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al-azad
May 28, 2009



Do you even get anything if you win the first real Blitzball match? I remember restarting a dozen times to beat it when the game came out but don't recall what the prize was. It certainly was a pain in the rear end because the save occurs before a bunch of cutscenes and maybe a boss fight? It's been over 10 years.

I guess what I'm getting at is if the prize isn't anything important/something you can come back to then don't pull your hair out trying to win that first loving game.

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SaxMaverick
Jun 9, 2005

The stuff of nightmares

al-azad posted:

Do you even get anything if you win the first real Blitzball match? I remember restarting a dozen times to beat it when the game came out but don't recall what the prize was. It certainly was a pain in the rear end because the save occurs before a bunch of cutscenes and maybe a boss fight? It's been over 10 years.

I guess what I'm getting at is if the prize isn't anything important/something you can come back to then don't pull your hair out trying to win that first loving game.
A strength sphere and a PSN trophy. I only did it because the first time I played the game, I completely ignored blitzball

Bedurndurn
Dec 4, 2008
Now that Infamous: Second Son is out, I should probably get around to playing Infamous 2. The wiki is silent on this topic, any tips?

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Mr. Maltose posted:

Doing well in Blitzball is also the only way to get Wakka's Overdrive supermoves, which is one of the keys to beating the optional JRPG Super Bosses without tearing out your hair.

Or getting lucky with Yojimbo or are they immune to that? I don't remember because "optional super-bosses" is code for "Barudak isn't touching this content"

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Bedurndurn posted:

Now that Infamous: Second Son is out, I should probably get around to playing Infamous 2. The wiki is silent on this topic, any tips?

The game rewards you for being good by giving you an ice jump that makes navigating the city trivial. All the evil powers are frankly terrible which is unfortunate because the evil character is far more interesting than the good one.

But like any game with a silly morality system pick one thing and stick with it.

President Ark
May 16, 2010

:iiam:

al-azad posted:

Do you even get anything if you win the first real Blitzball match? I remember restarting a dozen times to beat it when the game came out but don't recall what the prize was. It certainly was a pain in the rear end because the save occurs before a bunch of cutscenes and maybe a boss fight? It's been over 10 years.

I guess what I'm getting at is if the prize isn't anything important/something you can come back to then don't pull your hair out trying to win that first loving game.

The move in question completely trivializes that first game. It's a shot targeting the goal that has like +30 hit chance and knocks all the blockers out of the way. Eats up your stamina like hell but you can still get like 3 free goals from it over the course of a game, and all you have to do is defend/stall for time + use that whenever you get the chance to win super-easily.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

President Ark posted:

The move in question completely trivializes that first game. It's a shot targeting the goal that has like +30 hit chance and knocks all the blockers out of the way. Eats up your stamina like hell but you can still get like 3 free goals from it over the course of a game, and all you have to do is defend/stall for time + use that whenever you get the chance to win super-easily.

You can also break Blitzball over your knee entirely by scoring a goal and then hiding behind your own goalie for the rest of the game.

PRL412
Sep 11, 2007

... ... MINE

Mayor McCheese posted:

Dark Souls 2

You can fast climb up ladders.

I don't know if people are going to jump into this game blind, but here's some stuff about ladders and things:

-Holding the dodge button when climbing down will make you slide. This doesn't use stamina like fast climbing though.

-Tap the Dodge button to drop from a ladder.

-Use the contextual button (for doors, levers, bonfires, etc) on walls to find hidden passageways. Other players will usually leave a helpful message on the ground to help you find them.

-Torches are locked in your inventory and are displayed as a countdown clock. They can be lit at a fire (or with a particular item) and are always held in your left hand.

-There's an Estus Flask upgrade in Mejula if you poke around a little bit.

-If you lower the drawbridge in Heide (an area you can reach early on, and which is connected to Mejula), you can get a great item from a chest on the other side. It's possible to run all the way out there, but you'll have to fight at least one enemy for the switch to appear.

