Shaitans comments and nitpicking *spoilers*, well sort of... Options

[Raven]

Q: I'm around level 9-10, I guess taking on Thassal and his croons now is a bit to early?

I'd say so, yep.

Q: Can I come back for Thassal after doing the rest of the beholder quest?

Yes - provided you got Tad to let you into the pit before killing the Unseeing Eye - which you obviously have done.


This post has been edited by Raven: Dec 8 2007, 09:37 PM

[lroumen]

Since this is a nitpicking + suggestions thread I think I can add my own suggestions to those above, correct? I'm going to put them in spoilertags, because they are... spoilers.

I found some inconsistencies and weirdness in the improved encounter of Mekrath and his Imp.

SPOILER!

I did the Mekrath+Sewer Imp quest and I found some strange things occurring.
1. The Earth elementals could see my invisible vagrant (hidden in shadows) whilst the Imp was unable to find me (and he doesn't wander to my party whilst the elementals could be lured). He could cast Mordenkainen's Swords, but not True Sight. That is odd. Maybe give him Oracle or True Sight at least.

2. If you go collect the reward from Mekrath you have to talk to him before he responds. Strangely, he does not immediately react to offensive attacks and you can exploit that to ease his fight. Mekrath is Stoneskinned when you meet him, but you can attack him and remove his skins without him turning hostile. When he is deskinned, you can pause the game, set 3-4 NPCs to cast a spell on him and set your warriors to hit him. If timed well you can damage him and quickly talk to get the reward before he dies.
Two possible improvements to avoid said exploit could be:
a ) He initiates conversation when he sees you and you have the mirror in the inventory of a party member.
b ) He responds to hostile attacks/spells or if you chip off one or more of his stoneskins.

3. I reloaded and fought Mekrath as normal, but then another strange thing happened. I managed to polymorph him into a squirrel (yey!), but he kept on casting his spells (abi-dalzim's horrid wilting for instance and wiped half my party (boo!)). I also managed to put miscast magic on him, but none of his 20 following spells failed at all (suppsed to be 60% I believe, so 12 should have failed if my math is good). I think that should both be fixed. I did manage to beat him luckily.

4. In Mekrath's Lair there is a group of a greater yuan-ti, a yuan-ti mage, 2 minotaurs and 2 umber hulks. I walked past the mage who wasted his true sight when I was exploring the place where Haer'Dalis was hanging out. Then I started my battle with those 6 creatures.
a ) I killed the hulks with death spell
b ) I kept my vagrant hidden to block the greater yaun-ti and minotaur from getting to my party.
c ) The yuan-ti mage had a protective sequencer that puzzled me (8 spells iirc... uhm, shield, spell immunity divination, stoneskin, mirror image, fireshield, globe of invulnerability.... and things of the sort?... whilst my Nalia can barely cast level 5 spells. are the yuan-ti mages normally even that high in level?). Anyways, the strange thing was that I used Anomen to cast 3x Holy Smite on the blocked minotaurs and they took some nice damage. The weird thing was that they still showed as unhurt. How can that be?


5. Slightly unrelated to Mekrath.
It is odd that most creatures cast True Sight and do nothing but stand there waiting if they do not find you. An improvement would be to have those creatures cast something else like Oracle instead (from a scroll) to do a quick dispell in the area. If they do not find you, it's not a True Sight that is wasted. True Sight is for when you are in a fight, not for a fast dispell beforehand, that's just silly.
Or alternatively, if they do cast True Sight, at least have them wander around a little with their party to see if they can find you and take the fight to you.

This post has been edited by lroumen: Dec 10 2007, 10:17 AM

[Shaitan]

To me ettercaps seems slightly slower in their reaction, it takes a while before they attacks, are they changed somehow?

[Sikret]

To me ettercaps seems slightly slower in their reaction, it takes a while before they attacks, are they changed somehow?

They check your protections and shift target if their weapons are ineffective and try to hit a different target who is not immune, Just that. It shouldn't slow them really as many other creatures do the same checks. Are you sure that it's not just an impression? Are they noticeably slow? I didn't notice it in my own run-through.

[Shaitan]

Well maybe, but as an example take those four on the way to Gaal in the sewers in the cleric stronghold quest. I managed to kill two them before they even seemd to charge at me...

