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[KePoW]

Is worth investing some points into Destiny for mage nuker classes? For crit?

Or 0 points is recommended?

 

[garath]

The low ranking of Ultima 7 is actually the one thing which annoys me most about that list

That was my problem too

 

[Arulan]

I just completed Chapter I and have access to the Elemental Forge. Before I go I'm going to try and defeat the Cyclops, Shadow Dragon, and Spectres.

My party is level 10 currently, and on Warrior difficulty. I made an attempt on the Shadow Dragon already and did fairly well with little planning in terms of buffs. Poison Spray seems really good against these type of encounters. As for the Cyclops, his cleave is devastating, hopefully Skull Crack works to prevent it, but I feel he'll be much more challenging than the Shadow Dragon. The Spectres I only tried once when I was at much lower level, so I'll have to try them again.

 

[Moff]

Dragon Age & Gothic higher than Ultima 7?

GTFO

ultima VII should be on top of that list
I dont know how these ratings worked, maybe they should have counted black gate and serpent isle together?
anyway I'm glad to see gothic so high on that list, I thought these brilliant games were next to unkown in the non-german speaking world

 

[forgeforsaken]

I just completed Chapter I and have access to the Elemental Forge. Before I go I'm going to try and defeat the Cyclops, Shadow Dragon, and Spectres.

My party is level 10 currently, and on Warrior difficulty. I made an attempt on the Shadow Dragon already and did fairly well with little planning in terms of buffs. Poison Spray seems really good against these type of encounters. As for the Cyclops, his cleave is devastating, hopefully Skull Crack works to prevent it, but I feel he'll be much more challenging than the Shadow Dragon. The Spectres I only tried once when I was at much lower level, so I'll have to try them again.

Come back later, like after act II. They are going to wipe the floor with you act I.

 

[misho8723]

Slightly off-topic but RPG Codex finished their community vote for top 50 cRPGs. As with any list, opinions may vary, especially with order, but regardless there are a lot of great games everyone should play on this.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/rpg-codexs-top-50-crpgs-results-reviews.89680/

Hmm.. let see.. yeah, the first 5 games ok.. hmm..is there somewhere Bloodlines ? yes.. Witcher 1 ? yes.. Witcher 2 ? yes.. Fallout NV? allright.. Alpha Protocol? ok.. solid list

 

[-tetsuo-]

Ultima Underworld is amazing, and holds up rather well. That and it's somewhat modern spiritual successor Arx Fatalis, which is great in its own right, seem like they are just different enough to not burn you out. None of them are really that long either. Probably like 25 hours.

 

[nicoga3000]

Somewhat overwhelmed by the character creation. Should I be picking skills that can be leveled to Grandmaster at the start? And what constitutes "well rounded" for a party? I have no idea what any of these classes are or what they do, haha.

 

[Arulan]

Come back later, like after act II. They are going to wipe the floor with you act I.

I managed to defeat the Shadow Dragon just now.

Spoiler

I burned through 6x Medium Mana Potions though. The key was keeping him from using any abilities with Skull Crack every turn, and maintaining Celestial Shield. With a 122 damage Celestial Shield he still managed to break through every turn and do some damage. Stone Skin helped with that. Poison Spray was a great source of constant damage. The important thing was knowing when I could afford to use a mana potion, despite losing the skull crack effect and celestial shield for the turn. Unfortunately the crossbow relic isn't immediately useful to me.

I love it when a game allows you the freedom to challenge something you're not supposed to be ready for, and when you do succeed it can be very rewarding.

 

[Jag]

Luckily the most useful spells are at below master, so you can get them on most characters. I've found low-mid level Earth, Light and Prime to have the best utility right now.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Make sure you have several schools of magic covered. Prime and Dark are helpful. Light gets good heals; the regen spell from Earth is good too. And have at least one class that can level Warfare well.

You'll be so powerful by endgame that I honestly don't think grandmaster is a massive priority. That said, I still skipped on the Mercenary due to the total lack of grandmaster skills.

Ranged characters don't have any great benefits that aren't coveted by spellcasters. I'd go for a crusader for a healer and build them mostly for damage before bothering with any ranged class.

