How long does it last?

I forget, and I'm not playing right now. I'm pretty sure it's 5 rounds + 1 extra round for each level. I forget how long a round is. Um.... I think a round a minute in real-time. EDIT: That is what my old DnD Player's Handbook (circa 1978) says, and I'm pretty sure Arena is heavily-based on DnD's rules. So if this is true, she can remain invisible for quite some time.

I haven't actually used Invisibility yet during combat. I wonder if making any actions causes this spell to disrupt, the way it does in OB and Sky. I'll soon find out

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Aug 17 2014, 02:48 PM

That is one thing which cracks me up, a lot of random quest-givers are like "oh yeah, I'm a great warrior, but I hurt my sword-arm. Even though it's broad daylight outside, and baddies only come out at night, I still need your help. Can you escort my niece to the XX for me? It's right across the street. I'll pay you 116 gold for your trouble!"

Anyway, Renee is in Dawnstar, which (in Arena) is a vast walled town. A city, actually. 250 years (or so) later in TES 5 it becomes a rather downtrodden village that hasn't even got a general store. She is ultimately headed south to some sort of mine, where she is supposed to rescue somebody. Assuming she does so she'll make several thousand gold.

EDIT: To answer your earlier question mirocu: Invisibility is a joke! .... It only costs 18 pts of Magicka, and since the way magic works is so basic, there is no skill requirement like there is in later games. Best part: casting Invisibility makes enemies give up instantly. Renee was about to get attacked by two rangers at once. She may have survived this encounter, but surely she would have to use all her resources (Health & Magicka) to do so. She's got a nice stash of healing potions and doesn't want to drink 6 or 7 of them just to outlast a couple rangers...

Decided to try Invisibility. The rangers literally stop what they're doing. No effort to try to search (as in later games) at all.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Sep 1 2014, 02:18 PM

Morning Star 1, 3E 390




Happy New Year, Renee Gade I! .. Like she said (in so many words, ha ha), she is currently headed south to the Province of Elsweyr. Some guy in a tavern in Winterhold promised to tell her where a magic staff (Staff of Magnus) is hidden. This staff has magical power; apparently it regenerates health and magicka. This will be a good item to have once Renee is tackling Fang Lair.

Here is what UESP has to say:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -
In-Game Description: The Staff of Magnus, one of the elder artifacts of Tamriel, was a metaphysical battery of sorts for its creator, the Arch-Mage Magnus. When used, it regenerates both a mage's health and mystical energy at remarkable rates. In time, the Staff will abandon the mage who wields it before he or she becomes too powerful and upsets the mystical balance it is sworn to protect.
Discovered In: Elsweyr, Valenwood
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All of this sounds great, problem is Renee had to pay close to a thousand gold just so that NPC would divulge info on where the staff is hidden. So hopefully she'll find it. In any event, it'll be good to get out of Skyrim finally.

`

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 4 2014, 05:20 PM

So Renee is on the main quest now? Interesting. I might do the same with Thor when early winter sets in...

Cool! Hope you get back to Thor.

She's going to do the MQ eventually, but has a desire to become strong and worthy first. And from my perspective, I don't want to just jump into it and try to 'beat da game', I am taking my time.

By the way, I've been using Fraps to take screenshots here and there. There's some hilarious dialog in Arena, just some of the things NPCs say crack me up. We just met some guy who said...

"I'm Erik Haronsson, I've been here for awhile, I know everything there is to know about Riften."

So Renee says "Where's the Mage's Guild?"

"I'm really not sure, try going west and ask there."

I mean seriously? .. There's only one Mages Guild in each town, and you don't know where it is, especially after claiming to be a know it all?

Another thing I'm noticing is that as Renee travels south to Elsweyr, she's been going from town to town instead of fast-traveling the entire way.

Right now she's still in Skyrim. It's interesting to see that there's some variety & differences in the villages and towns, even in this early TES game. For instance in Winterhold, Windhelm, a lot of other northern areas, there will be frost everywhere. It's often snowing. Well in Verminwood and Riften the air is foggy. There are rain puddles and grass instead of frost patches and snow. I like how there was an effort made at subtle variety like this. `

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 5 2014, 01:28 PM

Yeah, claiming to know it all and then say "I don´t know.."


Are you sure the frost and snow isn´t because of the calender? I thought there always was going to be snowy in one town but after some time it was all green which was when I checked the calender and lo and behold, it was summertime...

