Andor's Trail, thoughts of a newbie

[Tutar]

First of all I've now played Andor's Trail for about 2 weeks and think it’s a rather addictive game. Yet I've solve all of the solvable quests and most probably gone to any place I can think of. So what now?

Before I want to go in more details about the game, first some critics. First of all the search of the board is more or less useless, most of the time I get "too many words". Why not simply list the first xx results instead of "too many words"? Or at least put the most important "words" into the FAQ.

Second how the signature should be formatted for the highscore should be documented anyhow. I had to look for "highscore" (=> too many words), then reading through several pages to figure it out somehow. Probably best would be a sticky thread or simply put a sample signature into it (values=??).

Third abbreviations should be documented anywhere (=> sticky thread). The description or name should be done for any language.

Forth for foreigners it would be nice if it where possible to switch to English within the game, it's almost impossible to figure out an abbreviations if the game is played in another language. Besides I may help in translating to German, where do I have to look for that?

Sorry if there are so many critics yet IMO its worth to make a good game better and that doesn't go without critics. Now back to the game.

It's nice to follow and solve the quests albeit it's sometime difficult to start a quest. Some are just hit when speaking with people but others aren't found out without looking into the forum. It would be nice if the game had a hint system, where one could look up what to do next. I almost couldn’t solve "rats" since I always went to the rat's cave instead the garden. Only after looking up quests in the forum I checked it. Also it didn't occur to me to expand the quest for quite some time.

Then I read several things in the forum and knew immediately I had to start anew. Mostly because I’ve learned the wrong skills. Skills are very important because some are much more important that others.

So I started again and first solve the easy quests. Just after successfully solving the rats cave I went into the catacomb to get the “Key of Luthor” and was just lucky. Sometimes luck helps a lot, so I went on.

After I conquered the snake’s cave for the first time I’ve read a message in the forum about not using a weapon because of AP costs. I tried to conquer the snake’s cave a second time and got the feeling it’s better to fight with bare hands. IMO the AP costs of any decent weapon is far too high. I still went to the snake cave several times to get experience and of course meat.

I only one went into the ghost’s house to solve the “Disallowed substance” quest. From then on stacked with some bonemeals the wolf’s cave was no problem either. Also the Flagstone Prison could be conquered successfully. From then on I had enough cash to by lots of bonemeals.

At level 20 I reached Blackwater Mountain more by accident since I simply went on and on. I dodged or killed monsters while healing my hits with bonemeal until I finally reached the top. I almost didn’t make it down again, since I stack of bonemeal was running short. Luckily I’ve gotten some healing potions on the way up and down, which saved me through the last way. If I hadn’t made it I’d be stuck there since I’ve slept in the house half way up.

I decided to side with BW because I’d liked to get any good weapon or armour there. I’ve now run up and down at least 10 times to solve all the quests. Now I know it wasn’t worth it because neither the sword “Raserei des Schatten” (sorry German) nor any armour has any value for me. I hope in a future game version it’s possible to enhance (lower the AP) of a weapon or remove the BW curse.

The Kazul cave was yet another almost unsolvable task. It’s incredible boring to just move in the dark without any notion if I’d actually move. If there’s a hint when one bumps into a wall, it would be possible to navigate through the maze, without it’s only by luck. I found a map in the forum yet IMO I consider this as a kind of cheating.

After finishing BW I went after the rest of the map. The river troll seems to be too strong yet I finished him with a potion of furious, a potion of quickness and 2 bonemeals (sorry I translated the names from German, so they might be actually called different).

The only thing which remains is now killing the master at the cave in the far north-east corner of the map. I’ve once reached him but hadn’t kept a close eye on my hit points.

My current skills are:
Combat speed (1), Quick Learner (2), Increased Fortitude (2), Regeneration (1), Enduring Body (1).

[Antison]

I am so tired of person after person complaining about how difficult this game is. People, this is a RPG, it's supposed to be challenging!! In fact, I wish Oskar would introduce a difficulty feature so the game could be even
More of a challenge.

[Samuel]

Second how the signature should be formatted for the highscore should be documented anyhow. I had to look for "highscore" (=> too many words), then reading through several pages to figure it out somehow. Probably best would be a sticky thread or simply put a sample signature into it (values=??).

Third abbreviations should be documented anywhere (=> sticky thread).

Both is documented in the highscore topic itself: (first post)
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=329

Have a look here too:
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=703

The description or name should be done for any language.

Too many languages. I am not willing to maintain a list like this. Feel free to maintain it yourself:
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/s ... emlist.xml
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/s ... emlist.xml
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/s ... emlist.xml
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/s ... emlist.xml
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/s ... emlist.xml

Forth for foreigners it would be nice if it where possible to switch to English within the game, it's almost impossible to figure out an abbreviations if the game is played in another language. Besides I may help in translating to German, where do I have to look for that?

