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  • Locked thread
TheBystander
Apr 28, 2011
Mercy: 4
Dmurr: 3
Chester: 2
Kai-Lyss: 1

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Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!
Dilemma time. I prefer the "clash of cultures" idea to the "drunken archer" idea, but Dmurr is the only character with ANY alchemy skill at all. (Alchemy was mentioned prominently in Mercy's description, but didn't make it into his final stat line for some reason.)

I think our final build needs:

A solid front-line fighter (Art covers this role)
A fighter/tank (Aarth-Tss covers this role)
A pure tank
A pure priest
A pure mage
An archer/thief

4: Mrrawn for the archer/thief and for the "clash of cultures" idea
3: Conrad to cover the mage slot and to be the Large Ham of the party
2: Mercy for the priest slot and potentially as the alchemist
1: Chester as the tank and straight man of the party

-2: Dmurr for the reasons above

megane
Jun 20, 2008



I'm gonna feel really dumb if I end up having voted my own character out of the party :cripes:

It's cool though, since she'd probably be replaced by Mercy and he's pretty sweet.

occipitallobe
Jul 16, 2012

4: Conrad. Art needs a mage, and the large ham appeals more than the coward.
3: Dmurr. As someone putting forward a drunken mage I feel obliged to vote for the drunken archer.
2: Kai-Lyss. He just works super well with the story, I feel.
1: Cameron. The coward still appeals, though.
-2: Mrrawn. Dmurr is just far drunker.


I also took the liberty of updating the count, based on the numbers in megane's post, and including my vote.


quote:

Kai-Lyss: 26
Dmurr: 20
Chester: 16
Mercy: 14
Conrad: 12
Mrrawn: 10
Marianna: 8
Irving: 7
Cameron: 8
Adel: 6
Hawthorne: 5
Richard: 2
Ash: 1
Caradoc: -9

edit: Yeah, sorry. Missed that like an idiot.
vvvvv

occipitallobe fucked around with this message at 10:46 on Dec 25, 2013

curiousCat
Sep 23, 2012

Does this look like the face of mercy, kupo?
Did you... not count the straight 4 for Marianna?

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
With 23 hours left, here's the current tally:

pre:
Aarth-Tsss	. berryjon's Choice!             |  *
Adel Behdin	.       4   4                    | 8
Ashley J Boul	.       2        -1              | 1
Cameron Carson	.      -1       1 4 1     2     1| 8
Caradoc		.-2-2    -2-2    -1              |-9
Chester		.   2 2 1 2 3 2           1 2 1  |16*
Conrad Ayers	.     3     2                 3 4|12
Dmurr		.   4 4-1 1 1 3-2   3 3     3-2 3|20*
Geoffry Archer	.                                | 0
Hawthorne Rekban.   1     3   1                  | 5
Irving		.               4 1 2            | 7
Kai-Lyss	. 4 3 1   4   4 3 2   2     1   2|26*
Marianna	.                   4 4 4        |12
Mercy		. 3                   1   4 4 2  |14*
Mrrawn		. 1  -2 3       2 3  -2   3   4-2|10
Orssa		.                                | 0
Richard Foxx	. 2                              | 2
Sss-Graa	.                                | 0
The (*) indicate the current party. Kai-Lyss has his spot pretty much locked in, and I already know where I can retcon in his appearance from Exile in. Internet Cookie to the person who guesses it first! Dmurr, the drunken Archer is a solid second, so that fills up the non-human quota. Here's where things get difficult. Chester is only 2 points ahead of the next highest, so his position is still delicate. BUT I will definitely enforce the "3 Non-Humans Max" limit to this LP, and that means that the nominal fourth party member, Mercy, will get bumped for the next highest Human - Either Marianna or Conrad.

Sorry.

Anyways, 22h51m to go for voting!

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
So, drunken mage versus generalist socialite(I don't think I've ever seen that stat array used before)

Rockopolis
Dec 21, 2012

I MAKE FUN OF QUEER STORYGAMES BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO WITH MY LIFE THAN MAKE OTHER PEOPLE CRY

I can't understand these kinds of games, and not getting it bugs me almost as much as me being weird
Woo! :krakentoot:

Umm...was it one of the innumerable scouting parties the first EEC annihilated?
Or did Kai-Lyss conveniently duck out the side door before the fight with Sss-Thsss?