-Some shopkeepers move around and some will tell you where they are headed if you talk to them enough. Others will move on after you've talked to them but only when you rest at a bonfire or move to another area. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to use your soul packets (Nameless Soldier, Proud Knight, etc) and buy some things on the spot.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine

Barudak posted:

Or getting lucky with Yojimbo or are they immune to that? I don't remember because "optional super-bosses" is code for "Barudak isn't touching this content"

Some are, some are not. Most of the 'secret' bosses aren't that crazy, actually. Unless you're doing some of the arena frankenbosses, who can be tricky. Wakka's Attack Reel is just super good at laying down damage.

Dr. Quarex
Apr 18, 2003

I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

pigdog posted:

Don't do the Al Gore questline until Day 3. It will turn into a literal annoyance that will only cease to be annoying if you win a very difficult fight, possibly the most difficult in the game. A good way to win said fight is with a lot of power potions and spamming Jimmy's lullaby every turn to keep the Secret Service agents down.
While the Al Gore quest fight did seem like possibly the hardest one in the game (definitely second-hardest if not hardest), it is worth noting that the "literal annoyance" you mention, while annoying, does not actually Spam your Facebook feed in quite the way you expect--it only lists each annoying comment once, so it is not like you have to scroll through 500 pages of identical statements to look back at unique comments from other characters. I mean, this is a small thing, and I agree that it is (delightfully) annoying and well-worth stopping, but it could have been worse.

While I agree with your strategy I also think that chugging coffee is an equally effective technique to chugging power potions, though perhaps playing a Jew made this strategy more viable. Not sure.

Pyromancer
Apr 29, 2011

This man must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart

al-azad posted:

Do you even get anything if you win the first real Blitzball match? I remember restarting a dozen times to beat it when the game came out but don't recall what the prize was. It certainly was a pain in the rear end because the save occurs before a bunch of cutscenes and maybe a boss fight? It's been over 10 years.

I guess what I'm getting at is if the prize isn't anything important/something you can come back to then don't pull your hair out trying to win that first loving game.

You get a strength sphere, which is nice this early in game but not critical.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine
The real reward is sticking it to the loving Goers, and that should be satisfaction enough.

Kanfy
Jan 9, 2012

Just gotta keep walking down that road.

Quarex posted:

While the Al Gore quest fight did seem like possibly the hardest one in the game (definitely second-hardest if not hardest), it is worth noting that the "literal annoyance" you mention, while annoying, does not actually Spam your Facebook feed in quite the way you expect--it only lists each annoying comment once, so it is not like you have to scroll through 500 pages of identical statements to look back at unique comments from other characters. I mean, this is a small thing, and I agree that it is (delightfully) annoying and well-worth stopping, but it could have been worse.

His messages can also be deleted so the message pop-ups are the only real annoyance.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Quarex posted:

While the Al Gore quest fight did seem like possibly the hardest one in the game (definitely second-hardest if not hardest), it is worth noting that the "literal annoyance" you mention, while annoying, does not actually Spam your Facebook feed in quite the way you expect--it only lists each annoying comment once, so it is not like you have to scroll through 500 pages of identical statements to look back at unique comments from other characters. I mean, this is a small thing, and I agree that it is (delightfully) annoying and well-worth stopping, but it could have been worse.

While I agree with your strategy I also think that chugging coffee is an equally effective technique to chugging power potions, though perhaps playing a Jew made this strategy more viable. Not sure.

I don't know what you mean by listing it once as his comments definitely repeated for me. Maybe each repeat deletes the first instance of a comment but the "NEW MESSAGE FROM AL GORE" appeared in the corner every 30 seconds so I had to go through the school siege and underpants gnome sequence with it until I could stop it.

Once you defeat him all his messages are automatically deleted, though.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
Anything for Fate/EXTRA? It was one of those things I always wanted to try last gen and never did, and now it's like $10 on PSN.

Ibram Gaunt
Jul 22, 2009

Artix posted:

Anything for Fate/EXTRA? It was one of those things I always wanted to try last gen and never did, and now it's like $10 on PSN.

Pick Archer for your servant, Saber makes things way too easy and Caster basically dies to any trash monster that manages to chain an attack together which just makes things tedious as hell. (She becomes a beast later though).


Also, do all the side quests for Taiga.

Ibram Gaunt fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Mar 23, 2014

Stalins Moustache
Dec 31, 2012

~~**I'm Italian!**~~
Anything I should know about Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2? I know that 2 has some megapatch that fixes a lot of stuff, but nothing else.

