Needs and recommendations to beat the game - ID: 585
FORUM: Guides, Spoilers and Walkthroughs
This topic was started by Crocket on 10/04/2012, 07:16:10
Hi! Mario, I can't express how happy I was to find this game for my iPad 6 weeks ago! I spent years in the 90's on the bard's tale series, and killed countless reams of graphic paper, not to mention reboot time in saving my party from after death experiences. My kids love Angry Birds as far as phone/tablet games, but this game has become an obsession for me! I love the exploration, I love the character development, and quite honestly, I love playing it in this era, where there are message boards like this to get feedback, advice and guidance on strategy. I also appreciate the shop, as the buy gold is not only a good cheat (I'd prefer to call it an accelerator), but smart monetizing strategy on your behalf - and I'm all in, having killed nearly two $25 iTunes cards as I've fully matured four arch mages. Also bought the compendium, which is worth its weight in...a bag of 100,000 gold. ;)
I have read literally every entry throughout the boards, and like how the party creation threads early on were obviously influenced later by those who actually finished the game. I also enjoyed the three class reviews (rogue, bard, hunter), and like many others, wish that there were reviews of the other classes. Maybe if I finish the game someday, I will attack one or more. But I've spent 100 hours on the game, and keep re-developing characters. I must love that part, because I stop from moving beyond the sewers, thinking I need more, or different members to move to the larger quests. At first, I rolled about 20 characters in the high 70's and low 80's range. After a while, I went back, and rerolled...and rerolled, for guys in the mid-high 80's, looking for the right edge in building them. I developed my first mage quickly, 3 levels and class change...then developed the next two as full matured level 13 across all five classes. This is so important, as almost any spell worth owning is in the final level or two of that class. But it was also critical, as the more levels, the more powerful those mages become with hit and spell points. In the last week, I decided to redo my mages, and this has been the best decision: Level 13 magician, and then moving to conjurer, rather than moving him up to sorcerer, I kept adding level, after level, and became a level 30 conjurer before finally moving up. (This is the smartest place to do it, since mag/conj relevel every 230,000 points, where as the other three levels the price is much higher.) I also focused on the save/reload outside of training halls, trying not just to maximize my points per roll, to at least 90% of max, but also grabbing CN as early as possible (after IQ and DX hit 25) to move the rest of the level ups to the highest HP allowable per round. Nice having a guy with 1000 HP and 1000 SP!
So I have a laughably awesome supermage, two other fully developed mages, and the fourth with lowish sp points (490). I also have a warrior who is level 56 and nets 1000 damage points each time.
So my question is this: I don't want to trudge through the rest of the map developing the wrong OTHER characters. You obviously need mages to win, and I have that. I also have one certified melee. Are certain other characters REQUIRED to complete parts or all of the game? I have two level 28 paladins, but their damage is so paltry, I sort of abandoned them. I recently read on the boards where someone recommended a monk over a paladin for the late game, so I've started working on one. But the Paladin has a few unique special weapons late in the game, so I'm not sure if they are necessary to use to win it. If so, I will keep grooming one or both. I also have been grooming two hunters, one ranged, one melee. Again, with either three or four mages, not sure if I'll need a ranged bowman, but reading that certain end bosses are magic-resistant has made me reconsider. (Otherwise, I may have made a team of seven mages...) But I'd also love another guaranteed killer melee like my warrior, and not sure if that should be a monk, a melee hunter, or the paladin - or another warrior. Finally, I have had no interest in a rogue, and though I started with a bard, assume their magic is duplicated better by my mages in place. Again, why I am asking - as much time as I've spent, I'd hate to orphan my wife and kids more than I have, so making the right choices now on party makeup is crucial. If not, I'll just keep playing and playing, and the real world will miss me. (My training for the next Warrior Dash mud run, coming up in two weeks, has completely crapped out as I've been developing my Silversword warrior instead!)
Any guidance of Sodar will be welcomed. Thanks to all the message board contributors, and to Mario for a truly wonderful adventure!
Todd
Stop magic, farther foe
When you say stop magic, do you mean preclusion or force of reason? Or is stop magic one of the unlisted bard songs, or maybe a power of a weapon that someone can possess late in the game?
I've read some of your other posts wrmichael, and know that you recommended a monk, paladin, hunter, bard and three mages. That's really the focus of my post: I have no problem XP grinding to level up my characters...just looking for guidance where to invest the grind!
So, is the bard an essential component for winning the game? Or the paladin? And with a hunter, is it better to go melee or ranged?
Hope I didn't miss with my warrior - he's up to level 57, 1338 HP, and I can't imagine I'll be leaving home without him!
Also love to hear if others have done as I have with their mages, advancing them way up in lower levels to max out HP/SP?
I believe it's best to roll up 3 casters and one of everything else. As you raise your casters and change them through the classes to Arch Mage, you can swap the others in and out of your party. That way you can determine your favorite mix. And when you get that Force Shield of Forgus, you'll have a Warrior to try it out on, even if he spends most of his time in the Inn.
I ran my AMs to just over 1000 HP and the other six characters all have at least 1300.
My favorite grouping is BA, PA, HU, RO, AM, AM, AM. At this point the Bard plays Spirit Chant as the AMs cast Demon War for 1 point. That way they rarely run out of SP. The PA can use the Stone Sword for one swing kills and throws shield and to hit plusses for the party of 15. The HU does critical kills with his Andursteel Javelins almost every turn. The Rogue easily opens most chests although she uses a Deitrich in the Inferno.
To beat the Inferno you probably need some one to swing the Silversword (any will do) and two AMs -- possibly one of the AMs could handle the Silversword but a third member would make it a lot easier for the small team to win. So I believe none of the fighter character types is actually required. They just make it easier and more fun.
Yes, I just completed the Inferno defeating Maruziel with a party of two Archmages.
