• Category Archives PC
  • Video Game Related » PC » Modding | Emulation

  • Tales of Berseria – Conclusion

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    When your game world has 4 methods of increasing travel speed (faster walking upgrades, teleport bottles, ship travel, & geoboard riding) and still ends up a chore to navigate… well, that’s a serious problem. Especially considering that right before the final battle a ton of sidequests become available, and finding/completing them requires backtracking across and re-visiting everywhere you’ve been before. The Xillia cameo is also pretty painful.

    Ultimately I would have to say that this game is not worth bothering with unless either:

    A) You have not played Zestiria (and want to)
    B) You have not watched the Zestiria Anime adaptation (and want to)

    As the background here will help enhance the story and events there.

    Related posts:

    1. Tales of Zestiria – Initial Impressions Just started playing this recently. The last Tales game I...
    2. Tales of Berseria – First Impressions From a gameplay perspective Berseria is essentially identical to Zestiria....
    3. Tales of Berseria – Midgame In Act IV now, having returned to Loegres post-Temple. The...
    4. Radiant Historia After seeing a number of comments claiming this was one...
    5. Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition Due to never owning an XBox of any form (and...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Torment: Tides of Numenera – First Impressions

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    This game is indeed the second coming of Planescape: Torment.

    Which raises the question: If the above statement is true, why exactly have I spent 40+ hours backtracking and grinding random things in Tales of Berseria (a game which by all appearances I’m not very fond of)? Several reasons.

    The first and largest is resource management. Resource management in an RPG, especially a story-driven RPG, is a terrible idea pretty much 100% of the time. Each of the three attributes in this game consists of a separate resource pool which you can spend to increase your chance to complete various related challenges/checks. These pools do not automatically refill; rather there are three separate item types that can restore them. That’s atrocious. The one-time-use unique items system is a lesser issue, but also pretty bad. Having unique consumable items is an awful enough idea on its own, but to take it a step further and restrict how many you can carry? Shameful.

    A more subjective reason for not playing it much right now is the lack of guides/walkthroughs. I can play RPGs without them (I did so for Pillars, Tyranny, and most recently Staglands after all), but would prefer not to. Generally speaking I only play most games once, so I’d like to make sure I’ve seen/done everything in the first playthrough and not missed anything. And this seems like the kind of game where it’s incredibly easy to miss things.

    The final reason being that (comparatively) Berseria is a known factor, where you can just sit back and grind/collect whatever without having to really think about anything or worry much about missing a chunk of the story/characterizations. This game however requires more of an active investment.

    I do indeed eventually plan on making that effort, as from what little I’ve seen so far it looks like it rewards such many times over, but it will have to wait until after Berseria‘s finished… and may end up getting sidelined again in favor of the upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda.

    Related posts:

    1. Torment: Tides of Numenera – Endgame Finally got around to seriously playing the game and just...
    2. Tales of Berseria – First Impressions From a gameplay perspective Berseria is essentially identical to Zestiria....
    3. Darkest Dungeon – First Impressions After having long ignored this game‘s existence, as I’m not...
    4. BATTLETECH & The Banner Saga Sometimes when people make a really big deal out of...
    5. REZROG – First Impressions While the game has several extremely annoying bugs, for the...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Tales of Berseria – Midgame

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    In Act IV now, having returned to Loegres post-Temple.

    The game does indeed open up a little once you get through the sea gate and unlock ship expeditions. This doesn’t really last though and the enemy-infested areas get ridiculously long at times: There’s that insanely oversized mass of tunnels after you first escape the Earth Pulse for instance, and the seemingly never-ending stretch of Reef before you reach Palamides Temples.

    Making these areas worse is that they tend to be (over)populated by only 3-4 varieties of enemy groups. Presumably this is a result of the new equipment mastering system, to give players a decent chance of finding the unique equipment drops each enemy has. Which is dumb. They should have went with an increased drop chance and reduced the number of enemies and repetitious pseudo-corridors instead.