Chevy Slyme
May 2, 2004

We're Gonna Run.

We're Gonna Crawl.

Kick Down Every Wall.

Stalins Moustache posted:

Anything I should know about Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2? I know that 2 has some megapatch that fixes a lot of stuff, but nothing else.

In KOTOR 1, you'll have he opportunity to change classes to a Jedi after completing the first planet. It's best if you don't advance past level 5 before doing this. 5/15 is the 'optimal', split in terms of skills, feats, and HP for almost anyone. Some will argue that you should not level up past two, but that's kind of pointless min maxing, and you lose as much as you gain unless you intend to do nothing but spam force lightning.

Pick one of flurry, Power attack, and critical strike for each character. (Or ranged equivalent.) Max it out, and ignore the other two.

WarLocke
Jun 6, 2004

You are being watched. :allears:
So apparently I am the last person in the world to actually play Dark Souls (1). I bought it a while ago but it's been sitting in my Steam library unplayed since. And what with GFWL closing up soon, I figure I should get off my rear end and try it.

What should I know going in?

Barudak
May 7, 2007

WarLocke posted:

So apparently I am the last person in the world to actually play Dark Souls (1). I bought it a while ago but it's been sitting in my Steam library unplayed since. And what with GFWL closing up soon, I figure I should get off my rear end and try it.

What should I know going in?

In addition to the wiki tips I'd recommend the following.

Resistance is worthless. Do not put a single point in resistance when you level up or the Dark Lord of RPG Trap Options will make himself corporeal and take your soul into the darkest of skill trees.

The easiest way to play the game the first time is
-Start as pyromancer
-Use high stability shields (and upgrading to greatshields when available)
-When you reach the giant blacksmith pick your favored weapon and upgrade it to lightning +5
-Level ups first in endurance (making sure to stop at 40), then HP, then in strength/dex as needed for the absolute minimum to equip the weapon/shield
-Summon other players to beat every boss

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?

Barudak posted:

-Summon other players to beat every boss
I disagree with this one. Figuring out how to beat bosses is half of the fun.

I mean, definitely summon if you hit a brick wall, and/or against bosses where there's two different bosses in the same area (the Belfry Gargoyles and Ornstein & Smough), but just automatically summoning for every boss kinda takes out the Monster Hunter-esqe charm of trying to figure out how to best this giant, colossal beast. It especially robs the fun if you hit someone who's got way better gear and skills than you do, who just runs in and two-shots the boss before you even know what's happening.

Wolfsheim
Dec 23, 2003

"Ah," Ratz had said, at last, "the artiste."

CaptainPsyko posted:

In KOTOR 1, you'll have he opportunity to change classes to a Jedi after completing the first planet. It's best if you don't advance past level 5 before doing this. 5/15 is the 'optimal', split in terms of skills, feats, and HP for almost anyone. Some will argue that you should not level up past two, but that's kind of pointless min maxing, and you lose as much as you gain unless you intend to do nothing but spam force lightning.

Pick one of flurry, Power attack, and critical strike for each character. (Or ranged equivalent.) Max it out, and ignore the other two.

-What he means to say is: pick Flurry if you're going melee, it is absurdly better than the other two. Also, max out Force Speed regardless of whatever class you're taking. The game will never recommend it, but it is easily the most useful skill in the entire game, both in combat and to speed up the considerable backtracking you will inevitably do.

-In KOTOR 1, your best bet is sticking with lightsabers because the game really doesn't support ranged characters. You can make it work, but you'll be somewhat gimped. KOTOR 2 is a more robust system, and making a gun-slinging Jedi is way more viable.

-As an extension of that, both games will actually give you some very melee-oriented party members and start them off with crappy ranged weapons. Give them your non-lightsaber melee weapons and they will dominate.

-Ignore the heavy weapons skill tree. Like Fallout, by the time you can use them you don't need them. Same with heavy armor on your protagonist, because it restricts Force powers.

-KOTOR 2 is kinda like Torment in that the optimal way to play is pretty light side, maybe kinda neutral. Having a good wisdom score also unlocks a fair amount of extra dialogue, but it's not wholly necessary, and there's a lot of fighting so make sure you pay attention to the abilities that help hit things better.