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
I'm thinking call of nature while we tore through the castle. By the time he was done, so were the EEC.

Aleator
Jun 27, 2011

I am nothing but a blade, waiting for the perfect time to end an ancient warrior's pride.
+4 Mercy
-2 Conrad Ayers


I actually like how the party looks right now.

RaspberryCommie
May 3, 2008

Stop! My penis can only get so erect.
+4 Conrad because while I know Aarth-Tsss could cover mage spells, the party could use a pure mage. Plus none of the front runners seem to have any mage or item lore skills, and those are always good to have.
+3 Dmurr because while Conrad isn't a drunk, the man could use a drinking buddy.

-2 Caradoc because while I don't really feel right taking votes away from someone, he really belongs more in Exile 3 for reasons.

megane
Jun 20, 2008



Clearly Sss-Thss sent him out to kill the EEC moments before they arrived, leading to a Three Stooges-esque gag with revolving doors and very bad timing.

Also the current party consists of two drunks, two big tough straight-men, and 1.5 Arts.

megane fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Dec 26, 2013

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
Half an hour to go and...

pre:
Aarth-Tsss	. berryjon's Choice!                 |  *
Adel Behdin	.       4   4                        | 8
Ashley J Boul	.       2        -1                  | 1
Cameron Carson	.      -1       1 4 1     2     1    | 8
Caradoc		.-2-2    -2-2    -1                -2|-9
Chester		.   2 2 1 2 3 2           1 2 1      |16*
Conrad Ayers	.     3     2                 3 4-2 4|14*
Dmurr		.   4 4-1 1 1 3-2   3 3     3-2 3   3|23*
Geoffry Archer	.                                    | 0
Hawthorne Rekban.   1     3   1                      | 5
Irving		.               4 1 2                | 7
Kai-Lyss	. 4 3 1   4   4 3 2   2     1   2    |26*
Marianna	.                   4 4 4            |12
Mercy		. 3                   1   4 4 2   4  |18
Mrrawn		. 1  -2 3       2 3  -2   3   4-2    |10
Orssa		.                                    | 0
Richard Foxx	. 2                                  | 2
Sss-Graa	.                                    | 0
And Conrad Ayers is now in the lead for our third human, not Marianna.

Sefris
Aug 5, 2012

Oh! I'm so relieved...
+4 for Marianna
-2 for Conrad.

Cthulhu Dreams
Dec 11, 2010

If I pretend to be Cthulhu no one will know I'm a baseball robot.
4: Richard
3: berryjon's concept for whom he has the best ideas not already selected

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
VOTING IS DONE!

pre:
Aarth-Tsss	. berryjon's Choice!                     |  *
Adel Behdin	.       4   4                            | 8
Ashley J Boul	.       2        -1                      | 1
Cameron Carson	.      -1       1 4 1     2     1        | 8
Caradoc		.-2-2    -2-2    -1                -2    |-9
Chester		.   2 2 1 2 3 2           1 2 1          |16*
Conrad Ayers	.     3     2                 3 4-2 4-2  |12
Dmurr		.   4 4-1 1 1 3-2   3 3     3-2 3   3    |23*
Geoffry Archer	.                                        | 0
Hawthorne Rekban.   1     3   1                          | 5
Irving		.               4 1 2                    | 7
Kai-Lyss	. 4 3 1   4   4 3 2   2     1   2        |26*
Marianna	.                   4 4 4             4  |16*
Mercy		. 3                   1   4 4 2   4      |18
Mrrawn		. 1  -2 3       2 3  -2   3   4-2        |10
Orssa		.                                        | 0
Richard Foxx	. 2                                     4| 6
Sss-Graa	.                                        | 0
The party will consist of Art, Aart-Tsss, Chester, Dmurr, Kai-Lyss and Marianna!

I'll should have the next update done Satueday evening at the latest.

Sparda219
Nov 21, 2007

Just as some things can be right and useless at the same time, can't something be wrong and priceless?
Awww, well I'm disappointed Adel wasn't well crafted enough to make it in but I'm excited for this LP nonetheless. I do love everyone who made it in.

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
Hrm, something's fishy. Changing the PC graphics shouldn't break the game. Let me look into this, and see if it was just a glitch, or somethng more serious.