    The railroading has also been pretty bad so far. Areas are often blocked off and returning to previous locations is heavily restricted, sort of forcing you to grind each area to get all the monster-drop equipment the very first opportunity you get… since there may not be a second chance anytime soon. The Katz chests can be skipped though since all they reward you with are either fashion items or an invitation to the Katz Corner location (which can only be visited just before the final dungeon).

    Worst of all I think, is that at this point the storyline takes a dive and starts heavily mimicking Zestiria. Suddenly Malevolence is the focus and starts visibly showing up out of nowhere.

    The actual combat is okay I suppose, though I’m not really feeling the Soul System. Against most random trash mobs it’s fine, but against bosses and boss-like enemies it’s pretty easy to get stuck with a low Soul count and be unable to combo or Soul Burst. I’ve been using Velvet exclusively, now with the following Arte setup:

    Avalanche Fang -> Soaring Dragon -> Grounding Strike -> Scale Crusher
    Mega Sonic Thrust -> Slag Assault -> Defiant Conviction -> Moonlight Cyclone
    Cerberus Wave -> Binding Frost -> Heaven’s Wrath -> Infernal Torment
    Swallow Dance -> Gouging Spin -> Searing Edge -> Shadow Form

    With the 4 guard Artes being set to whatever weakness the current boss(like) enemy has. I’m not all that fond of Heaven’s Wrath though; while cool, it takes rather long to finish (which is an issue when Therionized). So I might try to switch it out eventually for something else. Maybe another Stunning attack.

    Related posts:

    1. Pathfinder: WRATH of the RIGHTEOUS – Chapter III The third chapter is where the second half of crusade...
    2. Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls – First Impressions Having only played Wizardy 8 before, my only hopes going...
    3. Pathfinder: WRATH of the RIGHTEOUS – Chapter IV WotR‘s fourth chapter is the equivalent of Baldur’s Gate II‘s...
    4. Pathfinder: WRATH of the RIGHTEOUS – Chapter I Well, I made it through the first chapter and even...
    5. Pillars of Eternity – Acclimation I’ve started to come around to the combat dynamics thanks...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Tales of Berseria – First Impressions

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    From a gameplay perspective Berseria is essentially identical to Zestiria. The differences, such as now being able to learn item skills (which partly addresses the earlier issue of items not being straight upgrades of one another), are fairly minor.

    The differences are more pronounced when it comes to storyline and environments.

    Here you play as an anti-hero who’s often fairly ruthless as opposed to a more altruistic savior-type, which goes a long way toward making the events feel fresh. Hampering this are exterior locations that feel especially claustrophobic/cramped compared to Zesteria. It’s as though they took the design strategy from that game’s (boring, grindy) dungeons and applied it to the whole game, resulting in an extraordinarily unpleasant experience. It feels like a series of corridors.

    Maybe it will open up later (I’ve only just unlocked a full 4-person party). If it doesn’t, then theme and minor technical improvements aside, there won’t be any reason to play it over Zesteria.

    Related posts:

    1. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 Huh. I sort of regret putting off playing this for...
    2. Tales of Zestiria – Initial Impressions Just started playing this recently. The last Tales game I...
    3. Two Worlds II: Velvet Edition While theoretically a sequel to Two Worlds, Two Worlds II...
    4. Risen 3: Titan Lords Honestly, though I know it’s not quite fair, I feel...
    5. Talisman: Origins This game is essentially just a limited version of the...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Serpent in the Staglands – Endgame

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    Having now finished the game I’m left somewhat conflicted.

    Ultimately it feels incomplete, with the final parts of the main quest seeming forced and unnaturally sparse. The Wandering Lady shrine is so expansive, while Lev is a burned husk where you can’t even deliver the spices you got in with (the entire interaction with Mya in fact feels like a placeholder), the logging yard is just an empty expanse filled with enemies, and Ista Cale is populated by no-name dock workers. It’s also annoying you can’t seem to do anything with Corem’s Shipping Guild or the Rheamus Farm area.

    At the end I was level 13 (having just leveled-up following the final battle) after clearing what I believe are all the possible areas to clear. Arcane Attack ended up being a fantastic spell for physical attackers, much better than focusing on Strength and particularly amusing when combined with Strafe, while Searing Light was the only direct damage spell worth actually putting points in. I also had over 10k money because there’s little worth buying beyond the custom armor; the equipment variety is sorely lacking.

