items and spells

[Admiral Snackbar]

I am carrying around all kinds of crystals and test tube stuff, is there anywhere I can stash these so it doesn't encumber me?

 

Also, if I am a guardian, should I put one point into blessing and mental magic for speed and unlock?

[Jaid]

you could always just leave all the stuff in one big pile.

 

for the record, beakers aren't useful for anything... may as well sell them. shaper equipment you should keep though.

 

most of the gemstones and crystals aren't that useful for crafting into stuff either. if you do plan on making wands and magic stones (like the icy crystals, for example), you may want to keep a few around (maybe 10 of each, if that). there is a walkthrough that will tell you all recipes... if you want, look it up and find out what you want, and keep what you need for that.

 

as far as speed and unlock are concerned, i believe you will need 4 levels of blessing for speed, and 3 levels of mental for unlock... as far as should you do it, that depends on how much you want them. there are probably enough speed pods/spores to cover the majority of the times you really need haste, but if you plan on using it a lot than putting points into blessing magic is probably worth it. as far as unlock... well, that depends. the higher your mechanics skill, the less you need unlock, because you will need fewer living tools.

 

in the end, it's all up to you.

[Admiral Snackbar]

Ok, I only ask because the Gamefaqs FAQ about the game says ALL characters should get both spells.

[Elizara]

If you can afford to hold off investing in magic skills until Dhonal's isle, there is someone in the keep who will train you in them for money, assuming you haven't trained in them at all since. I think you can get 2 points in each that way.

[Admiral Snackbar]

I wonder what it costs. I am not making much money selling flawed crystals to Veil hehe.

[Jaid]

3,000 each for battle, mental, and blessing magic. 3500 for spellcraft. you can buy a max of two in each, presuming you haven't trained them at all so far (ie, you haven't spent any skill points, including the 15 beginning ones, to improve it... canisters and books are fine), so if you want all that would be 25,000 coins. if you only want mental and blessing, that's 12,000 coins.

 

it isn't as much as it sounds like, presuming you pick up everything (and i mean everything, not just everything you consider worth picking up... potted plants, sellable trowels, pots, sandals, tunics, food that can be stacked... everything). of course, if you don't want to spend the time picking up all that stuff, you should still be able to get them... it will just take you a little longer. and you may not get some stuff you want later. it all really just comes down to how much you want all the stuff you can buy. if you don't mind not getting battle magic and spellcraft upgraded, then you can obviously get away with buying less. if you don't feel the need to shape eyebeasts, or to buy canisters, then once again you don't need as much (or if you just break into all the places with canisters like i do =P)

[Admiral Snackbar]

Wow, I didn't think you had to go as far as selling potted plants and trowels, that's pretty sad. I guess I would only do it if I was sure having the magic points is worth it. Why would the guy from Gamefaqs say ALL characters should get it?

[Jaid]

all characters want speed because all characters will want to have more APs (which, by the way, the spell is much better than the pods. pods only get you to 10 AP, or at least spores do, whereas the spell will get you 50% more... 12, presuming no other modifiers).

 

when you have enough items that boost your APs, then that makes a rather significant difference. for example, if you have either the emerald chestguard or the crystalline shroud, you will be able to get 15 APs when hasted. 15 APs means 3 attacks... which is pretty nice, wouldn't you say?

 

all characters want unlock because all characters want to be able to get into doors without using living tools if possible. if you don't use it, i understand there is a shortage of living tools by the end of the game. personally, by using unlock and having a high mechanics skill, i have plenty of leftovers, and haven't had to buy any, which is rather nice.

 

like i said, you don't have to grab and sell everything if you only want some of the trainings and such. i'm talking about if you want every single training that is available in the game, you will have to sell a lot of stuff, and obviously before you can sell it you have to have it in your possession.

 

for example, as a shaper character, i have bought training in missile weapons, quick action, and parry. of which i only ever use quick action very often at all (i prefer to not get attacked at all, so i don't get many opportunities to parry). and even quick action i don't really need.

 

but anyways, if you are just trying to get certain skills and such, don't worry about it. for example, i would guess you don't care if you train in create glaahk or create battle alpha. i, on the other hand, chose to improve those. you probably don't care what your battle magic skill may be (and may not care enough to buy the spellcraft skill, although it will have some usefulness for healing, and blessing magic and such).

