Thanks Raze, that means a lot coming from you.
congratulations, i know you want to do a normal run now and fully enjoy the game, but can you push for level 12~16 finish with the "no gaining exp with spider statue while scorpions do the killing" trick? given that you have unlimited amount of gold at the beginning of the game.
That's actually a good idea, I didn't know how it could be completed much lower due to the big xp bumps you get from killing bosses. I might even be able to just load up my save before I went to the bosses and might possibly be able to pull it off at 15 if I do it right. I think it works the same way if you turn into a ghost, which is somewhat more convenient than using the spider. I might try that with the end boss right now heh.
It may be awhile before I attempt the whole thing again. Even if you're sprinting past 95% of the enemies in the game and skipping probably the majority of the quests (even some you'd like to do), it's still a long slog. And even using things like sneak, fade from sight, etc there can be some tense moments because with such low armor and constitution, you're very fragile. And with such a low level and with so few skill points available, your options skill-wise are pretty limted. It sucked having to wait until lvl 8 to use poison weapon for example. I am regretting that I had to resort to scorpions on two bosses, but being vunerable for just a moment with Josie meant instant death, and with Iona it meant almost constant restoration spell and restoration potions. I should have tried survivor's curse some.
Now how is it that I have unlimited gold at the beginning? Do you mean the Rimmer ale trick? Or using the gold duplication trick?
EDIT: ok I tried being in spirit form when the final boss died (the last time took some doing, I had to Aura of Command three different pets), and both times I tried the game crashed about five seconds into the end movie. I'm wondering if this is some consequence of being in spirit form...I'll have to play with that later. There may be no way to avoid that final 200k xp.
Edit 2...I tried it using the frog statuette, no difference, it still crashes about 5 mins into the end movie. The Ghost trick for no xp can probably be done on the five other end bosses but not the final one. Still it might be impossible to for me to get that final xp and still stay lvl 15...if I'm doing the calculation correctly, the xp difference between 15 and 16 is 240,000, and at level 15 I'll probably get more than than the 201,000 xp that I got at lvl 17. Even assuming it was only 201k xp, that would only give me 39k or so xp in wiggle room, and it would be seriously hard to stay under that. I do believe some of the end creatures (not the boss) were giving out 40k xp each, so just one would be too much. A finish at 16 may be possible for me, though it wouldn't be easy.
