The Fog[G5]

[Brocktree]

'The Fog' is an enigmatic lady with innate magical abilities and no recollection of her past. As her talents grow, she utilises her ability to cloud mens' minds to win innumerable victories, supported by relatively strong battle magic and reliable creations.

 

Above all else, 'The Fog' is completely self-centred. With virtually everyone taking advantage of her amnesia to use her as a pawn in their crazy schemes, 'The Fog' sees no issue with backstabbing them to gain the coins required to purchase a living tool, which can in turn be used to access that essence lances canister which will give a whopping +5.5 damage to that spell (exclusively).

 

------------

 

I suppose the aim of my current game with this character is to test my hypothesis on powergaming the sects. I also want to see how far this character to go power-wise, and provide a guide to newbies on the philosophy of character development

 

So far, I have

 

- Turned Mehhken in for those points in intelligence and endurance. This is one of the best rewards in the game.

 

- Exclusively used disposable artilas throughout Chapter 1.

 

- Chose the 'Battle Magic' reward for the Shaper trial. I would argue that clawbugs become redundant around Storm Plains, whereas you never stop casting Speed.

 

- Held off investing in Spellcraft, until I could buy two points from the trainer in Mera. I never bothered purchasing Blessing/Battle Magic/Mental Magic, as the cost/benefit ratio is low.

 

- Pumped Mental Magic and Spellcraft

 

- As soon as I hit the second province, I went straight to Gorash-Kel and stole everything I could. By entering into combat mode, I can obtain most of the goodies, including the Mandrake Tincture, Blademaster Charm, and Farsight Plate (the best piece of armour you will have for a while). You can also acquire the Glaahk canister with great ease.

 

- Invested a single point in Magic Shaping, and Shaped two Glaahks. I plan to keep them for as long as possible.

 

- Cleaned out most of the areas around Mera, and tackled Murkwood. I killed the bandit leader simply to obtain the empathy blade, which is one of the best weapons in the game (+2 Creation Strength, +1 Dexterity)

 

My character is currently level 22 (6 mental mag., 6 spellcraft), with 27 spare skill points. My two glaahks are level 27. Spamming daze and terror allows me to handle most battles with laughable ease. Unfortunately Unbound have a 93% to resist terror.

 

I'm eyeing off Okravano Swamp and Lerman's Pass. I'll probably try and push my way through Okravano, since I really want dominate.

 

In summary:

 

Chapter 1:

- Turn in Mehken

 

- Purchase protection, burning spray and artila ASAP

 

- Choose the battle magic reward for the Shaper trials

 

- Invest in Mental Magic

 

- Hold off on investing in Spellcraft until Mera

 

- Ensure you obtain the student's belt, carnelian gloves, and nimble sandles (the best equipment at this point)

 

Chapter 2:

 

- Get the Ice spray canister ASAP

 

- Raid Gorash-Kel (in combat mode) ASAP. At least clear the Glaahk Canister, Farsight Breastplate, and Blademaster Charm.

 

- Purchase spellcraft as soon as you get to Mera

 

- Purchase Unlock and lightning aura *as soon as possible*! Lightning aura is easily the most powerful attack spell for most of the game, and cannot be obtained from canisters/books.

 

Unlock is one of the most useful spells in the game, but the canister can't be obtained early, so you will need to purchase it. The sooner, the better.

 

- Get the Terror canister in Penta (one of the best spells in the game)

 

- Invest heavily in Spellcraft and Mental Magic.

 

- Level up your Glaahks? (need to continue playing to test viability)

 

- When you enter Murkwood, make sure you kill the bandit leader. The empathy blade provides two extra damage die to your creations, which is the best bonus early on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roentgenium]

Wait, how are you able to sneak into Gorash-Kel so easily? I don't think you can obtain any stealth-boosting items at that point of the game, and you can't boost your action points either. Also, what class are you playing as?

[Brocktree]

Originally Posted By: Roentgenium

Wait, how are you able to sneak into Gorash-Kel so easily? I don't think you can obtain any stealth-boosting items at that point of the game, and you can't boost your action points either. Also, what class are you playing as?

It's relatively easy to sneak around Gorash-Kel without any stealth items. Just walk about in combat mode. As long as patrolling enemies don't end their round in your line of site, you are safe. You won't be able to access the chest guarded by the Unbound at the northwest corner of the fort, though.

I'm playing as a sorceress, which is easily the best class in the game.

