Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga Fjords to Aleroth - Transition sooner or later?

I've only owned DKS for several weeks on my 360; as such I apologize in advance for my impending ignorance of things which may or may not already be common knowledge.

A good while ago I stumbled across a post which I can't seem to find again, even after hours of searching.

I can't be 100% sure, but if memory serves, I think this post mentioned that one should transition from Orobas Fjords to Aleroth as soon as possible in order to gain access to more merchants. (In order to check them for gear each time you level up.)

I have already gathered all the components for "on the road again" and I am just waiting to turn the quest in. I'm probably about 50% or 60% done in Fjords at this point, have not even touched any flying fortresses yet, and am trying to hold onto as many quests as I can (to get the XP later after killing as many mobs as I can reach to avoid diminishing XP return.)

I created an alternate save file where I went to Aleroth, but only found two merchants. I haven't gone past the Ministry in that save file because I was concerned about sacrificing the possible XP bonus from prolonging the fight by allowing Zandalor to get attacked. I was hoping to reach the skeleton that sells Divine Charms so I could check his stock at each level up.

My concern is I don't want to sabotage myself by gaining too many levels before reaching said skele merchant and miss opportunities to spawn divine charms. However, while I'm looking to gain access to as many merchants as possible as soon as possible I do not wish to compromise my total possible XP gain.

1- So, would it be worthwhile to go to Aleroth now and make my way to the Skeleton Merchant for Divine charms? Or is this something that is best ignored for a while? (and just get to him whenever?)

2- Or, is it worth going to Aleroth to gain access to the two merchants before the Ministry and waiting to complete the Ministry after wrapping up in Orobas Fjords first?

3- Would going to Aleroth damage my XP gain (by gaining XP as I progress through Aleroth) or hinder the completion of any quests I have yet to finish (or even start) back in Orobas Fjords?

I'm currently level 26.75, if that matters. I'm also using Lancet Jades guide from GameFaqs. (trying to minimize missing things.)




Edit: I've done more searching and only found that some players prefer to go to Aleroth sooner and some prefer to go later. With enemies being level 28 at the Ministry and the minimum recommended level for completing the Ministry being about level 26... Oh well. I guess the thing to do here is just pop in a USB drive and make an alternate save file to get to the undead divine charm merchant and see if I want to continue from there or go back and wrap up the Fjords first.

Again, apologies if this question has been asked to death... skipping to Aleroth before wrapping up the Fjords just gave me an uneasy feeling, like I could risk hurting my potential XP gain or hinder the completion of certain quests back in the Fjords. For the life of me I wish I could find the post that discussed this question in detail. *facepalm* I suppose I should have bookmarked it... I just assumed I'd be able to find it again easily.

Before going to the Hall of Echoes there are just the 2 merchants available in Aleroth.

If you want to farm extra experience points in the D2:ED section of the game, it would be better to do so in Keara's flying fortress than the ministry. how to reach level 40+
There are some places (like caves) in the FoV section of the game where enemies can respawn, and they give much more experience than the relatively weak opponents that you can get to respawn in D2:ED.

In the original release of D2:ED I delayed going to Aleroth (low thirties for level). In DKS I went as soon as I was able (though delayed going to Sentinel Island as long as possible, so was level 25 when I got to Aleroth) and just put off doing the ministry.

In DKS I tried maximizing my experience gain, put off turning in quests when possible, etc, but it really didn't make a significant difference by the end of the game. At the end of D2:ED I was a little under level 37, and in DKS at that point (with some changes to quest experience to make levelling faster at the start of the game, etc) I was a little over (I also played with the respawning opponents in the Maxos temple mirror room a bit).

As always, your information is concise, accurate and very helpful Raze. (After reading through countless threads, you seem to rival the Patriarch in your knowledge of the Divinity universe.)

Ah... I see my error now. One of the guides I'm using had a rather ambiguous description regarding Bedwyr, listing him as an Aleroth character/merchant and a good source for charms, but neglecting to mention he was part of the FoV expansion. Even on the wiki I just see him listed under "Aleroth Characters."

I also used the barrel in Maxos temple mirror room to hit level 20. I only stopped at level 20 because I was feeling guilty. I also figured I could make up some XP at Keara's fortress or in the Ministry if I felt I needed it later.

