I know this topic has been discussed before but I would like a reminder.

I'm trying a Female Faerie Ninja on solo, I had to put the difficulty on Novice because she could not survive otherwise. She is lev 6 now and not a very good fighter, she has only her fists and some darts for weapons. I did the trick where you start as another race of Ninja to get the Ninja armor and immediately switched to Faerie. She's lev 9 armor now and it's starting to help. She needs about 20K to go to lev 7. I thought about changing her to Bishop so have been building those stats at the expense of fighting. I have a few questions...

Should I try to keep her as a pure Ninja? She would lose out on a lot of protections. (And has anyone even tried this?)

Should I change her to Bishop for a few levels instead, or something else?

She is still in the lower Monastery, hasn't even seem King Crab yet, I think she'll get scrunched later on.

Edit: also, stamina is the weak point with a Faerie Ninja. I had to waste a spell option even though I am carrying an unidentified stamina book. Couldn't wait, she keeps conking out.

[ 11-23-2003, 03:19 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

Build stealth. Get 2 Shillelah if you want to prep for the Cane...
Better start is to enter the game as a non-faerie samurai, then go to non-faerie ninja to buy the suit, then to FN. This way you'll have the Katana and Wakisashi to suppliment your weapons needs.
(edit) Can't imagine trying solo Faerie Ninja/Bishop, did that with a Hobbit, but they get to wear better armor...would really not want to try any other alternate class, though, even for a Faerie...gotta get Magic Screen somehow!

[ 11-23-2003, 03:26 PM: Message edited by: Scatter ]

Scatter - excellent idea. I didn't think about using a 2-character switch to get both armor and weapons. A little late now, unless I want to start over...

Edit: I always go for stealth, though I don't build it up with continuous mode. Never seems to work for me...doing something wrong. I put them on shield and continuous and they keep hitting. Maybe it's the timing of when to do it?

Edit: fixed a typo

[ 11-23-2003, 10:00 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

Beating Gregor is hard at lev 6 as a solo ninja. I know he is only a 5 but what a pain! Took me more than a few tries.

I still would like to hear about profession changes for a solo faerie, the bishop strategy may be good for magic protection but she will be a lousy fighter. The nin is ready for the change, stat wise. She, after lev to 7, has 47 HP. Not very good against juggernauts later on.

Maybe I should just bite the bullet and run when I can.

I must say this is a different world when you do a solo. Not sure if I recommend it.

yah, and Faerie is one of the hardest solos. I haven't tried it, because i'm guessing it's as hard as you're finding it. Though FN is one of the first ones anyone wrote a walk-through for (and i don't remember where i saw it, on one of these boards...) it is really not the easiest solo. The Ninja/Bishop i ran was Hobbit, and my other 2 solos were Human.

Ya, I can say the Faere solo of any kind is probably difficult. Maybe the most given the weight, weapon and armor limitations. Any crevice or room may be a death trap if you rest. She made it to the first (left) room up the stairs in Upper Mon, beat the seekers, and decided to rest before trying the 2 rabid rats. Was not a good idea as four more lev 9 rats showed up when she went back to the stairs. Hopeless. I had an earlier save with the 2 rats before resting and got them OK. The fight with the rogues was not too bad, actually did it in two waves, allowing a pause between to get stamina back (without resting). The stealth is over 50 so she's sees some breaks now, especially against the 9 wolf spiders she ran into next. Almost half of them couldn't see her! They ended up paralyzing her a few times but did little damage. At the end they were out of stamina and she still had enough SP for it, barely.

Leaving the Mon (lev 7, could go up to 8 and change profession) she ran into 8 venom crabs and three harder ones. Should have saved. I found out from an earlier save she will need the venom crab shell for the Faerie plate armor. I think she is going to need it. When she reloaded they weren't there and she made it 1/3 way to Arnika, running around some bandits after putting them to sleep 1 turn. Think I'll reload from Mon and hope for a smaller number of venom crabs. Then off to Arnika. It looks doable, but many ways to misstep here.

Edit: fixed typos

[ 11-25-2003, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

i may be wrong, it's been a while since i played a faerie, but i seem to recall the faerie plate armor is not available to monks or ninjae. so you'll have to save it for when you are classed otherwise.

Sultan - you are right. I want it in case I decide to go Bishop for awhile to get protections. Or for any other profession later on. My cats are currently reading my manual again in their secret place. I think Nin can get Element Shield but not much more. IIRC, I had a very hard time getting that venom crab shell later on.

