I finished. Plenty of great fun right up to the endgame, which frankly, sucked. But first:
Once again I was having too much fun playing to blog about it. Had to do all the little quests to satisfy my co-fighters. Each one has a little problem to solve, but we have to go find them and solve it in order to keep them friendly and happy.
Along the way I returned to Monitor Base D in the Corruption, and attacked the Wind Demon that was occupying it. With two tinkermages, giving me four towers, and my shaman to heal us up, after a bit of trouble with tactics I managed to defeat the guy pretty easily. Didn't get a "medal" in the game for it, however, because I did it on normal difficulty, and the game won't reward you with a medal unless you kill him on the "hard" setting.
The big quest was going to the Corruption Core and the fight with Miranda, one of the major villains. Miranda rebelled against Redbeard in the first game and caused all the chaos we're fighting in this game. We met her earlier a couple of times, but this time it's the showdown. The trouble with the Core is that if you step off the smooth walkways you engender nasty enemies. Plus, once you kill Miranda (a little trick is involved that I had to look on the forum for, but I should have been able to figure it out with my Spiderweb experience, drat me) you have to leave the Core post haste, or you get swarmed. Of course, you can always have just one character run out, leaving the rest to get killed. They come back once you hit the peace button.
So that was a nice challenge, and fun. But then we get to the actual endgame.
First, we have to go fight Dheless in one of his temples again. This time he has abundant cronies who are pretty tough. It ain't easy to get through 'em, and finally I decided to just avoid a few fights. Once done with that, you get this screen:
There's only one place to go. So we go there, and we find . . .
Endlessly spawning enemies. First, we can get into a nice supply dump. I couldn't access all of the goodies available, because you need lockpicks and I didn't have enough to get into a chest that no doubt held some really nice stuff. Then it's out and into the fighting.
The first fight is fine. We can win it. However, once we proceed across the map we trigger those spawning enemies. Plus, there are more enemies in your way as you try to get to the fort. If you get through those you find four (4) flame throwing turrets blocking your access over the bridge.
The forum gave good advice. Get a character with teleporting abilities, load up with regeneration potions, and "bunny hop" across the map.
So, I went back to a save game that I had in Avadon, and chose a different party. I left my sorcerer with his great robe and wand, and took my shaman because I needed the healing ability. Then I gave my character the teleport scarab and also chose the shadow walker, who can teleport automatically. I fought my way through the temple yet again--good tough fights. Also got through that first section of the outside area that you have to traverse to get to the fort.
But then I ran into the spawning area. Used the teleport ability to get my character and the shadow walker across. One of them got stuck in a fight, but the other did manage to leap over the bridge with the turrets. Whew!
But.
It turns out that more spawning enemies come from the north. At last I just gulped down speed potions and ran to the fort. I made it! Now I'm ready for the final showdown that will end the game. I've saved up nine precious circle of fire scrolls, because these games always end with a final, tough battle that you eventually can win, right? I've got battle elixirs. I've got three assault crystals. I've got wands. I've got speed elixirs. I am READY for that final battle!
Nope. Those spawning enemies were the final fight. You get to recruit all six of your buddies. I took time to make sure they were all well equipped, although I wasn't able to change any scarabs because I wasn't at Avadon. I gulped down some "water" available in the area that replenished my vitality. Everybody was at full strength. We go in to see Redbeard. We make choices (I decided to be loyal this time).
Redbeard says we're going back to Avadon. So I hoped I'd have chance to fix the scarabs before the fight.
But there was no fight. Once you click the green check button to end the dialogue, the game goes into the explanation of what happened. No final fight. No scarabs. No circle of fire scrolls. The game is over.
Sheesh.
Well, it was a fantastic game up to that point. The endgame was nothing but frustration followed by disappointment. Did Jeff get tired? Did he get pushed over a deadline? And why the spawning enemies anyway? That just isn't Spiderweb's style. Normally, when you kill an enemy, it stays dead. You can get spawns, but there's always a source to destroy and stop the spawning.
So instead of five stars, I'm docking one just because of the endgame. Great game, up to that point.
I did have fun most of the time though!
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