Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[guessingo]

didnt want to create a new IVAN thread... so posting here. just stumbled on this. Temple of Atnam forums are buggy. tried registering and getting 'username is too short'. thought this meant password and spent time trying to make longer username/passwords and gave up.

im kind of lost. there is a wiki, but it doesn't give alot of details. i figure keys to the game is to raise stats. I see someone on here says dont raise your max hp. i saw on attnam that you should try to get injured to heal and raise your hp. that is about the only thing i was able to raise. doesn't look like you can grind, cause i dont see monsters respawn.

i did go through the wiki and i did browse through the forums.

didn't see anything to really do in the starter town. head into dungeon. clear first level. kick all doors. wield first weapon i can find. keep lantern. put armor on. looks like if i go burdened i can train strength, but dont have enough food to just sit in place to do this. training hp is a matter of getting hurt and healing, but i see a post that the mob strength is based on your max hp. so i guess i shouldnt do much of that. i read books i find, but i dont see a way to cast spells. i see that i can 'activate' traps and this trains some stat. so i guess i can grind there.

as soon as i get to the 2nd level of UT I always run into some mob that kills me in two hits.

1. any tips on what to do? Im lost? anyway to grind up stats some? does the weapon type matter? I was trying to stick with 1 type so i can train up my skills. not sure if its safe to go burdened with heavy armor to train strength.

2. also, i inevitibly end up polymorphing and teleporting randomly. i cant figure out why? i dont see a reference to secret intrinsics on items. is this from something i eat? I cant tell form wiki what may not be safe to eat.

3. a tip in the wiki says eat mushrooms or something to get levitate. ok. cant figure out what its good for.floating above traps? however,  i inevitibly polymorph and lose it.

4. i saw a lets play video and it said that running is good for trianing stats. how do i go into 'run mode'. i got moved into once when i got scared.

5. can you cast spells? I see books to read. wiki says to read books to train some stats. so i read them then they dissappear

6. guide says to grind in town to talk to certain people to get 'scitalk' which trains up int and/or wisdom (cant remember). gave some tips on this. said i can get a couple of points. not sure what int/wis is used for. i dont see an ability to cast spells.

there isnt alot on the web since its kind of a dead game. but its different so im messing with it.

[Neonivek]

anyway to grind up stats some?

Depends are you trying to get the ultimate endings or the early endings?

The ultimate ending requires you to basically cheat (Which is why I think everything past a certain point in IVAN is terrible... with everything before that being pretty good).

The Easier endings requires smart thinking and lots of luck.

does the weapon type matter?

Yes, in fact they include an exploit weapon with a secret ability.

The whip never breaks. The only whip that breaks is if you try to fight with belts.

can you cast spells?

Scrolls and Wands only.

guide says to grind in town to talk to certain people to get 'scitalk' which trains up int and/or wisdom (cant remember).

AHH yes, the game breaker. The only way to obtain the ultimate endings and it is completely not given to you by the in game documentation.

You mostly want to do this in order to use the material wishes so you can turn your arms into nearly indestructible constructs of death and things like that.

----

I'll pretty much outright say that IVAN is a pretty good roguelike if you aren't going for the ultimate endings. They don't require outside knowledge you couldn't get by playing honestly and earnestly, albeit A LOT because they are still pretty hard.

Going for any ending after that though and you are a total cheat.

[Tellemurius]

Ultimate ending is actually possible without cheating
involves alot of wands of cloning and scroll of charging

[Neonivek]

Ultimate ending is actually possible without cheating
involves alot of wands of cloning and scroll of charging

I am still highly doubtful.

You at least need to find the names of materials LONG before you would ever discover what they are. Which means you are also using Sci-talk.

[EagleV]

Let's see...

didnt want to create a new IVAN thread... so posting here. just stumbled on this. Temple of Atnam forums are buggy. tried registering and getting 'username is too short'
I'll ask Capristo, the resident webmaster, to take a look. He's on a long vacation at the moment though.

im kind of lost. there is a wiki, but it doesn't give alot of details. i figure keys to the game is to raise stats. I see someone on here says dont raise your max hp. i saw on attnam that you should try to get injured to heal and raise your hp. that is about the only thing i was able to raise. doesn't look like you can grind, cause i dont see monsters respawn.
There are certain monsters that spawn during the game. You'll find a lot of one sort of them in UT3. Raising max hp is not a bad thing on its own, however it raises the 'danger level'. Kind of like the AI in left 4 dead, the game will throw harder stuff at you if you are doing well. Health is a parameter that seems to be very important in that calculation, so some say the risk outweighs the benefit, especially on higher health levels. Raising stats is important, though there are many other ways to get better.

1. any tips on what to do? Im lost? anyway to grind up stats some? does the weapon type matter? I was trying to stick with 1 type so i can train up my skills. not sure if its safe to go burdened with heavy armor to train strength.
What to do basically comes down to keep trying. I can get about 7-8 dungeons far on most runs without any grinding, and I'm among the worst long-time players. Training stats: health by getting hurt, leg/arm strength by overtaxing them, agility by running (press 'u' to toggle, don't get too tired), dexterity by doing anything that requires hands (even zapping wands). Intelligence and wisdom by reading, praying, talking, ... Weapons: some are more accurate, some do more damage. Some have more chance to crit or chop off limbs. Burdened is not too bad, it'll lower your dodge and make you slower I think, but it'll indeed train leg strength. For a good start: don't attack hedgehogs with bare hands. Don't kick your dog. Grab the lantern. Find a weapon that is not a balsa spear. If you can, start praying. And run from anything that seems too strong.

