|
Lazy Programming posted:There is a boss in Moscow that is a huge pain in the rear end unless you finish Taipei first, other than that, you can do it in any order and switch locations at anytime. Ah excellent. Thanks very much 
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 04:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 10:54 |
|
|
Kirios posted:So I'm going for the Star Ocean: The Last Hope platinum. I've heard it takes upwards of 300 hours, so I expect to play it on and off for a year. Any tips that the Goons could give me on this endeavor? It's really a huge pain to get 100% due to some of the battle trophies. Note that stuff like kill counts are not shared over multiple files, so if you get 1000 kills on one file, you start over at 0 on another playthrough. I'd suggest keeping one "main" file to grind trophies on, and have other files just to rush through the higher difficulties. Here are the hardest ones: - 2 characters need to kill 30000 enemies each, and you have to be controlling them as you get the kill. - EVERY character has to do 200 solo coliseum battles. - For each enemy type, you need 255 rare item drops (these come from -ology skills). - A certain character leaves you and is replaced by another, and BOTH characters have trophies. But you can only choose from 1 of them, so you'll need another save file just to do the other's trophies. - Then there is the retarded stuff like jumping thousands of times or doing EXACTLY a certain amount (like 12,345 or 77,777) of damage. lactomangulation fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Oct 18, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 04:11
|
|
|
SpazmasterX posted:Almost every clock you come across has an elixir in it. That's true but there's some cool stuff as part of that betting chain, including the Merit Badge which is a great way to break Gau. Draile posted:As if Final Fantasy 3/VI wasn't broken enough:  I don't think I ever knew that. You mean the treasure room that switches to the gray-ish tileset?
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 04:12
|
|
|
MrMondayNight posted:Ah excellent. Thanks very much Moscow also has more of a combat focus, so people recommend that you not do it first and instead get a few levels under your belt, but it honestly isn't really that big a deal. It also isn't a big deal which order you do the missions in on your first run through the game though, so there's also no reason not to do taipei before trying moscow for the help with the boss fight. Just make sure you check your intel purchases before starting the mission, you have to buy the help first.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 04:55
|
|
|
Lockback posted:Awesome thread. Europa Universalis III - If you don't have the expansions, get them. They make the game a lot more fun. I will give advice for the Heir to the Throne version. - There is no "winning" in the game. You just set your goals for your empire and try to reach them before time runs out. - The EU3 wiki is your friend. - As a new player, you will lose to France. Several times. There is a reason France was so hated/feared between the 15th and 19th centuries. You will learn how to deal with them. Of course, you could always ally them early on in the game and never abandon them in any war. Sure, your neighbors will hate you, but you'll never have to worry about a land war in europe again. Or play as France. Ally all your vassals except for one one province vassal. Cancel the vassalazation agreement and attack 1 month later. Free reconquest cassus belli. Rinse and repeat until you run out of allies. Congrats, now just conquer everyone else. - People will advise you to play a minor nation when you start your first few games. They are pussies and this is boring. - Your first national idea should be military drill. Your first idea comes at govt level 4. You start at 3. Make a beeline for it, then try and modernize your army. -Don't go over your army supply limit. Feel free to exceed your naval supply limit by as much as 50%. Unless you know what you're doing, dont bother building galleys/galleases/light ships. Always heavy ships. The one exception is building and leaving a lovely galley in every one of your ports to keep out pirates. Pirates are annoying. Cogs transport units, 1 unit per cog. -Early on cav are more powerful than infantry. This changes over time with the balance shifting towards infantry. 