My makeup was two spellcasters, a bladedancer that became a killing machine, and a crusader to get in heals and deal OK damage. Air magic resistance is common, so early game will punish you if you rely on that. I'm sure many builds are viable, though, except like an all Mercenary party or something.

I read that an all mercenary party can work because you can do mace + sword dual wield and get tons of crits in that stun.

 

[vocab]

Alright. I don't want to derail this thread too much more. I feel like the right posters are hanging out here so I'm gonna ask this question:

For my next RPG should I go with:

Realms of Arkania (original, not remake)
World of Xeen
Ultima Underworld
Etrian Odyssey Untold

Keeping in mind that I don't want to get burned out coming to one of these after Might and Magic X. I've never finished any of these. Arkania, never played at all.

I'm also open to any other suggestions on 3DS, PC (GOG or Steam, not looking to track down unavailable games), from any era. I want to play another great RPG, that's my only stipulation.

I think back to back M&M could deliver some burn out.

Arkania is hard and may require some outside reading to start playing.

EO is easy to pick up and play.

Ultima underworld is probably my pick. It's a game I want to play soon as well.

 

[nicoga3000]

Make sure you have several schools of magic covered. Prime and Dark are helpful. Light gets good heals; the regen spell from Earth is good too. And have at least one class that can level Warfare well.

You'll be so powerful by endgame that I honestly don't think grandmaster is a massive priority. That said, I still skipped on the Mercenary due to the total lack of grandmaster skills.

Ranged characters don't have any great benefits that aren't coveted by spellcasters. I'd go for a crusader for a healer and build them mostly for damage before bothering with any ranged class.

My makeup was two spellcasters, a bladedancer that became a killing machine, and a crusader to get in heals and deal OK damage. Air magic resistance is common, so early game will punish you if you rely on that. I'm sure many builds are viable, though, except like an all Mercenary party or something.

I was looking at a Ranger, but I decided to skip it for more magic focus.

My party:
Orc Barbarian - Two-handed/Mace/Endurance/Warfare
Human Freemage - all but Earth and Water Magic/Magical Focus/Arcane Disc
Dwarf Defender - Axe/Shield/Warfare/Heavy Armor
Elf Druid - Earth/Water/Endurance/Dagger

That's where I'm at after finishing the Spider Lair quest at the beginning. I don't know how defensive/melee builds work later, but my Barbarian and Defender feel like they're going to be really hearty early on. Freemage feels like I've got a TON of choices, so I don't know where to focus.. Druid I took for Earth magic more than anything.

Without knowing what I'm getting into, would a party like the above cover the necessary skills to not be super gimped? I did notice that I don't currently have a sword user. Is the type of weapon available to my party important?

 

[KePoW]

For the Crossbow GM quest:

Spoiler

Where is the 5th target? Are they all in the same area, or do you need to teleport for the last one? I found 4 in the area with the NPC.

 

[ambientmystic]

My party:
Orc Barbarian - Two-handed/Mace/Endurance/Warfare
Human Freemage - all but Earth and Water Magic/Magical Focus/Arcane Disc
Dwarf Defender - Axe/Shield/Warfare/Heavy Armor
Elf Druid - Earth/Water/Endurance/Dagger

Without knowing what I'm getting into, would a party like the above cover the necessary skills to not be super gimped? I did notice that I don't currently have a sword user. Is the type of weapon available to my party important?

It's good to have weapon type diversity amongst your party members so that they aren't fighting for drops. I made the grave error of having both my Crusader AND Blademaster use Swords, when Swords happened to be most rarest of drops in my playthrough.

It got so bad that at one point they were doing shit for damage as they were still using the initial weapons granted to them in the beginning of the game far into Act 2. I had to spend quite a bit to gear them both up with decent weapons from the blacksmith in the 2nd major town of the game which you'll get access to in Act 2. My mages (Freemage and Druid) were doing all the damage until then.

Now the Sword Relics you'll get in the game are great, but you won't have access to them until late Act 2/3 when the world opens up.

 

[nicoga3000]

That seems pretty solid. You can always dump skill points into new skills as you go if you feel deficient. Just remember that perception is just as important as might for melee characters.

Money is bottlenecked early on. You will want the Prime magic identify spell literally ASAP.

