A few thoughts from my latest play through

[SpottedShroom]

It turns out you can imbue unidentified items. I hoped that it might auto-identify them for you when you did, but no such luck.

I've long considered Druidic the best axiom, since it gets you to faster HP/MP regeneration rates sooner and the game takes place mostly outside. This play, I noticed that Atheistic could be an excellent late-game choice, since (with elemental resist) a trap in the Goblin Citadel lets you infinitely farm goblins for loot.

I also wanted to share the list of questions I ask myself when designing a character build, and the pluses and minuses of the respective options.

How are you going to kill enemies?
* Melee weapons: no ammunition/MP worries, but need to get up close with some enemies you might want to avoid (bombthugs, acid grubs). Swords is the best choice, since (1) it's available as a starting skill (2) there are several excellent swords available as fixed loot and (3) swords have the highest available base damage of any weapon
* Bow: you can avoid melee damage from most enemies, meaning armor and HP are less important. You need ammo, but it's pretty cheap as long as you keep your to-hit high
* Magic: you can avoid melee damage from most enemies, meaning armor and HP are less important. MP regeneration is a serious problem, and damage output is limited by the spells available. You'll never do as much damage/turn as a weapon user, or be able to get through a fight with 3 Taurax without using potions.
* Sneak past them: theoretically possible, and potentially eliminates the need for offense or defense. You miss out on a lot of XP, though, and fighting is kind of what the game is about.

Advantage: bow

How are you going to deal with locked items?
* Unarmed attack: very cheap in terms of necessary skill points, but takes a long time unless unarmed is also your main combat skill
* Lock picks: you get XP for doing it, but it takes a lot of skill points and costs money for picks
* Magic: also needs skill points, but you can use that skill for lots of other stuff, too. A Lock Melt scroll can be hard to find

Advantage: unarmed attack (if it's your combat skill) or magic

How are you going to deal with darkness?
* Torches: basically free since they're so plentiful. Uses weight, lets enemies see you, prevents shield use, and a non-starter for bow users.
* Lantern: more expensive to keep full than torches, and easier to run out. Better visually, but same problems with shield/bow
* Cat's Eyes: great since you can see but enemies can't see you. You don't get full brightness, though, so you still take a small penalty.
* Predator Sight: great since you can see but enemies can't see you, and you get full to-hit. Alerts you to enemies while they're still a ways away. Hard to navigate a dungeon with just this, though.
* Gravedigger's Flame: like torches but no weight and compatible with bow or shield

Advantage: Cat's Eyes. Note that a bow user almost must have magic

How are you going to keep melee enemies from killing you?
* Don't get close enough to get hit: great option for ranged attackers
* Armor: cheap in terms of skill points, but expensive in gold and carrying capacity
* Tons of hit points: very difficult by itself, even dumping all stat points into Endurance
* Divine heal: a great option if you're not using magic to do damage in combat. Probably still need some armor, though

Advantage: HP/armor for melee fighters, distance for ranged

How are you going to keep ranged enemies from killing you?
* Armor: cheap in terms of skill points, but expensive in gold and carrying capacity
* Tons of hit points: very difficult by itself, even dumping all stat points into Endurance
* Divine heal: a great option if you're not using magic to do damage in combat. Probably still need some armor, though
* Dense nimbus: Amazing if you're already using magic

How are you going to deal with traps?
* High perception + skullduggery: you get XP for disarming traps, but requires a lot of skill points
* High perception and avoid: you're going to have it anyway for magic-heavy build
* Just suffer through: entirely possible, especially with high resists

Advantage: Suffer through unless you have high perception anyway

In total: I think the best build is bow attacker with heavy magic support. Magic is too limiting to be a great offense, but it's an amazing use of skill points in terms of how many other things it does. For maximum efficiency you'll want to wait to invest your own skill points until you can buy each magic skill to 5 in Blackwater and read the skill books. All you really need are Lock Melt and Cat's Eyes, but Dense Nimbus, Divine Heal, and Predator Sight are also amazing, and Portal is great for convenience.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Great post, 'shroom! I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to know people still play Book 1 and get enjoyment out of it.

[blatherbeard]

and by shroom no lesss!

ps i think i have to do a replay of all books soon lol

[MyGameCompany]

I replayed Book I about 6 months ago. Replayed Book II about 3 months ago. Still very enjoyable games!

[Painted Lady]

I started a replay of Book 1 a couple of weeks ago. Decided to make it challenging by using no magic and making my distance attack Thrown weapons. However, I play on a Mac. The maps covered in white squares is just too painful, so I dropped the idea.

[MyGameCompany]

Hm. I play on a Mac, and haven't encountered any white square issues.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I started a replay of Book 1 a couple of weeks ago. Decided to make it challenging by using no magic and making my distance attack Thrown weapons. However, I play on a Mac. The maps covered in white squares is just too painful, so I dropped the idea.

I think you've complained about this in the past. Is your Mac fully up-to-date, and are you using the very latest version of Book 1?

[Painted Lady]

I think you've complained about this in the past. Is your Mac fully up-to-date, and are you using the very latest version of Book 1?

The Mac is up to date. I just re-downloaded Book 1 and got Version 1.06, which is the version I had before. Strange huh?

What is new is that I now have a BlitzMax error saying the gfx.pak is missing. Maybe I will try getting the game off of iTunes.

[SpottedShroom]

For what it's worth, I also had some minor white squares issues on Linux in my last play through. I think I saw it mainly in the Hive Queen's lair.

[BasiliskWrangler]

The white squares issue was definitely a problem with BlitzMax's OpenGL driver, the last time I addressed it. That's likely to be the case again, and possibly no way to ever correct it unfortunately. BlitzMax is dead. X_x

[SpottedShroom]

Well, at least it's open source. As soon as you release the Book I source, I'll take a look at fixing it ;)

[Painted Lady]

Thought you might be interested to know that I downloaded Book I from the iTunes app store successfully. Don't know if the white squares will re-appear, but the game seems to start up smoothly and looks normal so far.

[Prismatic Maelstrom]

Well, at least it's open source. As soon as you release the Book I source, I'll take a look at fixing it... ;)

/deadhorse

[Azvael]

Hello Shroom from 2017

This is a great analysis. One thing about spells is they're the only offensive skill that has an AOE option. Non offensive casters gotta rely on demon oil, and while I love me some demon oil, it's just not as efficient as spamming the AOE spells. This, IMO, balances it out against spells' lack of DPS when compared to weapon skills.