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I mean the Blades source is still on the site, so it's not like he's holding back the engine itself, if that's what youre really interested in. It's the Exile engine at it's finished state, as someone who spent a lot of time in Blades editor back in the day, it's more or less Exile 3 from what I remember.
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Jan 24, 2015 19:02
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The Moon Monster posted:I feel the same way about the original Avernum trilogy vs. 4-6 and the remakes. They're not bad but I preferred the old style. Never played Exile, I was more of a Realmz guy in the 90s. I feel that Exile is different enough from Avernum (either generation) to warrant its own remake... well, Avernum are remakes, so let's say "modernisation". 6 party members vs. 4 is a big difference, also the more varied and wacky spell selection from Exile is another. Two major differences right there; good start I'd say.
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Jan 24, 2015 19:30
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:There's a lot to be said for games that let you just play the drat thing instead of demanding that you sit there and watch things happen. Not that modern RPGs are nothing but cinematics, but they do move a lot more slowly than the Avernum series does.
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Jan 24, 2015 19:38
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Happy Hedonist posted:Funny story. I'm about 15 hours into Dragon Age Inquisition after buying it last week, yet all I want to do is play Avernum. WTF is wrong with me? DA:I combat is terrible? Just a guess.
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Jan 24, 2015 21:33
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Are any of the summoning spells worth using? I remember them being kinda lovely in Avernum.
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Jan 24, 2015 21:59
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Every Mage Summon prior to Capture Soul/Simulacrum sucks poo poo. Every Priest Summon is great.
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Jan 24, 2015 22:21
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One thing I'll always miss from Exile is making a dedicated Nephilim archer. Being able to attack twice a turn was really useful. I kinda miss the ammo system, too. Not having to procure ammo is arguably more streamlined now but it also loses the joy of finding a cache of iron arrows and knowing you're ready to wreck some poo poo.
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Jan 24, 2015 22:30
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You could always go for thrown weapons, there are javelins and razordisks all over the place.
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Jan 24, 2015 23:21
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KICK BAMA KICK posted:I have always wondered why he didn't hire out the process of porting the old games to the new engine. I'd bet it's doable for someone else given the source materials and a finished example. Maybe he looked into it and the math doesn't work out (or just doesn't have the capital for any up-front payment) but seems like faster releases of the remakes plus more time for Vogel to write new games could add up to a profit even after the grunt's cut. Cost, more than anything else. Vogel talked about the raw numbers for Geneforge 4 a few months after it came out. It cost about $120k to make* and all of the initial rush of sales from his loyal fans basically got him back to break-even. It's certainly turned a profit since then as more casual Spidweb fans have bought it or got it in a Humble Bundle or "Geneforge series GoG sale" or etc, but he's definitely not running some crazy huge profit numbers. It's also not as big of a time commitment for him as you'd think; I don't remember where I saw it, but IIRC he's said it's usually something like 2-3 months of effort to remake an existing game compared with a full year to write a story, design a world, etc for a brand new game. *If this seems high, remember that this counts salaries too - People's time is the most expensive thing for any business, even if you're the owner.
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Jan 25, 2015 01:24
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What spell am I supposed to get for returning the first soul crystal? I've gone in the editor and set all lore to max just to see what it is and it still wont let me learn anything. Also for returning the second soul crystal, do you get Haste?
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Jan 25, 2015 06:50
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Dr. Video Games 0112 posted:What spell am I supposed to get for returning the first soul crystal? I've gone in the editor and set all lore to max just to see what it is and it still wont let me learn anything. Haste 3 is in Almaria.
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Jan 25, 2015 09:22
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Dr. Video Games 0112 posted:What spell am I supposed to get for returning the first soul crystal? I've gone in the editor and set all lore to max just to see what it is and it still wont let me learn anything. To learn spells talk to Wilvron-Bok in the southwest part of the shrine, not to the crystal you returned. You can return them in any order so "first" is sort of not the most useful description, but it'll be either Blink, Cloak of Blades or Ward of Steel. Also it's a little bugged so you'll need actual Arcane Lore to learn it; Sage Lore doesn't count. If you want level 3 Haste (you do), go look around in Almaria.
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Jan 25, 2015 09:23
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I got level-3 haste way after getting all of my characters to 15 combat skills. It's kind of hard to get excited about a 50% chance at Battle Frenzy when every fight leads off with my party getting three turns in a row. In related news, Adrenaline Rush is still bonkers powerful. Also, I see this game is continuing the fine tradition Avernum 1 set of having level-3 barriers all over the lategame dungeons with no loving clue where the level-3 Dispel Barrier spell is. I've already Lost Forever some loot because a dungeon imploded and there was a barrier in it I couldn't dispel (in the Ziggurat).