And lastly, camp over using potions. Supplies are exponentially cheaper. Mark any restoration fountains on the map, too, to stretch out your supplies.

I didn't play with maces. Can anybody confirm if there are two-handed versions?

The default mace I have is two-handed, so I'm going to assume there's more to be found?

 

[Alric]

Question, as you level up do you eventually get more points to spend on skills or when you create your character is that the only time you get to put points into skills?

 

[Alric]

You get points every level. Each point buffs the skill as per the tooltip.

Not stats, I mean skill points. Like to put into medium armor, swords, fire magic, etc.

 

[Alric]

That is what I was referring to. Mouse over the given skill to see what buff each skill point gives you. Usually something like "adds +2% damage to fire spells". I believe the shortcut to see that menu is G.

Gotcha, I was trying to figure out what key allowed you to see your skills
Thanks dude

 

[KePoW]

All there. Keep verticality in mind. You can still hit it as long as you're in front.

Thanks for confirming

 

[nicoga3000]

Yeah you're set then. I dumped all the maces I found so I wasn't sure if they supported two handed or not.

Cool, thanks.

There seems to be a LOT of ways you can take your party. I'll hopefully have a better idea of what I can do on another playthrough by the time I finish this one.

 

[KePoW]

Wow this is weird... I'm somewhere in Act 3 and left Karthal to roam around outside, and enemies have respawned. Is this supposed to happen?

The calendar says I'm 12th Day of Dancing Flames, 575 YSD.

I thought there were no respawns, or does it happen over time?

 

[kmfdmpig]

Wow this is weird... I'm somewhere in Act 3 and left Karthal to roam around outside, and enemies have respawned. Is this supposed to happen?

The calendar says I'm 12th Day of Dancing Flames, 575 YSD.

I thought there were no respawns, or does it happen over time?

It happened to me today after finishing act 3. I was glad as it meant an extra level.
Some say that spirit Beacon causes it and it's a bug.

 

[KePoW]

It happened to me today after finishing act 3. I was glad as it meant an extra level.
Some say that spirit Beacon causes it and it's a bug.

Aww crap, I do have Beacon set inside Karthal and used it before I left town.

Am I totally screwed now and have to start entire game over?? I don't want to fight everything in the world again

 

[UncleSporky]

I don't want to fight everything in the world again

Yeah you do! There's a limited amount of experience in the game. Your max level is limited by the number of enemies. You have a rare gift of being able to be a higher level than most players.

 

[ambientmystic]

It happened to me today after finishing act 3. I was glad as it meant an extra level.
Some say that spirit Beacon causes it and it's a bug.

That happened to me on several occasions. I got lazy and was abusing it to quickly get from zone to zone to do sidequests, and when I exited from the Crag, the enemies had respawned outside.

There was that one other time when using it caused my exploration of the Karthal slums to reset itself.

I used it after finishing up a level of the Lost City (level 4) to head back to Karthal (set my waypoint near the harbour area/horse carriage place for fast travel), and when I zoned into the Slums area from the Harbour area (walking into it), the northern part of the map went into that unexplored status again. It was rather funny because i had those map bookmarks/notes already placed on my own map (for the inn/vendors/quest NPCs) and they were still there, but that area turned black again. Had to clear the zone again.

 

[Zukuu]

That happened to me on several occasions. I got lazy and was abusing it to quickly get from zone to zone to do sidequests, and when I exited from the Crag, the enemies had respawned outside.

There was that one other time when using it caused my exploration of the Karthal slums to reset itself.

I used it after finishing up a level of the Lost City (level 4) to head back to Karthal (set my waypoint near the harbour area/horse carriage place for fast travel), and when I zoned into the Slums area from the Harbour area (walking into it), the northern part of the map went into that unexplored status again. It was rather funny because i had those map bookmarks/notes already placed on my own map (for the inn/vendors/quest NPCs) and they were still there, but that area turned black again. Had to clear the zone again.

Meh. So you can't even use it savely to port to a town? >_>

 

[KePoW]

Yeah you do! There's a limited amount of experience in the game. Your max level is limited by the number of enemies. You have a rare gift of being able to be a higher level than most players.

Won't that imbalance the game to where it's not what the devs intended?

