Replay Value

[Shadow Stranger]

I was able to decrypt some things okay. Normally I can decrypt the terrain of a game but this one was a bit complex, being 3D and all. But I got some insight into monsters and items.

[Dr.Pick]

Originally Posted by Bungleau Been a while since I've been around, and I may just have to play again Looks like ShadowStranger's done some interesting investigations that I may need to review BTW, never underestimate the power of Flame Drop against salads. That repetitive burning feeling just bothers them, and prevents them from breathing on you... plus, it shares with the salad next to them

Hey Bungleau, long time no see! Even better of course is the upgrade to Flamedrop, Burning Haze! I love that spell- most especially against the "Creeping Coleslaw"!

To update: The Little People have entered the "Lost Sea" and found Talrik to give him his hooks(apparently he actually had TWO of them). His response? "Hey, I've always wanted one o' these!" They were immediately suspicious of him, but he did offer another job with much potential for monetary gain, so they listened to his tales.

He mentioned getting skins from Longtooths and Gronk recalled having sensed those creatures from the boat on the North side of Skull Island. However they were set upon by those beasts in the area with Talrik even before they ran into him, so they went back to the ship to pull out the skins they already had to offer to old Talrik, but he wouldn't take them! They went back and searched the entire Skull Island, but found no Longtooths anywhere. Finally they went back to town to unload all the stuff they were encumbered with, but when they went back to speak with the old pirate again, he was nowhere to be found! Well, at least Wili and Jerome got credit from the Guild for their efforts.

They already took down Argothius and have to seek out Ginelang and the Fountain of Isis in the North all the while looking for shells to have Underwater Breathers made.

A group of Adventurers' work is NEVER done!

+Dr. Pick

[Dr.Pick]

To update, the LP have battled through much of Skull Castle with only the lower dungeon to seek the items for G'Ezzered Ra and those Vampires to do now. For quite a while they forgot there was a grate in the center room south of the pool where you exit from visiting the vamps and consequently, could not find the aforementioned lower dungeon.

They're about to head down in there right after I post this. Wish them luck.

+Dr. Pick

[Dr.Pick]

So, they wiped up the rest of the Skull Castle. They lobbed a couple warning shots at "lord" Cet as he carted G'Ezzered Ra off, then when the vamps turned on ol' Adrianna, they put the whole group of them, including Adrianna, out of their misery.

They spent a couple days reorganizing, collecting shells for breathers, and generally charting the Enchanted Sea. Ramakamil went down in a pile of Raptors and Dumdee Oleoh's.

Concerned that they were going to miss out on a quest from Miruth in the Pawn Shop, they took Bart out for some fun in the Sun. They'd heard a rumor that Miruth would "forget" about a 3rd quest for a fine enchanted weapon if you agreed to seek out the Leprechaun. Apparently, he no longer takes anyone seriously who thinks they can actually find one, and if they actually DO find "proof", he assumes that it is a forgery of some kind. He plays along, but doesn't offer any more work for a seasoned thief much less a newbie.

Bart was going to attempt to turn the quest down in an effort to gain the 3rd quest, but ol' Talrik had yet ANOTHER hook in the shop! They'd thought that the old Sea Dog had disappeared to parts unknown, but they had no other choice but to look for him.

They set off for his previous whereabouts, and low and behold, he was BACK!... but he wouldn't accept the hook. Now, they'd had a similar problem with him as regards the longtooth hides, and Bart noticed something the others hadn't before. Talrik's pockets were stuffed with other junk!!

They've got lots of money now, thanks to Gronk's Fletchery hobby, so they bought all his stuff and he accepted the hooks, line, and... eh... longtooth hides! They chatted with him about his treasure, and didn't mention the fact that the chest near the cart had already been emptied of its contents when they went off to kill the Hydra and collect some Living Seeds for the Duke and Sabastio(yawn) respectively.

The bad news back in town is that Miruth must've gotten wind of the fact that Bart is friends with Wili and Jerome- he's actually Jerome's cousin- because he wouldn't let Bart decline the Leprechaun quest and move on to the Talon's Fang quest. jerk.

Anyway, they've moved on to better things. They decided to spend the entire morning hanging about in the sun and sand while they merrily burned away at that silly Leprechaun until he finally died from heat exhaustion. Miruth laughed at his stick even though it was clearly marked, "Leprechaun's Stick" in bold letters. Sure it looks like a Bo Stick that's been heavily enchanted, but none of them CAN enchant or bless that well yet. jerk.

Well, they finally made it back to Anephas' Shrine and that enigmatic Sphynx- he has quite the sense of humor until you get ONE silly question wrong- then he's all over you like flies on... oh, never mind. He was making them inSANE I tell ya! It was terribly annoying... especially when they couldn't be Restored to Health for lack of mana. It was a long fight with 4 adventurers babbling incoherently.

Night time closed in before they were all laughing about it and poking at the invisible barrier at the entrance to the Shrine until Angelus used the Staff of Death on it like he did on the door to Mada Mabbig's chamber, and they were in like Flynn.

They just walked past the entry guards as they jabbered about them "not belonging here". whatever. They quickly found the Relic of Isis, and spent quite a bit of time and mana on Gold Scorpions in a pit of black sand they fell into and teleported out of when it was too full of them. That was fun- everyone leveled before it was time to move on.

The Guardians of Isis went down pretty easily, but those stone Golems were really tough fights- immune to both Moon and Vine Spells it would seem. They found the Baboon Figurine and are about to move on when I can get back in- probably tomorrow night.

Peace, +Dr. Pick

[Dr.Pick]

Now it so happened that the "vertically challenged" adventurers did so continue in the Shrine of Anephas slaying the undead, the beligerents, and the Stoned (animated, that is).

