The Drunken Lizard Pub

I guess you could take that remark to be vulgar, but I didn't -- I just took it as an analogy for something else you might want to "defend" when it's criticized. (It's also sexist and heteronormative, but I digress ;) As somebody else who really likes Eschalon, but also sees a few irritati...

They don't help, which is a good thing.

I take it there are a few places where it is 100% necessary to make a kill? Otherwise you could do True Mage as well if you switched Hellbringer for Pacifist.

That's good to know... so there is a cap to these scores, and you can't just increase them infinitely by spamming high-level Foraging and selling the results.

...unless the player gold variable isn't capped at a reasonable number of bytes, but I'm assuming it is.

There is a thread on this, and it is linked in Strategy Central as well.

Not quite -- there's no trainer for Unarmed Combat either, and Unarmed Combat *still* fails to provide any bonus to compensate for all the bonuses you miss out on by not having a weapon in hand.

Can anybody comment on where the numbers come from? I mean, it's mostly obvious, but does the Loot score for example come from only items/gold you possess at game end, from any items you've ever sold, picked up, etc.

So Gloomwrought, for example, you can't add anything to?

Can you use alchemy to augment the named weapons, for stats they do not already have bonuses on? i.e. can you give Wraithbiter bonuses to-hit or to special damage?

It sounds like the simplest way to get to level 30, if you really want to, is to use the summoning divination spell and kill the summons.

I have to say that having to contort my character to maximize my skills, and having ability scores that are mostly meaningless, are -not- things that I associate with actual old school RPGs. So you've never played an old RPG and spent time trying to find the best combination of stats and skills to ...

In other words, Eschalon is a game that doesn't hold your hand, and doesn't constantly babysit you. It's old school. I have to say that having to contort my character to maximize my skills, and having ability scores that are mostly meaningless, are -not- things that I associate with actual old scho...

So basically, the only way you can come up with to defend the current system, is by telling the people who dislike it that it's their fault for having that particular play style? Sheesh.

In other words, Eschalon is a game that doesn't hold your hand, and doesn't constantly babysit you. It's old school. I have to say that having to contort my character to maximize my skills, and having ability scores that are mostly meaningless, are -not- things that I associate with actual old scho...

I don't think he disagrees with the factual observations made about the game, but he disagrees that they are a bad thing. I know he has written about how he wants players to be able to "have complete control" over their character, and that allowing exploits is somehow part of that. And how...