I only want to play a game with what the devs want players to experience. (I never use mods or hacks/third-party programs in any game)

 

[Arulan]

Cyclops defeated. I basically used the strategy I posted earlier about the Shadow Dragon but with the addition

Spoiler

of Burning Determination, which made the timings a little tight. Shadow Cloak was essential, especially considering his default auto-attack only hits once, which is what Skull Crack forced him into. I don't believe his default attack hits quite as hard as the Shadow Dragon (although the SD hits multiple times), but during the turn where I was without the Skull Crack effect, the cleave nearly one-shots most of my party. In fact, he did one-shot my Freemage a few times, forcing me to restart those attempts.

 

[-tetsuo-]

I can NOT find Kaspar is Karthal???!?! Anyone know where this damn guy is?

 

[Cantstandya]

He is down in the slums, i think the mark on the map say "Hospice" . I missed the whole central slums area for a long time because i didn't notice the entrances, it's a pain in the ass to navigate through..

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Alright. I don't want to derail this thread too much more. I feel like the right posters are hanging out here so I'm gonna ask this question:

For my next RPG should I go with:

Realms of Arkania (original, not remake)
World of Xeen
Ultima Underworld
Etrian Odyssey Untold

Keeping in mind that I don't want to get burned out coming to one of these after Might and Magic X. I've never finished any of these. Arkania, never played at all.

I'm also open to any other suggestions on 3DS, PC (GOG or Steam, not looking to track down unavailable games), from any era. I want to play another great RPG, that's my only stipulation.

Arkania is extremely hard.
Etrian Odyssey is okay
World of Xeen - savour this for later. This is the epitome of M&M gameplay.
Ultima Underworld is your next choice. A terrific game with great story, puzzles, combat and atmosphere.

 

[KePoW]

Is "protection against knock out" for stun?

 

[Arkeus]

Cyclops defeated. I basically used the strategy I posted earlier about the Shadow Dragon but with the addition

Spoiler

of Burning Determination, which made the timings a little tight. Shadow Cloak was essential, especially considering his default auto-attack only hits once, which is what Skull Crack forced him into. I don't believe his default attack hits quite as hard as the Shadow Dragon (although the SD hits multiple times), but during the turn where I was without the Skull Crack effect, the cleave nearly one-shots most of my party. In fact, he did one-shot my Freemage a few times, forcing me to restart those attempts.

As you note, the

Spoiler

Shadow Dragon attacks more than once per turn

Even a unlevelled ice bolt is a god send against it.

 

[Durante]

Has anyone done the Uplay reward dungeon? What level range is it? I assume it's designed as end-game content.

 

[Durante]

Is that one even out yet?

Yes, the NPC who takes you there is in Karthal (Southwest on the slums map).

 

[Moff]

Has anyone done the Uplay reward dungeon? What level range is it? I assume it's designed as end-game content.

its mid level, I'd say around level 20
I did it with level 30 and it was incredibly easy
its very short but with exclusive enemies.

 

[Durante]

its mid level, I'd say around level 20
I did it with level 30 and it was incredibly easy
its very short but with exclusive enemies.

Oh, good to know, I'll do that once I finish the last promotion quest then.

 

[Arkeus]

its mid level, I'd say around level 20
I did it with level 30 and it was incredibly easy
its very short but with exclusive enemies.

It also can drop the best items in the game- as in, it's the only place where you can get items that have the grandmaster requirement.

Sadly, it's really rare that you get a good one :-(

 

[nicoga3000]

I remembered a question I had from last night.

The boss in the Spider Lair had a buff on her - something like immune to mind stuff? I don't remember. Whatever the case, do boss enemies have a specific buff that makes them immune to certain effects, or was it just a special buff she had? For what it's worth, I think it was a black/blue portrait with a skull in it?

Also, do effects like Sundering and Shatter stack?

 

[Durante]

Bosses have the unimaginatively named "Boss" buff. It renders them immune to effects which move them or prevent them from acting.

I don't think sundering and shatter stack, but either of them stacks with the earth magic acid effect.

 

[Arkeus]

I remembered a question I had from last night.

The boss in the Spider Lair had a buff on her - something like immune to mind stuff? I don't remember. Whatever the case, do boss enemies have a specific buff that makes them immune to certain effects, or was it just a special buff she had? For what it's worth, I think it was a black/blue portrait with a skull in it?