-Playing dark side in KOTOR 1 isn't bad, because it tends to skew 'ridiculous rear end in a top hat' and the evil ending is actually a little bit better. Playing dark side in KOTOR 2 is more 'total psychopath' and not too fun, outside of a few particularly notable examples (but you can just play a relatively good guy and take the hilarious dark side options as they come with little detriment).

-In KOTOR 1, you get your last party member on Tatooine. In KOTOR 2, you get your last two party members on Nar Shaddaa. These party members are pretty enjoyable, so I'd hate for you to put off grabbing one because you didn't know and accidentally used Carth the whole game. Conversely, Korriban is probably best saved for last in both games.

-The Restoration patch is absolutely critical for KOTOR 2 if you want the game to have anything resembling an actual ending, and also does a good job of inserting little stuff here and there that was left out of the game. The only problem is that it also introduces some seriously bullshit fights that you have to get through using non-Jedi characters, and let's just say the combat system in KOTOR 2 isn't exactly enjoyable when you're not burning through your Force powers and carving through everything in your path. I'm not saying don't use it, but when you hit the end of Nar Shaddaa and you're fighting off like twenty bounty hunters at once and the little astromech droid is doing the most damage, you're going to wonder what the designers were loving thinking, but just know that most of the game isn't like that.

Wolfsheim fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Mar 23, 2014

PRL412
Sep 11, 2007

... ... MINE

WarLocke posted:

So apparently I am the last person in the world to actually play Dark Souls (1). I bought it a while ago but it's been sitting in my Steam library unplayed since. And what with GFWL closing up soon, I figure I should get off my rear end and try it.

What should I know going in?

I'm sure there's some overlap by now, but it never hurts to have more info.

The Leper Colon V posted:

In honor of Dark Souls 2 coming out soon, a few more tips for Dark Souls 1.

-Don't stress out too much about where to upgrade your stats. If you found a weapon or spell you wanna use, and wanna buff up to that, go ahead. If you wanna dabble in a bit of everything, go ahead. If you have an idea in mind from the get-go, good for you, go for it.
-The only exception to this rule is Resistance. It's ambiguous whether the stat's actually broken, or just scales so poorly that it might as well be, but it's never worth the points. Put them into Vitality instead.
-With that in mind, don't neglect Vitality and Endurance. VIT increases your max HP, which gives you more of a margin for error, and END both improves your Stamina and your carrying capacity.
-It's very hard to permanently screw up a character, as skill and equipment choice are much more important than stats. If you really, really don't like a character, though, go ahead and make a new one. You'll be surprised how much easier it is through things the second time around.
-Getting discouraged? Feel like you're not making any progress and the game is flattening you over and over? Make a new file, using the same starting class as before, and marvel at how much better you're doing, despite your stats being identical.
-When you get inside the church, on one side is a shortcut back to the start, on the other side is a path down to a blacksmith who can upgrade your weapons and armor. Both of these are incredibly useful, don't miss them.
-If you accidentally piss off an NPC, there's a guy on top of the church (once you beat the boss) who will charge you an arm and a leg for "absolution" (with a price based on your current level). This is the only way to fix it, and there's no way to bring dead NPCs back to life, so be careful trying out your new sword/magic/firebombs around the blacksmith.
-Summoning a phantom increases a boss' health by 50%, and summoning two doubles it. Keep this in mind when deciding whether or not to summon help.
-If you're playing on consoles, get the DLC. The late-game is the weakest part of Dark Souls, and having three extra really good bosses to figure out and look forward to is great. If you're on PC, the DLC is included. Either way, you'll probably have to look up how to get to it, but hold off until you feel like you're ready for end-game content.

PRL412 posted:

More stats stuff and miscellaneous:

-The tutorial area gives instructions about back-stabbing, parrying and riposting, however they won't apply to every enemy in the game. Backstabbing and riposting give full invincibility during the animation and are key in dealing heavy damage to certain enemies. Learn to back-stab before parrying/riposting because it is safer to learn/use. A successful back-stab also tells you that enemy can be riposted.

