Serpent Isle Plot-stoppers

[Automaton Dragon]

This is with a recent 1.1 snapshot...

1. I could not get the automaton to open the door to the Grand Shrine of Order. He asked me for the name of the book with the given passage; no matter what I told him he would not let me pass. I had already read all the books in the city including in the library, both with and without the "translation" spell. I had to teleport past the door.

2. I got Gwenno's body from the Gwanis and took it to monk isle. At this point the monks should send me to Moonshade to talk to Fedabiblio, but instead they just say that they can't resurrect my companion Gwenno. I went on to Moonshade anyways and got the Scroll of the Serpent, then brought it back to Monk Isle. Karnax still just says that he can't resurrect my companion Gwenno. I don't know how to continue from here even using cheats.


Request for enhancement:

OK, this is a big one and would probably be difficult.. but would it be possible to add a "First National Bank of (Brittannia/Serpent Isle)", with branches in each of the major cities? I am really getting tired of sifting through my 60+ piles of money & lugging around all that weight/size.. It would be nice to be able to deposit my money in a bank and then withdraw it from any branch in any city.... The easiest way to do this in SI would be to add some dialog & usecode for each of the people who exchange currency, so that they tell you that they are a representative of the "bankers guild" and allow you to deposit money with them.. That way you wouldn't have to add any new buildings or characters to the game. In BG I guess you could also choose a person in each city that was a representative of the bank. Maybe change the britannian mint into a bank.

anyways sorry for rambling.

[Neutronium Dragon]

1) Did you find the library vaults? You need to teleport in and out of there, and there's one specific book (under a halo of light) that must be read.

2) Where have you put her body? It needs to be on the ground. Also, make sure that there aren't any odd objects 'inside' it.

Neutronium Dragon

[ToasterThief3]

The bank idea is a good one, but it ruins part of the game. You're supposed to be running through wastelands looking for evil. Having to maintain weight is an aspect of that.

But, if that's a no go, you could just drop all money at a Serpent Gate. Or just f3 yourself around the world to get your money changed.

[Dominus]

And not to spoil the game for you, but on SI you really don't need that much money anyway.

[RazorBlade]

I usually end up with mountains-of-money on serpent path and have no idea what to do with it(damn greed!;))

If anyone includes something weird like a bank, I want a merchant here and there who sells +5/+5 thingies:)
(sorry, just read too many 8 bit theatre...)

[Morg]

ahh if only people ate money in SI then there would be a use

and what i just wrote would affend thief till the day he dies

[suraimu]

*casts counterfeitting spell*

*ruins serpent isle's economy*

[Salicias]

Since it wasn't ruined by the death of all the inhabitants.

Salicias

[suraimu]

That probably -would- put a damper on the economy, wouldn't it?

[Salicias]

Ducio was still making and selling stuff. At least someone was an optimist. The rest of the living people were just sitting around doing nothing. Imagine, a world full of monks, ruled by a slick mage, with an oversupply of worm gems.

Those monks would probably give up their monkhoods though, whats the point when the thing you were waiting for already happened?

Salicias

[Automaton Dragon]

Just a follow-up to note that both of my problems were fixed by following Neutronium's advice.

Thanks!

BTW (rambling mode on):
I still think there's a case for having a bank in both SI & BG because:

1. While its true that part of the game involves inventory management, my opinion is that that part of the game is really boring and even detrimental to the overall experience. You would still have to manage the gems/gold/money you acquire on each expedition but you just wouldn't have to carry everything around all the time.

2. In SI after the banes are released there's not much you can use money for but up until that time it's a pain in the a** to carry all that cash around.

3. In BG the money problem never goes away. I usually put all of my money in a chest or two (or six) and then store them on the back of the magic carpet, but its still a serious PITA because you spend so much time moving money piles around. Same problem in SI if you use the serpent path as a money stash. Also in SI you don't have easy access to the serpent path right away.

In actuality I think my major beef with the current setup isn't so much the space or weight, its the fact that I have so many piles of cash to deal with, and they obscure whatever else is in my pack. And if I store them somewhere safe and then find I need 1000 coins, I've got to move a minimum of 10 piles of coins from my stash to my backpack; each time, having to drag the pile and then click the checkmark on the "# of coins" slider. And I think this problem could be pretty much solved in a (maybe simpler) way: remove the "100 coins per pile" limitation. So 5000 coins would still weigh the same and take the same space but would only be one single coin pile instead of 50 so that you wouldn't have to move so many piles around.