4 cav, 6 infantry to start, 4c/11i midgame, 4c/13i/8a once you can start building chambered demi cannons. Is a good rule of thumb. Policy - Always centralize authority if you can but dont go past your government slider limits. Then focus on freedom, then whatever else you need. Narrowmindedness helps with stability and the pope at the cost of science. - Balance out +5 narrowmindedness by making sliding towards Freedom instead of serfdom. Large empires can afford to build expensive armies, but if you fall behind in tech, you're hosed. - Keep stability at +3 at all costs unless its a random event that pushes the slider in a direction you dont want. - Switch to Empire as soon as you can. The magistrates are worth it. - Your reputation is very important. If it jumps above 30 you will be locked in endless wars with most of your neighbors and their allies. This will kill you if you are weak, or annoy you when you are strong. Try not to declare war without a casus belli. It will ruin your reputation and piss off your populace. Use a spy to manufacture a war if need be. Unless you have an awesome casus belli like "excommunication" or "holy war" don't gobble up rival territories like pac-man. Use your casus belli and only take territories at discounted reputation rates. As war winds down, hire a bunch of diplomats (not ambassadors) to lower your reputation. Remember, the higher your culture, the better the advisor, so go hog wild with your cultural use of magistrates/trading game. - Try Castille as your first nation. guaruntee Navarra. Take out a loan and build a mixed army 4 parts cavalry, 6 parts infantry. Keep building infantry till yourr low on cash. You'll get a reconquista mission against the moors. Use the cassus belli that gives a discount on almeria and gibralter. Declare war on the moors, defeat them with the main army and send/detach at least 1 unit of infantry in their 3 territories. Keep attacking their main army with your main army until they are exterminated. Seige the cities until you control all three of their provinces. Make peace but demand alameria/gibralter. Dont worry about Morocco, they'll offer a white peace eventually. By now, Aragon will have attacked Navarra. Use your gauruntee as an excuse to invade them. Use the same tactics as before. Once you've conquered all of their territories except the Balaeres, they'll offer all their territories except Barcelona and the Balares for peace. Take it. Manufacture an "obscure documents" casus belli using spies against portugal. Force them into a diplomatic union. By now the truce with Aragon will have ended. Attack Aragon, take the Balares and any provinces that remain (excepting Barcelona which they wont surrender) and force them to revoke claims on their former territories. Wait for the truce to end and finish off aragon, before you make peace with them, declare war on the moors and capture granada. Annex aragon, then annex granada. If you did it right you'll just finished the reconquista (-10rep, so 20ish rep total), control most of modern spain, have a permanant ally in Portugal (which will eventually be inherited by you, including their yummy colonies) and are ready to square off against france by the 1420s. France will probably try and invade you once or twice. Keep your men on her border, raze your lands, retreat and use attrition to wear down her stacks of doom. Get your rep down to zero. Wait for France to be towards the end of a long war with England/HRE and use any and all excuses to attack France and grab as much territory as possible. You should have been mmoving your policy slider towards narrowmindedness (for future colonization/stability) and should probably control the Papacy. If you do, excommunicate her and use that as an excuse. The world is your oyster. -Or if you want to be really cheesy, play as Burgandy. Don't use magistrates to expand the empire. Take a loan, build as large of an army as you can, and declare war on France. Take as much land as you can for peace but still remain under 30 reputation. Use all your newfound wealth to bribe the electors into naming you Holy Roman Emperor. Spend the next 100-150 years playing German police (with French lands, you can actually leverage an HRE army capable of defending member states from foreign invasions/eachother) while dropping your rep to zero. This basically means: 1. Answering every and any call to defend member states. Don't take any lands or vassals in peace deals, just maintain the status quo/force nations like Austria to release entire nations. 2. Making as many treaties, open border agreements (but not alliances), with member states, letting new nations into the HRE. You'll rack up imperial authority like gangbusters. Everytime you hit 50, pass an edict up until you become hereditary emperor. Now keep on keeping on until you have enough authority to "Revoke the Priviligia". Make sure your infamy is zero or you'll be sorry. Revoke the priviligia. No more herding kittens. Ally with all your vassals. Deal with the holdouts. Defend your vassals. Now use your magistrates to expand the empire anywhere you can. If you don't get enough authority to pass the last edict, conquer more of France and expand the empire. Pass the edict. Congrats, you've broken the game by 1500 AD. -- Another fun game breaker is playing as China. Pick any and all religious decisions that boost missionaries. Pick the national idea that gives bonus missionaries. Conquer the nearest territory thats Hindu. Save your game. Drop your stability (Consider starting a war without a casus belli against a weak, unallied neighbor) and send a missionary to that territory. When religious rebels pop up, go to your religion advisor and give in to their demands. Congratulations, you've just converted. Now you get +5% taxes in every Hindu city rather than -50% taxes in a confucian city. Spend the next several hundred years converting China to Hinduism, centralizing authority, and becoming more innovative. Grab land a muslim neighbor, westernize. Find an Eastern European neighbor westernize. Find a latin neighbor and westernize. Now modernize your army. Now you can stand up to any invading European/Turk.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 05:23