Venom crabs start spawning on the beach where the game starts as you approach L5.

It took me 3 or 7 tries to leave the Monastery. Actually more like 12. Starting to feel like a Trynnie! Had to wait for venom crabs only. She missed an opportunity with 4 venoms and 2 hard shells.

Got the venom crab shell and made it to Arnika. Raised her (the Ninja Faerie Solo using 2 almost useless Shalillea things, whatever) to lev 8 on the way. Had to. You have to move on, and this is a hard one. Bypassed the wasps and rogues and poppies on the way. I tried taking them on and won, mostly, until the other showed up and crunched her she got tired, I can see why people can take their time with this game. Recruited Myles to get the first quest. Next stop, Antone ad Vi.

Will let anyone know where I stop with this crazy idea of a ninja solo. Faerie, no less. I think I will get creamed at some time, with no options because she will be in a hard place. I vaguely remember a walkthru. Was not my strategy style, tho. I might cheat along the way, if it is a legitimate strategy. By cheat I mean using all resources of the game, within it. I guess it's not a cheat if you use strategy like reloading.

I apologize for the last post. It was late and the message is somewhat garbled. Won't go into details of why I stayed up so late, special occasion.

The faerie ninja, Fishhawk is her name, is doing well but she has had help from Vi and Myles in Arnika. She also isn't moving up very fast now. Maybe I should drop the help. On the other hand, it is hard to see her going far until she gets protections. It's weird, the party kills at an astounding rate (Myles gets about 100 per attack using BL, I didn't know he could get so good so fast!) but she gets less improvements. Of course, she only gets 1/3 the XP as well. She's using a numchaha and shilella.

This is a quandry, any suggestions are welcome. Go off to Trynton truely solo or keep the fire power?

My goal is to get the Z plate with Fishhawk as a bishop, which will require getting to Trynton for the giant spider silk. Not worried about the skull. Should be easy. She is level 8, close to 9, and Arnika is finished. My plan is to keep her a ninja until she has an armor option. She would be bare of armor with any other profession. Her stealth may carry her through. Without the armor she may be OK, but don't want to risk this.

If people don't mind, I will keep a few comments going even if there is no feedback...

[ 11-27-2003, 01:00 AM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

You can get Giant Spiders in the Lower Monastery and the Gigas Caves at L8-10 or so, but Trynnton is also good to go to for the fountain, as well, so i guess you might as wall...
Too bad you're not picking pockets, at least you haven't mentioned it yet; there's a lotta useful stuff being wasted...
I like the nunchaka. Though i don't remember whether Faeires can use DE, Ninjas can't anyway, but if you can as a Bishop, and your Dual is high enough, you can use both DE's. Too bad Mauler is out for faeries...

definitely keep us posted zig! [img]smile.gif[/img]

i'm personally not brave enough to go solo, but i like hearing about the escapades!

Thanks, Sultan. I will post as I can, and it will be a reminder to me as I go along. This is my first solo, but I am using recruitables. No way a solo faerie ninja can fight alone, IMO.

Fishhawk is now lev 9. She had Myles along for awhile but he could not stomach the Umpanis. When he left he was quite a thief, taking BloodLust and maybe a few other items (I wasn't counting). I was expecting more out of that sucker.

We accepted the Trynnie Ranger as a companion. Wanted to hear her banter. She is not very useful so far, but Fishhawk needs all the friends she can get. Will probably drop her soon, after Trynton. The Trynnie that is.

Currently on the Arnika/Trynton road. Seven vile bugs (lev 10) are wiping us out. Can reload some but maybe we can do it.

This game is great! Save early, save often, but keep an old one.

[ 11-27-2003, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

Fishhawk is leaving Trynton (no, not Elvish, Fishhawk!) She still has Vi and Sparkle (bless her pointed little head). I could go back towards Arnika but will take the dangerous road to Swamp and Marten's Bluff instead. She is starting to get some crits, pretty few but not bad considering she has a nunchaka and a Wand of Static. Armor is about 13. No prots on her own. She is lev 10 now. The Trynnies helped in some battles but were mainly a pain. I did get the Mystic Staff for Vi, but did not attempt the Breeders yet. I intend to get them and the Don next time thru. Got the Oak guys and Rapax, tho. I just need a certain gem to get a certain staff, then back to Arnika for plate armor, staff and switch to Bishop. By then she may be ready to fight and her stealth may get her thru, I think I'll hold on leveling until then.