GetWellGamers
Apr 11, 2006

The Get-Well Gamers Foundation: Touching Kids Everywhere!
So close! :neckbeard:

RaspberryCommie
May 3, 2008

Stop! My penis can only get so erect.
Aw man. I was hoping to seeing how Conrad'd play out in the party.

Might submit him again for Exile 3 if that'd be allowed. For reasons that I can't mention due to spoilers.

RaspberryCommie fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Dec 26, 2013

Catgirl Al Capone
Dec 15, 2007

berryjon posted:

Hrm, something's fishy. Changing the PC graphics shouldn't break the game. Let me look into this, and see if it was just a glitch, or somethng more serious.

It uses bitmap spritesheets, yes? It's possible that Vogel coded the game to reject the graphics if the checksums don't match a predefined constant (the bitmap's "factory" value). I haven't modded the bitmaps before but that seems like something he'd do.

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

a medical mystery posted:

It uses bitmap spritesheets, yes? It's possible that Vogel coded the game to reject the graphics if the checksums don't match a predefined constant (the bitmap's "factory" value). I haven't modded the bitmaps before but that seems like something he'd do.

Nah, I remember swapping the sprite sheets around when I played the game way back when. Granted this was on an old Mac (probably System 7 or System 8) so it was using a resource fork to store things, but I can't imagine that'd make a difference.

Besides, why would he care if the graphics are changed?

The most likely explanation I can think of is that in trying to change the graphics, you changed either the sprite sheet size or its bit depth (e.g. going from 16-bit color to 32-bit color, or adding an alpha channel). Both could easily cause memory access errors.

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
Technical difficulties sorted out!

First update recorded! Including a video for battle!

That being said, if anyone wants to submit pictures for use by the PCs as their talking heads, by all means, do so! I'm going to have a look around myself, and see what catches my eye.

AmiYumi
Oct 10, 2005

I FORGOT TO HAIL KING TORG
Ack, I knew I was going to be away for a bit, but I didn't expect you to finish Exile & move on to E2 so quickly! Anyway, loved the previous thread, excited for this one - I never actually played the second game, just 1/3/BoE.

GetWellGamers
Apr 11, 2006

The Get-Well Gamers Foundation: Touching Kids Everywhere!
Boy am I bad at GIS it seems. I couldn't find any drunk-looking felinoids for Kai-Lyss, or any pale-looking/cave-dwelling armored warriors of Chester. I did find what might be acceptable magically-inclined lizards for Aarth-Tss, though:



Or:



But Geezum, looking for anything "____ woman" is just begging for an avalanche of :gonk: images.

Rockopolis
Dec 21, 2012

I MAKE FUN OF QUEER STORYGAMES BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO WITH MY LIFE THAN MAKE OTHER PEOPLE CRY

I can't understand these kinds of games, and not getting it bugs me almost as much as me being weird
I don't really have a good portrait in mind for Kai-Lyss, and I'm terrible at image hunts, but the top one could work.
Surprisingly nice hobo robe, though.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Searching for female art of any sort is a hazardous endeavor. Especially for nonhuman humanoids.

veekie fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Dec 27, 2013

curiousCat
Sep 23, 2012

Does this look like the face of mercy, kupo?



Maybe for Dmurr?

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe
I think I'd prefer something a bit less diabetes. A bit of googling for Khajiit turned up a few possibilities.

Couldn't manage anything for Art-thsss though.

Cardiovorax
Jun 5, 2011

I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

curiousCat posted:




Maybe for Dmurr?
No. Not for anything ever.

GetWellGamers
Apr 11, 2006

The Get-Well Gamers Foundation: Touching Kids Everywhere!
That's the stuff I kept finding instead of the stuff I wanted to find. Liiiittle too anime.

Rockopolis
Dec 21, 2012

I MAKE FUN OF QUEER STORYGAMES BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO WITH MY LIFE THAN MAKE OTHER PEOPLE CRY

I can't understand these kinds of games, and not getting it bugs me almost as much as me being weird
Forget anime, is that Gadget, from Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers?
Totally unsuitable. She's a mouse. :colbert:

If all else fails, you've got to be pretty drunk to wear :ironicat:

Anyway.
I always picture Sliths as more newt-like than lizard-like; I think it's the cave thing.

Shwqa
Feb 13, 2012

GetWellGamers posted:

That's the stuff I kept finding instead of the stuff I wanted to find. Liiiittle too anime.