[Sikret]

@Iroumen

Thanks for the report and suggestions. Will test Mekrath and the Imp in my own run-through and will apply refinements if needed. The report regarding Polymorphed creatures still running their scripts is a vanilla game issue, though I have never seen it myself (as I don't use 'Polymorph Others' spell) and haven't received any reports from testers about it either (apparently testers were not fans of that spell either ); but I will test and fix it.

[Clown]

Been playing the latest version for a couple of weeks now and would firstly like to thank Sikret and his testers for another great job, its proving to be very enjoyable and an even greater challenge.
However I have come across one issue also relating to Mekrath and his imp or more accurately their summons. They both summon skeleton warriors however these warriors will refuse to attack a disabled target meaning if you send one character in alone and they get held or stunned the skeleton warriors just stand around rather than trying to finish you off. The other summons however have no such problem, I know this is no major issue but thought I may as well mention it as it seemed strange.

[Sikret]

Has any of you (who played Mekrath) noticed or checked the staircase at the eastern end of Mekrath's place? (In the vanilla game it was an incomplete staricase. The mouse curser on it was a question mark and if you clicked, you would read that the construction was incomplete and couldn't be used. It's different now.)

[Vardaman]

Has any of you (who played Mekrath) noticed or checked the staircase at the eastern end of Mekrath's place? (In the vanilla game it was an incomplete staricase. The mouse curser on it was a question mark and if you clicked, you would read that the construction was incomplete and couldn't be used. It's different now.)

I'll have to go back and check it out.

[Spike]

Yeah, i've noted that. If I remember correctly, there was something analogously to that:

SPOILER!

"You cant enter because something is missing "

[Sikret]

Vardaman can tell us the exact wording.

[Vardaman]

"You do not have the required wardstone to use the stairs."

Is there a wardstone that lets you use the stairs in v5 or is it something to be implemented in the next version?

I didn't kill Mekrath so he could have had a wardstone.

[Sikret]

Is there a wardstone that lets you use the stairs in v5

Yes, it's in v5.

Just play and try not to forget these stairs during the game.

[Shaitan]

Today I went for the Tower with Belm, and before I rested just to 1: get attacked by those guys who want's to rob us and right after that 2: were approached by Meronia, whom took Jaheira away. I got the Ring of Wizadry and Keldorn, Nalia, my pc vagrant and Jaheira all levelled up. After a rest in Athkathla I decided to finish of Tor'gal. And this time I succeded: 3xlower resistance, 3xbreach, GM, 3xfire arrow and 2xMM that and my four guys beating on him. Finally he went down, and short after the golem and the trolls. Nice armour BTW and nice with one of the new spells also.

Off to bed with me

[Sikret]

Great work, Shaitan!

The armor is one of the randomized items. I was not lucky enough to find it with TorGal in my own run-through.

[Shaitan]

Hi again!

Over our jul I had some time playing and my party is now:

PC vagrant L12 (close to 13)
Jaheira: F10(close to 11)/D12
Keldorn:L12
Thief dualed to Cleric, C L13 (close to 14)
Nalia:L13
Xan (mage):L13 (close to 14)

As for quests I haven't done:
The slaver ship
The Planar Sphere
The Planar Prison
The Liches
The Twisted Rune (of course)
The Smugglers Cave
The Rakshasa and the bandits in the sewers
The Bandits in the inn in Waukeens Promenade
The Illithids
Mekrath and his imp
The Tomb in Trademeet
The dead city on the way to The Unseeing Eye
The trolls in the Grove
Most of the Temple Ruins I still need to do
Most of Firkrags Lair I still need to do
Tower of Deception

I'm thinking of going to Brynnlaw now, but is that too early? I really don't know what else to do for now, could you give me some nice advice

And a happy new year to ye'll

[Raven]

I think you could manage fine heading to the Asylum now.

If you wanted to do some little extra bits you might want to consider the party in the inn in Waukeen's Promenade and the sewer Rakshasa. I'd have thought you could deal with either without too much difficulty.

[Shaitan]

Ok, I'll give those guys a try before running off for Brynnlaw. I actually haven't even tried the party in the inn in Waukeen's Promenade

Regards

[Sikret]

You can do the slavers' ship building at well.

[Olbas]

I think you should get as high level as possible before going to Spellhold, I went at 14 and now I'm stuck because I can't beat an enemy. I managed to to do the Planar Sphere/Prison before going so you can definetly do them.