She will be back to true soloing. Will make sure I have enough potions for long battles. Many are taking 30+ moves. If she can survive, I may go pick up RFS on the way back, but maybe not. The stuff I got for him is way back in Antone's chest in Arnika. With her stealth and lack of protections, he would be too easy a target.

Edit: still not sure when to drop the help. There won't be a good time unless I take the party to Crocks, drop them off, and sell it there. I think I'll leave the Mystic Staff in a corner if I can't take it.

[ 11-29-2003, 10:56 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

I had a memorable battle. Aren't those fun? Thought I'd share it.

Fishhawk made it to Crock's and dropped off Vi with some of the better weapons. Now it was Sparkle the good shot Trynnie and Fishie the Faerie Ninja. We were still in the blue so were hampered by weight (wanted an overload of potions) but tried the straight run to the Bluff anyway. Just past the big gator we ran into two groups of 9 millipedes.

Many here have probably seen the movie "Aliens". There's a scene when they are closing in, detected by a motion sensor device. This looked just like that, 18 millis lining up, first at the fringes and then closing in. It was a near perfect half-circle exactly in our way. We ran like hell. Had to go way out of the path, those millis are fast and kept lining up.

Hit a gas spot, nauseated 6 of them, we didn't get hurt beyond a point or two. Before we left Vi, we had her cast a lev 7 Magic Screen. Yes, it does work on some critters as a protection, and maybe gas pockets too. Or at least it seems like that. Millipedes can poison and paralyze. After maybe 400 shots at us neither happened.

Sparkle passed out as we ran. These millis just kept coming. Since she was passed out I noticed our speed (length of travel) decreased per move. We were almost out of the area and stamina both when Sparkle woke up. Headed to the Bluff and she refused to go in (it was against her orders). So we sat there until a milli knocked her out (her stamina was almost zero anyway). I had set the move to run so got to the Bluff, no prob. She doesn't like it and her stats are lower (her stamina was -9 entering the bluff, never seen neg stats) but it was interesting.

If you could only get missile shield then the millipedes would be so much easier.

Yes. She has no protections except a few scrolls (Magic Screen, Enchanted Sword) which don't always work. She left the Bluff and the Swamp after getting the Brilliant Helm and Ebon Gem. Made a mad dash across the Swamp to avoid more Millipedes and BloodDrinkers and is back in Trynton. She ended up abandoning Sparkle, who could not make it into the Bluff. Her stats were no good to begin with before the weakening of being in the wrong place,and she died pitifully easy. Let her go free in the Swamp when it was clear (resting at entrance).

Fishhawk now has 71 stealth, AC around 12, lev 10 ready for 11. Lousy fighter but doesn't get hit much. She got paralyzed in a fight with 6 more Millis but it was by allied T'Rangs and accidently (friendly fire?). She survived that one easier than I thought

The plan is to get the last needed items in the Cemetary and go back to Arnika to lev to Bishop. Train for a while to get some protections. Head out to get RFS, carrying his armor. By that time he may be too weak, too, and will have to finish the game solo. Who knows? One thing I know, you need plenty of stamina potions if you plan on running. I hope the Ebon Staff can be used by Faeries, may have to settle for something less.

good one zig! personally, i feel if you want to run solo with the help of the npc's, you ought to just do a duet or trio - that way, you keep the benefit of having them along and developing with fishhawk. on the other hand, you can never truly go solo later...

looking forward to further updates! [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

Another small chapter -

She is wearing neither pants, shoes, cape or go-loves (what do expect from a Faerie?) but she is now Bish lev 1 and back in Trynton (lev 10 Ninja). Has the Zynaryx plate and the Brilliant Helm at least. AC = 14 overall. Kept her Nin armor and she carries stuff for a Monk

Fishhawk is going for the Breeders. She feels she will have a better chance alone. Hah, little does she know... The Ebon Staff is nice. She can take out 4 Crimson Poppies and 3 Blinding Wasps, no sweat (almost). She needs so many points, she will keep her lev until she can rescue RFS. Will need to get the Mystic Spear stored at Crock's first.

Will keep you informed after that, if she breathes.

what's her level/stats, zig?

