Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Help/Tips/Tricks Ego Draconis pre-dragon help!

Okay, I'd rather be playing the game than trying to find information on playing the game on a forum, but...

Having taken dragon form, battled my first floating armada (or whatever it's called), I'm told that I can no longer go back to retrieve anything in Broken Valley, or on Sentinel Island.

Now, the advice I read in the walkthroughs/guides I've found states some of the following suggestions [My questions in brackets]:

1) Inventory, not worth investing skill points to increase. [Okay, I spent the points, can carry max 180 items (or stacks of items), and still can't carry everything I want to. I've got some books I think I might want to keep to read again later, some red ore I might need, lots of armor/weapons/jewelry, and still some locked chests out there I've never opened. There seems to be no place where I can stash this stuff, is my only option to sell it?]

2) (related to 1) It is suggested that, before I sell enchanted items, I disenchant them (supposedly the enchantments are added to my enchanter's list of available enchantments). [However, before I take the tower, there is only one enchanter available, if the enchantments go to him, and he dies once I gain the tower, what use is it to waste time disenchanting these items, if I'm forced to sell them before entering the tower, in order to have room for any set items or named items that may be in those locked chests, or in vendor inventories (like the hermit on Sentinel Island)? Should I waste time disenchanting 40 items before selling them, or just go sell them and deal with the question asking if I want to sell them for "only" x gold?]

3) [Should I explore Orobus Fiords as much as I can, before taking my tower?]

Well, those seem to be my main concerns, the game was fun till I got stuck with a full inventory, no place to put stuff till I got my battle tower, and no way to go back for stuff once I do get the tower.

Thanks ahead of time for any help you can offer.

PK

You're a true looter. And it's unfortunate I was the first to answer this post, since I posted before I hate lootering. I'll help you as far as I can, Raze will probably provide a more detailed answer later.

[1] If you have taken the dragon form, you are now the owner of the battle tower. In the throne room there's an elevator behind the throne, which leads to your personal quarters. There is a giant chest ornamented by a dragon there. You should be able to right-click (on pc) any item in your inventory and choose the option "send to battle tower" , and this is where you'll find it.

[2] I have no idea how to make the most money, as I don't believe such knowlegde is strictly necessary

[3] You CAN leave broken valley and enter the Orobas Fjords before capturing the battle tower (that's where Willey pops up) but that's a deathtrap. You're simply not skilled enough to do that. And I don't believe you'll miss anything if you just skip it until taking the Battle Tower, which is what you are supposed to do.

Would you like to answer this question: did you get this game by GOG, Steam, Larian Vault or retail? I'm just curious.

I got the game from GOG.com, I have all three games, in fact, though I haven't played Beyond Divinity, yet.

Thank you for your answer, I had already found that chest in the tower, once I took the tower, however, I'm going back to before I took the tower, to try to get everything I can find.

The idea being, if I can find any more Set or Elder items, I want to have those when I take the tower; and if I have to sell stuff without disenchanting it, then I want to make sure anything I find with high-level enchantments (especially HP/Mana regeneration, shock and healing aura, and fire damage on weapons).

It seems also that I should save potion recipes for high-level health/mana potions and collect the ingredients they need, rather than selling those ingredients, and then making more of those potions to use during that first dragon-form battle (since I don't see to be able to regenerate health during that battle, and when you make potions, it seems to use up the formula scroll).

Anyway, thanks again, and I'll be looking forward to that answer from Raze.

PK

I invested in the skill to increase the inventory capacity in my first game, but in my second I had a much better idea of what I needed, so didn't horde as much. You can either sell, use or destroy items to free up inventory space before getting the battle tower.

I usually kept quest related books (even if they were just added for info or atmosphere), but sold ones that show up in randomly generated loot, etc (like the different 'History of' book series). If you check the consumable section of your inventory, you may have a stat/skill book there you can use to fee up some space. Any required books should be in the quest item section of your inventory, though there are a couple books which you can read yourself to get a bonus or give to someone to complete a quest. In any case, after you've read a book you can sell or destroy it (as long as it is not marked as a quest item, in which case it doesn't count towards your inventory limit).

