Deep red sphere adds 1 pt. To DEX (18 max). IOUN stone will orbit the characters head. Try curse of the azure bonds, had all shapes sizes and colours. Welcome to our Curse of the Azure Bonds subsite! Due to the age of this game, we will not be providing any daily news. However, we still have plenty in store for you, all of which can be found on the navigation bar to the left.
Area NoteThis area is divided into two halves: Tilverton to the west and the Thieves' Guild to the east. The two halves are completely separate, but since they're shown this way when you use the 'area' command, we decided to leave them together rather than separate them.
When you first try to exit Tilverton (through Exit A), you'll be told that the way is closed because a royal carriage is expected soon. Later, when you try to exit the city again (after visiting Filani the Sage at #9), you'll witness the carriage, but then your bonds will begin to glow, and you'll attack. You'll have to fight off a group of royal guards, but then you'll be given the option of surrendering or fighting some more. Regardless of what you choose, you'll shortly end up in the Thieves' Guild. You'll be able to rest right away in the Thieves' Guild, so feel free to use up your spells against the royal guards.
Once in the Thieves' Guild, you'll start a long segment of the game where you won't be able to visit any shops, and you'll only have access to one training hall. So make sure you prepare as necessary before you trigger the carriage fight. You will find some arrows and darts in the Thieves' Guild, but you won't find any quarrels.
1 - Starting Point
This is where you'll start out in the game. It is perfectly safe to rest here, so the first thing you should do is encamp and memorize spells.
2 - Windlord's Inn
The first time you arrive in this spot, the innkeeper will explain how you managed to arrive in her inn (journal entry 31), and she'll suggest you visit Filani the Sage to the north (#9).
3 - Disheveled Man
You'll find the man having a nightmare. He'll mumble, 'Flaming giant.. blood red mage.. the glinting knife.. plants that walk.. aieghhh!' Then the innkeeper will enter the room and usher you back outside. However, she'll mention that the man was found on the night that you were brought in.
4 - Weapons of Cormyr
This is the weapon and armor shop. Since your party starts out naked, obviously you should take the time to get them equipped here. 'May you always strike true.'
5 - The Curse
When you enter the tavern, you'll be given the option to 'punch the barkeep' or 'have a drink.' The former is a good way to start a brawl (and pick up some minor experience). The latter is a good way to hear a tavern tale.
The first time you enter the tavern, you should witness a woman wearing a purple sash arriving, and you'll be asked to leave. You'll then hear a commotion by the side door, but by the time you arrive there, all you'll find is an ornate knife. You'll mark down what the knife looks like in your journal (journal entry 17), but that's all you'll be able to do.
6 - Temple of Gond
If you walk among the pews in the next room, you'll hear a sermon. The sermon deals with the Cormyr Defense Force (aka the 'occupation').
7 - Altar
This is where you can receive healing -- for a price.
8 - High Priest
If you tell the priest your story, he'll attempt to cast a 'remove curse' spell on you. It won't work, but you'll record the proceedings in your journal (journal entry 19).
9 - The Sage Filani
Filani will offer to analyze your bonds for half of your funds. If you 'lie' about how much you have, she'll simply order you out of her house, but then you'll be able to try again. Filani will recognize three of the bonds -- one each from the Fire Knives, the god Moander, and the Zhentrim -- and she'll suspect a fourth has something to do with a sage from Shadowdale. You'll record her words in your journal (journal entry 38).
10 - The Hall of Training
Unlike Pool of Radiance, you won't have to go to individual trainers for each class. This one spot will handle everybody.
11 - Tilverton General Store
You can buy mirrors and flasks of oil here.
12 - Thieves' Guild
When you're brought to the Thieves' Guild after attacking the carriage, this is where you'll end up. You can rest here if you need to, but as soon as you try to move, the thief guildmaster will tell you that the Fire Knives kidnapped the king's daughter Nacacia in an attempt to lure him into a trap. (You might have heard Nacacia being kidnapped while at The Curse. The trap was you attacking the carriage.) Then the Fire Knives will burst into the room, kill the guildmaster, and attack.
This is sort of an annoying battle, since there will be thieves with you and thieves against you, and they'll all look the same. If you have any big magic user spells (like 'fireball') go ahead and use them, and then we'd recommend you just let the computer fight the battle.
After the battle, you'll find a map of the sewers on the body of the guildmaster (journal entry 4).
13 - Guest Book
One entry in the guest book is 'O. Ruskettle, Bard of the Realms -- Touch the harp and lose your hand.' You might catch glimpses of Ruskettle as you escape from the guild, and you'll meet up with her later (in Zhentil Keep).
14 - Kennel
You'll battle a Fire Knife and some fighting dogs here.
15 - Treasure Room
The door to the room is difficult to open, and chances are that you'll need to use the 'knock' spell to enter. Inside you'll find a potion of giant strength, a potion of invisibility, a potion of speed, a potion of extra healing, dust of disappearance, a long sword +1, banded mail +1, two magic user scrolls, and some money and jewels.
Note: The dust of disappearance is very powerful. If you use it before a battle, then enemies won't be able to target you with spells, and they'll only be able to target you for melee attacks if you're standing adjacent to them. So save it for something special, like the big battle at the end of Oxam's Tower.
You'll also find a deep red ioun stone here. These stones can be readied even if you have a shield equipped, and each one raises an attribute value. The deep red ioun stone raises dexterity by 1.
The room description also indicates that you can rest safely here, but as far as we've noticed, it's pretty safe to rest anywhere in the guild.
16 - Monkey Room
In this room you'll face monkeys, Fire Knives, and a pair mages. Take down the mages first so you can avoid their 'stinking cloud' spells.
17 - Dead Woman
Near the dead woman you'll find a staff 'surmounted by a hand with a mouth for a palm' (the symbol of Moander). On the woman you'll find a piece of paper that reads, 'Keep watch on the chosen ones.' This woman might be found in random locations.
Exits:
- Gate to the Wilderness.
- Passage to the Sewers.
I was a little disappointed last year when that Tyranthraxus returns as the main (or at least a main) villain in Curse of the Azure Bonds, but it turns out he wasn't spoiling much: the game gives it away in the first act. I'm pretty sure the sigil above shows up somewhere in Pool of Radiance, but if that wasn't enough of a hint, there are multiple references throughout the Tilverton sewers and Fire Knives hideout to Tyranthraxus, including this explicit one, found on a piece of paper clutched in a burned Fire Knife's hand. Compared to Pool of Radiance, the beginning stages of Curse of the Azure Bondsare fast-paced and frenetic. Where the first game gave you time toexplore the city, get used to the interface, and slowly engage the evilmonsters residing in Old Phlan, Curselaunches you into a series of difficult combats as you fight to escapethe sewers of Tilverton, while a war between the Fire Knives and several foes rages around you.Before we begin, I should note that we've had a change of cast, for three primary reasons.
1.In the comments in the last posting, Tristan and Malor successfullyconvinced me that a fighter/thief would be a better character than astraight thief, even if he can never advance his fighter levels past 9.The rationale is that being a fighter at all (even if he was only level1) gives him a huge advantage in the equipment he can carry and wield.The disadvantage, aside from wasting half his experience after Level 9,is that dwarves can't achieve higher than 17 dexterity. Karnov, my level7 fighter/level 8 thief from Pool of Radiance, rejoined theparty. In keeping with a more-thief like tradition, I'm going to cladhim only in leather or studded leather.
I began to regret the elf magic user. I wasn't thinking long game with that.
I'd have had to dump him in Secret of the Silver Blades in favor of a human, since he wouldn't have been able to advance. I took a peek at the Silver Bladesmanual, and it appears that magic users start level 9. I would have hadto sacrifice two levels for no advantage except for the role-playingsatisfaction of having an elf in this game. And really, how does thataffect my playing experience? What do I know about role-playing elvesanyway? That left me with a superfluous fighter. I don'treally need four melee characters, and a plain fighter is almostentirely useless in this game.