Today I briefly visited Arena

I´m planning to get into it again as I´ve said and I´ll begin with my usual routine; breaking into homes and fight monsters, just to get back in shape

Wow you break into homes eh? .. I've been wanting to try playing a Thief class character, maybe I'll do this casually. But I only have so much free time so...

It is the 10th day of Second Seed, 3rd Era 390 in Renee 1's game. She just finished plunging into a couple of dungeons, and is now in the Elsweyr village of Rimmen, selling her wares. She found a mithril longsword (ooh) which she's going to keep, but she's going to see the ebony helmet she found. She's a Battlemage, so she can't wear it anyways. She also found dozens of unidentified potions, a couple of magical items, and made over 2,000 gold during this one trip out-of-town.

She's eventually headed to a mine where some sort of map is supposed to be found. This map shows the location of the Staff of Magnus, or at least some pieces of it.

Breaking into homes to fight monsters is a great way to get experience. If you break your armour or run out of potions you can always go to the right place without having to backtrack etc


Those little trips can sure fill up your coinpurse

This post has been edited by mirocu: Oct 19 2014, 08:01 PM

You aren't kidding, Crow. Holy crisis I played some Arena last night before going to bed, check this out... Renee sold that ebony helmet ... guess how much she got for it?

30,000 gold!!!

She already just over 3,000 before walking in that shop, which (up to this time) was the most she ever had in her life. I couldn't believe the profit margin. Sheesh, I really think she holds the personal record for most gold-in-pocket out of all my characters in any TES game.

Anyways, with all this gold, she went on a crazy buying spree, of course. Bought a couple magic items, and visited the Mage's Guild for the Spellmaker. Made several new spells: Create Wall, Destroy Wall, a mega-Shielding spell with nearly 200 hp, and a Spell Reflection spell that should come in handy when she faces those who try to get her with spell-damage.

What class is your character?

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 20 2014, 04:54 PM

30K for just that helmet?? Geez!


Battlemage. I like to use both weapons and a lot of magic

What´s Renee again?

Renee is also Battlemage. It seems like one of the easier classes to play, despite the lack of available armor. The original Renee (on my old computer) was a Warrior I think, but it's just weird not having Magicka. I don't think I could dungeon-dive in Arena without at least the ability to heal up.

Yeah, that 30K helm almost seems like a glitch. I had to count the number of zeros being offered by the smith three times just to make sure my eyes weren't going bad. And what's weird is after Renee sold it to him, he listed it (for sale) at 7,500 gold or somewhere around there. So it's probably a glitch, but a welcome one. She's never going to have to worry about running out of money, ya know?

Once she´s higher levels she´ll have more moneyz than she´ll know what to do with, just like any Beth game

I think Thor has about 250.000 gold, plus tons of Magicka Restore potions

250,000? Yikes! What level is Thor?

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 20 2014, 10:21 PM

25, and I think that´s gonna be his last. It will take too much grinding to reach level 26. Just going from 24 to 25 was a huge painstaking grind

Edit: It was actually 292,027 gold...

This post has been edited by mirocu: Oct 21 2014, 06:27 PM

How do you all get so much gold?

I like the way leveling is nice and slow in Arena. It's this way also in tabletop games.

Taking stuff from enemies when grinding up levels and then sell

I like leveling as an idea and I enjoy it in all Beth games really Do you mean that Arena´s way with XP is close to the tabeltop games?

Edito: Been playing for awhile now and it´s fun. I do a lot of quests for the Lord of Dunstad Grove plus a little free-roaming. I think it´s kinda hard though to find dungeons out in the wild.

This post has been edited by mirocu: Nov 2 2014, 09:03 PM

Have you ever found one of the staffs? We are looking for the Staff of Magnus, and it is supposed to be in a lair called Vojridon in Black Marsh. We are definitely in this lair.

I found this weird-looking image, which I've never seen before. I am thinking this has to be the staff. We've been though this entire dungeon. Yet when we try to grab that burning-looking thing, nothing happens. Or if we grab the monster-looking thing, nothing happens.

I am just wondering if this is what the staff is supposed to look like.

I´m not on the MQ so no, I haven´t. Strange that nothing happens when you click on those things, are you sure you stand close enough? Is there perhaps a hidden room visible on the map that you haven´t been in or a staircase you didn´t notice?

This post has been edited by mirocu: Nov 5 2014, 05:56 PM