Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) General @Everyone

Hello there!

i re-picked up this game recently and it's a blast.

i can beat this game with ease if i simply follow one of the several walk through's, but that would be no fun, would it?

now, i am trying to come up with a new way of playing this game, and i could use some suggestions from you guys.

and here is my vague idea:

1, i don't want to miss any quests, so i will need to do these timed quests just to get them out of the way so i can then do basically "whatever" i want, taking as much time as i want:

a, cure Simon and Verlat, get the ring from Verlat(after a certain time point, Verlat won't appear if you go to Verdistis even if you healed him)

b, meet Krasnegar at the Dwarven Bread Inn before he leaves

c, get the escort quest from Lord Seth and then kill him before reporting to General Alix(i noticed that after a certain time point this quest fails also)

d, any timed quests that i missed? let me know

2, then i want to collect a full set, some items that can be obtained effortlessly (besides saving/loading that is) come to mind,

a, the ring in the abandoned house, Verlat's ring, that makes a pair.

b, the ID5 dagger from Ars Magicana

c, the Dragon Rider that kills you in the beginning can drop anything from necklace to chest piece.

d, i am kinda stuck here, feel free to fill me in.

3, collect the scrolls(only the ones that can be obtained without going out of the way or killing high level monsters) and activate all the portals.

4, time to go back to aleroth and now the real journey begins! and that is what i call a good head start.

For the sake of the Forum, please wrap everything in spoiler text, that's a start!

There is only one timed quest; in Verdistis, if you agree to commit arson, you must do so that game day or someone else will get to it first.

The other quests you mentioned do not have a time limit, but are effected by the completion of other quests. Basically, completing later main plot quests can force the updating of certain NPC status or locations, which would have been done by the completion of earlier main plot quests.


1 a) I don't recall mention of Verlat failing to show up in Verdistis if you healed both soldiers. I did most of the quests in Rivertown and explored pretty much everywhere reachable (without going to the castle) before entering Verdistis, and he was there.


1 c) If you complete any of the 3 quests that give you an invitation to the castle before you complete the escort quest, the healers will move on their own (and if you had not healed the 2 soldiers, those quests will also fail).
If you skip restoring Mardaneus' sanity, his status will also get reset, but I am not sure exactly when (somewhere between getting an invitation to the castle and scrying for the human council member).


2 d) The dragon belt in Verdistis is relatively easy to get to. However, stats on equipment tend to be better at higher character levels. Poor equipment is always going to be poor, but with a potentially powerful item, a higher level character is more likely to get random stats in the upper range of what is available for that item.


3) I don't see much point to activating some of the teleporter pads early. Wouldn't it be less effort to activate them as you explore, than to put off early stuff to activate some of the teleporters, then go back and do the early quests, then return and do the later stuff?
If you want to run around and level up early, though, you might as well activate any teleporter pads you can get to.

That's not necessary here.

Right... Sorry Peaches n' Raze, my bad... Thanks for setting me straight Macbeth...

ah, thanks for the detailed info.



do you have more information on how the random stats on items are generated? also, was this an invention by larian studios? (it's also used in world of warcraft), while we are talking about random stats, would you consider giving the character ID5 using an editor a hack(that will affect the game in a negative way)?



technically i want to run around collecting some gears(and maybe even get myself a high level pet)thus give myself a nice headstart before i start playing the game and following the storyline.

and one last question, Raze, would i ever get stuck(i.e, can't complete the game) if i kill friendly npcs? besides the reputation loss, are there any other side effects? because some of the elves/dwarves yield crazy amount of exp's.

thanks in advance.

Thanks for saying this Raze, it sure seemed like decent random drops weren't as good at lower levels, but I thought it was just my imagination.

This is sort of what I'm doing, I started over and am trying a different approach, somewhat similar to what the OP is trying, except I'm not going for all the quests. Besides the quests needed for the main story, I've done very few side other quests, mostly ones needed for a certain item or a skill point boost. I have a decent set of charmable armor ready for the Wastelands, though I do still need the Dragon gloves. I haven't decided if I'm going to get the Dragon chestplate yet (already have a decent chestplate) but I know I'm not getting it repaired, nor am I getting the Larian armor. If I do the Holy Weapons, it will probably just be to sell the item (why couldn't they have a holy mace?).