[Randomizer]

Synergy did Gorash-Kel like that, but then he is extremely sneaky. It's all with timing the Unbound patrols so you don't get caught in a spot where one will see you.

[Roentgenium]

How is the sorceress best? I don't really know enough about them to know how they're played on torment - I've only played torment in geneforge 5 with a battle creation lifecrafter, if I remember correctly.

[Aoslare]

Sorceress and Lifecrafter play very similarly. The Sorceress can get more reliable mental magic, while the Lifecrafter can get somewhat higher experience level creations, and more of them, mainly due to better essence.

 

If you play "disposable creations" the Sorceress is probably better. If you play "keep creations around to gain levels" the Lifecrafter is probably better. It's possible that one is better overall but I think it's hard to compare, because both are excellent on Torment but lead you down slightly different tactical and strategic paths.

[Brocktree]

To be honest, the Sorceress and Lifecrafter would play near identically. I cannot emphasise this enough, but mental magic is an absolute lifesaver in Geneforge 5. I honestly cannot envisage how I would have completed past Torment games without being able to reliably daze/terrify/dominate/charm enemies. 'Reliably' is the key word here. You need to be guaranteed of success. Dazing/terrifying 50% of the time is not a viable strategy, any more than dodging 50% of the time is.

 

If I were to prioritise (attack) skills, it would be as follows:

 

1. Spellcraft

2. Mental Magic

3. Intelligence

4. Blessing magic (only require small investment)

5. Quick action (about 6)

6. One Shaping skill (10?)

7. Healing craft (small investment

8. Battle magic (max to get all spells)

 

If you do the number crunching, you will realise that Lifecrafter's will save 10 skill points over the sorceress if they invest 10 in battle shaping. However, the sorceress will save 30 points, if they choose to specialise in mental magic, spellcraft, and invest a few points in battle and blessing magic. Overall, the sorceress comes out 20 skill points ahead.

 

Yes, the Lifecrafter will have slightly higher essence. But you can offset this by simply using those extra skill points the sorceress obtains to boost her intelligence. This will grant her equivalent essence to the lifecrafter, but also higher spell energy.

 

Also, I'd just like to point out that having about 6 points of Quick Action is crucial, in order to gain the initiative. As long as your quick action is higher than everyone else, you gain the first attack. The opponent's dexterity does not appear to matter. Being able to fire off a daze/terror/dominate before your enemies attack is so important tactically, that the very small investment in Quick Action is a bargain (you can buy two points real cheap from Rawul's trainer).

 

With my current character, I'll probably invest 10 in battle shaping before shaping Tralls. As far as raw damage output goes, creations are the best source simply because of their high multiplier, and numbers. Every two points invested into a Shaping skill gives all that branch of creations an additional die damage, 5% chance to dodge, a massive boost in health (20 for tralls). Ergo. Every two points will increase a trall's damage by (1+8)/2 = 4.5. If you have 4 tralls, that equates to 4.5 * 4 = 18. Add to that the health bonus, and this vindicates investing in a Shaping skill.

 

Finally, I'd like to just state something I have only just realised recently. Equipment that adds bonuses to your creations is perhaps the most powerful in the game. For example, consider the Shaper's Boon. It adds +1 to all of your creations primary stats. That's a +18 to damage if you have war tralls, +extra endurance. Even the Eye's Purity Ring (+3 BM) won't give you that sort of damage increase .

 

But what makes such items more outstanding is that they are essentially +2 to *all* shaping skills (Fire/Magic/Battle creations all benefit). Therefore the bonus offered by the Shapers boon is equivalent to (3+3+3+3+4+4)* 2 = 40 skill points.

 

[Brocktree]

Quick update:

 

- Killed Felik to obtain the Thahdskin Tunic, and equipped

 

- Cut my way through the Okravano swamps to reach the Trakovite Haven, where I then trained in Dominate. This vastly increased my sorceress's potency, to the point where I was able to decimate the Rotgroths in Okravano.

 

- I then duly betrayed the Shadow Road and Trakovite Haven to Michelene. With the Physicians Charm and Samaritan sandals, I can now cast regeneration aura with no investment in Healing Craft.

 

- Glaahks are lackluster, at best. They are expensive, their damage is low, they have only one source of damage (magic), can only attack with melee, and their stun is worthless. I really wish I had just made a pack of vlish, and leveled them up. Oh well, no great loss. I was planning to absorb the glaahks once I reached the Storm Plains anyway, although I might do so earlier, since they will be useless in Kraota-Kel.