There's some excellent points made in that linked thread, level 40+ may be a bit extreme. I get the sense that there'd be little satisfaction left from battles if there's no possibility of losing.

Such power has ruined other games for me in the past.
*cough* Fortify Restoration Glitch *cough* Skyrim *cough*


Although; I AM curious about something I don't see mentioned in that thread:

-Does being level 40+ itself make you invincible REGARDLESS of stat point distribution?

-or-

-Not?


Because if power and resistances are directly tied into stat points more than the character level, it raises the question whether somebody looking to change builds could take advantage of this and stop putting points into Strength and start throwing points into Intelligence if they wanted to get away from a Melee build and move towards a Mage build or vice versa. (Or swap from either of those to a Ranger build for that matter.)

Although, even IF power and resistances ARE directly tied to stat points (more so than character level that is,) even using a loophole to grind a level 40+ character, I imagine there'd still be a cut-off point where one could switch focus and still create a worthwhile character build. I'm guessing at one third or perhaps half-way through DKS.

Of course, this is meaningless if level ALONE makes for an invincible character.

Any thoughts on this? Or has this already been hashed out many times before? (If so I apologize for raising the question, just ignore in that case and I'll find the answer eventually.)

In the original release of D2:ED (when that topic was posted) there was a strong level dependence for combat, but that was greatly reduced in DKS / D2:DC. You would still have a boost going from level 30 to 40, for example, even without using the additional stat and skill points, but you wouldn't become invincible fighting level 30ish opponents. Some of the weak summons in D2:ED that you could simply ignore were made much tougher in DKS, as well.

The creature (in part) and dragon form stats are level dependant.

Equipment in DKS does not have stat requirements, so you can easily switch character builds even late in the game. A high strength character isn't going to be as effective a mage as they could be, for example, but skills (like Mana Efficiency), enchantments, charms and even just a little extra potion use can make up for having a low intelligence and spirit. Going the other way, a high intelligence character has the option of using magic based weapons for melee combat.
You wouldn't need to grind to do this, but a level advantage would help if you are switching to a really non-optimal build. FWIW playing a ranger in DKS I stopped distributing stat points after level 15, and had no problem finishing the game (got to level 47 just before the end).

That makes sense, I had read about people putting stats points into STR to wear certain armor and was wondering where they were pulling the requirements from. (Other than level reqs.) As a result, early on in this playthrough, I placed stat points into STR which I probably don't need now.

Since you mentioned dragon form stats being derivative of level, does the dragon form HP ever climb to a point where a Dragon Cuirass with +40% HP bonus is not as useful/necessary? (Mana regen is so fast I haven't seen the need for a mana bonus in dragon form yet.)

Upon reading other threads, I am assuming that, from a purely statistical standpoint, the Bone Dragon Cuirass is, technically, the best dragon form chest piece since it has the same HP bonus as the Crystal Cuirass and does not cost 3 stat points to obtain, like the Plate Cuirass.

Actually, with the stats on all dragon chest gear being identical, (two with +40% HP and two +40% mana,) one wonders why the Crystal Cuirass or Plate Cuirass is even worth obtaining, aside from cosmetic differences. Or, am I missing something, such as a stat difference between D2:ED and the DKS version which I'm not identifying?

Strength helps with your natural healing rate, melee armour, and conditioned body, so boosting it a bit isn't a bad idea even if you don't need the melee damage bonus.

There were times in dragon form that I didn't need to heal very frequently, but not so much I considered removing the +40% HP armour. Even for the couple places where I tried using the shield and summon spells, etc, I didn't have a problem with mana that I would consider switching the HP bonus to mana.

No, the difference between those cuirasses is purely cosmetic, even in the original release of D2:ED. Some people prefer using a complete set, or just like the look of one cuirass over the other with a given bonus.

the dragon form HP ever climb to a point where a Dragon Cuirass with +40% HP bonus is not as useful/necessary?

Yes, towards the end of the fjords it isn't really necessary, but then it is useful in the Hall of Echoes, and you'll need it again at the end of FoV.
I never had a problem with mana in dragon form, so was never tempted by the +40% Mana dragon cuirass. Half way, or so, through the fjords I removed all dragon armour, then ran into a problem with the Hall of Echoes (difficulty bug, worked properly the next day) and re-equipped it.