I took +10 AGI at the Well (10k gold for the boost vs 50k for a charm, plus it doesn't use up a charm slot, seemed like a bargain), and took the other level/xp boost when I was over half way there already. I started Stormfist at lvl 21, now I'm at lvl 24 and only have the Elf and Dwarf council members left, hoping to hit the gong before 25

I think Raze mentioned that another forum member hit the gong at like lvl 16, which is really impressive I think.

Oh yeah, I wondered, I noticed that when you first meet Zandalor, if you tell him goodbye right away, you get the teleporter quest but not the quest to meet him at Dwarven Bread. Will doing this break the main quest from the get-go? Has anyone tried it? I'm curious.

Slicedpeaches;

Each item has a range of possible stats, from poor up to some maximum. Each stat is given some value by the game, and however stats are chosen, the total value is limited (though it can still produce items well below the limit). For example, the highest damage range for one handed swords that are consistently in the game is 71-100 (dropped or purchased swords can be a little better). Reloading a particular sword, when the damage range is maximized there will tend to be fewer bonuses (there may be 1 or possibly 2 skill bonuses, for example, while a lower damage range sword could have 3 or possibly 4).

In a game trying for the lowest possible character level finish, Areana entered the castle about level 5, cleared the council hall about level 6, eventually doing the blessing ceremony at level 12, to end up in the wastelands at level 17. She tried the holy item quest at level 5, hoping to get a Frost sword, but gave up reloading after a fair bit of time. Coming back to this quest around level 8 or 10, she found it much easier to get acceptable stats on the holy sword (though she didn't get Frost).

I would guess this type of item generation has been done before, but I don't know who was first. AFAIR early computer and console games tended to have set items, and certain shops carried certain items, so you had to reach new towns to get better weapons. With PnP role playing games, the human DM was free to tweak whatever they wanted to, so when computer games first started randomizing stuff, there was at least the tradition of introducing some bias to keep gameplay fun and/or challenging.


I raised Identify as required (based on what I was finding, doing the beginning first), and didn't run into too many items I couldn't identify myself. You can get one level of Identify as a quest reward in Ars Magicana.
Maxing Identify early should not negatively effect the game. I'm not sure if iZakaroN's SaveEditor (or from Kiya's site, with description) can give you a skill higher than your character level merits, though.



I think in the latest game version most or all essential NPCs are protected from dying. Generically named NPCs should be relatively safe to kill. There are some named NPCs that are not required after the quest they are involved in.

If you use an area effect spell that does not need a target (such as Poison Cloud) cast near, but not directly on, and NPC, you can do damage and kill them without turning them hostile and without loosing any reputation.

If you take out someone you find that you need, it may be possible to bring them back (see Reviving dead NPCs). If you attack an NPC directly, though, they will remain hostile if restored this way.



Smashy;

Before Areana did a lot of reloading for the same item in the same game at two different levels, a few people noticed the possible character level correlation. However, even at the same character level, different games can have worse or better item drops, so there was no way to be sure if was just random chance (plus it is hard to remember with great detail what stats you got in a previous game for a bunch of equipment).


I know this isn't why you are skipping the dragon breastplate upgrade, you can buy back the original if you don't like the new stats (or just because you can).

The holy amulet is potentially one of the best in the game.

The quest to meet Zandalor at the inn will always fail. I'm not sure if anyone has tried it, but I can not imagine not getting the quest will have any negative effect on the main plot.

Thanks Raze. Areana entering the castle at 5 then then the gong at 12 is amazing. Gives me something to work for. As it is, I'm going to have to get the last two council members without fighting much, it just makes my xp go up too fast. Which makes me wonder how it would go doing the majority of the game using Shadows/fade from sight.

I bought my Dragon Breastplate back my last time through because it was indeed better. I'll have to check into the Holy Amulet, I already have the three other good amulets in the game, but who knows, maybe I can get some really good stats.

About Zandalor, I just wondered because sometimes in this game it seems like if you miss something in a quest chain, the rest of the quest doesn't trigger either. It would be interesting to try. I'm sure it will still work. I was surprised the game dialogue was different if Lanilor stayed in Aleroth (and got killed), so surely they thought of someone not accepting Zandalor's first quest.