    Unfortunately I got the bad ending, since warning the “natives” to not trust the Consil apparently means nothing and getting the Lele to leave peacefully somehow makes you responsible for massacring an entire village. This ending seems to be bugged, as during the final battle I couldn’t actually control the PC during it besides casting spells on myself and had to rely on the auto-attack AI to eventually kill everyone (caster MC). Not sure if I want to replay it to get the good ending (there’s a lot of empty space to traverse) or just shrug and go with this one for the upcoming expansion.

    Some other things to take note of:
    – Avoid using any sort of multi-attack ability around neutrals.
    – Most NPC pickpocket inventories appear to be completely randomized.
    – Don’t leave the Logging Camp until you have the Manor Key.
    – Orf’s Bridge Consil contains the best dodge-focused armor.
    – Rumin Consil contains the otherwise best armor.
    – You can copy/paste text in the Incantation Book.
    – Attack Speed 0 makes you unstoppable.
    – Wolf Morph, Wolf Claws 8+ & Amplify 8+ with a Hunter Whip works well.

    Continue reading → Post ID 2504

    Related posts:

    1. Gothic 3 – Endgame Well, Gothic 3 is now finished. Went with the neutral...
    2. Serpent in the Staglands – Initial Impressions At this point, being at level 4 after having cleared...
    3. Baldur’s Gate 2: ToB Ascension I only, just now after years of having it installed,...
    4. Agarest War 2 – Third Generation Start Second generation now complete. While the protagonist never gets any...
    5. Pillars of Eternity – First Impressions Some quick first impressions on the game, after about 6...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Serpent in the Staglands – Initial Impressions

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    At this point, being at level 4 after having cleared the first set of areas, this game reminds me most of the first Baldur’s Gate. You start with basically nothing, most things can easily kill you, and the mechanics can be opaque. Visually speaking it looks pretty good (which is amazing considering that the native resolution is 320×240) while the gameplay is a more mixed experience.

    Early on at least, magic is not a viable damage dealer. So encounters come down to either baiting/kiting enemies away from their friends to beat them down 5-on-1, or making use of spells like Fearful Light and Festering Ooze to disable parts of otherwise unavoidable group attacks. You never, ever want to get into a ‘fair’ fight… because you will lose. Offsetting the deadly encounters is the ability to fully heal your party essentially at will outside of combat; there’s no limit to how much magic you can use, so just spam-cast the basic healing spell.

    Character progression is both simple and complicated. On level-up characters get 2 Attribute Points (used to raise attributes) and 2 Skill Points (used to raise skills, spells, and aptitudes). The attributes are relatively straight-forward (though Dexterity not affecting dodge is bizarre), the skills/spells/aptitudes however are far trickier. Many spells do not improve much at all at higher levels, you can only have 3 skills active at a time, and some aptitudes can become incredibly powerful indirectly (if you have the right tools). So it’s quite difficult to choose what to advance in and extremely easy to end up wasting points.

    Then you have weird ‘ease-of-use’ contrasts like being able to create infinite ranged ammo with a Linguistic Incantation, but the ammo has to be dropped on the ground first. Or new incantations being automatically written down as your Linguistics skill increases, but not having anything automatically marked on your world map or journal.

    Some starting things:
    – Create two additional Avatars at the start.
    – One of them should be a Drow Frost Jackal for the item.
    – Avoid fighting more than one enemy at a time.
    – While the game is paused, healing items cannot be used in battle.
    – If you use Woodwise on yourself, you can detect traps.
    – Parasitic Orb is required to unlock Fairy Rings.
    – Read everything, nothing is written down for you.
    – Don’t sell keys, drop them on the ground instead.
    – Merchant inventories are limited and extra items disappear.
    – Set traps will disappear if you save/reload.
    – If you only kill part of an enemy group, saving/reloading will respawn them.
    – Wands are very good, and anyone who can cast spells should have one.
    – Whether it’s day or night affects which encounters you’ll find.
    – Day/night can be changed at will with Linguistics 4.
    – GOG Galaxy installs the patch wrong, you have to move the contents of the 32/64 folder into the main directory.

