Newbie help needed without spoilers!

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Allright, I got this game of beauty from my friend, and at last, I was able to feel the legend! Yay!

I swiftly created my Nameless One and started playing. My friend suggested giving high WIS and CON at the start, but I did not listen to him, (as typical of me) my starting stats are:

STR 9 DEX 15 CON 9 INT 15 WIS 12 CHA 15

So far I did not have any difficulties. I guess, my character was agile enough to snap the necks of a Dustmen for disguise, and was smart and charming enough for lying/tricking people.

Killed a Necromancer guy (tough but doable in the THIRD try!) and became Neutral Good. Nice!

Now, I completed a lot of quests, it was fun! Really! I have Morte and Dakk'on with me too!

As I leveled up, I pumped my points to WIS, as I learned it gave more XP bonus. So, with two tattos, my WIS is 15 and DEX is 16, cool. I also bought my old eye from Smoldering Corpse bar's bartender.

Now I found Pharod, and he gave me a quest to fetch something from a dangerous and huge dungeon. Fun!

After nearly getting killed by a maniac Rat hurling Lightning Balls (what a joke!) I cleared the first floor.

Now here is my trouble.

I enter through one of the entrances, (can't remember the name) and there is a huge were-rat, he chit-chats and threatens me, and then he casts something, a long spell. I have no control so I wait. His spell animation fades away, but he stays still, arms held up high. I wait. Wait. Nothing happens. The game is stucked. My characters still move slightly, but I have no control on them.

1)First question, WHY? And what can I do to solve this, OR is going through this hall absolutely neccesary?

2)What say you about my stats, what should I give next? I plan to be mage, so all dump to INT?

3)How can I be a mage? OK, don't answer that, I do not want spoilers. I guess that Ilquix fellow in Smoldering Corpse bar has something to do with it, as he says he may teach unnatural to me in the future? When? I have the impression that if I do all the quests, I will waste the XP for my fighter class, so should I wait till I become a mage? Or maybe I know nothing about character building concept of PST.

Ok, if you can answer these questions for me I would be grateful. This game is so cool, I absolutely loved it!

 

1) This is a bug. It has never happened to me, so I don't know how to deal with it. It's not necessary to go to that place, though - keep looking on the other side of the Weeping Stone Catacombs and you'll find another place to go.

2) Maybe one more point to Int, but beyond that it's really not necessary. As a mage you get some specialization bonuses and access to stat increasing items. No more charisma, either, 'cos you can increase it through other means later on. And as a mage you can use Friends when necessary. Go for Wis and Dex.

3) You need to find a trainer, but Ilquix isn't one. There's one in the Hive. Somewhere. Hehe.

 

Kudos to you for avoiding spoilers on your first runthrough!

1) What Susi says. The other side is more interesting too.

2) It's not a bad idea to spread points around a bit; as you've already noticed, stats are not only useful in battle but also in dialog checks. IMO, none of the stats are useless. And there are a bunch of stat boosting items and events...

3) What Susi says. Hehe.

 

Thanks for the answers, I avoided walkthroughs and FAQs at all costs as I did not want to spoil my very first game.

So I will find another way and hope there will be no more bugs. Hmm..

Sound advice about future ability points, thank you.

So is there a mage trainer in the hive now? Can I be a mage RIGHT now? I thought I have discovered every part of the Hive and yet now I think I have missed the trainer. Hmm. There was a lass who was talking about casting spells, (also she was in the quest with that cursed box) was she the trainer? You say Ilquix is not the one. curious. Do not tell me who is the trainer, if I can not find him/her, then this means I am not worthy of becoming a mage anyway! I can continue being a fighter with 9 STR!

Oh, another question, I equipped a skeletal claw as a weapon, it does nice damage and looks cool. But the damn thing is cursed. Where can I find a remove curse spell? I noticed there were no temples around (other than that burned out one in troubled Alley) so I guess I am in trouble. Funny, I remember seeing a scroll of Remove Curse in a merchant somewhere, but can't remember who it was. I guess my own WIS is really lacking. Some help would be appreciated!

 

Hmm. Well, a minor spoiler then:
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Have you checked *inside* all of the buildings you could?

 

I didn't find out the first mage trainer myself [minor spoiler removed - he really wants to do this himself - dmc].

It's not bad if you take fighter levels first, you get more HP that way.

Don't bother about the few XP you give to your fighter class, you need 375,000 XP for a mage level on the long run.
You can earn unlimited XP with dungeon crawling, enough to reach very high levels and 25 in all stats in relatively short time.
But you don't have to.

