I dont know why people keep bolstering the idea that the mantraps are tough. I disagree. I followed a rather natural route and it all worked out fine. When exploring a new area I usually employ a sweep right strategy for uncovering the map. This naturally brought me to The Hand rat thieves group including Mr Scanthril. Incidentally I was attacked by a rogue band of 5! wandering bandits at the same time as I was talking to Scanthril. They even started attacking some of the other members of Scanthrils band while I was standing there. Amazing, it didnt mess up my oh-so-trusting relationship with Scanthril...that was lucky. But I digress.

Then I moved thru that narrow gap of trees just west of there. Low and behold here comes a lone mantrap. So I backpeddled a bit and cast meteorstorm on him. Vaporized em'! So I venture into the gap again and here come 2 more. Again backpeddle a bit and cast meteorstorm. Again, Vapor! No problem. The only downside was that the rush of xp caused my newly formed bard to gain 2 levels simultaneously, and missed out on some training at the guilds.

So dont fret over those weenie mantraps, just get meteorstorm asap.
BTW, I found the minidemons in Shur Castle to be much more of a pain than the mantraps. At least they are fast, cast lots of debilitating spells and are unreachable by fighters most of the time.

Detah

Mantraps and their ilk are also just as easily whacked out with the lower level magma bomb and Firestorm.

Mentally yours,
Si

Detah, I managed that same scenario, except that I used mid-level Sun spells to cook the mutant veggies. However, many people happen upon them in more open territory, OR WORSE YET, in the confines of a dungeon which, for your entertainment, shall remain nameless. I also noticed that you used a relatively high level spell(Meteor Storm). If one plays the game "staight" without resetting adventures, or other party strengthening/advancing tricks available in the game, then you probably wouldn't have those high level spells at that point. I know my party didn't. Trust us, they can waste a party of 6 in short order under the right circumstances. You have been warned!

Of course, if you read this site for tips, the battles with the carnivorous cabbages can be less troublesome. Have a nice day! [img]smile.gif[/img]

+Dr.Pick

[ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: Dr.Pick ]</p>

This is still my first run thru the game. My starting party consisted of 2 warriors, 1 priest, 1 rogue, and 2 wizards. I devoted 1 wiz to sun and 1 wiz to stone magic. 1) I put all my points into INT in order to get 16 INT as fast as possible. This seems the best strategy to me. 2) Then I pumped my skill points 80/20 into sun/sorcery and stone/sorcery, respectively. 3) I must have been the worst player in the history of rpgs to play The Crypt. I ended up returning to that dungeon about 100 times. Missed stuff everytime. To make a long story short, I ended the Crypt scenario with 2 L10 Wizs. And somehow by the time I exited IshadN'ha on the west side, I had 2 L12 wizes, each with L7 spells. I did not utilize any of the gp bugs nor hack my game in any way. Just way too much loitering in The Crypt racking up xp...

Detah

Detah, I think mostly the reason people find them hard is when they are in groups, and the person DOESN'T have high level Firespells. I might just suck, but I didn't get to even 5th level Sun spells at Cet.

Aaahhh.. yes. I did something similar with my first playthrough, although I didn't focus my Wiz training as you did, so their spells weren't high lev. This is the first RPG of any kind I've ever played.

I had a bad monitor, so I couldn't see worth a plug nickel. I wandered the forest gaining points and levels, though. I was still trying to get the crystal with the Bauble stick when I finally broke down and ditched the bad monitor. What a difference!! I had used the flags to mark where the Nymph Lake shoreline was because I couldn't see the water even in the daytime! I listened for the sound of the water and then marked a blue flag in the map.

Probably my favorite "blind date" in the early days traveling the Gael Serran, was meeting up with the Bone Lord in front of the Crypt! They ran helter skelter through the woods in abject terror back to the town gates while he cast spells and summoned more skeletons to torment my party! [img]smile.gif[/img] They were still there when we came back out of the town.

If you really want to have a fun, scary time, try turning the monitor or game lighting down so you can't see well at night or in the dungeons. It's a whole new experience when you can't see well, and if you think about it, wouldn't that be a more accurate experience?

+Dr.Pick

[ 02-07-2002: Message edited by: Dr.Pick ]</p>