiting - Owyn joins in - misses.
Locky's thrust seems to do the trick - another hit for 24.

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Gorath's is still not working.

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Owyn hits for 5.

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And Locky finishes for 25. Gorath was worthless in this fight.

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The spiders had nothing. But there's a dead humanoid corpse in the room. The rations were not spoiled. How did this guy lock himself in with bunch of spiders?

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We exit the room and continue down the main hallway. Eventually we reach a 3 way branching of the caves.

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We take the right path and reach a room with some sort of giant scorpions.

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Our stealth fails this time.

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One of the scorpions his Owyn for 17!
Owyn misses it with a swing.

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So does Locky.

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Gorath finally hits. Good hit too - 30.

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Scorpions miss Gorath and Locky.
Owyn misses with a swing again.
Locky lands a swing - 34 and the scorpion dies.

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Gorath misses the scorpion to the right with a swing.

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Locky is missed by his scropion.
Locky lands a swing for 33.
Gorath finishes Locky's scorpion with a thrust for 32.

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Owyn rests.
Locky lands a charging thrust for 23.

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Gorath misses his thrust. Monster retaliates for 11.

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Owyn rests.
Locky lands a swing for 34.

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Gorath finishes the fight with a thrust for 33.

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There are 2 chests in this room. One gives the locked dialog - which means it might be trapped.

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So we cast Scent of Sarig and find out that it is indeed!

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Well, Locky's skill has gotten better. We rest until Owyn's health is back to travel full and give it a try.

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Yay! Our first disarm success.

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Bah. Imagine if the damned thing would have blown up in our faces for this.

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With Barbarian's guidance we open the second chest.

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Oh, that's better.

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Remember Brother Mark bringing this one up? If we ever learn that freezing spell Nago did on Owyn - these little vials might become a difference maker in a few fights.

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Now we return to the fork and take the central path.

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But it leads to a dead end.

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Well, left hand path next.

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It goes on for a long time. Eventually there's a branch to the left - but we keep going straight.

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And eventually find some stairs leading up.

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We try them, but looks like something is wrong.

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Yeah, I'm not sure why we'e even here now that I think about it.

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Well, we backtrack and go into that left branch we walked past previously. It leads to a door.

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That looks like a really difficult lock.

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And indeed, Locky can't pick it. I keep trying until one of the lockpicks snap.
Next we try the keys. Huh - I guess that's why we have multiple identical keys. This was a Guilder's Passkey.

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OK. Nothing much we can do about the caves unless our Lockpicking skill increases dramatically. So we head out and towards Krondor. But we take a little detour to open some chests we saw on our way to Sarth.

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Some nice cash in this one.

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And another chest.

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Oh wow. That amulet costs a lot if we tried to buy it.

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This is why.

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We try it out. Without it - Locky's skill is 47%.

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But with it - 62%. So I guess it's a bonus of 15%.

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And the final chest.

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These chests were awesome!

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We get back to Krondor. Do some selling. Then try the Palace again - but we're treated with same exact scene. In fact we can camp for a year and the gate will still be broken, Sir James will still be missing and Arutha, Pug and Makala will still be in a meeting with orders not to be disturbed. Sorry - the game writers wanted to railroad us here. So we'll be exploring the Sewers next time.

i-sNZRmsd-M.png
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
guess giant spiders and scorpions are not poisonous? not complaining

It seemed that the scorpions attacked with their claws. I'm not sure if they have an alternate attack with their tail. Also it seems like poison effect is not guaranteed. I've hit some enemies with poisoned attacks and they did not get the status, while some other ones did. Its possible spiders could have poisoned us, not sure.
 

Nutria

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 12, 2017
Messages
2,261
Location
한양
Strap Yourselves In
I think you're being a bit too dismissive of Flamecast. Once Owyn's accuracy skill is built up, it can be really devastating in certain fights where the enemy gets bunched up. You kill one guy and wound maybe 2-3 others. And one of the things I love about BaK combat is that someone who is seriously wounded will have their ability to fight degraded. There isn't this bullshit where someone just keeps fighting at 100% until their hitpoints run out.

