Is this a bug?

[JoshRotella]

This game is several kinds of awesome all at the same time.

I'm not even sure this belongs here. It probably doesn't count as a bug since it involves one of the debug modes. I searched the forums for topics related to this, and I couldn't find anything. But still, I imagine it's not something that was intentional, so I figured someone would want to know about it.

One small thing I've run into when trying out the 'summon monster' feature of Battle Mode is trying to summon the Earth Elemental. I tried it on the streets of Shapeir, to no effect, and then on a lark I tried it in the desert. I ended up fighting a pack of Jackalmen with an empty sixth bar. Now I've killed 5 Jackalmen, and the battle won't end. Is there something I need to do?

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[Erpy]

Sorry, but I'm not looking into that sort of thing. Rocky has to be summoned on the streets, btw, although certain screens have him blocked due to some of the decorations getting in the way too much.

[DrJones]

Pressing ESC to escape doesn't work?

[JoshRotella]

Erpy, it's cool, you are a remarkably patient person, putting up with grief from all the folks with nitpicky complaints about a free game. A game which, I must reiterate, is supremely awesome, and for which you rightly deserve accolades. I bring it up because I thought someone might want to know.

DrJones - I have escaped, actually. What ends up happening is I'm pursued by a lone jackalman. I let him catch up to me, and battle does not ensue. I'm still being chased, but whenever he catches up to me, he just stands there like he's waiting for a cookie or something. Never attacks. Don't see how he could, honestly, since he's apparently my phantom jackalman with no hit points. If he ever managed to engage me in combat, I imagine he'd just fall over dead (from fear of my manly heroic prowess, no doubt). I finally cast calm on him, had him pause and threw a dagger at him. He fell over right away, with no damage being displayed on the damage meter (which I run, since it's cool). I got a few dinars off him, plus my dagger back, which is always nice, but I missed out on the other 5, which I'd had neatly lined up for maximum dinars.

Maybe he's meant to be my faithful manimal companion? I can sic him on brigands and desert scorpions when I don't feel like taking on light work.

Not to mention, not getting the Earth Elemental, which I was going to use to complete my collection of magical artifacts. I wonder if I can summon him in Raseir...

Anyway, here are some screenshots.

[Erpy]

Well, achieving effects like these is indeed cool, but if a bug can only be triggered by using debug options that break through the checks and balances built into the game, it's not really a bug in my book.

That said, the damage meter only shows damage in combat, not in the field.

But I'm glad you're having fun.

[JoshRotella]

Okay, I'm intrigued to hear about the checks and balances you mentioned. Is there a thread where some of these are outlined? I think I ran into another one: As we've already established, I'm a fan of the Summon Monster feature. I was in Raseir, and I wanted to give the Saurus Combat a try. So, I summoned a brigand figuring, well, they're fairly easy, I thought, so that's a good warm up activity. So, I went through about 5 of those, and decided to move up to the next one, the desert scorpion. Right away, something was up. My saurus disappeared out from underneath me, and once I finished the fight, the game crashed. Is this the sort of thing you're talking about? Do you not run into scorpions outside Raseir ordinarily, for that reason?

[DrJones]

If I am right, each single combat had to be programmed individually.Allowing the saurus for all types of monster would have doubled the work for a very small gain (as you rarely travel outside of Raseir), so it's obvious that Erpy only implemented the Brigand battle. That's why if you summon a scorpion your mount disappears!

So, I think it's expected behavior.

[Erpy]

Actually, brigands, terrorsauri and ghouls can be battled on saurusback. Any other monster simply won't appear in the Raseir area if you're riding your red saurus. (if you dismount him and walk off, you'll meet them again) That's an example of the checks built into the game. (the reason the scorpion and jack pack were excluded was the fact the scorpion was displayed fairly low to the ground, so none of the saurus' kicks and bites appeared to hit him and with the jack pack, it was just too darn messy with the saurus on the sidelines AND the jacks bouncing around everywhere)

And yeah, each battle was scripted individually.

Another example of a check would probably be returning to Shapeir after visiting Raseir. The game won't let you pass the overlook dune into the saurus lot. Shapeir wasn't designed to run on schedules after day 16.