You just have to get through the plot, it's not really that important if you get a few thousands XP more or less because your stats allow additional dialogue options.
You don't need good combat skills either.


About your game error: I experienced a similar situation where the animation wouldn't end.
But at my second try it worked.


About raising your stats:

I would raise WIS to at least 19 (or even higher)first, the bonus XP will allow you to level and gain other stat points faster. The luck bonus for high wis does also help greatly. I'd use tattoos to increase it further.
18 INT is already perfect for mages, but you can use tattoos (you need them for Dak'kon to scribe more spells anyway) and scribing scrolls never fails anyway.
You don't need to raise CHA for dialogues, and the friends spell will grant optimal shop prices.
You'd have to invest too much for STR and CON to benefit.
Higher DEX will improve your AC, but you don't really need better combat skills.

You can buy scrolls at Ragpicker's Square or the marketplace IIRC. But if you like using the claw there's no need to remove it.

[ July 20, 2006, 17:14: Message edited by: dmc ]

 

I have 4 CD version and patched my game based on your advice. Thank you!

 

The bug with the where rat thingy seems to happen mostly at random. You can just try to kill a few more rats somewhere else and try again (just save before you go in) and it will usually work after a try or two.

This is a game that is horible if played with guides and faqs etc.

This is the *ONLY* game i can trully say that the best character build is "however you want to play". It really doesn't matter that much, you can play any kind of character and it is fun and it works great. Just do whatever you want to and it will turn out Perfect for you! (No I am NOT kidding!)

 

Cool, thank you, I will continue playing soon, I did not have the chance for the last week as I was at my friend's home. And I whole heartidly agree that game FAQs and walkthroughs will ruin my game; though I confess I asked my friend where the mage trainer was. (could not resist) Bless him, he did NOT tell me but I am sure he knows!

 

There's a good reason for that: mages can't use punch daggers. But if TNO switches to mage while the claw is equipped, he can continue to use them.

 

You might not be able to level up as mage while wearing a cursed item mages can't use.

 

Oh really? I should find a remove curse then. But from where?

And I still can not find that damned mage trainer, and I refuse to venture further in to the game before being a mage.

 

you asking for a spoiler?

 

Bleeh, why be a mage ? there is plenty of trainers all around the different places. just go on and you will stumble across one eventually. Always did wonder about this fascination with mages. Is it very good Roleplying to let your nameless one wander around trying to look for people to train him to become mage ? I can imagine lots of folks screaming at him "No i can't make you a bloody mage!" when he walks in the door.

 

Well he has fast brain cells, and weak muscles, so he thinks he would rather be a powerful sorcerer rather than a crappy fighter with 9 STR.

Got the patch, visited undead Nations (scary place) first, did their quest, then entered were-rat place, convinced the big bad were rat to speak with their leader, angered him (or rather, THEM) and killed all cranium rats and were-rats in the place. (duh) I hope this will not cause me future problems. But the 'leader' of the rats wanted me to kil the Skeletal King, whom I got the impression that he is indeed not such a bad fellow, for an undead. (and besides his royal guards were toooo scary! )

Ah, I found the blasted mage trainer before doing these quests, while looking for the Remove Curse scroll. IN fact I found them both at the same place!

SPOILER
Never I thought before that the local mid wife was the witch. She sells the remove curse scroll too, luckily.

Anway, I am lvl 6 mageling now, and it is fun to hurl Chromatic Orbs, Ice Knives, and Elysium's tears here and there, spell graphics are sure....INTERESTING!

I made a lot of quests, found the bottle, bronze sphere, and got Annah and am ready to continue!

I will trouble you further in the future if I encounter other problems.

I love this game, it is simply put, fantastic!

[ August 02, 2006, 10:57: Message edited by: Silverstar ]

 

Congratulations on your new discovery -- keep us updated with your little escapades, PS:T is such an awesome game.

What're your current party members?

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Oh my party consists of big me as a mage, Morte, (even though I founds some cryptic writings in a tomb which said do not trust the skull) Dak'kon, and newly joined Annah.

I will continue playing soon, I play PST, BG2, IWD1, IWD2, one each day, I have sooo much fun.

 

Keep in mind you can initiate conversations with your NPCs in this game. So for example you could talk to Morte about those cryptic writing, or anything else that strikes your fancy for that matter.

 

Ziad's got a point. Sometimes you may learn more from your own companions than the world around you. You can talk to them by selection the option in the radial menu.

But I'll not spoil anything for you. Enjoy the awesome dialogues.