Well I made it to the Wastelands at lvl 29...and now I feel like starting over again lol

You have what I call the "finishers block." You start a game, even getting well into it and even almost to the end, but then you just want to stop and start a new game, possibly even a different computer game! Don't worry, my sister has the same syndrome, so I'm familiar with it.

Heh yeah, I was just thinking that last night, from the start in this game I'm always planning for the "end game," but when I get there it seems like a long pointless exercise, and I get bored with it and want to start over. Maybe I just think the very beginning is the most exciting part, deciding how to spend those first skill points, deciding where to go first, etc. My favorite thing is journeying all the way to the marketplace early on, selling all my loot (netted around 16k last night), buying better equipment, then going north to pick up Finn's lockpicks hehe.

About breaking the main quest by ignoring the dialogue options when you first talk to Zandalor, I tried it, it doesn't work. When you talk to the other marked one at Dwarven, you get the Find Zandalor quest directly (though you do not fail the quest to meet Zandalor, because you never get it).

That could be helpful for someone who wanted to get as few "quest failed" messages as possible. (Although it's impossible to get a perfect quest record because : )

I'm sure there's an answer somewhere if I look hard enough, but figued I'd ask anyway

I think you must defeat Josephine. The item itself is not sufficient to solve the quest (at least not when some people tried to use the lost items procedure to get the item), even if it could be stolen. Level 5 Pickpocket allows you to steal from NPCs up to character level 30, but I don't recall what her level was at this point in the game, and don't know if quest items or boss-type NPCs are exempt from pickpocketing.

The other two items are just sitting out on the table, right? Oh well, I thought I would pose the question, though I figured this would have been mentioned before if it were possible. Thanks Raze.

BTW Smashy,

what i got after about 5 hours of S/L

http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=5frostrl6.jpg

wicked luck? maybe, but hard work too!

the kill gave me 2 levels, so technically you can get 5 frost at as early as level 4...as long as the weapon itself has a really high stat requirement.

because if you think about it, i can't even use this sword until i am level 8~10(depending on how much str/agi i can get with other gears)

edit: i guess i could explain what i did to get the sword:

i killed orcs around aleroth, got a spider statue, use it to lure Lord Seth down to the Ambush quest area, let him fight the drummer, since the drummer goes back to full HP every time you save/load, it is possible to keep saving/loading to wear Lord Seth down. when Lord Seth is low enough, kill drummer, and then use spider statue to lure wounded Lord Seth back to the village, kill him and then save without picking up/mouse over the sword.

the long/boring loading would be something like this, Ctrl+L, pick up sword and let Joram(or any other merchant that can identify) identify it, if it's not good(most of the time), then Ctrl+L.

ps, it's impossible to lure the drummer(newest version of game) to the village where Seth is, so i had to lure Seth out.

Nice sword. There is a quest to steal something in Verdistis which gives you an agility boost (in a game started in the latest version of DD, you can complete the quest and buy back the item), so even without new charms or equipment bonuses you could be able to equip Brightblade after your next level up.

There is one potential problem, though. Mixing any two of Frost on a weapon, Stun on a weapon and the passive Stun skill can sometimes result in creatures hanging in mid death animation, and not dropping items or giving experience. An area effect spell that doesn't need a target, such as Hell Spikes, can force the animation to end, though. Some people also reported that waiting a bit or sleeping would also work.
I think DAD's item editor could remove the Stun bonus, if you wanted.


If you cast an area effect spell that doesn't need a target (such as Poison Cloud) near, but not directly on an NPC, you can do damage and kill them without turning them hostile or loosing any reputation. Most or all essential NPCs are protected from dying in the latest game version.
In the case of Seth, you can even use the Reviving dead NPCs procedure to kill him repeatedly and get multiple copies of the sword.

although if i use any sort of cheating(besides saving/loading), i would lose all my interest in the game.

that's how i quit World of Warcraft after 3+ years of playing: i tried out a private server and i got all the best gears on multiple characters with very little effort, and bam, my interest in WoW suddenly vanished, i then uninstalled and unsubscribed within a few days.