-Backstabbing will occur at a precise location behind the enemy. Enemy posture can disguise where back-stabbing will occur, so don't give up after the first try. Just make sure to let go of the shield button before you press the light attack button (letting go of the shield will make strafing quicker anyhow).

-If you want to parry, you will have to learn the timing for every individual attack. When you parry at the right time, an audio cue will play and the enemy's weapon arm will bounce back, leaving them open to a riposte. When you narrowly miss the timing, you will get a partial parry. A partial parry has no audio cue and no option to riposte, but you will take reduced damage from the attack. Some enemies/attacks can ONLY be partial parried (hint: larger enemies, incoming arrows, etc). When you miss the timing entirely, you will take the full attack damage as normal.

-If you want to learn how to parry by yourself, engage small humanoid enemies one-on-one. If you want quick answers, look up a guide (vegeta311 on Youtube has a great in-depth video).

-Only the Hunter class starts with a bow. The other classes will have to find or buy one. Even if you don't plan on upgrading a bow, it's the only weapon (including crossbows) that can be aimed in first person (Two hand the bow, then press the shield button). Bows are very good at separating groups of enemies or pulling an enemy so you don't have to fight near a cliff or other hazard. When you see a "Lure them out" message on the ground, you'll be glad you have a bow kicking around.

-The Warrior, Knight and Bandit classes receive shields with 100% physical defence. The other classes should prioritize finding a new shield in Lordran, since they will still take varying amounts of damage while blocking. You'll soon find a merchant that sells a Heater Shield which is better than anything else so far. Your estus flasks will thank you, especially during bosses.

-Once you have a shield with 100% physical defence, you can start to compare similar shields for the one with the highest Stability. This stat will help reduce the amount of stamina drained when blocking attacks. Stability is also the only reason to upgrade a shield.

-Titanite sold by merchants/blacksmiths is infinite, so don't feel bad using those since you can always buy more. The rest can be farmed, but note that some materials will take a lot longer to gather than others.

-Fire-keeper souls should be taken to the NPC below Firelink Shrine so they can upgrade your Estus flasks. You cannot upgrade the estus flask yourself, so you should keep doing this until the game won't let you anymore (Estus +7). After that, they can be used guilt free for 5 humanity a pop.

-Regarding stats, you can view brief descriptions in your menu which will highlight them one by one. The easier way to see what stats do is having enough souls to level up, and testing each one to see the difference for yourself.

-In the case of certain stats, like Attunement, you won't see a difference every time you add to them. They have fixed break points, so you may want to check a guide. Similarily, while all stats go up to 99, some will not benefit you at all past a certain point (around 50 generally speaking). For example Endurance boosts stamina and equip load up until 40. Above 40, only your equip load will go up, since your character's stamina is now maxed out.

-Equip load will determine your weight class for the weapons and armour you have equipped. The major agility categories are every 25% of your total equip weight (ie. Total equip weight of 60: 0-15 is fast, 16-30 is medium, 31-45 is fat, 46-60 is fatter). Equipping consumables items like the Estus flasks and arrows don't add to your total weight.

-The less Poise you have, the more likely you will get stun locked and have your guard broken by heavy attacks. Keep rolling and don't get cornered.

- Fires with a Firekeeper will give you 10 Estus flasks by default. While you can offer humanity to upgrade other bonfires from 5 to 10 estus flasks, you'll need a specific item to upgrade past 10. If you kill a firekeeper, their bonfire cannot be used until New Game+.

MrBims posted:

The most important tips for playing Dark Souls, without spoilers:



Samunwise posted:

A pretty critical tip regarding shields, is to not hold your shield up unless you're actively blocking an attack. While your shield is raised your stamina regenerates far more slowly than usual, you move slightly less quickly, and it will interfere with your ability to backstab once you're proficient enough to try doing that. Soon as an enemy attack bounces off your shield, drop it until you see the windup for another swing, then raise it again at the last moment.

The safe and patient way to deal with a new enemy is to do this, then once the rhythm/pacing of their attacks is kind of recognisable, sneak an attack of your own in immediately after one of theirs, giving you a bit of time with your shield down to regain stamina before they strike again.