They had some trouble with the door puzzle- they kept flipping switches, but the door wouldn't open. It turns out that the "Darkened One" they were sent to dispose of had gotten wind that his end was drawing near, and was desperately trying to keep the door from opening or to at least put off the inevitable as long as possible. He did put up a fair fight once the door was opened, but he too became a pile of coarse sand on the Shrine's ancient floor.

Then, just for fun, they decided to investigate rumors that some other adventurers who'd visited the Shrine had stumbled upon the incorrupt body of Anephas himself. They found the place where monkeys come out and attack, then went back to the side hall and cast "vanish" toward the small room from which the monkeys came out. Sure enough, there was the body of Anephas in suspended (literally) animation! They poked and prodded and talked and yelled at him to no avail. They even cast "vanish" on him with no affect whatsoever.

They finally went on their way, rid the pool room at the end of its mummy infestation, and rode up into the water above the Shrine. How do they keep the water up there like that? They swam up into a pool where Kerah was hiding out. She was friendly enough, but very evasive about Anephas' physical state- claimed she was "protecting" him... riiiight. So how'd G'Ezzered Ra manage to get in and make a mess of things, hhmmmm? Whose ashes were REALLY in that urn? Silence... except cricket larvae in the water outside her little shelter in the lake.

It became clear she wasn't going to cooperate in their investigation, so they moved on to check the Portal of Isis, and oh gee, it's not working- imagine that!.. but there was an object that popped out of the mechanism, so they snatched it up, then they swam out into the lake and onto the beach for some much deserved R&R. While they were wandering around, they found a couple chests belonging to the recently departed Leprechaun- as evidenced by the "Stone of Clover" Necklace they found. We'll see what ol' Miruth says about that!

After creating a portal on the beach, they cast "Call of Home" and spoke to Miruth about the Leprechaun again. While his eyes widened at the necklace for the money he'd make from it, and he gave them credit for finding it, he betrayed no indication he believed their story, and sent them on their way with no offers for further work. Asami was happy with their report of the Darkened One's demise and immediately sent them off to kill Bloodbeard- the one of whom Talrik spoke so darkly, then they unloaded much of their baggage while getting in some training before heading back to a beautiful sunset on the lake's beach.

+Dr.Pick

[Shadow Stranger]

So far your new party is working quite well, the only bugs seem to be the ones in the game itself, the bugs and idiosyncracies affecting some of the quests.

[Dr.Pick]

Yeah, some fights were more difficult than I remember, like Gru Morde and the Stone Golems, and I don't think I'll ever do two Rogues to start again, but I did find the Gnome worked very well in that role- he had no trouble with any traps until this area. Most of the time he didn't even need to use lock picks.

On the other hand, my Wizard has by far the most kills- over 2K, while the #2 character, originally a priest and now a Warlock, has under 900 still. It seems 2 or 3 Wizards would be better except for their lack of hit points. Sparkie has died more often than the others.

So it seems that the most efficient starting party is still the traditional 2 Warriors, 2 Wizards, a Priest and a Rogue. This party definitely has employed magic much more often over melee weapons after moving up in roles, but I've found melee necessary in some situations, so having at least a few characters good in melee is a must for me.

+Dr. Pick

[Wyvern]

You're making good progress!!!

I think I always started out with 2 warriors, 2 wizards, a priest and a rogue but I would try to get them into new classes as soon as that was practical. W&W had one of the best systems for changing classes!! I really didn't like the way they handled changing classes in Wiz8.

Wyv

[Dr.Pick]

Interesting thing happened in the Thieves Guild this evening.

My Assassin and Ninja both had the Leprechaun quest, and they even brought Bart(a Rogue Mule who refused the quest a few times) in to try to get the Talon's Fang quest to no avail. Miruth would have none of it, so they gave up trying and got the Necklace as noted above. Well they were getting training when I realized that Gronk never took the Leprechaun quest, so they went back to get Bart and try again. Since Miruth was satisfied with the Necklace of Clover, he offered Talon's Fang to both Gronk and Bart, but he still refused to offer it to Wili or Jerome.

They were also able to enter the Collasium from BOTH doors! They zoned into both the exit near Talrik's treasure(first), and then in the entrance you're supposed to use.

edit: I realize now that although I was able to enter, I more than likely could not go very far because the exit is through the round room which should be blocked so that they wouldn't be able to get into the rest of the dungeon without the crystal keys.

+Dr. Pick

[Dr.Pick]

A couple more things about the Collasium. It's much darker this time around because of the graphics patch and there's no way to help the situation- well, I might try cranking up the monitor. Adjustments to the gamma did nothing that I could tell.

Every nook and cranny is as black as coal. The luminescent tubers and such don't shed much light beyond themselves, and torches and illuminating spells won't work under water. I suppose it's more realistic, but it's terribly annoying not to be able to see very much. Oh well.

The other thing was I don't remember them losing air as quickly as the LP are. Maybe I got them all the Iron Lung trait somehow in the past. None of the LP have it yet, and it'll be pointless once they're done with the Collasium. I just have to make sure that my Priest/Warlock and Paladin have enough mana to keep casting "Breath of Air".

edit: I don't know why, but I just noticed that Jerome is the only one to have Iron Lung. Also, bless the creators for the "Spirit Eye" spell!! Very useful here.

A further note: coming back from the "Crab Cages", Jake got stuck in the doorway of the "Rotating Room" while trying to get out and died. Both Jerome and Sparkie attempted to extricate his battered corpse from the doorway and were also killed before the group finally escaped. Good thing some spells like Resurrect work under water!

+Dr. Pick