You may change the system language to English. Then Andors Trail will be English too.
For help in the German translation see here:
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=329

[nyktos]

Welcome to the forum!

[Pyrizzle]

Welcome to the forums, and thank you for your imput.

[lady black]

I believe the "too many words" refers to your entry of what you are searching for, not too many replies to list. Try searching for single word topics. I have not used search myself, because when I joined the forums were much smaller. I read everything before I actually entered the game itself. But search for "highscore" not "highscore signature format." I think that will give you results.
We have all had to grope our way through the dark sections our first time through, and grope a little less the next time because we could remember how we made it the first time, etc. I hope you found the hint about dropping rocks to mark your way. (Hansel and Gretel style.) That could also be used to tell you whether you are trying to walk through a wall. If your last rock is get not getting farther away, you are not moving. If you are leaving the rock behind you, you are moving. I believe the Kazaul spawns were placed to give us a hint as to where we should be going, also.
If you are referring to abbreviations such as lol and imo in people's posts in your complaint about abbreviations, they are what I call "textspeak," shortenings used in text messages to save time and character number. Lol=laughing out loud, rotfl=rolling on the floor laughing, imo=in my opinion, also used with an h=humble between the m and the o. I can't think of any others right now, and do not know all of them myself as I do not text and am two generations older than most texters. Actually, I would like to see a Textspeak Dictionary, myself. It would probably be helpful for a great many non-native English speakers as well as oldsters like me. Also, npc=non-player character, all the residents of the towns and the monsters. Perhaps we should add a non-translated abbreviation to the skill point description, based on its English name. I never realized just how many abbreviations we use.

[Pyrizzle]

I believe the "too many words" refers to your entry of what you are searching for, not too many replies to list. Try searching for single word topics. I have not used search myself, because when I joined the forums were much smaller. I read everything before I actually entered the game itself. But search for "highscore" not "highscore signature format." I think that will give you results.
We have all had to grope our way through the dark sections our first time through, and grope a little less the next time because we could remember how we made it the first time, etc. I hope you found the hint about dropping rocks to mark your way. (Hansel and Gretel style.) That could also be used to tell you whether you are trying to walk through a wall. If your last rock is get not getting farther away, you are not moving. If you are leaving the rock behind you, you are moving. I believe the Kazaul spawns were placed to give us a hint as to where we should be going, also.
If you are referring to abbreviations such as lol and imo in people's posts in your complaint about abbreviations, they are what I call "textspeak," shortenings used in text messages to save time and character number. Lol=laughing out loud, rotfl=rolling on the floor laughing, imo=in my opinion, also used with an h=humble between the m and the o. I can't think of any others right now, and do not know all of them myself as I do not text and am two generations older than most texters. Actually, I would like to see a Textspeak Dictionary, myself. It would probably be helpful for a great many non-native English speakers as well as oldsters like me. Also, npc=non-player character, all the residents of the towns and the monsters. Perhaps we should add a non-translated abbreviation to the skill point description, based on its English name. I never realized just how many abbreviations we use.

Good Point Lady Black. I will start a list of words we abbreviate and add them to the New Player F.A.Q.
NPC
IMHO or IMO
ROLS, ROL, ELYR, etc....

[lady black]

Wow, that was quick! Thanks a lot! Put in more of the textspeak things though. I know there are more that I have seen and can't remember, and some I have never figured out.

[Pyrizzle]

Wow, that was quick! Thanks a lot! Put in more of the textspeak things though. I know there are more that I have seen and can't remember, and some I have never figured out.

I'm back!

I left Nyktos a little note about this idea and started with which ones i could remember off the t0p of my head. Thank you LadyBlack, great idea +2

[Tutar]

I believe the "too many words"...

True, there's a different answer: searching for highscore => too common words

We have all had to grope our way through the dark sections... Kazaul spawns were placed...

Sure, but staying for 10min or so in complete darkness is absolutely frustrating. IMO it shouldn't be necessary to look up the forum to get a solution. Before I looked into the forum I didn't know the stone trick since I didn't know how to drop items. It didn’t occur to me to press long on an item. Sure the Kazaul spawns will eventually help but they are too few too far away located. As soon as a Kazaul spawn is visible it's possible to "see" if one is moving. Doubling the spawns will help a lot.

...abbreviations such as lol ...

No, these can be looked up on wikipedia or else. I mean the abbreviations in the game forums. E.g. what means "RoLS 4; RoL 2; ElyR 4; ChaR 9; GoLF 4; ShaF 4 Shadow Regeneration, SP: 1:WA,Cleave,CE,Ev,SM,EB,PB; 2:HH,BS,MC,BC,CS,QL,IF,Regen,MF" in your signature?