 

Summary:

 

- Glaahks suck. Their stun attack is unreliable, at best, and their damage die is low. Use Vlish throughout chapter 2. At least they have a decent ranged attack.

 

- You don't need to invest in Healing Magic to cast Regeneration Aura.

 

- Dominate kicks ass.

[Trenton.]

What did dominate do again? I would check but my monitor cant support geneforge games sucks that my old computer broke down. Anywho I thought regenerate aura was a mental magic, not health magic.

[Randomizer]

Dominate is a lower level version of charm.

[Roentgenium]

Also, how far can you go with powergaming the sects? I'm asking this because Alwan is the only sect I want to actually join (SPOILERS); I dislike Rawal due to the control tool thing; Astoria treating the rebels as equals doesn't feel right to me; the Trakovite's anti-shaping view seems very narrow (I'm pretty sure crops are more productive than normal due to shaping magic); Ghaldring has caused more destruction to the Shapers than the Shapers have done to the rebels; Taygen's creationocidal plan is, in my opinion, short-sighted, as the creations that died would need to be replaced quickly, and if they can't, most low-class people and probably some middle-class people would start rioting (END SPOILERS). I know I want to side with Alwan, but how can I powergame the sects and still end up on Alwan's side (preferably in a fairly easy way; I'm not a very good powergamer, but I'm going to start trying this game)?

[Aoslare]

Missed your post before Brocktree. I largely agree with what you said. If you are relying on Mental Magic, then OBVIOUSLY the Sorceress is a much better choice. The thing is that it is quite possible to power through G5 by relying on highly levelled powerful creations alone. Yes, this is doable on Torment. If you want to do that, the skill point savings are not just for creation skills but also for Intelligence: the amount of Intelligence you'd need to make up that missing 13% essence will come to quite a hefty skill point total late in the game. I'm not saying this is a better route, just that while the Sorceress is the best at what she does, what she does is not the only game in town.

 

There are places where it is easier to have a really reliable Daze spell, and there are places where mental magic isn't effective anyway and it's easier to have creations that don't need help.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Brocktree

- Glaahks are lackluster, at best. They are expensive, their damage is low, they have only one source of damage (magic), can only attack with melee, and their stun is worthless. I really wish I had just made a pack of vlish, and leveled them up. Oh well, no great loss. I was planning to absorb the glaahks once I reached the Storm Plains anyway, although I might do so earlier, since they will be useless in Kraota-Kel.

Glaahks can be kinda sorta useful if you make a lot of them and use them to keep a single highly threatening enemy locked down. I did this once or twice on a no-magic run in G4. There are almost always better things to do with your essence, though.

[Aoslare]

I think glaahks may have changed between G4 and G5? I'm sure the nature of their attack changed at least once and possibly twice during the series. At one point it caused slow, at another point it caused stun. Also, how "stun" worked changed dramatically at one point (between G3 and G4 I think... right?) which may be the second change I'm thinking of.

[Roentgenium]

Hey, would you mind if I occasionally posted how I was doing in the game? I'm going to try to play a sorceress through the game on Torment, but I'll probably be doing several things wrong, since optimizing isn't my strong point in spiderweb games. I'm not terrible, but I'm not good. I'm going pro-shaper, since I honestly prefer the shaper's point of view. I'll try not to make my posts too long, though they'll probably be long anyhow, since I generally type my posts without looking at them, and look through them once I'm done typing. If you'd prefer I make my own thread, that's fine; I'd like putting it here, but I'm willing to make my own thread, if you don't want me to.

[Aoslare]

It might be easier to follow if you made your own thread. I wouldn't worry about getting an audience; the same people who read this thread will no doubt be interested in yours as well.

[Brocktree]

Originally Posted By: Roentgenium

Also, how far can you go with powergaming the sects?

I was wondering the same thing, which is why I've pulled out GF5 for a replay. I'm also motivated by the desire to see everything there is to see in the game. While I have completed GF5, I missed some areas because I just got tired of the brutal hammering I was receiving all around.

[Brocktree]

Quick update:

 

- Acquired the Projection Band at Noyde Pass, and equipped in favour of the Shielding band.

 

- Betrayed the Shadow Road to Rawal for that extra point in terror.

 

- Blasted through the Clockworks with relative ease, acquiring the Tinker's Gloves (+2 to mech).

