Outsider
Exemplar
It is always better to hit, than to miss harder.
Posts: 301 
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Post by Outsider on Mar 8, 2014 23:04:42 GMT -5
Had my first few serious fights in E2A1 and I'm thinking maybe the Roof Top Limbo wasn't so bad. Sure, I couldn't progress the game, but my party was equally safe from the sadistic monsters that seem motivated to turn my Thief into dog-chow. She's going to need a lot of upgrades to her melee skill just to to survive. Her Bow and Dexterity is maxed out which made for impressive feats in E1A2, but man, she's got block some of those melee hits in E2A2. I anticipated needing to adjust in E2, but wow, some defensive abilities for my range attackers is a must. My Warrior was heavy in defense , so was my Cleric, which is the only thing keeping the party alive. as I play hide and seek with the Thief and Mage. Fall back and re-group is not a sexy battle cry, but it's working... for now. Too bad I couldn't use that 10k+ gold from E1 to hire a few of the Baron's mercenaries. Really digging having Selen to off-tank right about now.. Having no issues (beyond constantly repositioning to keep my cleric and sorcerer safe!) Edit: the 'Stand Your Ground' law died today. |
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Post by vdx on Mar 9, 2014 0:28:18 GMT -5
My Cleric (melee build) is doing well. With a high strength, high hammer, she hits and blocks well. A few CON points gave her a nice boost in hit points for E1 which is useful in E2 as well. A leveled up EA takes the edge off of heavy hitters nicely as well.
In E1, one could hide the Mage behind the Thief pretty well as most enemies would attack the closet person, which was the Warrior and Cleric. So even in an open area, the Mage and Thief were pretty safe. Not so in E2 where heavy hitters by pass the front line to attack the Thief. Had to adjust tactics a little.
However, I'm tossed up between using upgrade points to booster her blade skill to get a higher melee defense or using them for locking picking as I'm worried there's higher chests that will require upgraded skills.
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Post by contributor on Mar 9, 2014 8:35:47 GMT -5
Wow, just got my butt handed to me for the first time in episode 2, by, of all things, a pack of ratkin. Granted they had a deathkin and a swarm of archers who were landing hits over 100 regularly.
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Post by algesan on Mar 10, 2014 22:03:53 GMT -5
Well, all I've got to say is that I'd buffed up my defences in what was arguably a less than optimum manner towards the end of E1....but now, yeah, it takes time to do the beat down on all those critters, but what they are not doing is beating down on me...well, except for those darn wolves that showed up in the first encounter with beetles, unlike the two new sets of spiders my core party found. Despite several extra defensive dice, the wolves are tagging for 90+ per hit and getting a hit or three per turn. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
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Post by vdx on Mar 10, 2014 23:43:39 GMT -5
Wow, just got my butt handed to me for the first time in episode 2, by, of all things, a pack of ratkin. Granted they had a deathkin and a swarm of archers who were landing hits over 100 regularly. I think I found that group... well, they found me. Vras clung on with 7 hit points at the end of the ambush and he had Stone Skin active. Those archers weren't fooling around. |
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Outsider
Exemplar
It is always better to hit, than to miss harder.
Posts: 301
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Post by Outsider on Mar 11, 2014 0:08:24 GMT -5
Wow, just got my butt handed to me for the first time in episode 2, by, of all things, a pack of ratkin. Granted they had a deathkin and a swarm of archers who were landing hits over 100 regularly. I think I found that group... well, they found me. Vras clung on with 7 hit points at the end of the ambush and he had Stone Skin active. Those archers weren't fooling around. Y'all got me nervous as hell cause I know I ain't faced it yet lol! |
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Outsider
Exemplar
It is always better to hit, than to miss harder.
Posts: 301
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Post by Outsider on Mar 11, 2014 8:40:04 GMT -5
I think I found the ambush, pulled them down that northern bottle neck and took em out piece meal. ;-) Selen getting the drop ftw!  |
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Post by captain nemo on Mar 11, 2014 18:56:50 GMT -5
Oh Joy !!! more fun stuff to look forward too  btw fallen you did a great job on the Trolls !! I like how they look and how they move. |
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Post by Sweet Polly Purebred on Mar 11, 2014 22:36:45 GMT -5
Oh Joy !!! more fun stuff to look forward too btw fallen you did a great job on the Trolls !! I like how they look and how they move. I second that. The trolls are terrifying! 3 sets of tusks? Nasty! I also love how the hellhounds have flames coming out of their mouths when the bite you. Really makes me feel the pain! |
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Post by fallen on Mar 12, 2014 0:06:33 GMT -5
Thanks everybody! Adding the mass variety of new monsters and challenges in this Episode was a joy. I can't wait to see what E2A2 holds!
