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You guys MUST play The Elder Scrolls: Arena

Repressed Homosexual
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I finally got it going, and it started to click. I like how there's no hand-holding, and you have to figure out everything by yourself.

My rogue is getting slaughtered by spiders in Stonekeep, though. Maybe with a bow. Does the bow have unlimited ammo like in Might and Magic?
 

Wyrmlord

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I finally got it going, and it started to click. I like how there's no hand-holding, and you have to figure out everything by yourself.

My rogue is getting slaughtered by spiders in Stonekeep, though. Maybe with a bow. Does the bow have unlimited ammo like in Might and Magic?
Yes.

From what I recall, one bow called Auriel's Bow kills all such low level creatures (spiders, orcs, goblines, nightblades, mages, rogues, spellswords,.etc) instantly. It did not have any special damage statistics (just 2-12 damage), so I guess - for some mysterious reason - bows tend to have a higher chance of scoring damage on the higher end of the scale. Maybe Agility attribute gives it an exponential boost rather than a linear boost. Either way, bows seem to be very effective.
 

abnaxus

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If you find a magical weapon in the Imperial sewers, like a Longsword of firestorm, and play as a spellcaster, the rest of the game is trivial. You don't even need any daedric artifacts to survive then.
 

Wyrmlord

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If you find a magical weapon in the Imperial sewers, like a Longsword of firestorm, and play as a spellcaster, the rest of the game is trivial. You don't even need any daedric artifacts to survive then.
You should still have the Skeleton Key, if you don't like riddles and annoying find-the-key puzzles.
 

Wyrmlord

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PS: I also got the Longsword of Firestorm early (trick is to have high Luck) and kept getting two or three of them throughout the game along with half a dozen Dwarven Longswords of Paralyzation.

I sold them and instead used the Ebony Blade. It regenerates you as you hit the enemy, which is VERY useful when you are fighting three golems at the same time. Somehow, the other two never seemed as interesting.
 
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Sorry Wyrmlord, but from what I've played so far, bows suck. I need a good 20 hits to kill most mundane enemies, and my rogue has super high agility. I use a 500 GP bow.
 

Wyrmlord

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Hmmm...then it must only have been the Auriel's Bow.

Or maybe not even that.

I played a Redguard Ranger. Redguard Ranger gets 1.33 additional points of damage per level. Since I was level 11 when I started the main quest, perhaps it meant I did an additional 14-15 points of damage.

Which killed all enemies instantly along with Auriel's Bow (adding up perhaps to 16-27 points of damage).
 

abnaxus

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Longsword of firestorm combined with True Invisibility means you can nuke all generic enemies with impunity. Against enemies that can see through it, use a custom reflect spell.

Non-magic users have to use potions or Spellbreaker to survive magic enemies. A simple wraith that spawns in front of your character can almost instantly kill an unprepared character with a volley of fireballs.
 

Wyrmlord

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I found Necromancer's Amulet, Ring of Phynaster, and Ebony Mail to be more than adequate in reflecting all magical attacks. I also used invisibility from Ring of Khajit (NOTE: INVISIBILITY IN THIS GAME IS NOT BROKEN BY ATTACKING)

I think I was pretty much invulnerable throughout this game.

With the right stuff, it's easy.

Without the right stuff, it's very difficult.
 

Grim Monk

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Okay, I've decided to give the game a try.

Rolled up a Redguard Barbarian, finished the starter dungeon no problem.
Found all the hidden loot, and leveled up to level 4.

Got teleported to a town called Riverpoint.





So far the side-quests have been quite :M unimpressive.
They all been fetching about stuff: take/bring MacGuffin from “Inn A” to “Inn B”.
And since all the Inns, and Barkeep Quest Givers look alike it gets tedious even faster...
I really hope that they will get changed up later on...

I've got some pretty good equipment, and 3000+ money from the starter dungeon, and don't really need the 50-60 Gold they give...




The local Lord does not want to talk to me.
I'm guessing that my level is to low.

I'll probably try to explore the Wilderness surrounding the city for a bit next.
Then I will follow up some clues I got when asking people about Fang Lair.
 

Wyrmlord

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Feb 3, 2008
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Okay, I've decided to give the game a try.

Rolled up a Redguard Barbarian, finished the starter dungeon no problem.
Found all the hidden loot, and leveled up to level 4.

Got teleported to a town called Riverpoint.





So far the side-quests have been quite :M unimpressive.
They all been fetching about stuff: take/bring MacGuffin from “Inn A” to “Inn B”.
And since all the Inns, and Barkeep Quest Givers look alike it gets tedious even faster...
I really hope that they will get changed up later on...

I've got some pretty good equipment, and 3000+ money from the starter dungeon, and don't really need the 50-60 Gold they give...