As for storyfag games, I think it's fascinating how much this had in common with Darklands and so much that was fundamentally different at the same time. Like the bulk of Darklands is random encounters, and no encounter in BaK is not scripted. But I think what made both of them classics was those few sentences of text that make you feel like this is a real world that you care about. Writing the code for looting a corpse in an RPG is trivial, writing text that will make it part of a story is the hard part.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
I think you're being a bit too dismissive of Flamecast. Once Owyn's accuracy skill is built up, it can be really devastating in certain fights where the enemy gets bunched up. You kill one guy and wound maybe 2-3 others. And one of the things I love about BaK combat is that someone who is seriously wounded will have their ability to fight degraded. There isn't this bullshit where someone just keeps fighting at 100% until their hitpoints run out.

As for storyfag games, I think it's fascinating how much this had in common with Darklands and so much that was fundamentally different at the same time. Like the bulk of Darklands is random encounters, and no encounter in BaK is not scripted. But I think what made both of them classics was those few sentences of text that make you feel like this is a real world that you care about. Writing the code for looting a corpse in an RPG is trivial, writing text that will make it part of a story is the hard part.

The problem with Flamecast is that it costs 20 of Owyn's hp to cast it at full force and it deals... 15 or 20 damage to the guys that get hit by the collateral damage from the blast - which probably does not get them into their HP. It is kinda worth it in few places where we fight like 5-6 enemies at once and win the initiative. But I do feel like it's a high risk play - if it misses then Owyn is out 20 sta and is not that far from taking hp damage and there are STILL 5-6 fully healthy enemies on the map. I guess there are always restoratives though.

Darklands is also a masterpiece of a game. Whenever I play it though I tend to get bogged down killing robber barons over and over. Love its combat system though.
 

Nutria

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 12, 2017
Messages
2,261
Location
한양
Strap Yourselves In
Evil Seek is pretty much game-breaking IIRC in a lot of battles because if you hit a troll with it first then it's pretty much assured that it will leave every enemy dead or helpless in one turn. I don't think I've even bothered trying to learn what Firestorm and Mad God's Rage do because in mid game I'm so overpowered I don't feel like I need any new spells. I vaguely remember Fetters of Rime being important when you have one particularly dangerous enemy.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Firestorm launches a fireball at every enemy at once.

Mad God's rage enters a mode where enemies get hit by lightning randomly until all of them are dead or your caster runs out of hp and dies instead. No one else gets to act. Think it represents that spell Pug cast in the Tsurani colleseum.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Lets continue the adventure.

There's nowhere to go but into the stinky darkness.

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Yes, an entrance right next to the palace gate should mean we're not going to be wondering in the city's sewers.

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What wonders of medieval engineering. But wait - what's that next to the entrance?

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Do we dare stick our fingers into the dark slimy hole?

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We are rewarded with some cash for our troubles. Anyone else feel used?

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Oh, well - a dark large smelly hole awaits us next.

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Yes Codex. Are we sure we want to go in?

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I think this calls for the Lemmiwinks song...

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Anyway, we proceed a little and run into someone.

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Is that what you call this place?

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Ah, guess Locky has a different name for it.

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Now he's threatening to do us. Why do the innuendos keep coming?

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Ok, back to the game - Locky is quite a bit better with the sword than Jimmy. This is despite Jimmy being the clear favorite of Feist.

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Some foreshadowing?

I believe in the books Locky meets his end while screwing the Princess of Kesh. He's unlucky enough to do that while some royal politics play out and she gets assassinated. He's there at the wrong time :(

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Locky was hoping the thieves knew what Jimmy was doing and could help him locate his bff.

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Ok. We get the green light to come in from this guy - doesn't mean there won't be other thieves down here with a bit more of an issue with our presence.

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Perhaps we should have thought of that before deciding to come down here? Oh well, we had no other choice really.

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Does not sound like Limm is willing to give us a personal tour.

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Maybe we can at least get some idea of where to head.

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Think Nightmaster is the guy who gives out the assignments to the thieves. Kind of an under-boss - while the Upright Man is the head honcho.