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Jan 25, 2015 17:16
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I got level-3 haste way after getting all of my characters to 15 combat skills. It's kind of hard to get excited about a 50% chance at Battle Frenzy when every fight leads off with my party getting three turns in a row. In related news, Adrenaline Rush is still bonkers powerful. Wouldn't getting all of your characters 15 combat skills kinda gimp your mages? That's a huge points investment.
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Jan 25, 2015 17:21
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MagusofStars posted:Cost, more than anything else. Vogel talked about the raw numbers for Geneforge 4 a few months after it came out. It cost about $120k to make* and all of the initial rush of sales from his loyal fans basically got him back to break-even. It's certainly turned a profit since then as more casual Spidweb fans have bought it or got it in a Humble Bundle or "Geneforge series GoG sale" or etc, but he's definitely not running some crazy huge profit numbers. It's also not as big of a time commitment for him as you'd think; I don't remember where I saw it, but IIRC he's said it's usually something like 2-3 months of effort to remake an existing game compared with a full year to write a story, design a world, etc for a brand new game. If it only takes him two or three months to remake a game, why are the Avernum 1-3 remakes spaced out so much? Escape from the Pit came out in late 2011/very early 2012 on the heels of Avadon 1, and Crystal Souls just came out in the opening month of 2015. He did do Avadon 2 in that time, but if a remake is that simple then surely we wouldn't have had to wait 3 years for Avernum 2: The Remake of the Remake. Was the change to the new engine a really daunting task, or did he do other projects in the meantime that I've forgotten? I'm not trolling; I genuinely want to know. Now that 1 and 2 are out, I'm really eager to finish off the trilogy and I would love to see the remake of the remake of 3 by summer if this is accurate. Exile/Avernum 3 is the one game in that original series that I know nothing about. Also, I just realised that by buying Crystal Souls straight from SWS, I get a Steam key! I had totally forgotten about that; thanks Jeff!
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Jan 25, 2015 18:21
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JustJeff88 posted:If it only takes him two or three months to remake a game, why are the Avernum 1-3 remakes spaced out so much?...or did he do other projects in the meantime that I've forgotten? You forgot about Avadon, which also got a sequel fairly recently. Also, he wants to space things out a bit so he doesn't saturate the market. If you play Avernum 1, and then six weeks after you finish it Avernum 2 comes out, you'll be more likely to think "Nah, I've played enough RPGs for awhile, I'll wait for a sale." Bold Robot posted:Wouldn't getting all of your characters 15 combat skills kinda gimp your mages? That's a huge points investment. Not really. Mages don't have a whole lot to spend points on. Mage/Priest skills, Spellcraft, a little arcane lore (but see also the Sage Lore trait), maybe some Resistance and/or Magical Efficiency. Also, you don't have to do 15 "hard" skillpoints (though I did). You can get part of the way there with bonuses from items. In fact, there's a sword that gives +2 Melee Weapons and +3 Pole Weapons, specifically to give casters a stat stick that helps them get combat disciplines. It took me a bit to figure out how the hell putting +Pole Weapons on a sword, which can't be dual-wielded with a polearm, could possibly be useful.
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Jan 25, 2015 22:46
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JustJeff88 posted:Also, I just realised that by buying Crystal Souls straight from SWS, I get a Steam key! I had totally forgotten about that; thanks Jeff! Gah, I wasn't aware of this. Oh well. I'll buy direct next time.
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Jan 25, 2015 22:58
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Just hit chapter 3, trying to see the council. Is there anyway to get back to regular rear end human avernum? Feeling kind of underlevelled.
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Jan 25, 2015 23:40
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BKPR posted:Just hit chapter 3, trying to see the council. Is there anyway to get back to regular rear end human avernum? Feeling kind of underlevelled. You get back there eventually, but not yet. You shouldn't need levels to make progress at this point though; chapter 3 is mostly plot.
