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Originally Posted by benpfaa

After spending several hours fighting monsters to boost my character stats, I was finally (and barely) powerful enough to survive the never-ending onslaught of ogres to find the one carrying the cube. However, Paulson was knocked unconscious, and though I've healed him, he just won't wake up, and I can't figure out why. I'd really like to have his sword and magic with me as I take on the white tower. Anyone have an idea how I can wake him?

I believe that's the result of a bug present in some earlier versions of Lands. Namely, once your character has 128 HP or more, Heal:III and Heal:IV won't resurrect him (or her, if you can get Lora that high), and applying Bezel Cup would result in a "zombie" state: 100% health, takes no blows, and can't do anything. As far as I know this state is irreversible, so only loading a previous save could help. If you don't, either start over (I recommend getting a newer version where this bug is fixed) or just proceed. This state has some benefits to sugar the pill: you can use Paulson as a shield, and you won't drown now.

Originally Posted by mrvator

Does anyone know, what are the limits of fighter/rogue/mage skills? I think Baccata has limited the fighter skill by 10, because when in the Dungeon after killing all the Knowless, all characters are leveling up. But when Baccata is to get level, the game just stucks.

Yep, 10 is the maximum level for all three skills.
Pity you lost so much time gaining level 10 only to encounter a bug while trying to get 11. (If you don't have earlier save files where you're still at 9, you can possibly save yourself from that bug if you wait till Knowles respawn and then just attack Xeobs instead of getting their reward.)

Originally Posted by StumpedAtTheEnd

I played all the way through this game only to not have any medicine left at the end of the game to unlock the final boss. what would be the hex edit to get medicine, or the hex edit to get the silver key? Is there another way besides stating over? I went back through some of the forest levels checking every stump I could find, but nothing.

Hex-editing to add items is really complicated. (It would probably take me some full work day to recover that knowledge and explain it :-) )
Much easier would be to hex-edit your position across that locked door.

Yet you don't need that, too. Even if you can't find any stump or Urbish mines drawer with medicine (BTW you can use save/loads and try more than once. Almost every stump and hollow has something in it, but you usually need your first attempt to be successful or it is lost), there is still a way to get yourself a Salve and a Bezel Cup. There is a trunk-"chest" in Opinwood near the entrance to Swamps that can be refilled. I am not certain what exactly triggers it, but if you pass through the areas in this sequence: Opinwood -> Urbish Mines -> Upper Opinwood -> Swamps -> Opinwood, I believe you will find that trunk full of items again (there should be Bracers, Salve, Bezel Cup, and Sabre "Gutter").

Originally Posted by RRS

Here are my notes. Feel free to use them[...]

All stats compared with Conrad, it's impossible to give any fixed numbers as the effects vary from character to character

Nice work!
(NB: it could be more convenient to give might/protection values for secondary characters (Timothy, Baccata, Lora, Paulson) since they all have default modifying constants (<value>*1+0).

A couple notes on items:
Crossbow "Valkyrie" - shoots fire arrows that always hit (unless the monster is immune).
Bezel Ring - protects from poisons (including swamp gas).

Also, I believe a few interesting ones are missing from the list... which probably means you still have something interesting ahead if you play the game again :-)

Originally Posted by Blaatman

I've played and finished this game for dozens of times, and, in my opinion, Kieran is hands down the worst character by far. Please allow me to explain why.
[...]

Extremely good analysis. I agree with the most arguments. (I did not know about the way defense works myself, BTW, thank you!). Not quite sure about the effect of Rogue skill on the time between the attacks for Kieran: I did research once but forgot the result already :-/ I think he only had one decrease, at Rogue level 7 (not to mention I've managed to forget about this effect of Rogue already :-) )

One point I disagree is the disadvantage from having lower HP (due to lower Fighter level, due to lower damages). By the time this difference becomes significant, you can already be near or beyond the "magical" 127 HP threshold. Which means constant headache in the most hot battles because Heal:III and Heal:IV become ineffective when trying to heal over 127 HP of damage (in some versions, they have no effect at all, in others you get less HPs than from Heal:I).

