sanityisfortheweak

Well people, first of all hi! A fine day it is for all planewalkers indeed So you must be asking yourself wtf is this thread about. What the hell is a Power Word: Ravel?! This dude is crazy! There is no spell in torment under that name!

Well let me tell you - it's not a spell. But almost as it was. And it's cool too. I surfed through the forums and cause I didn't find any thread concerning this game exploit (and some threads are as much as 5 yrs old and none of them mentions this) I decided to post it myself. Personally.

I didn't find this sort of thread on any other well-informed PST forum I know (like sorcerers place and planet baldurs gate) as well, but then again I'm not much of forumite person either. Maybe there is a forum with this kind of thread, and if so I do sincerely apologize to thee. Really, Nameless Poster, I and Nameless One apologize to you

But enough of this useless banter! Lets get down to business and tell you what's this all about: In Ravels Maze there is a glitch that you can exploit and utilize to gain tremendous amounts of experience. And I didn't use any trainer/mod/patch/crack/editor/whatever to do it, because I suck with those things. Once I tried to import portraits into Arcanum for 2 WEEKS straight and it ended as a complete failure. All I got were some blue stripes instead of pictures. And they didn't want to work either, so I had to format my computer in its entirety. I couldn't even play my blue-stripes-pajama-face gnome that I wanted to try out for such a long time... Enough whining.

Anyway you may ask how did you found out about this ? Certainly not by yourself. And how does it work?

Well you wouldn't believe me even if I would tell you. Instead I'm gonna show how it's done - sideshow style! With comments!

So let's get started, shall we.

~*~*~*~*~

STEP 1:

Here we can see our brave Nameless Hero in his most natural form. He's not wearing nothing except his good ol' squishy eye. This is the character I'm currently playing. I striped him of all of his worldly possessions except for those that go into the "paper-doll" so you can see his stats when his not all beefed up with rings and tattoos and whatever else arcane marvel I'm possessing at the moment. Also he has some jink and his friends and babes are around. Can't go anywhere without them can we?

Here's the inventory screen:

And here's the stats screen:

Isn't he cute?

And now lets see what happens when we take our toys to the playground to meet the other children of the planes and...errr, bash their heads open for XP and loot. Err, yeah. Right. That's what we do. Must keep that healthy adventurer publicity skyhigh, right? So:

Here's NO wearing his stuff:

And the adjusted souped up monster that is the final product of all that powa':

Now listen carefully! It's very important for you to realize and comprehend this information that I will so gladly pass you by - the current amount of XP our Hero has:

You've got that? Got it? Hmmm...let's better not gamble with this one; here, I'll even give you a big closeup so you can sniff those pixels better and see that they are authentic. You doubting Tomasses



I know, I know, it's ugly and not properly resized but what can you do. The chart says clearly that our brave amnesiac Hero needs "only" 76429 more XP to advance in his class. Never understood why d&d was putting such a ludicrous xp level caps and than handing you on a platter 200000 xp like it was nothing more than a reward for clearing some basement full of rats. In any other rpg I would become the Twin God of Kreacia Magna&Ultima Omniunlimiteda if I was ever to get 200k xp like *this*. ST.U.P.I.D. but can't do nothing about it Next slide please!

STEP 2:

Now that's all set and that we've got the looks, lets bash some of those heads. First let see where our hero is at the moment:

OMG we're visiting Ravel today! How nice of us to stop by. This is so great! Because Ravel is one of those super powerful NPCs, and super powerful NPCs mean what? - super powerful rewards. And that *spells* sweeeetness. Niiice. So let us first introduce ourselves to this young lady, maybe we can get her phone number right away or a date with all that CH/WS/IN we're rocking around:

So we've left our friends to their...their...ummm...chores, banter or whatever they are doing when NO is not around. So far so good. Next thing is to start talking the talk or our friends are gonna start shouting at us for being a total woose. So:

"Hello there Ravel. Nice shoes. *not a bad start thinks our immortal* So what you doing later? Wanna hang out by that portal or go to that secret room of yours?*blink-blink*"

Just hearing the voice of this rag-tag slimy half-decomposed night hag-midwife-crone crapface witch gave our hero 90K experience points and a wish that of all his bodily parts maybe eyes were the ones that should never regenerate again. EVA'! Pluck them out while you still can fool. But our hero will endure this torment, possibly one of the greatest he ever faced in his endless reincarnation agony. Lets raise the stakes and suck up a bit, choosing the second option. Everything for the XP.

After a bit of fighting the crabby lady decides that her chances of seeing another human in the next 3000 yrs while being mazed are slim at best ,and wastes no time hurrying to check out our Heros...gear...urrghh Yay for sucking up. Bravo NO. Bra-vo.

Few seconds later and we discover the true dark side of our Hero; although he may be suffering from apparent necrophilia - I mean, after awakening every other day in the morgue surrounded by corpses and walking corpses and skeletons and - guess what - more corpses, who wouldn't succumb to the...khm..."charms " of the dead (he's dying all the time. All the time. More with the dead than with the living, eh eh? And Dusties are as much alive as a zombie with an axe through his forehead - they're telling you 24/7 that you should be D.E.A.D. I mean seriously dude. The field trip to the Dead Nations was just a mere *coincidence* right? Riiiight, sure it was...*cough* necrolover *cough*) - in fact isn't that much dark at all. At least his not discriminative. But I guess that's the price you have to pay for wearing magical +2 Charisma/Chromatic Orb shooting/fire resistance giving glassy eyes of Kill'meifi Canre Member.
Because I mean look at her. LOOK AT HER (can't seem to stress that enough):

