Wormskull

[kimo]

The only reason I have kept playing is because of @Lady JJ being so enthusiastic about it. I am still playing the demo and will probably buy the full game. The demo is not based on play time, so you get a real good opportunity to spend some time playing.

But if you are frustrated in the beginning of the demo, here is what I found worked for me.

First, save often.
Second, there are invisible encounters you cannot avoid (you remembered to save, right?). So avoid any visible enemies when you are travelling to the nearest town. Just get to that town and breathe a sigh of relief.
Third, don't spend your gold on armor, weapons, or potions in that town ... yet. But, make sure you buy a fishing rod and some bait.
Fourth, talk to everyone in the town and you will find a guy who buys fish. He only buys 1 of each, but you'll make about 175 gold from him by selling fish.
Fifth, go fishing south of the town. It should be obvious where to fish.

I broke my fishing pole the first time I tried. I know it's random chance, but that sucks. So, save before you start fishing. Here's where the save/end game process works best. If I had 2 attempts with no luck, I reloaded the game from the last save. And if I caught any of the "better" fish, I immediately saved. That way I didn't have to buy another fishing pole if mine broke. I went back to the town and sold my fish to the man. Don't forget to talk to him so you can find out the next fish he will buy. Then I bought more bait and went fishing again. Eventually, you will make enough money to buy the "best" available armor and maybe a weapon upgrade. Since the fish give HP and MP, it is also a great way to save your money for later use.

You will find a bunch of gold (I found 1000 gold) and some good weapons/armor in the upcoming burrow you have to pass through. I explored the burrow and then returned to the town to buy a pickaxe and crafting book. Then I wrote this.

BUT, I cannot figure out how to use the crafting book. Remember, I am playing the demo without a guide. It certainly is not intuitive. Maybe I need to actually go to the next town?

[crawfors]

open your menu and go to craft

you can make armor or weapons-- that is how you use the crafting book. ( a great strategy is to not even buy the first armors, but instead CRAFT them yourself by talking to the merchant that sells cloth and wood)

The Alchemy book lets you craft items.

You Can find crafting book level 1 at the starting house you first find (when you just begin as Duncan), it's in a dresser at the top of the house.

[Lady JJ]

Aside from the 2 broken quests early in the game that I wrote about earlier, here's another that is perplexing.

Mordhaul
Wandering NPC-Town has problems, passage to the north is blocked by roaming marauders, asks you to do something about them. Further encounters, NPC says, "They're to the north. You won't miss them. You're a real hero ya know that?" I never found a way to resolve that quest. The only thing to the north was 3 wharfs, but I could find no way to access them with my ship.

@Kimo, you might want to get to that second town (Shar Vahl) as soon as you can. You'll find 3 allies there and that will make your survival ever so much easier.

Here are my notes for the first 3 towns.

Spoiler: show

First Town
Outside-Town lunatic (large cowboy hat)-Talk to several times for a phoenix down
Outside by tree-Sell 1 amberjack (50 G), Trade 2 smallbouth bass (phoenix down), Trade 1 peacock bass (75 G)
Outside-Clown-Trade apple wine x2, fish wine x2, short beer x2, ale x2, mead x2, elven tea x2 (2000 G), Note: can buy grapes in next town and return
Outside near wooden boxes-Sell rat tails (3 Gold for 3 rat tails)
Inside-White haired-Trade 4 bone chips, skeletons outside mine (12 G)
Inside-Dark haired-Trade vemora fang, vemora snake outside mine (4 G)
*** As of this playthrough, the 2 inside NPC's are broken. Talk to them once and they request the items. Subsequent attempts to talk to them fail to initiate any response, so these 2 quests cannot be fulfilled.

Second Town (Shar Vahl)
Outside-Informational girl
Outside by Magus' home-Sell trout (100 G)
Outside-Buy crafting manuals depending upon level (levels 1-5)
Outside by statue-Sell silver ring (1000 G)
Outside by lamppost-Sell flawed diamond (500 G)
Outside soldier-Sell mithril platemail (2000 G)
Outside-Trade Fish wine (Elixir of vitality), trade Dwarven ale (find the necessary 3 vials of charisma in dungeon west of town)
Outside by statue-Recruit Renshi
Inside-Recruit Magus
Inside church-Recruit Savannah
Inside church-Buy Alchemy Guide 2 and herbs/plants

When ready, leave Shar Vahl to the south. You will immediately return to Shar Vahl. Do not leave until Seto has rejoined. When all enemies have been defeated, follow the apothecary girl to escape. Explore the area to the south before leaving. Find Mazirah to the south. Return to main hall, take portal at north end to outside world. Maduin confronts Duncan and demands the truth.

Again, I don't have the guide, so I may have missed something. I did spend some time leveling before attempting to leave the 3rd town, which saved a lot of frustration later on. I generally don't mind grinding/leveling early in the game.

And, yeah, I never bought any armor or weapons. I used whatever I could find or craft and that worked out very well.

[blumyst]

Why is it that when I cure wounds with savannah and she gives life to them that it
shows up that they dont hav that life?

[kimo]

after collecting quest's items - characters stop speaking to me - so i cannot comlete sidequests.
so far, it happened with the woman in the house and the man who asked for amberkack fish.

That let's you know there's nothing left to do.
Did you do the clowns quest with alcohol?
You'll probably need to head south past gnoll burrow to get all the ingredients and then come back to complete it.

The issue I am having with the game's design choices is that I have to remember who wants what. Why not just have characters keep asking if you found what they want until you supply the requested item? For example, one NPC in the first town wants 4 bone chips but stops talking after his request is stated. However, when I finally had the 4 bone chips and approached the NPC, the bone chips were removed from inventory and I was paid (gold magically appeared in my possession) without ANY conversation/ackowledgement of a successful transaction. There is absolutely no reason for not continuing the NPC's request until it is obtained and then activating a switch. And why you have decided to not ackowledge the sucessful transaction as part of the event is beyond me.

