Act 3 combat thread

[jack1974]

Yes, I plan to do that with a smaller game Or if I can (one day) implement an isometric battlefield, even less skills are somehow compensated by the environment (again think about XCOM or Banner Saga). I'd like to do a game with 3 skill each char, 5 levels total and 1 inventory slots like Banner Saga

[fabulaparva]

How are you faring against Jul, by the way? I've gotten her to 800, but I need to play around some more. Succubus Kiss essentially just resets the fight and she has that nasty SP draining move. Weakened and Confused don't seem to affect SK either.

She went down easier than Deceit and easier than she did in previous fights with Hunter. I had Rowinda in this fight instead of Krimm. I don't know if I should post any screenshots of that, it's essentially just keeping swinging at her with Ranger + Vaelis. Rowinda in charge of healing HP/SP with scrolls and sometimes the group heal skill. Shea and Riley inflicting number of status effects on her (never once hit Energized and only once used Purification), plus Jariel flinging Weakened, Fear, Confusion + Bombs at her. Yes, she does that SK, but each time she did it, she was a bit lower HP-wise, so after the first one which almost reset her HP, her HP was still slowly getting lower. My issue with this v.0.9.7 fight was that she didn't Cleanse herself (she's always been more lazy with that than Deceit) which really helped in keeping her slow after the first couple rounds... So she was down in under 10 minutes, first trial. I feel as if she used to be faster in general when I was doing Hunter/Ranger-fights against her before v0.9.7. Is this solely because the increased delay that Cleanse has now...so she doesn't even want to do it anymore and instead prioritizes SK, hellfire, vampiric bite, etc?


I've done HARD-playthrough of the whole game and I have to say that I quite liked the overall difficulty progression and the occasional deviation from the scheme. (Hunter + Invincible Ranger). Act 1 might be too easy for Hard, but this comes with a word of caution...a helluva lot depends on what skills and classes*) one chooses.Also, I was doing that after clearing the game in NM...so maybe... That's why I'm not suggesting about touching the Acts 1 & 2 difficulty at this point. I mean it could be tweaked, but does it reallyhave to be?

*)Two opposing experiences of Acts 1&2 while playing at NM:
1) Hunter/Offensive Ranger....pure pain through Acts 1 and the majority of Act 2. But then towards the end of Act 2, and Yeldin included, it got a whole lot easier.
2) Hunter/Very FAST Heals&Traits-nonoffensive(apart from icespike) Druid. Acts 1 & start of Act 2: easy breezy beautiful... and then hiccups towards the end of Act 2.

[jack1974]

No I'm NOT going to touch act1-2!
I think the game as it's conceived it cannot perfectly balanced for a simple fact: first act, you have 3 characters only. On second, you have 5-6 for a good amount of the story and the full 8 party only at the end. Then, add to this that you can choose two characters Classes, and you can also choose the skills in ANY order... you get my point
So all things considered, it's better if is towards the easier side than the harder, at least the first two acts.

[fabulaparva]

I even got to use Vaelis' Final Blow once, but he didn't get another shot in before Deceit healed. Guess that's what you get when you pin all your hopes on an old man.

OK, lol, totally offtopic but I have to do this......<.< >.> "old man" .... When did Vaelis leave Ninim for his mercenary career? He was away for almost 50 years. He returned when the twins were 4, so that was 15 years ago. That will put him leaving the village little less than 65 years ago. Did he leave when he was a young adult or a bit later? If he left the village when he was 20, that would make him under 85. That's younger than Aragorn in Lord Of the Rings, by the way. Plus from an elven point of view, Aragorn was young. If he was 40, he'd be over 100 now... and what was that about Jariel and Century Journey? He's hardly old for an elf. He just looks old-er. Or more experienced. Not that I'd know anything about elvish hormonal systems, but I know that some men in real life lose their hair quite early...something to do with testosterone.....

Oh right. This thread was about combat. Sorry.

Right. Critical hit got "nerfed" with the Staggered requirement, but I'm happy to report that I managed to hit Jul for way over 300 with the right prep & double attack. :D

[jack1974]

Well why Vaelis looks old to you? To me seems like the equivalent of a late 30's human
And yes even with the nerf Critical Hit is still powerful enough!

[Troyen]

Because he's going bald, has white hair, sips cocktails in the sauna, and is always reminescing about his younger days. Seemed old man-like to me!

(Plus his base speed is lower than almost everyone else in the party, I think)


Wait, the twins are 17? For some reason I thought they were a few years younger.

[fabulaparva]

19.
Riley's 26.
No idea on Krimm and Chalassa.


(Ranger's basespeed is lower (107) than Vaelis' (111) unless they get a birthday gift... and look like Druid's is as well (109))

[Taleweaver]

Age revelation:

In Aravorn, elves that are in perfect touch with nature hardly age at all. They can live several thousand years as long as they don't leave their forests and never interact with anybody outside their own culture. That's why so many residents of Grandtree are reluctant to travel at all, and why things like Century Journeys are so important to their culture at all.

Elves that live a "non-elven" life - traveling a lot, interacting with other cultures, feeling less rooted than others - usually live somewhere between 400 and 600 years. If nothing bad ever happens to them during their lives, they don't age much either - at around twenty years, they've grown into full adults and stay like this until only a few years before their death. Some say they "wither away" during these last few years, drastically aging physically until they die.

Aside from that, all experiences elves have show in their physical appearance. The older an elf looks, the more likely it is that he suffered tragedies in his life. Look at Shagala: As a healer, she has seen countless people die without being able to help them, and each of these deaths has left another wrinkle on her face. Look at Morran: The loss of his wife AND his subsequent banishment have deeply affected him. Look at Vaelis: He's already balding - something rarely seen in elves.

Morran and Vaelis are both around 150 years old as SotW begins. Jariel's about 60.

Krimm is in her early twenties. Chalassa...
...no, I'm not going to give that away

[jack1974]

Haha a nice explanation, I should add this to the lore wiki on aravorn.com
I have to say that I like the idea, though in some special cases elves won't show the tragedies in their aspect... I don't want to see Myrth from Loren suddenly full of wrinkles ! (well Myrth is an Elder druid so could have some powerful magic at works).

[Taleweaver]

It's a question of how well the elves are able to actually COPE with what happened to them.

Morran lost the woman he loved and the town once lived in. It almost broke him, to the point that he became obsessively protective of his children. And it shows.

Vaelis, as a mercenary, had to do things he didn't really want to for FIFTY YEARS. Still, he didn't allow it to get to him. He was able to rationalize many of the terrors he saw, which is why he still looks relatively youthful.

Maybe Myrth just has the same sort of willpower?