BenS

5 minutes ago, Randomizer said:

The tool tip in the item description is that Gloves are only based on strength. I can't confirm if it is true.

 

I really need to try a game where the FSG is my melee weapon for a guardian play through. The purifying blade is so good that I jump to that early in the game. Getting the ingredients for 4 levels is hard until you start killing infernal.

It's a dilemma, as you can definitely get the Purifying Blade early should you choose...and it's so good why would you want not to use it, and keep building up Melee Weapons?

I suppose it's a case of delayed gratification. You pump Str > Melee Weapons knowing that you'll do suboptimal dmg for a while...as it takes a while just to get the FSG. Even then, you have to have the upgrade ingredients...perhaps even harder to justify all that over Melee W-s and the P. Blade. Or you split the difference; pump Melee until you get the glove, then switch to Str?? IDK.

Also...isn't the glove not in the sword slot...so your sword would be just for a stat stick or the like, right?

If I do this, it would only be for the purposes of doing something different; to try and keep the game fresh. I'd also change my shaping specialization from Fire to...well I suppose Magic is the smart choice > Battle for ranged attacks, but I'm ok w/ suboptimal builds at this point in time.

I'm also considering a missile Guardian over another melee Guardian; just to try something new. For which I'd definitely go Battle shaping.

40 minutes ago, Randomizer said:

v1.0.2 will fix:

 

* Weapon Shaping now works with the Feisty Slap Glove.

 

TheFSG dies more damage than in the first game and has more effects. I used the level 3 version to slap Stanis around for what he did to Shanti.

That was a spoiler re Stanis of course but, yes, I've played all 4 factions and I always take sweet revenge on that b@stard.

Can you confirm the Glove's dmg is based on Str and not Melee Weapons for Infestation? I have no idea of course but that's how memory serves it worked for Mutation.

Actually...if that is correct, I might be tempted to play a 4th game...as my 2nd Guardian, just to enjoy the FSG again. I found the 3 upgrades to the Helix Ring underwhelming choices for all 3 classes compared to the Frosted Annulet, personally. So I could use the ingredients instead on the FSG, should I play again.

Yes, you should have been warned in Zhass-Uss and thereabouts to keep out of Benerii-Uss. In fact, even after joining the Takers I believe you can't immediately go there until told so (by Syros probably).

IIRC correctly--and you necro'd a 3-year old thread so don't quote me--yes, I believe the FSG was better served w/ Str than Melee Weapons, though someone who can see the code can correct me.

I have not used the FSG for Infestation, so can't tell you what changes may have been made. Though prior to the pending 1.0.2 change, you might not have wanted to use it anyway as it apparently wasn't working w/ weapon shaping skills.

re the efficacy of Mental Magic...there's a thread on Steam about the Agent class talking about how Slow & Wrack go down to 2 turns on bosses...and Jeff said he'd tweak that in 1.0.2, which will be out in the next few weeks. Possibly too late for my solo Agent game but you can't have everything.

re upgraded creations...while not optimal in many respects, they can have their places. My 1st game as a Shaper found me using Gazers & Rotdhizons quite effectively. Others will have similar stories I'm sure.

Anyway, I agree w/ all the OP's "glows" about this game, which I love, and am playing my 3rd game now.

@Randomizer ooh, I clearly missed that as a Shaper, though it sounds like a good goal conceivably for my future Agent.

@Hyperion703 Yes, I'd agree the Spectral Cleaver gets you a lot for minimal investment (potentially none) in Melee W-s. Did you use the Living Knife for your Battle creations? Seems like a nice boost. Also, are you playing Agent + Battle creations? Solo Agent? Which difficulty? I'm tempted to play a Normal Agent just to avoid friendly fire, which I've seen enough of as a Veteran Shaper and Torment Guardian. I will hope to pump Essence Shield as well as an Agent. I think those rare Armor pods only give you 20 pts of Protection, which is nothing, but maybe I've misunderstood them.

Apologies to the OP for the thread jack.

1 hour ago, Hyperion703 said:

Imo, there's really only one. And it's not acquired until at least midway through the game, generally later iirc. Every other blade that might be helpful (at best, none blew me away) had martial weapon minimums of like 3 or 4. Agents can't afford to spend points on weapon skills when there are such yummy magic skills to get on the cheap. And I'm not about to blow six or seven skill points for just +10% evasion or +10% armor or whatevs. 