Fishhawk (lev 10 Nin, currently lev 1 Bish)
Base of Trynton tree, deciding whether to take on Breeders alone
Stats include all weapons, jewelry and other boosts

Str = 77
Int = 84
Pie = 55
Vit = 63
Dex = 55
Spd = 61
Sen = 55

HP = 83
AC= 14
Stam = 202
Load = 105/173 (blue, I may change this before the big battle)

Close Comb = 66
Ranged = 15
Throwing, about the same
Dual = 52 (irrelevant, using Ebon)
Crit = 46
Alch = 36
Other schools less than 10
Many potions including 4 restorations, 3 pickmeups, stamina, etc.
Staff = 37
L&T =32, has Knock knock
Stealth = 73
(Kills = 173)
Init = 18 +3
Attack = 26, 1 hit per round

Do I have a chance against 300+ HP Breeders?
Blind seems to help from past experience
Will save a game exactly where she is, just in case

Edit: Going to try, will let you know how it goes...

[ 12-02-2003, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

...YIKES! ok, maybe not that bad...Fuzfass does have some Super potions, eh?

Yes, you can beat the Breeders with these stats I posted. Who would know?

A solo Bishop (OK, had some Ninja training) beat 2 Breeders and three Ratkin Archers, with 18 waspoids in between to get there. Swarming Wasps, they weren't a big problem, even though they were lev 12 and the Fishie was 11. Soon after, I tried to kill the Don, but..too early. Got smushed. Have to return later.

I have had much more difficulty with larger parties in earlier games in this situation. Perhaps it is the stealth? And no other members? No magical protections except from lev 4 Magic Screen from an amulet. Which will run out.

Keep those potions if you ever go as a solo. Fishhawk ran into 9 Swarming Wasps more when leaving, and some Tree Sprites soon after. Well, at least her stats are going up. Not too much magically, Fishhawk is weak in casting. She tries. With these critters the spells only last for one or two turns of the screw. She's heading out now towards RFS. The Tantos may still get her.

Next phase, get RFS. But, will it it be too early to set a portal?

Edit: By this I mean set a portal if she makes it to the T'Rang transporter. At the rate she is going, I would say no to being ready in stats (needs more levels of development), yes to getting there. Fishhawk is carrying about 8 spells ready to be used, but is only lev 1 in Bishop. Can't learn them yet.

[ 12-03-2003, 02:14 AM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

Update -

We might have done it this time. Four Tiger Wasps and 2 Souldrinkers. We made the mistake in the Mine area while walking up the hill by using the 2 latest saves to mark the spot (still have an older one way back). RFS and Fishhawk got a bit cocky, not knowing these lethal enemies were following. (As Bush would say, "dangerous killers", sorry about that, I love his command of the language).

Tried 4 battles so far. Blind spell, Bless, Sleep, etc. Can't blame it on RFS being under dev. We both get hit and killed, almost equally. We may get thru this, but the enemies are strong (lev 15), we are lev 13 and 10. And there is not much time to do anything after reloading. The only magic protection available is Enchanted Blade, which is really not a protection at all. Bishop is only lev 3. Will let you know if we are sunk, we have a few more ideas.

BTW, earlier we got stuck in the little hut near where you pick up RFS. Great place to fend them off, have to hand it to Sir-Tech. 30 attackers. Used our only Death Bomb when mano-a-mano didn't work. Worked like a charm. 8 BloodDrinkers, 8 Soldier Ants, 6 Tanto Wasps, gone in 2 rounds. The Queen Ant was not so easy. Too bad we don't have another D-bomb now.

Got by the bugs OK. They were lev 17 and 15, versus our 13 and 10. Ran away, they chased. Turned round and went at it. I think the problem is they were attacking from behind. With Fishhawk in front, they could not reach RFS as well (he being positioned in the middle). Used up all stamina potions tho. Will have to work on that. It's nice seeing stats going up 230K XP after a battle. I may get used to this. Not. It's a challenge.

Now in Arnika. Got the Cane but will save changing professions until Fishhawk has more protections. Just got Magic Shield. Need Armor. Maybe can get it here.

A tactical ploy: when you have a heavily stealthed character (Fishhawk has 73), switch them to the front during battle with others behind (in this case, RFS). It helped kill the Don and Crock both. In fact, I lost RFS when he was in front in the first attempt. He was killed in one move against Crock (to get the Helm). When he was in back, Crock didn't fight at all! This tactic helped our meager party against 15 Juggernauts and 4 Rank Weeds, too. Nice.

Next, after getting armor protection spell, is the Umpani base for further training. This party is not invincible, but certainly getting better. The hardest was early game, so far. I also think a solo Faerie Ninja can do it all alone (with much patience), but it's nice having another along to alleviate the carrying weight restriction. Switched to normal difficulty since last post. No problem.

We are getting close to invincible, but still have to work on it. I wonder if the glamour will wear off when we can kill everything?

