A few more questions....

[Gilgamel]

Ok the last post I made was so helpful, I decided to make another one [img]tongue.gif[/img]

#1 I restarted(I will finish the game with this group before I restart again, scout's honor!) and my party is this: Lizard Fighter, Dracon Samurai, Elf Bishop, Faerie Mage, Felpurr Bard, and a dwarf lord. They're all level 8 or 9 right now and I'm nearly done with Trynton(about to fight the Breeders). I've been doing the same thing every level with their bonus attribute points. Fighter got str and vitality until str maxed, now he gets vitality and dex. Samurai get's str/dex, mage int and piety/vitality, bishop piety and int, bard dexterity and vitality, lord str and vitality or dex. Right now all my guys do good damage when they hit, but they seem to miss a lot. Would the way I am putting my points in be the reason they miss so much? Also I heard getting attributes up to 100 to open up the special skills(Iron will and the like) is very important, so that's why I've been focusing on one or two things for everyone.

#2 I killed the banker and went to the basement just for fun(I reloaded after just wanted to see what they had) and found a door with 8 tumblers in the lock. What is in there?!?!?!

#3 After I finish Trynton(that's where I quit my first game) do I need to continue with the story line until I level a couple more times? Or can a party at level 10ish go some interesting places? Preferably places where I can get better swords.

#4 My first time through I got a venom crab shell in my one ando nly encounter with a venom crab. I spent a long time last night trying to find more of these but only found crusher crabs and it's the last thing I need for a piece of Antone's handiwork. Any suggestions on how to find those darn crabs? Also I have everything but the poison seeker sac for another item, and I remember getting that my first time through(like 8 of them)but I don't remember where.

#5 Pickpocket. It never works. I pick, don't succeed, pick again, and get noticed. This happens against everyone, and I've put 3 points into it with my bard every level and I use it a lot. Anyone know why that might be?

#6 and finally, with the aforementioned party, what sort of formation would you use? I've been going with 3 in the front, 1 on each flank, and 3 in the middle(I've got myles and Vi). Myles never seems to get to hit people, and sometimes my casters get beat up. Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[armakh]

spoilers ahead...
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#2-If you want to see what's in the bank vault behind the 8 tumblers, go to the jail, and click on some boards in one of those cells, and there will be a tunnel to take you into the vault.

#4-Venom crabs can be found on the arnika road and in Bayjin. Dropping the shells, (as well as spider silk and , much to my regret, vampire bat wings) is random.

#6-I personally don't like putting people on flanks, but I also have a good array of extended weapons. The reason that I don't like the flanks is they limit the people that you put in front ranks to just in front of you. If you are able to stack all of your guys so that they can hit using the front, middle and back ranks, your front line melee' fighters can hit everything except for directly behind you, which I have found VERY helpful when I got surrounded. I can do my party this way because I have a valk and my mook ranger and my bishop all using extended weapons, so I can put RFS, my fighter, and my sam all in front. My gadgie just stays in the back and shoots or gadgets them away.

[Nightowl2]

Well, if you have the most recent version of the game (higher than 1.0), or installed the most recent patch, then pickpocketing is mostly useless, and you don't want to bother with it. They made some pretty drastic changes to that, none in the player's favor.

Venom crab shells are best obtained early in the game, specifically, on leaving the monastery. What you would do is save before exiting, and if no venom crabs show up outside the door, restore and try again. Of course, it's a little late for that tactic now, so all you can do is hope a few show up in Bayjin, though you're more likely to find curare crabs instead.

The game doesn't absolutely require you to follow the plotline in a strict manner. You can go anywhere your party can handle the critters. Usually, though, I would go through the swamp to the mines for RFS, on to the T'Rang, from there to the Umpani, and then mess around for awhile in the outdoors before starting on the quests. The advantage of this is that it gives you the opportunity to buy spellbooks for your bishops.