After a while you'll get precise enough with your shield-blocking that you can just straight up switch buttons and riposte a guy instead :unsmigghh:

Kinu Nishimura
Apr 24, 2008

SICK LOOT!

Ibram Gaunt posted:

Pick Archer for your servant, Saber makes things way too easy and Caster basically dies to any trash monster that manages to chain an attack together which just makes things tedious as hell. (She becomes a beast later though).

On the other hand, Archer's a boring nerd and Saber is hilarious.

Scaly Haylie
Dec 25, 2004


If you go for an Intelligence-based character, don't upgrade your weapons into anything fancy like Magic/Divine/Fire/Lightning. Instead, use the Magic Weapon spells, which buff the hell out of your weapon and won't work with fancypants upgrade paths.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Barudak posted:

The easiest way to play the game the first time is
-Use high stability shields (and upgrading to greatshields when available)
-When you reach the giant blacksmith pick your favored weapon and upgrade it to lightning +5
-Level ups first in endurance (making sure to stop at 40), then HP, then in strength/dex as needed for the absolute minimum to equip the weapon/shield

Counterpoint: I did basically this for my first character and while it started out easy, I was seriously struggling by Anor Londo and brickwalled completely shortly afterwards. I also found it kind of tedious. Rolled a new character with light armour and two-handed weapons for maximum :black101: and found it much easier (and much more fun) -- I just beat the game with that character without ever picking up a shield.

This may be as much personal preference as anything else, but you should experiment with different playstyles - in my case, I found both magic and sword & board to be tedious and fiddly, and doing ALL THE DAMAGE while relying exclusively on dodging for defence to be a blast.

WrightOfWay
Jul 24, 2010


Anything for Tales of the Abyss? The 3DS version if that matters.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!

WrightOfWay posted:

Anything for Tales of the Abyss? The 3DS version if that matters.

Either open a guide before you even turn the game on, or accept that you are never going to 100% the game. Abyss comes from the time before Tales Studio decided that arbitrarily locking players out of content because they didn't drop what they were doing and visit a city on the other side of the world was a bad idea, and it's right up there with Vesperia (if not worse). And more than a few of them are sidequests that directly relate to the plot, meaning that there will be plot points that don't get resolved because you missed some random sidequest.

Other than that, it's a pretty standard Tales game.

Artix fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Mar 24, 2014

Scaly Haylie
Dec 25, 2004

ToxicFrog posted:

This may be as much personal preference as anything else, but you should experiment with different playstyles - in my case, I found both magic and sword & board to be tedious and fiddly, and doing ALL THE DAMAGE while relying exclusively on dodging for defence to be a blast.

Sorceries are an excellent way of doing ALL THE DAMAGE, thank you very much. :colbert:

Mayor McCheese
Sep 20, 2004

Everyone is a mayor... Someday..
Lipstick Apathy

Lizard Wizard posted:

If you go for an Intelligence-based character, don't upgrade your weapons into anything fancy like Magic/Divine/Fire/Lightning. Instead, use the Magic Weapon spells, which buff the hell out of your weapon and won't work with fancypants upgrade paths.

I know you don't have them listed, but is Raw/Darkness/Mundane the exception to this? I swore I was about to spell buff both my raw and darkness weapons. .

Edit: VVV whoops figured it was DS2 talk. Although now I'm curious if you can just spell buff willy-nilly in DS2.

Mayor McCheese fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Mar 24, 2014

Bedurndurn
Dec 4, 2008

Mayor McCheese posted:

I know you don't have them listed, but is Raw/Darkness/Mundane the exception to this? I swore I was about to spell buff both my raw and darkness weapons. .

You're talking Dark Souls 2 and the person you're quoting is talking about Dark Souls 1.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Lizard Wizard posted:

Sorceries are an excellent way of doing ALL THE DAMAGE, thank you very much. :colbert:

You have to stand still for too long to use them. :colbert:

Actually, serious question: how viable is a pure mage in DaS? In DeS you had items that restored mana and equipment that regenerated it, so running out of spells was never really a concern. In DaS, once you're out of castings, you're hosed. How do you get around that?

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL


Make a weapon that draws off your intelligence to hurt things even after you've expended all 20 of your Great Soul Arrows, 8 Great Heavy Soul Arrows, 10 Homing Soulmasses, 4 Crystal Soul Spears and 10 Dark Orbs between bonfires.

