Good to hear. Play on!

Thank you for your help, Pokey!

And now the game launches normally. Some code must have gone astray and now is back where it belongs.

I've got my guy set up with Oblivion. I wonder how he'll manage. I'm not allowed to help, though I am going to interject once, which is to mention that if you Sneak all the time, you become almost invisible very quickly. Very helpful to the neophyte.

Interesting. Sometimes problems just fix themselves. I think I'll check out Dunesville and see if I can find some good stuff there.

Dunesville has some good merchants. I think it's the only place to buy Entropy spells.

I bought quite a few learning books at Duneville but I couldn't locate the shrouded mage. I probably couldn't make use of the spells at this level anyway. I headed up north a way but decided it was above my level.

Duneville is very hard to find. I even entered the crypt in hopes of that might be an entrance. Finally did find it after several tries. I don't care much for the desert and am back in Ark and may try some thieving as well as a few quests. I need some money after buying the books.

Even at low levels you can craft iron and steel weapons to sell. As in Skyrim, Blacksmith homes are full of crafting materials for the light-fingered.

The Desert is tough. My first time through it I climbed as high up the sides of the canyons as I could and sneaked my way through. This game is less forgiving than Skyrim, I think, but at high levels I'm not having much trouble unless something spots me before I spot them.

You can use spells to get to the main areas of the game without discovering them first. The magic vendors sell them. Otherwise you can use the Myrad Towers. Again, you don't have to find a specific Myrad tower before you can travel to it. I used them to go to tough places and then sort of chipped away at the edges until I found myself in a spot that was just too difficult.

It looks like most of the Wanted in Ark quests are at a higher level than my 14. I did the Captain Plumb quest and had to swim and sneak nearly all the way, avoiding strong mages, leopard, panther and large bears as well as gangs of pirates. I was lucky to kill Plumb when I got him in a tight place high up and his guardian stuck behind him. Then I ran and teleported back to Ark.

I am confused that even though I have several skills at 25, when I try to use an adept learning book, I get the message that It is too advanced, but I can use it. Also it looks as though I can use spells form higher levels (II and III). I thought I could only use level 1 spells. It would be nice to get stronger summons. I haven't raised my level in quite a while. Maybe I should see what I can find close to Ark.

The learning books have levels, so up to level 25 is Apprentice, I think, and then Adept, which is up to 50, then Expert up to 75, then Master, up to 100.

You can use the more advanced books but they're much, much more expensive so it's best to buy or use books at your appropriate level of expertise just from a purely monetary point of view.

I've never found a Summons spell higher than level 3, but yes, I just memorized any spell I found and just played around to see which ones were helpful and which ones required too much Mana. Spell books are literally everywhere so there's no need to sell something that might come in handy, even if you aren't focusing on that magic school.

Quite an adventure today. Started at the Myrad tower in Duneville and swam west till I saw a large waterfall. Made my way up the mountainous area with some very tough enemies, though I just ran past some of them. When I got to the house I was looking for, two dinosaur-like creatures were guarding the door. It took a lot of fire arrows and fireballs to bring them down but I had a good high position. In the area I found a Skarragg cuirass, Aeterna cuirass and a staff of Oorbaya that I had been wanting and a great mace. Also some goodies in a chest. A lot of effort but good day! I have reached level 16.

Enderal does reward you for exploring. Almost every locked chest seems to have at least a couple of magic items. I now have a personal chest full of more stuff than I can ever use.

I've made it farther into the Main Quest, which gets pretty interesting. The story is such that I'm starting to wonder about some of my companions. Actually, I'm even starting to wonder about my own character.

Hmm, that sounds mysterious. I guess I'll find out when I reach that level. I've been clearing out the western Heartlands--mines, caves and crypts and having little trouble until I reached the sawmill. I don't know how I can handle the very tough mages. Their magic is powerful and they always see me and come running. There was a monster Mud Elemental in the area too, but the Oorbaya and I were able to kill it. I guess I'll come back later. Any ideas are welcome.

I have 4 memories to use. That might help a bit.

I think I remember that sawmill. Is it in a steeply-sided canyon? If it's the one I'm thinking of there may be another way in through a trap door. Otherwise, climb high and cast down. Best is a rock that sticks up so you can back down behind it and be safe from spells

Right through the game I've run into spots where the enemies were just too tough, and I'm at level 65 or something ridiculous now. When I got to Thalgard I literally had to hide behind a rock and a tree up against a building and cast, say, 30 Mud Elementals down at a mob of Thalgardians. A lot of the time I couldn't even see what was going on, except when I stepped out briefly to finish one off. Eventually I could see health meters going down, and down, and came out for the last three, and even then it was close.

That level 3 Mud Elemental was the highest level summons I ever found, but I think that's because I went all the way up the Memory tree but didn't spend enough learning points into Entropy.

I finally cleared all of them out of the Sawmill. It doesn't appear to be a canyon, but there are some high rocks. It is quite near the border Myrad. Caught most in the woods and used my sword. When I thought all were gone, I was picking up the loot and another mage blasted me in the back! I hid behind a cabin and got him when he got close. No trapdoor that I noticed. The strongest elemental spell I have is a level 2 fireball.