He has no advantages that a paladin orranger does not have. Octavianus was capable of dualing to a cleric, butI felt I really need another mage more than another cleric, and Koren(my cleric) wasn't capable of dualing to a mage (she only had 13intelligence), so I decided I couldn't keep them both.I didn't have a lot of images for this section, so I thought I'd throw in a random shot of battle against trolls and crocodiles. Dropping Octavianus, my lead character from Pool,would have been painful for legacy reasons (plus, he had really goodstatistics all around), so I dualed him to a cleric, which means hestarts over at Level 1 and will be able to access his fighter abilitiesagain when he hits Level 9 as a cleric (that might not take so long; he rose to Level 6 in the opening area alone). Koren, whohad lousy attributes other than strength and wisdom, hit the road.Yorsh, the elven mage, I also sent packing. A human brother and sister,Viola and Cesario, joined the group. Cesario is a cleric who will laterdual to a mage when Octavianus gets competent.
Ao oni. Ao Oni is a Japanese survival horror game with RPG and puzzle elements. Although each version differs heavily from the others, the objective is always the same. Locked in a mansion, you explore and solve puzzles while running from an enigmatic demon. This wiki serves as a source of collective information about the series and walkthroughs.
Viola is a straight mage. Thefunny thing is, I could have accomplished all of the above from theinitial loading screen of my last saved game. When the game first loads,you get full functionality to add and delete characters beforeembarking on the continued adventures. I nearly did that, but that wouldhave meant that Viola, Cesario, and Karnov technically don't have the azure bonds!I'm sure the game would have just retconned it for me, but I couldn'thandle the paradox, so I restarted and played the initial Tilvertonencounters again before continuing where I left off with the guild andsewers. Not mapping Tilverton had felt wrong, so I took the opportunityon the new outing. Withthe limited amount there is to do in Tilverton, I still managed toaccomplish more on my second outing than the first.
I discovered thatpunching the barkeep or refusing to leave the bar puts you in a brawlwith 8 low-level fighters. Drinking something other than lemonade getsyou a series of 'tavern tales' that flesh out the back story of Princess Nacacia, her lover Gharri, and her father, King Azoun, who is coming to Cormyr to find her.A clue!While my party was in town, the Fire Knives (a group of assassins) kidnapped the princess from the tavern and dragged her through the sewers to their hidden lair beneath Tilverton. Her lover Gharri, wielding a hammer and several high-level priest spells, charged to the rescue.
At the same time, the Fire Knives started engaging the thieves' guild for the territory beneath the city and my party fled into the sewers after their compelled attack on the king's carriage (which turned out to have an impostor named Giogi of Wyvernspur). Thus, the Fire Knives were beset on multiple sides as I made my way through the opening maps. I frequently came across the remnants of battles between Fire Knives and the thieves, or Gharri, or some random knight from Myth Drannor. There were also signs of other incursions: bodies of mysterious cultists in green, and entire rooms that had been incinerated by fire.I wasn't clear which of the Fire Knives' many enemies were responsible for this.These opening areas preceded in three stages: the thieves' guild hideout, the sewers, and the Fire Knives' hideout. The hideout was actually the right half of the city of Tilverton, but with the transition between the two areas via cutscene (there appears to be no way to return to Tlilverton proper having left). The sewers area was composed of two 5 x 16 maps and one 6 x 16 map, which together make up a standard 16 x 16 grid area.
The hideout was just a regular 16 x 16 area. Already, though, the game seems to be having fun with the standard map area and coordinates.Tilverton, with the thieves' guild area on the right in yellow.The sewers. These three areas are technically stacked on top of each other, not side-by-side.The Fire Knives' hideout.Throughout the three areas, there were some interesting encounters. A few highlights:1. The sewers held several packs of otyughs-large, tentacled omnivores that live in filth-and neo-otyughs, their larger cousins. I was curious about their origins, but it appears that they were created specifically for D&D.
Anyway, they really pack a punch, hitting multiple times with every attack. Each of my combats with them exhausted my spells and hit points, and usually left one or two of my characters unconscious (fortunately, there were plenty of safe places to rest in the sewers). I wouldn't have thought them intelligent, but one of the groups contacted my party telepathically and asked me to get them some balls of dung from another group in the sewers. The experience rewards were significant.An interesting side-quest with some role-playing options.This combat against them did not go very well.2. There was a hidden thieves' guild training hall in the sewers, thankfully. Since I had just dualed Octavianus back to Level 1, he would have been wasting all his accumulated experience if I couldn't periodically train him up (you stop accumulating new experience just shy of your current level plus two).3. Several areas of trolls.
They were no easier than in Pools. One of them even made a reference to:Why are trolls always throwing things?4. This game has stepped up the number of random, non-combat encounters.
Each map has exhibited some level of them so far, including:. Random clips of conversation on the streets of Tilverton. Pieces of trolls occasionally encountered in the sewers.
You can watch them regenerate and then fight trolls or burn them before they have a chance. Random shouts heard through the Fire Knives' hideout.
A stuffed figure of King Azoun used as a knife-throwing target, encountered randomly in the hideout.Random notes like this add considerable atmosphere to the game.5. I found some decent magical equipment, none of which I used until I could identify it at a shop later.
Last time, I made fun of the large selection of obscure pole-arms included in the game, so it was somewhat ironic that my first magical two-handed weapon was a glaive-guisarme +1. Also among the items were two different-colored 'Ioun Stones' that increase various statistics when held.A nice haul from the thieves' guild.6. There was evidence in the Fire Knives' hideout that they were the ones to do the tattoo work. Combat was harrowing at times, but fun.
The creators have continued to do a good job with the blend of random encounters and fixed encounters. When I first entered the areas and started getting random encounters, I girded myself for a long slog against multiple packs of 6 Fire Knives and such. But the developers wisely put a cap on random encounters, so that after you've experienced five or six of them, you don't get any more. Pool of Radiance did something similar, at least in most areas.
Throughout the combats, I noticed the significantly greater difficulty in Curse, and at times my party felt like it was back at Level 1 in the ruins of Old Phlan again, missing most of their attacks, causing 3-5 hit points per hit, receiving blows almost every time the enemy swung.Oh, how I love it when enemies are arranged like this, and I have 'Fireball.' Moments later, King Azoun and his guard burst in. Nacacia stopped them from killing me, explaining that the compulsion wasn't my fault, but the King still banned me from Cormyr lands, including Tilverton. Nacacia, meanwhile, escaped again with Gharri.That night, I had a bad dream in which the remaining four controllers of my bonds taunted me.That didn't work out so well for the 'Flamed One' last time.And with that, it appears that the linear part of the game came to an end. In a departure from Pool of Radiance, I no longer have an overland map through which I can wander freely, but rather a map of the various cities of the region, to which I can choose to travel by wilderness, trail, or boat.
Each method of travel between each two cities seems to carry the chance of some kind of special encounter. I'll cover this next time, though.The world broadens extensively after the opening area.Now I have to find and defeat my other four 'masters,' and since the game world has opened up, it appears that I'll be able to do them in any order.
This is what I know about them:. The one with the moon that the sage in Tilverton thought belonged to Elminster of Shadowdale actually doesn't. A man in a bar in Shadowdale warned me that Elminster would be fairly irked if he found that someone was claiming to have been bonded by him.
He suggested the real owner was a Red Wizard of Thay who has a tower to the south. There are rumors of a red wizard gathering dragons in the south, so this might be the same guy. A note in the Fire Knives' hideout indicated that he's 'insane.' .
