Two questions about Kerghan

Discussion in 'Arcanum Hints & Tips' started by Muro, Jan 6, 2008.

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  1. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    (1) I've read here and there that Kerghan summons some zombies or something during the final fight. It never happened to me though. What gives?
    (2) In my actual game, when I join Kerghan there is a message that he is giving me the void ring, however I recieve nothing. That never happened to me before, I always did recieve it when that dialog option was triggered. What may be the reason?
     
  2. Dirtman

    Dirtman New Member

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    1) Never heard of it or saw it.
    2) Can't help you with that. It's been a while since I've actually visited Kerghan. Lately, every time I play as soon as my character becomes strong I give up playing since it really isn't much fun anymore. In the last 3 or 4 times I've played I haven't even reached Caladon. :D
     
  3. Spiffy

    Spiffy Member

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    1. It always happened with me, so I dunno why it doesn't happen with you :/

    2. Sorry, can't help you with that :(
     
  4. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    The end of the game must be one of the buggier sequences in all of Arcanum. A friend of mine completed the game for the very first time just a few days ago; even though he changed his mind about joining Kerghan in destroying the world and fought him, Torian Kel didn't fight him and the end slide was as if though he'd joined Kerghan anyway.

    He DID summon a couple of undead though, I think he summons Lord's Slaves.
     
  5. Dirtman

    Dirtman New Member

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    My Kerghan only transformed into that moronic dragon thing, and fought with me and my party. Only melee, as I seem to recall. No spells of any kind. He's one of the weaker enemies in the game, I don't recall him ever killing me.
     
  6. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    He's probably got more hitpoints than any other monster, except perhaps
    the Old Blind Master
    , but you're right, his attacks don't amount to much.

    Though I'm fairly positive I saw him use Fireflash when my friend beat him a few days ago. :eek:
     
  7. who_is_daniel

    who_is_daniel New Member

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    Yeah, the end boss really needs to be toughened up a lot. I really like a tough end battle. I don’t consider playing a crippled idiot butter-knife wielding player-character fun in order to have a "challenged" :roll: I would personally like it if the End guy had double the hit points (maybe tripled) and cast spells and summoned a lot more monsters, making the battle truly epic. :D
     
  8. jfkoski

    jfkoski New Member

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    I was looking at Kerghan's dialog and script last week and I found the problem just before you asked. When you ask him questions after you join but before he gives you the ring, it returns you to a line number after he's given you the ring. I don't have the corrections with me.

    I was thinking along the same lines for awhile. When he does summon undead, they are as likely to attack him. I loaded a game after I'd installed CarArcanum and Kerghan has Death Knights at his side. It's possible he works like your followers: cast nothing on small enemies but use magic against tough ones. I've brought lots of followers, and he does cast spells then.

    If you're persuasive/charasmatic Bane says that when he faced Kerghan, Kerghan killed him and brought him back. I think you get a dialog option that says something like "yeah, me too." This means his encounter with you before the Wheel Clan may have represented him killing you and your followers and bringing you back to life. So, the best way to upgrade Kerghan would be to give him the ability to kill you and your followers outright, unless one of the following applies to you (or a follower):
    1 - you are nearly 100% tech,
    2 - you have 20 WP,
    3 - you are under the dwoemer shield, (spell, scroll, or item)
    4 - your magic resistance is nearly 100%.

    That would mean that you'd have to get one of these before you went to the void. And then all this talk about how powerful he is would really mean something.
     
  9. who_is_daniel

    who_is_daniel New Member

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  10. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    If Kerghan really kills you outside the Wheel Clan, that's really something they could have gone further with. After all, the character would have had a glimpse of the suffering Kerghan says the souls of the dead have to endure.

    Would have made a nice cutscene if anything.
     
  11. who_is_daniel

    who_is_daniel New Member

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    I thought you were just knocked senceless or somthing outside the wheel clan.
     
  12. Dirtman

    Dirtman New Member

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    Yeah, I thought that too. Besides, would they really use the fire effect to show us how a necromancer kills. I think not! :D
     
  13. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    But he didn't skip the ring giving dialog option. By trying multiple tests I found, that the reason why Kerghan didn't give me the ring was the fact I killed Arronax. When I don't kill him, he gives it, while when I do so, he doesn't give it, even when the dialog says he does. I know stupid does it sound, but thet really was the cause. :/
    He does cast two spells for sure. Both are unique only for him visually, however the effect isn't that special. One seems to be a fullpowered variation on Unseen Force, while the other one is propably a boosted form of the Harm spell.

    I have no idea how he could cast Fireflash, since I did look into his statistics (by using Mind Control for example) and he doesn't know any of the normal 80 spells.

    One of the most funny endgame bugs for me was the killed Bates ending, mentioning Appleby taking over the steam engine business. It was quite interresting when you consider the fact I killed Appleby.

    I know, that the boss is made in a way that non-combatants are albe to kill him, but if someone sucks at combat he usually has at least a few good followers at that. I personally like to rationalise Kerghan's weakness. He said he was propably the most powerful human mage even, and since he did became something I would call Death Incarnate, he should be OUTSTANDINGLY powerful. Maybe the bridge-to-Arcanum device is so stronly technological, that Kerghan, a being so absolutely magical, is is suffering extreme weakness by it's very existance in his palace. Or perhaps he tried to go through the gate a little too soon, nearly died because of it and now is recovering from it. Or maybe... There has to be some explanation! Kerghan is IMHO too cool due to his background and outlook that he should't be that weak. He can see a soul in a living being but he can't even properly use his magic in offense. Maybe he just is a little out of shape after not fightning for 2000 years and neads some time to warm up?
     
  14. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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    That's the best explaination I've heard yet!
     
  15. Dirtman

    Dirtman New Member

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    I was so disappointed the first time I arrived at Kerghan's place and he transformed into that pathetic dragon thing.

    I wanted to fight a strong wizard and his undead minions, not some whiny non-magical dragon.
     
  16. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    You expected Puff?
     
  17. Dirtman

    Dirtman New Member

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    I expected a mighty necromancer, whose reputation is only the shadow of his true power. :/

    But instead, I got Puff, just he's not that magical. :D Only full of hit points.
     
  18. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Well thank you. I think it may have sense. Kraka-Tur, Gorgoth and the Bane are god at combat because they live in the wilderness ad propably fight those arrayas and lizards all the time to survive, while I believe Kerghan sits on his throne all the time and isn't afraid of any intruders due to the guards. As he says, he is a wonderer in the lands of the dead, and his "journeys" are propably non-physical, only his soul travels. When his body lies on that trone for 2000 years, it must be like one huge bedsore. He propably is outstandingly powerful,. but even hi realised, that being so long "outside" his bodymakes him a little difficult to use it properly without some time to get used to it again.

    One thing, that I don't understand is Kerghan turning into a big metal-like dragon thingy. He studies the arts of necromancy. It would be logical if he could turn into a non material being or something like that, but into something that seems to be a big metal machine?? It realy doesn't make any sence to me.

    I never even bothered about it, but the Vendigroth Device/Kryggird's Falchion animation is a little without sense. We use them to finish Kerghan when he is in his human form in a regenerative shell (the device works only for regenerative shells, it's useless in other cases), but the animations show that Kerghan is in his dragon form, without a regenerative shell.
     
  19. jfkoski

    jfkoski New Member

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    re: Kerghan

    Believe what you will. Here's Kerghan's problem dialog:
    There are at least two lines that jump you to line 502, which is where he says "Who do you want to know about?" or some such. Your options to ask about the banished jumps you to lines 509, 515, and 521 for Bane, Gorgoth, and Krakatur. After each of these 4, you get the option "just tell me what to do," as idiot and normal. But these are broken. The goto should jump you to the ring creation script {-68} which sends you back to the dialog "You've used them already... [he gives you a ring]" with the ring.
    Scripts for NPCs can bypass normal operation with lines like "cast spell 30 with 0 fatigue" or some such.
    I don't find ending bugs "funny" after all the hours it takes to get to the end with multiple characters. I want to see them all!!! Please see my thread on ending fixes #3. Without fixing it, the only way to get the "Bates & Appleby dead: Tarant-in-Chaos" ending is to not help Donn Throgg, and then to have Bates put the hit on Appleby:
    YOU: "Appleby hired me to steal your diary."
    BATES: "I'll take care of him."
    Appleby is killed (immediately?). Then you can kill Bates.
     
  20. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Re: re: Kerghan

    Now i see, that we both are right in this sitution, jfkoski. You explained it from the inside, while I done it from the outside. It's true, that the problem appears when we jump from yelling about the other inhabitants of the Void to his mission for us. But the fact is, that when we kill Arronax, the answer after Kerghan telling that there are other powerful beings in the Void is like "No, I don't know, can you tell me about them?" and then he tells, while when we don't kill Arronax, the answer changes into "Yes, I did hear legends about them", and then Kerghan just says, that their stories aren't important, only the fact that they may be a danger is, so the corrupting dialog line is being bypassed. Now I see the cause, but I don't know why killing Arronax causes, that we forget about the inhabitants of the Void. :p
    So that's how magical healing by town doctors like Gaylin work?
    But speaking about Kerghan, has anyone cheked what spells has he possibly scripted? That would pretty much make it clear.

    Neither do I, but hey, but when I only can choose between laughing and crying, I choose the first. Well, maybe firstly I get all mad about it, but I discovered those problems long ago and kinda got used to it. The greatest pain for me was the lack of god's ending and an additional ending of doing Kerghan's plan by myself, without Kerghan, but all I got was hearing, that after I killed Kerghan, I still did join him. Yeah.
     
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