    ‘Secret’ Linguistic Incantations:
    – “Davi Bone(s)” to turn a bone or bones into healing items.
    – “Shoar [Gem] Chip” to turn gem chips into whole gems.
    – “Grafitus [Ammo]” to refill any stack of ammo to 100.
    – The items above have to be dropped on the ground.
    – “Nufri [Ruin Name]” to reveal some kind of secret.
    – These are provided in the out-of-game Erlein’s Handbook.

    Spells to consider raising:
    – Blood Cocoon (works faster)
    – Festering Ooze (increased radius/duration)
    – Heat Metal (so it does damage)
    – Feverish Haze (works faster)
    – Cat Poly (up to 3dx dodge chance)
    – Wolf Poly (up to 5d6 physical hit chance)
    – Nauseate (works faster)
    – Strangling Vines (up to 5d6 dodge penalty)
    – Shimmering Scales (up to 3d17 AC and spell resistance)
    – Ethereal Weapon (up to 6d8 damage and 3dx hit chance)
    – Siphon Poison (works faster)
    – Searing Light (up to 5d7+15 damage and 12 radius)
    – Zana Morph (increased duration and up to 5d6 magic hit chance)

    Related posts:

    1. Gothic 3 – Initial Impressions Started this game up shortly after finishing the prequel, with...
    2. Two Worlds: Epic Edition Ever played Gothic? Well this game is just like it:...
    3. Avernum: ESCAPE FROM THE PIT – First Impressions The screenshots don’t really do this game, which is a...
    4. Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls – First Impressions Having only played Wizardy 8 before, my only hopes going...
    5. Serpent in the Staglands – Endgame Having now finished the game I’m left somewhat conflicted. Ultimately...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Rebel Galaxy

    Posted on by Offkorn 1 Comment

    Calling Rebel Galaxy an RPG is stretching things a bit. There aren’t any skills to progress in, and dialog choices amount to some minor plotline options (whether you want to side with the militia or pirates, whether you want to help someone or just blow them up) and the ability to threaten or capitulate to pirates instead of fighting them.

    Let’s get the bad out of the way first:

    • All the systems are identical, with the only differences being what level of equipment you can purchase and which aliens may show up.
    • Progression is hilariously broken. Level 5/6 equipment (6 is max) and the best ships are available essentially as soon as you leave the first system.
    • All enemies fight pretty much the same way.
    • Mission-specific enemies often just pop into existence out of nowhere.
    • There’s not much in the way of ship customization; weapon, armor, and engine options are all pretty limited and there’s no cosmetic customization at all.
    • Faction differences are minor bordering on non-existent.
    • Mining is a complete waste of time (would be better if what the pulse detects could be customized).

    That’s a lot of bad, so what’s good about it? Um… well… it’s kind of fun to just unload rapid fire cannon blasts into the sides of dreadnaughts and watch them explode. And there’s something viscerally satisfying about running blockades and buying low/selling high to make a few million credits with basically no effort (buying salt for 2k-8k and selling it one system over for 30-40k is surprising entertaining).

    Some things to know if you plan to play this:

    • Upgrade your shields before anything else.
    • The Cargo Scanner module that marks which ships are carrying something will save you a ton of time hunting for alien weaponry.
    • The ‘system average’ column on the trading screen is the average price across all systems.
    • The Merchant Guild is the easiest way by far to make money and sells the best cargo modules.
    • The Mercenary Guild missions can send you against any other faction (you never know which until you get to the location).
    • Becoming neutral with the Red Devils gives you access to Aegis Shields, Smuggler’s Holds, and a couple ships including the Mercenary Guild’s Minotaur.