 

simply not buying battle magic frees up 6,000 coins. not buying training in tier 3 creations will save you a bunch more, probably around 7,000 coins i would guess (it would be more, except you don't find anyone who will train you in create drayk, to my knowledge). if you don't care to pay to be shaped to improve your create gazer skill, that's another 5,000 coins.

 

in other words, there are some things you may simply not care about. if you don't want those things, then you should be fine only grabbing stuff that sells for a decent amount. if, on the other hand, you want every single training you can get, every canister you can get (i do that mostly by picking locks, but many of them you can buy), and every single shaping you can get, then you will be needing a lot of money, because it will get expensive.

 

in fact, i think the Gamefaqs suggests picking up stuff that has a value/pound of 12 or more as being a good rule of thumb, and he was probably assuming you won't bother buying things you won't use.

 

the only reason _i_ have had to do that, is because i bought stuff i won't use and don't need... an increased strength, for example, costing 6,000 coins, or any of the battle creations, several spells (i don't think i've ever actually cast daze, for example), create glaahk, create artila... there are many things i have bought that i don't use. (i also bought a guardian claymore instead of stealing it, which might account for some of it).

 

[edit] sorry about the length... think i got a little carried away =\ [/edit]

[Admiral Snackbar]

Ah ok. So you're saying since I won't be upping my shaping skills I can invest points in speed and unlock?

[Rhan]

Hold so you mean you can craft crap out of shaper equipment?! could u do this in gf 2? and how come they didnt tell me that when i started gf3? or did i just miss it not paying attention?

[Jaid]

in a sense.

 

what i'm saying is that *if* you don't up your shaping skills, you will be able to afford other things.

 

in your case, you may not want shaping skills. if i hadn't had a time period where i had too much money, i probably wouldn't have ever bought the combat skills, and would likely be fine.

 

if i had stolen a guardian blade from Lord Rahul instead of buying one, i would have been even better off. that would be another 15,000 or so right there.

 

[edit] 15,000 between those things, not just the sword =P [/edit]

[Rhan]

so what are all the other little things i must of missed like the crafting thing? and what exactly is shaper equipment for and do?

[Jaid]

hmmm... Rhan, i think i was typing my answer when you posted... the above was intended as an answer to Justin's question.

 

as far as crafting stuff... well, you will find 'recipes' from time to time (there will be books, for example, with recipes or partial recipes in them). basically, it will tell you to take several different things and combine them on an avil (of the enchanted variety). alternatively, you can go to a walkthrough for very specific and direct instructions on making stuff, as opposed to the sometimes vague recipes you will find in-game (although, who knows... maybe you'll find a new one if you just play around. i kinda suspect someone would have found them all simply by looking up the script, but you never know... )

 

anything that is a body part from a creation (for example, a perfect fyora scale, or an artila eye) can be used in creating stuff. rings and necklaces can be used as well, with the type depending on what you want to make.

 

gemstones and crystals of all varieties can be used as well, but you may or may not be interested in crafting the stuff you can make from them (mostly wands/rods, and magic crystals).

 

you will also find stones and gems that you can simply combine with any weapon or armor (with a few exceptions) to give it some form of bonus. most of those will say what they do in the description (but not necessarily numerically).

 

as far as making stuff out of shaper equipment... well, that never happens. what you can do, is sell them to someone on the 4th island as a quest. it is slightly pro-rebel in nature, but shouldn't shift people's opinions of you so long as you have been pretty firmly pro-shaper previously (and of course, if you are pro-rebel, then doing pro-rebel stuff is not likely a problem for you). as i recall, it's something like 40 coins per shaper equipment, plus a few XP, which doesn't seem to ever decrease, regardless of your level. that is the only things you can do with shaper equipment to my knowledge (with the obvious exception of selling it at a normal store, that is).

[Admiral Snackbar]

I think I might just train for speed and unlock. The problem is that I don't have enough essence to cast anything and I can only make something as good as a thahd. Will that make the game harder?

[Jaid]

hmmm... what level are you? if you want to have better spellcasting/creation abilities, you will probably have to put a few points into intelligence. even then, since you are a guardian, you won't ever really become very good at it, you'll just be better at it than you are now. that's the drawback to being a guardian.