The clown, on the other hand keeps talking about his EtOH needs. The guy who buys the fish also keeps talking in my game. That makes sense, but the inconsistency does not. I do not like your choice to end the conversation before the requested items have been given.

I restarted the demo and am trying to decide whether I want to buy this and take copious notes like @Lady JJ has.

EDIT:
Okay, the lack of NPC talking before finishing their collection quest is not present in the second town of Shar Vahl. Maybe the collection quest/non-talking issue is just in the first town. I would suggest looking at those 3 NPC's events in the first town and updating because it has been viewed as a glitch by some players.

[kimo]

@Kimo, you might want to get to that second town (Shar Vahl) as soon as you can. You'll find 3 allies there and that will make your survival ever so much easier.

And, yeah, I never bought any armor or weapons. I used whatever I could find or craft and that worked out very well.

Thanks for the very helpful notes. I totally forgot about the NPC's in the first town wanting all those things because they stop talking. I restarted the Demo to see if my first impressions are supported. Lots of stuff to do with the fishing and "mining" activities. I did get to the second town and found everyone, but how are you juggling 7 characters? Do they all get 100% EXP even when not in the party?

I'm still trying to figure out the invisible enemy encounter setting.

Happy turkey day!
Don't tell anyone, but I'm making corned beef for dinner.
Have you ever been able to find a turkey under 5 pounds (that's not a fat chicken or capon?)

[kimo]

open your menu and go to craft

you can make armor or weapons-- that is how you use the crafting book. ( a great strategy is to not even buy the first armors, but instead CRAFT them yourself by talking to the merchant that sells cloth and wood)

The Alchemy book lets you craft items.

You Can find crafting book level 1 at the starting house you first find (when you just begin as Duncan), it's in a dresser at the top of the house.

Thank you for the info. I have restarted because of my spending choices. I got that first crafting book, but why didn't you have a pop-up telling you how to use it? You provided lots of very good info in that one room building, so it is surprising that how to craft was omitted. Yeah, I know, it on the left side menu... now.

And speaking about me not always paying attention....

Some of the ingredients needed to craft items appear below the window edge on the right side. How would a player know what they were missing? Sure, if it's highlighted then everything is available. But why not just require less ingredients so everything could be seen? Of course, it's only my opinion.

[jincyk]

What does one do with it?

Also is there a point to being level 10 in everything? I'm hanging at 9 in alchemy. Do I have to make one of everything (items, weapons, armor) in order to get a 10?

[Lady JJ]

What does one do with it?

Also is there a point to being level 10 in everything? I'm hanging at 9 in alchemy. Do I have to make one of everything (items, weapons, armor) in order to get a 10?

I think the only point is if you're a completionist, but even if you do make everything, the number of weapons is flawed so you'll never be able to get 47/47, only 45/57.

I never figured out what the Primordial Stone did or the Black Key for that matter. There are some definite loose ends in this game that never do seem to get properly resolved.

[crawfors]

Primordial stone : let's you know you're the strongest creature there is

If you have the Primordial stone you've beaten the strongest creatures in the game. Good job.

The item was put there in case I ever decided to add more content onto the game ( considering it's 30-40 hours long not sure that's necessary anymore)

it WAS going to act as a gateway to fight stronger monsters and push you further- but i decided it was better to just leave it as a reward to let you know you're an unstoppable force.


Trade skills at level 10

with alchemy you can make some better elixirs.
with foraging= you can find lapis lazuli, meteorite, etc at lvl 10
crafting= you can make some very powerful gear at lvl 10 .
etc.

so there is a benefit to doing it.

[blumyst]

Theres not alot of those trees to fight. I keep getting the bats and orcs!
Where do you get phoenix down !!! from? Ive got Poenix downs but not
thephoenix down III

[feyone2]

I've just finished the game and I can say I mostly enjoyed it, until trying to beat Primordal. That was very frustrating as I had to spend so long getting enough power to knock him out and working out the best strategy too.
The story was interesting and I liked the the characters. (Would have liked a different conclusion for Remdrendt) though.

[crawfors]

THe Primordial is just bonus, he's a hard fight because you don't have to do it lol.

Yeaaah about the ending.. I agree lol.
It makes me sad, that's life though.



BLumyst: the trees are there!! just run from the orcs and the bats until they appear lol.
They're worth farming for the Life Stones they drop.

THe phoenix down III and curing the boy is somewhat hush hush because the reward from it is massive.
The sword you get from it is a weapon you'll use the rest of the game.

Spoiler: show

Buy the alchemy books from the woman in town, you need high level alchemy to make phoenix down III, once you make one of those that's what you can give to the boy to cure him, then you talk to grandma and she'll give you the epic weapon

[blumyst]

THe Primordial is just bonus, he's a hard fight because you don't have to do it lol.

Yeaaah about the ending.. I agree lol.
It makes me sad, that's life though.



BLumyst: the trees are there!! just run from the orcs and the bats until they appear lol.
They're worth farming for the Life Stones they drop.

THe phoenix down III and curing the boy is somewhat hush hush because the reward from it is massive.
The sword you get from it is a weapon you'll use the rest of the game.

Spoiler: show

Buy the alchemy books from the woman in town, you need high level alchemy to make phoenix down III, once you make one of those that's what you can give to the boy to cure him, then you talk to grandma and she'll give you the epic weapon

Thankyou!

[blumyst]

Hi crawfors good game so far. I havent gotten to far I went back and started over again cause I thought I missed
finding equipment that would stop confusion but I hadnt. In spite of what some think its good
you cant please everyone I guess. Some people are just to picky for their own good.