    Related posts:

    1. Kingdoms of Amalur – Endgame Yeah, the game really falls off a cliff once you...
    2. Grim Dawn – Forgotten Gods Forgotten Gods is the second Grim Dawn expansion, being mostly...
    3. AVADON 2: the CORRUPTION The follow-up to Black Fortress features a couple improvements alongside...
    4. Tales of Berseria – First Impressions From a gameplay perspective Berseria is essentially identical to Zestiria....
    5. Serpent in the Staglands – Endgame Having now finished the game I’m left somewhat conflicted. Ultimately...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Agarest War Zero

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    While originally I had no intention of ever playing this game, when I went to try out the PC version of Agarest 2 I found that you could import a Zero save to get some free items.

    Since the GOG version of the game does not appear to have access to any of the DLC (and I obviously can’t import a PS3 save file) getting a Zero clear save appeared to be the only way to cut down on the early grinding. Which gave me an excuse to stop ignoring it.

    Honestly I wish I kept ignoring it.

    While it does show you exactly what the characters in Agarest 2 were talking about during the artifact and Chaos/Summerill conversations (and you get to see an early version of Eva) it turns out that nothing of note was omitted from those conversations. When you combine that with the large amount of required grinding and ‘unwinnable’ battles that you’re supposed to lose… well, there really ends up being no reason whatsoever to play it.

    I’ll just leave these here though in case anybody else wants to see for themselves:

    Cheat Engine Table (GOG Version)
    True End Post-Game Save (GOG Version)

    Related posts:

    1. Agarest War 2 – Initial Impressions I bought this a long time ago for the PS3,...
    2. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 It shouldn’t be surprising, yet it is: This sequel is...
    3. Agarest War 2 – Second Generation Start So, I made it though the first generation after all....
    4. Agarest War 2 – Endings So I ended up going through all 3 endings and...
    5. Ys: Oath in Felghana, VI, & Origin People like to claim the Ys series is skill intensive,...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Tyranny – Conclusion

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    Played through it three more times; once siding with the Disfavored, once siding with the Rebels, and once Independent (betraying the Disfavored at the start of Act 2).

    Your choices matter to an extent, but that extent is largely what areas/sidequests you gain access to and how many enemies you have to kill. Maps and main quests generally stay the same regardless of what path you take, with mainly just what opponents you may face changing or whether there’s a possibility of a peaceful solution. Sometimes you get to see a particular quest from different angles though, with the Act 1 assault on the Citadel and the Act 2 Brotherhood assault on Lethian’s Crossing having the most variety.

    Out of the four the Disfavored path seems the most natural. The Chorus side has a lot of railroading, and both the Rebel and Independent options have a lot of contrivance (with the Rebels having their fair share of railroading as well). That said, the Rebels have the most fleshed-out third Act and the Independents are the only ones that get to visit all four of the main areas. So, ultimately, I end up having to endorse betraying the Disfavored/Chorus alliance the first chance you get in Act 2. Why Act 2? So you can grab the quests and items from their base locations which would otherwise be inaccessible.

    For difficulty I would suggest playing on Normal. Story mode is so easy it makes leveling and finding loot practically worthless, and Hard just makes the enemy do annoying things like deliberately break engagement to chase after your ranged attackers.

    As far as bugs go I didn’t run into anything particularly game-breaking, the biggest one being that the court summons you get about halfway through Act 2 to update Tunon on your progress regarding the Chorus/Disfavored paths does not trigger on the Rebel/Independent paths (when you show up in Act 3 he gains Wrath and berates you for not showing up to the summons that never triggered). More minor ones would be Spire Library/Forge progress not progressing until you’ve visited Lethian’s Crossing, and abilities getting stuck in the ‘on’ position if an enemy dies at the wrong time (this only rarely happened when Story difficulty and Fast Mode were activated at the same time; switching to a weapon set that wouldn’t work with the ability fixed it).

    Combat-wise Lore is the name of the game. Magic is so good here that I ended up having flashbacks to Dragon Age: Origins. So you’ll want to build the Infirmary as soon as possible to get access to the master Lore trainer and pick up the Selfless Magic Sigil. You’ll then likely want both Lantry and Eb, with their Lore-teaching skills learned, in your party at all times. At that point just fill up your slots with disabling spells and cast them as much as possible to watch the experience counter surge (I made it halfway to level 22 on the Independent run).

