Expert completion (SPOILERS - what did you expect?)

[seclists]

Ok, this is my second Wiz8 completion. You can find the summary of my first completion somewhere else on this board. This time I had the following party:

1. Female Lizardwoman Valkyrie
-I probably should have picked a Fighter instead or at least turned her into one at some stage. True, in the monastery her "Cheat Death" ability saved her fat butt a couple of times, but otherwise her special abilities were practically of no real benefit. This party ascended much faster than my earlier (Normal level) party, but that was to be expected, since in my first game I explored all areas very meticulously. In this game, I left a few portions of the game (such as most of Mt Gigas) unvisited & unexplored. As a consequence, neither this character nor the ninja advanced high enough to learn the Portal spell (which was my main motivation for hybrids instead of Fighters). Oh well.

2. Male Faery Ninja
-Ok, the CoC is sick. Other than that, Faery Ninjas are pathetic. Laughable amounts of experience to advance levels, and they suck at any level (compared to several other race/class combinations).

3. Female Hobbit Gadgeteer
-Performed as expected. Was "only" level 24 when I ascended, so I did not get the Armageddon attachment in this game.

4. Female Mook Bard
-So did this one.

5. Male Elf Bishop
-Mage/Priest oriented (other books only when those two were maxxed out first)

6. Male Elf Bishop
-Psionic/Alchemist oriented (other books only after these two were maxxed out)

The division of spellbooks between the two Bishop was determined by two factors: 1) I wanted to have access to all 4 books, 2) both bishops needed to have access to certain strategically important spells: Set/Return to Portal, Resurrection, Summon Elemental, Stamina, Sane Mind, and a few other cure/heal spells. This division seemed to fulfil both criteria.

In most respects, this also turned out to be the "optimal" party for me. I had access to all spells in the game, all bard instruments, all gadgets, as well as some melee muscle. The only exception is that I really should have replaced the Valkyrie with a Fighter, as mentioned above. Then it would have indeed been THE ideal party (for my playing style).

The only NPC (I really to prefer that abbreviation to RPC) that I recruited and used was RFS-81. I wanted to complete the game without a single NPC in my party, but that turned out to be difficult (at least on Expert). The Bard and the Gadgeteer were constantly passing out due to low stamina, and the two meleers could not really protect my bishops against large hordes in relatively open areas. With 3 melee-heavy characters I could build a stronger formation.

Since this party did not have a Ranger (unlike my previous party) and I did not want to waste time Searching, I had "Detect Secrets" almost always on (when entering new areas). Not only did it lack the disadvantages of searching, it was also good for building magic skills for my bishops.

I was aiming to have 4 different Portals at my disposal, but as it happened, my party progressed so swiftly that only the bishops could cast the Portal. In the end, one Portal was permanently left in the T'Rang teleporter chamber, while the other one was used for Rapax Castle or (in the actual endgame) the Ascension Peak.

The beginning of the game was very, very tough. The only character who seemed to have the slimmest chance of survival in the monastery (on Expert) was the Valkyrie. The Ninja was frail, the Bishops could not affect any monsters with their spells (and quickly ran out of mana), the Gadgeteer and the Bard did not have any gadgets or instruments of any consequence. Again, just like in the previous game, the monastery and getting to Arnika were *easily* the hardest part in the whole game. And once you reached Arnika, you just knew that nothing in the rest of the game would stop you...

In the end this party was so strong that the endgame (the Ascension Peak & the Cosmic Circle) were actually much easier than they were in the Normal-difficulty game. There was one exception, though: the Souleater. No matter whether I had Magic Screen 7 + Soul Shield 7 + all kinds of resistance items (even the Helm of Serenity) on, the darn thing would ALWAYS insane/turncoat the entire party on the very first round, even the Helm of Serenity character! After 10 reloads or so, I resorted to the questionable trick of using "Normal" difficulty for this combat. (I also used Normal difficulty for one other combat, against the Sorceress Queen & her retinue, so this was not a "pure" Expert game, even though the rest of the game were on Expert.) But the other relatively tough endgame combats (the Rapax army, the Djinni of the Cloud) really were a breeze for this team. On Expert! I am starting to see why people wish to make this game harder by limiting the number of characters in their teams.

