Warrior Party

[Fael]

There are several discussions of singletons, for those trying for a challenging way to attempt the game. I was wondering if anybody has tried playing with a party completely devoid of spellcasters? I was thinking, give everybody one level of priest spells, so that they can Minor Heal between battles and don't have to run back to town after every fight but, aside from that, no magic. Is this doable?

 

I tried this in A4 and made it about halfway through the Great Cave before the lack of buffs and Unlock Doors made the game just too annoying and I gave up. It seems like A5 would be better suited for it, though.

 

The new tool use system makes Unlock Doors much less important, and there are more Piercing Crystals (although I don't know to what extent the late-game barriers will succomb to them). presumably to make the Anama track viable. The revamped action point system, plus the Battle Disciplines make Haste much less critical, and the nerfing of Enduring Armor means I'll miss it a lot less than I did in A4. Finally, A5 has fewer creatures that aren't vulnerable to physical damage and weapons that allow melee fighters to do at least some magical damage.

 

On the other hand, A5 has more tough combats, so not having a Priest who can heal for 100 points of damage a round is going to make some things pretty tough. as is, of course, the lost of Group Heal. Not having area effect spells is still a big problem (no idea how I could get through the slime pit in the Lake of Trials or The Black Horror without them). And, unlike in A4, there are all those lava vents in the late game that are going to be really hard to take without Prismatic Shield (although the game is designed so that you can win as an Anima, so this shouldn't be insurmountable). And there are still a few fights -- Repulsion Spheres, various Shades -- that require specific types of magical damage.

 

Anybody actually tried this?

[Delicious Vlish]

I came close. I had a party of four humans. Loyal to the true goals of the Empire. (Darksided)

 

There was only one spell caster, a wizard priest. The rest were all warriors and archers.

 

It became painfully tedious once you passed the Anama lands. The party was well armored and well outfitted, tough as all get out, and pretty much what one expected a group of Dervishes and Empire Archer types to be. A swordsman, a pikeman, an archer, and one whiny spell caster that brought up the rear. The only thing I really had going for me was that I could outlast the enemy, but battles took forever to resolve.

 

Not fun at all.

[Randomizer]

If you don't tick off the Anama, then you can have them make wands for you to duplicate some spell effects. Still, this looks like a challenge in tedium. It will drag out fights that spellcasting speeds up with slowing the boss monster and mass dazing the enemy.

[Delicious Vlish]

It is important to note that battle disciplines are just good enough to replace spell effects. Just barely. And only for a skilled player. You will not steamroll the game, which is probably a good thing, but your warrior is a bit more useful now.

 

Kinda puts a bit of a crimp on you though when enemies use battle disciplines on you.