    As far as equipment goes there’s not really any reason whatsoever to wear heavy armor in your non-chest slots. The armor boost from those slots is so small that it’s easily outweighed by the accuracy/precision/deflection/recovery boost light armor gives. Concerning weapons, either 2-handed or unarmed is the way to go for melee thanks to the Material Force class of spells. The higher your base damage the more bonus damage they’ll give you, and with 2-handers you may eventually find yourself doing 300-400 damage on a critical hit and one-shotting Disfavored guards.

    Lastly, I’ll close this with some area accessibility and spell information. Note that I only started recording Sigil locations on the last playthrough, so you may find some in easier to reach places depending on your alliance situation.

    ——————————————————————
    Area Accessibility
    ——————————————————————

    Chorus
    – Lethian’s Crossing or Burning Library
    – Library/Crossing or Blade Grave
    – Stone Sea

    Disfavored
    – Blade Grave
    – Crossing or Library
    – Stone Sea

    Rebel
    – Crossing
    – Blade Grave or Stone Sea
    – Blade Grave or Stone Sea/Library

    Independent (Betray Disfavored)
    – Blade Grave
    – Burning Library
    – Crossing or Stone Sea
    – Stone Sea or Crossing

    Independent (Betray Chorus)
    – Same as above?

    ——————————————————————
    Notable Sigils
    ——————————————————————

    ——————————————–
    Expressions
    ——————————————–

    Guarded Form (Disfavored Camp, Merchant Sterling Hagnon)
    The Illusion and Force versions are powerful support spells.

    Chaotic Decent (Twin Rivers Oldwalls Depths, Lantry Lore Spot)
    When combined with Focused Rain you get a brutal multi-hit spell.

    Material Force (Mountain Spire, Merchant Revos)
    Great for 2-handers or, with the Lightning version, characters with high critical hit rates.

    Influential Domain (Burning Library Lower Ruins, 65 Lore Spot)
    The Fire and Frost versions cause some pretty great debuffs, and the Life version is a solid support spell.

    Proximate Action (Edgering Ruins, 39 Subterfuge Locked Chest)
    Has a couple niche uses.

    ——————————————–
    Basic Accents
    ——————————————–

    Bounding Bolts II (Howling Rock, Upper-Right Hidden Cache)
    Strength IV (Twin Rivers Oldwalls Brotherhood Camp, Lantry Lore Spot)
    Timeless Form III (West Blade Grave Oldwalls, Lantry Lore Spot)
    Cyclical Energies III (Twin Rivers Oldwalls Depths, Lantry Lore Spot)
    Precise Action IV (Spire Library, Merchant)
    Limitless Boundaries III (Spire Library, Merchant)

    ——————————————–
    Special Accents
    ——————————————–

    Selfless Magic (Spire Infirmary, Loot)
    Drastically increases the power and duration of a spell in exchange for not being able to cast it on yourself.

    Pride Magic (Gulfglow Runic Hall, Hidden Cache)
    Drastically increases the power and duration of a spell in exchange for only being able to cast it on yourself.

    Focused Rain (Spire Library, Merchant)
    Massively increases the power of Chaotic Decent spells.

    Stunning (Central Blade Grave Oldwalls, Lantry Lore Spot Beyond Lethian’s Crossing Torchlock)
    Adds the Stun affliction to Lightning spells.

    Volcanic Weapon (Lethian’s Crossing, Merchant Biotus)
    Causes Material Force enhanced attacks to launch huge lines of flame every hit.

    Killing Blows (Spire Library Research Scroll, Twin Rivers Oldwalls Depths)
    Modifies Lightning and Terratus spells to do large amounts of damage to near-death enemies.

    Frostfire (Tripnettle Wilderness, Center Hidden Cache)
    Can be attached to a Fire or Frost spell to combine their damage types and afflictions.

    Volleys (Sentinel Stand Hall of Regents, Hidden Cache)
    Two Distant Impact castings for the price of slightly more than one.