The hand with the mouth belongs to the cultists of the dead god Moander. They are operating out of Yulash. The ornate Z belongs to the Zhentarim in Zhentil Keep. It appears they've been preparing troops for war. The flaming symbol is Tyranthraxus's. I don't know where to find him.Before I go, I want to mention that I have started reading, and I can already see how different parts of the game allude to it.
For instance, this entry in the thieves' guild 'guest book' refers to one of the main characters of the book. Hillsfar is probably best viewed as a side story/solo character trainer. Heck, maybe just take one of your veterans you had to drop and replace from your Azure Bonds party- this is what they end up doing with all their new spare time. Or just roll up a new character in Hillsfar.I would suggest using a thief or thief multiclass first- there is a lock picking minigame that comes up pretty often and all other classes are stuck just brute forcing locks. Clerics will have a hard time with the archery game (each ranged weapon acts differently, and slings are both slow and arc). High dexterity is beneficial there too of course. Each mini-game takes some practice, and has harder difficulties the further you progress.
But each has patterns you can learn to take advantage of with practice.There are differences depending on your main class to how things happen, but the main quest line hits the same major beats. Probably not necessary to run multiple characters unless you just want the slight bonuses.And as an FYI to cut down on future frustration- there are secret doors in some buildings- ROT'd for minor spoilers: Tb nf sne abegu nf lbh pna dhvpxyl, rfcrpvnyyl vs gurer vf n fznyy ebbz lbh pna svaq. Gura whfg gel jnyxvat vagb gur gbc jnyy naq lbh jvyy trg n zrffntr. Benjo'That left me with a superfluous fighter.
I don't really need four melee characters, and a plain fighter is almost entirely useless in this game. He has no advantages that a paladin or ranger does not have'I know this comment is quite late but I just wanted to say that your were making a couple of incorrect assumptions there.
The advantages held by paladins and rangers are fairly minor and in real usage you probably won't notice much of a difference. However the fighter does actually have some advantages which has always made them my preferred choice; firstly they require less experience to level which from memory means they will often be a level higher than an equivalent ranger/paladin. Secondly rangers gain their bonus attacks slower; in the end they will have the same number but again during Curse and Secrets there are going to plenty of times where the fighter has more HP, a better THACO and sometimes even more attacks. Finally keeping a plain fighter around always gives the option of dual-classing them in one of the later games.Personally I've never had much use for either paladins or rangers in any of the D&D games except for flavour/variation reasons. I welcome all comments about the material in this blog, and I generally do not censor them. However, please follow these rules:1. Do not link to any commercial entities, including Kickstarter campaigns, unless they're directly relevant to the material in the associated blog posting.
(For instance, that GOG is selling the particular game I'm playing is relevant; that Steam is having a sale this week on other games is not.) This also includes user names that link to advertising.2. Please avoid profanity and vulgar language.
I don't want my blog flagged by too many filters.3. Please don't comment anonymously. It makes it impossible to tell who's who in a thread. Choose the 'Name/URL' option, pick a name for yourself, and just leave the URL blank.4. I appreciate if you use for explicit spoilers for the current game and upcoming games.
Please at least mention 'ROT13' in the comment so we don't get a lot of replies saying 'what is that gibberish?' Also, Blogger has a way of 'eating' comments, so I highly recommend that you copy your words to the clipboard before submitting, just in case.I read all comments, no matter how old the entry. So do many of my subscribers. Reader comments on 'old' games continue to supplement our understanding of them.
As such, all comment threads on this blog are live and active unless I specifically turn them off. There is no such thing as 'necro-posting' on this blog, and thus no need to use that term.As of January 2019, I will be deleting any comments that simply point out typos. If you want to use the commenting system to alert me to them, great, I appreciate it, but there's no reason to leave such comments preserved for posterity.I'm sorry for any difficulty commenting. I turn moderation on and off and 'word verification' on and off frequently depending on the volume of spam I'm receiving. I only use either when spam gets out of control, so I appreciate your patience with both moderation tools. Read the explaining this blog and to understand the current playing order.1. I am following a list of CRPGs in chronological order derived from several sources, including Wikipedia, MobyGames, GameFAQs, and contributions from readers.
I am going in chronological order on two sections of the list: a) all RPGs in the 1990s, and b) non-PC RPGs that I missed during my first four years of blogging when I played only games released for DOS.2. To appear on my play list, a game must be a a) single-player RPG released for a personal computer, and b) in a language that uses a Latin alphabet. Console games do not appear on my playlist unless they also had PC releases during their original release schedule (generally within 2 years of the console release). Exceptions made and ambiguity resolved at my discretion.3. My definition of 'RPG' requires the game to have three core criteria: 1) character leveling and development, 2) combats based at least partly on attribute-derived statistics, 3) inventories consisting of something other than just puzzle items. If I reach a game on my playlist and it lacks one of these items, I may mark it as 'rejected' and skip it.
(Increases in maximum health alone do not count as 'leveling and development.' Some other attribute, skill, characteristic, or ability must get better.)4. I can reject independent and shareware RPGs if they are clearly amateur efforts with no innovations or accolades attached to them.5. I cannot use cheats. I cannot look at FAQs or walkthroughs until I have finished playing, or unless I'm so stuck I literally can't progress otherwise, in which point I can look up a hint for my current situation only.6.
I don't have to win every game, but I must play for at least six hours.
Deep red sphere adds 1 pt. To DEX (18 max). IOUN stone will orbit the characters head. Try curse of the azure bonds, had all shapes sizes and colours. Welcome to our Curse of the Azure Bonds subsite! Due to the age of this game, we will not be providing any daily news. However, we still have plenty in store for you, all of which can be found on the navigation bar to the left.
Area NoteThis area is divided into two halves: Tilverton to the west and the Thieves' Guild to the east. The two halves are completely separate, but since they're shown this way when you use the 'area' command, we decided to leave them together rather than separate them.
When you first try to exit Tilverton (through Exit A), you'll be told that the way is closed because a royal carriage is expected soon. Later, when you try to exit the city again (after visiting Filani the Sage at #9), you'll witness the carriage, but then your bonds will begin to glow, and you'll attack. You'll have to fight off a group of royal guards, but then you'll be given the option of surrendering or fighting some more. Regardless of what you choose, you'll shortly end up in the Thieves' Guild. You'll be able to rest right away in the Thieves' Guild, so feel free to use up your spells against the royal guards.
Once in the Thieves' Guild, you'll start a long segment of the game where you won't be able to visit any shops, and you'll only have access to one training hall. So make sure you prepare as necessary before you trigger the carriage fight. You will find some arrows and darts in the Thieves' Guild, but you won't find any quarrels.
1 - Starting Point
This is where you'll start out in the game. It is perfectly safe to rest here, so the first thing you should do is encamp and memorize spells.
2 - Windlord's Inn
The first time you arrive in this spot, the innkeeper will explain how you managed to arrive in her inn (journal entry 31), and she'll suggest you visit Filani the Sage to the north (#9).
3 - Disheveled Man
You'll find the man having a nightmare. He'll mumble, 'Flaming giant.. blood red mage.. the glinting knife.. plants that walk.. aieghhh!' Then the innkeeper will enter the room and usher you back outside. However, she'll mention that the man was found on the night that you were brought in.
4 - Weapons of Cormyr
This is the weapon and armor shop. Since your party starts out naked, obviously you should take the time to get them equipped here. 'May you always strike true.'
5 - The Curse
When you enter the tavern, you'll be given the option to 'punch the barkeep' or 'have a drink.' The former is a good way to start a brawl (and pick up some minor experience). The latter is a good way to hear a tavern tale.
The first time you enter the tavern, you should witness a woman wearing a purple sash arriving, and you'll be asked to leave. You'll then hear a commotion by the side door, but by the time you arrive there, all you'll find is an ornate knife. You'll mark down what the knife looks like in your journal (journal entry 17), but that's all you'll be able to do.
