Level Drain & Hill Giant Fort help + others (fixed)

[Tiny Turtle]

Hey all. So I have two problems that have left me stuck.

1st is that I have no idea how to enter the hill giant fort thanks to that energy barrier. I've probably missed some hint or dialogue that tells you what's up, and if anyone could drop a hint for me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

2nd is I have a permanent level drain on my cleric, quite literally. Remove Negative Energy levels when cast on her says it worked, but I can use up to 20 scrolls and that one level of level drain remains no matter what. So I'm chalking this up to a bug. Is there a way I can have my save game fixed, or is there another way to remove the drain ingame? (I just tried using the spell itself after two level ups. Same thing. Message says it's gone, but it's still there.)

I should also note that I've found that if you rest right after a battle before looting all the loot goes missing -- including quest items. Gear and such I understand, but - developer, if you're reading this? - please please please add to your next patch, and next game, that IMPORTANT items do NOT EVER self destruct for any reason. I messed up and after a big ol' fight I did a rest/save combo, not realizing a missed a key that would've let me finish a certain quest. I don't like wasting an hour+ so I just chalked it up as a failed quest, but this was before I realized that resting destroyed all items. (First time I got to rest in a dungeon that I didn't auto loot everything in) Next playthrough I'll be more careful and finish that quest.

Anyway if anyone can help me with 1 and 2, I'd appreciate it.

EDIT: Literally within a minute of posting this I try the front door again and it works perfectly. I feel dumb! I still need that buggy level drain fixed though.

EDIT 2: Ice Storm is bugged. Any monsters immune to cold are completely immune to both the cold damage and the bludgeoning damage. At least I'm assuming this is a bug, because otherwise having two damage types is utterly ridiculous.

EDIT 3: While I'm at it? A couple of suggestions. When you're within the threat area of an enemy, if you select a single move it should automatically be a five foot move. This game is crazy click intensive. Cutting that down is a must. Along those lines, after you fire a crossbow and you move the cursor over an enemy, it says you must reload first. When you click, it should reload - instead of having to click keyboard shortcut or the menu itself. There's so much clicking/menu navigating in this game. It's insane! Anything you can do to reduce that would be a huge boon. That includes the horrible loot system (nostalgia is nice and all but auuuughhhhhh goddamn it dude its not what I miss about ye olden tymes) and the horrible INVENTORY -> CLERIC -> WAND OF HEALING -> USE -> TARGET -> REPEAT 10 TIMES. Is there a quicker way to heal your party with wands? Getting desparate.

EDIT 4: I figured this stuff out. Hurf durf I'm dumb. Leaving the thread on account of EDIT 2 & 3.

[BlueSalamander]

Hello Tiny Turtle,

1st is that I have no idea how to enter the hill giant fort thanks to that energy barrier. I've probably missed some hint or dialogue that tells you what's up, and if anyone could drop a hint for me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

It doesn't open until you finish the Slaver Lords quest.

2nd is I have a permanent level drain on my cleric, quite literally.

This is usually due to holding a weapon of opposed alignment. The negative level goes away when you stop wielding that weapon.

I should also note that I've found that if you rest right after a battle before looting all the loot goes missing -- including quest items.

Quest items never go away (if one did, it's a bug, and I'd like to know which item in order to fix it). Many non-quest items do go away when resting.

immune to both the cold damage and the bludgeoning damage

Not a bug, but a quirk of the engine, mentioned many times in these forums.

if you select a single move it should automatically be a five foot move.

The game cannot make that assumption, because you may be wanting to move by one square, do something, then move some more. Or you may be wanting to move using a path that is not the one proposed by the pathfinding. Taking a five-foot step prevents you from any other movement later in your round. Anyway, the M key is easy enough when you need to take a five-foot step.

WAND OF HEALING -> USE -> TARGET -> REPEAT 10 TIMES.

Look, there are many, many shortcuts in the game, you just need to read the help. There are shortcut keys for wand use (Z and X) and a game option for automatic recast of healing spells until the target is fully healed.

you must reload first. When you click, it should reload - instead of having to click keyboard shortcut or the menu itself.

Yes, I agree about that. For the time being, you can just push the L key.

[Tiny Turtle]

This was all written during my first / second day struggles. Sorry if it came off a bit too hostile. :] In my defense, when it came to the wands, I did look through the wand / spell files and I didn't see a mention of it. Not saying it wasn't there, just that I didn't see it. I also had no idea you could equip a wand and use the in-combat shortcut to cast it. Now that I do, healing is much, much quicker. Thank you!

The item in question though, is the key used to open the row of iron-door cells in the Orc Fortress, where you go to save the survivors. If I remember correctly, it's filled with either orcs or gnolls. It has a couple of named mobs, I think. Not certain, I remember killing them fast, going back to rest, coming back and the room was empty. I killed every other mob I could find, and never could open those doors. I returned to the witch, and she kept going "Please dude, save those guys!!" so I assumed that a key had spawned, but gone away. I didn't miss it in any other loots. I re-checked -- and I'm already an obsessive compulsive looter. Nothing escapes my greedy gaze.

The Hill Giant Fort shield seemed to go down after I killed the Baubau(sp?) monsters, by the way. I didn't even try to enter before I finished the slaver quest, I got the quest to stop the giants, talked to the wizard and all, went up there and it didn't let me in. I killed the Tanarii, went back to town and didn't speak to anyone just rested, came back and it was open. I just assumed the demons were the ones maintaining the forcefield! If not, I've no idea what I did to trigger it to open since all I did was rest, and I rest constantly. (I've realized I'm probably the worst player in your eyes, haha. If there's a campfire within reach, you bet I'll rest there after every single fight so I can use all the nukes in my arsenal, instead of turning each dungeon into a magical efficiency marathon.)

Anyway, I'm trying to memorize the shortcut keys now. And I realize now that I've thrown up quite a few complaints, but I do want to make something clear. When I actually go on a forum to make notes such as these, it means I care quite a bit about the game. If I buy a game and it turns out it has its annoyances, unless it's a GOOD game getting besmirched, I ignore it. But here we have a game I've put by now 20+ hours into, absolutely LOVE, and the little annoyances go from being just something one doesn't care about to, and here comes the exaggerated comparison, the scratches on the cut diamond.

This game is fantastic, I've been waiting for another game like this for years! I just had to bring up what I considered flaws in it, because -- well, I'm hoping you're going to make another one, and you've already gotten me hooked enough that there's no question of whether or not I'll buy it. I will buy it! And since I am, I just wanted to voice my frustrations in the hopes that maybe you'd agree with some of them and consider them for the next game. For an example, setting a monetary minimum for an autoloot. At this point in the game, I loot nothing unless it's worth 2000g, is a letter, a key or seems to be a quest item. It'd be great if I could just enter 2000 into an "Auto Loot" menu and then, after each fight, it checks worth, and throws all 2000g items into my inventory. Maybe even give a list of what was auto looted; leaving the rest on the ground for me to sift through. (Like gems / scrolls / wands)

Don't take any of this like dissing you or your game, man. This currently the best game I own.

[some_name]

If not, I've no idea what I did to trigger it to open since all I did was rest, and I rest constantly. (I've realized I'm probably the worst player in your eyes, haha. If there's a campfire within reach, you bet I'll rest there after every single fight so I can use all the nukes in my arsenal, instead of turning each dungeon into a magical efficiency marathon.)

Hint- do not get too reliant on this, or there's a certain location later where you'll find yourself in a world of hurt.