Miscellaneous observations:
-Essentially, Expert mode seemed to mean that the monster would hit you harder and their spells were more effective against you, while your party had a harder time trying to hit the creatures and your spells were less effective against them.
-I can't believe I underestimated the various "Cloud" spells so seriously in my previous completed game. On Expert, at least, they actually seem far more effective than their non-durational equivalents. For example, a single Death Cloud would often kill far more creatures (over time) than repeated Death Wishes. And the monster casters either don't have the Purify Air spell or don't bother to cast it. I had the Rapax army bathing in the various clouds, and the results were very satisfying.
-Pickpocketing was really hard. Partly because of Expert difficulty, I guess, and partly because I have the 1.2.4 retail version which is notorious for making pickpocketing much harder. Case in point: the Constable. Every time my pickpocketing characters (the Ninja & the Bard) gained a level or improved their pickpocketing skills (that I always invested 3 points in at level-ups anyway), I made a new attempt to pickpocket the Constable. I either failed always or got some unimportant rubbish. After well more than 20 unsuccessful pickpocketing trips to Cellar (fortunately, I had been far-sighted enough to leave a Portal there), I had had enough. I attacked the Constable and slaughtered him to get his key, scr*w the Rapax relations. As he died, the red "Your relation with the Rapax (something) has decreased." message flashed just briefly before the combat ended. However, all Rapax (both commons as well as templars) were still green, and my journal listed them as "Friendly". A glitch perhaps, or intentional? I was a Templar at the time.
-When fighting a Landslide and a Greater Earth Elemental, I summoned an Air Elemental. In the middle of the fight, for no obvious reason, I got "The Air Elemental becomes hostile!". Not insane, not turncoated, it simply became "hostile" and joined the monster list (top of the screen). I have absolutely no idea how or why this happened. I most certainly hadn't done anything to aggravate it (like accidentally hurt it with a backfiring spell).
(edit) -One addition: What's with the "Rapax Army" faction that I lost standing with when I fought the Rapax Prince & my "daughter"? I don't remember seeing those messages, and the Rapax Army faction does not show up in my journal. Yet another loose thread like the King's Assassins?

Ok, I think I'll take a break from this game now. Two completions in 4 months... you can easily calculate that my social life is suffering. I should make a promise that I will not start playing this game again, just as I did the last time I completed it. [img]smile.gif[/img] Hmm... maybe uninstalling it from the hard disc might help.

[ 04-29-2004, 08:04 AM: Message edited by: seclists ]

[Loudhy]

I agree with most of your analysis, seclist.

What I don't understand, are the problems you mentioned on the way to Arnika. I often play an "additional own game" : How long can you fight monsters without being hit ? Don't fight the Noxis until I reached lvl 4 and I often made it through the first levels without a single damage.

My party is :

Human Gadgeteer
Mook Bard
Fairie Ninja
Dracon Lord
Rawulf Alchemist
Gnome Bishop

I fight Gregor with a party lvl of 5 . He never killed one of my members. I leave the monastary at level 6. Often I had low enemies : redweeds, bloodvines, acidvines, venom and hardshell crabs, roustabouts and so on. Before I enter arnika I often finish the Arn-Try-Road too, because I want to give Antone the most of the weapon parts early.
Most of my problems came later ( haven't finished an expert game yet ). Brekek killed my whole party within 6 rounds ( 5 swallowed, the remaining one was killed "the usual way" ) . 2 Swallowers swallowed 3 members in 2 rounds ( luckily I won ).
I have no experience with clouds up to now . My current party is lvl. 11 ( just reached the swamp ) .

[img]graemlins/monster5.gif[/img]

[Wereboar]

I attacked the Constable and slaughtered him to get his key, scr*w the Rapax relations. As he died, the red "Your relation with the Rapax (something) has decreased." message flashed just briefly before the combat ended. However, all Rapax (both commons as well as templars) were still green, and my journal listed them as "Friendly". A glitch perhaps, or intentional? I was a Templar at the time.

Each kill reduces your faction ratings a bit. In my experience, i can kill Al-Sedexus and about 4-5 summoned templars, and the stay friendly. If i kill more, they become hostile.

[Scatter]

You can always kill the Constable without repercussion. And you can use instakill magic on the Al-S Spawns, as anything anywhere unwitnessed, with impunity. I've had some pretty long fights in there with solos--one time i killed 6 sets of Spawns with Death Bombs before i finally ran Al-S out of Stamina enough to actually kill her. (L14 Bard solo, Hearts and Stiletto, ran out of Super potions while She still had around 200 HP)
One thing i've noticed about her is that she's a lot easier to Paralyze by weapon (eg Diamond Eyes) than KO (eg Giant's Sword). And i've never critted her.

[Wereboar]

You can always kill the Constable without repercussion.

I usually kill him soon (before becoming templar). But in a recent game i was surprised when i entered the rapax castle upper levels without killing him first: the templers were neutral. So it seem that killing him made them hostile in my other games.
If you are templar, you can do a few kills wiuthout them getting mad, so you might kill the constable without bad effects.

[Scatter]

That can't be the reason. I always go straight to the Templar area and the two door guards are always yellow, but willing to converse. I've never killed the Constable before becoming Templar, and killing him has never resulted in any faction rating change.