If you have any creature parts you only need to keep the best of each type. I kept a list of my current top part stats handy so I could sell any lesser versions before talking to the necromancer (and working on the creature), so I wouldn't clutter up the part list when any new pieces I had with me were added. In DKS and D2:DC creature parts can also get added to the necromancer's list from any merchant's inventory, if you sell or buy anything in that section of the inventory (and maybe just switching to it).
You can get rid of potion and enchantment formula by talking to the alchemist and enchanter (any left in your inventory after going into the alchemy or enchantment functions will be duplicates, and can be sold).
Any formula and creature parts you have before the battle tower will be available afterwards, as well.

Alchemy plants and enchantment gems and minerals are easy to acquire after getting the battle tower, so you can get rid of any you are not going to use. Keep malachite gems, since there is a limited supply in the game, and ginseng (etc) for healing potions, but if you have multiple stacks of the same item, you can safely get rid of the extra stacks. Iron, whisperwood and fatfern are fairly common, for example; you can make more money with the latter two if you make level 1 or 2 Full Resistance or Dexterity potions, and sell the potions rather than just the ingredients.

If you have any equipment that you are hanging onto because it might be good once you get higher level enchantments or better charms, by the time you do you will most likely also have found equipment with better base stats (my first game in the original release of D2:ED I hung onto lots of stuff I ended up just selling later).


You only need to disenchant items before selling them if they would give you a higher level formula than what you currently have. The warning about selling an item for 'only' x gold is to keep people from accidentally selling magic or better class equipment early in the game; you can not get more gold from a different merchant, or if you wait, etc.


You can explore the fjords early if you wish. I did so before heading to Sentinel Island, to get to as high a level as I could (level 22), to get the most experience points from the mindread in your first encounter there. You don't need to do any of the fjords, though it wouldn't hurt to clear down the mountain path at least as far as the teleporter.


You should have a piece of dragon equipment with a bonus to the healing spell. You can also use potions in dragon form, but even level 1 of the healing spell should usually be enough.
If you explore the fjords early, you can find a dragon skill book (which you can use right away, and the skill point will show up when you later transform into a dragon).

Making potions will use up the ingredients (keep any jewellery you find with a Master Herbalist bonus, to equip before making batches of potions), but not the formula. If it is a new formula, it may be removed from your inventory when you talk to an alchemist, but it gets added to the potion list and will remain available to you (at any alchemist) for the rest of the game.


Welcome to the forum.

1) Now that you have the battle tower, you can ask your trainer to remove all of those points you put into your inventory skill. Because of the chest in the tower, they are literally useless now.


2) Any formulas you give to the Broken Valley enchanter or alchemist will transfer to your Battle Tower people automatically, you don't lose them.


3) I would not bother exploring Orobas Fjords before taking the tower. You're prevented from doing too much there until you get the tower. The only suggestion I have is that once you defeat Amdusias, THEN go to Orobas Fjords and get enough XP to reach the next level before going to Sentinel Island.


******

Ingredients for enchanting and alchemy are the biggest consumers of inventory space. On subsequent playthroughs, I tend to only pick up the ingredients for enchantments or potions I want that character to use, and sell the rest.

For example, Iron is completely worthless, it's only good for level 1 and 2 enchantments, which are too weak to be worth putting on equipment by the time you can find the enchanter.


Old outdated equipment should be sold as soon as you decide it's not useful. The only old stuff I keep are items with +Wisdom and +Mindread.

Gold in the game is somewhat useful, but mostly for buying unique items from merchants. You can get a lot of gold by using your Battle Tower runners to do diamond farming (but it does cost money to outfit them in the first place).

Okay, these are all good suggestions, thank you.

I guess I'm still unclear about why one should disenchant equipment before selling it. However, let me say the following, and see if this is how it works:

If I have an item with say, a level 8 healing aura enchantment, and I have not found such an enchantment scroll, does disenchanting the item then add that enchantment to the list of enchantments I can add to items? That seems to be what the guides I've found suggests. The price I can sell the items for seems not to be affected by the fact that the item is enchanted or disenchanted.