6 - Temple of Gond
If you walk among the pews in the next room, you'll hear a sermon. The sermon deals with the Cormyr Defense Force (aka the 'occupation').
7 - Altar
This is where you can receive healing -- for a price.
8 - High Priest
If you tell the priest your story, he'll attempt to cast a 'remove curse' spell on you. It won't work, but you'll record the proceedings in your journal (journal entry 19).
9 - The Sage Filani
Filani will offer to analyze your bonds for half of your funds. If you 'lie' about how much you have, she'll simply order you out of her house, but then you'll be able to try again. Filani will recognize three of the bonds -- one each from the Fire Knives, the god Moander, and the Zhentrim -- and she'll suspect a fourth has something to do with a sage from Shadowdale. You'll record her words in your journal (journal entry 38).
10 - The Hall of Training
Unlike Pool of Radiance, you won't have to go to individual trainers for each class. This one spot will handle everybody.
11 - Tilverton General Store
You can buy mirrors and flasks of oil here.
12 - Thieves' Guild
When you're brought to the Thieves' Guild after attacking the carriage, this is where you'll end up. You can rest here if you need to, but as soon as you try to move, the thief guildmaster will tell you that the Fire Knives kidnapped the king's daughter Nacacia in an attempt to lure him into a trap. (You might have heard Nacacia being kidnapped while at The Curse. The trap was you attacking the carriage.) Then the Fire Knives will burst into the room, kill the guildmaster, and attack.
This is sort of an annoying battle, since there will be thieves with you and thieves against you, and they'll all look the same. If you have any big magic user spells (like 'fireball') go ahead and use them, and then we'd recommend you just let the computer fight the battle.
After the battle, you'll find a map of the sewers on the body of the guildmaster (journal entry 4).
13 - Guest Book
One entry in the guest book is 'O. Ruskettle, Bard of the Realms -- Touch the harp and lose your hand.' You might catch glimpses of Ruskettle as you escape from the guild, and you'll meet up with her later (in Zhentil Keep).
14 - Kennel
You'll battle a Fire Knife and some fighting dogs here.
15 - Treasure Room
The door to the room is difficult to open, and chances are that you'll need to use the 'knock' spell to enter. Inside you'll find a potion of giant strength, a potion of invisibility, a potion of speed, a potion of extra healing, dust of disappearance, a long sword +1, banded mail +1, two magic user scrolls, and some money and jewels.
Note: The dust of disappearance is very powerful. If you use it before a battle, then enemies won't be able to target you with spells, and they'll only be able to target you for melee attacks if you're standing adjacent to them. So save it for something special, like the big battle at the end of Oxam's Tower.
You'll also find a deep red ioun stone here. These stones can be readied even if you have a shield equipped, and each one raises an attribute value. The deep red ioun stone raises dexterity by 1.
The room description also indicates that you can rest safely here, but as far as we've noticed, it's pretty safe to rest anywhere in the guild.
16 - Monkey Room
In this room you'll face monkeys, Fire Knives, and a pair mages. Take down the mages first so you can avoid their 'stinking cloud' spells.
17 - Dead Woman
Near the dead woman you'll find a staff 'surmounted by a hand with a mouth for a palm' (the symbol of Moander). On the woman you'll find a piece of paper that reads, 'Keep watch on the chosen ones.' This woman might be found in random locations.
Exits:
- Gate to the Wilderness.
- Passage to the Sewers.
I was a little disappointed last year when that Tyranthraxus returns as the main (or at least a main) villain in Curse of the Azure Bonds, but it turns out he wasn't spoiling much: the game gives it away in the first act. I'm pretty sure the sigil above shows up somewhere in Pool of Radiance, but if that wasn't enough of a hint, there are multiple references throughout the Tilverton sewers and Fire Knives hideout to Tyranthraxus, including this explicit one, found on a piece of paper clutched in a burned Fire Knife's hand. Compared to Pool of Radiance, the beginning stages of Curse of the Azure Bondsare fast-paced and frenetic. Where the first game gave you time toexplore the city, get used to the interface, and slowly engage the evilmonsters residing in Old Phlan, Curselaunches you into a series of difficult combats as you fight to escapethe sewers of Tilverton, while a war between the Fire Knives and several foes rages around you.Before we begin, I should note that we've had a change of cast, for three primary reasons.
1.In the comments in the last posting, Tristan and Malor successfullyconvinced me that a fighter/thief would be a better character than astraight thief, even if he can never advance his fighter levels past 9.The rationale is that being a fighter at all (even if he was only level1) gives him a huge advantage in the equipment he can carry and wield.The disadvantage, aside from wasting half his experience after Level 9,is that dwarves can't achieve higher than 17 dexterity. Karnov, my level7 fighter/level 8 thief from Pool of Radiance, rejoined theparty. In keeping with a more-thief like tradition, I'm going to cladhim only in leather or studded leather.
I began to regret the elf magic user. I wasn't thinking long game with that.
I'd have had to dump him in Secret of the Silver Blades in favor of a human, since he wouldn't have been able to advance. I took a peek at the Silver Bladesmanual, and it appears that magic users start level 9. I would have hadto sacrifice two levels for no advantage except for the role-playingsatisfaction of having an elf in this game. And really, how does thataffect my playing experience? What do I know about role-playing elvesanyway? That left me with a superfluous fighter. I don'treally need four melee characters, and a plain fighter is almostentirely useless in this game.
He has no advantages that a paladin orranger does not have. Octavianus was capable of dualing to a cleric, butI felt I really need another mage more than another cleric, and Koren(my cleric) wasn't capable of dualing to a mage (she only had 13intelligence), so I decided I couldn't keep them both.I didn't have a lot of images for this section, so I thought I'd throw in a random shot of battle against trolls and crocodiles. Dropping Octavianus, my lead character from Pool,would have been painful for legacy reasons (plus, he had really goodstatistics all around), so I dualed him to a cleric, which means hestarts over at Level 1 and will be able to access his fighter abilitiesagain when he hits Level 9 as a cleric (that might not take so long; he rose to Level 6 in the opening area alone). Koren, whohad lousy attributes other than strength and wisdom, hit the road.Yorsh, the elven mage, I also sent packing. A human brother and sister,Viola and Cesario, joined the group. Cesario is a cleric who will laterdual to a mage when Octavianus gets competent.
Ao oni. Ao Oni is a Japanese survival horror game with RPG and puzzle elements. Although each version differs heavily from the others, the objective is always the same. Locked in a mansion, you explore and solve puzzles while running from an enigmatic demon. This wiki serves as a source of collective information about the series and walkthroughs.
Viola is a straight mage. Thefunny thing is, I could have accomplished all of the above from theinitial loading screen of my last saved game. When the game first loads,you get full functionality to add and delete characters beforeembarking on the continued adventures. I nearly did that, but that wouldhave meant that Viola, Cesario, and Karnov technically don't have the azure bonds!I'm sure the game would have just retconned it for me, but I couldn'thandle the paradox, so I restarted and played the initial Tilvertonencounters again before continuing where I left off with the guild andsewers. Not mapping Tilverton had felt wrong, so I took the opportunityon the new outing. Withthe limited amount there is to do in Tilverton, I still managed toaccomplish more on my second outing than the first.
I discovered thatpunching the barkeep or refusing to leave the bar puts you in a brawlwith 8 low-level fighters. Drinking something other than lemonade getsyou a series of 'tavern tales' that flesh out the back story of Princess Nacacia, her lover Gharri, and her father, King Azoun, who is coming to Cormyr to find her.A clue!While my party was in town, the Fire Knives (a group of assassins) kidnapped the princess from the tavern and dragged her through the sewers to their hidden lair beneath Tilverton. Her lover Gharri, wielding a hammer and several high-level priest spells, charged to the rescue.
