Hi everyone! I've missed you!
I'm not too far into this game, just got to the Highlands. So far just a lot of killing and some easy dungeons. And what a teensy tiny inventory! Do things get more interesting? Not that it's a bad game at all, but I just wondered what others thought of it that had played the entire game.

Hi I'm playing this game now. I'm in the second world Athens. It gets a bit more challenging. Though I have not found a need to use a trainer or cheat codes.
As the game progresses you earn "bags" that enlarge you inventory.
I noticed that when you die everything you killed stays dead unless you reload.[you come back to life at a recovery well NOT your last save] It also seemed to me that the Bosses did not recover from you attacks either. Unless you reloded.It's a fun game and the creatures are neat.

Also the creatures drop items called Relic Shards and Monster Charms. You cannot buy these items. They enhance your weapons and armor. If you complete a set you recieve a bonus.
If you want to level up. Just reload the game [after saving] and all the baddies will be alive along with the treasue chests refilled. :]]]]]
Once you complete a world and have moved on. You can always go bact to a previous world by useing the portal.You also have a portal stone from the begining of the game. Just click on it :]]]] You received the stone when you powered the one up in the 1st town. Cuts down on alot of walking.

Nickie, Marian sent me here because I suspect she was soooo tired of hearing me talk about Titan Quest she jumped at the chance to palm me off on someone else!

Seriously, though, I did enjoy the game quite a bit and played it 2-1/2 times. While it doesn't take the Diablo experience to a whole new level or anything, it is very player friendly in the "normal" level of difficulty and very accessible.

Like others have said, you will get 2 additional bags for inventory.

There are 3 worlds, Greece, Athens, and the Orient, so the scenery and legend will be a bit more diverse, but to be frank, the fun part of the game is the running around and killing baddies. What keeps you going on is the virtual shopping...meaning, finding that treasure chest that will yield the dress, I mean armor, of your dreams or the weapon that slices, dices, and exorcises! Leveling will enable you to increase your warfare or magic skills, and it will bring a major giggle the first time you've increased war wind enough so that 3 baddies go flying in the air upon hit.

Folks farm certain areas, too, in order to fight baddies again and check out the now-refilled chests, so don't be in a hurry to move on.

I've not found the game to be short at all, but then I pretty much did everything...all the various subquests. In normal difficulty mode, the game really is fairly easy as long as you stock up those health potions. You can pretty much kill everything and anything with enough potions to keep you going while you're actively fighting.

In the next level of difficulty, Epic (which is accessible only after you complete normal), you start the game with negative numbers to your resistances, so combining that with harder baddies made for a much more difficult game, one where having enough health potions didn't matter so much; you had to have an actual strategy to play the game. This is where folks feel the game starts to shine, that the Normal difficulty was almost a tutorial for the "real" game. But that's all relative, of course. Me, I just wanted to play in Epic mode because the drops are better. You get many more blues and purples.

After completing Epic, I went to Legendary, the next level of difficulty. Here the game became more frustrating than fun, as your resistances dropped even more, baddies thought better than I did, and certainly fought better than I did. So I only got about halfway through.

For me, this is one of this easy pick-up games. Just need to blow off a little steam after work, so I'll load up an epic level and just wander around. It's just a catharsis to whomp on things and looking purty while I'm doing it. At least, that's the overview!

Thanks so much MaryJo, Peggy H and Peggy G for responding!

Thanks for reminding me about the portal MaryJo - I've only got the two portals so far, but I can see where it will be a real help to avoid some treks! And I didn't realize you couldn't buy the relics, so I fear I haven't been picking up everything I could - yes, my sweet but inventory challenged hero is essentially lazy ( not me of course )
Peggy G, is Marian holding her hands over her ears and saying she won't play this one? That's interesting about the differences between the modes of play. I think I made an easy game easier by putting all my spell points in the lich, and while it is terribly amusing to have him floating after me wherever I go, he shoots lightning bolts at everything and kills darn near everything before I have a chance to. I've left the countryside littered with loot, so hope I haven't missed something good!

Nickie, you might be pleased to learn that you'll eventually encounter mystics in some towns who can change your skill tree around for a price, if you're so inclined. So if you wish you hadn't spent so many spell points on your lich, for example, you can take some away and spend them elsewhere. Again, this is one of those player-friendly niceties.

As maryjo said, you can't buy relics; they're dropped. Do pick up the relic shards and keep in mind that if you get 2 of the same type, right click on one of them to combine them with the other. You'll not only save inventory space, but the relic shards--when totally whole (the shard will tell you how many pieces will make a whole)--will be more powerful and have a bonus. You can apply incomplete shards to an item, too. Let's say you have a relic shard that is incomplete at only 2 shards found out of 5, but it still has a nice bonus that will enhance your sword. Go ahead and apply it to your sword for an immediate benefit. Then later on as you wander around, if you uncover more of that same shard, you can apply it directly to your sword, enhancing it even further.

