Since I played the game originally in January of 2010, I replayed it before playing the expansion.
I'm not exactly sure what all the tweaks were with the new version but I definitely had a blast. I'm not if it was experience with the game previously or what... but the gameplay felt so much better this time through.
I didn't think the mindread mechanic was a very fleshed-out device in the first game, so I wasn't expecting much of it in the second game but finding that you actually NEED to use it to get quests... that was a surprise.
Being a dragon... and only being able to fly in the end sequence... very frustrating. Playing the expansion at the same time as the rest of the game... not bad. But for those that played it months after the original, I'm sure it was pretty short.
At some point I started one-shotting mobs (
which I prefer to getting my butt handed to me) and eventually the final boss was pretty much a joke. There wasn't much thrown at you... but I have to say... for someone that hates bosses in games... I'm ok with it.
After having quit YEARS of MMO play (
yes, World of Warcraft, what of it?) I like to find single user MMO's and that's how I think of this game (
minus the annoying other players).
You can even pull mobs in this game! Which was necessary in the sky fortresses. If you don't, you get murdered by the ranged wankers!
Respawns! I kept entering dungeons and there were mobs there.. again! I didn't really need them but it was nice to have respawns to repay xp debt.
Biggest Laugh - Dramatic Look bunny! I couldn't stop laughing to play for ten minutes or so. Talana says something like "you asked for it"... way funny stuff.
Build at game end:
------------------
Core Skills
===========
Deathblow 15 (
max)
Regenerate 15 (
max)
Life Leech 13 (
max)
Whirlwind 15 (
max) 588.5 / 52% knockback
Battle Rage 15 (
max) 160% / 0 armor penalty
Rush 1 (
a single point was all that was necessary)
Dual Wielding 13 (
max)
Mana Leech 1 (
a single point was all that was necessary)
Secondary Skills
================
Hide in Shadows 1 (
single point all that was necessary when it was needed)
Charm 7 (
max)
Herbalist 1 (
mindread bonus)
Summon Demon 1 (
mindread bonus)
Lock Pick 7 (
max)
MindRead 11/15 (
respawns made it pointless to keep upgrading this)
7 points left at the end unassigned
Vit 77
Sp 59
Str 71
Dex 70
Int 55
cond 75%
height ref 75%
Indom 60%
level 46
hp 989 / mana 852
280k gold
unbuffed:
dmg 888-1293 (681-831)
buffed (
battle rage):
2027-2949 (691-836)
Ulthring Armor (
armor in the expansion... if there was something better than this, I just didn’t care to figure the differences every time I got a drop or found a new vendor).
axe of titus, blade of hypnerotomachia
enchants: +75 melee, +75 magic
Comments
---------
It's not until some of the skills are maxed out do you get a full realization of their power. At lower skill levels some are just useless as the points in their calculations are terrible at the lower end or.... I don't know (
for example: Life Leech, it doesn't seem to be viable until you go over 5).
Charm - I've always loved games with a charm element... flip the bit on a mob in a room and let the entire room decimate them. THAT IS FUN, my friend.
Hide in Shadows... didn't use it much except when I wanted the first hit.
Mind Read - at some point I gave up putting the points in as the expansion has respawns and I easily paid off the xp debt with a few kills.
Great game, I had a blast. Keep em coming!