At the same time, the Fire Knives started engaging the thieves' guild for the territory beneath the city and my party fled into the sewers after their compelled attack on the king's carriage (which turned out to have an impostor named Giogi of Wyvernspur). Thus, the Fire Knives were beset on multiple sides as I made my way through the opening maps. I frequently came across the remnants of battles between Fire Knives and the thieves, or Gharri, or some random knight from Myth Drannor. There were also signs of other incursions: bodies of mysterious cultists in green, and entire rooms that had been incinerated by fire.I wasn't clear which of the Fire Knives' many enemies were responsible for this.These opening areas preceded in three stages: the thieves' guild hideout, the sewers, and the Fire Knives' hideout. The hideout was actually the right half of the city of Tilverton, but with the transition between the two areas via cutscene (there appears to be no way to return to Tlilverton proper having left). The sewers area was composed of two 5 x 16 maps and one 6 x 16 map, which together make up a standard 16 x 16 grid area.
The hideout was just a regular 16 x 16 area. Already, though, the game seems to be having fun with the standard map area and coordinates.Tilverton, with the thieves' guild area on the right in yellow.The sewers. These three areas are technically stacked on top of each other, not side-by-side.The Fire Knives' hideout.Throughout the three areas, there were some interesting encounters. A few highlights:1. The sewers held several packs of otyughs-large, tentacled omnivores that live in filth-and neo-otyughs, their larger cousins. I was curious about their origins, but it appears that they were created specifically for D&D.
Anyway, they really pack a punch, hitting multiple times with every attack. Each of my combats with them exhausted my spells and hit points, and usually left one or two of my characters unconscious (fortunately, there were plenty of safe places to rest in the sewers). I wouldn't have thought them intelligent, but one of the groups contacted my party telepathically and asked me to get them some balls of dung from another group in the sewers. The experience rewards were significant.An interesting side-quest with some role-playing options.This combat against them did not go very well.2. There was a hidden thieves' guild training hall in the sewers, thankfully. Since I had just dualed Octavianus back to Level 1, he would have been wasting all his accumulated experience if I couldn't periodically train him up (you stop accumulating new experience just shy of your current level plus two).3. Several areas of trolls.
They were no easier than in Pools. One of them even made a reference to:Why are trolls always throwing things?4. This game has stepped up the number of random, non-combat encounters.
Each map has exhibited some level of them so far, including:. Random clips of conversation on the streets of Tilverton. Pieces of trolls occasionally encountered in the sewers.
You can watch them regenerate and then fight trolls or burn them before they have a chance. Random shouts heard through the Fire Knives' hideout.
A stuffed figure of King Azoun used as a knife-throwing target, encountered randomly in the hideout.Random notes like this add considerable atmosphere to the game.5. I found some decent magical equipment, none of which I used until I could identify it at a shop later.
Last time, I made fun of the large selection of obscure pole-arms included in the game, so it was somewhat ironic that my first magical two-handed weapon was a glaive-guisarme +1. Also among the items were two different-colored 'Ioun Stones' that increase various statistics when held.A nice haul from the thieves' guild.6. There was evidence in the Fire Knives' hideout that they were the ones to do the tattoo work. Combat was harrowing at times, but fun.
The creators have continued to do a good job with the blend of random encounters and fixed encounters. When I first entered the areas and started getting random encounters, I girded myself for a long slog against multiple packs of 6 Fire Knives and such. But the developers wisely put a cap on random encounters, so that after you've experienced five or six of them, you don't get any more. Pool of Radiance did something similar, at least in most areas.
Throughout the combats, I noticed the significantly greater difficulty in Curse, and at times my party felt like it was back at Level 1 in the ruins of Old Phlan again, missing most of their attacks, causing 3-5 hit points per hit, receiving blows almost every time the enemy swung.Oh, how I love it when enemies are arranged like this, and I have 'Fireball.' Moments later, King Azoun and his guard burst in. Nacacia stopped them from killing me, explaining that the compulsion wasn't my fault, but the King still banned me from Cormyr lands, including Tilverton. Nacacia, meanwhile, escaped again with Gharri.That night, I had a bad dream in which the remaining four controllers of my bonds taunted me.That didn't work out so well for the 'Flamed One' last time.And with that, it appears that the linear part of the game came to an end. In a departure from Pool of Radiance, I no longer have an overland map through which I can wander freely, but rather a map of the various cities of the region, to which I can choose to travel by wilderness, trail, or boat.
Each method of travel between each two cities seems to carry the chance of some kind of special encounter. I'll cover this next time, though.The world broadens extensively after the opening area.Now I have to find and defeat my other four 'masters,' and since the game world has opened up, it appears that I'll be able to do them in any order.
This is what I know about them:. The one with the moon that the sage in Tilverton thought belonged to Elminster of Shadowdale actually doesn't. A man in a bar in Shadowdale warned me that Elminster would be fairly irked if he found that someone was claiming to have been bonded by him.
He suggested the real owner was a Red Wizard of Thay who has a tower to the south. There are rumors of a red wizard gathering dragons in the south, so this might be the same guy. A note in the Fire Knives' hideout indicated that he's 'insane.' .
The hand with the mouth belongs to the cultists of the dead god Moander. They are operating out of Yulash. The ornate Z belongs to the Zhentarim in Zhentil Keep. It appears they've been preparing troops for war. The flaming symbol is Tyranthraxus's. I don't know where to find him.Before I go, I want to mention that I have started reading, and I can already see how different parts of the game allude to it.
For instance, this entry in the thieves' guild 'guest book' refers to one of the main characters of the book. Hillsfar is probably best viewed as a side story/solo character trainer. Heck, maybe just take one of your veterans you had to drop and replace from your Azure Bonds party- this is what they end up doing with all their new spare time. Or just roll up a new character in Hillsfar.I would suggest using a thief or thief multiclass first- there is a lock picking minigame that comes up pretty often and all other classes are stuck just brute forcing locks. Clerics will have a hard time with the archery game (each ranged weapon acts differently, and slings are both slow and arc). High dexterity is beneficial there too of course. Each mini-game takes some practice, and has harder difficulties the further you progress.
But each has patterns you can learn to take advantage of with practice.There are differences depending on your main class to how things happen, but the main quest line hits the same major beats. Probably not necessary to run multiple characters unless you just want the slight bonuses.And as an FYI to cut down on future frustration- there are secret doors in some buildings- ROT'd for minor spoilers: Tb nf sne abegu nf lbh pna dhvpxyl, rfcrpvnyyl vs gurer vf n fznyy ebbz lbh pna svaq. Gura whfg gel jnyxvat vagb gur gbc jnyy naq lbh jvyy trg n zrffntr. Benjo'That left me with a superfluous fighter.
I don't really need four melee characters, and a plain fighter is almost entirely useless in this game. He has no advantages that a paladin or ranger does not have'I know this comment is quite late but I just wanted to say that your were making a couple of incorrect assumptions there.
The advantages held by paladins and rangers are fairly minor and in real usage you probably won't notice much of a difference. However the fighter does actually have some advantages which has always made them my preferred choice; firstly they require less experience to level which from memory means they will often be a level higher than an equivalent ranger/paladin. Secondly rangers gain their bonus attacks slower; in the end they will have the same number but again during Curse and Secrets there are going to plenty of times where the fighter has more HP, a better THACO and sometimes even more attacks. Finally keeping a plain fighter around always gives the option of dual-classing them in one of the later games.Personally I've never had much use for either paladins or rangers in any of the D&D games except for flavour/variation reasons. I welcome all comments about the material in this blog, and I generally do not censor them. However, please follow these rules:1. Do not link to any commercial entities, including Kickstarter campaigns, unless they're directly relevant to the material in the associated blog posting.
(For instance, that GOG is selling the particular game I'm playing is relevant; that Steam is having a sale this week on other games is not.) This also includes user names that link to advertising.2. Please avoid profanity and vulgar language.