 

If I would be critical of the game, there just aren't enough accessory/item options. At least for agents. Come to think of it, I might make a separate thread about it. 

Hmm. I don't have access to the scripts but according to my notes from my Shaper run...let's see what we find when looking for Agent-friendly weapons...

Charmed Falchion--that +2 Battle Magic is sweet...but 7 Melee Training is probably unrealistic for an Agent, I agree

Empathy Blade--only Melee Tr. 1, but you give up -1 Str/Agility for +10% to creation haste chance & riposte; might be decent I suppose, if only for creations

Essence Eater--for Melee Tr. 4, you get +1 Agility & Evasion, and do physical & energy dmg; maybe this is the weapon you're referring to?

Living Knife--no Melee Tr. requirement? You get +2 to creation Str & Agility; this seems decent to have in hand, right?

Shielding Knife--Melee Tr. 3 gets you +7% physical armor but more importantly, +15% chance to evade attacks; not bad?

Singing Rapier--Melee Tr. 5 gets you +2 Q. Action & Evasion; maybe worthwhile if it's become expensive to raise further levels of those?

Spectral Cleaver--Melee Tr. 2 gets you a very nice +2 Mental Magic, +20% to blessings/curses you cause

IDK; there's a few decent choices there it seems.

A very topical thread, as I'm running a Torment Guardian now w/ the Purifying Blade, and had wondered about some of the other decent swords in the game. I might play around w/ some of the others when I get them just for the experience of it. Fun is fun, after all.

There are also some decent swords for Agents I note, though those will have to wait for my next run.

I personally would not waste any skill points in Stealth unless you're specifically going for a Pacifist run (achievement/medal). Skill points are precious enough as they are. But if you prefer putting Stealth on your PC--and I'm not sure how it works mechanics-wise--from a RP perspective...more power to you.

I don't think we have the option of buying back something we've sold, sorry.

I don't believe you can recruit Tsuenami, but you can get decent xp w/ Leadership to soothe her (?). Nor could you recruit that early Fyora.

As for buying the game on Steam--which I hope you do--I don't actually know whether you have to start over or not.

4 hours ago, alhoon said:

Well, I understand that. But the fight is tough for level 3. The Crystal cave will also be absolutely brutal on you. Theoretically, you can make it, but it won't be easy. Also, did you have Zora with you? The battle roar is great. 

I think you need 4 Leadership to get Zora's help, which is well worth it for all the zones she will stick w/ you! Just don't let her die obviously.

I don't believe so.

2 hours ago, mikeprichard said:

To charge and thus improve each artifact (Frosted Annulet (takes 1 charge), Feisty Slap Gloves (takes up to 3 or 4 charges), Helix Ring (takes up to 3 charges, with each charge available after you kill certain prominent NPCs with the ring in your inventory)), you need to have one sample each of mandrake and infernal residue when using an anvil.

This is super helpful, thank you. I managed to play through a Shaper game w/out the Helix Ring. Either I missed it or sold it stupidly. About to start either a Guardian or Agent game shortly, and I'll be sure to grab it/hang on to it this time, even though you mentioned it was probably better for a pure Shaper.

I haven't played w/ a Drakon/Ur-Drakon in this current game beyond doing the min/max stats I provided above, so you already have more in-game xp w/ them than I do. You will soon decide how and when to upgrade them I'm sure. If I do another Shaper run, I will try Fire & Battle; for my Guardian run I will do Fire; for my Agent run, Battle.

As for why I run w/ maxed out Tier 4s...rather than w/ greater #s...partly b/c in past GF games I went w/ quantity > quality, and it's fun to try something new. Also, while an overcharged Rotghroth can be awesome offensively, the Rotdhizons will be higher level and last longer thanks to their dmg resistant upgrade (and top them off w/ Regenerate and Essence Shield and Protection and...) and they're the tankiest thing you will ever create. 

If you decide to just keep w/ Fire Shaping and ignore Battle/Magic, may I suggest you also become a halfway decent mage? Not so much for Battle magic, but for Blessing Magic. Also don't ignore Healing Craft, as you're Strong in that. Unless you're fine w/ consumables but those only go so far; you can't reproduce everything you can w/ actual magic.

I'll try to help. I'm playing a Shaper, near end-game so I don't remember where I was at for 9th level exactly but...

Based on your fondness for your Fyora and the 2 Drayks...you might as well get a Drakon b/c then you are just focusing on 1 (Fire) Shaping school. For the time being. So when you put more pts into it, literally all your creations would get boosts.