The local Lord does not want to talk to me.
I'm guessing that my level is to low.

I'll probably try to explore the Wilderness surrounding the city for a bit next.
Then I will follow up some clues I got when asking people about Fang Lair.
1) Don't do the inn quests. Waste of time.

2) Don't explore the wilderness. It will auto-generate randomized landscapes till infinity. In the midst of the auto-generated landscapes, you'll find lone barns, the odd goblin, and nothing else.

3) Turn off pixelation by pressing F4. Game will get much faster.

4) For really good and interesting quests, ask for General Rumours. Keep asking 10-20 times to a talkative character, until he spills the beans on a dangerous mission being offered in a particular inn. The rewards for such quests are huge, but the quest is likely a long one that will take you through two huge dungeons. You can sell the rewards of these quests for usually 100,000 gold each, unless your class allows you to use the item. With that money, you can buy an Ebony Daikatana (most powerful non-artifact weapon), an Ebony Tower Shield, Ebony Torc, Ebony Amulet, and an Ebony Bracelet. Locations of these items are fixed and not randomized, so you can hunt each store and each guild in each town until you find them. Hammerfell - where you are right now, has all the best stores for weapons.

5) If you want to explore for loot and XP, simply attempt to rob a store. As a barbarian, you will fail a robbery 99% of the time. But you will get to face worthy enemies, and level up very quickly.

6) Always demand to pay 20% less than the price the storekeeper or innkeeper offers. He'll make a 10% discount compromise in response all the time, saving you a lot of money.

7) In case you haven't found out yet, you can travel in the World Map by right clicking the map icon.
 

Luzur

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I finally got it going, and it started to click. I like how there's no hand-holding, and you have to figure out everything by yourself.

My rogue is getting slaughtered by spiders in Stonekeep, though. Maybe with a bow. Does the bow have unlimited ammo like in Might and Magic?
Yes.

From what I recall, one bow called Auriel's Bow kills all such low level creatures (spiders, orcs, goblines, nightblades, mages, rogues, spellswords,.etc) instantly. It did not have any special damage statistics (just 2-12 damage), so I guess - for some mysterious reason - bows tend to have a higher chance of scoring damage on the higher end of the scale. Maybe Agility attribute gives it an exponential boost rather than a linear boost. Either way, bows seem to be very effective.

i believe that is due to a bug/missed correction, it is the same in Daggerfall if i remember correctly.
 

Grim Monk

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Don't do the inn quests. Waste of time.
For really good and interesting quests, ask for General Rumours.
Thanks!

Don't explore the wilderness. It will auto-generate randomized landscapes till infinity. In the midst of the auto-generated landscapes, you'll find lone barns, the odd goblin, and nothing else.
I've found some crypts and a three story building filled with rogues, so maybe your not quite correct.

Always demand to pay 20% less than the price the storekeeper or innkeeper offers. He'll make a 10% discount compromise in response all the time, saving you a lot of money.

In case you haven't found out yet, you can travel in the World Map by right clicking the map icon.
Yes I know, its written in the manual.

Turn off pixelation by pressing F4. Game will get much faster.
It's already running okay, maybe a bit too fast actually.
In one of the Crypts I opened a door and got jumped by two Ghouls, barely had time to react before they clubbed me to death.
And I'd just :( found a Dai-Katana in the previous room...


Also general advice is fine, but please refrain from telling me critical exploits and spoilers.
I want discover ;) stuff for myself.
 

Nomask Alt

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Just go straight to the main-quest dungeons. They're lovely, and you don't want them to be too easy because that would tend to spoil the atmosphere.
 
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I need to get back to this.

It's pretty impressing to look at the complexity and atmosphere of a dungeon in Arena compared to a modern Elder Scrolls game.
 

Wyrmlord

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Just go straight to the main-quest dungeons. They're lovely, and you don't want them to be too easy because that would tend to spoil the atmosphere.
You don't want them to be too hard either for one very simple reason.

Arena is a quicksand game.

This game was made with prohibiting resting in mind. Any attempt to rest to recover hit points will cause an even more dangerous encounter right there that will lower your hit points even more. Resting will make your situation worse and worse until your progress completely stagnates.

Therefore, you are supposed to plan each dungeon in a way that you will finish it without resting once, or only in a very rare emergency situation.
 

Nomask Alt

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I'm not sure why, but the game became too easy for me halfway through, and I had only done one side quest (the one that gives you the Spell Breaker shield).

Maybe if I had continued, the difficulty would have picked up later.

@ HHR, yeah, the dungeons are amazing. Also more distinct and varied than in Daggerfall.
 

