Newbie Comments and Questions

[Hana]

Hi all,

Just got the game. Have enjoyed it so far. Am almost done with the Crypt.

Troubles with:
1) Had trouble with ladders going down. Saw on the Forum here that this is pretty standard... I was practicing and not getting any better... Does the patch address this?
2) Have trouble with picking up items. The crosshairs just wont stay on the item when pointing at things. I think the patch is supposed to help with this.
3) Have troubles also with keeping the crosshairs pointer active when monsters are coming down the halls at me!!!! This one is VERY frustrating as they will get first strike even though I'm ready to hurl some majic at them. Anyone know a trick to this?
4) Created a character to hold items for me. Lost the bauble stick and two spider eggs as it didnt save. I hear the patch resolves this too... Good thing I used the Bauble Stick before it dissappeared.

Other Questions:

1) Anyone find out what the Rat Skull is for yet? Search on this forum did not come up with an answer.
2) I'm scared to put the unofficial patch on. Anyone have any insight?
3) I'm up to level 7 of the standard roles (no role changes) and have only been getting 1 HP per level gain. What's up with that?

Thanks all!

I have putted the patch on and have never played without it and i'm quite far in the game so there is no reason why not to use it. The hp is really common question it's normal that you get only 1 hp per gaining level(W&W rolls hp's strangely) But if you want more, save when you got level and then try if you get more then 1 hp if you don't load save and try again, it will roll more hp's if you try hard enough.

[Sazerac]

1) The ladder problem can be solved with a bit of finagling. You need to look down and back up over the ladder. When you start to fall, look up slightly and your characters should "catch" the ladder. You can then lower yourself down. This takes a lot of practice, and most people when they get their character's HP's up a bit, just take the "SPLAT!" approach.

2) The patch allegedly solves the "crazy-dance" problem when picking up items, but I've never had any trouble picking up an item and I've never yet used the patch. Just make sure you're close enough to the item. Qualifier: I HAVE had considerable trouble picking up items in coffins; for some reason, the stupid coffin is targetable as well! Same goes for spells cast at the skeletons in coffins; sometimes it hits the coffin rather than the skeleton.

3) By default, if you haven't killed a certain type of monster before, your crosshairs won't appear. This is a safety feature that keeps you from killing a useful NPC by mistake. To override it, hold down the CTRL key while pointing at the monster. You should see the crosshairs then. It works the same way for pickpocketing. Once you've killed a certain type of monster (skeleton, bat, etc), all others of their like should be targetable. They'll also be targetable once they've attacked you (i.e., proven themselves to be adversaries).

4) If you create a "Mule" character, remember to remove him or her once every game from the Inn, or the items disappear. This is too corrected by the patch.

5) Rat skull is useless. Chuck it. I have a feeling it may have had some importance originally, but the designers abandoned that.

6) If you're really having trouble with some of the interfaces, put the patch on. Realize that doing so removes some of the official "undocumented features" of the game such as the Gold "cheat" in the Inn or the HP cheat with the Toughen spell. If you're not using these and have no intention of doing so, put on the patch.

Hope this helps!

-Sazerac

[Hana]

Thanks for the insights!

Actually the crosshairs thing blinks in on Red, then disappears without moving it very much. I can't "click" fast enough before it disappears. Take a long time for it to come back. This is with monsters I've killed before, and getting items. Am I the only one with this problem? Rest of the game is very stable.