Armello is a remarkably fun board game with pleasant visuals and a few different ways to win: Combat, prestige, or by collecting enough of a specific item. Each method has its own strategy involved, but there’s enough overlap so that you can usually fall back on a secondary method if your primary one ends up unfeasible for whatever reason. The only real issue it has right now is that there is no multiplayer matchmaking (you can only join a game lobby if you know its passcode), and the CPU AI isn’t particularly challenging once you get a hang of the game. Oh, and there are very few ways available to reduce corruption.
So I mentioned Gothic II Gold earlier, saying how it wasn’t really grabbing me in the beginning. Well, it finally did once I was able to actually kill things somewhat reliably (with a Fine Short Sword, 34 Str, and 34 1H). I’ve been playing more or less nonstop since and now I’m about to start the 2nd Chapter with all of the Island areas cleared except the Skeleton Crypt, the Skeleton Cave on the mountainside behind Dexter’s camp, and the two armored Skeletons guarding the Dragon Slicer sword. I’m going for a Fire Mage build, currently wielding the Master Sword and a Composite Bow, and my naked stats at level 19 are 57 Str, 60 Dex, 42 1H, 26 Bow, and 35 Mana (Skills: Sneak, Lockpick, Pick Pockets, Skinning, Ancient Language 1-2, and all Mana Potion Alchemy recipes). The plan now is to put all my LP from this point on (20 available at the moment) into Mana, the last Ancient Language level, and a few key spells: Ice Lance (5LP), Ice Block (10LP), Create Stone Golem (15LP), Destroy Undead (10LP), Summon Demon (20LP), & Rain of Fire (20LP). Speaking of spells, I had a hell of a time finding a site that listed the game’s spells with their updated NotR/Gold statistics.
Magic, at this point, seems incredibly underpowered. It’s slower than melee and, unlike Str/Dex in regards to melee/ranged attacks, Mana does not increase your spell damage. The 1st level damaging spells do a whole 25 damage for 5 mana. 25 damage is nothing… can that even kill a goblin? It’s not until you get to the 4th circle that magic damage looks to actually be a viable alternative to melee/ranged damage, and of course you don’t get access to them until the 4th chapter. Which means if you’re trying for a ‘pure Mage’ playthrough you’re going to have some serious trouble, though I suspect it may be doable if you rush your way into the Monastery (by running past enemies until they give up chasing you) and then rely on Summon Goblin Skeleton (Goblin Skeletons are very quick and hit surprisingly hard).
Melee seems the most effective strategy at this point (the problem with ranged is that hitting something will aggro everything near it, so unless you’re standing on a ledge it’s very likely at least one enemy will make it into melee range), though melee is a bit weird. There is of course the whole ‘janky movement’ issue, but the main problem is that enemies always seem to have a significant advantage over you where damage is concerned. If you wield a Heavy Branch (10 damage) you’ll have severe trouble killing anything bigger than a Rat or Young Wolf, yet Black Goblins and Goblin Skeletons wield just that and can completely murder a PC with 300 HP and 30ish Armor in short order. I’m not sure whether the inequality stems from enemies having too much Strength or too much Weapon Resistance.
Due to the above, the prevailing melee strategy for everything other than trolls is to simply wait for the enemy to attack, hop backward (you’re invincible here), then attack. Against creatures you’ll want to do your full melee combo before jumping back again, but against humans and skeletons (sometimes also orcs and wolves) you’ll want to do only a 2-hit combo at most before hopping back. That’s because those enemies have quick attacks that they’ll often be able to hit you with during the split-second breaks between your swings; getting hit in melee is like playing Russian roulette and you need to avoid it at all costs. As for trolls, just run behind them while they’re doing their initial roar and you can strafe against their back faster than they can turn to face you (2-attack combo and tap right/left in the opposite direction that they’re turning, repeat).