I don't want my blog flagged by too many filters.3. Please don't comment anonymously. It makes it impossible to tell who's who in a thread. Choose the 'Name/URL' option, pick a name for yourself, and just leave the URL blank.4. I appreciate if you use for explicit spoilers for the current game and upcoming games.
Please at least mention 'ROT13' in the comment so we don't get a lot of replies saying 'what is that gibberish?' Also, Blogger has a way of 'eating' comments, so I highly recommend that you copy your words to the clipboard before submitting, just in case.I read all comments, no matter how old the entry. So do many of my subscribers. Reader comments on 'old' games continue to supplement our understanding of them.
As such, all comment threads on this blog are live and active unless I specifically turn them off. There is no such thing as 'necro-posting' on this blog, and thus no need to use that term.As of January 2019, I will be deleting any comments that simply point out typos. If you want to use the commenting system to alert me to them, great, I appreciate it, but there's no reason to leave such comments preserved for posterity.I'm sorry for any difficulty commenting. I turn moderation on and off and 'word verification' on and off frequently depending on the volume of spam I'm receiving. I only use either when spam gets out of control, so I appreciate your patience with both moderation tools. Read the explaining this blog and to understand the current playing order.1. I am following a list of CRPGs in chronological order derived from several sources, including Wikipedia, MobyGames, GameFAQs, and contributions from readers.
I am going in chronological order on two sections of the list: a) all RPGs in the 1990s, and b) non-PC RPGs that I missed during my first four years of blogging when I played only games released for DOS.2. To appear on my play list, a game must be a a) single-player RPG released for a personal computer, and b) in a language that uses a Latin alphabet. Console games do not appear on my playlist unless they also had PC releases during their original release schedule (generally within 2 years of the console release). Exceptions made and ambiguity resolved at my discretion.3. My definition of 'RPG' requires the game to have three core criteria: 1) character leveling and development, 2) combats based at least partly on attribute-derived statistics, 3) inventories consisting of something other than just puzzle items. If I reach a game on my playlist and it lacks one of these items, I may mark it as 'rejected' and skip it.
(Increases in maximum health alone do not count as 'leveling and development.' Some other attribute, skill, characteristic, or ability must get better.)4. I can reject independent and shareware RPGs if they are clearly amateur efforts with no innovations or accolades attached to them.5. I cannot use cheats. I cannot look at FAQs or walkthroughs until I have finished playing, or unless I'm so stuck I literally can't progress otherwise, in which point I can look up a hint for my current situation only.6.
I don't have to win every game, but I must play for at least six hours.
...">Curse Of The Azure Bonds Ioun Stone Deep Red(14.04.2020)Deep red sphere adds 1 pt. To DEX (18 max). IOUN stone will orbit the characters head. Try curse of the azure bonds, had all shapes sizes and colours. Welcome to our Curse of the Azure Bonds subsite! Due to the age of this game, we will not be providing any daily news. However, we still have plenty in store for you, all of which can be found on the navigation bar to the left.
Area NoteThis area is divided into two halves: Tilverton to the west and the Thieves' Guild to the east. The two halves are completely separate, but since they're shown this way when you use the 'area' command, we decided to leave them together rather than separate them.
When you first try to exit Tilverton (through Exit A), you'll be told that the way is closed because a royal carriage is expected soon. Later, when you try to exit the city again (after visiting Filani the Sage at #9), you'll witness the carriage, but then your bonds will begin to glow, and you'll attack. You'll have to fight off a group of royal guards, but then you'll be given the option of surrendering or fighting some more. Regardless of what you choose, you'll shortly end up in the Thieves' Guild. You'll be able to rest right away in the Thieves' Guild, so feel free to use up your spells against the royal guards.
Once in the Thieves' Guild, you'll start a long segment of the game where you won't be able to visit any shops, and you'll only have access to one training hall. So make sure you prepare as necessary before you trigger the carriage fight. You will find some arrows and darts in the Thieves' Guild, but you won't find any quarrels.
1 - Starting Point
This is where you'll start out in the game. It is perfectly safe to rest here, so the first thing you should do is encamp and memorize spells.
2 - Windlord's Inn
The first time you arrive in this spot, the innkeeper will explain how you managed to arrive in her inn (journal entry 31), and she'll suggest you visit Filani the Sage to the north (#9).
3 - Disheveled Man
You'll find the man having a nightmare. He'll mumble, 'Flaming giant.. blood red mage.. the glinting knife.. plants that walk.. aieghhh!' Then the innkeeper will enter the room and usher you back outside. However, she'll mention that the man was found on the night that you were brought in.
4 - Weapons of Cormyr
This is the weapon and armor shop. Since your party starts out naked, obviously you should take the time to get them equipped here. 'May you always strike true.'
5 - The Curse
When you enter the tavern, you'll be given the option to 'punch the barkeep' or 'have a drink.' The former is a good way to start a brawl (and pick up some minor experience). The latter is a good way to hear a tavern tale.
The first time you enter the tavern, you should witness a woman wearing a purple sash arriving, and you'll be asked to leave. You'll then hear a commotion by the side door, but by the time you arrive there, all you'll find is an ornate knife. You'll mark down what the knife looks like in your journal (journal entry 17), but that's all you'll be able to do.
6 - Temple of Gond
If you walk among the pews in the next room, you'll hear a sermon. The sermon deals with the Cormyr Defense Force (aka the 'occupation').
7 - Altar
This is where you can receive healing -- for a price.
8 - High Priest
If you tell the priest your story, he'll attempt to cast a 'remove curse' spell on you. It won't work, but you'll record the proceedings in your journal (journal entry 19).
9 - The Sage Filani
Filani will offer to analyze your bonds for half of your funds. If you 'lie' about how much you have, she'll simply order you out of her house, but then you'll be able to try again. Filani will recognize three of the bonds -- one each from the Fire Knives, the god Moander, and the Zhentrim -- and she'll suspect a fourth has something to do with a sage from Shadowdale. You'll record her words in your journal (journal entry 38).
10 - The Hall of Training
Unlike Pool of Radiance, you won't have to go to individual trainers for each class. This one spot will handle everybody.
11 - Tilverton General Store
You can buy mirrors and flasks of oil here.
12 - Thieves' Guild
When you're brought to the Thieves' Guild after attacking the carriage, this is where you'll end up. You can rest here if you need to, but as soon as you try to move, the thief guildmaster will tell you that the Fire Knives kidnapped the king's daughter Nacacia in an attempt to lure him into a trap. (You might have heard Nacacia being kidnapped while at The Curse. The trap was you attacking the carriage.) Then the Fire Knives will burst into the room, kill the guildmaster, and attack.
This is sort of an annoying battle, since there will be thieves with you and thieves against you, and they'll all look the same. If you have any big magic user spells (like 'fireball') go ahead and use them, and then we'd recommend you just let the computer fight the battle.
After the battle, you'll find a map of the sewers on the body of the guildmaster (journal entry 4).
13 - Guest Book
One entry in the guest book is 'O. Ruskettle, Bard of the Realms -- Touch the harp and lose your hand.' You might catch glimpses of Ruskettle as you escape from the guild, and you'll meet up with her later (in Zhentil Keep).
14 - Kennel
You'll battle a Fire Knife and some fighting dogs here.
15 - Treasure Room
The door to the room is difficult to open, and chances are that you'll need to use the 'knock' spell to enter. Inside you'll find a potion of giant strength, a potion of invisibility, a potion of speed, a potion of extra healing, dust of disappearance, a long sword +1, banded mail +1, two magic user scrolls, and some money and jewels.
Note: The dust of disappearance is very powerful. If you use it before a battle, then enemies won't be able to target you with spells, and they'll only be able to target you for melee attacks if you're standing adjacent to them. So save it for something special, like the big battle at the end of Oxam's Tower.