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Jan 26, 2015 00:28
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:You forgot about Avadon, which also got a sequel fairly recently. Also, he wants to space things out a bit so he doesn't saturate the market. If you play Avernum 1, and then six weeks after you finish it Avernum 2 comes out, you'll be more likely to think "Nah, I've played enough RPGs for awhile, I'll wait for a sale." Well, I actually did mention Avadon 1 coming out before Escape from the Pit and Avadon 2 being between Escape from the Pit and Crystal Souls, but I see your point about wanting to space things. Plus, I'm sure that it's long hours for months leading up to a major release followed by patches and the like, so I'm sure that he gives his staff and himself some holiday time as well. I'm just OCD and, now that the first two games are out, I really want to put a bow on the trilogy. I normally don't care much about visuals, especially in story- and tactics-heavy games, but I really love the look of Escape from the Pit and Crystal Souls. I know that they are both in the Resurrection engine, but I didn't find Resurrection nearly as visually pleasing as those other two. I think that it's the colours and overall aesthetic, rather than the engine itself. I've read snippets here and there that Avadon is a trilogy itself, even though it's a new IP and not a remake. Perhaps Avadon 3 is his next project, with the idea of then doing Ruined World and beginning to remake the Geneforge Quintet after that. Airfoil posted:Gah, I wasn't aware of this. Oh well. I'll buy direct next time. I wasn't either, but I happened to glance at the Spiderweb page for Crystal Souls and saw that it came with a Steam key, just like if you buy it from the Humble Store, so I redeemed it. Steam gets up my nose, so I only buy from Valve if there's no GOG version or unaffiliated DRM-free version of whatever I'm keen on. Now I wish that I had saved the Steam key and given it to some friendly goon, but perhaps the intention was for the purchaser to redeem it and not exploit the situation to give a potential customer a free game. Then again, I could copy the DRM-free copy I got and pass it out to an unlimited number of other people, so what the gently caress do I know?
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Jan 26, 2015 01:16
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JustJeff88 posted:I wasn't either, but I happened to glance at the Spiderweb page for Crystal Souls and saw that it came with a Steam key, just like if you buy it from the Humble Store, so I redeemed it. Steam gets up my nose, so I only buy from Valve if there's no GOG version or unaffiliated DRM-free version of whatever I'm keen on. Now I wish that I had saved the Steam key and given it to some friendly goon, but perhaps the intention was for the purchaser to redeem it and not exploit the situation to give a potential customer a free game. Then again, I could copy the DRM-free copy I got and pass it out to an unlimited number of other people, so what the gently caress do I know? He's almost certainly doing things that way to allow people who use Steam as their primary games library to incorporate the game into said library, not so that you have a spare copy to give to a friend. Re: Avadon, sorry, didn't read your post that carefully 
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Jan 26, 2015 01:30
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:
It's in the same place as the original, I believe, the quest to get it is still a pain. As far as the Ziggurat, you can actually go right back in and everything is still there including the enemies, just can no longer get back to the balcony. I dont recall any main dungeon being inaccessible after some story event, with the exception of maybe the chapter 2 river dungeons. TooMuchAbstraction posted:You can get part of the way there with bonuses from items. In fact, there's a sword that gives +2 Melee Weapons and +3 Pole Weapons, specifically to give casters a stat stick that helps them get combat disciplines. It took me a bit to figure out how the hell putting +Pole Weapons on a sword, which can't be dual-wielded with a polearm, could possibly be useful. That sword also has 30% fatigue reduction, which is the highest I saw in my playthrough. Needless to say, I never found a replacement for it and didnt bother even getting base 15 weapon skill points on a primarily melee character. No stats or damage can compare with getting Adrenaline every other turn/every third turn.
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Jan 26, 2015 02:51
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Dr. Video Games 0112 posted:It's in the same place as the original, I believe, the quest to get it is still a pain. As far as the Ziggurat, you can actually go right back in and everything is still there including the enemies, just can no longer get back to the balcony. I dont recall any main dungeon being inaccessible after some story event, with the exception of maybe the chapter 2 river dungeons. Ah, good to know. I did eventually find the L3 Dispel Barrier, but I can't be arsed to go back and find what I need. It's not like my party needs even more power, and frankly I've run out of trainers to shovel money at, too. Unrelated, but the weapon Demonslayer is a huge disappointment compared to the Flaming/Frozen Blades. In fact, I'm not even certain it functions properly.
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Jan 26, 2015 03:32
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Yeah that sword was never that great even in the original Avernums. The other swords are better, except of course, against Demons. I always dualed it.
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Jan 26, 2015 04:01
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Not really. Mages don't have a whole lot to spend points on. Mage/Priest skills, Spellcraft, a little arcane lore (but see also the Sage Lore trait), maybe some Resistance and/or Magical Efficiency. You can also buy up points of weapon skills from various trainers throughout Avernum to get some of the points you need: the game practically throws money at you, especially if you take Negotiator on everyone, so it shouldn't be too hard to afford this for your casters by the midgame with a combination of moderate skill point investment and a few thousand gold. Plus, raising either melee or pole isn't too much of a waste even on a full caster, because it lets you invest in Hardiness, which helps a lot with survivability.
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Jan 26, 2015 06:08
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JustJeff88 posted:
From the final email to the beta testers for Crystal Souls: "Thanks again! Off to the iPad version and Avadon 3 ..."