|
|
|
Cholfo posted:Any good advice on Borderlands? I'm thinking about picking up the GOTY edition next paycheck/first steam sale. Don't expect anything deep. It's fun, but you'll probably bang through it once and delete it. Your most important item is your SHIELD. Regardless of class, the shield spells the difference between Dead and Not Dead. (hint: Not Dead is better). Rarity is no guarantee of quality, nor is price. Rocket launchers are fun, but they aren't as omgawesome as they are in most other shooters. Ammo and health kits are dirt cheap. Always max them out. Never buy an item that you can't use, but can after a few levels. You will invariably find a better item before then. This rule applies to almost any Diablo-type. Using a vending machine does NOT pause the game! Make sure no baddies followed you there! You can have more than $999999, it just won't show it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 08:20
|
|
|
Cholfo posted:Any good advice on Borderlands? I'm thinking about picking up the GOTY edition next paycheck/first steam sale. Rocket launchers are universally poo poo, even on a specially built and bonused Brick. Pay special attention to Deal of the Day item on vending machines; they are often more powerful than the rest of the inventory. Easy way to defeat Mad Mel is to use a machine gun buggy, lock on to him with spacebar, then just drive around while keeping the trigger pulled. pigdog fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Oct 18, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 08:40
|
|
|
thrakkorzog posted:A few other notes on Fallout 3: 1) That isnt entirely accurate, stealth IS affected by the pipboy light (As an aside; Americans dont use "Torch" to mean flashlight? I did not know that. Its like when I found out that you guys dont say "fortnight".) as well as movement speed, using a noisy weapon and wearing heavy armour, but it is NOT affected by the radio. I guess the lone wanderer wears earbuds or something. (From a design perspective I think they didnt want the player to have to keep switching off the radio as they figured out that a lot of players would probably turn it off and leave it off for most of the game) 2) Is a fair point. The mission ("Those!" I think?) is one of the harder missions in the game considering that it can be easily obtained as your 3rd or 4th mission out of the vault when you are sorely underequipped to complete it. It does raise something else worth mentioning though; Aside from the mission "Trouble on the home front" no missions are time sensitive*. You can accept a mission then ignore it for as long as you like with no consequences. So accept "Those!", but feel free to abandon it until you feel like you have a handle on the combat and a metric asstonne of spare ammo. *trouble on the home front apparently is time sensitive. If you dont start the mission properly within a certain timeframe after receiving the distress signal the mission fails. Its a fairly generous timeframe though, I've never had it fail on me and I usually finish whatever I'm doing before starting it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 10:46
|
|
|
"Torch"? What is this Victorian times? We have batteries now.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 10:48
|
|
|
Werner-Boogle posted:Haha. Thanks for all the tips guys, but it seems I had a brainfart and mistyped. I'm really looking for tips on FF7. So, uum... Lay it on me, again. Never change the screen with the ninja girl character or she will trick you into leaving.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 11:19
|
|
|
I love this thread. In an platonic manner, I mean. Theme Hospital, of all things? Playing for the first time in the better part of a decade, and I ran out of money on the second level.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 19:04
|
|
|
SiKboy posted:(As an aside; Americans dont use "Torch" to mean flashlight? I did not know that. Its like when I found out that you guys dont say "fortnight".) Yeah, torch usually means a stick with an oil soaked rag that you light on fire to see your way through a dungeon or cavern.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 19:31
|
|
|
I'm about to play Temple of Elemental Evil for the first time, what should I know?