I think this is what you are looking for



sorry for another not serious post

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

That's probably as good as catperson is going to get.

Shady Amish Terror
Oct 11, 2007
I'm not Amish by choice. 8(
Eh. Somewhat artblocked, so I went ahead and tried tackling it, doodling up a character concept for each person. Result: Utter shite, still art-blocked, but if someone finds some use for these (or wants a laugh at my expense), have at.






berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
I have a use for those!

To the OP with you!

Shwqa
Feb 13, 2012

Here are 6 clothed female cat people that are also archers. It took a lot of shifting through porn (I even had safe search on) to find these. I hope one of them is useful. I'll just post a imgur album so this page doesn't take forever to load for people.

http://m.imgur.com/a/xBxc5

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
Update 002 – The Attack on Fort Ganrick

I mentioned a technical difficulty in the game in the thread, so I wanted to show it off.



I created all the characters, (and now that I'm writing the update, I think I messed up with Kai-Lyss' SP. Something seems off. I'll see about fixing it before the next update) and then altered the graphic for Marianna's new PC. I replaced the guy with the red tunic and sword that is the first PC portrait, in case you were all wondering.

Now, Exile isn't exactly a moddable game. But what I could do was tweak the “PCS.bmp” file to alter the character graphics. Hence, Marianna and her swank blue robes.

Anyways, this is what happens when, for whatever reason, you leave a town, and don't do so via a 'normal' method. In fact it's very equivalent to using the “Leave Town” command in the cheater.

... Maybe I accidentally triggered that command when I was updating Art?

Speaking of, as per the voting at the end of the Exile 1 thread, Art is starting the game with some improved stats, and the Alien Blade. The stats aren't such a big deal, but the Alien Blade is probably the most powerful one-handed weapon in the game. I understand that game balance is not something you guys will see, but for the sake of narration, I couldn't justify stripping Art of all her gear.

I can also throw the Alien Blade on people who need more XP, and send them into combat with it equipped. I suspect Dmurr and Marianna will need this advantage to keep up.

That's enough explanation. On with the LP!


“We are here.”

“Why, I've nevah seen such a fort before! It's quite rudimentary.”

“...”

“And yet, we have been given our duties. Why I was not assigned to the front lines, I cannot say though.”

“Aren't you a little short to be a trooper?”

“I would have to ask that you don't make undue assumptions about people. It's not only not-nice, but you are most often wrong about a person.”

“Sssushh.”

“You...”



From the left; Aarth-Tss, Chester, Kai-Lyss, Dmurr, and Marianna. These are the PCs for the rest of the game.

“ALRIGHT!”

“And who are you, to ssspeak ssso?”

“Art.”

“sss....”

“...”

“Who?”

“hmph.”

“So, you're the new trainees I've been sent? Who has the letter?”

“I was entrusted with a message. Prove you are the one it was destined for.”

:sigh: “Really?”

Yes.

“Ollie, Ollie, Oxen Free.”

“Really? That's a password?”

“Yes, for a low-security message like this? Pass it over.”

“As you wish.”



“Oh bloody hell. Can't catch a break, can I?”

“Well, you could always take a quick nip. I find it's good to keep the stupid away.”

“You are truly Art?”

“Well, until someone else starts showing up with that name, yes.”

“I am Aaarth-Tss. It is a pleasure and an honour to meet the Slayer.”

“Oh... I do not have time for this.”

“I do not believe you are the Slayer. You are... small.”

“Wait? What are you guys talking about? I thought we were supposed to help out the Army up here?”

“Oh, this is going to be great.”

“I agree with the young boy here”
“Man!”
“Do not interrupt me!”

“Oh joy, a road show!”

BE SILENT!

“...”

“Alright, seeing as how you all somehow missed the briefing, here's the short version. My name is Art. Yes, that Art. You can blame me for inviting the Empire down to invade another day. I work with Unspecified Services. You, through whatever process, now work for me.”

“Question!”

“Yes?”

“I thought I was going into the army!”

“Not a question. But Unspecified Services takes in those who are deemed a poor fit for the Army, and gives them a place where they can serve. Now, would you all kindly introduce yourselves?”

“I am known now as Kai-Lyss. More, I will not say.”

“Aaarth-Tss. I am out of Gnass.”