As for your conclusion... Well, I am less experienced with Kieran than with the others, but I believe by now winning with him would not be much greater problem for me. So he will be mostly a support character, shouldn't be a problem: anyway Baccata deals the most damage even compared to Michael (2 weapons meaning much greater chance to hit, meaning greater attack speed). Might even give him "Valkyrie" and enjoy the increased attack speed (though he actually does seem to have improved hit rate, and yes, his attack speed with melee weapons is further increased by successful hits). And he'll still have 83-108 MP to use on healing, even though it could take extra 15 mins (or 300 s.c.) to get him there.
But he is indeed by far the weakest when it comes to offensive magic.

And for relatively new players Kieran might add too much challenge.

Wow I've had this game for about 15+ years and played it many times and still it amazes me and I've only just seen this topic
Not sure if many people still use this topic but I wouldn't mind delving into the mechanics on this game

I too have some experience in hex editing so if I can assist anyone in that department then i'd love to help

Also whats with the guide which lists the data of enemies
A Boar according to the guide has 26 HP and 25 Exp

However in my playthrough Boar had only 11 HP (Phys/Mag) and 20 HP for Projectiles
Does it have 2 HPs ??

Also it works out as having 15 Exp and not 25
Am I missing something here

[Scatty]

Maybe it's a random factor for enemies, depending on skill levels of the party?
Like if you have magic skill 5 or more and encounter a boar, his stats are adjusted for him to be tougher. While if you encounter one by rushing through the game and spending little time for training, the boar you would encounter would also have weaker stats, to not overwhelm the player. Or maybe it's just always a bit random.
After all, hex positions for items also change each time from location to location.

Like if you have magic skill 5 or more and encounter a boar, his stats are adjusted for him to be tougher. While if you encounter one by rushing through the game and spending little time for training, the boar you would encounter would also have weaker stats, to not overwhelm the player. Or maybe it's just always a bit random.

I don't think it goes off player stats - maybe random
If Random though then it makes those books with enemy stats in it rather useless doesn't it

Also it seems items have to be bought/found or at some point unlocked for them to appear on Item lists (otherwise it will just say Illegal Item)
Maybe this was some kind of Anti-cheat method used by Westwood

[Scatty]

Actually, I recall reading a quoted information on a German, fan-based Lands of Lore series site once, from one of the original developers of the first game. He said something along the lines that the first Lands of Lore was pretty chaotically (unorganized) programmed when it was developed, and he is surprised that it works as good as it does.
Might explain the weirdness with the items code, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

[keter]

Hello, may I ask a question? Excuse my poor English, it's no native to me. ^ ^
Tell me, if you happen to know ― by what means can the graphics of Lands of Lore be extracted and modified? (me personally unable even to make a screenshot somewhy). I'm interested in items graphics, monster sprites and also the portraits of characters because I need some example to make my own.
Extra question: maybe there is way to launch Lands of Lore in window ― mine doesn't have such option. I suppose this would settle the problem...

Thanks for your attention, I'm reall very sorry to interrupt.

[The Fifth Horseman]

You can run Lands of Lore in DOSBox, and DOSBox can run in a window. That's your problem solved right there.

[Scatty]

Originally Posted by keter

Hello, may I ask a question? Excuse my poor English, it's no native to me. ^ ^
Tell me, if you happen to know ― by what means can the graphics of Lands of Lore be extracted and modified? (me personally unable even to make a screenshot somewhy). I'm interested in items graphics, monster sprites and also the portraits of characters because I need some example to make my own.
Extra question: maybe there is way to launch Lands of Lore in window ― mine doesn't have such option. I suppose this would settle the problem...

Thanks for your attention, I'm reall very sorry to interrupt.

You could download VQA-to-AVI 2 and XCC Utilities from this German fan site, which supposedly allow you to extract pictures, videos and sounds from files on the Lands of Lore CD.

[Psicomaniaco]

Ok, I'm sure most of you know that this game works on ScummVM, right?

Ok, I recently decided to test it, and got to the end of this linear corridor of a RPG. And to my surprise, the game worked almost perfectly. The VERY minor issues I had where related to the graphics (some coloured dots where they should't be in some places).

Best part is: I didn't need to mess with the cycles in Dosbox.

I had all 3 games for a long time and some tended not to play on different OS'. Until I tried the GoG versions of them. Currently replaying Throne of Chaos on Win8 64 bit.

On the game itself, though, it has so many hidden riddles that aren't necessary to finish the game, it's amazing!