Completed Main Game - ID: 1605
FORUM: Gossip - The rusty dagger tavern
This topic was started by aldube30 on 14/01/2020, 06:37:29
Completed Main game, now moving into the expansion.
Party: Dwarf Warrior, Dwarf Paladin, Dwarf Bard, Dwarf Monk, Gnome Rogue, Gnome Archmage, Gnome Archmage.
Fighting characters need all the Dwarf thaco & saves they can get especially at low levels. Gnome made sense for mages, and future Rogue-Dragon Caller.
Warrior: Was exactly what I expected him to be, nice caveat with the katana.
Paladin: Lagged behind the Warrior, the dayblade was his best weapon before he got the stone sword.
Bard: Was slow to develop, all those horns & singing sword seems like band-aids. I remember Bard's Tale 3 having song that damaged a group of enemies, it used 1 song each time it was used in combat. The bard' s best weapon at low levels was a dayblade. The new songs really helped to increase his usefulness later in the game, the party's best healer in the beginning of the game.
Monk: What I was expecting, a little squishy though, one would figure a monk would have as much HP as a bard at least and not as little as a rogue.
Rogue: Doesn't do a whole lot aside from opening locks that Trapzap can't open. Later he helps out a bit with a bow & arrows, but barely pulls his own weight.
Hunter: Just doesn't seem practical, especially when you can just equip a katana on a warrior, a stoneblade on your Paladin, or have your rogue stab the enemy in the back. Other games hunters are Rangers and had other useful skills.
Mages: I know Silversword is emulating the Bard's Tale, but the magic system limits options by constantly switching magic classes. It makes it hard to borrow ideas from other rpg games like wizardry 7 & 8, might & magic, etc...
Look at Bard's Tale for Nintendo to see how they streamlined the magic classes to make class changing unnecessary.
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Dragon Caller: I haven't tried it yet, still leveling my rogue. I don't see how this is a option for fighting classes, in BT3 the Geomancrer was a armored mage who could use weapons, but sucked at using those unless those weapons critically hit or stoned enemies. The Geomancrer was a mage who could be in the front lineup without getting killed, due low AC from Armor.
Alchemy: I don't see the point, especially when components are so hard to come by, I'd rather see a Alchemist class, that would have easier access to his craft.
Some kind of multi-class or hybrid class options would be nice, as I study the game mechanics, I'll make some recommendations. I'll try to make it easy to implement rather than overhauling the core designs.
Congratulations! You will have a blast exploring the expansion.
Some comments:
Bard: you will learn to love your Bard. The Horn of Sodar is as good as anything in the game, and Spirit Chant will save your bacon more than once.
Monk: You're right about the hit points. You will need to throw everything you can find into lowering the monk's armor class and saving throw. An electrum rune on a Buckler of Forgus, e.g., and a Ring of Protection.
Paladin: Kind of a weaker version os the warrior, I agree, but the Blessing of Solar and Shield of Solar spells are a nice addition to the party, especially as the Bard gains levels. The stone blade is great, but will become less useful as you encounter more dangerous monsters.
Rogue: explore the thief mastery skill ASAP. I've found that a rogue hidden in the shadows with some healing potion and other items is a great safety feature. Also, you'll find a great weapon for your rogue in the expansion.
Alchemy: You're right that it's very limited because of the scarcity of ingredients. You can occasionally find them in the shop in Watertop, and there is a "cheat" for checking the shop's inventory over and over again in a different thread.
Dragoncaller: A warrior actually makes a great Dragoncaller. Mine stands in the second rank and dishes out 25,000 HP of damage per round with something you'll find in Miners Deep in the expansion.
For me:
Hunter - Ranged sniper! Equipped with a bow, particularly the original endgame/aftergame one, my Hunter would crit spellcasters before they could get into casting range. I just found the Hunter useful throughout, but the further in I went, the more useful I found the class! I wouldn't ever give a melee weapon to a hunter, ranged crits is where it's at!
Edit: It felt to me like the Alchemy skill was that little boost that gave non-magic classes more utility. I'm not sure if that was the intent, but that's the way it was used in my game! I focused it on the Rogue, although if you're finding the Hunter lackluster, that's a good candidate, too.
Yes, Spirit Chant is very handy, I often walk away from the game to do other tasks while that Bard song is playing, I haven’t used a harmonic gem in the game yet. I started using the harmonic splinters to empty my storage, 20-40 mp is kind of meaningless when the Mage’s mp is 900+
I thought I lost access to the inferno after beating it, I couldn’t access it again from the sewers, I didn’t know it was at the savage crossing. It’s a lot easier to get through with Armageddon & Dragon bow + ghost arrows on the Rogue. Haven’t got any further than the town in the astral plane & silver mountains, I’m just barely making it at lv31.
I’ve seen the shop at Watertop that sometimes has alchemy ingredients, but whatever the alchemy skills do, it seems items & magic can do the same for cheaper & easier. If a add-on of extra abilities was being considered, a Experience add-on of 10% - 50% per level would of been a more preferable & practical approach than making the alchemy option awkward, players would have to carefully weigh the option of slower level advancement being worth the added ability.
