Thought I loved the game until Mt. Gigas

[Hakuryu]

Three things have made me about give up playing.

#1 My party ( 5th incarnation ) is really tough, and so I'm getting attacked at 11th level by ( on average ) 20+ creatures. I just quit when cornered with :
5 Vampire Bats
2 Mordrat Lords ( sp? )
9 Pestilence Rats
9 Twilight Bats
5 Cave Spiders

This is not unusual, and since starting this game, I have had to constantly save/reload, which brings up problem

#2 After firing rockets at the Range, you are supposed to meet the NPC at Covert OPs. Since I've been dieing so much, I rested then saved before goin to CO, and now it looks like the NPC has disappeared. I remember getting a Djinn Eye and EXP in there before, so I guess I'm just screwed out of that part. I could go back to the save before I entered the Mt, but it takes like an hour for every battle there, and is definately NOT fun.

#3 Getting stuck in the caves. I'll run around a corner with my back to the wall, and get stuck between the cave walls and the floor. You cannot get out except for loading a save... I once got like 65K EXP for one battle ( took like 2 hours ) and lost it all because of this. Mt Gigas isn't the only place this happens either...


AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I REFUSE TO START AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Damn Sir Tech... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Chaotrix]

Try playing at the Novice setting. I did that when I hit the swamp and I haven't looked back. And the thing with the Covert Ops guy (Rubble) is a bug. I had to reload from before I entered that level because a similar thing happenned to me.

[vesselle]

this game is HARD! there's no doubt about that.

my experience seems to echo yours, altho at a much lower level.
when my level 5 party ran into a group of poison seekers in the monastery, i thot "OK. seekers. i bet there's more hidden."
a-yup. there was a total of 32: 23 poison, hps 80-110 each, and 11 standard seekers, hps 45-80. took me 2 hours real time, and i barely squeaked thru.

but even before we had time to rest, we were surprised AGAIN!. this time by 16 gnawer rats and 9 rabid rats. ::sigh:: we lost 2 teammates and used up every potion we had, except for 1 bottle of "Cure Light". AND that took 90 minutes real time.

so, here's my deep, dark secret. i turned my setting from normal to novice. ::covers her face in shame::

i am so totally embarrassed. i didn't think i was a bad rpg-er, but i dunno. i must be.

it gets worse. i keep thinking ~ what if? like... what if it gets harder? i can't turn it down, cuz i'm already as low as i can go. i have no buffer zone anymore. ::sighs:: now it gets even worser than that. i feel like i'm cheating. i know i'm not. but i still feel like i am.

most of you guys know i'm proud of my party! i brag about them every chance i get. so, please don't make fun of them. you can make fun of me all you like ::smiles:: cause i know i stink. but my girls are great! they deserve cheers, not jeers.

anyway, if you haven't already, try turning your difficulty setting down. also, make a habit of saving a lot. in fact, turn on your auto save feature. this way, you can just quit in the middle of an overbearing fight and reload from just before. i have gotten completely different encounters by doing this!

V***V

~~proud of her girls~~

[Sazerac]

Dear Vesselle,

I don't think *ANYONE* would laugh (or they BETTER not!!! [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img] ) at you or anyone else for jimmying down the difficulty level in this game. In this game, Novice is Normal, Normal is Expert, and Expert is practically Insane Death Match.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with turning down the volume in certain areas. Even then, I've heard people say that novice will "kill" them.

Let me explain something that I've discovered: when a group of monsters spawn, they are there, regardless of your difficulty level. So if you're playing expert and spawn 12 Higardi Brigands when you're just level 6, then you jimmy down your play level to novice, those Brigands don't magically "turn" into Cutpurses. Brigands they are, and brigands they remain. The only thing Novice does is slightly raise your chances to hit them and lower their chances to hit you.

Anyway, congrats to you for making it through as well as you have, dear. Don't feel badly. You're doing great.

-Sazerac

You know, Ive played through the lower monastary several times now (trying to tweak the right party composition) and only once did I get poison seekers in the arboretum or whatever that place is...the last time I went through I only had 4 seekers of the regular sort...and I am running on expert. The encounters seem to be very random. The problem is, I think ALL the set encounters are in place as soon as you enter a level...so just saving before you open a door isn't going to change the encounter.

