A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Here's where all things related to Book III are being discussed!
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Lord_P
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A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by Lord_P »

So, I have completed Eschalon: Book III. Now I'm posting about it, since that seems to be the norm here. I did a True Mage run (since my first Book I & II completions were also True Mages) and it was fantastic fun.

A collection of my thoughts (in complete random order):

SPOILERS AHOY!




  • Lock Melt and Trapkill are your best friends
  • I found only 13/30 secrets, I feel like a noob
  • Haha, the secret of the Widget is revealed!
  • The ending was confusing, but I liked it. I sided with Erubor (because I felt he was the better of the two), but I'm still kind of agnostic about who was really good (rhyme not intended)
  • The ruined ship was a nice place
  • The atmosphere was spot on, as always :)
  • Compress Atmosphere is your second best friend
  • In the end I was carrying so much stuff, I had to keep Ogre Strenght on at all times
  • I was always running out of food for some reason
  • There were some extremely devious puzzles, but I got every last one of them (except for one)
  • I almost banged my head on my keyboard when I finally discovered Ranimer after 3 hours of searching. It was right there!
  • omg Lilith!!
  • Moonrise was a nice place
  • Rockhammer was a nice place (and full of dwarves, even better)
  • Macross Point was a bit scrappy, Alexx never had enough food (that makes sense, though)
  • It was a bit annoying that all the roads to Astral Range were blocked, forcing us to go on a Widget hunt. That part I didn't really like
  • Nice music! I literally screamed of joy when I heard "Forge Thy Destiny" in the credits :lol:
  • Can't wait for the official tools!
And then a question in the end, regarding the tools:

When the tools are released, can you add the possibility of using Book III and II graphics mixed? (Excuse me my broken English, I thought it might be possible since Book II and Book III have the same resolution and partly the same graphics).

Also, excuse me my broken English. It is only my first foreign language and even though I usually speak and write it fluently, it gets really obvious when writing very long things.


EDIT: There you have it, Book II story critics:
[+] SPOILER
THE ORAKUR AREN'T ALIENS!
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by SharpXe »

It was a bit annoying that all the roads to Astral Range were blocked, forcing us to go on a Widget hunt. That part I didn't really like

second this, absolutely bad development move.
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munster
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by munster »

Definitely Compress Atmosphere is a godsend - I almost wept tears of joy when I finally found that scroll. (Take that, Blue Nidaria! Now I can stand safely on this side of the river and zap you from a distance!)

I really missed Fire Dart, and it was my own stupidity that kept me from availing of spells like Ice Lance earlier (I never did use it, because I bumped up other spells to maximum levels). I kept expecting to find Fire Dart (not realising it was gone this time round) so I ignored Spark. Like I said - stupid :oops:

Lock Melt is pretty much vital; you can do without Trapkill if you have good Perception (and robust enough HP to take being zapped with all the nasties), but unless you have really, really good Lock Picking skill, you are stuck with a lot of doors, chests, etc. you just cannot get through until you can find that spell.

I found that having one spell that dealt magical damage and one that dealt physical damage was a good combination to deal with any enemy; Fleshboil and Sunder Flesh meant that anything from Bog Roaches to Skeletons could be managed, depending on whether they had magical or physical damage resistance (switch to the appropriate opposite).
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lilwoofer
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by lilwoofer »

This is more like a question. If you were a true Wizard, not using any weapons or heavy armor, were you able to acquire the Bowman's secret place in Astral Mountains? I thought you needed to heft a weapon. Anyone know the answer to this? I have gotten half way into my third game, perfect Thief, wizard, journeyman and healer, and am trying to go for all 30 complete hidden places, but am concerned about this area (haven't gotten anywhere near it yet...) Please inform me how, if there is a way. I don't want to go thru 7/8's of the game just to lose my "perfect" plan... Does the spell Spark, or maybe fireball do the same thing?
I will stay an initiate, please,let the officers, lieutenants, etc. do the brain work, I will be the grunt! GRRRR-Unt!
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by xolotl »

lilwoofer wrote:This is more like a question. If you were a true Wizard, not using any weapons or heavy armor, were you able to acquire the Bowman's secret place in Astral Mountains? I thought you needed to heft a weapon.
Yeah, AFAIK you do need to shoot it with a bow, but even if you have no Bow skill, you can still just pick one up really cheaply and head over there with a few arrows. With 10 in your quiver you should be able to hit it well enough to let you through, though maybe bring 20 just to be sure. It looks like that would probably lose you the actual "True Mage" challenge, though.
munster wrote:Lock Melt is pretty much vital
Nah, it's certainly one of my favorite spells when I'm playing an elemental mage, but I wouldn't call it vital, especially since there's a Lockpick trainer so easily available. My Bow+Divination Ranger got through the game just fine.

