Newbie with some questions

[Jairus]

I enjoyed Ultima 7 a lot just for the number of ways you could bend it into uncomfortable positions. Building a staircase of pebbles, making bread out of blood, pouring a kegful of beer all over a floor, and in one case in Serpent Isle, cremating town guards for money. There was a sudden plague of "Slash-'em-and-steal-their-armor-before-dragging-the-corpse-over"-itis. It was a sad plague, really...

Speaking as someone who never played Ultima, it rather sounds like the point of the games was to find imaginative solutions for the problems the game threw at you. Well, from your description anyway.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

American EST. Sorry for not being clear, I'm used to talking with people in the US.

Heh. No worries, I was just wondering if I should show up at 1am or at 10pm, is all. ;-]

[Tapewolf]

So much for remaining on-topic:

http://it-he.org/u7/u7_lateb.gif

[AmigaDragon]

It was so nice having someone else new here who wasn't posting random stuff and Gir quotes trying to play themselves off as being crazy and who actually used fairly decent spelling,

I wouldn't know a Gir quote if you beat me over the head with it.

[Ranzer]

Hmmm. Apparently my Britannian magic skills are not as elite as the Avatar's.

Anyways, I'm still not sure what a good excuse would be for this character. Mainly, it's because...

A. I haven't read a lot of DMFA, and...
B. I've been playing games instead of thinking of rational excuses. Give me a break, I'm already up to level 6!

So yeah. If anyone else thinks of a big whopper, let me know. In the meantime, Kal Por Xen, Kal Por Xen, Kal Por Xen...

[Jairus]

Hmmm. Apparently my Britannian magic skills are not as elite as the Avatar's.

Anyways, I'm still not sure what a good excuse would be for this character. Mainly, it's because...

A. I haven't read a lot of DMFA, and...
B. I've been playing games instead of thinking of rational excuses. Give me a break, I'm already up to level 6!

So yeah. If anyone else thinks of a big whopper, let me know. In the meantime, Kal Por Xen, Kal Por Xen, Kal Por Xen...

An excuse as in how it could exist in the world of your game? Well, I imagine that Cubi are capable of traveling, so it could just be a distant land that most Beings in Furrae don't know about. I could also imagine some Fae hurling a Cubi into another dimension as a joke...

[rocket_red1]

there's also ultima, the fabled third level spell from final fantasy. some still say it exists.

[Jairus]

there's also ultima, the fabled third level spell from final fantasy. some still say it exists.

Let's see... quoting from the Final Fantasy Wiki...

Ultima is a recurring Black Magic spell throughout the Final Fantasy series. Ultima is usually the most powerful spell, requiring a lot of MP to cast, targeting all enemies, bypassing magical resistance, barriers, and overpowering normal magic defenses.

It is also a recurring boss and really sweet weapon. And usually, it's one of the most powerful bosses/weapons in the game.

[Ranzer]

An excuse as in how it could exist in the world of your game?*snip*

I forgot the details AGAIN! *sigh* See, this is what happens when you get roped into helping on two tech support jobs. Brain friage (it's a word, look it up).

The reason that I was so concerned about the Being -> 'Cubi thing was that that was basically the situation at hand. And now that that's been revealed to be utterly vague... yeah. Can you see my problem yet?

EDIT: Incidentally, we're about to start if you want to watch. See you there, I hope! *waves*

DOUBLE EDIT: And it just hit me to use a PM. *headdesks for the... what? Eighty-fifth time today?*

[Jairus]

An excuse as in how it could exist in the world of your game?*snip*

I forgot the details AGAIN! *sigh* See, this is what happens when you get roped into helping on two tech support jobs. Brain friage (it's a word, look it up).

The reason that I was so concerned about the Being -> 'Cubi thing was that that was basically the situation at hand. And now that that's been revealed to be utterly vague... yeah. Can you see my problem yet?

Ah, that's a problem.

Um, here's my trick that I use for one of my character's in a similar position: don't tell how it happened. Tell that it happened, and imply what happened, but don't actually say what happened. Not knowing exactly what happened can imply a great deal, if you do it right. In my case, my character who was transformed into this... thing... is being horrifically painfully tortured, and when he breaks free he simply says that he's felt pain worse than that.

[Ranzer]

Sorry for the late reply... this'll be a quick update. *stifles a yawn*

As it turns out, problems were surprisingly nonexistent. I made sure to use a proper "FTW happened to me" description, of course. Don't leave home without one!

I'll be picking up the shifting, thought-reading, et cetera as abilities later. Can't leave home without those, either!

Thanks again for your help. I might be asking more questions as the situation demands, so don't expect me to vanish juuuuust yet. 

[Ranzer]

*limps in*
Hey, kids, here's a fun fact: wet, slick floors look exactly the same as dry floors. Don't step on them unless you're sure that they're dry.

Speaking as someone who never played Ultima, it rather sounds like the point of the games was to find imaginative solutions for the problems the game threw at you.*snip*

Actually, it's more of a matter of irony; the solutions to puzzles are usually pretty straightforward, but the games are so malleable that there's 102587 solutions to every problem. (Lost track of a monk? Find him again and poison him to make him glow green!)

Plus, for a game where you're expected to be the paragon of justice, light, good, vanilla cream filling, et cetera... there's a surprising number of ways to be an utter psychopath and still finish the game. Just look at IT-HE.org and its Ultima sections!

But anyways. An imaginative mind can definitely break things in Ultima, yes. *looks lovingly at his staircase of pebbles...*

[Tapewolf]

(Lost track of a monk? Find him again and poison him to make him glow green!)

Well, they did all have the same sprite....

One of these days I'm going to finish the Morrowind section, I swear...

[Ranzer]

One of these days I'm going to finish the Morrowind section, I swear...