“Ahrt, dahling, there must be some mistake. I am Marianna, and I am not here as some... peon.”

“Name's Chester, Ma'am! Proud to be here, even though it's not where I was hoping to go!”

“Huh? What? Show's over? I'm Dmurr. I'm thirsty, is there a drink nearby?”

“Mess is behind you to your right. Water is free.”

“WATER?”

Oh, this is going to be a long day. Not even Basic, Anaxiamander?

“...”

:science: “ATTENTION!”

“I do not care where you are from, or what you thought you were sssigning up for, but we are here now, and we ssshall do what we promissed.”

“Thank you. Now, questions?”

“Where's the real drinks?”

“Seriously?”

“I have tastes!”

“They are very poor ones, based on what I've seen. And I've run vineyards.”

“I thought you were... taller.”

“No, I'm actually slightly below average for a human female.”

“What is our current assisgnment?”

“What he said!”

“There is a Nephil fortress located to the east, between here and Motrax's cavern. We are to disrupt their operations while the Army prepares to wipe them out properly. You can start by equipping yourself from stuff in the two store rooms over there, and meet me back here. We'll head down to Fort Draco for some information, then do a bit of reconnaissance.”

“I claim the wine-skins!”

“Why me?”




“There was not much in the way of viable supplies, but we are equipped.”

“The armour chaffed, so I passed it to someone less.. finicky.”

“Everyone ready?”

“... yes.”

“Good. Once we get going, we can talk more.”



Click the above image to watch the video! Really!





I want to make something clear. This is not an easy fight. This was my fourth try at it in order to avoid party deaths. In fact, here was attempt 2:



For some reason, Kai-Lyss aggro'd a lot of enemies in all my runs, even when he's just sitting near the back.

I actually want to talk about this fight. It's actually very easy to skip. The hidden trigger for it is in the courtyard of the fort. If you want to leave, just head out through the Mess, and you can skip it entirely. If you don't feel like fighting this battle with a party of Level 1 characters, you can leave the fort, grind against some local mobs, then come back and do this properly.

Actually, this fight isn't even required. You can just skip it! No plot happens here at all!

There were a few interesting comments from the thread about this battle, so I decided to show them off here as there are some interesting observations that I didn't make at the time of the initial writing:


veekie posted:

Man that is a hugeass opening battle, especially without gear worth a drat.

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

That fight is a bastard. I can't remember how many tries I took at it when I tried to play E2 with a solo slith, but it was a lot. Haste and bless up, step onto the trigger square, then rush to the doors to try to bottle up the nephil casters, and you'd better hope they get distracted putting damage fields on the soldiers instead of casting Curse or Slow on you...

Shady Amish Terror posted:

While that first battle is (technically) optional, the game expects you to get into it. It's honestly one of the first things that comes to mind in terms of poor design decisions in Exile 2 (after the wonkiness of the poison, alchemy, assassination, and luck skills, but before we run into some of the more insane sidequests later on).

While I love Exile 2, that fight is a piss-poor way to introduce a new player to the game, as you're usually unprepared, the enemies are all around you, and you don't know the mechanics yet. They love to bunch up on your poor mages, who will probably be thrown into the middle of the courtyard with them when you hit fight for the first time without knowing how the game likes to put your characters in formation, and they can roll RIDICULOUSLY high damage numbers for being the first fight of the game. Even an optimized party can suffer a death with some poor luck.

And for those reading along, take note: while most maps you find in the game are poorly-scrawled, this one is especially terrible.

MagusofStars posted:

The fight in general is just horribly set up.

>If you try to fight it straight, even an experienced player can struggle badly, much less a newbie.
>There is no opportunity to gain levels/XP beforehand or even to visit a store. So if you have an oddball setup (e.g., multiple archers), it's entirely possible to have a character forced to use a weapon with no training.
>The enemies here (Chief, Shaman, several Warriors and half a dozen regular Nephils) are roughly equal to a late-Chapter 1 random battle. The soldiers help, but you're still outnumbered.
>It's entirely possible to just run right out the front door and skip the entire battle. Since there's usually a soldier or two closer to the nephilim spawn than you, this is actually reasonably safe. But doing so screws you out of the map and LoTR reference password which (AFAIK) is unavailable any other way.
>You can, as mentioned, dodge the fight trigger entirely by going through the mess or abusing the start/end combat button to jump past the trigger.
>The tired/lazy/drunk mage in the room next to yours actually can be requested to help and is a huge benefit...but from where you trigger the battle, it's actually extremely difficult to get to him unless you immediately enter combat mode and run for it (something that a new player probably wouldn't think of). I'm pretty sure you were actually intended to run and ask him for help, since this not only draws him into the fight, but also gets your characters out of direct fire, letting the soldiers wear down the enemy, making the battle significantly simpler.