Anyway this isn't a big deal, just a suggestion for enhancement whenever some developer gets bored
(rambling mode off)

-TomK AKA Automaton Dragon

[RazorBlade]

I think thats a very good idea, there is no real sense in making limitations like 100 GP per pile of coin. IF someone does it I think there is only the "problem" that this is not true to Ultima7;)- so perhaps as an option.(Like the Baldurs Gate option 'do you want your partymembers to heal themSELF, when they go to bed?)

[corbomite]

For money, I just carry around a pile of 100 of each type. When I need to spend some, I use my favorite spell, 'false coin'

I have a related question to that. In the original docs, it said that the pile of money you cast false coin on would disappear and the resulting 5 piles would not be able to be duplicated. But in actuality, the first pile does NOT disappear -- and you can easily cast the spell on any duplicated coins. Was this a bug that was never fixed, or was it intended? If it was a bug, will you guys be implementing a fix for it?

[wjp]

I'm pretty sure that this was the same in the original. (Which would mean it's a usecode bug)

[Salicias]

For the most part in SI and BG, you have your companions with you. So I would select, say Iolo for the money man, Shamino for this and Dupre for that, leaving plot things for my pack. That always worked for me, and who needs to carry 1000's of gold pieces around?

Salicias

[suraimu]

Yes, that's the same as in the original. I remember finding it hilarious myself.

[wjp]

It would be quite hard to 'tag' coins as being false. The way that U7 usually uses to tag objects, setting the quality field, doesn't work for coins (or other countable items), since the quality field is already in use as a quantity field.

Another option would be creating a whole new shape (possibly with the same graphics) for false coins. This would make all the shopping code a mess, though.

[corbomite]

Yes, I remembered that it was like that in the original. I was just curious - and I can see that you're right about how it would be a mess to implement a fix. It would make the game a LOT more interesting if this were ever able to be done, since many people probably rely on false coin for everything. But I can see where it might not be worth the time and effort. At any rate, it certainly isn't a plot stopper - so I should have posted in another thread. Thanks for the responses.

[Dominus]

Actually I can't see anyone relying on "false coin". Money is just to easy to get by...

[Morg]

walks into tresurery, closes door, hacks chests into little peices, picks up all the money, walks away and no one ever notices its missing

[suraimu]

False Coin would probably help if you were trying to beat the game as quickly as possible.

[corbomite]

It certainly is a lot easier to carry around 100 of each currency than it is to pick up all the money you come across - and worry about weight and exchange rates.

[Dominus]

about beating the game as quick as possible, in SI you don't need more money that can be easily accessible. And if you really want to beat the game in less than a minute, teleport to a certain room, get a certain, well hidden backpack, enter next room and you are done.

[Soul Harvester]

What's the point of cheating to beat the game in a minute?


Also, I never needed much in Serpent Isle at all. The only thing I remember needing money for was to buy spells (I used to get into the habit of having to buy EVERY spell I could, period, but in later games just bought a select few that I knew I would be using).

I didn't use money much in the black gate either. I used the money I stole from trinsic to buy the horse & carriage and the boat (cheapest), I used some more money to get spells/reagents, and other then that I cannot recall any real use I had, nothing to buy that couldn't be found elsewhere easier. Gold was always such a big hassle.

[Neutronium Dragon]

Spells were usually my main purchase as well, and to a lesser extent, some reagents. In SI, I often did blow a bunch of cash near the start to equip everyone with magic leggings and boots as well - and if I had more than I could use, I'd get myself a nice collection of glass swords.

Neutronium Dragon

[wjp]

Hm, I wonder if you could get every spell without buying it. (i.e., using spell scrolls)

Might be nice to assemble a list of spell scrolls sometime. It shouldn't be too hard to create one with exult.

[Dominus]

wjp: there is such alist already. Don't remember the link but I'm certain I saw it somewhere ( alist where all the spells could be found along with the ones you can buy). And AFAIK you can'T get all spells for free...