 

- Was then able to acquire the trapped +2 daze canister at Kroata-Kel

 

At the end of Chapter 2, The Fog is level 28, and has five unfortunate Lvl 19 vlish in tow. I say unfortunate, as they are soon to be resorbed.

 

 

 

 

Equipped equipment includes:

 

- Coated Cloak

- Passage Stone

- Thahd Tunic

- Student Belt

- Empathy Blade

- Carnelian Gloves

- Samaratain sandles

- Projection Band

 

Other equipment includes:

 

- Tinker's gloves

- Blademaster charm

- Physicians charm

- Clawbug charm

 

Thoughts:

 

- My experiment with Glaahks was a failure. Vlish have more practical value throughout Chapter 2. This is a minor setback at best, though, since I'll have war tralls very soon.

 

- I could have snuck through the Foundry Repository, but it's time consuming to do so, and I'm not that masochistic. Your early game power would probably go up a little, though.

 

- My leadership and mechanics are too low to bother with the Shadow Road at this point.

 

- I decided against cranking up mechanics in order to steal the Shaper Robe from Rawal. The skill point investment in mechanics is far higher than the skill points saved from the +1 to battle shaping the robe grants

 

- You are showered with money in this game. I could probably have afforded to purchase a few more of the lower spell levels, although it's not a big deal.

 

- I can daze, terrify and dominate most things reliably. Exceptions include the Unbound, and the Patchwork roamers at the Foundry.

 

- I'm going to hold off investing in mental magic and spellcraft, and sink a lot of skill points into Battle Shaping, in anticipation of Rotties and Tralls. I probably won't start investing again until I acquire some equipment which boosts mental magic/spellcraft, so that I have some idea of what skill point investment is required.

 

- In Chapter 3, it will be a race to get Rotties and War Tralls ASAP, as I want as much time as possible to level them up.

 

- In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have gained so many level ups in Chapter 2, as I have reduced the maximum number of levels my tralls will be able to acquire later. Leaving Chapter 2 at level 15 would be desirable.

[Brocktree]

Update!

 

- Made a major investment in battle shaping, cranking it up to 8, in anticipation of war tralls.

 

- Chatted with Alwan and agreed to do the diplomacy with Ghaldy.

 

- Slipped into the Abandoned Farms and told Sage Ophilia I had rebel sympathies. I then purchased two levels of Rotgroth and made my first Rottie... The Magician! Starting at 620 hit points, my Rottie is a vast improvement on a horde of vlish. No-one shall control him, and he will destroy everything.

 

- Gave Helft Papers to Shaper Alexie to receive the Skein of Wisdom. +1 to intelligence is *far* better than the rewards offered by the rebels

 

- Purchase Strong daze and kill from Cyprien. These are now my staple spells (along with ice spray, dominate and terror).

 

- Provided the canister tome to rawal, and purchased two in quick action from Manola, so that I can act first in most battles.

 

- Completed the 'Kill bugs' quest for Ilyra (requires good shaper rep), and was rewarded with the piercing gauntlets and fyoraskin shield. I equipped equipped both. With +2 to QA and +2 to damage levels, I have 6QA total, allowing me to act before most enemies.

 

- Cranked battle magic up to 7 so that I can cast kill.

 

- Killed the glaahks in Hatra ruins, and collected the reward from Genzlen. +2 strength and dexterity to my rothgroth is pretty damn good.

 

- Had my audience with Ghaldring, and nicked the following canisters: Charm, war trall, and purifying rain. I also stole the demon fang talisman, which is easily the best necklace in the game.

 

Made a trall (lvl 41 820 hp). He is... he is... The Emperor! He shall destroy and hate Shaper kind.

 

- Beat up on on my Drakon challenger by charming both Kyshakks and allowing them to do the dirty work for me. I then snuck through the labs and beat up on Ghaldring's creations.

 

- Described gazuk-uss honestly to Alwan, and provided the additional info on unbound. I was rewarded with the projection belt, which I promptly equipped (+4 to creation strength and dexterity)

 

- Bought maximum of firebolt, blessing magic, burning spray, searer, ice spray, lightning aura, unlock, war blessing, speed, minor heal, cure afflication, and heal

 

- Boosted mental magic by 3, as I was starting to miss important charm/daze throws.