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 21:37
|
|
|
Dr Snofeld posted:I love this thread. In an platonic manner, I mean. Been ages since I played TH. It's a fantastic game though. If I remember right, the difficulty curve is pretty steep, so don't be surprised if you hit a bit of a wall. Also, don't accept every emergency call you get. They can be great for money, but if you can't handle them your reputation will drop, this can be especially bad in the later levels.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 21:45
|
|
|
Any suggestions for PSP's Mana Khemia: Student Alliance? Picked it up without instructions the other day and I'm having a hard time finding good info on it because all the other games in the series seem to be much more popular. Alchemy in particular is hard to figure out. Matching elements on the wheel with the ingredients always makes the e-level go up, but I have no idea what that is or how it changes what traits appear on the item. I'm at the end of term 3. I understand I should do the best I can on assignments so I can do jobs and character events in free days. I've also been creating one of everything I can for the growth book. That's working pretty well.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 23:25
|
|
|
Dr Snofeld posted:I love this thread. In an platonic manner, I mean. God, it's been a long time for me, but here are some things: You should always be making money hand over fist after the first year or so. In the beginning, if I don't have enough money, I take out a ton of loans. You should be able to pay them off fairly quickly. Always hire all the best nurses and doctors. You can really win a better market share/the level by that fact alone. From what I remember, all the hospitals pull from the same labor market. So having a couple extra doctors in the hospital helps. Also, in case of an emergency, they can pick up the extra slack if other doctors are busy. Also, they get all the dregs/malpractice-waiting-to-happen doctors. In the earlier levels, always have at least 2 GP offices and in later ones, 4+. This is REALLY important in later levels. Dedicate specific sections of the hospital for certain tasks. For instance: have one wing dedicated to GP offices/cardio/psych/general diagnosis, then another for treatments like inflator room/slack tongue, and another for things like surgery. The training rooms can be completely away from everything else. Just put a staff room near, so they don't apend most of their time going back and forth for breaks. Speaking of that, make your staff take a break when they're only 40% tired. It will save a lot of headaches (and raise demands) in later games. Have a big bathroom with lots of stalls and keep a 1:1 ratio of sinks to toilets. If you have a tiny bathroom, things get really messy REALLY quick. In the later levels, have handyman dedicated to specific things like cleanup, another for fixing machinery, and watering plants. Have many of them, handymen are cheap. Put the overwhelming majority of your research into case equipment and diagnosis equipment. Put a good chunk into specialization (in later levels), and improvements last. Speaking of that, spare no expense in your research department. Hire anyone with any researcher skill. The great thing about that is that these researchers double as regular doctors, so they can pick up the slack. Hire all surgeons, no matter what. Even if they're Dr. Nick, having a poo poo surgeon is better than not having the required 2 to perform the operation and end up killing patients. Epidemics suck. I think there's a bug with that one, because I've failed the epidemic part many times for times where I quarantined all the sickos. That's all I can think of at this time... Ted Stevens fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Oct 18, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2010 23:36
|
|
|
Sentient Toaster posted:Any suggestions for PSP's Mana Khemia: Student Alliance? Picked it up without instructions the other day and I'm having a hard time finding good info on it because all the other games in the series seem to be much more popular. quote:Alchemy in particular is hard to figure out. Matching elements on the wheel with the ingredients always makes the e-level go up, but I have no idea what that is or how it changes what traits appear on the item. The E-level is, roughly, the quality level of the resulting item. Each item has a whole list of properties, but each property only appears within a certain range of E-levels - so EL 100 soup, say, might have the properties "light" and "warm", whereas EL 10 soup might be "cold" and "smelly". Note that while higher is usually better, if there's a particular property you're looking for you sometimes need to deliberately sabotage your alchemy to lower the EL into a range where it appears. If a quest or assignment requires something with a specific property, play with the EL until it appears. Apart from that, there's really not much to it. You pick what you want to make, pick your ingredients (this is relevant only in that different ingredients may have different ELs, or be easier to replace), and mix it all together. If you haven't already, you will soon unlock the ability to ask your labmates to help out (by pressing [], I think). It asks you to choose who will help and lists what each of them will do. These aren't constant - basically, each time you ask someone to help, it randomly generates what their next ability will be for next time - so if they're all offering useless stuff like EV 0 or Random Mix, use those on alchemy you don't really care about and useful abilities might appear. quote:I'm at the end of term 3. I understand I should do the best I can on assignments so I can do jobs and character events in free days. I've also been creating one of everything I can for the growth book. That's working pretty well. Making one of everything is an excellent plan, as is doing character events. Bear in mind that early on you have enough time for everyone, but as the game progresses you have to choose who to spend time with. The questline for each party member finishes with an (exclusive; if you take it, no other party members will offer you their final quest) quest that determines which ending you get. So, if you want to see all the endings, you may want to save before accepting anyone's final quest. Assorted other tips: - check all the shops after the start of each chapter, including the ones in the dungeons - when you get the ability to send your labmates gathering, do this every week - when you get the ability to ask them to synthesize stuff, do this every week too; it doesn't use up any ingredients. Bear in mind that different people are good at different things, so tailor your work orders to their strengths when possible. - any party will work, so pick six characters you like and have at it. If you can't decide, just rotate through characters.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 00:44
|
|
|
I got Final Fantasy XIII in a 360 bundle pack a while back, and I'm considering breaking it out soon. Any suggestions?