And that's just for 19 Attunement without Seance Rings or the Oolacile sorcery ring that gives you 1.5x the number of casts in exchange for slashing your maximum health by half.

moot the hopple
Apr 26, 2008

dyslexic Bowie clone
Any pointers on how to develop my hero for the single player campaign for Age of Wonders 2? Apparently the melee juggernaut build from AoW1 is no longer viable?

moot the hopple
Apr 26, 2008

dyslexic Bowie clone
Double posting and cross posting because someone asked for tips for Eschalon: Book II in another thread.

- Many skills have a trainer who will train you up to the first 10 levels of a skill, or a book that will teach you the skill (or increase it by 2 if you already know the skill). You should therefore focus on only one damaging type skill and a few other necessary skills at the start rather than spreading out points. To maximize free skill gains, first buy 10 points from a trainer, then read a book for 2 more points, for a total of 12.

- Skill trainers are available for Bows, Thrown Weapons, Foraging, Pick Locks, Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Cartography, Alchemy, Elemental, Divination, Bludgeoning Weapons, Cleaving Weapons, Swords, and Repair.

- Skill books are available for every skill EXCEPT Meditation, Repair, and Thrown Weapons.

- If you want to be a magic type, dump all your points during character creation into Perception and spend your first one or two level ups on raising it to 40. This gives you maximum mana gain per level up and increases your mana regeneration to about 1 point per turn. The Meditation skill also helps mana regen, but not to the degree that a natural 40 Perception does (you can ignore meditation for now if you're going this route).

- When you reach skill level 10 in a weapon skill, it gives you a special attack which you can activate using shift+click. These attacks usually automatically hit in addition to a bonus effect. Raising a weapon skill above 10 lowers the cooldown for your special attack.

- Don't pay for repair at a shop or spend level up points in the Repair skill. There's a set of a very common gloves that give +2 Repair; just put those on every time you rest and you'll be able to keep your equipment in good order.

- Armor skills are generally not worth it beyond the first point to remove the armor check penalty. Increasing your armor skill just raises your damage reduction which isn't considered worth the skill investment. Better to find a skill book to gain these skills or level it up once and be done with it. Light and heavy armor can be equally effective, it just depends on the tradeoff between weight and armor class that you're comfortable with.

- Divination and Elemental skills almost reach parity in terms of effectiveness of buffs, damage, and utility spells. Divination eventually gets damaging spells that are a bit less effective than Elemental spells, but get status cures, healing, and good buffs. Elemental has the best damage, as well as decent buffs and some of the most useful utility spells such as lock melting, trap disarming, and portal.

- Keep around a few explosive barrels in a convenient spot. You'll need a couple to access a chest tucked behind a mountain range and to break down secret walls.

- Loot is randomly generated. You can savescum before opening a chest if you want to make your rewards worthwhile.

- Port Kuudad has an alchemy store that sells you all the recipes in the game for a flat fee.

- Boots wear out when you use quick travel. Take them off or switch them with a lesser pair if you don't want your good boots to suffer equipment damage.

- Foraging really trivializes the hunger and thirst mechanic, plus gives you a bunch of good alchemy components at high levels. Again, raise Foraging through trainers/books because it's more of a convenience than necessity.

- Merchants restock weekly. Visit all sellers and rest if you don't find the spell book/gear you need for sale.

Mzbundifund
Nov 5, 2011

I'm afraid so.

moot the hopple posted:

Any pointers on how to develop my hero for the single player campaign for Age of Wonders 2? Apparently the melee juggernaut build from AoW1 is no longer viable?

Sure it's viable, just takes a bit longer to get there. Dump points mostly in Defense and a few in Attack, load them up with every buff you can, and keep an eye out for First Strike, Double Strike, Life Stealing, and Extra Strike abilities, either from equipment or from level ups.

Hannibal Rex
Feb 13, 2010

CaptainPsyko posted:

In KOTOR 1, you'll have he opportunity to change classes to a Jedi after completing the first planet. It's best if you don't advance past level 5 before doing this. 5/15 is the 'optimal', split in terms of skills, feats, and HP for almost anyone.