Wait... but... if you're writing that section, then that means you're...

...I'M NOT WORTHY. *bows*

[Jairus]

One of these days I'm going to finish the Morrowind section, I swear...

Wait... but... if you're writing that section, then that means you're...

...I'M NOT WORTHY. *bows*

Okay, I've heard of Morrowind, but where exactly are you writing this section for? Am I in the presence of an Ultima celebrity of some kind? (I only go nuts for a few select people, so please forgive my apparent lack of enthusiasm)

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

... Tapewolf owns it-he.org. He wrote the anti-walkthroughs on there.

Well.. at least most of them, if not all.

[Jairus]

... Tapewolf owns it-he.org. He wrote the anti-walkthroughs on there.

Well.. at least most of them, if not all.

Ah, okay. That's pretty cool.

[Tapewolf]

... Tapewolf owns it-he.org. He wrote the anti-walkthroughs on there.
Well.. at least most of them, if not all.

There were a couple of guest contributions, but by and large most of it was either written by me or co-written with my brother.

One of these days I'm going to meet someone in the flesh who's read it 

*EDIT*

And in the interests of trying to keep it slightly on-topic:

http://it-he.org/morrow/mw_dmfa.jpg

[Ranzer]

Actually, you're to thank for even getting me hooked on DMFA in the first place. Namely due to your theories on the System Shock page and me wondering what the heck an incubus was, so I checked it out, and the rest is history.

Sooooo... Thank you! 

[Tapewolf]

Actually, you're to thank for even getting me hooked on DMFA in the first place. Namely due to your theories on the System Shock page and me wondering what the heck an incubus was, so I checked it out, and the rest is history.

You wouldn't be the first I've turned into a DMFA fan that way 

[Ranzer]

I return! With an actual question this time before I go to bed!

Number eleventy-six: how many tentacles do new, inexperienced 'Cubi usually have? Do they get more gradually, or do they have them all to start with?

[Jairus]

Number eleventy-six: how many tentacles do new, inexperienced 'Cubi usually have? Do they get more gradually, or do they have them all to start with?

I'm inclined to say that they have as many as they form. To be honest, I don't know if Amber was counting the first time that Dan's tentacles manifested, but I'd imagine that experienced Cubi can have as many tentacles as they need, but at the same time there has to be an upper limit or else you get Nico Robin style tentacles... and now I was just reminded of Abel's comment about how all of the student body has tentacles. Great. Um, I guess that they just form a random number of tentacles that first time. Anyone have a better answer?

[Tapewolf]

It looks like 'Cubi default to about four tentacles, two per back-wing.  I'd have to hunt for the citation, but Amber has said that the wings become harder to control the more of them there are.  IIRC, 4-6 is about the limit for instinctive control, 8 in exceptional cases.  A 'Cubi can add more tentacles by shapeshifting, but they have to control them consciously and it's not usually worth the effort.

[Jairus]

It looks like 'Cubi default to about four tentacles, two per back-wing.  I'd have to hunt for the citation, but Amber has said that the wings become harder to control the more of them there are.  IIRC, 4-6 is about the limit for instinctive control, 8 in exceptional cases.  A 'Cubi can add more tentacles by shapeshifting, but they have to control them consciously and it's not usually worth the effort.

Ah, that makes much more sense than my idea. Wait, it's not 1:07 in the morning... what am I still doing up?

[Ranzer]

Ah, I see.

I think I'm going to make an exception for the tentacles matching the wing colors in this case. See, I was half-asleep while coming up with a color scheme, and I picked red and beige for the wings, and flesh-colored tentacles brings up a wheelbarrow of Freudian subtones that can cause C'thulu to run away screaming.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and wonder what the heck I was thinking.

[Tapewolf]

For completeness, here's Amber's own description.  llearch was asking if the number of tentacles was an indication of power level:

http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,4352.msg185391.html#msg185391

[Ranzer]

Fascinating. Might get a little mangled in the transition, but I don't think that'll matter too horribly in a game where one of the enemies we've fought is a robot with knives in place of arms.

One thing that might matter is that I'll basically have to buy all the assorted funtime 'Cubi powers with EXP, and I haven't been able to come up with a reasonable handwave for that yet. Such is life.

[Jairus]

Fascinating. Might get a little mangled in the transition, but I don't think that'll matter too horribly in a game where one of the enemies we've fought is a robot with knives in place of arms.

One thing that might matter is that I'll basically have to buy all the assorted funtime 'Cubi powers with EXP, and I haven't been able to come up with a reasonable handwave for that yet. Su h is life.

Well, if he's someone who was made into a Cubi, then obviously he has to learn about his powers. And Cubi powers don't all spontaneously generate at the same time. Dan's headwings came in first, then his tentacles, then his though reading powers (though he still hasn't really learned how to use it) and currently he's learning a little bit about shapeshifting. So, EXP is just him getting use to his powers and gradually learning about more of them as time goes on.

[Ranzer]

Okay, back from a lengthy session of wrench-fu with my new copy of System Shock 2. Now if I could only get the snikking multiplayer to work...

Question #1, 2, buckle my shoe: How can a clan marking be hidden? Can you just pull on some clothes over it, would it show up through those, what?

[Jairus]

Question #1, 2, buckle my shoe: How can a clan marking be hidden? Can you just pull on some clothes over it, would it show up through those, what?

Aziz hid his clan marking underneath Cid's bracer for twenty-five some-odd years, and Abel's mark is well hidden beneath his shirt/clothing whenever he wears it. It's basically a magical tattoo, so almost anything that covers the skin will cover it. It's Jyrras' Fae bangles that can't be hidden, since we've seen them on bare skin and on top of his gloves: those thing just float over clothing.