November: Ambermoon

[SpellSword]

I found Father Anthony.


Is there some place that I can see the effects and damage of each spell?

[Watser]

Is there some place that I can see the effects and damage of each spell?

For damaging spells higher SP cost = more damage, don't think there's any nuance between earth/ice/fire/wind spells in the destructive school such as resistances. Otherwise it's just different flavors of single target/single row/everything.
Most status effects are self-explanatory, except for irritate which disables spellcasting.

https://www.oldgames.sk/en/game/ambermo ... load/1877/ has a very rudimentary description of the different spells, but more importantly lists the SLPs required.

[SpellSword]

Thanks these are great.

► Alchemy Spells

► Destruction Spells

► Healing Spells

► Mystic Spells

[SpellSword]

In the intro there was a second habitable planet, I wonder if we will be travelling to it.

Maybe this game will be longer than I expected.

► Looks like combat is going to get heavier from this point on...

I thought an enemy group of five was going to be considered a large battle for this game...

[Rand]

Also here is some information that may be useful about gold.
I noticed that the max amount of gold you can store in a chest is 65535.

it's stored as a single 16bit unsigned integer?
Lame.

[Watser]

In the intro there was a second habitable planet, I wonder if we will be travelling to it.

Turns out you do. Two from the looks of it.

[SpellSword]

I think I've found the ship that will allow me to get there, I just need to figure out how to make it take off.

► Also...

...and that Lebab's Tower's section with the moving holes was infuriating!

► Valdyn's origin

I was curious about the game Valdyn was from so I looked up Lionheart, it being a platformer was unexpected.

[SpellSword]

I think I'm approaching the end, I've made it to a place called Morag, where is everyone else at?

► The second planet was pretty bad...

...with its constant dangerous creature combat that yields no gold or EXP. Make sure you are stocked up and leveled before travelling there.

[Watser]

About to go to the rumoured ruins on the Green Jewel. Started using a walkthrough for this place to get the coordinates as traversing it is a pain in the *** and it's so easy to miss whatever it is you are looking for as you are only given vague directions.

[Kalarion]

What would you guys say is a good hit% for my hero and Egil to have before leaving Stannenberg? I've got them to 65% so far, the grinding is wearing me down.

[Watser]

Haven't done any grinding since defeating the undertaker/digger in Spannenberg at level ~5, just used all my TP on attack and it got maxed pretty quickly.

[SpellSword]

Victory!

► Ending Screen Spoilers

► A Few Random Thoughts

I don't think breaking equipment was a good fit for this game it made me dread every battle.

The first planet is pretty interesting whereas the second and especially third planet did not feel as polished.

I can see why Pyrdacor wanted to expand Ambermoon with Ambermoon Advanced, the scope of the game's world gives it a kind of epic feeling and would really benefit from more content.

Overall Game Rating For Ambermoon:



@Kalarion getting your character and Egil's attack stat to max as soon as possible will really help against most of the enemies on the first island. What starts tipping the scale later though is Egil's ability to drastically increase his number of attacks per turn.

You can access the information for how each class will level up by mousing over its name on that character's inventory menu:

► Egil's Attacks Per Round Increase Rate Screenshot

Also if you haven't already try going into the options and increase Battle Speed to +100%, you need to scroll the menu down for the option to come on screen.

► Option Menu Battle Speed

► Tip if you are going to grind for EXP in Spannenberg

If you are grinding using the necromancer in the cemetery's zombies instead try the bandits that randomly attack you in town. Just hammer the "Touch" key while standing somewhere they've already attacked you and they will strike again. They are easier to kill and don't poison you.

[Nemesis]

Victory!

Gratz. How many hours did it take you?

[maidenhaver]

Yeah, this game doesn't need random durability.

[Watser]

Specially frustrating when Spannenberg is the only town without a blacksmith for repair.

[SpellSword]

Gratz. How many hours did it take you?

I think it took somewhere between 35-40 hours with a few of those hours dedicated to grinding EXP.

Specially frustrating when Spannenberg is the only town without a blacksmith for repair.