Save before any new level might be a good strategy for archiving saves.... Just my thoughts on this.

I am just beginning also. Playing Normal difficulty and I haven't run into that level of difficulty yet. I did run into some Apparitions that totally blew me away, but never 20 monsters at a time. I don't know if I'd like to have a two or battle either. That's a little exorbitant. I get in the habit of overly saving.

[Eldurin]

I am playing on Normal mode and my party is mostly 24th & 25th level. I rarely get huge encounters with multiple monsters. I usually have to *try* to make them happen by leading and teasing monsters groups into merging before I get close and trigger the encounter. I think there are several things that factor into encounters and your ability to deal with them. Here are just some off the cuff:

• Are you running around with Search on? If you do, you are making more noise to attract monsters, and are more likely to be surprised because your attention is elsewhere. I understand that the Light spell also attracts monsters to a degree.
• Do you camp too much in the wilderness? Every three camps re-spawn the encounters, I believe. Use your spells and other goodies to keep your party in one piece until you can find a place that is safe to rest. Find a place to put your caster's backs to the wall that has limited access from the sides.
• Use X-ray so you are not bumping to three monsters groups that just happen to be crossing paths.
• Is your party overburdened by weight? Watch the encumbrance. It lowers your armor class, takes more stamina, and in extreme cases can diminish your ability to attack and defend properly.
• Use the Chameleon spell so you can get a lot closer to monsters without triggering combat. If you see something you're not prepared for, back off.
• Is your team working as a team or as a bunch of individuals? If you specialize, especially early on, you are more powerful sooner.

There's more, but in general I try not to let the monsters dictate when and where I am attacked.

This post ins't targeted at anyone specifically, but I'm a veteran CRPG player (another 30-something who started with the first Wizardry), and was having a rather hard time with this game until I tried out a few party combinations, really went through the manual, and tightened my strategy. Good luck!

[Boreal]

Well, i'm currently playing on expert difficulty in Ascention Peak. Although it might be too hard, the experience you get is insane. Running into 8 Imps of Chaos, 2 Djinni of Clouds and 5 Hellspawns isn't that nice, but the feeling ... the feeling, when you smash them to goo is wonderful [img]smile.gif[/img]
BTW, my party is:
Felpurr Samurai
Hobbit Rogue
Faerie Mage
Rafulf Priest
Elf Psionic
Felpurr Ninja
RFS-81
Vi

[vesselle]

~~eldurin~~

oh, beleive me! i know all about the things you pointed out. i follow them religiously. (there was a bunch of us, who, during the demo, ran outside the monastery to re-set it and save/reload just to get every kind of monster available! we tested all the rules back then just to see what would spawn. mostly insane critters, too.)

but the top level of the monastery, in my game, is bizarre. every time i go out to either the lower monastery or the beach to reset/save/reload and race back in... i get NOTHING in the lower levels (except the fish! i let them live).
But Holy Heck! run up to the upper monastery and it's like Zoo Central! i re-load 5 or 6 different saves and get the same kinda crazy groupings. its always poison seekers, rabid and gnawer rats. just in BIG groups!!

anyways, i have since moved outta there. phew! i was actually relieved to run into groups of 15-18 highwaymen! and those walking flowers... pfeh! they couldn't even touch me. LOL! i guess the seekers and rats got me ready for the trip to arnika. ::smiles::

but i am worried about going back there. cause i have this feeling i'm gonna have to find out what's making those icky noises behind the sealed door upstairs. brrrrr! not looking forward to that.

V***V

[Knarfling]

Hakuryu, I hope you still check this thread because I have run into that "stuck between wall and floor" problem and I HAVE FOUND A WAY OUT!!! I have been exploring the HUGE unexplored territory and got stuck just as you describe. I had just finished off all the monsters in the area and was walking along the wall when I got stuck.

I was so upset because I hadn't saved in a while. So I held down the shift key and started "running in place" when I realized that I was making progress. Suddenly my group shot off like a rock, straight for the other wall. (Luckily I managed to stop before getting stuck again.)

Since I only got stuck once, I do not know if this will work for every place, but it sure saved my tail.

Good Luck,

Knarfling