Nightowl2

[GenXCub]

#1 I restarted(I will finish the game with this group before I restart again, scout's honor!) and my party is this: (snip)

I'm always leery of having a pure spellcaster like a mage in the group when you already have a bishop... why not just do 2 bishops? They use better equipment and are far more useful. Mages go up in levels quicker, but you want all your people to level up at the same time so things don't get too tough for lower level people. Better yet... do a Gadgeteer... I've found that in my style of playing, I CANNOT do without a Gadgeteer and a Bard. My parties are usually 2 melee types, a Ranger, Bard, Gadgeteer, and Bishop. Perhaps you can try what others do. Class Change your mage to a Samurai. Though I suppose a fairie samurai would be tough to use.

Would the way I am putting my points in be the reason they miss so much? Also I heard getting attributes up to 100 to open up the special skills(Iron will and the like) is very important, so that's why I've been focusing on one or two things for everyone.

Missing a lot means you need more skills in Close Combat and Sword (or axe, or whatever). Stats help, but it's the skills that ultimately do the job. Yes, get stats to 100 asap, but certain expert skills are useless, or, should I say, not that useful for certain classes. Iron Skin for Fighters, lords, etc isn't too necessary since they'll always have the highest HP and best armor, but Powerstrike and Snake Speed are always helpful for fighter classes.

#2 I killed the banker and went to the basement just for fun(I reloaded after just wanted to see what they had) and found a door with 8 tumblers in the lock. What is in there?!?!?!

See previous post. Find the secret floor in the jail... it's nothing spectacular, BUT when you get there from the secret side... use those 8 tumblers to train your spellcasters in Knock Knock. it's a great place to raise your Earth and Wizardry/Alchemy since you'll never unlock all of them with one spell. Just keep casting the power 1 version of the spell over and over. pressing Shift + M automatically recasts the last spell you cast so you can fire off 10 of them in a couple of seconds.

#3 After I finish Trynton(that's where I quit my first game) do I need to continue with the story line until I level a couple more times? Or can a party at level 10ish go some interesting places? Preferably places where I can get better swords.

level 10ish can easily do the swamp, getting the idol, killing brekek, etc. in the Swamp, you'll get to buy stuff from Crock which is pretty good. He also sells great spellbooks once your spellcasters turn level 11.

#4 My first time through I got a venom crab shell in my one ando nly encounter with a venom crab. I spent a long time last night trying to find more of these but only found crusher crabs and it's the last thing I need for a piece of Antone's handiwork. Any suggestions on how to find those darn crabs? Also I have everything but the poison seeker sac for another item, and I remember getting that my first time through(like 8 of them)but I don't remember where.

Venom Crabs you can find near the monastery... it may take awhile. Poison Seeker Sacs are all over the place in the mine tunnels... go through the swamp to the very northeast corner near the mine cart ride. You'll find plenty of poison seekers.

#5 Pickpocket. It never works. I pick, don't succeed, pick again, and get noticed. This happens against everyone, and I've put 3 points into it with my bard every level and I use it a lot. Anyone know why that might be?

If you have the latest patch installed, it's been nerfed. I'd say ignore it.

#6 and finally, with the aforementioned party, what sort of formation would you use? I've been going with 3 in the front, 1 on each flank, and 3 in the middle(I've got myles and Vi). Myles never seems to get to hit people, and sometimes my casters get beat up. Suggestions?

Put NO ONE in the front rank... this lets you have 5 people up front attacking. put Fighter, Myles, Samurai in the Center Rank, Vi and the Lord on each flank, and your rest in the rear. Once you get RFS-81 to replace Myles, you can have him use spears (the dread spear from Bela works great). Then you can move Vi and RFS to the flanks so they can reach further, or put your close fighters up front, Vi and RFS in the Center with your Bishop and others in the rear.

Doing the "no one in the front" strategy does allow you to have more people in close range for melee fighting, BUT you really have to be aware of how your party is facing. If you turn just slightly when you move in combat, you can put one of your flankers out of range. You will also need to be sure that the best armor you get is on your flankers since monsters up front have 5 people to choose from, but monsters on the side will only hit 1 person every time... that can hurt.

Don't forget to keep your Alchemy skill going with your bishop. He will make you tons of money by mixing potions for you. Once you get Alchemy to 50, you'll have basically infinite gold because you can mix pandemonium powder and renewal potions... they sell for big bucks.

[ 04-24-2002, 01:21 PM: Message edited by: GenXCub ]