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 01:27
|
|
|
Knights in the Nightmare? It's a ridiculous mishmash of bullet-hell SHMUP, RPG, and strategy game. Even after the hour-long tutorial I have no idea what exactly I should be doing, except to spam skills and break items. I check an FAQ and discover that there are like 200 recruitable characters, each of whom need their own unique item. Are there any benefits to being OCD and getting every character? Is that necessary?
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 01:29
|
|
|
Father Wendigo posted:I got Final Fantasy XIII in a 360 bundle pack a while back, and I'm considering breaking it out soon. Any suggestions? The game's pretty streamlined for the first 20 odd hours so just go with it and don't bother upgrading your weapons until you reach Gran Pulse. If enemies in an area are being a hassle, find the weakest kind and grind a little to increase your crystarium. Work your way up. Sell anything that says it can be sold for a high value. Organic components increase your weapon's xp multiplier and give crap xp, mechanical components give much more. Use your organic components to get a 3x multiplier, then use your entire supply of whatever mechanical component will give the most xp. IIRC, Sturdy Bones have the cheapest cost:multiplier ratio, so it's best to buy the exact amount (16 I think) to get a 3x multiplier. You'll eventually be able to buy a mechanical component that gives a massive amount of XP too. Ravager will increase the chain meter quickly, but you need a Commando or Saboteur to slow it's degradation. Ideally, your party of choice in second half of the game should have a RAV/RAV/COM paradigm to Break the enemy and a COM/RAV/COM paradigm to deal damage after you Break an enemy. Other good paradigms are: MED/SAB/MED or MED/SEN/MED to heal your party while maintaining an enemy's chain meter, and SYN/MED/SAB or SYN/SEN/SAB to debuff the enemy while buffing yours.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 01:49
|
|
|
Father Wendigo posted:I got Final Fantasy XIII in a 360 bundle pack a while back, and I'm considering breaking it out soon. Any suggestions? Buffs/Debuffs are actually pretty useful, so get some good use out of Synergists/Saboteurs.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 01:52
|
|
|
Vengarr posted:Knights in the Nightmare? Bigass post here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2969807&pagenumber=93&perpage=40#post372596453 No, there is no reason to be OCD. The game is actually really forgiving, it throws way, way more stuff at you than you need.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 01:55
|
|
|
crime fighting hog posted:I'm about to play Temple of Elemental Evil for the first time, what should I know? Well know that its a) buggy as gently caress so patch that son bitch and b) based on the toughest published D&D module in existence and while the video game is easier still isn't exactly a walk in the park. Sidequests give really minor rewards so don't worry about them unless you need just a little push over to the next level. Its based on D&D 3e, which means in comparison to Planescape Torment's 2e it plays great but in comparison to modern RPGs plays sort of akin to over management. You'll have to get used to the strange spell-system where you manage what you know and how long you know it. Multiclassing in D&D should pretty much never be 1:1 ratio. Typically you want your second class to be at most half the level of the main class. More importantly, aim for making the secondary class stop at a level which gives you free perk/specialization or whatever they hell they call it. If I remember right, that makes the goal level 4 for a subclass. Other than that I don't remember any particular class or build be super broken but that you would need a fairly diverse party if you want to survive.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 01:58
|
|
|
Father Wendigo posted:I got Final Fantasy XIII in a 360 bundle pack a while back, and I'm considering breaking it out soon. Any suggestions? Ignore the plot, as the combat is actually decently fun but the plot goes nowhere and the ending was literally written after the lead designer saw the artists rendering of the game's logo. Yes, that does mean the whole game sort of meanders then just makes an arbitrary change right at the end. At the very beginning, avoid every single fight you can until you fight the boss and fall onto a road made of ice. None of those fights give XP so you are just wasting your time. Edit: gently caress double post.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 02:00
|
|
|
Barudak posted:Well know that its a) buggy as gently caress so patch that son bitch and b) based on the toughest published D&D module in existence and while the video game is easier still isn't exactly a walk in the park. Sounds good to me, I grew up playing 3.5 and have played a bunch of the other D&D games on PC. Thanks. E: TOEE is not nearly as insane as Tomb of Horrors when it comes to "most lethal module".