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Jan 26, 2015 08:04
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BKPR posted:Just hit chapter 3, trying to see the council. Is there anyway to get back to regular rear end human avernum? Feeling kind of underlevelled. *You won't be there for too long. Much of the stuff outside the main hub of the Vahnatai cave is intended for higher-level groups, as in "by the time you're ready for this you should have Crown Clearance." The first 3 Chapters of A2 are just setting up the story. Chapter 4 is the longest, and the real meat of the game. *Spoilers ahead: You can skip the trials to see the Olgai Council and visit them directly by doing the following in Chapter 2: Paying your respects to Dahris-Bok, Awakening the Vahnatai in the Coffin Caves, and Discovering the Human Book in the River Fortress.
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Jan 26, 2015 10:25
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Chinook posted:From the final email to the beta testers for Crystal Souls: Groovy pants. Thanks mate.
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Jan 26, 2015 18:39
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Right, I've finished the game (on Normal). Did every sidequest I could find, except for one that required me to find a Steel Waveblade when I'd already sold all of them (probably there's a vendor out there who sells one, but I can't be arsed). My megalegendary party can now retire. I hit level 35-ish by the end, for reference, and for the last 10+ levels I felt like I was massively overpowered. Divine Retribution + Adrenaline Rush is the most brokenly overpowered combination in a game full of broken overpowered combinations. Why yes, I would like to kill 20 units in a single round.
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Jan 26, 2015 18:45
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Need some spoiler-y help, may have found a bug but I'm not sure? A slith in Gnass has given me the quest to recover the Amber Charm I have cleared the whole area and taken a boat to the shrine But I'm not 'finding' the Amber Charm that is supposed to be there. I definitely have the quest, I know what I'm looking for, but I'm not 'finding' it. Am I doing something blitheringly wrong, or have I bugged something out?
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Jan 26, 2015 23:16
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Cuntpunch posted:Need some spoiler-y help, may have found a bug but I'm not sure?
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Jan 26, 2015 23:38
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Zereth posted:Did you make sure to have him teach you the quest flag to actually find it? Welp that was it. You can get the whole quest and such and end a conversation chain and dodge that flag. Thanks!
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Jan 27, 2015 03:17
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So I'm doing the quest in A2:Crystal Souls to find the three giant statues. I found the one in the giant cave, the one in the village north of that, and I THOUGHT I found one in the fort but I'm only showing 2 statues in quest items. Did I miss one somewhere or am I bugged?
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Jan 27, 2015 05:25
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Sankis posted:So I'm doing the quest in A2:Crystal Souls to find the three giant statues. I found the one in the giant cave, the one in the village north of that, and I THOUGHT I found one in the fort but I'm only showing 2 statues in quest items. Did I miss one somewhere or am I bugged? The one in the giant fort is in the southwest where the demon was, so double-check that. And if it's not there, then double-check the other two locations as well; maybe you only got it in an alternate universe that you load-save'd out of.
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Jan 27, 2015 05:35
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:The one in the giant fort is in the southwest where the demon was, so double-check that. And if it's not there, then double-check the other two locations as well; maybe you only got it in an alternate universe that you load-save'd out of. I already sanctified both of those altars  Edit: Oh! It was in a chest, not on an altar. weird. Sankis fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 06:23
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How the hell do I get into the Brigand's Madhouse?
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Jan 28, 2015 05:13
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Bold Robot posted:How the hell do I get into the Brigand's Madhouse? Enter through the east side, look for secret switches, and keep an eye on the map; stepping on certain tiles will silently close walls, forcing you to leave and re-enter.
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Jan 28, 2015 05:50
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Enter through the east side, look for secret switches, and keep an eye on the map; stepping on certain tiles will silently close walls, forcing you to leave and re-enter. This may or may not answer your question, it's a good hint though. Full Answer, peeled back layer-by-layer: Enter on the east side. Look for hidden walls Consider what these walls enable you to do The path you created helps you skip the teleporters that were otherwise blocking you But the middle section is 2-tiles wide Meaning if you step on the southern tiles of the middle section, you'll teleport somewhere different compared to the northern tiles you have been stepping on
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Jan 28, 2015 07:40
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Cuntpunch posted:This may or may not answer your question, it's a good hint though. I'm getting stuck later than that. I made it past that part and fought past the archers, but I can't figure out where to go next. There are a few passages and portals that eventually lead back outside, and a couple of secret switches that don't seem to do anything.
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Jan 28, 2015 14:39
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Okay, I figured out how to get into most of the Brigand's Madhouse and killed the eyebeast, but does anyone know how to get into this part in the center here? http://puu.sh/faBqJ/e7991d8198.png (linked cause I can't figure out how to properly spoil a timg) There's no entry to the room at the north except from the unexplored center area. The path to the northwest leads to a platform that can't be accessed, it's across a chasm from the main path. I don't see any switches nearby.
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Jan 29, 2015 03:05
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