Arachnophobia and Eight Legged Freaks

Game's still freakin' awesome, fwiw.

 

Okay, now I've explored the spider area and caves, here's my report.
I waited some time before I entered this area, because spiders belong to the stronger enemies in ToEE imo (due to the turn based battle system and the web spell). So my party is already at level 4 and well equipped.
However, the battles were fairly easy.

IIRC, there were less than 5 spiders in that area (didn't kill the queen yet).
(Logbook says: 2 Fiendish Small Monstrous Spiders, 1 Black Widow Spider, 4 Large Spiders)
Also, one or two of those spiders were alone and therefore no problem at all.

I think those 2(?) spiders might have wandered off, and that made the battles easier...

Then I entered the cave... Unfortunately, many of the enemies were alone and so the battles were easy. There was a spellcaster (Ustilgator) near some lesser phyconids, but he didn't join the battle. I think this could have been an epic battle if the spellcaster had joined the battle and some additional melee fighters would have been there... :dribble:

Now don't get me wrong, I know my party is too strong already and everything, but I'd like to give some balancing suggestions nonetheless...

There was also a friendly bombardier beetle that did not attack my party, nor could I talk to him.

Oh, and I really liked the appearance of the cave, reminded me of that IWD underdark area. I hope there'll be more to do in the cave in the final version.


What I did not understand is why I should help the spider queen and give her the eggs. I don't get anything for it, do it? And I can't do the eight-legged freaks quest if I give up the eggs...

 

Great! Getting a unique quest is reason enough for me to give her the eggs...

Glad to hear that the cave will be even larger!

I've now "taken care" of the spider queen:
I did the lizardmen's quest, then I let them go and they gave me 1 (one) spider egg. Then I cleared the entire spider area (but the queen) and caves, saved the merchant (in the cave) and gave two spider silk to the undertaker (and that book he wants btw). I returned to the spider queen and talked to her. I accepted the quest and choose the bluff option. I only had one egg and I kept it (because of the bluff option). Then I attacked the queen (manually) and no additional spiders appeared (like they do when you make her angry in the dialog).
I killed her and there was one spider egg on her body. So now I have two.

Doing this led to a CTD when I returned to the keep and entered the Bailiff's place. I tried it several times, always CTD.
Then I loaded an earlier save, and initiated combat with the queen via dialog (= I didn't give her the egg). Killed her and her minions, went back to the keep/Bailiff - no CTD.

 

I hate to be a buzz-kill and all...
But surly this is a bug?
I think the spider Queen would notice with all those eyes that you havn't actually given her anything?

 

That's strange, I was certain it had something to with manually attacking friendly creatures, because that's what caused it for me... But I'm glad you already knew the cause.

Well, I wanted to report everything and write about everything I encounter and I how I like it. I wanted to put it in related threads, so that it might also be useful to other players as well... But I realize now that it's a bit confusing.

I also consider this a (minor) bug. Of course you can't fool the spider queen that you've given her an egg when she didn't get a single one. And it's also a bug that she then has an egg when you kill her.
The problem is that someone who cooperates with the lizardmen will only get a single egg and therefore logically wouldn't be able to bluff her.

But it's a minor bug, really. Bugs like this occur all the time in RPGs, even in those that are considered mostly bug free...