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Huh, not whole lot of topics here.

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We actually have like 20+, but I suppose this is here in case we have none.

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Master trader here...

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Heh, it's good to be in service of the Prince.

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Kid knows his rights.

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If not gold, I don't know what else.

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I'm not sure if its a good price or not. Guess depends how many lockpicks we'd get.

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We say no since we already have a bunch. But Locky's sass is always nice to see.

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Could have fooled us with all that negotiating.

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Ok, time to say goodbye and start looking for a way to get into the palace.

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We take the right hand path in that branch near the entrance and eventually see another path going off to the left.

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Normally I keep taking the right path at each branch until there are no more, but I glace to the left and see some enemies and a ladder up.

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We lose initiative.
Enemies charge and miss Gorath and Locky.
Owyn charges and hits Locky's opponent for 4.

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Locky gets the same guy with a swing for 30.

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Gorath does the same to his opponent - 37.

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Locky is nicked for 10.
Owyn's swing connects to the same unfortunate for 12.

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Locky's thrust somehow misses however.

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Gorath's opponent misses him. Gorath returns the favor.

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Owyn is hit for 9.
Owyn swings at the guy he's been pummeling instead of his attacker. But its a miss.

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Locky's thrust somehow misses again. That guy misses him in return.

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Gorath finishes his opponent with a thrust through block - 28.

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I decide to defend with Owyn. Locky's thrust finally lands - 23 damage and the opponent is still somehow up.

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Enemy swings at Owyn and HITS through block for 13. Owyn defends again.
Locky finally finishes his nemesis with a hit for 25.

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Gorath starts the work on the last guy with a thrust for 29.

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Owyn defends. Locky tries a swing but misses.

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Gorath tries the same with the same result.

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Enemy's strike is blocked by Owyn. Owyn defends again.
Locky's thrust is good - 25 damage and enemy dies.

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There was only one skill increase. More strength is always nice.

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New items sighted!

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Ah, these protection from special effect items are better off sold - its super hard to tell when an enemy has a specific effect on their sword. It's easier to just not get hit.

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What's that vial?

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Maybe we've already seen it in that store in LaMut. Or the alchemist store in Zun.

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Boring...

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We try the ladder. That lock does not look pickable.

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Doh, we can't even try to pick it. It makes sense though, thieves live here and would love to be able to waltz on up into the palace.

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We saw a chest when fighting the enemies - here it is.

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Hmmm, could be trapped.

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We try the spell...

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And it is trapped. We rest to full travel hp. And let Locky give it a try. His skill is above average now...

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Fuuuuuuuuuuu....

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uuuuu.... Wait! Locky????!!! That means Owyn's down too - he has less hp than Locklear.

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Yeah... That's brutal. Maybe Locky could have been saved if we rested in the inn instead, but I think this was always going to take out Owyn.

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Lets loot the damned thing.

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Oh you've got to be kidding me. Alanis Morisette starts singing Isn't it Ironic?

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Ok. So we heard of that new way to deal with this condition. But... while we have Restoratives and an Inn - we have not seen any Healing Packs for sale since that General Store north of Questor's View. So we have none left.
While heading up there we pass by the Temple of Sung. So I figure let's check their prices for recovering from the condition and... they're affordable!

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This is a LOT less effort than the damn camping in the road with Healing Packs thing we did last time.

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So I guess the chest was actually cost effective - the spell inside was north of 200 gold - our healing was below 140!

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Unfortunately Gorath cannot be healed this way and we're forced to camp at the inn for 3 nights to get him up above travel rest maximum. The passing of time causes everyone's hp to level up.

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Ok, we sell the stuff we got from the fight (but we keep the spell - not sure if its sellable but there will be another party wizard later and I don't believe he has this spell).
Then we return to the sewers and take the straight ahead branch instead of that left hand path where we got blown up. Eventually the path ends at a 2 way branch.

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The right hand of which ends in a dead end.

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We backtrack and take the left hand path.

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End eventually encounter a chest.

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It's not a puzzle chest - so we cast the detection spell and - damned this is trapped as well.