Wolfsheim posted:

-What he means to say is: pick Flurry if you're going melee, it is absurdly better than the other two.

Yeah, these two pieces of advice are pretty bad.

In KOTOR 1, all you get for having more Jedi levels is more force powers. Sounds great, but there aren't actually that many useful ones. 12 Jedi levels are plenty for getting what you need. On the other hand, all of the non-Jedi levels give you more feats up to level 8 than you can get from switching to Jedi earlier. It's been too long for me to remember the specific details, but I absolutely recommend sticking with the 8/12 split in the first game.

Second, it's correct that you should focus on one of the three special melee attacks, but which one you pick is your choice. Flurry is great early on, but once you have Master Speed, it's eclipsed by the other powers. When you start out, you have 1 base attack, and one with your off-hand. Getting an extra attack from Flurry is a big thing. But Master Speed gives you +2 attacks, so now you can have 5 attacks from Flurry, or 4 attacks with +10/+12 damage each (Power Attack) or a quadruple chance to crit (Critical Strike). At that point, Flurry definitely loses out.

Morpheus
Apr 18, 2008

My favourite little monsters
One thing about Dark Souls 2 that took me a little while to become aware of:

- In Dark Souls 1, when you parried, your opponent kind of recoiled, giving you the chance to riposte him immediately. In Dark Souls 2, instead of the enemy recoiling for your attack, they will actually get knocked on their rear end. But until they are actually on the ground, you won't be able to stab them for extra damage, you'll just do a regular attack. So, wait until they fall down before you attack.

Kaboom Dragoon
May 7, 2010

The greatest of feasts

Hannibal Rex posted:

Yeah, these two pieces of advice are pretty bad.

In KOTOR 1, all you get for having more Jedi levels is more force powers. Sounds great, but there aren't actually that many useful ones. 12 Jedi levels are plenty for getting what you need. On the other hand, all of the non-Jedi levels give you more feats up to level 8 than you can get from switching to Jedi earlier. It's been too long for me to remember the specific details, but I absolutely recommend sticking with the 8/12 split in the first game.

Second, it's correct that you should focus on one of the three special melee attacks, but which one you pick is your choice. Flurry is great early on, but once you have Master Speed, it's eclipsed by the other powers. When you start out, you have 1 base attack, and one with your off-hand. Getting an extra attack from Flurry is a big thing. But Master Speed gives you +2 attacks, so now you can have 5 attacks from Flurry, or 4 attacks with +10/+12 damage each (Power Attack) or a quadruple chance to crit (Critical Strike). At that point, Flurry definitely loses out.

It's been a while, but IIRC, you can upgrade all your weapons so they have an obscene crit-rating anyway. If you're planning on minmaxing the poo poo out of your weapons (and you'll want to - not to break the game, but simply because it's fun to do so). And I'm pretty sure you can crit with Power Attack, which also has a chance to stun as well at higher ranks. Flurry's good for a no penalty extra attack, but Crit Strike, you can mechanically make up for by good crafting. With the right setup, Crit Strike will see you drowning in so many numbers, you'll think you're playing Disgaea, but that stun has saved my rear end on more than one occasion.

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The Shame Boy
Jan 27, 2014

Dead weight, just like this post.



Just to add a bit more advice to the KOTOR chat, if you start Scoundrel you get Sneak Attack as you level up, essentially meaning you can get free hits on things that are stunned, damage goes up as you increase it. Now once you become a Jedi you still have whatever levels of Sneak Attack you got as a Scoundrel, Light Side powers are all about stunning and locking people down(except for droids who you will royally gently caress up even if they make the save on Destroy Droid,which you should always get even as dark side because boy are there alot of droid enemies) All the various powers you get count the enemy as stunned and gives you your Sneak Attack bonuses.

So go Jedi Consular and pump up i believe it's Willpower to make your saves more difficult and Charisma so you have a bigger mana pool. Cast Stasis Field or even Force Whirlwind on a dude, he can't do poo poo while you do a pretty much guaranteed to hit Power Attack that will hurt a lot.

Not sure if you can use the Dark Side equivalent powers (Choke,Kill,etc) and still have this effect but it might be worth a try.

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