You'll also find a deep red ioun stone here. These stones can be readied even if you have a shield equipped, and each one raises an attribute value. The deep red ioun stone raises dexterity by 1.
The room description also indicates that you can rest safely here, but as far as we've noticed, it's pretty safe to rest anywhere in the guild.
16 - Monkey Room
In this room you'll face monkeys, Fire Knives, and a pair mages. Take down the mages first so you can avoid their 'stinking cloud' spells.
17 - Dead Woman
Near the dead woman you'll find a staff 'surmounted by a hand with a mouth for a palm' (the symbol of Moander). On the woman you'll find a piece of paper that reads, 'Keep watch on the chosen ones.' This woman might be found in random locations.
Exits:
- Gate to the Wilderness.
- Passage to the Sewers.
I was a little disappointed last year when that Tyranthraxus returns as the main (or at least a main) villain in Curse of the Azure Bonds, but it turns out he wasn't spoiling much: the game gives it away in the first act. I'm pretty sure the sigil above shows up somewhere in Pool of Radiance, but if that wasn't enough of a hint, there are multiple references throughout the Tilverton sewers and Fire Knives hideout to Tyranthraxus, including this explicit one, found on a piece of paper clutched in a burned Fire Knife's hand. Compared to Pool of Radiance, the beginning stages of Curse of the Azure Bondsare fast-paced and frenetic. Where the first game gave you time toexplore the city, get used to the interface, and slowly engage the evilmonsters residing in Old Phlan, Curselaunches you into a series of difficult combats as you fight to escapethe sewers of Tilverton, while a war between the Fire Knives and several foes rages around you.Before we begin, I should note that we've had a change of cast, for three primary reasons.
1.In the comments in the last posting, Tristan and Malor successfullyconvinced me that a fighter/thief would be a better character than astraight thief, even if he can never advance his fighter levels past 9.The rationale is that being a fighter at all (even if he was only level1) gives him a huge advantage in the equipment he can carry and wield.The disadvantage, aside from wasting half his experience after Level 9,is that dwarves can't achieve higher than 17 dexterity. Karnov, my level7 fighter/level 8 thief from Pool of Radiance, rejoined theparty. In keeping with a more-thief like tradition, I'm going to cladhim only in leather or studded leather.
I began to regret the elf magic user. I wasn't thinking long game with that.
I'd have had to dump him in Secret of the Silver Blades in favor of a human, since he wouldn't have been able to advance. I took a peek at the Silver Bladesmanual, and it appears that magic users start level 9. I would have hadto sacrifice two levels for no advantage except for the role-playingsatisfaction of having an elf in this game. And really, how does thataffect my playing experience? What do I know about role-playing elvesanyway? That left me with a superfluous fighter. I don'treally need four melee characters, and a plain fighter is almostentirely useless in this game.
He has no advantages that a paladin orranger does not have. Octavianus was capable of dualing to a cleric, butI felt I really need another mage more than another cleric, and Koren(my cleric) wasn't capable of dualing to a mage (she only had 13intelligence), so I decided I couldn't keep them both.I didn't have a lot of images for this section, so I thought I'd throw in a random shot of battle against trolls and crocodiles. Dropping Octavianus, my lead character from Pool,would have been painful for legacy reasons (plus, he had really goodstatistics all around), so I dualed him to a cleric, which means hestarts over at Level 1 and will be able to access his fighter abilitiesagain when he hits Level 9 as a cleric (that might not take so long; he rose to Level 6 in the opening area alone). Koren, whohad lousy attributes other than strength and wisdom, hit the road.Yorsh, the elven mage, I also sent packing. A human brother and sister,Viola and Cesario, joined the group. Cesario is a cleric who will laterdual to a mage when Octavianus gets competent.
Ao oni. Ao Oni is a Japanese survival horror game with RPG and puzzle elements. Although each version differs heavily from the others, the objective is always the same. Locked in a mansion, you explore and solve puzzles while running from an enigmatic demon. This wiki serves as a source of collective information about the series and walkthroughs.
Viola is a straight mage. Thefunny thing is, I could have accomplished all of the above from theinitial loading screen of my last saved game. When the game first loads,you get full functionality to add and delete characters beforeembarking on the continued adventures. I nearly did that, but that wouldhave meant that Viola, Cesario, and Karnov technically don't have the azure bonds!I'm sure the game would have just retconned it for me, but I couldn'thandle the paradox, so I restarted and played the initial Tilvertonencounters again before continuing where I left off with the guild andsewers. Not mapping Tilverton had felt wrong, so I took the opportunityon the new outing. Withthe limited amount there is to do in Tilverton, I still managed toaccomplish more on my second outing than the first.
I discovered thatpunching the barkeep or refusing to leave the bar puts you in a brawlwith 8 low-level fighters. Drinking something other than lemonade getsyou a series of 'tavern tales' that flesh out the back story of Princess Nacacia, her lover Gharri, and her father, King Azoun, who is coming to Cormyr to find her.A clue!While my party was in town, the Fire Knives (a group of assassins) kidnapped the princess from the tavern and dragged her through the sewers to their hidden lair beneath Tilverton. Her lover Gharri, wielding a hammer and several high-level priest spells, charged to the rescue.
At the same time, the Fire Knives started engaging the thieves' guild for the territory beneath the city and my party fled into the sewers after their compelled attack on the king's carriage (which turned out to have an impostor named Giogi of Wyvernspur). Thus, the Fire Knives were beset on multiple sides as I made my way through the opening maps. I frequently came across the remnants of battles between Fire Knives and the thieves, or Gharri, or some random knight from Myth Drannor. There were also signs of other incursions: bodies of mysterious cultists in green, and entire rooms that had been incinerated by fire.I wasn't clear which of the Fire Knives' many enemies were responsible for this.These opening areas preceded in three stages: the thieves' guild hideout, the sewers, and the Fire Knives' hideout. The hideout was actually the right half of the city of Tilverton, but with the transition between the two areas via cutscene (there appears to be no way to return to Tlilverton proper having left). The sewers area was composed of two 5 x 16 maps and one 6 x 16 map, which together make up a standard 16 x 16 grid area.
The hideout was just a regular 16 x 16 area. Already, though, the game seems to be having fun with the standard map area and coordinates.Tilverton, with the thieves' guild area on the right in yellow.The sewers. These three areas are technically stacked on top of each other, not side-by-side.The Fire Knives' hideout.Throughout the three areas, there were some interesting encounters. A few highlights:1. The sewers held several packs of otyughs-large, tentacled omnivores that live in filth-and neo-otyughs, their larger cousins. I was curious about their origins, but it appears that they were created specifically for D&D.
Anyway, they really pack a punch, hitting multiple times with every attack. Each of my combats with them exhausted my spells and hit points, and usually left one or two of my characters unconscious (fortunately, there were plenty of safe places to rest in the sewers). I wouldn't have thought them intelligent, but one of the groups contacted my party telepathically and asked me to get them some balls of dung from another group in the sewers. The experience rewards were significant.An interesting side-quest with some role-playing options.This combat against them did not go very well.2. There was a hidden thieves' guild training hall in the sewers, thankfully. Since I had just dualed Octavianus back to Level 1, he would have been wasting all his accumulated experience if I couldn't periodically train him up (you stop accumulating new experience just shy of your current level plus two).3. Several areas of trolls.
They were no easier than in Pools. One of them even made a reference to:Why are trolls always throwing things?4. This game has stepped up the number of random, non-combat encounters.
Each map has exhibited some level of them so far, including:. Random clips of conversation on the streets of Tilverton. Pieces of trolls occasionally encountered in the sewers.
You can watch them regenerate and then fight trolls or burn them before they have a chance. Random shouts heard through the Fire Knives' hideout.
A stuffed figure of King Azoun used as a knife-throwing target, encountered randomly in the hideout.Random notes like this add considerable atmosphere to the game.5. I found some decent magical equipment, none of which I used until I could identify it at a shop later.