Oh, yeah, if I have added a charm to something, is there any way to remove it and add a different charm, or should I wait to charm things till I have higher-level charms (and sell low-level charms rather than keeping them to use on stuff later - I have perhaps 15 charms of level 1 or 2 in my inventory)?

- EDIT - Never mind, I found an answer from Raze elsewhere on the forum, charms are non-removable, and he suggests only keeping silver and gold level charms, so, will take that under advisement.

PK

Yes, disenchanting a level 8 Healing Aura enchantment from a found or purchased item will add it to your list of available enchantments (if you do not already have it). However, since any level of Healing Aura requires a malachite gem (which are limited), I would try to avoid using too many before you get a level 10 formula. Then again, I hoarded malachite gems (only added a couple Healing Auras and stuck to level 9 for other enchantments, and reloaded at malachite veins and certain quests in FoV which could give gems as a reward) and ended up with 65 at the end of DKS. Next game I'll either have to be less stingy using them, or not bother reloading.

While you can find or purchase enchantment formula, I probably got the majority of my formula by disenchanting equipment. I kept a list handy when I was playing with the levels of enchantment (and alchemy) formula I had, to refer to when checking loot or at merchants.
I thought the value of equipment did drop when you removed enchantments?


Silver and gold (large and very large) are the charms in Divine Divinity, though the same advice applies (only use the best charms on equipment you may be using for awhile, and they can not be removed). I did not use any charms in DKS, but collected 5 lesser charms, 9 minor, 27 major, 56 blessed and 61 divine charms (7 of which were vitality, 3 spirit, 10 strength, 7 dexterity, 6 intelligence and 28 other).

Okay, that's pretty much what I've come to the conclusion of so far.

As for skill points, I've been trying to place those in passive skills, and use equipment bonuses to give active skills. One of the guides stated that Poison Arrows is only effective in the early game, as later enemies are immune. I read in another thread that someone had found weapons with high-level poison damage, so, does this mean that those weapons' poison damage becomes ineffective? I've been watching for weapons with fire damage enchantment and high-levels of magic damage. Are there enemies who are immune to magic damage, so that those weapons become ineffective?

-Edit-
Oh, the Gamepressure.com guide has a poison damage enchantment (level 10) with 15% chance to do 54 damage over 27 seconds (the pdf), however, I found a weapon with Poison enchantment of 15% chance to do 27 damage over 4 seconds; and another for 16% chance of 30 damage over 4 seconds (when I went to disenchant this weapon, the game said this was a level 6 enchantment).

For Fire Curse, they have a 13% and a 15% chance (for level 9 and 10), but their level 10 says 15% chance of 54 damage over 27 seconds, while what I found was (level 6) 14% chance of 60 damage over 2 seconds. Did they change (rebalance) the enchantments for the Developer's Cut edition (which is what I have, from GOG.com)?

PK

Poison arrows at max level will do 620 damage per second or so, which is not that great considering the several-thousand HP of enemies at that level, and worse, most enemies in the end-game are undead, which I think are immune to poison.

Nothing is immune to magic damage or fire damage, I believe. The power of enchantments were rebalanced for DKS.

With a ranger in DKS I used Poison Arrows (or Stun Arrows) occasionally late in the game, but once I could learn Exploding Arrows and Splitting Arrows, they took over as my primary special attacks. I learned Exploding Arrows on level 15 when available, but delayed learning Splitting Arrows (just never got around to it, until I had a little bit of trouble with a fair sized group and tried it to see if it would help). Later I started preferring Splitting Arrows to Exploding Arrows (it is great for close range attacks), especially after learning Way of the Ranger (usually don't bother with temporary boost spells, but tried it out on level 40, after buying a bow with that skill bonus). I did not max Poison Arrows, since later in the game I usually just used it to come out of pause with an attack (regular attacks don't unpause with the Xbox version); with the PC version you can not enable Target Lock when paused, but can click on a specific target with the mouse cursor.

