Sanctum of the Archmage

[Legacy_AndarianTD]

               A new update from The Sanctum Blog:

Sanctum 2 v4.2 Remake

"Most of the rest of the work I had planned centered around an extensive new quest sequence that I was going to add. If I skip that, then it shouldn’t take me too long to get the rest of the remake ready for release."
               
               

               

                     Modifié par AndarianTD, 16 novembre 2013 - 03:31 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               Andrian, is there a reason your blog only accepts Wordpress logins from what I can tell?  Can you enable to accept things like Blogspot or even just standard Google accounts?

Also, I'm a bit unclear about the revamping -- it sounds like Chapter 1 is updated but other stuff on your site seems to claim Chapter 1 isn't actually updated?  If I were interested in playing through the series, what would you suggest?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_AndarianTD]

               

MagicalMaster wrote...

Andrian, is there a reason your blog only accepts Wordpress logins from what I can tell?  Can you enable to accept things like Blogspot or even just standard Google accounts?

MagicalMaster, thanks for asking. Actually, right now, it shouldn't accept logins from anyone who doesn't already have an account on the site, not even Wordpress logins. The reason is that I had to disable new account creation (see here for more information) due to the endless spam registrations I've been getting, especially in the last six months. I wish I knew a way to get around the problem, but I can't afford to spend half an hour every day checking the Stop Forum Spam site, manually sorting through the registrations, and deleting the spammers, when 98% of them are fake to begin with. I've tried turning registration back on periodically to see if the attacks are letting up, but unfortunately they're not. So for now I'm asking people who want a user account to email me directly with their desired nickname and email address, and I'll create one for them manually.

Also, I'm a bit unclear about the revamping -- it sounds like Chapter 1 is updated but other stuff on your site seems to claim Chapter 1 isn't actually updated?  If I were interested in playing through the series, what would you suggest?

I'm afraid I don't have what I think is a very good solution to offer you right now. The remade version of Chapter 1 (v4.1) is complete and has been available since January. Unfortunately, due to the demands of other projects and commitments, I haven't been able to complete the remake of Chapter 2, and I'm not sure when that's going to be able to change. The remake of Chapter 1 (The Sight) is extensive, so much so that it's simply not compatible with the older (v3.4) version of Chapter 2. So the only alternatives I can suggest for now are: 

• Play the updated version of Chapter 1 (v4.1), and then either stop there and wait for the remake of Chapter 2 (recommended), or start Chapter 2 v3.4 as a standalone game with a new character.
• Play the old version (v3.4) of both chapters. You'll miss out on the new design and content if you try this approach, but it's the only version right now that will play seamlessly through both Chapters 1 and 2. If you want to go this approach, use the links in the download section of the Vault pages for Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. (Enabling people who want to do this is the reason why the older (v3.4) links are still on them.)

I hope that helps. If I can help you with anything else, feel free to email me, or to post here or on the Vault pages, or on my blog (after I set up an account for you).

Andarian
               
               

               

                     Modifié par AndarianTD, 08 décembre 2013 - 01:21 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Fester Pot]

               You have a hidden div id tag, "HiddenDiv" wrapper before your header on your index file that is displayed if Javascript is disabled. The HiddenDiv tag has link advertisements in it, which google bots can index.



Essentially, you're advertising Viagra and a slew of other links, perhaps never knowing.

Right click on your home page, View Page Source. Can't miss it.

If you didn't add these, the security of your blog could very well be compromised.

EDIT: It's on all your pages actually.

I ran a site check on your domain.

http://sitecheck.suc...w.andarian.com' class='bbc_url' title='Lien externe' rel='nofollow external'>http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/results/www.andarian.com

You might want to change your theme if it wasn't from WordPress.org originally, as well as update to the latest version by manually deleting whatever files that get updated, then apply the update to fix any compromises to old versions of WordPress.

Additionally, it may have come from a Plugin, if you installed any.

WordPress Security for hidden spam.

FP!
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Fester Pot, 08 décembre 2013 - 03:54 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_AndarianTD]

               FP, thanks! I found that exploit once before and thought I'd ripped it out. Looks like I've got some work to do it again, and some research to figure out how to stop a repeat. Thanks for the links -- they look like they'll be very helpful.

Andarian
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_AndarianTD]

               It's sorted out again now. It's the exact same thing as last time, so it was pretty straightforward to fix once I'd reminded myself. I updated to the latest WP and changed the passwords, and I'll look into some of the other suggestions in the links  -- thanks again, FP.

I still don't get the reason for the spam registrations, though. They come in at a pretty prodigious clip if I re-enable account registration, but they don't appear to have done, or have the ability to do, anything malicious. They just register and sit there. Does anyone know something or have a thought about that?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par AndarianTD, 08 décembre 2013 - 01:59 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_AndarianTD]

               I've installed some new safeguards against spam registrations onto my site and turned user registration back on. Hopefully it'll do the trick going forward. '>

Update: My new and improved defenses have repelled three spam registrations in the last few hours, so it's looking good!
               
               

               

                     Modifié par AndarianTD, 08 décembre 2013 - 08:53 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

AndarianTD wrote...

• Play the updated version of Chapter 1 (v4.1), and then either stop there and wait for the remake of Chapter 2 (recommended), or start Chapter 2 v3.4 as a standalone game with a new character.

Works for me.

And hope your website improvements stick!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               Er, what's the deal with the incredibly random loot at the start?  Playing as a level 1 Sorcerer on Very Hard.  First time I started the game and found a belt of +2 Discipline in the chest.  Apparently got ambushed by a spider which appeared out of nowhere while fleeing the demon at the start and died.

Seems odd to put a monster which is level 2-3 (Very Difficult) for a level 1 character with no equipment, but whatever.

Had to start again, this time found a staff that could cast Magic Missile as a level 9 spell 10 times.  Was rather surprised.  Reloaded again to experiment and found even more random items, ranging from a +1 club to a +2 Discipline bracer.

For better or for worse I made sure I saved when I found that staff, but randomly acquiring that item almost feels like cheating compared to a playthrough where I might get bracers of +2 Discipline as a sorcerer.  Actually concerned about whether I should continue with that save or start yet again for a weaker item...whole thing seems rather weird.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               I went ahead and continued with the staff playthrough...while fleeing the demon, ran northwest across a bridge, found an exotic plant and a transition to "Forest North."  Except that was just a ledge.  Came back to the stream and now the demon is to the west of me so I went back east (the way I came from originally).  Demon started chasing me so I went north where I found some "Challenging" mobs that I killed and then got killed by one of several "Impossible" demons.

Feels like I'm missing something here -- all I've tried to do is run away from the demon and grab stuff I see on the way but this seems to mess the sequence up or something.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               Apparently I was interrupting a scripted movement sequence which was supposed to move me past that bridge?  Buffed up to fight the spider and killed it using the staff...had 19 HP, that's more damage than I can do with 5 Rays of Frost.  Then managed to get back on track as far as I can tell, but this has been a bit odd so far.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_AndarianTD]

               MagicalMaster: Several things.

1) Your "loot find" at the beginning is perfectly fine. It's part of an elaborate random treasure system that scatters a selection of pre-defined special items throughout the module. Finding the staff near the beginning is a good stroke of luck, but it isn't nearly as big a deal as you may be thinking. The quality of those finds is specifically designed to even out across the course of the module; you don't need to second-guess it.

2) When your parents are killed, there is a message from your sight telling you to flee for help, along the stream bed. As you noted, there's even a little scripted push when you arrive in the next area to help get you running in the right direction. If you don't listen to your sight and instead flee in a different direction from the one in which it is guiding you, then you will be killed. That's a core part of the module experience that I try to expose the player to right away: trust your sight. It's your key asset and the heart of what's special about your character (hence the name of the module).

3) The object of the opening sequence is to follow your sight and run along the stream bed to find help. There are popup text messages all along that route to guide you in the direction you need to go in order to do that. If you think about the situation (you're a first level character being chased by a demon), it doesn't make sense to stop to fight or explore. Role-play what your sight is telling you and don't stop running until you've found that help (which you should do shortly).

4) The spider only spawns if you stop running to explore (by searching the skull). If you do trigger it, just go back to doing what you should have been: running for help in the only safe direction left to you at that point.

Hope that helps -- if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par AndarianTD, 12 décembre 2013 - 01:32 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

AndarianTD wrote...

Finding the staff near the beginning is a good stroke of luck, but it isn't nearly as big a deal as you may be thinking. The quality of those finds is specifically designed to even out across the course of the module; you don't need to second-guess it.

Fair enough.  Especially since apparently you're not expected to fight the spider at the beginning.

AndarianTD wrote...
2) When your parents are killed, there is a message from your sight telling you to flee for help, along the stream bed.

I did!  That's how I got out of the area with my home in the first place '>

Then it looked like the stream bed hit a dead end up ahead so I went across the bridge -- especially since there was something to interact with over there.