 

- I decided to take on the Okravano Sea Caves. I never bothered to clear this area in previous games. It is worth noting that the essence shades have a 40% chance to hit my tralls. At first I had no idea how to beat the shade triad, so I just ran by and attack the shaper shade. This was a *hard* fight. I created three corrupted thahds to distract him (corrupted thahds have high magic resistance). My rottie held off the shade triad while trall and I wailed on the Shaper shade. We got through by the skin of our teeth.

 

- I then tackled shade triad, and didn't get anywhere. I honestly thought the game was bugged, since I couldn't kill one of them by getting its health to 0. I was about to cheat with exitzone, until I realised that the fight was actually rather easy. I plastered each with lightning aura. Then The Emperor hit one, The Magician hit the second, and The Fog tackled the third. Given that the shades missed by creations 60% of the time, it was an easy victory.

 

- I pocketed the gruesome charm (+2 int) and Shaper robe.

 

- Purchased shaped greaves from Mukesh in Perkalia, and scrounged up my demon bile and mandrake tincture.

 

- Mandrake + demon bile + shaped greaves + solidifed flame = Sunfire greaves. equipped. I had to unequip the fyorascale shield to avoid encumbered

 

- Tackled the cryoa at the Western Pass with charged vlish. Exchanged the empathy blade for thirsting knife! Same benefits, no penalty to dex.

 

- Killed balme at the podling crossroads, and collected the flamecaster's shawl from Trahan.

 

- Acquired the pure quicksilver at the mountain crossroads!

 

- Killed the drakons and rotgroths at fort rockfall to acquire the symbiotic cloak, which was then equipped (+2 to PC end, +1 to creation end)

 

- Ducked back to Gorash-kel to get resistance aura canister. Unfortunately I can't cast it (nor purifying rain) at this point.

 

- Stormed the foundry. Acquired the volcanic fetish, and more importantly, my second demon's bile. Also filched the mental focus charm (+1 to spellcraft)

 

- Purchased shaped gauntlets from Mukesh in Perkalia.

 

- Demon bile + mandrake tincture + shaped gauntlets + pure quicksilver = lifeforce gauntlets. They were promptly equipped, and added one point of strength added so that I was not encumbered

 

- Assault patchworks hit for 40% at this point.

 

I will post images in my next post.

 

I'm honestly having a powergamer's dilemma. Part of me wants to join Taygen (which was my intention to begin with), but I'll be missing out on what is easily the best blade in the game (Guardian's Claymore). My lack of strength is really starting to hurt, and a few more points of quick action would help me retain the initiative.

 

Oh well, I still have to make my way to the Dera Reaches, so there's time to weigh up the pros and cons. Coming up is the *shudder* Perkalia Orchards.

[Randomizer]

The worst part of the Perkalia Orchards is not getting death blow experience.

[Brocktree]

Originally Posted By: Randomizer

The worst part of the Perkalia Orchards is not getting death blow experience.

The worst part of the Perkalia orchards is spending 30 minutes on the battle, and then getting one-shotted by an assault cryodrayk.

Here are some screenshots of my character/creations after the Perkalia Orchards assault.

Abilities: http://www.box.net/shared/rbz7boo3mu7eo7nzeij1

Skills: http://www.box.net/shared/c2ojf3byhk66dnvn7989

The Magician's stats: http://www.box.net/shared/e3hyjiciolxdonjuv54l

The Emperor's Stats: http://www.box.net/shared/xd5vxbumm6y3bipxe7ns

items:

- symbiotic cloak
- demon talisman
- thahdskin tunic
- projection belt
- vampiric blade
- sunfire greaves
- Samaritan sandals
- projection band
- lifeforce gauntlets

other:
- gruesome charm
- tinker's gauntlets
- volcanic fetish
- shaper robe
- skein of wisdom
- blademaster charm
- clawbug charm
- physicians charm

[Brocktree]

- Ducked back to get the infiltrator cloak from the Mountain crossroads

 

- An easy battle with the Unbound and rogues at the Dera north bridge. I've always wondered why the Dera Reaches is in such a bad way, when the loyalist soldiers in this region are perhaps the strongest in Terrestia.

 

- Whacked renata for her submission baton(camp west alpha). Yeah, it's cheap, I know.

 

- Created Star, another War Trall (level 42, 916 hp). Star shall never fail a test of strength.

 

- Asked to join Taygens faction

 

- After much experimentation, I broke the game, and managed to figure out how to successfully complete Taygen's quest to destroy Camp Dranir, while also obtaining the Guardian Claymore and Mindwarp Seal!