Arrrrgghhh. Man, that's just sick. SICK dude SICK! Can't you hold on just for a second? A second?! You're immortal for crying out loud, you can wait forever! Christ.
...
Damn Sensates.
...
Pffff....ok lets get on after the *touching* part, no more that. Seriously.
After a few journal updates and tons of great text (wont quote here; go PLAY THE GAME better. Do it. Do it NOW) in which Ravel tests not just your manhood but all human virtues - from friendship and loyalty to love and moral - you get to the most kick-ass question in all of ©rpg history:

That's a shitload of answers, ain't it? From obvious reasons, influenced by our Hero's...preferences, we choose REGRET. Trust me you don't wanna dwell on it any further After that we get some more journal updates, and learn that we're "casting shadows" the very ones that wish to kill us. Some more talk about our mortality and we learn that Ravel no longer knows where it is but that (of course) she knows someone who knows someone:

Nice sum of xp after that we learn a bit about Ravel and she goes again wild, shapechanging into Fall-from-Grace, but our Hero knows better know and allows her only one kiss butt kissing all the way...:

After that we learn about Ravel, her maze and other shapes that Ravel had throughout the game - Mebbeth (Ragpickers square midwife/mage), Ei-Vene (Morturay tiefling) and Marta (Buried Village midwife/body scavenger) getting successively:

90k xp =))

+3 MaxHP

Intestines Phylactery (+( Base HP, +2 AC, Invokes "Heal")

Christmas comes early for immortalled ones indeed. As a mage we have an exclusive option to learn more about the art and earn a +90k xp if we're polite. And of course we are:

+ some black barbed seed (Invokes "Black-barbed Curse) and a black barbed charm (Invokes "Black-barbed Shield"):

Sweet are the ways of the arcane...even for the Asslicking Ones. After that we learn about the reasons why Ravel was imprisoned in the first place and if we connect that with our mortality we get yet another

load of experience points (+90.000xp)...

When we draw the end line we can calculate that our dear NO has earned exactly 540.000 worth XP (sending us to level 13) and some items/stat upgrades. But that is nothing compared with what's yet to come!

]STEP 3:

And now for the grand finalle Everything before this was just "planescape banter and advertising" considering the powerplay. This is the real deal. Up till now Ravel was really generous but now we're gonna make her be as generous as she never was before in her flee ridden existence!

After you end all other talk with her you come to ask yourself how to leave this place. She explais how and offers to give you a boon for all that flattering (that's why we were so good to the old crone). You instantly get +1 Wisdom Permanently and +120.000 XP!!!

When you try to exit the conversation she politely says that she cannot let you leave her once more and that she will even kill you to assure that you stay in her maze and love her forever. All that XP and wisdom seems to have finally payed of and you decide that the only way for you two to part ways is that wan gets hacked and put ina garbage sac and the other one carrying the said sack.Battle ensues...

...BUT NOT THIS TIME!!! As soon as you press the dialog option #2 hit space in the same fraction of the second (you can press them at the same time)...and the Ravel doesn't turn hostile!

Why does exactly this happen I do not know, but I suspect that it is because of the cut-scene that will roll before the combat (when you both simultaneously summon Trigits). What this all means is THIS:

You can enter the dialog mode again! Just click on the Ravel while paused and, with no fear, resume the game (by pressing the space again) - the dialog will initiate between the two once again!

Furthermore, if you again try to end the dialog with her,

you can get to the boon part again and

get the same reward (+1 Wisdom, +120.000XP!!!) !!!

Talking about some free XP, eh?

As long as you're able to press space immediately after you end your conversation with Ravel you fall into the same loop over and over and over and over...free of charge. This circle will end only when you get bored from lightning fast pressing the space button and super easy leveling up.

The quickest way (the one I'm currently using) to go through the loop is to press, after you've finished talking about everything else with Ravel, dialog options in the following order:

2 - 6 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 1 (*reward*) - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 1 (*space -> click Ravel to initiate dialog -> press space again [resume])
=> repeat ad infinitum

~*~*~*~*~

Now I'll post my character how he looked after doing the "Ravel loop" several times (I would do it some more, but the game was faster then me the last time I did it):

Here's the Nameless before leveling up:

Please notice the XP bars!!!

Here's one ugly close up of 'em:

Man that's a LOT of XP Suck on this Vhailor! Hahahaha!

Now for the levelup process...

...the well earned point allocation bliss and their effects on the NO...

...and the final Nameless character sheet when all is done:

Phew! That was a lot of work to earn all that XP...er, no wait. It wasn't. It was damn easy and it is not cheating! And now...I think the Nameless Ones name spells trouble. BIG trouble (can you say "quadripule chain lightning storm/blade storm/triple mechanus/power word blind/double power word kill-before-I-entered-Curst? ):

*hurray for Torment*

After that you can kill Ravel for 32.000 XP, fiends eye, her fingernail (+2 dagger, artifact) and the "blacksphere" spell scroll. The only reason I didn't show you the end battle is because Torment is in conflict with my graphics card and the ga,e instantly crashes when someone cast "force missiles" or "blacksphere" in the following battle with Ravel (which is a piece of cake after this).



Hope that this helps you all fellow planewalkers on your Tormented journey throughout the planes and happy "ravel looping"!

-Yours truly, sanityisfortheweak



p.s.- here is my first (earliest attempt) of "Ravel looping":

and one that I did later this evening:

I challenge you to do better!

Hi people! I encountered a "banter bag" and need some of your professional Torment help: when I pass from one part of Sigil to another it often happens that when the party NPCs are talking with each other the game freezes but only after I click on the "click for more" button. Before  that everything is ok (the audio is normal and the lines too), but the moment I click on that big blue button I have to restart the computer. By some strange twist of fate this only doesn't happen when Fall-from-Grace asks Annah "would she mind to do something with her hair"   Help?