Shady Amish Terror posted:

Just to clarify for people who might still be new to the game/series, fighters have a weak start in the early game; your money has to be split between their gear and getting training for the whole party, and running up to hit dudes is risky business when one bad turn with just a couple of enemies can splat a low-level character. High HP gains, damage that can't be negated by magic resistance, and some other goodies make them excellent at taking out single targets later on.

Conversely, opposite what you might expect, mages are indispensably powerful early on; the magic level is Mage 3, at which point you get access to Fireball. Some spells you have to be taught (few of the low-level spells, but nearly all of the high-level spells need to be acquired extrinsically), but a few you will know right away at the correct level, and Fireball is one such spell.

Berryjon will almost certainly be showing off why Fireball is good; for those playing along at home, get at least one, and maybe two characters who can cast this AS SOON AS YOU CAN, maybe even right out the gate. It's worth it. I've said that I love Exile 2, and I've said that Exile 2 has some questionable gameplay decisions. Just know that Fireball is borderline necessary to beat the first chapter.

Shwqa posted:

Though it does show just how much Jeff Vogel (owner of spiderweb software) has improved in his ability to make fun games.

In one of the last gene forge game you are in a similar situation. You are fresh recruit right off the boat about to begin your training and all hell breaks loose. The opposing forces are attacking and you have to run through a battle of giants vs lightning lizards to safety. You aren't going to die unless you do something stupid like attack a giant. Still gives the same sense of conflict, but it's not nearly as annoying.

And it is pretty cool, because the giants and lightning lizards are new summons to that game, so you get to see them in action in end game fights.

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

I will say this about that introductory fight, though: it does a good job of setting the mood for the game. The nation of Exile is in bad trouble in E2, and this fight shows the player that instead of just telling them.

veekie posted:

It really should be impressed on newer players that you want M3 and P3 in your starting party just to get over the gear gap at least. And that letting the NPCs soften them up goes a long way.


When you go into combat (by pressing the “F” key for 'Fight'), the bottom row of commands change, and the party splits up into a loose formation. You can abuse this later, but I won't. Except to show it off. Honest.

From the left, we keep the Mage and Priest spell commands, though the available spells will have changed from what we can cast out of combat to those we can cast in combat. Magic is a lot more in depth in this game, so I will whip up an update dedicated to all the magic.

Those who have read my Exile 1 LP will be pleased to know that Major Blessing is still the BEST SPELL, though it is a lot harder to get now.

Next, we have “Look”, which is pretty useless in combat, except to differentiate specific enemies from each other. “Parry” is a defensive command, which makes it harder for the PC to get hit, and they take less damage when the do get hit. The bag is the “Gather” command, which lets us pick stuff up. If you're picking things up in the middle of combat, you're either gathering ammo for your ranged weapon, or you're so far ahead of the curve you can afford to stop and collect the shinies.

Wait is the command to cause the PC to move to the bottom of the cue. The Arrow is to fire a ranged weapon, End ends the combat, while 'Act' should allow you to interact with the environment while in combat.

Now, every player gets 'AP' or Action Points to use when their turn comes up in combat. Most PCs start with 4, however, taking the 'Sluggish' disadvantage reduces that to 3, as you can see when Kai-Lyss' turn comes up. Thankfully, the game comes with a helpful graphic to show off the costs of various actions:



I think I will get into more depth about combat later, as this is getting long.


“Oh my, what is this?”




“This is... crude.”



“Thisss... what.”

“Wow! They left us a map to the back door to their camp!”

“Why would anyone do that?”

“Who cares, dahling? If this means we can do things without bloodshed, then why not?”

“You all help the garrison clean up. I'm going to talk to the Captain about this.”

“Asss you wissh. Chesster, help the soldiersss ssecure the wallss.. Aaarth-Tss, take the Nephil and check the outsside for sspiess. Marianna, with me.”

