Tergius MIA Options

[Lemernis]

I defeated Grachus, Linda, and did all the quests on the FAI grounds. But I never visited Tergius early on. And now he is nowhere to be found. (He appeared only for an instant in the crypt with the Red Crystal Servant.)

I've taken a look at the walkthrough, and I now know I can go to Beregost to finish the quest. But in terms of the storyline, I'd have no way of knowing that Im supposed to do that. What's the code for Tergius so that I can CLUA him?

[Baronius]

Hello Lemernis!

Glad to see you're playing GCE1 again. I hope you're having fun.

I'd have no way of knowing that Im supposed to do that.

Considering the difficulty of the encoded message, I doubt it... Perhaps you forgot to read it. (The walkthrough is for those who got stuck or want to make sure they didn't miss any optional content, so it doesn't ask you to decode the message on your own. Of course, if you would still like the filename, I can give it; I merely disproved your statement about having no way for the protagonist to know that he should go to Beregost. )

[Lemernis]

Heya Yeah, having a good time. The big battles are still tough but much more balanced this time around with three tanks in the party (versus when I played it before with only one tank--not something I would recommend!).

Hmm. I did read the Verse of the Dark Shadow. I'm unable to decipher anything that might that point toward Grey Clan leaders being found in Beregost.

I just followed the plot as it unfolded for me. I never explored around outside FAI's walls until after I had defeated all the threats inside. That is, I took care of the most immediate threats first. By then Tergius was gone.

I'm thinking the scroll is beyond most players' puzzle-solving skills. So by the time Grachus and Linda are defeated, Tergius is therefore required to advance the plot. Perhaps then the mod should be coded so that when Linda is defeated Tergius will appear? Or at least for him not to leave the spot he was battling at? Btw, what happens to him when he disappears like this? Was he killed in the battle? Did he take off after someone?

Anyway, I'd like to CLUA him now via the filename. I'm curious to see what Tergius says about the scroll and its encrypted message.

[Baronius]

Hmm. I did read the Verse of the Dark Shadow. I'm unable to decipher anything that might that point toward Grey Clan leaders being found in Beregost.

I'm thinking the scroll is beyond most players' puzzle-solving skills.

This is the situation which we all get into sometimes We expect something difficult, and thus don't realize that it's actually very easy. In other words, we try to interpret it in a difficult way, searching for something special in it. Check the relevant part of the walkthrough written by Derkoth the Disgruntled (a pinned topic in this forum).

Perhaps then the mod should be coded so that when Linda is defeated Tergius will appear?

Since he is not required for the plot for the above reasons, he doesn't have to be there. Many players expect to be linearly driven by the mod, they expect the usual scenarios in every case. On the other hand, I (will) prefer some variety and occassional uncertainty in quest mods. For example, Tobordur looks like a usual half-ogre among the many enemies you encounter. If you don't loot his corpse (because you expect the same items as for the other 100+ half-ogres), you will miss one of the important keys for the Mold Golem. His name (i.e. that he is not called "Half-Ogre" like the others) is intended to be a hint, "you might want to check me out". The fact that you might need the assistance of Flaming Fist is another example to this different approach.

One of the many excellent features of Improved Anvil (most of which features GCE1 does not have, including enemy intelligence) is the requirement of searching for new solutions for your party and characters (between some predefined limits, as everything in the world). Improved Anvil applies this principle primarily in the tactical system and encounters, but in other fields as well. GCE1 contains a very little foretaste of what I intend to do in GCE2. Grey Clan Episode II will contain quite a few unusual elements. It will not be nearly as complex (and as intelligent) as Improved Anvil (and it has different goals anyway), but one point might be common in the two mods: both require more thinking than a usual (but possibly big) quest mod.

In my opinion, the real educational value (besides its many other useful features) of Improved Anvil is the compelling for players to improve themselves and their tactical skills. Players who enjoy the game in these circumstances (e.g. they consider it as a challenge) can improve their skills to a great degree. While GCE2 will not try to do this, it will still be important to be open for unusual, different elements which might require some thinking or some easy but slightly tricky decisions.

So I suggest all players to be more open for unusual ideas and solutions when playing mods, for more thinking. Due to most mods, they got used to the well-known scenarios, and automatically expect them in every mod they play.

On a side note, you've written "... should be coded so...". Let me make a minor correction here. Just like any other software, (quality) mods are designed, not coded. Coding is one of the steps of development, an important (and required) step but the mod's quality depends on many other things as well. (The misbelief that modding is about "coding" originates from the sites Gibberlings3 and Pocketplane to my knowledge. I hope their representantative, known mod developers will also realize the problems with their approach.) If you want to do quality work, you must design a component first, and then you can code it. If program code that can "fly" (i.e. which can be run while your aeroplane is in the air) or the software of your car's engine controller would merely be "coded", thousands of people would die each day. Of course, these are the extreme examples, but think of your favourite website or of the operating system of your PC and mobile phone (what if they crashed in every hour?!). As I've emphasized somewhere (in some other post), IE modding is not easy. Making a slightly more complex mod is not easy (as opposed to what one can hear, "WeiDU is surprisingly easy" etc.), provided the author wants a bug-free, reliable work. To cut a long story short, the technical side of modding is not merely about "coding". Sorry for this slightly off-topic parapraph, but when I encounter misbeliefs and similar issues in IE modding, I find it important to correct them (so other readers, possibly under the same incorrect impressions, will also hear about it). Players and visitors don't need to understand the deeper, technical reasons behind this, but it's important that they know about it and realize its importance.

Btw, what happens to him when he disappears like this? Was he killed in the battle? Did he take off after someone?

The latter.

Anyway, I'd like to CLUA him now via the filename.

I'm not sure about the exact consequences in this case, but it is possible that Tergius won't tell what you expect (and perhaps will speak some nonsense instead). CLUAConsole is strongly discouraged in all mods which have some minimal level of complexity in their quests, dependencies. To be brief, this is because "CLUAConsoling" (especially SetGlobal, but other commands too) might put the state automaton of the mod to an "undefined" state. As opposed to some misbeliefs I heard, whether this causes bugs or not does not depend on how "well" the mod is written. It is impossible (and makes no sense) to prepare a mod for random "CLUAConsoling". Since I have promised that I would give the identifier, here you are, but use it at your own risk -- I don't remember the implementation details for this part of the mod, so I don't know what it will cause. The identifier is BW05 plus the first four letters of the wizard's name.