New run with Survivor char, + questions (spoilers) - 12/04/08 05:21 AM
I played a new Warrior character for awhile, but I was not liking the idea of doing the same thing all over again. Especially after I kind of wanted to break the main quest, but it didn't work. So I decided to try out a Survivor character to see how I liked it.
I'm really enjoying playing the survivor so far, especially as it supports what I want to do, ie quickly dashing and sneaking to my goals rather than fighting my way through to them. I do often miss the spin attack, but I really like the Sneak ability, it really helps out. I can get a whole mess of enemies chasing me, then sneak off to an empty room to catch my breath and get ready for the next run. Works great above ground too, if a bunch of things are chasing me, I can just run until I'm out of their view, then sneak, and they immediately stop chasing. Gives me a reason to develop strong stamina too. Not so useful for stronger fast enemies though... I also liked starting out with one point in identify and lockpick.
One thing I noticed that may be a bug...when I'm sneaking, my stamina will drain, but when it reaches the end, sometimes it will just reset and fill up again instead of draining all the way. Not that I'm -complaining-, it just doesn't seem right.
Another thing I noticed that I never noticed before on the other two character classes, is sometimes, seemingly at random times, my weapon display (the "browse weapons" button that shows what weapon you're currently using) shows just a fist (no weapon) when I'm clearly carrying and using a working weapon. If I re-equip the same weapon, the display updates to show it. More of an irritation than anything, since the weapon still works even though it's not shown.
Here was my method or steps I took so far.
1) Gather my starting equipment/gold, two minor health etc, view two cut scenes
2) Visit Otho and Geomoe to get healing quests, collect mirror and destroyed leather pants
3) Visit George, buy a short bow, get the quest to get herbs, when he goes into his room, steal all of his items including the charmable leather armor and his bread, also item from chest. Sell enough items back to him to afford ID'ing the leather armor.
4) Kill Zombie Jake x2 (with short bow). I start with the one in his basement first, since you can run around the tiny room in the middle, making it easier. I put most or all of my 10 points into agility, then went after the 2nd Jake. Again put most points into agility.
5) Healed both patients, collected point in Restoration, got quest to free Lanilor, underground to Mardaneus's house, collected emerald (I think) and all bottles of wine etc. Freed Lanilor, raided Mardeneus's house for items, collected herbs, went back to George, bought new armor at (somewhat) better prices.
6) Collect 2nd pyramid. Run/sneak through catacombs as quickly as possible. I put one point in alchemy, one in repair, one in Mace Expertise (I'm partial to maces esp. early on, I love that 50% damage boost). Collect all axes and the nice maul to sell later. Trigger all four tombs without fighting, go down to next level. Collect Shoes of the Scorpion. Collect all nice items on the final floor (esp. Bat of Striking and Amulet of Glory). Pay one last visit to George, then complete the Mardaneus' Sanity quest. I was originally going to skip it, thinking it was too time consuming, but then I figured I'd be down there anyway getting items, so might as well.
One small note, I've come to really dislike fighting those first skeletons, there's just so many of them and they're worth so little xp, it's just irritating. Not that more XP is what I'm going for right now, but that's beside the point. I guess they're better if you don't go for Jake first heh.
7) Dump all non-essential items off at George's (or wherever), drop one pyramid. Get Escort Healers quest. Run/sneak all the way to Zandalor encounter, then on to Dwarven, avoiding combat if possible. Talk to other Marked one, collect Dwarf scroll, activate teleporter at Dwarven. Run onto Ars Magicana. Drop pyramid and go back to Aleroth to collect items; uncover the Aleroth teleporter, go back to Ars. Repair any item below 60%, sell all axes and other unwanted items to Geoff for a good sum of gold to work with (I got a little over 12,000). I still have Slasher, but I believe I'll sell it because I'd rather have 1200 gold than 1500 (or whatever) xp right now.