Using the portals are truly wonderful. Don't forget that you can transport yourself to any portal you've uncovered at any time in the game, no matter where you are. So if you're in a dungeon and overloaded with goodies, you can transport yourself immediately to a town, sell off your stuff, and then go back to exactly where you were in the dungeon and load up again.

After fighting any baddie or clicking on any of the bone piles, hit your ALT key and the names of everything on the ground will show up. Then you can easily choose what you want to take or leave. Anything that has a color to it (yellow, green, blue, or purple) is a special item and you should take it. If you can't use it, sell it. Of course, pick up any and all health and energy potions. They don't cost much now, but believe me, they will go up in price! You can alternatively hit other keys to show the items on the ground. For instance, if you just hit "X" it will show only non-common items; ALT shows all nonbroken items; "Z" will show everything on the ground, but that's a waste, as broken items won't do you much good.

Loot: White = Standard: found everywhere
Yellow =Magical:has with magical propteries
Green = Rare: Magical items may have
powerful bonuses
Blue = Epic:Unique magical items have names
histories,and bestow powerful bonuses
Purple = Lenendary:Rarer than rare. They
are generally superior to any other
equipment in the game
Note; there are broken items on the ground also. But they clearly are not worth picking up:broken splintered,rusty ect.

Hi, Nickie. I'm still playing Titan Quest. Am currently partway through the Orient part of the game (the 3rd third). A pretty good game, I think, but, because of the save system and the respawning, I'm just gonna play it through once. I'm using the good CheatHappens Mega Trainer for game version 1.15. I mainly just use the Unlimited Health and Energy and No Skill Recharge options, but I also used it to give my character all 8 Masteries and every active skill I wanted, including every summon skill. That's my kind of game balancing.

Thanks Sig, I made it out of that place, and am now trying to get out of Crete. I'm finding the hardest part of the game for me is finding those exits

Yeah, some are harder to find than others. Some o' these RPGs really impress me with their . . . uh, what do they call it? . . . level design? . . . the clever layout of the various areas, particularly the exterior areas, which, in this game, are plentiful and expansive. I'd be interested to know how they plan it all out. On wall-sized sheets of paper? On floor-sized 3-dimensional models? On supercomputers, a phase at a time? I wonder.

Usually starting with legal/A4 sketch pads, then wall sized sheets of paper, then (often custom built) level-designing software.



Gremlin

Thanks for the answer, Gremlin. So my guessing was fractionally correct.

Yeah, let us know when you get into it, Maggie. I think one of the best things about this game, since I just alluded to it and I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere, is that you really get your fill of surface exploration. Of course, this would go a lot faster without a monster gang fight every 10 feet, but that sounds kinda boring to adventurers like us.

Nickie, that master blacksmith's camp is in the Lower Delphi area, up a woodsy hill just before the bridge into Crisaeos Falls. He sells some good stuff, so you might wanna backtrack for that, and also to complete that side quest and get the XP for it.

I also wanted to mention that I like how the developers conceptualized and rendered the various historic sites in the game. Something like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World) is a particular treat to walk through. Another example, the Parthenon, is still around, just not in mint condition. The much-touted 30-foot statue of Athena no longer exists in the actual Parthenon, but it does in the game. Even Giza Plateau was interesting to me because I've been there in real life---took a bus tour there from Alexandria when I was in the Navy in the mid-'70s. Went inside the second-biggest pyramid and rode a camel there. And, as you may know, there's been scholarly talk of a secret chamber beneath the left paw of the Great Sphinx, but the Egyptian government won't let archaeologists excavate it. It was even nice to see the face of it before cannoneers in Napolean's army used its nose for target practice---the idiots.

Thanks Sig, but I guess I'll forego the points for a while, as I'm still beating myself over the head and shoulders for backtracking for it once without finding him. I unfortunately chose to do it right before I left on the ship for Egypt, made a portal elsewhere and lost the first portal, so I got to go through that labyrinth a second time. Not too bright of me, although the boss was a piece of cake this time through.
I've really enjoyed the scenery! That's so interesting that you were actually in Giza. Did you also visit other places as depicted in the game?

Well, some of the historic sites in the game don't still exist, but, of those that do, I think the only place I've actually been to was the Giza Plateau. But we've probably all seen places like that and the Parthenon and the Great Wall of China on TV and whatnot, so that's good enough to make you appreciate exploring them at their prime. I think it's great they put these in a CRPG, and also the Satyrs and Centaurs and Harpies and such. Makes me wanna rent and re-watch "Jason and the Argonauts" or "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" or one o' the good ol' Steve Reeves Hercules movies, if you can find one.

Absolutely! I can see watching those movies again after playing this. I've been actually thinking of Cleopatra. I've never been to Egypt, but I did see the statue of Nefertiti ( is that like I haven't ever...but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express???)

Yeah, Liz Taylor did make a good-lookin' Cleopatra. I actually think Egypt is a little overrated, but I did enjoy the camel ride. Did you see that statue at that King Tut exhibit that was going around? And you're one up on me because I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

BTW, I just found the first error in the strategy guide. The jade figurine you need to complete the Wealthy Collector side quest in the Orient part of the game was in a different cave than the book said it was. My only guess is that its location varies depending upon the difficulty level you're playing on, but that's still weird because you can't even play the game on a higher difficulty until you've played it through the first time. Whatever.

I was thinking more of Richard Burton myself. I saw the statue at a museum in Berlin.
That's good to know about the strategy guide. There were errors in the Morrowind strategy guide as well - and I always thought before that the guides were infallible...

It's not bad, Pib! It has its flaws, but I've played a lot worse for sure. The scenery is very interesting, although not graphically entrancing like a Dungeon Siege 2 or Morrowind, good music, and a big variety on skill options. It's very easy too, which is good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

That's right Sig. That voice...sigh. I wish I could say that with the same dreamy tone for the voices in this game, but I sure can't. And the dialog cuts out. Did that happen for you as well? I know I can look up the important dialog with the quest tab, thank goodness.Off to the tomb of Ramses, I believe...

If you mean the dialogue breaks off when NPCs who are talking get bumped by a summoned creature of yours, they fixed this in, I believe, the 1.15 patch, so you might wanna check that. There are incremental patches available, so you can just patch it from this version to that version in the middle of a playthrough. Of course, the 1.20 patch came out the other day, but I have to wait till October 2nd to install that, cuz the Mega Trainer for that version isn't available to the public till then.

Is that what is happening? Even when my creature isn't near the NPC? I'll be darned! Thanks! I always try to play through these unpatched first if I think there's the possibility I might do a review.
You must be about finished with the game, huh?

Yeah, that's probably what's happening. Playing with a trainer, my character has all of the summon skills, so I can tell you that all of them, except for the wolf, move around when you're talking to an NPC. The 1.15 patch (I believe it is) fixes how NPCs break off what they were saying when bumped by a fidgety summon. You should probably patch your game all the way up to the latest version, 1.20. Check out all the fixes in the various patches and you'll see a slew of improvements---a memory leak fix, performance enhancements like time smoothing, and much more. If your game is presently unpatched, you'll want the standalone 1.20 patch, not one of the incremental ones.

And yeah, I portaled to Olympus at the end of my last session, so I just have the endgame to knock out. That last Telkine fight had me worried. I don't know why (seems to have just been a glitch in something), but, for the first 2 or 3 tries, I couldn't hurt or tire it out at all, and I was hittin' it for minutes on end with everything I've got, which is a lot. And trying cheat options I hadn't used before, like Zero Enemy Health, Invisibility, and Enemy Tamer, didn't help at all. On the last attempt, I saw it was getting hurt, so I knew I had it then. I'll still be around to root the rest of you on, but I'll be giving the game to a local friend after beating it, and giving him the strategy guide, too.

Hi, Maggie. CYE. Oh, you're one step ahead of the email reply I just sent you, but that's cool.

Nickie, that Liche King is kinda cute, for a lich, isn't he? Does a good job of protecting you, though, as do all the summons. You have to like anything that will die to protect you from anything, no matter how imposing or how numerous the attackers. It's interesting . . . all of the summons except for the Storm Wisp go after hostiles in your vicinity on their own. The Wisp likes to be more of a personal bodyguard, and will not let anything lay a hand on you without getting zapped. It will, however, go aid one of the other summons if they really need it. Nice how they look out for each other.

Yeah, the 3 Telkine fights in the game are increasingly tough, and the last one isn't the final boss---that would be Typhon the Titan---so watch your booty. I finished the game in the last session. To answer your question, I'm gonna reinstall Morrowind and play some more of that for a while. Didn't have my fill of it when I was replaying it with some mods a few months back. Tally ho!

Yeah, I have grown awfully fond of the Lich. He just floats along, blissfully unconcerned about the rampaging hordes that are attacking us, and zaps away!
I noticed that the game seemed to become more difficult round about the Valley Of Kings. Right now my hero and Floaty are on their way to find some guy in a remote place on a mountain. I think we're level 28. What level were you when you did the last Telkine battle, Sig? And have fun again with Morrowind!

Maggie, if the trainer helps you enjoy the game, well then, it's a good thing. This is supposed to be fun!

Hi

I am lost in the maze in the Castle up on Tritons Ridge. Does anyone know of a good map. I am lost, so send food and drink please. I am now a 46 and with the trainer it has been a big help but still loveing it and having lots of fun.
Sig, if you hear of a map, can you let me know and Nickie too. Thanks both of you so much.

Maggie