Last time, I made fun of the large selection of obscure pole-arms included in the game, so it was somewhat ironic that my first magical two-handed weapon was a glaive-guisarme +1. Also among the items were two different-colored 'Ioun Stones' that increase various statistics when held.A nice haul from the thieves' guild.6. There was evidence in the Fire Knives' hideout that they were the ones to do the tattoo work. Combat was harrowing at times, but fun.
The creators have continued to do a good job with the blend of random encounters and fixed encounters. When I first entered the areas and started getting random encounters, I girded myself for a long slog against multiple packs of 6 Fire Knives and such. But the developers wisely put a cap on random encounters, so that after you've experienced five or six of them, you don't get any more. Pool of Radiance did something similar, at least in most areas.
Throughout the combats, I noticed the significantly greater difficulty in Curse, and at times my party felt like it was back at Level 1 in the ruins of Old Phlan again, missing most of their attacks, causing 3-5 hit points per hit, receiving blows almost every time the enemy swung.Oh, how I love it when enemies are arranged like this, and I have 'Fireball.' Moments later, King Azoun and his guard burst in. Nacacia stopped them from killing me, explaining that the compulsion wasn't my fault, but the King still banned me from Cormyr lands, including Tilverton. Nacacia, meanwhile, escaped again with Gharri.That night, I had a bad dream in which the remaining four controllers of my bonds taunted me.That didn't work out so well for the 'Flamed One' last time.And with that, it appears that the linear part of the game came to an end. In a departure from Pool of Radiance, I no longer have an overland map through which I can wander freely, but rather a map of the various cities of the region, to which I can choose to travel by wilderness, trail, or boat.
Each method of travel between each two cities seems to carry the chance of some kind of special encounter. I'll cover this next time, though.The world broadens extensively after the opening area.Now I have to find and defeat my other four 'masters,' and since the game world has opened up, it appears that I'll be able to do them in any order.
This is what I know about them:. The one with the moon that the sage in Tilverton thought belonged to Elminster of Shadowdale actually doesn't. A man in a bar in Shadowdale warned me that Elminster would be fairly irked if he found that someone was claiming to have been bonded by him.
He suggested the real owner was a Red Wizard of Thay who has a tower to the south. There are rumors of a red wizard gathering dragons in the south, so this might be the same guy. A note in the Fire Knives' hideout indicated that he's 'insane.' .
The hand with the mouth belongs to the cultists of the dead god Moander. They are operating out of Yulash. The ornate Z belongs to the Zhentarim in Zhentil Keep. It appears they've been preparing troops for war. The flaming symbol is Tyranthraxus's. I don't know where to find him.Before I go, I want to mention that I have started reading, and I can already see how different parts of the game allude to it.
For instance, this entry in the thieves' guild 'guest book' refers to one of the main characters of the book. Hillsfar is probably best viewed as a side story/solo character trainer. Heck, maybe just take one of your veterans you had to drop and replace from your Azure Bonds party- this is what they end up doing with all their new spare time. Or just roll up a new character in Hillsfar.I would suggest using a thief or thief multiclass first- there is a lock picking minigame that comes up pretty often and all other classes are stuck just brute forcing locks. Clerics will have a hard time with the archery game (each ranged weapon acts differently, and slings are both slow and arc). High dexterity is beneficial there too of course. Each mini-game takes some practice, and has harder difficulties the further you progress.
But each has patterns you can learn to take advantage of with practice.There are differences depending on your main class to how things happen, but the main quest line hits the same major beats. Probably not necessary to run multiple characters unless you just want the slight bonuses.And as an FYI to cut down on future frustration- there are secret doors in some buildings- ROT'd for minor spoilers: Tb nf sne abegu nf lbh pna dhvpxyl, rfcrpvnyyl vs gurer vf n fznyy ebbz lbh pna svaq. Gura whfg gel jnyxvat vagb gur gbc jnyy naq lbh jvyy trg n zrffntr. Benjo'That left me with a superfluous fighter.
I don't really need four melee characters, and a plain fighter is almost entirely useless in this game. He has no advantages that a paladin or ranger does not have'I know this comment is quite late but I just wanted to say that your were making a couple of incorrect assumptions there.
The advantages held by paladins and rangers are fairly minor and in real usage you probably won't notice much of a difference. However the fighter does actually have some advantages which has always made them my preferred choice; firstly they require less experience to level which from memory means they will often be a level higher than an equivalent ranger/paladin. Secondly rangers gain their bonus attacks slower; in the end they will have the same number but again during Curse and Secrets there are going to plenty of times where the fighter has more HP, a better THACO and sometimes even more attacks. Finally keeping a plain fighter around always gives the option of dual-classing them in one of the later games.Personally I've never had much use for either paladins or rangers in any of the D&D games except for flavour/variation reasons. I welcome all comments about the material in this blog, and I generally do not censor them. However, please follow these rules:1. Do not link to any commercial entities, including Kickstarter campaigns, unless they're directly relevant to the material in the associated blog posting.
(For instance, that GOG is selling the particular game I'm playing is relevant; that Steam is having a sale this week on other games is not.) This also includes user names that link to advertising.2. Please avoid profanity and vulgar language.
I don't want my blog flagged by too many filters.3. Please don't comment anonymously. It makes it impossible to tell who's who in a thread. Choose the 'Name/URL' option, pick a name for yourself, and just leave the URL blank.4. I appreciate if you use for explicit spoilers for the current game and upcoming games.
Please at least mention 'ROT13' in the comment so we don't get a lot of replies saying 'what is that gibberish?' Also, Blogger has a way of 'eating' comments, so I highly recommend that you copy your words to the clipboard before submitting, just in case.I read all comments, no matter how old the entry. So do many of my subscribers. Reader comments on 'old' games continue to supplement our understanding of them.
As such, all comment threads on this blog are live and active unless I specifically turn them off. There is no such thing as 'necro-posting' on this blog, and thus no need to use that term.As of January 2019, I will be deleting any comments that simply point out typos. If you want to use the commenting system to alert me to them, great, I appreciate it, but there's no reason to leave such comments preserved for posterity.I'm sorry for any difficulty commenting. I turn moderation on and off and 'word verification' on and off frequently depending on the volume of spam I'm receiving. I only use either when spam gets out of control, so I appreciate your patience with both moderation tools. Read the explaining this blog and to understand the current playing order.1. I am following a list of CRPGs in chronological order derived from several sources, including Wikipedia, MobyGames, GameFAQs, and contributions from readers.
I am going in chronological order on two sections of the list: a) all RPGs in the 1990s, and b) non-PC RPGs that I missed during my first four years of blogging when I played only games released for DOS.2. To appear on my play list, a game must be a a) single-player RPG released for a personal computer, and b) in a language that uses a Latin alphabet. Console games do not appear on my playlist unless they also had PC releases during their original release schedule (generally within 2 years of the console release). Exceptions made and ambiguity resolved at my discretion.3. My definition of 'RPG' requires the game to have three core criteria: 1) character leveling and development, 2) combats based at least partly on attribute-derived statistics, 3) inventories consisting of something other than just puzzle items. If I reach a game on my playlist and it lacks one of these items, I may mark it as 'rejected' and skip it.
(Increases in maximum health alone do not count as 'leveling and development.' Some other attribute, skill, characteristic, or ability must get better.)4. I can reject independent and shareware RPGs if they are clearly amateur efforts with no innovations or accolades attached to them.5. I cannot use cheats. I cannot look at FAQs or walkthroughs until I have finished playing, or unless I'm so stuck I literally can't progress otherwise, in which point I can look up a hint for my current situation only.6.
I don't have to win every game, but I must play for at least six hours.
...">Curse Of The Azure Bonds Ioun Stone Deep Red(14.04.2020)