(And speaking of Compress Atmosphere, for some reason my elemental mage playthrough never found that spell, or Fireball either! For the longest (frustrating) time the only effective offensive spell I could find was Sparks. It was Ice Lance which caused me the tears of joy. :)
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by Randomizer »

I'm pretty sure you don't lose the True Mage challenge for that one event, but save before to be sure.
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by Kreador Freeaxe »

I just tested with my mage (hit the bullseye first shot) and it does not make you lose out on the True Mage challenge. To lose the challenge via weapon use, you need to bash something, not just fire a bow a few times.
---

Kill 'em all, let the sysadmin sort 'em out.
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by lilwoofer »

MORE bad news, i think. Edgar cannot be killed for the True healer award, so that hurts getting a perfect game. Either you kill him and you might as well when you read further on you will note why... or you don't get the quest completion for the priest in Moonrise. BUT, at the end of the game, ya might as well lose that no harm no foul to any NPC. Once you get to the ending,
[+] SPOILER
you have hordes to kill and try, just try, not letting ANY of your friendlies get hurt. Good luck on that one. Is there a spell to hold your allies in place whilst you go on and butcher the foe? Any ideas on how to keep my 8 awards intact by the end of the battle/game?
It would be great if anyone could help me... again! Waaa waaa waaa whines the little piggy...
I will stay an initiate, please,let the officers, lieutenants, etc. do the brain work, I will be the grunt! GRRRR-Unt!
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by Vroqren »

The few things people who have obtained True Healer say that if you just run out there and be a tank, taking all of the oncoming attacks, it's possible. Unfortunately though, you're right in that Edgar cannot be killed to complete the challenge.

Check out my walkthroughs:
Character: here
Book I: here

Book II: here
Fathamurk: here
Book III: here
SpottedShroom wrote:There's evil and then there's just being contrary to your own best interests
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by Randomizer »

Edgar should be fixed in later versions. It was caught near the end of testing.
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by SharpXe »

book 3 final is severe diff spike, you may walk around entire game, but at end you must tank to keep healer reward for no good reason.
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by lilwoofer »

Vroqren wrote:The few things people who have obtained True Healer say that if you just run out there and be a tank, taking all of the oncoming attacks, it's possible. Unfortunately though, you're right in that Edgar cannot be killed to complete the challenge.


IF that is the case how DOES one "tank"? Is there something "haste" can do to make me really fast? Does it have increasing effects the more I use or is it just the one boost of level. I was thinking of getting the Haste scroll and pounding speed into myself at the first to beat my allies in the race to slay the enemy. Will that work?
I will stay an initiate, please,let the officers, lieutenants, etc. do the brain work, I will be the grunt! GRRRR-Unt!
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by SpottedShroom »

lilwoofer wrote:
IF that is the case how DOES one "tank"? Is there something "haste" can do to make me really fast? Does it have increasing effects the more I use or is it just the one boost of level. I was thinking of getting the Haste scroll and pounding speed into myself at the first to beat my allies in the race to slay the enemy. Will that work?
The main tactic discussed before was getting the highest armor rating possible and standing in front of your allies so the enemies will target you first. Using Parry mode is an especially good idea.
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lilwoofer
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Re: A Truly Mage Completion (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Post by lilwoofer »

thanks Spottedshroom. Am gonna try that tonight. Wish me luck! <G> Like y'all haven't done THAT before with smirks on the side to us newbies! <G>
I will stay an initiate, please,let the officers, lieutenants, etc. do the brain work, I will be the grunt! GRRRR-Unt!
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