In the original release of D2:ED I tried poison and fire damage enchantments (on weapons and jewellery) with my dual wielding warrior, and at least noticed the poison effect being triggered more often (never checked the combat log to see if maybe the effect was just more visible, or something). My total normal / magic damage was effective enough late in the game that I never worried about how much damage the third weapon enchantment was contributing (and other than Static Charge or the odd Healing Aura, wasn't particularly enthusiastic about any of the jewellery enchantments).


There were changes to enchantments (and skills) between the original release of D2:ED and DKS. When the Developer Mode was added to DKS to make the Developer's Cut version, I don't recall seeing mention of any additional changes, though there may have been some. Check out Lancet's Dragon Knight Saga FAQ/Guide for a list of enchantments (search for *20* to jump to the enchantments section).

Oh, thanks. For some reason I had an earlier version of this guide, but the one you gave the link to has numbers coinciding with the numbers I'm finding in the game.

The Gamepressure PDF is still good for not having to be online to see the maps they have and get clues on how to deal with specific quests (I'm trying to do the quests myself, first, then once I've done them, check if I could have done something different and gotten a better outcome).

I'm not sure I like some of the choices you have to make in the game, there are some situations where, should they redo the game yet again, it would be nice to have a third solution (like the two quests with the soulstone, it would have been nice to have the conversation with Lovis have an option in it where Lovis gives you a means of freeing the ghosts in Maxos' temple, as well as him (or, he makes the decision to let them go free, and remain there, allowing you access to the armor chest anyway, considering you found out that he only told you half the truth before, and now he has pity on those cursed with him).

Oh well, developers can't think of everything (and sometimes don't want to - I've been watching what's going on with Mass Effect 3, which I have, but have yet to install). I think Larian did an excellent job, and enjoy the humor they included (especially all the Latin - I don't understand a lot of it, but when the hermit on Sentinel Island started spouting Latin phrases as supposed spells he knew, I was just waiting for that last phrase he said with a bit of a question mark at the end, and they didn't disappoint).

Anyway, I think I have enough now to make better decisions for the rest of the game, I'm off to see what else I can explore/collect/sell before the last phase of taking the Battle Tower closes me out of all this grand area in Broken Valley and Sentinel Island.

Thanks again for all your help,

PK

After you take over the battle tower you can still return to Broken Valley and outside on Sentinel Island (there is one quest in each area left to do), any loot and most NPCs and locations will be unavailable (there will be some new loot and stuff to do).

Oh, yeah, I wanted to tell you about my creature. I was able, through probably several hundred reloads, to get perfect creature parts for my first creature. Dragon Elf head, Perfect Remains of a Torso, Perfect Goblin Arms, and Perfect Ghoul Legs. The creature seems to be able to take a lot of punishment, deals a lot of magic damage (even to targets I couldn't target because they were behind barriers), and can even defend himself in a melee situation.

And a few of the parts I found without having to reload, which was great (the head was the first, and to get a perfect one right off the bat was what got me to make sure I got perfect parts for the rest of him).

PK

It took me forever to even get a mage head for my creature (which I actually got from the chest Lovis opens if you give him the soul stone), let alone a perfect one. Oh well, it was still very helpful just with the default parts.

I think with Lovis' soul stone, Larian wanted you to have to choose between helping less evil people and getting no reward, or helping the more evil person and getting something for yourself out of it. There are certainly quests or conversations in the game that could have been expanded on, though, given enough resources.

Okay, this may seem like a silly question, but, is there a list somewhere of the tips the game shows during load screens? On my fast computer, the load screens go by so fast I don't have time to read them. Some of them sound interesting, from the first 8 or so words.

Hm, reading another thread about the poison on Sentinel Island and in Broken Valley. Now I'm wondering how my runners get about, must use the teleporter and portal to go to the Fjords and elsewhere.

PK

You know, I really miss live discussion on IRC, but so far have found no IRC channel for these games.