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 02:39
|
|
|
ToH is less a module and more a long practical joke though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 02:45
|
|
|
Father Wendigo posted:I got Final Fantasy XIII in a 360 bundle pack a while back, and I'm considering breaking it out soon. Any suggestions? Concerning status ailments - the enemy's status screen lists status vulnerabilities as a binary property (immune or not immune), but that's not the whole truth. Each enemy actually has a non-listed vulnerability or resistance to every status ailment that it's not immune to. So even if it says the enemy is vulnerable to Deprotect, it may have a 90% resistance to it, and be very hard to land. Against a boss, it's almost always worth it to try and get those debuffs to land no matter how high the resistance is, but it can be kind of annoying to feel it out for regular mobs. You can use a guide if you want, but if you're finding that it's too hard to get a debuff on a monster, then just don't bother - there's probably better way to kill him. If you feel like you're not finding very much money, you're correct. This is not like most Final Fantasies, where you get enough money to buy the new gear upgrade in every town. There aren't really "strict" gear upgrades in Final Fantasy XIII - each weapon you find has unique properties, and you're sort of expected to invest in just one of them. The long and short of it is that you don't need to worry about upgrading at all for most of the game (or even at all, though it certainly does help a lot in the endgame). Lots of people like switching to a Commando-heavy paradigm after staggering the enemy, but bear in mind that staggering is not a binary thing. All that staggering does is immediately increase the Chain gauge by 100%. You can continue to raise it much higher after that point if you continue to use Ravager attacks. Because of this, COM/RAV/RAV is just an incredibly useful all-purpose paradigm that you'll want to have in your deck at all times. It's a safe bet for doing the best damage both before and after staggering. You have to Libra enemies twice to get their full information. This is very useful in Eidolon fights. Lastly, don't get your hopes up about the story. The visuals are gorgeous, the world setting is cool, the music is awesome, and the gameplay is a ton of fun, but the writers really had no idea what they were doing. It starts off reasonably strong, but I would advise you not to make the story into your motivation for playing the game. Puppy fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Oct 19, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 02:48
|
|
|
RagnarokAngel posted:ToH is less a module and more a long practical joke though. I'll stop the derail here, but this is very true. Gygax literally wrote it as a module for a convention he was DMing at. Players were never expected to actually survive the entire adventure, which is why it's hilarious when grognards boast about beating the module like a nerdy badge of pride. How do you beat it? You hire commoners to run through the traps and gum up the gears, and summon animals to do the same.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 02:57
|
|
|
Also, Saboteurs are best controlled manually when possible. Auto-attack loves to just throw a variety of debuffs that may land until something sticks, then knocks that out and tries again with the rest. Manually queue up as many of the same debuff until one sticks, then cancel out of the attack if one lands to save the remainder of your ATB and get your next turn faster.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 02:57
|
|
|
crime fighting hog posted:Sounds good to me, I grew up playing 3.5 and have played a bunch of the other D&D games on PC. Thanks. ToH is horrible, horrible bullshit but the reason I said TOEE is the toughest is because it is both difficult and very long. Taking a level 1 into TOEE and beating it means you finish at minimum level 8. Thats a lot of content filled with numerous ways to die during each of its 4 main acts. ToH on the other hand is 33 rooms of pure bullshit that nobody is going to make it through. You'll finish that module in about 3 minutes once you hit "the room designed to exploit your party set-ups weakness", "the room where you fail a saving throw" or the much more likely "the room were half the party dies and you start punching the DM in the dick"
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 02:59
|
|
|