I thought I'd go Fire Shaping mainly for my current Shaper, as that's what I typically do. But. I decided to try both (the improved) Battle Shaping as well as Magic Shaping. At 20th l. have (w/ gear/canisters) 11 pts in Battle & Magic Shaping, and (w/ gear/canisters) 16 pts in Essence Mastery. I run w/ 2 maxed out Rotdhizons & 2 maxed out Gazers, w/ essence (my total essence is 378) to spare on spells quite easily. The point of this? The Battle creations are great tanks and the Magic creations are great nukes. It's been a solid strategy for me.

For you, I suspect the Drakons are a middle ground you can use if you really do go all in on Fire Shaping. They're not as tanky as Rots, but certainly more than the Gazers, and thematically fit your team.

If you want to do some future planning, here's the minimum/maximum essence needed for Tier 4 creations. Maybe you'll want to get Battle Shaping up there as well, IDK (notice the modest essence requirements compared to the other Tier 4s).

Drakons (24/87); Ur-Drakons (36/126); base levels 10 & 13 respectively

Rotghroths (18/63); Rotdhizons (26/89); base levels 10 & 12 respectively

Gazers (22/76); Eyebeasts (32/113); base levels 10 & 13 respectively

Good luck.

Do we know why the Drayk/Cryodrayk sprites are (mostly) so tiny in this game? For a while I thought I was just meeting the runts of the litter, or maybe it was a design choice. Maybe even a problem w/ my computer. But if you look at the 4 Cryodrayks at the end of the entrance hall in The Radiant College...you'll see at least 1 that appears noticeably smaller to the naked eye compared w/ others. Various such single encounters in the game appear to me to be the same issue. Weren't these creatures taller/stockier in prior games? When your Fyora towers over one and you can reach down to pet it on the head, the awe-level when seeing a drayk...lessens. I'll admit it's changed my normal Shaper preferences, which are Fire Shaping.

If this needs to be calved off into another discussion, feel free.

2 hours ago, alhoon said:

😢I sold it...

Steel javelins do more damage than my firebolt. And I find lots and lots of "2 missile!" batons and I have a couple of Guardian Weapon Shapings that should be usable with missile weapons. 

There's at least 1 more Roamertooth Band in the game, fyi, though by the time you get it, you might already have better options for your PC.

Per the Steam boards, there's a bug w/ the Feisty Slap Gloves, that should be fixed in a few weeks w/ 1.0.2. I believe weapon shaping skills don't work w/ it.

I have fond memories of the FSG from Mutagen. I'll be curious to check it out when I play a Guardian.

I don't know if I got lucky, but...I beat the 4th group at 17th level (veteran Shaper w/ 2 mostly maxed Gazers and 2 mostly maxed Rotdhizons), and then still mostly buffed, after a quick save, I wandered into the 5th area to see how quickly I would get spanked. It only took me 2 tries to win! I focused on the 4 Ur-Glaahks and then wore down the Experimental Gamma. I was fighting the group near the sign into the area; maybe that limited its options, IDK, but it focused on the Rotdhizons, which had Hardness, Regeneration from me, plus healing etc. The maxed Pure Fanged Bracelet is of less utility (I think) to my Shaper run, but the ultra-rare P.E. at the end meant I could get the Infiltrator Ring, which should be quite helpful on occasion.

3 minutes ago, Mechalibur said:

Canister use doesn't matter for the achievement. Just don't do anything like kill the leader of the faction you want to join.

Thanks. I just came back to edit my post b/c it was in error anyway.

I see that various (4) faction achievements/medals require a "good ending". That suggests not just finishing the game allied w/ 1 of them. Should I be worried that I've, ah, over-indulged in canisters during my 1st run, which I'm not done w/ yet? I know the non-aligned ending text...would go bad for me, but that's something different than an achievement/medal.

Thanks for posting that. I'm always interested in builds people found worked for them, especially at higher levels of difficulty, and the gear they used to finish the game. Good luck finishing the last areas and I hope your next playthroughs are equally fun.

1 hour ago, Mechalibur said:

 

Actually the Servants are the exception, you can leave all the factions by talking to their leader, except Zakary for some odd reason. The Takers, naturally, all turn hostile if you try to do so, though.

Hmm. So I could join the Awakened early, get much out of them w/out final faction quests; quit; then join the Barzites...same pattern; then simply choose the Servants or Takers for my final "real" faction?