Guaranteed/Possible Spell Locations

Eldritch · #1 10-23-2008, 11:04 PM

Hello all...

I've been playing this excellent game for weeks now and am loving it but there's this thing that bothers me enough to register and ask about at teh official forums so... just bear with me guise

While the item/creature randomization in the game is a necessary evil for entertaining replays, it also seems to be real pain in the a** if you're a particularly unlucky player.. I have a level 15 Mage now in the Dwarven lands (just reached the capital) on hard difficulty which is a fun build geared towards direct damage spells. With a real high intelligence and all the right skills maxed out it scaled pretty well up until now but the problem is: I have been really... REALLY unlucky with the spells I've stumbled upon. I only have this really damaging fireball spell which is pretty much the only useful DD spell going for me right now. ( I also have the Poison skull which is p. lame and the F. Arrow which is just pathetic). I still haven't found any trace of the Ice Snakes, Fire Rain or the Geyser I keep hearing about and this makes me a sad panda... or a battle mage

Can any you guys tell me where I am guaranteed or likely to find any of these spells? I know the Geyser is Distort. Magic which I got on lvl 2 but I'm even down with that, I'm that desperate believe me! Anything but the Fireball, I'm even sick of the goddamn animation now

All in all, Randomization is cool and all but if it's too extreme to the point it can actually make perfectly viable builds ridiculously difficult to progress is just f**ing annoying

Or I'm just extremely unlucky and the randomization in the game is perfectly balanced

milo · #2 10-24-2008, 12:07 AM

Are you familiar with the obelisk quest? That map you get when you find all the obelisks can be traded for a number of scrolls from each school of magic. Once you have the map goto the academy in verlon forest. I only have one character able to test which scrolls you obtain when you trade the map in but the new spells for me were fire rain, necro call, hypnosis, sheep, blind. In choosing to trade the map in you lose some other good bonuses but might be the best option for a mage if you have been unlucky with drops.

Eldritch · #3 10-24-2008, 12:25 AM

Dude, I just found the friggin Armageddon spell for sale in a giant whales gut! How awesome is that? Anyway, yeah I'm familiar with that quest but It seems to be a pretty huge undertaking so early in the game. I mean, don't you have to visit the obelisks in the elven lands or the necro lands for that? On hard difficulty the army that guards that castle the dorf king wants me to take out to proceed to other lands is GINORMOUS. There were like 5 black dragons for chrissake. I just want to grind a bit, progress nice and slowly and I know fire rain is maybe too good to hope forso early but you'd at least expect a more mediocre ice snakes or whatever medium tier DD spell to show up! Say, I have skipped visiting the Orc Embassy until now, is it likely to find good chaos magic there? Seems reasonable

I'd better try out this Armageddon for some cheese tactics too. Just got to find some fire resistant/immune creatures... or creatures fom infinite "horde" stacks could be viable maybe... Any suggestions?

Namel · #4 10-24-2008, 01:52 AM

I believe you are guaranteed of geyssir spell when you finish titan's tear quest. It can be finished very early in dwarven lands. One more reason why distortion is important to max fast.

sector24 · #5 10-24-2008, 01:54 AM

Geyser is a guaranteed spell. In the Freedom Isles there's a pirate who gives you a map to find a Dwarven treasure (Titan's Tear). That treasure is in Arlania south of the Griffin's island. Once you dig it up, go to Creiston Mines exit into Kordar, and take the first left. You turn it in to the dwarf in the building on the left after you buy him a beer.

Namel · #6 10-24-2008, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sector24

That treasure is in Arlania south of the Griffin's island.

Actually place can change. It has been in Arlania every time for me but in different places. Couple times on that island you say, once in end of peninsula where you can only get by boat. Look at map pirate gives.

Eldritch · #7 10-24-2008, 03:23 PM

Hey guys, thanks for all the helpful responses but...

DAMN I was really hoping Ice Snakes to be the guaranteed one. Turned out to be Geyser. Gonna have to settle with this one I guess.. Good thing I upgraded distortion to lvl2 over getting excited to find cool spells like phantom/pain mirror before... (btw, does intellect have anything to do with their effectiveness? Would be a shame if it didn't) I think I'll just have to grind the s**t out of the last remaining organism on Freedom Isles and the less dangerous areas of kordar to max distortion a bit earlier than planned...

I still cling to the hope of findin' the snakes on the orcish embassy though. Even if I don't, I hear there's still some delicious shamans to be found there.. *win-win situation*

Srsly, do any of you remember where you've stumbled upon the Ice Snakes before? It seems to be a mid tier spell unlike fire rain so it should've been available in the earlier stages. I read here in the forums that some guy found them for sale at the Coastal brotherhood shops, all I found there was utter disappoinment and broken dreams.

sector24 · #8 10-24-2008, 05:13 PM

I found both Ice Snake and Fire Rain as random scrolls in the Freedom Isles. Either as the scroll bag or just a regular scroll lying around on the map.

milo · #9 10-24-2008, 11:17 PM

necrocall can be found in chronicles of lost town I think it is called. The quest item you obtained from a crypt in morshan swamp.

Eldritch · #10 10-24-2008, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sector24

I found both Ice Snake and Fire Rain as random scrolls in the Freedom Isles. Either as the scroll bag or just a regular scroll lying around on the map.

Man, I've searched EVERY inch of the isles and all I found was either the same book of fail, kamikaze or sacrifice. I got like millions of them right now. (sold)

...

I think I've figured out the lame randomization system of the game. All the scrolls are a completely random spell of a certain schools certain tier and that's why I constantly keep getting the book of fail etc. instead of ice snake or fire rain. Because those spells are somehow considered the same tier as THOSE spells which just doesn't make sense. Either the parameters could have been made a bit more mild, giving you more chances to get more spells without ridiculously missing out most of them till cthulhu knows how long further through the game OR more importantly the spells which are considered the same tier could have been made more sensibly balanced. The book of fail or kamikaze just does not provide a viable alternative to the more decent spells of its school.. Frustrating game design is frustrating.

Lucky players of course can be rewarded for their "luck" and can find the better spells a bit earlier than others, it could even provide a pleasant surprise in the replays but the "unlucky" players should be able to at least actually find the good ones sooner or later. Not until after the friggin mid game. It very well could have been game over for me if I've been playing on impossible instead of hard maybe...