“Now hold on! Who put you in charge?”

“I did.”

“...”

“Fine.”



“What do you want?”

“I'm sorry for the men who won't make it.”

“Save your pity.”

“It's not pity. It's honest.”

“If you really want me to recognize you, you'll go return the favour. A hundredfold.”

“...”



“Where were you?”

Excuse me?”

“Where were you? There's no signs of a fight in here, so it wasn't like they came in through your room as well.”

What are you saying?”

“Do I have to? You're so quick to accuse people of being what they are not, I just had to give it a try.”











“That was a quick leaving there, Ma'am. Err, Sir. Art. Sir. Ma'am.”

“Don't worry. It's just Art.”

“The captain seemed quite livid at the attack.”

“That she was.”

“So, um, Art. Sir. Why are we headed South? Along the road, I mean?”

Roads... No, we were too aquatic to recognize them for what they can do.

“Are you injured, Art?”

“Huh? Why do you ask?”

“Your hands. They shake.”

“She just needs a stiff one, that'll clear right up.”

“No. You all deserve to know if you're under my command. I was on a raid in the former Giant Lands, headed for the Abyss when we got into a fight. I got the wrong end of a Mind Duel, and took the brunt of it. I'm supposed to be headed to Formello to check in with the healers there. They want a good look at me.”

“Oh. Um.”

“A drink.”

“Oh, you poor thing!”

:sigh:

“I thought I saw something moving to the east.”

“Oh good! A distraction!”

“What is the purpose of this distraction then?”

“Investigation. And people tell me I have a commitment problem.”



“Oh joy.”

In case it isn't obvious, not all events are shown on the map. They can catch you by surprise. I hope you're prepared!



“Ssspiders? I thought they were catsss”

At least they aren't the Giant Intelligent Friendly Talking kind.

“The what now?”

“The less you know, the better.”

“Now I am interested in them!”

“I doubt spiders would make interesting conversationalists.”



“That is the lasst of them. Ssshall we advance?”








“I don't think I read that sign on the way up.”

“You were sloshed on the way up.”



“I've heard good things about Motrax.”

“He's a nice guy. Haven't heard from him in a while. May want to make a side trip there.”

“Iss this ssstandard for you humanss?”

“What? No. Unspecified Services encourages independent initiative in their agents. Because we have to work outside the framework of official channels.”

“That sssounds like an interesssting work ethic.”

“That is does. It also means we don't pry into our people's pasts.”

“...”



“So, Fort Draco. It has to be an improvement!”

“Maybe we can stop at the Tavern first?”

“No, we're going to buy, at the very least, you a bow.”

I apologize for the short update, it's difficult to get into the new writing habit of a more experienced Art, and the new cast. I should find all their voices in the next couple updates, so please forgive any changes you may see.

As is the tradition, here is the current Map:



Something has changed here between Exile 1 and 2. Back in E1, I showed that the map seemed to equate to about 1 square to one mile. However, the above Sign, when compared to the distances on the screen are, at the best, distended. It's location when compared to Fort Draco puts it 6 squares away, making each square 1/3 to 1/2 of a mile, depending on if you want to interpret the exactitudes of the map.

But Fort Ganrick is 11 tiles North, which rounds out to 1.5 miles per tile. This sort of distention is... odd, but I will work to check out other distances as well, to see if this particular sign was just misplaced (it works better if it was SW of the crossroads, rather than North-West), or if there is a bit of retcon work being done on the map.

Man, making a LP sure makes me think hard about what I'm doing.

berryjon fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Jan 1, 2014

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Man that is a hugeass opening battle, especially without gear worth a drat.

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TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe
Hooray, we're up and running! And you seem to have fixed your video issues :woop:

That fight is a bastard. I can't remember how many tries I took at it when I tried to play E2 with a solo slith, but it was a lot. Haste and bless up, step onto the trigger square, then rush to the doors to try to bottle up the nephil casters, and you'd better hope they get distracted putting damage fields on the soldiers instead of casting Curse or Slow on you...

Regarding the writing, obviously you have to establish their primary characterizations and haven't had much time in which to do it, but I think you're hammering the "I want a drink" button a little hard for Dmurr. I mean, every single line she's had so far has referenced alcohol in some way; I think we get it. In contrast Kai-Lyss is considerably more subtle; I like it.

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