    Spell Surge (East Blade Grave Oldwalls, Lantry Lore Spot)
    Reduces Recovery time. Best used on a Focused Intent spell combined with Strength IV.

    ——————————————–
    Notable Spells
    ——————————————–

    ___________
    Lightning
    – Character Creation; Edgering Ruins (Merchant)

    Distant Impact: Inflicts Stun.
    Channeled Strength: Increases Shock damage by a base of 50%. With Strength IV it’s 85%.
    Material Force: Deals additional damage on a critical hit.

    ___________
    Frost
    – Character Creation; Disfavored Camp (Camp Merchant)

    Distant Impact: Does a ton of base damage (21-32).
    Channeled Strength: Has armor-piercing and multiple projectiles.
    Influential Domain: Penalizes recovery rate and inflicts Prone.

    ___________
    Vigor
    – Character Creation; Scarlet Chorus Camp (Camp Merchant)

    Channeled Strength: Base +30% damage. Strength IV bumps it up to a 51% increase.
    Proximate Action: Adds Hit and Graze Precision.

    ___________
    Atrophy
    – Character Creation; Echocall Crossing (Lower-Left Hidden Cache)

    Chaotic Decent: Inflicts Poison.
    Directed Force: Inflicts Weaken and Silence.

    ___________
    Fire
    – Conquest Choice; Lethian’s Crossing (Merchants Harchiand Bronze & Biotus)

    Chaotic Decent: Deals fire or crush damage.
    Influential Domain: Inflicts Fatigue.

    ___________
    Illusion
    – Scarlet Chorus Camp (32 Lore Spot)

    Channeled Strength: Base +30% Graze/Hit Deflection. Strength IV bumps it up to a 51% increase.
    Distant Impact: Inflicts Prone.
    Channeled Strength: Inflicts Stun.
    Guarded Form: A base of +100 Dodge/Parry for 45 seconds. With Strength IV, Duration III, and Pride/Selfless it comes to +255 for nearly 2 minutes for the cost of 180 Lore.
    Directed Force: Inflicts Blind and Confusion.

    ___________
    Force
    – Vendrien’s Well Citadel Interior (30 Lore Spot)

    Guarded Form: A base 25% reduction to Recovery Speed for 45 seconds. With Duration III and Pride/Selfless it ends up a 63% reduction for nearly 2 minutes for the cost of 130 Lore.
    Proximate Action: Immunity to Prone.

    ___________
    Stone
    – Iron Hearth (Merchant)
    – Stone Sea Halfgate Settler’s House (Dialog Reward)
    – Stone Sea Jagged Maw Shrine

    Focused Intent: Inflicts Petrify.
    Distant Impact: Interrupts.
    Directed Force: Inflicts Prone.
    Chaotic Decent: Does pierce damage and inflicts Bleeding.
    Material Force: Inflicts Prone on a critical hit.

    ___________
    Emotions
    – Cacophony (Merchant)
    – Central Blade Grave Oldwalls (Loot Spot, Need Lethian’s Crossing Torchkeys)

    Distant Impact: Taunts.
    Channeled Strength: Inflicts Fatigue.
    Influential Domain: Inflicts Sleep.

    ___________
    Life
    – Lantry Dialog

    Guarded Form: Regeneration.
    Proximate Action: AOE regeneration.
    Influential Domain: Removes hostile effects.

    ___________
    Terratus
    – Eb Dialog

    Focused Intent: Inflicts Paralyze.
    Proximate Action: Useful against Bane.

    Related posts:

    1. Tyranny – Endgame Having just now finished my first playthrough of the game,...
    2. Tyranny – First Impressions Tyranny is quite a bit like Pillars of Eternity, but...
    3. Two Worlds – Midpoint As with Gothic 3, calling this a midpoint isn’t quite...
    4. Armello & Gothic II Gold Armello is a remarkably fun board game with pleasant visuals...
    5. Gothic II Gold – Halfway Point About to start chapter 4 now with the main area,...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged

  • Tyranny – Endgame

    Posted on by Offkorn Comment

    Having just now finished my first playthrough of the game, I’m left conflicted. While the last Act is incredibly abrupt I get the distinct feeling I’ve missed a large chunk of content, which is supported by some comments I’ve seen elsewhere regarding getting artifact-hunting quests from the Assassin archon (which I couldn’t get because he refused to support me). I definitely missed some stuff in the second Act, as I was never able to do the Lethian’s Crossing quests.