 

The trick is as follows:

 

- Offer to help the servile leader.

 

- Trigger the fight, so that the loyalist Guardian spawns.

 

- Allow the Shaper raiders to whittle down most of the army, (and vice versa), but make sure the Guardian *does not die*.

 

- Kill the servile leader.

 

- You have just satisfied Taygens quest.

 

- Hightail it out of the camp without killing the Guardian

 

- Mark off the quest with Taygen

 

- Now return to the camp. The Shapers have disappeared, but you can cause them to respawn by walking over the same area that triggers the encounter

 

- Rush out towards the north edge of the map, buff up, and wait for 'the main force of the Shaper army' to spawn

 

- Attack them before they walk off the map

 

 

 

- Marked off the 'Capture Camp Dranir' from Taygen. Equipped the Guardian Claymore and Mindwarp seal.

[Lilith]

man with a name like that you must be really sick of hearing people ask you to sing american pie

 

seriously though nice work, although i usually went for the Smoking Gauntlets rather than the Lifeforce Gauntlets, just because the Firesteel Gauntlets are amazing once you can make them

 

are you finding the rotghroth useful? i found their damage output sort of underwhelming

[Brocktree]

I was torn between shooting for the Lifecrafter Gauntlets, and the Firesteel Gauntlets. In the end, I decided to reach a compromise. I'll aim for the Lifecrafter Gauntlets, and use the Solidified Flame to craft some Sunfire greaves for a Spellcraft bonus.

 

My rottie is pulling his weight. His health is slightly less than the war tralls, and his damage might be as well. The rottie's lack of magic resistance also makes him the prey of Kyshakks

 

On the other hand, the Rottie proves his worth against opponents who use physical damage (Rothgroths have much higher physical resistance than tralls), as well as acid and poison damage.

 

I don't regret creating The Magician.

[Vempele]

Originally Posted By: Roentgenium

Also, how far can you go with powergaming the sects?

You can get multiple people (everyone but Taygen?) to the point where they ask you to go to the Shaper Council meeting, IIRC. But since you want to end up with Alwan, you'll have to leave Litalia early, too.

Start with Taygen since everyone else has a quest to ruin his plans. Then Astoria, as releasing the Shredbugs would alienate her. Then Litalia so you can destroy Trakovite Haven for the Drakons afterwards.

Hmm, Astoria + Litalia + Ghaldring might lower your reputation dangerously much. I never had that problem as I did Alwan before Litalia (her Storm Plains quest alienates him).

All of the above is a big IIRC.

[Brocktree]

I was thinking Taygen -> Alwan -> Astoria -> Litalia -> Ghaldring.

 

BTW, I currently have a very pro-Shaper rep, and was a little worried I might not be able to rebound back from it. However, I have confirmed that when I give rebel answers to all my 'reputation depots', I can get an offer from Ghaldring to join the rebellion.

[Brocktree]

- Got control core B mission from Alwan, but I'll leave it for later.

 

 

- Killed the serviles for Platano, and joined Taygen's goose-stepping faction.

 

- Equipped the clawbug carapace for +1 to QA

 

- Purchased 2 levels of war trall from the factional trainer, and recreated star, whose level jumped from 42 to 44

 

- Purchased mass madness from factional trainer.

 

- Used mass restore canister in zephyr oasis.

 

- I finally made the plunge and pumped healing craft up to 9 so that I can cast mass restore. This is crucial for sustaining high hit point creations at higher levels.

 

- Lifted the puresteel from the purity workshop

 

- Completed Taygen's 'fyora scale' quest. Reward = Agent cloak, runed onyx. I think I'll continue wearing the symbiotic cloak for the HP boost.

 

- Use the mass madness canister on pacification road

 

- Beat up on shaper ghost, and equipped the Shaper's Boon

 

- Purchased essence shackles (don't know why I didn't do this as soon as I got to the Storm Plains!)

 

- Just as an aside, servants of Taygen can score some resistance and restoration spores from keeper Wethers at Camp Beta. Not much at this point, but still better than a war trall rock in the crotch.

 

- Ducked into Kayar's spire to loot it, use a purifying rain canister, and have the control tool removed

 

- Ducked into the spire cells to acquire the talisman of might, and more importantly, the essence infused iron!

 

- Use the essence infused iron to create lifecrafter gauntlets! Now I can finally cast purified rain, and my war tralls have over 1,000 hit points each!