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Outsider
Exemplar
It is always better to hit, than to miss harder.
Posts: 301
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Post by Outsider on Mar 12, 2014 13:20:40 GMT -5
Cultist ambush on the bridge!? That was just wrong.. somehow worked my way around backwards so I entered that combat from the south.
I can't keep heads or tails of Underforge.. been down here for two days without coming out.. Getting a bit dreary.
Go around the corner, cultist ambush. Rest up (yes after every fight). Rinse, repeat.
Don't get me wrong the combats are well done, there are just to many, to long, and to much alike.
The cultist tactics are my own. Have my melee mutilators slice through the front lines (cultists with flaming dagger and green eye spiders), ignore the beef (except spider beef spawns more beef if ignored!), and their casters nuke my casters. Not to mention the cultist spider clerics who eat up tank Vraes like lunch meat! And in case we forget we have the dual disk wielding cultists who still feature ratkin tactics (attack who's closest).
Unless it's just bad luck my average fight features a 6-10 cultists(2-5 ranged caster killers), 1-2 clerics (Vraes killer), 1-3 respawning spiders (ignore nearest combatants).. With some different creatures variations such as flame and lightning spiders instead of respawning spiders, etc.. you see where I'm going.
I'm playing on normal so I don't know what other's experiences have been but the place just feels overtuned and to similar everywhere you go, to me, but hat's just my opinion. I'll play no matter what but that's my honest feedback.
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Post by fallen on Mar 12, 2014 14:15:14 GMT -5
Outsider - thanks for the feedback! Sounds like you've gotten turn around a bit. Down is the direction you want to go. If you get wandering, yes, you'll spend way more time in there than needed.
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Post by contributor on Mar 12, 2014 17:26:23 GMT -5
Hey, I haven't been wandering but I have spent way too much time underground. I'm on my 4th huge level now having completely skipped at least two and even though we've been sensing that the end is near for a very long time I just keep fighting more and more groups of monsters but never getting to any kind of a boss. It's actually getting close to the point of frustration/boredom. I'm in the temple now and have had 4-5 big fights and am not to the boss yet, but I'm putting it away now, because I'm afraid I'll be up all night if I try to fight the boss today. Too many teasers, but then it's more of the same fights.
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Post by fallen on Mar 12, 2014 17:59:06 GMT -5
contributor - thanks for sharing the experience as well! Are you finding that it is summoners that are drawing out the fights or the size of the initial combat groups? The Underforge is certainly a maze, with multiple paths through it. The expectation is not that you would see it all. Excited to hear feedback from others!
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Post by vdx on Mar 12, 2014 18:54:54 GMT -5
Outsider - thanks for the feedback! Sounds like you've gotten turn around a bit. Down is the direction you want to go. If you get wandering, yes, you'll spend way more time in there than needed. That is fundamentally wrong! If there's monsters to fight, chests to open, traps to disarm, glitches to stumble upon, black fog to remove... than you "need" to be doing it. It's Rule 1 in the Completionist Handbook. :-) The fights in the cultist zones can get a bit over bearing after awhile. There are a few awesome and intense fights that rank as the best in the game (so far), but there's a lot of run of the mill fights that get a little repetitive. However, the in-game dialogue clearly warns the party about wandering around and advises to go down. So if you are fighting every monster, you're likely fighting more than the developers planned for you to fight in your route to the bottom. Fight the long fights or fight quickly to the bottom. It's a players choice. ... well, for some people it's a choice. For others, exploring every bit is just part of playing. On that note, I am curious if anything in the game changes based on which of the staircases a party first enters the underground cult (from the basement of the house). They're two hidden staircases but the game seems to only let you choose one and than after that, you just skip the basement (and thus the ability to explore the other choice). I am also curious about a certain locked chest that doesn't have a visible way to get to. Still exploring so maybe I'll find out how.... On a slightly tangent note: There's a really nifty trap hidden under a chest in the Orcin caves. Not sure if it would have triggered had I opened the chest before disarming it (I saw it and disarmed it), but I thought it was fun place to put a trap. We wanted a more open-world ability, and we got it. Now, if I can only find a way to fight a Spider of the Great Maker AND and an Orcin Berserker at the same time.... PS: My over zealous exploring has gotten me trapped in a few limbo spots.... see bug reports for those details :-) |
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