i like these games.
anyway, i've started poking around the inner workings of the game for no reason. here are some stray observations:
there are a couple items and skills in the game that don't work as advertised in ways that may not be readily apparent. probably most significant is that sneak attack lv1 does nothing. level 2 does add 2d6 damage, but that's still half the damage bonus promised by the feat descriptions. i would advise not to bother with those feats, and definitely don't take only the first level. similarly, there are a bunch of accessories that say they boost the effectiveness of skills but don't have any mechanism for doing so, at least not that i can find. the muffler and assassin's gauntlets are the prime offenders here. this stuff is probably unintentional, but part of me thinks it's meant to evoke the feeling of the brutal and frequently unfair ad&d modules and game books that the aisha games are inspired by.
the mechanics of seducing guys are pretty opaque from the outside, and the effects of seductions feats are a lot different from magician of the olecta desert. trying to seduce a guard triggers a (hidden) 3d6 roll against a target number determined by the alert level. on low alert, it's 5 -- more or less certain. on medium alert, it's 15 -- much tougher. on high alert, there's no roll. seduction fails automatically. level 1 seduction grants a +4 bonus on the roll, and on level 2 the roll automatically succeeds, which doesn't help you on high alert, as you're not even allowed to try. having the protection feat, on the other hand, lowers the difficulty of the roll by one step. low alert's target stays 5, but medium alert is 5 instead of 15, and high alert is 15 instead of impossible.
the acid fang is the only weapon in the game that doesn't deal physical damage (its damage type is 潮水, lit. seawater), which makes it much more effective than its stat block might suggest to you. undead take only 70% damage from physical attacks--i.e. every other weapon--but full damage from the acid fang. even the mind flayer brain eater has no special resistance against it. it might have a better damage output against him than the blood sword, though without the blood sword's massive magic and psionic resistance bonuses you probably wouldn't last long enough for that to matter.
edit:
and while i'm at it, here's how to beat the brain eater. you'll need:
2 feats from the thief category--i'd definitely take tool use, the other doesn't really matter. you just need 2 to unlock the 直感回避 (which i'll be calling uncanny dodge) skill.
the combat training feat from the assassin category. you can take the sneak attack feats, but you don't need them.
4 luck points, ideally. 3 is still doable, 2 might get a little tight.
equipment: blood sword, diamond scarab, light thief clothes, diamond scarab, pirate king's shield, and strength bracelet. you can mix things up quite a bit here, but that set up should be fine.
level 12 or 13
everything else optional. it's great to have both of the 60 HP healing potions, but often times you won't even need them.
activate stealth and uncanny dodge before you enter the battle. yeah, you can activate it before instead of spending your first turn on it. use knife throw to get rid of the drow and the spider. they're very squishy, it should take just one or two uses. by now you'll probably have noticed that the brain eater is either missing you or doing very little damage. uncanny dodge gives you 60% magic evade and a whole bunch of resistances. add in the diamond scarab's regen effect and with a little lucky you'll never even need to drink a potion. reactivate uncanny dodge whenever it wears off and spam backstab until he dies.
the only other thing is that at about half health he'll signal that he's about to use a super attack. if you use acrobatics it will deal less damage, but it's survivable even if you don't. just make sure you're near full health if you decide to tank it.