[Brocktree]

Hi all,

 

I don't have the time to give a lengthy update, but I want to give a brief summary on my playthrough at the moment.

 

So far the powergaming is going well. However, I have a couple of regrets.

 

- I spent far too much time leveling up in the second Chapter, instead of pushing on to the Storm Plains. As such, my war tralls and rotdizhon have lost perhaps 10-15 levels that they could have received otherwise. In retrospect, getting a spell (eg. dominate) early has no long-term impact on your game. However, getting a creation early does, since it provides an invaluable opportunity to level them up.

 

- After learning two in Rothgroth, I should have made the dash to the Western Passes to get that Rothgroth canister. I reabsorbed my rothgroth and made a rothdizon, and it is just amazing.

 

- I should also have gotten the war trall canister much earlier (shortly after being able to create rothdizons)

 

- I should have taken Lilith's advice about creating the gauntlets which give +5 to all magic skills. While my character can terrify/dominate most vanilla enemies, the chance of succeeding against high level enemies (eg eyebeasts, drakons) is about 25-50%. Had I created the Blazing Gauntlets, I would be able to reliably charm/terrify/daze virtually anything in the game which is not immune to mental effects. Unfortunately, my character is level 43, so pumping spellcraft/mental magic by 10 is out of the question.

 

- My healing craft is too low. I can't cast the final Healing Craft Spell, and this hurts me

 

- I should have purchased the Banish Affliction spell earlier in the game, because lightning aura really is a pain in the ass.

 

Other thoughts:

 

- A shaper/magician class needs at least 125 spare essence, so that they can cast the upper tier spells.

 

- Regeneration aura loses its value once you gain high hp creations. I have found that of all the aura spells, Battle Aura is actually the most useful. Elemental Aura is good for those hard hitting magic opponents

 

- Essence blade is not worth casting on your creations, IMHO. That essence is better off being saved for another creation, *or* for your character. Essence blades will give a higher damage output for your PC, as your PC will have two attacks, and a powerful group attack spell (aura of flames)

 

- Mass Madness is pretty awesome. You can charm entire hordes of enemies, and then pick them off one by one.

 

- Your damage output can rival (or even exceed) that of a creation when you use kill, aura of flames, or essence lances

 

At the moment, not much can touch me. Unfortunately, I can't take down the head Unbound in Gorash-Kel. He destroys my PC like I owe him money.

 

 

[Lilith]

Regeneration Aura stops being much use for in-combat healing pretty fast, but it's great for healing between fights.

 

I found Essence Blade to be a worthwhile buff, except that unlike the other long-term buffs it does actually wear off eventually if you stand around for a while. I only bothered with it for very serious fights where I could justify burning a few essence pods to cover the cost.

 

The problem I experienced with using the main character as a damage-dealer later in the game is that attacking enemies makes them more likely to target you, and building a sorceress/lifecrafter with enough Endurance to take hits is a waste of skill points that could go into other skills. Casting Aura of Flames is basically equivalent to taping a "kick me" sign to your own back.

[Brocktree]

- Acquired crystals (from Remote Woods) for bellock in perkalia - dhonal's band!

 

- Purchased - banish affliction from Cyprien. Increased blessing magic to 8 (4 skill points) so that The Fog can cast resistance aura. Resistance Aura grants 25-40% damage reduction against elemental and magical damage. Generally I cast this when fighting enemies with heavy damaging magical attacks (gazers)

 

- Purchased 'cleanse group' from factional leader

 

- Used the Dominate canister in the Perkalia stronghold. I should have done this *ages* ago.

 

- Added 1 to intelligence, spellcraft, and mental magic

 

- Fought my way to the Middle Shadow Road, and snagged the infiltrator tunic and strong daze canister

 

- Beat up on the master of the Secret lab, and acquired the eyebeast eye, pure quicksilver, and focusing crystal

 

- Gave the focusing crystal to Taygen.

 

 

- Retrieved the Demon bile from south mera road, and mandrake tincture from secret labs.

 

- Demon bile + mandrake + shaped boots + pure qs = mercuric boots

 

- Mercuric boots + crystalline fibres = assassins boots. Equipped! +1 to strength was required to avoid encumbrance

 

- Lifted the eyebeast eye from Kayar's spire

 

- Forged two golden crystals with the eyebeast eyes

 

- One added to assassin's boots

- Other added to lifecraft gauntlets

 

- Camp alpha - Used war trall canister, got the stability suit off Subadai. The stability suit was equipped, but I needed to drop my Clawbug carapace, and increase strength by 1, to avoid encumbrance.