I think the spells you find lying around and the ones in stored must level with your skill in a particular school of magic. I didn't get any really powerful spells until later in the game, and even then I could barely cast them until I upped my Mana pool.

I'm taking a hiatus from the game for a few days as we're renovating our kitchen and my house looks like a bomb went off! I think I'm pretty close to the end so I can wait until you catch up a bit.

My guess is that the Archery path is the most powerful in the end, especially when combined with Summonses and Elemental spells. I blasted my way through the game once I hit around level 30. Even so, it isn't like Skyrim or Morrowind, when a level 60 character can wipe out the most powerful enemies with an arrow or three. I still had to fight for my life in some sections of Enderal, and had to resort to cheese tactics.

I never even tried the Psionics side of my skill tree. I might do that next time, since it has to be useful for handling mobs.

EDIT: So I'm now at what I believe is the final boss fight. Pokey, are you still playing?

Yes, still playing and at level 21. I just killed Sixhoof, the vatyr (wanted quest) and then cleared most of the monastery nearby. My two-handed battleaxe seems to be the most effective weapon. Some of the magic is useful, but if there is a mob, I get overpowered. My Aeterna fire bow is still useful. I've cleared a lot of the map around Ark except for the far west Heartlland and I have the Duneville area to check out again.

When should I meet up with Jespar again? I still feel like I could do more exploring around Ark, or does that matter?

Jespar is only a companion for specific quests, so unless you have a quest that requires that you meet him, you can leave him for as long as you want and just go exploring. He just likes to hang around the pub all the time, the lazy, self-absorbed git.

I was heading up the Farmer's Coast and as I passed a waterfall I ran into very tough marauders and very powerful mages, so I headed back to Whisperwood--what a dark dreary place--and on to Fogville. I couldn't get past the mages on the way to the harbor, so avoided them by climbing down the rock cliff. There was one of those glowing signals on top of a huge rock that I couldn't figure out how we were supposed to click on it. An arrow didn't work. Did you get that one? I will try a sneak attack on the mages as I head back up. I'm at level 27 now and not many places I can go, just a few small areas and Powder Desert that I may be able to handle.

I like this game more than Skyrim. The exploration is much more interesting.

I wandered north from Fogville and ended up at Frostcliff Tavern. Nice to see humans instead of skeletons and vatyrs, etc.

Yes, I got the symbol on the rock. You have to get to it from above, jumping from the rocks. Even after about 300 hours I still only had about 60 symbols. They're tucked in everywhere.

I remember those mages. I came back and took my revenge on them later in the game.

I'll have to check your method out. I thought I looked all around and didn't see any way of getting it.

I did take care of the mages on my way back up that path. I'm checking out more of Frostcliff and earning a lot of experience.

I ended up at Old Miskamuhr looking for an item for a quest. What an otherwordly weird place!

I've been gaining levels in Powder Desert. It really helped when I got the Commander Greatsword from the high level enemy in the Duneville Crypt. I couldn't use melee as I was killed by one hit, so I ran around the crypt flinging fire balls with little effect. Then I ran outside with the enemy close behind. When I got to the Myrad, one of the guards did a little damage (old Gothic strategy). I found a tall rock and threw fireballs from there. That worked and I got the powerful sword. I went through Old Askamahn and got the quest item and found a few other locations to loot. The reward I chose for this quest is a staff that can paralyze for 10 seconds. That is plenty of time to get to a mage and demolish him with a sword. It was also valued at over 4000 gold.

I am thinking of connecting with Jespar in order to get access to the Sun Temple.

The Powder Desert was really intimidating at first but eventually I found the area to be a load of fun, even with all the powerful wildlife, though even at level 60 those Bonerippers are terribly difficult to beat if you're a thief/archer.

One thing I found with my climbing to hit from above strategy; I found many magical symbols and other cool stuff I wouldn't have uncovered from ground level. It seems that it always pays to explore in this game. I'd scramble up rocks looking for a place to attack from and lo and behold there would be a symbol or a skeleton with loot, or even a cave.

Once you get to the Sun Temple you'll have access to better magical and alchemy stuff, and, of course, the main quest lines.

One thing about this game I really appreciate over the Elder Scrolls; once you've read a book it shows up as read when you encounter another copy of it so you aren't endlessly picking up books you don't need to look at. The same goes for spells. No buying a spell you already know.

hagatha, did you meet the final boss? How did it go?

I have met the final boss, or at least I think I have. I decided to wait for a bit. It's a tough battle and requires some strategizing. The story that gets you to that point is pretty good and I'll be interested to see which of the endings I get.

I've been ill for several days but am back and had a score to settle with a wild mage in the canyon just below the Fogville myrad. I got killed so many times and didn't even get close to him, so decided to try from the other direction. I found a very high ledge his spell didn't seem to reach and was able to kill him with my Aerterna fire bow. It is still doing the job. Jespar is sitting on a bench near my house, I will heading to the Sun Temple next.

hagatha, did you take care of the final boss?