8) checked the local vendors for better weapons and armor, then went on to Verdistis to talk to Finnigan, retrieve his lockpicks. (by this time I had gone over to lvl 6). I gave Finn his lockpics then bought them back, I didn't really want to complete the quest, but I wanted him to have better prices just in case heh. Checked Mpenzak for any interesting items. Used pyramid to go back to Ars Magicana (don't have human scroll yet).
9) Head to the Barracks, on the way collect all potions etc from overturned cart, and all beers from the cart crash. Went to see Gen Alix (complete escort the healers quest, get the quest to deliver a letter to Capt Mitox). Check Armory for any good equipment, then activate nearby teleporter. Armory will of course be looted later.
10) Head to Talk to Capt Mitox, do both army quests using the mine shaft then sneaking/running in towards the goals. The supply train was pretty much trouble free, the Well on the other hand was a little more trouble; lots of Heavy Orcs that move quickly, so sneaking away was not an option. Simply used the pyramid to get back to Ars Magicana, then teleporter pad back to the barracks, then back to Capt Mitox to get the invitation to Castle Stormfist.
At this point I was at lvl 7, a little over halfway to lvl 8. This sequence took a little over three hours. I'm a little nervous about going to castle Stormfist at this lvl, but that's next on my list. I believe I'll need to be lvl 8 to beat the Succubus without too much trouble (1st level of Poison Weapon), and doing the mandatory Stormfist quests should easily get me there. Escaping Iona's Dungeon should be a breeze at this point, especially being able to sneak.
My current stats are:
Str 27
Agi 54
Int 11
Con 22
Offense 37 Damage 16-21
Defense 47 Armor 49
Reputation 15
(I don't think the Mace Expertise damage boost shows up on the stat Damage display, not sure on that)
I really thought having the Survivor's defense boost would result in me getting hit far less, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way much. Though granted, I often am being hit by some (relatively) higher level enemies. I still think the Warrior's to-hit bonus works better than the Survivors bonus to avoid hits.
Well, thank you for your time, any feedback is appreciated. In case you're wondering why I'm typing all this out instead of playing the game, it's because I'm not at home right now, and can't play
I'm really enjoying playing the survivor so far, especially as it supports what I want to do, ie quickly dashing and sneaking to my goals rather than fighting my way through to them. I do often miss the spin attack, but I really like the Sneak ability, it really helps out. I can get a whole mess of enemies chasing me, then sneak off to an empty room to catch my breath and get ready for the next run. Works great above ground too, if a bunch of things are chasing me, I can just run until I'm out of their view, then sneak, and they immediately stop chasing. Gives me a reason to develop strong stamina too. Not so useful for stronger fast enemies though... I also liked starting out with one point in identify and lockpick.
One thing I noticed that may be a bug...when I'm sneaking, my stamina will drain, but when it reaches the end, sometimes it will just reset and fill up again instead of draining all the way. Not that I'm -complaining-, it just doesn't seem right.
Another thing I noticed that I never noticed before on the other two character classes, is sometimes, seemingly at random times, my weapon display (the "browse weapons" button that shows what weapon you're currently using) shows just a fist (no weapon) when I'm clearly carrying and using a working weapon. If I re-equip the same weapon, the display updates to show it. More of an irritation than anything, since the weapon still works even though it's not shown.
Here was my method or steps I took so far.
1) Gather my starting equipment/gold, two minor health etc, view two cut scenes
2) Visit Otho and Geomoe to get healing quests, collect mirror and destroyed leather pants
3) Visit George, buy a short bow, get the quest to get herbs, when he goes into his room, steal all of his items including the charmable leather armor and his bread, also item from chest. Sell enough items back to him to afford ID'ing the leather armor.
4) Kill Zombie Jake x2 (with short bow). I start with the one in his basement first, since you can run around the tiny room in the middle, making it easier. I put most or all of my 10 points into agility, then went after the 2nd Jake. Again put most points into agility.
