Locked out of the Shadow Ruins after leaving

[Natalie_E_G_H]

I was having problems in the Shadow Ruins and decided to go work on other areas and then come back. I could not remember where Staroxia had said to go for the entrance to the Vail of Ruin. I went to see her again. She again gave me the quest to go to the island in the Sea of Woe.

After getting the relic from the Druids, I went to the Tomb of Souls. Finally I went back to the Shadow Ruins quest. The stone is still on the pedestal at the entrance to the Shadow Ruins. I do not have any saves from before I left the SR and talked to Staroxia again. I cannot enter SR because the smoking door is not smoking anymore (I think it requires I get the stone, which I have already gotten).

Is there anyway to fix the problem or do I simply have to start all over again?

[swcarter]

You might want to do a search on "shadow ruins," since this topic has come up before. I think your only hope is if the save game editor can change your position to inside the ruins.

SWC

[George_K]

Natalie E G H,

I sent you a private message with an address where you can send your save to me.

Also tell me what version your game is; 1.4 or 1.5

[file read error]

A possible solution would be to just skip the shadow ruins for this game (But no matter what you do, use all ten save slots for your next character, the game has ten save slots for a reason!). How this works is simple: At certain places you can climb the mountains and get to places you aren't supposed to. This way you can also get past the "council of stones" (at the south of the forbidden lands) which is where you would normally go after getting all the relics except the fifth one. Since you already have Vartugg's eye and the shield of retribution the only thing left for you to do would be the shadow ruins which are impossible to re-enter now (unless George_K finds a way to get you in somehow), you can climb past the stones right now and prepare to finish the last quest in the game (it can be completed although you don't have it yet).

Places where the mountains can be climbed:
- south of the Devil's Swamp, go up the mountains to the east
- at the south side of the Venturean Forest
- or look near the Council of Stones (a bit west of it), there's a place that is REALLY easy to climb (you might need to look for it a little, it's hard to describe the exact location, but it's west of the stone heads). The other two can be a bit tricky.
Climbing up enables you to go anywhere you want, even vale of ruin and certain other areas which are normally unaccessible.

[George_K]

No, you cannot skip the Shadow Ruins unless you cheat, because one of the relics is in there

[Iceman1963]

George is right. You have to complete the shadow ruins before the game will allow you to go onto the final battle. because all 5 relics eventually have to be placed in the chamber at Talendor to activate the sequence for the final battle.

[file read error]

Are you sure? I activated the end sequence just by placing the ring, and kept all the other relics. You just have to guess which pedestal is the one for the ring, and voila. (unless that does not work any more in 1.5, but in 1.4 it works)

[George_K]

Um.. following normal gameplay, that is. Heck, I once edited my location to go directly to where the daughter was. And as if that was not enough, I even went directly to the demon realm without placing any relics and the game ends normally. But hey, why buy a game if one does not play from start to finish with normal gameplay?