Comments on my playstyle
After reading a few posts about people saying the game is too easy, even on Hard, I began wondering why I was finding it fairly challenging on Normal. I have since finished the game (and it did get much easier towards the end.)
Thinking about it, it turns out that without consciously thinking about it, I have basically been ignoring all the most powerful game mechanics.
I have not used Glass Cannon or Zombie on any characters. I did use the Leech + Bloodletting combo on my Shadowblade for a while, but stopped as the cooldown on the normal heal went to 1 turn, and the Shadowblade stopped getting hurt as much.
I have not been overdosing on crowd control skills, I mostly focused on nuking people. I am using them, but maybe not as much as other people. I have had Jahan forever, but have not ever used Rain + Blitzbolt to create an AoE stun, or Rain + Chilling Wind to Freeze. I do not think I exactly FORGOT about those, but I just avoided them because I got tired of accidentally stunning my own party members who were trying to hit the enemy, and I did not have a lot of attacks at the time that would hit frozen enemies without unfreezing them or doing low damage.
One semi-exploit I have been using is the books from the Teller of Secrets, but I did not discover her until I was level 12/13, after Hiberheim. They could possibly use a price increase, but otherwise, they do not seem TOO unbalanced to me. I am still not maxing out all character stats. Maybe only make those available in her list starting at level 10 (so there is no longer a point to racing to her at level 1). Level 10 is about when you are done with Cyseal and can get 5 Star Stones by then.
I ended up using most on my Shadowblade, who as a hybrid, seemed weak stat-wise. That was before the Weresheep armour, though. I actually had to end up spending a point or two into CON at the end to hold all her AP.
I completely ignored crafting. Completely. This is not exactly the interfaces fault. I usually ignore crafting in games anyway. Still, though, the crafting system and inventory management in D:OS leaves a lot to be desired if you want to actually use it. I did not win me over to trying it. I did not make any huge weapons through crafting or blacksmithing, I stuck to store-bought and drops. I never used Rubies to enhance resistances in gear.
Combat began to wear out its welcome around the Phantom Forest area. I began to use sneaking to avoid as much as I can. I did go back later to kill them for the XP, though. I tried fighting Death Knights once. There was a group of three of them, and combat started but a group of 3 on their patrol came up from the back, meaning that there were still two death knights invulnerable for 3 turns. They did a huge amount of damage, so fighting while surrounded was not happening.
I left the huge annoying mass of Immaculates, demons, and death knights in front of the Source Temple completely alone, and just used sneak, invisibility, and the pyramid stone to get the group to the entrance.
I have mentioned a couple places where I was confused by puzzles. Some of that is righteous annoyance at pixel hunting, other stuff is just stupidity. For instance
I tried an unorthodox way to get into the Temple of Death. I put my almost-dead party on the platform and had a source Hunter blow himself up, killing everyone. Then I pulled the lever to send the corpses away. My surviving Source Hunters plan was then to go to the Knights Tomb in Hunters Edge, where I had left a Star Stone hidden in a coffin. The idea was that maybe if I touched it, they would resurrect, and then I could use the teleport stone to reach the corpse. It did not work because the Knights Tomb is a map transition to elsewhere.
Amazingly, I missed the obvious hole in my logic: why not just teleport directly to the corpse without needing to get the star stone? And the even simpler one: Why not just plant a teleport stone on an existing corpse without anyone dying?
So sometimes I am just dumb.
Final Party Stats
My final party stats, taken just before the boss encounter. I am only including abilities that reached Rank 3 or higher to save space.
Sarienne - Shadowblade
VIT: 1274 || AP: Max =15 / Start = 14 / Turn = 12
MOV: 5.56 m/AP || INIT: 20 || DAM = 129-190 (516-760 for Guerrilla Backstabs)
STR = 5 || DEX = 13 + 5 = 18 || INT = 13 + 1 = 14
CON = 7 + 1 = 8 || SPD = 8 + 7 = 15 || PER = 5 + 5 = 10
(21 points before gear, minus 5 from char creation = 16)
Resistances:
F = 0 || W = 45 || E = 25
A = 40 || T = 25 || P = 65
Abilities:
Rank 5
Scoundrel - only obtained for Headstrong, I could have settled for Rank 3.