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Well - our hp is as full as it can get. We let Locky focus on lockpicking and give it a try.

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Nice payout!

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And Locky's skill went up.

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We continue on. Finding this branch and continuing straight.

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And eventually reaching some more enemies.

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We win initiative this time!

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Which increases everyone's stealth.

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Owyn blinds the right hand enemy.

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I decide to try my luck at shooting again with Locky - he just misses the left hand enemy.

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Gorath charges and hits blind guy for 27.

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Locky gets shot at - but the enemy is as good of a shot as Locky is.
Owyn blinds the archer.

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Locky charges him and... misses.

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Gorath swings at the guy he hurt previously. A hit for 38 damage is enough to finish him.

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Owyn assesses Gorath's new attacker - but the only thing he really learns is that these enemy types are called rogues.

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Locky swings this time. Its a hit for 33.

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Gorath does the same. Hits for 38. This fight is going well.

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Owyn tries to poke the enemy reeling from Gorath's swing - but gets blocked.

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Locky's thrust is good for 23. Enemy is still up.

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Gorath's opponent tries to hit Gorath but fails. Gorath retaliates and finishes him with a thrust for 29.

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Owyn fails to hit the last guy.

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Locky does not - a thrust for 25 is enough.

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Huh, second time I've seen this sword on an enemy. With the first one being Nago. Guess these guys could have hurt us if they hit.

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Nice stuff.

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Wow, Elven Armor too. Clearing out the sewers might be good for our purse. We'll see if it does next time...
 

Nutria

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 12, 2017
Messages
2,261
Location
한양
Strap Yourselves In
I still remember my first time playing this pretty well, and I remember being extremely frustrated here. I had loved everything up to the sewers, but once you go in there it gets extremely tedious. There are no landmarks and everything looks the same, so you can either go through it randomly or you can map it out on paper. I never considered mapping things out on paper, probably because I remember my dad's philosophy that you shouldn't play a game that is "more work than going to work". So I'm just flailing around out there, and then they have the goddamn fake ladders that don't work. What is the purpose of those other than to taunt you? And if I'm in the sewers, why can I camp out here in a river of shit and regain all my health whenever I want to with no time limit?

So after that I've always just followed the guide, which takes any fun out of it since there's no surprises if you're cheating.

If there's one thing I hate about games from that era, it's the designers thinking that it's really fun to be in some dungeon where you're going to get lost and occasionally get into a fight. Wow. Congratulations. It's like Walmart Black Friday Simulator where you can't quite remember where you parked but you might have to engage in violence with a bunch of thugs as you wander around searching for your car. It's not an adventure and it's not a nightmare. It's a mildly unpleasant dream that makes you wake up feeling bored.
 

ItsChon

Resident Zoomer
Patron
Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Messages
5,387
Location
Երևան
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
This game actually looks amazing, thanks for the LP, gives me the motivation to play it. Hope it plays as good as it looks.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
I still remember my first time playing this pretty well, and I remember being extremely frustrated here. I had loved everything up to the sewers, but once you go in there it gets extremely tedious. There are no landmarks and everything looks the same, so you can either go through it randomly or you can map it out on paper. I never considered mapping things out on paper, probably because I remember my dad's philosophy that you shouldn't play a game that is "more work than going to work". So I'm just flailing around out there, and then they have the goddamn fake ladders that don't work. What is the purpose of those other than to taunt you? And if I'm in the sewers, why can I camp out here in a river of shit and regain all my health whenever I want to with no time limit?

So after that I've always just followed the guide, which takes any fun out of it since there's no surprises if you're cheating.

If there's one thing I hate about games from that era, it's the designers thinking that it's really fun to be in some dungeon where you're going to get lost and occasionally get into a fight. Wow. Congratulations. It's like Walmart Black Friday Simulator where you can't quite remember where you parked but you might have to engage in violence with a bunch of thugs as you wander around searching for your car. It's not an adventure and it's not a nightmare. It's a mildly unpleasant dream that makes you wake up feeling bored.

They have an in game local map that's somewhat effective since it shows where you've already been.
 

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