Also, do effects like Sundering and Shatter stack?

There are a lot of different effects on different characters, and a LOT of bosses have a 'boss' effect that makes them immune to body and mind effects.

Sundering and Shatter do not stack, but Sundering is Prime/Magic dependant (E.G, the more magic/prime you have, the stronger it is) as well as a AOE for the three rows in front of you while Shatter is Might dependant (i think) and it hits only one guy.

This means that sometimes Shatter will be stronger than Sunder, or the opposite.

Also, Acid Splash stacks with either.

 

[Ubiquitar]

I swear to god this game has given us the new "I took an arrow to the knee" meme. It seems like every two seconds someone in my party is saying "did someone forget to take a bath?" Even when there aren't any enemies. It's kind of irritating.

 

[WanderingWind]

I swear to god this game has given us the new "I took an arrow to the knee" meme. It seems like every two seconds someone in my party is saying "did someone forget to take a bath?" Even when there aren't any enemies. It's kind of irritating.

"And stay down!"

 

[garath]

I keep wanting to hunt for the sword relic (fallen star quest) and go looking but can't find it for the life of me. Also means I keep getting distracted. I got the water walking blessing last night and cleared a shipwreck. Hard encounter but got through it. Nice

Spoiler

relic mace from it, too bad I don't use maces

Where the heck is the desolate wilds?? Is it that desert type area where there were a bunch of orcs? I wandered there a long time ago and they were hard. I can probably take them now though.

Somehow I'm in Shadow woods now. I should probably just go to Karthal to get new spells lol. I just started Act III.

 

[WanderingWind]

I keep wanting to hunt for the sword relic (fallen star quest) and go looking but can't find it for the life of me. Also means I keep getting distracted. I got the water walking blessing last night and cleared a shipwreck. Hard encounter but got through it. Nice

Spoiler

relic mace from it, too bad I don't use maces

Where the heck is the desolate wilds?? Is it that desert type area where there were a bunch of orcs? I wandered there a long time ago and they were hard. I can probably take them now though.

Somehow I'm in Shadow woods now. I should probably just go to Karthal to get new spells lol. I just started Act III.

You need that sword ASAP. Fully leveled it's basically God's own stabber.

 

[nicoga3000]

There are a lot of different effects on different characters, and a LOT of bosses have a 'boss' effect that makes them immune to body and mind effects.

Sundering and Shatter do not stack, but Sundering is Prime/Magic dependant (E.G, the more magic/prime you have, the stronger it is) as well as a AOE for the three rows in front of you while Shatter is Might dependant (i think) and it hits only one guy.

This means that sometimes Shatter will be stronger than Sunder, or the opposite.

Also, Acid Splash stacks with either.

Bosses have the unimaginatively named "Boss" buff. It renders them immune to effects which move them or prevent them from acting.

I don't think sundering and shatter stack, but either of them stacks with the earth magic acid effect.

OK, thanks guys. So Prime and Dark magic work on bosses, but I can't use the air spell that blows them? And does something like Frost Bolt (or whatever the ice spell is) that reduces the number of enemy attacks work on a boss?

 

[ambientmystic]

And does something like Frost Bolt (or whatever the ice spell is) that reduces the number of enemy attacks work on a boss?

Yes, I believe so.

 

[spiritfox]

I keep wanting to hunt for the sword relic (fallen star quest) and go looking but can't find it for the life of me. Also means I keep getting distracted. I got the water walking blessing last night and cleared a shipwreck. Hard encounter but got through it. Nice

Spoiler

relic mace from it, too bad I don't use maces

Where the heck is the desolate wilds?? Is it that desert type area where there were a bunch of orcs? I wandered there a long time ago and they were hard. I can probably take them now though.

Somehow I'm in Shadow woods now. I should probably just go to Karthal to get new spells lol. I just started Act III.

Yes it's the area with all the Orcs. Somewhere down south.

 

[-tetsuo-]

I was kind of wandering around in Act 3, not knowing what to do. I thought I needed something from the Crystal Spider but I actually didn't. Finally broke down and looked up and holy shit I missed some shards lol. Time to go pick em up tonight and get into Act 4.