    After siding with the Chorus in the first Act, the Voices mentioned there being problems at the Crossing and the Library. But you’re only allowed to accept one location; either go to the Crossing or go to the Library. I chose the latter and then after returning was given another choice, this time the Crossing or the Blade Grave. This is the point I may have messed up, as after choosing the Blade Grave there was never an option to handle the Crossing situation (permanently locking the Oldwalls area there, meaning I was also prevented from fully exploring the Blade Grave Oldwalls since those have areas that require torchkeys presumably found in the Crossing). I hope it’s not the case that you’re actively prevented from going to all 3 locations in one playthrough, as that would would be a pretty dick move.

    Speaking of, I plan to play this at least once more, siding with the Disfavored in Act 1 this time, to see just how much the choices you’re given actually do matter. The results of this playthrough seemed pretty haphazard and chaotic despite consistently siding with one side and even winning Tunon over. I’ll probably put the difficulty on ‘Story’ though, as when playing through on ‘Hard’ the battles weren’t so much hard as just tedious. At least until I hit 13th/14th level and everything just melted; Lantry casting lightning spells and enchanting weapons to launch huge pillars of flame, Sirin doing constant arcane damage and causing fear with her songs, Shadows ripping things up with a greataxe, and then my PC casting disabling Illusion spells and multi-striking with dual-wielded artifacts.

    Some things to take note of for the early game:

    • Avoid picking any starting magic skill, as the Core Sigils they grant are all found early (Atrophy is just to the left of the entrance of Echocall Crossing, in a hidden cache).
    • Choose either Parry or Dodge to focus on, as there are Talents available that let you use one skill (Parry for the Agility tree and Dodge for the Ranged tree) to defend against all attack types.
    • The maximum value you can raise an attribute to at level-up is 19.
    • Expect to hit at least 13th level.
    • The Forge and Library are the two most important upgrades, Forge trumping Library, with the Training Ground coming in third since it produces Hides for the Forge. The Infirmary just lets you make consumables.
    • Different trainers can train you to different ranks, the Training Grounds ones being the best at training everything (up to 150) except magic skills. The Infirmary has the best Lore trainer.
    • Due to the above, if you want the highest possible Lore rating the Infirmary ends up being the most important Spire upgrade.
    • For the best returns, wait to train a skill until just after it’s leveled up (training resets its experience progression).
    • You won’t be able to re-visit the Act 1 areas after the Edict is resolved, so make sure to have thoroughly explored them before attacking Ascension Hall.
    • The Lethian’s Crossing and Blade Grave Oldwall areas contain some of the most powerful spell accent Sigils.
    • You can only betray your chosen alliance at certain key points at the start of quest branches, if you don’t at that time you’re locked into supporting it fully until the end of the branch.
    • On the Chorus side for instance, if you don’t attack Jagged Remedy the moment you first meet him you apparently won’t be able to do anything with Ashe’s daughter except kill her or give her to the Voices.
    • Extra weapon sets are incredibly useful, as you can use the abilities of any artifacts placed in them without having to actually wield them (and those artifacts also gain renown).
    • As long as the character has a valid weapon set in their secondary slots, using a skill that doesn’t match their active set will automatically equip the valid weapons and then switch back to your default set immediately after.

    Related posts:

    1. Tyranny – Conclusion Played through it three more times; once siding with the...
    2. Divinity: Original Sin II – Endgame Eh. Much like the prequel it stays pretty much the...
    3. Kingdoms of Amalur – Endgame Yeah, the game really falls off a cliff once you...
    4. LORDS of the FALLEN This game is something of a merger between Dark Souls...
    5. Avernum: ESCAPE FROM THE PIT – Midgame Now having just reached Kyass at level 19 with ~50%...

    Powered by YARPP.


    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged