Finished Tribunal: Impressions, warnings and spoilers

[cjdevito]

Well, that was fun

I won't give away any of the plot, I'll just say there really is a genuine storyline in here. It's one that dovetails nicely with the main game as well.

A lot of folks over on different boards have been complaining about being disappointed in Tribunal. Honestly, I don't see why... there's a -lot- of gameplay, some nice enhancements, and a bucket load of new items and quests.

It's tough. I mean it's genuinely tough. I didn't cheese my way through it (none of UU's bunbun tactics, for example) but nearly -everything- in Tribunal was work for me to kill with a level 36 character. Some of the fights are just insane.... which brings me to my warning..... It's a spoiler, but a small one, not connected to the main quest.....
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Whatever you would normally do, even if you roleplay a goodie-goodie, KILL GAENOR AS SOON AS YOU MEET HIM. Sure, it's despicable, but you still must KILL GAENOR AS SOON AS YOU MEET HIM. Yes, you'll get fined, but that's not as important as you simply must KILL GAENOR AS SOON AS YOU MEET HIM.

In case I haven't made my point clearly so far: KILL GAENOR AS SOON AS YOU MEET HIM.

Gaenor is a Bosmer in front of the temple of Mournhold. When you talk to him, he keeps hitting you up for cash -- in large amounts. Eventually, wether you give it to him or not, he gets insulted and ends the conversation. Sometime later -- it's on a random timer -- when you wander into the temple again, Gaenor is waiting for you. He's taken the time to get to level 50, assemble decent gear, all for the express purpose of killing you for mocking him.

"You picked on the wrong Bosmer this time!" he screams as he attacks.

Thing is, he has special abilities he uses to:
1- Have 400 luck
2- Have 500 Block skill
3- Constant effect fortify health, so he's essentially regenerating.
4- 90% reflect and 90% protection from magic and all elements.

In other words, it's almost impossible for you to even scratch him. Only way I managed to take him down was to keep summoning critters and keep attacking him -- never doing any damage -- until I finally broke his ebony shield. Once I broke his shield, it -still- took upwards of five minutes to kill him. Even with a greater bonewalker, a storm atronach, a clannfear, a dremora, a daedroth and a golden saint whacking on him along with me, it still took that long.

Take my advice and save yourself the headache -- just murder the punk as soon as he asks you for money

[Kameleon]

Mein gott, that was fast work. I don't even have Tribunal yet...it only came out yesterday (hang on it's almost three in the morning - make that Friday). Glad you enjoyed it, and I'll take your advice. You mean you didn't give him 1 million just to see what happened?

[rnrules]

Okay that settles it, I'm buying morrowind for pc and tribunal, I need a good fight! One that is actually challanging! Ha ha ha ha ha

[Kameleon]

Originally posted by rnrules
Okay that settles it, I'm buying morrowind for pc and tribunal, I need a good fight! One that is actually challanging! Ha ha ha ha ha

Yeah, I'm thinking plenty of cheese ought to sort him out. The first time, though, I'll play it safe

[cjdevito]

it only came out yesterday

I'm in the US. We've had it for a while already

[Kameleon]

Originally posted by cjdevito
it only came out yesterday

I'm in the US. We've had it for a while already

Heh - I meant to put in a "here" there somewhere. Wow, great sentence

[cjdevito]

Okay that settles it, I'm buying morrowind for pc and tribunal,

Three good reasons for buying Morrowind/Tribunal for the PC:
http://advancedaquarist.com/cjdevitotemp/morrigan.jpg

1 - High Ordinator armor
2 - Flaming swords
3 - Rhedd's Heads mods

[SSRat]

I just got Tribunal over the Thanksgiving weekend and completed it in about two days (and i wasn't playing every waking hour) just many of them.

I agree that it's well done and the new goodies are decent. I only expected them to be more powerful. All the new armor types are weaker than Daedric so my character has no new equipment (except for my showroom).

As far as Gaenor goes, yes he's tough. I never figured out how you determine creature and NPC stats though. I took him out w/o too much difficulty. Just needed some health potions. I would rank him the third toughest fight. (Note: I'm level 50+ at this point.)

Overall, it's difinitely worth the money. Some fun sidequests are included as well. IMHO the best modification is the fact that you can't levitate in Mournhold so no easy Ordinator killing. That small change makes every fight more interesting.

[cjdevito]

I just got Tribunal over the Thanksgiving weekend and completed it in about two days

Hmm. Did you do all the sidequests? Matchmaker? Robot Wars? Crimson Plague? Champion of Clutter? Crazy Old Woman? There are a lot of little miscellaneous quests tucked away in mournhold.

All the new armor types are weaker than Daedric so my character has no new equipment (except for my showroom).

I confess, I cheated slightly. I used the construction kit to bump high ordinator armor from a 70 AR to an 80 AR, same as daedric. It's really cool armor, and I really wanted to wear it, so I don't feel too bad about it. Especially since the difference is only 10 AR.

I never figured out how you determine creature and NPC stats though.

Construction kit.

[SSRat]

I'm gonna assume that the 80 AR is pure armor and when i see 200+ in game it's b/c of my armor skill, agility etc. Otherwise I'm confused.

I did most of the sidequests, I think there are four more to do. There are quite a few, which is another good side to the expansion. They should have added some additional quests once you complete the main story which require travel back and forth between the three "worlds".

I still have plenty of unfinished business with the original game too. So I'm far from done. One of the great things about the game is the open endedness. I like being able to follow the main story when you want, but still being able to go back and do sidequests after. Of course a second expansion would be nice so I could use the extra goodies i'm going to find.

[cjdevito]

I'm gonna assume that the 80 AR is pure armor and when i see 200+ in game it's b/c of my armor skill, agility etc.

Pure armor The way the game actually calculates it, if you have 100 in the relevent armor skill and are carrying less then 50% of your weight capacity, the armor value is actually 3.3 x AR value (IE, 100 light armor and not burdened + glass cuirass (50 AR) = 166 armor value).

[SSRat]

W/ constant enchantments i can carry around 1200 but on average i'm walking around with about 800.

So, if w/ the high ordinator armor, i'm under 50%, there's a chance my AR could be higher than w/ Daedric.

[Kameleon]

Heh, I didn't know that about the weight thing...what's the penalty for having over 50% of your capacity?

[SSRat]

Did anyone else notice the cool helm and pauldrons?

Why bother creating the model but not the items? I was looking forward to adding that helm to my collection, or maybe even wearing it (it looked Daedric).

Oh well.

Another question: Did anyone kill Helseth?

I think I'm going to give it a try, see what his soul i worth.

[cjdevito]

@Kam: I dunno how the percentages scale, but the closer you come to 100% of your max carrying weight, the more of a penalty you see.

SSRat: Yah, noticed the items -- not surprised they don't exist to be looted, though. Same thing with Vivec's loincloth and pauldrons.

I haven't killed Helseth, mostly because I know what his loot is. A Ring so overpowered it makes the original Robe of St Roris look weak. Once you have that ring any challenge at all to the game is over with.