5) Healed both patients, collected point in Restoration, got quest to free Lanilor, underground to Mardaneus's house, collected emerald (I think) and all bottles of wine etc. Freed Lanilor, raided Mardeneus's house for items, collected herbs, went back to George, bought new armor at (somewhat) better prices.
6) Collect 2nd pyramid. Run/sneak through catacombs as quickly as possible. I put one point in alchemy, one in repair, one in Mace Expertise (I'm partial to maces esp. early on, I love that 50% damage boost). Collect all axes and the nice maul to sell later. Trigger all four tombs without fighting, go down to next level. Collect Shoes of the Scorpion. Collect all nice items on the final floor (esp. Bat of Striking and Amulet of Glory). Pay one last visit to George, then complete the Mardaneus' Sanity quest. I was originally going to skip it, thinking it was too time consuming, but then I figured I'd be down there anyway getting items, so might as well.
One small note, I've come to really dislike fighting those first skeletons, there's just so many of them and they're worth so little xp, it's just irritating. Not that more XP is what I'm going for right now, but that's beside the point. I guess they're better if you don't go for Jake first heh.
7) Dump all non-essential items off at George's (or wherever), drop one pyramid. Get Escort Healers quest. Run/sneak all the way to Zandalor encounter, then on to Dwarven, avoiding combat if possible. Talk to other Marked one, collect Dwarf scroll, activate teleporter at Dwarven. Run onto Ars Magicana. Drop pyramid and go back to Aleroth to collect items; uncover the Aleroth teleporter, go back to Ars. Repair any item below 60%, sell all axes and other unwanted items to Geoff for a good sum of gold to work with (I got a little over 12,000). I still have Slasher, but I believe I'll sell it because I'd rather have 1200 gold than 1500 (or whatever) xp right now.
8) checked the local vendors for better weapons and armor, then went on to Verdistis to talk to Finnigan, retrieve his lockpicks. (by this time I had gone over to lvl 6). I gave Finn his lockpics then bought them back, I didn't really want to complete the quest, but I wanted him to have better prices just in case heh. Checked Mpenzak for any interesting items. Used pyramid to go back to Ars Magicana (don't have human scroll yet).
9) Head to the Barracks, on the way collect all potions etc from overturned cart, and all beers from the cart crash. Went to see Gen Alix (complete escort the healers quest, get the quest to deliver a letter to Capt Mitox). Check Armory for any good equipment, then activate nearby teleporter. Armory will of course be looted later.
10) Head to Talk to Capt Mitox, do both army quests using the mine shaft then sneaking/running in towards the goals. The supply train was pretty much trouble free, the Well on the other hand was a little more trouble; lots of Heavy Orcs that move quickly, so sneaking away was not an option. Simply used the pyramid to get back to Ars Magicana, then teleporter pad back to the barracks, then back to Capt Mitox to get the invitation to Castle Stormfist.
At this point I was at lvl 7, a little over halfway to lvl 8. This sequence took a little over three hours. I'm a little nervous about going to castle Stormfist at this lvl, but that's next on my list. I believe I'll need to be lvl 8 to beat the Succubus without too much trouble (1st level of Poison Weapon), and doing the mandatory Stormfist quests should easily get me there. Escaping Iona's Dungeon should be a breeze at this point, especially being able to sneak.
My current stats are:
Str 27
Agi 54
Int 11
Con 22
Offense 37 Damage 16-21
Defense 47 Armor 49
Reputation 15
(I don't think the Mace Expertise damage boost shows up on the stat Damage display, not sure on that)
I really thought having the Survivor's defense boost would result in me getting hit far less, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way much. Though granted, I often am being hit by some (relatively) higher level enemies. I still think the Warrior's to-hit bonus works better than the Survivors bonus to avoid hits.
Well, thank you for your time, any feedback is appreciated. In case you're wondering why I'm typing all this out instead of playing the game, it's because I'm not at home right now, and can't play