crime fighting hog posted:I'm about to play Temple of Elemental Evil for the first time, what should I know? Use the Ctrl button to bind radial menu selections onto hotkeys. By doing so, you can streamline your standard combat actions (e.g. Charge attack) and spells (e.g. "Cure light wounds") and reduce the risk of wasted actions due to fat-fingering the radial menu. While we're on the subject: scan through the radial menu every once in a while. You may not have realized that one of your characters gained a new ability (such as "rapid shot") during a recent levelup, or you may have forgotten about old ones (such as "smite evil"). If you have a character in a good tactical position and want to wait for the enemy to approach, left-click their character portrait in the initiative bar (top of the screen) and drag it left/right until they appear at the desired spot in the initiative order. Example: your rogue will tend to win initiative rolls. You could run in and stab a flatfooted enemy for bonus damage, but it puts your rogue at risk. Instead, you might want to rearrange things so that your fighter or cleric charges in first and then have the rogue backstab a foe who is already engaged. It's quite possible to wipe out your party by wandering blindly into around a corner and meeting an excessive number of level-appropriate foes. You can set a formation for your party, but it tends to get disrupted enroute and so your toughest characters won't necessarily be on the frontlines when combat begins. Instead, it's a good idea to scout ahead using an invisible character or rogue. In the latter case, you must activate the "Sneak" movement mode; enemies will instantly spot a stealthy character who is moving normally (or even standing still, if Sneak is off). Assuming you can detect that same group of level-appropriate foes early, then you have lots of options: -find an alternate route. Enemy groups are sedentary (no roaming patrols), and there's usually 2-3 paths through any dungeon section (although you may need a skilled rogue to find those paths) -retreat, heal, replenish spells, and even (if necessary) recruit new allies -try to open hostilities by catching most of the enemy group in an area-effect spell (or by backstabbing the enemy healer) -find a defensible bottleneck and lure the enemy into it Archers don't deal much damage compared to melee fighters or casters. The best use for them that I've found is suppressing enemies via the "Tactical" slice of the radial menu. You can disrupt a mage's spell or stop a charging enemy in his tracks... but only if you actually hit them. Therefore, it's important to position archers tactically and keep a clear line-of-sight; if you start firing over/through/into a scrum then you're going to suffer serious penalties on your rolls. You also need to predict the enemy's actions to some degree; if you tell your ranger to "Wait for spell" and nobody casts one, then he's just going to stand there looking stupid until his next turn. Take your time when leveling up and choosing spells for your arcance casters (sorceror, bard, wizard). You'll feel outgunned in the early stages so it's tempting to focus purely on offense (e.g. what's going to inflict the most damage, to the most foes, in the least time?). However, a 2nd-level direct damage spell won't be of much use in the endgame, while a 2nd-level buff/debuff might still be useful. A few pointers: -fog/mist spells can render enemy archers impotent -a berserk enemy is very dangerous (due to bonus damage), and hard to kill (due to bonus hitpoints). A simple "Calm Emotions" spell will remove both of those bonuses -the game will throw a lot of magical loot at you, but if you want to specialize your characters in unusual weapons then you'll probably need to enchant your own weapons for maximum effect. Consider taking the "Craft Magic Arms and Armor" feat early (to sneak a peek at the prerequisites list), and choose spells accordingly -a blind enemy is a lesser threat and an easier target. The glitterdust spell will enable you to blind several enemies simultaneously -some spells have materials costs which are easy to overlook if you aren't familiar with D&D rules, but such factors are listed in the spell description. Stoneskin costs 100gp IIRC. Almost every locked chest that you find will also be trapped. Unless you have a rogue in your party, you might as well just leave them alone. Note: you can recruit a rogue henchman if you didn't include one in your main party. On the bright side, the game doesn't have any "free-floating" traps, so you're don't need to spam the "Search for traps" key every five feet. Druid is a good, well-rounded class (animal companions and summoned animals make great meatshields), but shapeshifting in ToEE is a waste of time. Identify magic items before selling them. It costs 100gp to do so, but most magic items are worth >100gp so you'll come out ahead. If you don't identify them then you'll get screwed on the price. Exception: don't identify scrolls. Use "Read Magic" (0-level spell) or the "Decipher script" skill instead (they're both free).
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 03:29
|
|
|
GulMadred posted:advice This is great stuff, thanks!