 

but anyways, just give it time. i am guessing you are rather low level (5 or under, and probably below 3 even if you can literally get nothing better than a thahd), and at that point even a shaper can't manage much more than 2 fyoras, probably at least 1 of which won't have enough intelligence to take orders...

 

in any event, by the time you have bought the spells, and have the skills needed to cast the spells, i suspect you will have enough essence to have several minor creations and still cast some of the lower cost spells once or twice.

 

plus, i don't know if you will even need to spend any points for unlock... if i remember right, you can get carnelian gloves fairly early on, and i don't think you find any gloves much better than that for quite a long time... by which time you will hopefully have improved your magic skills by other means.

[Admiral Snackbar]

I am level 8. All my points have gone into melee, strength, mechanics and leadership. I am done with mechanics and leadership for the time being.

[Jaid]

hmmm... i see... i think you should have at least a little bit more essence than that. how much essence do you have exactly, in terms of a number?

[Admiral Snackbar]

1/21 right now.

[Jaid]

hmmm... so max essence 21... well, that's enough for an artila, roamer, or vlish at least (including 2 points of intelligence). of course, at the moment you don't have those skills available, i think, but the option is there once you get them.

 

you should, alternatively, be able to have one thahd (or fyora) with 2 points into intelligence, and have 10 essence left over for other stuff.

 

so, basically, as far as i can tell, you must have your essence spent on improving some creation (boosting strength or something, i guess?), because with just 1 fyora (or just 1 thahd) with 2 intelligence it should only cost 11...

[Kat Zarai]

When you say 'trained in a skill' I take it you mean adding points to something after the initial character creation screen, yes? So if I want to have my 2 buyable training sessions I can't add points to anything I can buy training for in the screen I get by clicking on the little '?' button by my portrait, no?

[Lilith]

That's right. As a result, there are some skills that it just isn't sensible for some classes to buy training in, because they'll need them early on.

[Jaid]

pretty sure that includes the initial 15 points they give you as well, but otherwise yes.

 

however, for the record, in geneforge 3 at least, i am pretty sure you can only train the magic skills, combat skills, specific creation skills (like create fyora for example, but not fire shaping), and spells.

 

so that leaves you with a fairly wide variety of choices to put your points into while you wait (although, as was pointed out, some things you still won't want to wait for, depending on your class)

[NanaBanana]

Quote:

Originally written by Justin Y.:
I am carrying around all kinds of crystals and test tube stuff, is there anywhere I can stash these so it doesn't encumber me?

Also, if I am a guardian, should I put one point into blessing and mental magic for speed and unlock?

Justin, after reading all your posts in this thread, I would like to tell you of my experiences.

In the early part of the game, I try to grab at least one of each item I run across. When I get to the closest "store", I see which items are sellable. The rest I ditch in a pile outside the store. I then make trips back and forth collecting the sellable items. Tends to make the game a little longer, but it's a good way to get coinage. (I finished the game with almost 20,000 coins.) Once you have killed all the rogues in an area, being encumbered isn't a big deal, so I carry all I can hold. Later in the game I don't mess too much with the smaller priced items but they help a lot in the early part.

If I find myself overburdened with enhancement items, I find a central location to stock pile them. After I've completely cleared the island, I move them all to the exit dock and transport them to the next isle where I leave them near the entrance dock. I did finish the game without many enhancements, just a few blessing crystals and a runed ruby or two. Most of the weapons/armor you find are sufficient to finish the game.

I didn't invest in blessing OR mental magic. I didn't use any canisters. Most of my points were invested in strength, endurance, intellegence, HEALING, some in parry and quick action, luck, mechanics and leadership. I carried all the lucky charms with me, as well as some of the items that would boost some of my skills. (mechanics, luck, leadership)

I hope this helps. Enjoy the game.

[Jaid]

in GF3 they are kind enough to just outright let you know if a given object can be sold. specifically, when you move the mouse over the object (provided it isn't something you would have to steal) it will tell you the value of the object. you can sell anything with a value of 4 or higher, including things that stack up to be worth more than 4 (such as food). so, it should be pretty obvious...