Ah! I'm really charging along. I'd forgotten just how much there is to do in the demo area. Of course, I've still got the game set on "casual" which makes it far too easy, but I am charging through this area.
Right now I'm just concentrating on getting my lock pick, cave lore, arcane knowledge and luck skills up. Because combat is so easy on "casual" I've been getting along quite nicely on just the barest minimum of combat skills. But it's frustrating to have to leave locked doors and chests and to miss out on things because my skill levels aren't high enough yet. This way prevents a lot of backtracking.
In fact, I even was able to take out the spore trees guarding the main treasure room in the back of the Nephil fort. I had to go back for that numerous times with my first party back in January. The only thing I neglected was my arcane knowledge, but I was able to bump that up quickly enough that not too much backtracking was required.
I don't know if this easy setting will diminish the experience points I earn, but so far they seem to be racking up pretty quickly. I figure that I can check my first party to see where they were when I had to stop, and compare with this one. If I have less experience this time I won't feel badly about using the character editor to bump them up to the level I originally earned. All I'm trying to do here is get through this demo area quickly so I can get on with the game (on "normal," of course).
I've left the friendly spiders for later. They indeed are annoying, as the all look alike and all have the same name, and I already know the joke, thank you very much (new players will adore them! How not?) However, I know where they are and where the quest is. I suppose I ought to take care of it, but right now I've entered the old Nephil fort on the river that was a major dungeon in the first game. Now it appears to be populated by ghosts. I just took out three basilisks with a nifty fire wand and got major goodies. I left the party there.
More Tips for New Players: When you finish combat out in the open, use the "get" action to pick up goodies dropped by the enemies before you end combat. Lots of loot there, and it will disappear if you don't get it before you hit the peace button. This only applies to outside fights. Inside loot will stay there until you pick it up. You can leave and come back and get it (in fact, that's what I used to do before the innovation of the junk bag). Put stuff in the junk bag as you find it.
However, do NOT put in the junk bag loot that has been asked for in a quest, such as iron bars and basalt. You don't want to sell those to just any merchant, but only to the character that asked for them. You'll always get a good price and there is never a limit to how much they'll buy.
Remember, money has been tight in recent Spiderweb games, and money buys spells and skills, all of which are essential to finishing the game (although you probably won't be able to afford just everything).
Another thing that's different (and was the same in the previous game, Escape from the Pit) is that you don't regenerate spell energy as you move around. Used to be you could just run around and get all charged up again, but not any more. Now, if you leave a town and use spell energy, you'll have to drink an energy potion or return to a town to get it back (or, I think but am not sure, that leveling up restores it too). That means I'm using my bows on my spellcasters as their usual attack mode. I don't use spells unless I need them.
Plus, be smart (as I wasn't for a ridiculously long time). When you get a "group heal" or a "return life" scroll, don't give all those to your cleric. Your cleric might get killed, and they they're not accessible. Spread those out to folks who don't have the spells.
Anyway, I'm having a real blast! Casual is fun! It isn't really the game though, and I'll be happy to get this demo area out of the way. Casual was the right choice for now, however, as I've already truly cleared the whole area on "normal."
Tomorrow I'm going to the San Diego Zoo (I'm a member so I go when the weather is cool). Maybe more playing tomorrow night? Probably won't be able to stay away!
Update: Ha ha. Started to watch a movie and came back to the game. Yup. This is what Spiderweb games do to ya. Obsessive, especially Avernum. So I went ahead and did the quest for the friendly spiders, and was pleased to see that Jeff has added a joke. Taking down the Areana queen was a cinch. On "casual," this is just too easy, but it's serving my purpose of getting through the demo area. I also did the old Nephil fort, which did in fact still have a few Nephil in it. There is a door I can't open, despite having slaughtered the local boss (normally that gets you the key) and even taking down some demons and finding a little key in their chest. It wasn't the right key, however (and I should never have been able to do that--it was the only fight so far in the game that I found difficult on "casual."
Now that I have a boat I can do more than I could in the demo. I went to Solberg's tower, but it's guarded by demons. Until I go to the Castle or to the Tower of Magi I won't be able to get in.
So I went to Formello in the boat. I actually paid five coins to rent a room, and saved for the night. Verisimilitude, doncha know.
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