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 03:58
|
|
|
Barudak posted:Well know that its a) buggy as gently caress so patch that son bitch and b) based on the toughest published D&D module in existence and while the video game is easier still isn't exactly a walk in the park. Echoing what he said, plus there are mods out for it. This group seems to be the most active with added content and such, plus patches that correct a few things that Troika didn't touch on: http://www.co8.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=31 . Feel free to look around. I think they're still working on doing Keep On The Borderlands, but the latest content pack has fistloads of side quests and locations that Troika didn't include for whatever reason. One thing you should get in your party is a spokesman: High CHA, possibly the Negotiator or a relevant skill focus Feat, maybe make him/her a Half Elf since they get a +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy (your main conversation-type skill) and Gather Information (still useful, but not as often), and finally choose a class that complements being a suave motherfucker: Paladin, Bard, Rogue (my go-to choice), or even a Sorcerer will do in a pinch. Finally, if you feel the need, you can cherry pick your stats with a bug that made it through all the patches. When rolling for stats, click on the tab for buying your stats, you'll notice the box you're supposed to click and drag the rolled/bought stat to is gone. Just pump up one stat to whatever you want, click and drag over to where one of the boxes was, then switch back to rolling randomly. You'll see the stat in the corresponding box now. Lather, rinse, repeat with the rest of your stats and go hog wild, or deliberately gimp yourself will all 3s. Whatever butters your muffin. EDIT: On one run through try the following: Chaotic Good, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword). Why? There's a sweet sweet rapetrain of a bastard sword Fragarach you can get your grubby little mitts on. Lars Blitzer fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Oct 19, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 04:54
|
|
|
Lars Blitzer posted:Echoing what he said, plus there are mods out for it. This group seems to be the most active with added content and such, plus patches that correct a few things that Troika didn't touch on: http://www.co8.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=31 . Feel free to look around. I think they're still working on doing Keep On The Borderlands, but the latest content pack has fistloads of side quests and locations that Troika didn't include for whatever reason. I'm trying to install the patches but it says the game isn't on my computer, which doesn't make any sense as I was just playing it!
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 05:16
|
|
|
Thanks a ton for the Borderlands advice, guys. I have a better idea of what I'll be getting into now.Alris posted:Don't sperg out about your character builds, you eventually be able to reset all your points for a paltry amount of money. This especially is good information. I could and would sperg out over character builds if there wasn't some sort of respec mechanic. Gimped-out, unredeemable endgames have scarred me. I do have a question though. How responsive is the gunplay in general? Is sniping actually fun, or is it too floaty or over-accurate due to the game being a console port? Would I be better off just speccing into assault rifles and shotguns and playing it as a cover-shooter to avoid headache? I come from a background of UT2k4, TF2, and CS if that helps, but I've had fun with Gears of War and Mass Effect 2 and the like, so a cover-shooter wouldn't turn me off. I just want to know what to expect, really.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 08:37
|
|
|
Sniping is pretty fun. The fun in Borderlands is in the endless variety of weapons, so you could have a super-accurate super-powerful sniper rifle which on the other hand would require 2 seconds between shots and only hold three bullets in the clip, or for example you might prefer a sniper rifle which isn't that accurate or powerful, but holds 20 bullets and could shoot full auto like an M14. All weapon types are pretty well balanced, except for rocket launchers which suck hardcore. Oh, and if you're a FPS veteran, then the game is quite easy. If you have a beefy computer, then for a better challenge you can start several instances of the game program and have them all join a LAN game, then play your favorite character while the others just hang around. The difficulty is thus upped to scale for 2+ players... and as a bonus, the drops are better. pigdog fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Oct 19, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 09:19
|
|
|
Cholfo posted:Thanks a ton for the Borderlands advice, guys. I have a better idea of what I'll be getting into now. Borderlands is pretty easy to play no matter what you do. As long as you remember to use your special skill there isn't too much to worry about. I stuck to using whatever weapons looked good at the time and punching everything as a berserker and I've made it through most of newgame+ without issues (except for General Knoxx, gently caress those goddamn walking spider things and their million hp)
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 09:40
|
|
|
ToxicFrog posted:Pretty much anything you can find online about the PS2 version (Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis) applies to the PSP version as well; Student Alliance is a pretty straightforward port of Alchemists of Al-Revis, adding some new items/dialogue/recipes/etc but not changing the mechanics of what's already there.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 12:45
|
|
|
If you have a modded PSP, you can improve the load times a lot by copying the entire game to the memory stick and running it from ISO rather than from UMD. The data install option, sadly, doesn't do poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2010 13:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 10:54 |
|
|
Puppy posted:Lots of people like switching to a Commando-heavy paradigm after staggering the enemy, but bear in mind that staggering is not a binary thing. All that staggering does is immediately increase the Chain gauge by 100%. You can continue to raise it much higher after that point if you continue to use Ravager attacks. Because of this, COM/RAV/RAV is just an incredibly useful all-purpose paradigm that you'll want to have in your deck at all times. It's a safe bet for doing the best damage both before and after staggering. Building on this: staggering an enemy also reduces its chain resistance to zero, so it's both very easy and worthwhile to build the chain gauge up before going after a staggered enemy with a commando's raw damage attacks.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2010 01:47
|
|