Considering that equipment seems to break less and less the farther you are into the game them not including the ability to repair in the first town is pretty weird. It seemed the chance was higher for a weapon breaking when less damage was able to go through an enemy's armor, but I'm not really sure if that was actually what was happening. With a lot of the humanoid enemies dropping their equipment maybe they thought you'd use this weaker gear then whip out your strongest weapons and armor only for bosses?

► Other content gated by progression...

The first town's healer also only unlocks once you've finished some of the quests so if a spider (Or Zombie) tags you with poison you are basically just dead if you have no more cure poison potions, and with no way to resurrect your fallen party member as well.

Ambermoon was one of the last games released by Thalion and I've read they cancelled plans to port it to other systems, perhaps they didn't have a lot of time to finish setting up the world?

[Watser]

Alright where's my badge?

► Show Spoiler

Finally slogged my way through the endgame. At least Morag, unlike Kire's Moon, has coordinates for the places you need to go which makes it a lot less of a slog though the game takes a nosedive in quality.
Overall very charming game but the part on the Lyramionic Isle is by far the most enjoyable.

Also a non-official sequel has been confirmed once Advanced is done.

[rusty_shackleford]

The third part is Albion tho.

[Watser]

The third part is Albion tho.

Spiritual sequel.

[rusty_shackleford]

Rollcall on people still playing and not yet finished

[maidenhaver]

Here.

[maidenhaver]

I won't make it.

[Watser]

Not with that attitude.

[Rigwort]

I think my no-spoiler run coupled with being during November should've spelled doom for me far before... Still will keep playing to find more tunes, some of the music is really good.

[rusty_shackleford]

I think my no-spoiler run coupled with being during November should've spelled doom for me far before... Still will keep playing to find more tunes, some of the music is really good.

There's no time limit on a badge so when you finish I'll add it

[maidenhaver]

Ran out of torches in grandpa's basement, now I have to do the horseshoes quest again.

[Tangerine]

Completed.

► Show Spoiler

Proof:

amber_04.PNG

amber_05.PNG

amber_06.PNG

This is a sentiment I wish I could experience.

amber_03.PNG

The jeweler is named Goldstein. Because of course.

amber_02.PNG

This bakery is run by A. Wyatt Mann's cousin.

amber_01.PNG

Tips:
- Drop the Thief as soon as you find any replacement for her. She can't carry anything, she's squishy, and you don't really need thieving skills if you just buy every lockpick you see in a store.
- I used all my wishing coins except one on raising strength. I found out later that Gemstone has a wishing well that improves speed and I wish I'd dropped a few coins in that one.
- Spells used by your main character blow - the only ones barely worthwhile are the light spells. If you want to use those spells, get the caster that uses them. I think it's Leonora.
- There are no elemental resistances, so don't worry about that.
- There doesn't seem to be any penalties to damage/defense between ranged and close range weapons.
- Morag darts are weapons, not ammunition.

Thoughts:
Overall, I enjoyed playing through Ambermoon. The world is interesting, especially once you travel to the moons. I particularly liked the change in how I navigated when I got to the forest moon; no longer could I rely on easy transportation, I had to pay attention to where I was walking and avoid blue sparkles, otherwise face annoying bug enemies that serve only to drain resources. The desert moon also had a neat element where you'd get attacked by lizards if you walked at night OR in shaded areas. The latter was a really nice touch and help sell the desert world. I also liked the presentation of battles, with the grid system at the bottom and the enemy visuals in the main view.

Unfortunately, it falls short in a few areas.
- Combat is not very complex; elemental damage is not a thing, positioning isn't terribly important, and I never needed to defend/parry.
- The randomness of the item breaking mechanic was more frustrating than a difficulty and is mostly an early game issue. It would have been better as a durability system, as others have mentioned.
- You can feel this was rushed. The moons, especially the desert moon, had very little to do. In a better world, this would have been two separate games with the second starting on the jungle moon.

[1998]

Alright, let's goooo



Oh...

[Tangerine]

Was it the fireplace or the tripmined cabinet that got you?

[1998]

Was it the fireplace or the tripmined cabinet that got you?

The tripmined chest after about 10 seconds...but obviously I also walked into the fireplace