Not there yet by a long shot. Made a mistake going to Yamir when hadn't got the quest yet. It's OK, picked up some vampire wings. Will be useful later on. RFS has twelve attacks, lvl 15. Fishhawk has 4, lev 16. They both are kicking. When you do a solo, and have a companion, (which is not really solo), you do some serious damage. I sometimes feel a regret I don't let the other companion go. If there is a vote for it, I will. Makes it harder tho.

You could always try the next game in "true" solo, that way you can take rfs all the way in this game.

Good idea. If I do solo again, tho, it won't be a Faerie. Prob Human or Hobbit. Taking a Bard all the way up may be doable.

a bard would be an interesting solo, and quite probably the easiest, since they level up fast, have an array of item bonuses and a variety of magic to supplement excellent melee ability.

i wouldnt go faerie solo - but then again, i wouldnt go solo anyway! 3-man parties are enough for my aged nerves!

i'm with dplax about rfs. go ahead and keep rfs and see how it goes. once you get a feel for it, you can do a true solo later. that's how i worked my way down to playing 4 person parties, too.

and keep the updates comin!

Bard was a nice solo, though i switched my first one to Samurai at L10 (Bushido was calling my name...) I just finished another solo Bard, this one i switched to Fighter, a little back-and-forth (Bard when i had some PP victims), total Bard levels 15, and 11 Fighter levels (and one Rogue level)
Really noticed the lack of only 2 things: Element Shield, (but i stopped noticing that when i had all the possible magical protection bling-bling stuff) and X-Ray.

Update - not much to report. Finished the Mountain Wilderness and retro dungeon. The only hard part was at first enetering the area against 9 Blistering Scorchers. Fishhawk cast Element Shield 3x and they all failed. Neither she or RFS got killed but reloaded in disgust, vowing to cast a lower lev shield (at 4 yellow instead of 5 orange). That actually was enough. Their resistances are already high. The Death Lord and Vampiric Heads were a snap, so was Nebdar. Fishie has the Helm and RFS has his natural android protections, so mental spells against them are ineffective. They are both lev 20 now. Since this is the smallest party I have tried (previous low was 3), it was surprizing to see over 1.1 M XP when finished off the Neb. Will prob try Rapax next, but still need the third artifact and the Sorceress Temple beckons. May not post again unless something interesting happens.

Dunno if you want to call this a spoiler or a tip, about carrying all 3 Cosmic Artifacts around...
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
-
S
P
A
C
E
I highly recommend leaving 2 in a chest and only carrying one at a time into the Peak zone. Carrying 2 triggers the Roadblock and the arrival of the Rapax Army.

I think when I talked to Braffit in the temple in Arnika, the landslide had already happened. I was carrying 2 artifacts, maybe talking to him sets it off? Braffit said he talked to a Rapax and the only way to AP is through the castle. By then it may be too late to stash the artifacts to get to AP early. Would like to know for future games.

Update - we are lev 23 and cruising. Have all artifacts and Fishie's a Templar. Cleaned out the Sorceress Temple as well. Lost the first battle (Death Cloud), won the second going straight at 'em. RFS started a few levs down but now he is ahead in promotions. Fishhawk has all protections and X-ray at high levels. She switched back to Nin at lev 22. Rapax castle was a piece of cake compared to earlier games. Next is the Away Camp quest and on to the peak.

it's not braffit. the trigger is simply getting the second item into your possession. the only viable workaround is to store each one as you get them - never let two be in your inventory at once.

Thanks, sultan. Didn't know the trick...

This might be a n00b-ish question, but from the first two posts here it seems like you can change the race of your characters. How might I do this? I'm just wondering for the future because I'm raising two non-faerie Bishops, two spellbooks each, and I have one Cane of Corpus; if there indeed is a way to change race, when I get Their Most Reverend Excellencies all of their spells (which should be pretty soon actually, as soon as I hit Level 18 and open up the final spell level) I could make one a faerie ninja and give him the cane.

Seems too good to be true though - can you actually change race?

You can't change races, but you can change professions.

I think you are referring to "switching out" a character. While playing you can dismiss one character to bring in another at 1st level (on the inventory screen you click on the character's name like you want to change the name, then IIRC in the lower-left corner is a button to press to 'switch out' (It talks about this in the manual under some topic about if you don't like one of your characters). People use it mostly to get special starting equipment (e.g. if you want a ninja to start the game with a katana, start a samurai in your party then switch him/her for a ninja; you;'ll have to buy your ninja clothes, however).