Witchcraft
Sneaking [6] = 4 (+ 1 + 1)
Rank 4
Aerothurge
Rank 3
Single-Handed = 1 (+ 2)
Lucky Charm = 2 (+ 1)
Talents: Backstabber, Guerrilla, Headstrong, Light Stepper, Leech, Speedcreeper, Swiftfooted
She was using three pieces of Weresheep armour for its amazing stat boosts, and her weapon was the unique Snakebite. I did not really find anything better, because it did a lot of damage and had good stat boosts, and it was powerful enough that I did not feel like my damage was falling behind.
She maxed Witchcraft and Scoundrel (but only that one for the Talent), got Sneak up to 5 via a Trait for Guerrilla, and got Air to 3.
My stats were not quite as unbalanced before I put on three pieces of Weresheep armour. I actually had to put points into CON at that point so I could hold enough turn AP probably one of the first times that has happened to someone who DID NOT have Glass Cannon.
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Keivan - Wizard
VIT: 1151 || AP: Max = 16 / Start = 10 / Turn = 8
MOV: 2.68 m/AP || INIT: 13
STR = 5 || DEX = 5 || INT = 14 + 7 + 1 = 22
CON = 7 + 2 = 9 || SPD = 9 || PER = 6 + 1 = 7
(16 points before gear, minus 5 from char creation = 11)
Resistances:
F = 70 || W = 0 || E = 35
A = 25 || T = 30 || P = 30
Abilities:
Rank 5
Willpower = 3 (+ 1 + 1)
Geomancer
Pyrokinetic
Loremaster = 3 (+ 2)
Rank 3
Bodybuilding = 2 (+ 1)
Hydrosophist
Sneaking = 2 (+ 1)
Talents: Bigger and Better, Elemental Affinity, Far Out Man, Know It All, Pet Pal, What a Rush, 1 Unspent
Gear was not particularly relevant for him. I build him as Fire/Earth with some Water. Fire and Earth were maxed, Water was at 3. Spare points went into Loremaster and Willpower. He was mostly a nuker, doing heavy damage, but later on, against enemies with high magic, he buffed and healed.
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Madora - Fighter
VIT: 2084 || AP: Max = 19 / Start = 9 / Turn = 9
MOV: 2.84 || INIT: 13 || DAM = 287-463
STR = 13 + 3 = 16 || DEX = 5 + 1 = 6 || INT = 5 + 1 + 2 = 8
CON = 8 + 4 = 12 || SPD = 9 + 1 = 11 || PER = 5 - 1 = 4
(16 points before gear, minus 5 from char creation = 11)
Resistances:
F = 80 || W = 80 || E = 50
A = 80 || T = 35 || P = 70
Abilities:
Rank 5
Two-Handed = 3 (+ 2)
Bodybuilding [7] = 5 (+ 2) - for Stand your Ground
Willpower [6] = 3 (+ 3)
Man-At- Arms = 5
Rank 4
Tenebrium = 3 + 1
Talents: Comeback Kid, Opportunist, Picture of Health, Stand Your Ground, Thick Skin, Weather the Storm, What a Rush
A pretty standard 2H fighter. I maxed her Man at Arms, her Bodybuilding, and her Willpower, with some into 2H and Tenebrium. I experimentally put a point into Fire, but she did not make much use out of it. She also was the party repairer with a single point in Blacksmithing.
I ended up mostly ignoring her special skills, which tended to fail against enemy saves later on, and just had her beat things up with normal attacks. This wasn稚 the smartest way to play, but it worked well enough.
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Jahan - Enchanter/Witch
VIT: 1212 || AP: Max = 16 / Start = 10 / Turn = 9
MOV: 2.72 m/AP || INIT: 13
STR = 5 || DEX = 5 || INT = 13 + 2 + 5 + 1 = 21
CON = 8 + 1 = 9 || SPD = 9 + 2 = 11 || PER = 6 - 2 + 2 = 6
(16 points before gear, minus 5 from char creation = 11)
Resistances:
F = 0 || W = 45 || E = 45
A = 40 || T = 0 || P = 50
Abilities:
Rank 5
Bodybuilding [7] = 4 (+ 3)
Willpower = 4 (+ 1) - I did not bother with 5 as Voluble Mage was not worth it.
Hydrosophist
Rank 4
Aerothurge
Witchcraft
Talents: Bigger and Better, Elemental Affinity, Far Out Man, Know It All, Morning Person, Scientist, 1 Unspent
Jahan was an Air/Water/Witchcraft wizard. I only got him to 4 in air and witchcraft, and 5 into Willpower. I used him mostly for control and inflicting blind and some other statuses, not really so much stun or freeze, though, despite his starting skill set.