AndarianTD wrote...
3) The object of the opening sequence is to follow your sight and run along the stream bed to find help. There are popup text messages all along that route to guide you in the direction you need to go in order to do that.

Unfortunately, those don't pop up until you reach the "dead end" -- so if you don't realize you're breaking the "nudge" by resuming control you don't need another guiding message.

AndarianTD wrote...
If you think about the situation (you're a first level character being chased by a demon), it doesn't make sense to stop to fight or explore.

Believe it or not, most games don't make a ton of sense at times -- and in most cases, if you don't stop to grab an item on your route, either there's no inherent plot reason to return or sometimes you CANNOT return, meaning you grab it or you lose it.

Sanctum isn't immune from some of these issues as well -- for example, the appearance of the thing with the plot important poison (trying to avoid "spoilers" beyond the first few minutes).  My character's actions at that point made no sense and were completely the opposite of what I had done prior to that.

Now, I can accept the cutscene because I know it's a game...but that means that people expect other game "tropes" to hold true.

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Highlight to read (more easily).  Edit: or not, apparently it refuses to actually make the text a different color.

I'm playing a sorcerer starting at level 1 fresh on Very Hard.  I noticed the book does not allow you to change it to Very Hard or Very Easy, just Hard or Easy -- any particular reason?  I don't even know what changes based on the difficulty, so it's not like I can tell.

Also, since it is on Very Hard and a common issue with the hardest difficulty is sometimes it...makes certain things not work well, I thought you might be interested in hearing about a few specific combat related issues I found...

First, some of the oozes at the very beginning of the caves.  I wound up having to separate the groups, especially since some of them were flinging acid bolts multiple times that did over half of my health!  This seems particularly silly for a level 3 character with very few options for tactics/equipment/spells at that point -- especially a sorcerer who's still level 3 and thus has no level 2 spells yet.  Those first few packs were the hardest encounters so far in the module.

Second, the vermin in the "meeting room."  Not only did I have to pull a few (usually got 2-3) back at a time, I had to abuse doorways and the bad AI to avoid having too many attacking my companion (since I was basically useless against mobs of that power at my level as a mage -- woo-hoo buff but).  Might want to tone these down slightly and/or make slightly less of them and/or spread them out more.

Finally, the vermin filled cabinet.  First time, walked up, they spawned, got crit for 36 damage when I had 28 health.  Second time, took multiple hits and also died instantly.  Third time, blew up the cabinet from range...and bugs STILL somehow spawned out of it.  Fourth time, said "screw it" and pulled out my familiar to give me invisibility so I could trigger the spawn without getting instantly killed.

Also, was I supposed to run from the Soul-Drinker instead of killing it?



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                     Modifié par MagicalMaster, 12 décembre 2013 - 10:55 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               Also, I can't seem to find an option to tell your companion to NOT heal themselves (or anyone).  They keep trying to cast Cure Minor Wounds on themselves while getting attacked by mobs doing 5+ damage each per hit and it just makes things worse.  Or even Cure Light Wounds, same deal.  Spellcasting set as "off" on tactics but they still heal.

Also also -- why is the Sight based on Lore?  When trying to cure a certain person was in a bad condition.  I had a choice between Appraise and Lore and figured I'd go Appraise (and use Identify if I needed to identify anything) -- which seemed doubly a good choice because my companion can also identify stuff easily with their high Lore.

Except then there was a Sight/Lore check -- failed it initially.  Cast Identify and tried again -- succeeded.  Then tried to use the item and got told I didn't know how to use the item when my character had just said "Hey, I bet I can use this item!"  Then cast Identify again (since it expired during the conversation) and magically it worked.  I don't know how the Sight check is calculated but I specifically made a character with 14 int, 10 wis (avoided a wisdom penalty), and high charisma (19 at the moment) but apparently that isn't even enough with 6 total modifier between the stats -- meaning a fighter with 14 Int/14 Wis/14 Cha would also apparently fail these checks, which seems a bit ridiculous.

These mechanical issues are seeming very odd and getting in the way of what is otherwise a very enjoyable module.  I'm seriously considering deleveling and releveling my character to drop Appraise for Lore -- this would have been nice to know AHEAD of time.  Or is this the "one situation where a high lore rating is crucial to continuing the game?" mentioned in the ReadMe?  If so, I seriously have to ask what the point of it is.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par MagicalMaster, 12 décembre 2013 - 11:21 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               Maybe I'm just oblivious, but given the fluid to the people suffering from the condition doesn't seem to do anything...they still seem to be "sick," telling me they feel sick, and having their stats go down.  Am I missing something?  Haven't rested since giving it to them either.