Watcher's Keep Final Seal: possible summoning bug?

FredN

The third group of enemies encountered when opening the seals is far nastier than the first two combined. Now, my guys can summon some powerful support themselves; two fallen Devas and one Dark Planetar. Except that when I tried, the game wouldn't let me do so! I have run this scenario several times to check the parameters of this situation. Yes there is always a limit of 5 creatures per summoning; well, at least until some of them get killed off. But in this case, It doesn't matter whether I have done prior summonings, or if I try to summon these beings before any others, I always get the message that I cannot perform any more summonings. This is true even before I turn the seal, when no enemies are present.

Experimenting further, I had no trouble summoning extra planar beings upstairs, on the Machine level. I also had no trouble summoning anything else near the seals, whether or not enemy forces were present. Skeletal warriors, phase spiders, genies, hakeshaars etc. etc. all were summoned without problem. This was the case for both the main seal room and the spirit altar alcove. Now, it initially seemed to me that the game designers just didn't want these critters to participate in the seal battles. However, for sake of completeness, I went to the Globe machine area. To my surprise, the summonings worked there, despite the fact that technically this room is on the same level as the rest of the seals area.

This makes me wonder if there is some sort of bug present. If they didn't want such beings in the final battle, why not send a message to the effect that some sort of force prevents such a summoning, rather than saying that I couldn't summon any more creatures. The use of the word "more" implies that prior summonings were made, but that was not the case here. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

FredN

As an addendum, I decided to leave the final seal alone for a while, and went on to the Temple. When things got dicey there, we summoned up a Planetar who proceeded to kick undead butt. So, extraplanar summoning does work in actual combat elsewhere, just not at this specific location. I am currently heading to the Hills and the Fire Giant bastion. I have the serpent staff and want to get the remaining item needed to create Ravager, the ultimate halberd. (My half Orc berserker is fully specialized in halberds and 2 handed weapons). This should be a big help in dealing with those pesky Guardians.

skorch

Only one CELESTIAL can be summoned at a time.

FredN

Interesting; OK I wasn't aware of this. I'll have to try summoning just one and see if that works. Thanks for that input.

FredN

No, sorry to say, that was not the issue. Even with no other summoning of any sort being present, summoning a single Celestial being does not work in that particular room. Your idea was a good one, but there is some other factor at work here. As I said, even the globe machine room lets me summon a Celestial.

skorch

Nothing in the area file/script prevents summoning. Do you have any mods installed?

FredN

No, no mods. Virgin game, downloaded a few years ago. Since I can summon Celestials in the Globe Machine room, when I get back to the final seal mission (I am currently besieging Yaga-Shura's fortress; I really, really want the Ravager +6) I will summon a Deva from the globe room and see if I can send it into the Seal area. I'll let you know how that turns out.

FredN

Oh, and as I mentioned, I have no trouble summoning anything and everything else in the Seal room. Apparently the game just doesn't want Celestials in the battle. Perhaps it is a function related to the levels of my party members? We are from level 19 to 26 (Hexxat). Maybe Celestial summoning is canceled in such a case to make the fight a bigger challenge?