Wyrmlord

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Feb 3, 2008
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The game eventually reaches points where you are standing on lone pieces of rock in the midst of lava, while imps fire lightning bolts at you from all directions. You are left jumping from one distant rock to another, while trying to fend off the imps. Of course, levitation helps, but as a Redguard Ranger, I had to ration my Levitation magical items.

So yes, it does get tougher.

Of course, if you have Ring of Phynaster, Ebony Mail, Necromancer's Amulet,.etc, you can resist fire damage and lightning attacks, but you have to ration the use of those too.
 

Sceptic

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Divinity: Original Sin
So yes, it does get tougher.
Arena? god no. Well, it depends on class I guess. As a non-spellcaster I guess it does. As a spellcaster, it gets progressively easier, and by the 3rd or 4th province it's a cakewalk.
 

Wyrmlord

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So yes, it does get tougher.
Arena? god no. Well, it depends on class I guess. As a non-spellcaster I guess it does. As a spellcaster, it gets progressively easier, and by the 3rd or 4th province it's a cakewalk.
Since nomask indicated that he got the Spellbreaker, he was obviously a Warrior, and hence, he was obviously a non-spellcaster.

Anyway, I too played a Redguard Ranger, but I stuffed myself with so many artifacts that each dungeon was about 2 minutes long - the game was easy from start to finish for me. But ASSUMING that the game is NOT MEANT for you to gather all artifacts, it may be presumed it should have been harder for me had I not had the artifacts.
 

Sceptic

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Divinity: Original Sin
ASSUMING that the game is NOT MEANT for you to gather all artifacts
How do you get them all anyway? Unless they changed this in one of the patches, I haven't gone artifact hunting since 1994... but back in the early versions, you would not get information about an artifact dungeon if you had one. There was a bug/glitch you could exploit, where if you put your artifact for repair the game wouldn't see it when scanning your inventory and you'd then be able to get the info for another one. Pretty sure it was a bug though, now that the details are coming back to me... I think you also had to get your first artifact back from repair before retrieving the second one otherwise it wouldn't be there when you got back. Did you manage to get them all (I assume with 1.06, either the CD version of Beth's download?) without exploiting this bug?

Ninja: just saw your list of answers up there. Couple of comments:

2) Don't explore the wilderness. It will auto-generate randomized landscapes till infinity. In the midst of the auto-generated landscapes, you'll find lone barns, the odd goblin, and nothing else.
It'll also autogenerate random dungeons. No point going to any of them though, they usually are completely uninteresting and have fewer rewards than quest dungeons.



Locations of these items are fixed and not randomized, so you can hunt each store and each guild in each town until you find them. Hammerfell - where you are right now, has all the best stores for weapons.
Cool, I didn't know even after all this time that item location in stores is fixed!
 

Wyrmlord

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Since I played Daggerfall first, I knew that artifacts in the early TES series were meant to be used up very quickly. So I kept repairing each for 12 days for 1 gold a piece. I did discover that I could find other artifacts doing so, and I would retrieve the repaired artifact before going to the next artifact quest. I believe I gathered 9 or 10 of them, depending on whether we include Oghma Infinum.

But I had no idea it was a bug or an exploit. I had the CD version. I just reckoned that since these things evaporate after ten uses, repairs are a must. Now, I kinda feel bad for breaking the game! However, thanks to Skeleton Key, I never answered a single riddle. Not one, except the "E" one.

Repairs are a must in Daggerfall's early unpatched versions too (before starting Arena, I had just played early and later versions of Daggerfall just to compare), as Repair Magical Items lets you keep the Daedric Artifacts. Otherwise, they are finished in a week of usage. Repair Magical Items is still there in newer patches of Daggerfall....but as a skeleton feature, so artifacts never last.

Also:
Cool, I didn't know even after all this time that item location in stores is fixed!

Yes, it surprised me as well. There are, what, ten thousand items at least in this game, once you total all the stores in each town and then in each province? They painstaking placed each of them manually. Scary. I was searching for good quality items. I thought that since stores must be randomized, I re-entered the same store a week later, but found the exact same items re-stocked. Checked for every store after.
 
Repressed Homosexual
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I'm not sure why, but the game became too easy for me halfway through, and I had only done one side quest (the one that gives you the Spell Breaker shield).

Maybe if I had continued, the difficulty would have picked up later.

@ HHR, yeah, the dungeons are amazing. Also more distinct and varied than in Daggerfall.

Also much easier to navigate.

You look at the ultra-linear Skyrim dungeons, and some truly oppressive mazes from Arena that could contain like 7-8 big Skyrim dungeons, and frown at what happened to gaming in the meanwhile.

I forgive them for the unbalanced gameplay, since they didn't have much resources to playtest and balance everything to perfection. Didn't they only have one programmer for these games, that Julian guy?
 

abnaxus

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Well, both Arena and Daggerfall are from the pre-hiking simulator era.
 

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