Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Unkillable Cat]

Spiritual hammer is awesome in Eye of the Beholder 3. It is a ranged weapon that returns automatically making it pretty much the best weapon (although I think you do find some returning hammers). I don't remember ever using them in the gold box series.

This. EoB3 is probably the only game that makes this spell anything close to useful.

The hammer is at least +4 at the start of the game, flies an infinite amount of distance and automatically returns to the player even if it misses them on the return trip. To make things even better, multiple instances can be cast and wielded by rear-party members, creating a small flock of flying hammers. They tend to get obsolete by the endgame, though.

 

[CryptRat]

Spiritual hammer is strong in Dungeon Hack too. They are many monsters that you don't want to approach too close.

 

[octavius]

This. EoB3 is probably the only game that makes this spell anything close to useful.

Mildly useful in BG1 too, especially if you recruit Branwen.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Spiritual hammer is strong in Dungeon Hack too. They are many monsters that you don't want to approach too close.

Right. Forgot about that one...but then again, it uses the same engine, rules and spells as EoB3, so...

 

[Jaesun]

http://www.podolplazahotel.com.ua/en/

 

[madrigal]

Stride boldly forward.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Mildly useful in BG1 too, especially if you recruit Branwen.

Yeah, until you get the Warhammer +2, which you can get pretty damn early - or you have a player character using it. Even then, it's only useful because of her special ability, not as a generic spell.

 

[Mychkine]

Hello, I might find out these piece of information by reading all this thread, but I tought it might be easyer to ask here :

1) In Pool of Radiance, the manual says that there is a form of level scaling where high stats may result in more difficult encounters, the engine believing that 18 Thaco lvl 1 characters are lvl 3 characters and adjusting difficulty accordingly.

2) The level restrictions on non-human races seems to be a problem if I want to play all the PoR saga. Should I play with a 6 human party (5 human + 1 non-human thief) or with multiclassed characters? Any other insight into party planning (good urls inculded) would be appreciated too.

I've just started playing PoR and it is surprising how this game, with just a (great) bit of polishing, would stand firm against most of the modern RPG. The tactical combat is excellent, world interaction astonishing for a 1988 game. The curve of RPG progression is decidely neither linear, nor even an increasing one.

 

[octavius]

2) The level restrictions on non-human races seems to be a problem if I want to play all the PoR saga. Should I play with a 6 human party (5 human + 1 non-human thief) or with multiclassed characters?

Both, so to speak. Another problem with the Pool series is that Paladins and Rangers only become available in Curse of the Azure Bonds, so a little reorganizing may be in order when you reach CoAB.

Personally I prefer something like this in PoR:
Human Fighter
Human Cleric
Human Mage
Dwarf Fighter/Thief
Half-Elf Cleric/Mage
Elf Fighter/Mage

Having several characters to cast Sleep is a life saver in the beginning, and a second healer is also nice. The Elf Fighter/Mage can cast magic spell while wearing armour, and gets +1 THAC0 with Long Swords and Long Bows, which also is a nice bonus at low levels.
By the time you reach Curse of the Azure Bonds the last two characters will be obsolete, and I replace them with a Human Paladin and a Human Ranger. With the right stats both the Fighter and Ranger can later be dualed to Mage. The Ranger especially is suited to this since they can cast magic spells while wearing armour (the Fighter will have to rely on Bracers).

A single class Thief is useless. A Dwarf Fighter/Thief (to eventually get 1.5 APR) is better, or alternatively an Elf Fighter/Thief/Mage or Thief/Mage.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Can someone tell me about the copy protection? Do I still need to fuck with the goddamn code wheel?

 

[Inspectah]

I think in the gog version you can skip it by pressing enter

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Just put it on my "to buy" list.

 

[Mychkine]

You still must, sometimes, enter copy protection in the gog version. However, they give a well-made utility that enables to pass it in a few seconds.

 

[GarfunkeL]

You can also just hex-edit the copy protection away or to always ask for the same thing.

nual says that there is a form of level scaling where high stats may result in more difficult encounters, the engine believing that 18 Thaco lvl 1 characters are lvl 3 characters and adjusting difficulty accordingly.

Yes there is. I'm not 100% of the exact form it takes but rest easy that if you do modify your stats to all 18s, it's still very much doable to finish the game. Many people - including me - did it as a kid.

EDIT: what I mean is that I don't know how much you can (m)odify your party before it kicks it but it makes many encounters in the slums bigger. This isn't necessarily much of an extra challenge though.

 

[Null Null]

The algorithm was posted on the FRUA forums; it takes into account cleric level, HP, AC under 0, THAC0 under 21, and mage level.

If you are going to up-modify, I suggest camping in the Slums and Kuto's Well and clearing those areas of all encounters to make future navigation easier. Podol Plaza is a bit trickier as clearing it too early causes it to fill up with monsters again when you get the mission and then be apparently unclearable (though this is just my experience).

 

[PunchBarkeepInFace]

I just played through Gateway. I mostly agree with some of the reviews I read here. Not a bad game but feels a little unfinished in places. The final battles were a lot of fun. And it does make no sense that the main villain is shown as alive and with his equipment after you slaughter him and loot the body (he dies anyway).

Can anyone help me with how to transfer my characters to Treasures? The instructions relate to DOS but I bought this package from GoG and the DOS emulator is pretty much hidden and I would prefer to keep it that way. Can I copy the save game files somewhere or do I have to go into DOS Shell to do this?

I started with these titles because I never played them way back when by the way.

 

[PunchBarkeepInFace]

I also can't figure out where these games are being discussed on the GoG's forums. Could someone post a link?

 

[PunchBarkeepInFace]

Never mind about the forum. I found it under "Forgotten Realms".

 

[PunchBarkeepInFace]

Also found out how to transfer characters at that forum. In case anyone is interested, you can just copy your save games from Gateway to a folder in the Treasures directory called GATEWAY\SAVE. Very easy and painless.

 

[Elwro]

The GoG subforum for these games looks pretty dead. I thought people would be all over it...

 

[titus]

1. At CC, I can max out character stats. Why?

Why not? Better than rolling for two hours. You don't have to max everything.
I'm just playing with the default party.

2. How do you attack?

Right click on the weapons in your characters.

Btw, in case you don't about it, there is an utility called The All-Seeing Eye that builds a map for you. The reason I haven't played this until now was the need to manually map. That and the real-time thing... but it's not that bad.

 

[Elwro]

It's not bad. And a few levels down you can genuinely get lost or, I think, lock yourself in; the mapping software is really helpful. But I guess it will spoil the surprise of being teleported to a different level, which you might not notice immediately otherwise...

 

[dragonbait]

With the mapping utility, was that included in the GoG copy of EotB or is it something I have to download?

You can download the EOB mapping utility The All-Seeing Eye here.

There is also the Gold Box Companion for the gold box series of games.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

You can download the EOB mapping utility The All-Seeing Eye here.

There is also the Gold Box Companion for the gold box series of games.

Do you know if that works with FRUA modules (39 POR specifically)?

 

[titus]

Do you know if that works with FRUA modules (39 POR specifically)?

Probably not, as it has different memory settings for each game. Give it a try and let us know?