2. also, i inevitibly end up polymorphing and teleporting randomly. i cant figure out why? i dont see a reference to secret intrinsics on items. is this from something i eat? I cant tell form wiki what may not be safe to eat.
3. a tip in the wiki says eat mushrooms or something to get levitate. ok. cant figure out what its good for.floating above traps? however,  i inevitibly polymorph and lose it.
You contracted polymorphitis and teleportitis. Probably from the mushrooms. Will end in a while, though so will the levitation effect. It's much better if you can get a belt of levitation. The main use is dodging traps, yes, but I believe it also makes you harder to hit, not sure. It does make you unable to kick doors though.

4. i saw a lets play video and it said that running is good for trianing stats. how do i go into 'run mode'. i got moved into once when i got scared.
Run mode toggles with 'u'. Panic = autorun and you can't toggle it off until you calm down. Running trains agi, but so does walking (albeit much slower) and running costs more food.

5. can you cast spells? I see books to read. wiki says to read books to train some stats. so i read them then they dissappear
The books are bibles for seperate gods. You will be able to pray ('p') to the gods you know (read about, or saw an altar). Be careful: reading books about good gods will decrease your popularity with the evil ones and vice versa. Praying to an angry go is not a good idea. Try 'o'ffering them something to make them happy again (and anger the others a bit)

6. guide says to grind in town to talk to certain people to get 'scitalk' which trains up int and/or wisdom (cant remember). gave some tips on this. said i can get a couple of points. not sure what int/wis is used for. i dont see an ability to cast spells.
Certain scrolls change the material of your items. They get very important later in the game, but you can only change to the best materials with high int. Also it'll allow you to polymorph into stronger things. Wis will get you more popular with the gods.

Most of this is from own experience, so there are some things I'm not 100% sure about. But if you need anything else, be sure to ask.

[Tellemurius]

Ultimate ending is actually possible without cheating
involves alot of wands of cloning and scroll of charging

I am still highly doubtful.

You at least need to find the names of materials LONG before you would ever discover what they are. Which means you are also using Sci-talk.

Well reading does train intelligence so im not far off

[guessingo]

so is it best to not eat mushrooms? not sure how long the polymorph thing lasts. i dont have alot of food.

anything else that i should avoid eating?

i see carnivorous plant corpses, but i cant eat them. what do i do with them?

[EagleV]

You can't do much with the corpses. About eating corpses, stick to normal animals for the time being. Mushrooms mostly don't hurt too much, but they're Another Thing That Could Go Wrong if you teleport/polymorph at the wrong time. You should find enough 'normal' food (dead animals and fruit) to keep you going for a while. I'd start eating other stuff only if it's to avoid starving.

Good to know, your polymorphed form has a different food stat than your regular self, so feeding while polymorphed won't make you less hungry when not polymorphed.

[Tellemurius]

You can't do much with the corpses. About eating corpses, stick to normal animals for the time being. Mushrooms mostly don't hurt too much, but they're Another Thing That Could Go Wrong if you teleport/polymorph at the wrong time. You should find enough 'normal' food (dead animals and fruit) to keep you going for a while. I'd start eating other stuff only if it's to avoid starving.

Good to know, your polymorphed form has a different food stat than your regular self, so feeding while polymorphed won't make you less hungry when not polymorphed.

avoid the ones that can move as they can give you worms

[Singularity125]

God, I haven't played this game in so long... I'd basically forgotten about its existence.

One minor early-game trick that I like to use for food:

Obviously you can't walk up and grab the bananas the growers drop, as it counts as stealing and causes the entire town to beat you to a pulp. However, you CAN kick them away, which the game says is "vandalism" but doesn't seem to cause any hostile reactions. Once kicked away, you can do with them as you please. I can't guarantee there isn't some hidden flag that will get you killed down the line for doing that, but at least early on you shouldn't have to worry much about food.

[Tellemurius]

God, I haven't played this game in so long... I'd basically forgotten about its existence.

One minor early-game trick that I like to use for food:

Obviously you can't walk up and grab the bananas the growers drop, as it counts as stealing and causes the entire town to beat you to a pulp. However, you CAN kick them away, which the game says is "vandalism" but doesn't seem to cause any hostile reactions. Once kicked away, you can do with them as you please. I can't guarantee there isn't some hidden flag that will get you killed down the line for doing that, but at least early on you shouldn't have to worry much about food.

forshits i drop a bunch of peels for the workers line and watch as limbs fly around

[RedKing]

I remember this being one of the few roguelikes where you could virtually count on losing a limb pretty quickly, and that could be a good thing (if you prayed successfully to the god of smithing, and he gave you a brand new metal limb to replace it).

[Shooer]

I remember losing both arms to a bear trap once.  Three times, to the same trap because I had 3 troll blood potion things.  My leg was still stuck after all that.  I had plenty of food though.

[Neonivek]

so is it best to not eat mushrooms? not sure how long the polymorph thing lasts. i dont have alot of food.

anything else that i should avoid eating?

i see carnivorous plant corpses, but i cant eat them. what do i do with them?

Well if you know the trick, you can have infinite food.

[lemon10]

I've never actually been a fan of metal limbs. Sure they give you crazy strength, but they screw up your agility something fierce. On the other hand the godess of nature gives you hair/cloth limbs which while noticeably less strong, still give you more then enough strength as well as a crazy amount of agility (allowing you to attack faster and outrun pretty much everything).