 

- Changed out symbiotic cloak for the agent cloak. In retrospect, the stat bonuses provided by the agent cloak are much better.

 

- Thistlewood - Acquired essence blade and solidified flame

 

- Perkalia orchards - Acquired essence lances

 

- Now I always cast essence blades on myself.

 

- Bennhold's Keep - I surrounding Bennhold with my creations to prevent him from retreating, terrified him, and beat him to death at my leisure. Acquired the puresteel charm, reaper baton, and puresteel.

 

- Western passes - Easily wasted Jorael-eye, and used the Create rothgroth canister.

 

- Resorbed The Magician, and recreated him as a rotdhizon (level 46, hp 1058)

 

- Dera south shores - Killed the Unbound for Smith Fitz, then killed *him* to acquire his puresteel blade

 

- Dera vaults = Killed habas eye, and snagged his eyebeast stalk and golden crystal

 

- Shaper's boon + golden crystal

 

- Forged golden crystal with eyebeast eye

 

- Projection belt + golden crystal

 

- Vaniquished twin gazer. Obtained essence infused iron,

scrying stone, and healing craft canister

 

- Gave scrying stone to taygen. Reward: golden crystal, gloves of the hammer

 

- Purchased two parry, melee, missile

 

- Golden crystal + puresteel blade

 

- Completed purity agent, and marked this off with Taygen

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

I'm off to Lerman's pass

 

Items:

 

items:

 

- agent cloak

- demon talisman

- stability suit

- projection belt (resist effects)

- guardian claymore

- sunfire greaves

- assassin's boots (resist effects)

- forbidden band (resist effects)

- lifecrafter gauntlets (resist effects)

 

other:

- gruesome charm

- tinker's gauntlets

- Puresteel blade (+ golden crystal)

- volcanic fetish

- shaper robe

- skein of wisdom

- blademaster charm

- clawbug charm

- physicians charm

- puresteel charm

- lucky charm

- essence infused iron

- solidified flame

 

Character skills

http://www.box.net/shared/d5osimuj6vbd8z0g59fb

 

Character abilities

http://www.box.net/shared/j6kb8iu732z923rgagfr

 

The Magician

http://www.box.net/shared/ujsv1788ni0f0fd5yv4j

 

The Emperor (Level 51)

http://www.box.net/shared/n9g8xpcmydmtbmseqmr5

 

Star

http://www.box.net/shared/69hddaqrnl2y6louner2

 

The Magician hits for 140 each strike (that's not including quick action strikes and his extra attack every round). If one considers quick action and his second attack, The Magician probably does 364 damage each round. Acid damage probably kicks that up to 400.

 

Star and The Emperor do about 275 damage each hit.

 

With Bless and Essence Blade, The Fog can do 400+ damage with each Kill spell

 

 

[Lilith]

i'm kind of embarrassed that i didn't see the theme you were going for with the creation names until now

[Brocktree]

Don't worry. I won't say anything about the liieeyyff seikel

[Trenton.]

??? liieeyyff seikel? what the crud? were you trying to hide words in there or somthing...

[Brocktree]

[Trenton.]

0.o That was the most disterbing 2 minutes of my young life

 

*closes the youtube tab and sits quietly*

 

Never have I seen such terrible animation and voices

[Aoslare]

And here I was thinking it was just a major arcana theme.

[Brocktree]

Originally Posted By: Trenton Uchiha, rebel servile.

0.o That was the most disterbing 2 minutes of my young life

*closes the youtube tab and sits quietly*

Never have I seen such terrible animation and voices

What's that? You want more?!

Hm hm hm hm hm hm hm.

[Lilith]

 

apparently the story behind this one is that Sony at the time would refuse to allow the release of English-language games with a Japanese voice track but no English one, so an executive from the localisation company and his family pretty much voice-acted the entire script themselves in a day, with the expectation that everyone would either opt for the Japanese voices or turn them off entirely

[Alorael at Large]

I find House of the Dead much worse. At least the Chaos Wars voices sound like people who aren't very experienced actors reading a script. Goldman's voice actor sounds like he's reading a script and can't read well enough to even guess at what the inflection should be.

 

—Alorael, who thinks House of the Dead might be better off with terrible synthesized voices. Sure, they'd sound awful, but at least it would be obvious why.