I did it! (Pt.1 Maruziel) - ID: 1539
FORUM: Gossip - The rusty dagger tavern
This topic was started by rakenan on 10/04/2018, 03:22:07
Well, I finally did it. Several years after first purchasing the game, I finally bulled my way through and killed Maruziel. My final party was a Dwarf Warrior, a Human Paladin, a Human Bard, a Hobbit Rogue, and 3 Gnome Arch Magi. Party level was 39 for everybody - the Arch Magi caught up while they were power leveling my Human Paladin to replace my under-performing Barbarian Hunter.
I've already purchased the Rise of the Dragons expansion, and whenever the next expansion comes out, I'll purchase it too. This game is worth every penny and more. It's a blast from the past, my very first CRPG was the original Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale. Thank you Mario for what is obviously a labor of love, you've brought me many a fun filled hour with your work.
Meanwhile, I need to get my Warrior and Rogue up to 24 IQ so they can switch to Dragoncaller while getting full SP every level. And grind out some Alchemy for my Paladin and Bard so they're still useful in fights. Maybe farm Inferno for some better gear for everybody. Oh, and actually play the expansion. Plenty of stuff to do!
Congratulations :-)
kind regards
Mario
Well done, rakenan! One less Evil One in the world!
If you're interested in my "cheat" for advancing your alchemists, click below. Personally, I don't find alchemy all that useful, though I do keep mine well stocked with garlic for healing spells.
There's one good spot for farming in Watertop and an excellent one further in. Inferno is OK but there are no fixed encounters, so you never know whether you'll meet anyone or not. The Flooded Isles are good, too, if you keep your bard singing Song of Arms. (You may not have that yet, you find it in Watertop.)
As for how great this game is, I agree!! I'm replaying it again (third time, this time in classic mode) so I can see what the battle with Maruziel would be like without using Hesitation.
If you're interested in my "cheat" for advancing your alchemists, click below. Personally, I don't find alchemy all that useful, though I do keep mine well stocked with garlic for healing spells.
I don't find it particularly useful as such, but Spore Bomb is a solid option for classes that don't get good mass damage spells of their own. My Paladin has nothing, and my Bard has various horns, but they always go off last in combat, which can be really bad. It's not so much that Alchemy is strong, as that non-DC fighter types are weak and often have nothing useful to do in combat except for Alchemy, so they may as well learn Alchemy.
My trick for Alchemy leveling is just to have every character carry a full stock of every ingredient, so I can go hog wild with the few who actually have training and use it, and replenish their supplies when needed. If I weren't more interested in raising spell mastery on my Archmages, I'd do it more often.
I just finished my Classic Mode play through, and it was interesting, especially at the beginning where armor and weapons were a lot harder to come by. My goal was to play through the entire game without using any Harmonic Gems or ever using the Hesitation spell. It was tough, but I did it. In the end, Maruziel was a bit of a let down again. A big talker, but Blind Guardians were more dangerous. I finished him off with 14 unused Harmonic Gems, 3 unused Shock Bombs, an alchemist with Level 2 spells, and Rogue with 14% thief mastery. My Arch Mages had the Armageddon spell but never used it. (You can tell I did cheat a little going to Watertop before Inferno.)
Inferno is a masterpiece! But too bad Maruziel was such an underwhelming foe.
Speaking of underwhelming, I remember in my first play through having a touch and go battle with Jacob Spengler. This time I guessed he would advance to melee range, so I had everyone attack and cast Close Combat on him and used a sorcerer's hood on his acolytes. (I had picked up the hood and some knuckledusters grinding on the Ridge Fault.) The battle was over in about one second. The acolytes were all killed and the High Priest was sucked straight into my monk's fist. It was so fast I didn't even get to see it happen! :cry:
