Battle tips & tricks thread

[jack1974]

Haha thanks! Well, the expansion will already introduce new characters/skills and enemies. For a sequel I'm afraid but you'll have to wait minimum next year Need to do Planet Stronghold sequel first!

[Francis]

Eugh tactics mode sets you up with a default skillset, I thought it just let you pick what 5 skills you want. Feel like a total idiot now T_T

But finished the game finally, and since we are asking for people's opinions regarding team members, can input mine.

First of all, my "main" team I ended up using most of the time due to personal preferences rather then knowledge of game mechanics:
First row: Warrior Saren, Amukiki, Loren
Second row: Draco, Myrth, Apolimesho

Won't lie, Fost gave me a really tough time. Up to that point I was relying on exploiting my enemies elemental weaknesesses through spellcasting firepower backed by Loren's physical damage. Fost has no elemental weakness so everyone in my party except loren was doing 5-6 damage (loren was doing a whupping 30ish), so...Was a long fight ><

Warrior Saren: Started using him as a tank (even got taunt as first ability) and...He didn't do too well due to lack of true tanking skills, ended up using him as a sturdy front row caster who occasionally switched weapons to whatever elemental weakness the enemy had so viewed him as a jack of all trades, master of none type of character. Will be trying him as a thief next playthrough.

Loren: Killing machine incarnate. Contrary to fireseraph I actually did max out no mercy and it served me well enough as a move to spam when the enemy was under half hp, was obviously useful vs high hp enemies. If there was a big time delay for the skill, then my loren was fast enough for it not to be noticeable, she was always one of my fastest characters.
Overall liked loren's skillset and ended up pumping quite a few levelup points into stamina so loren was often using special attacks. By the end of the game at lvl16 she was 36 strength, 28 skill and 20 will so relatively well balanced i think.

Amukiki: Used him as main tank and he did his job well. Maxed out taunt+shield wall is a solid combo where he aggros the enemies and takes less damage. That skill for reducing damage to the front row was handy for keeping loren and saren alive. Honestly was one of my best fighters in that he did his role very well.
Also ended up loaded with all my heaviest gear as I figured speed didn't matter for him, his job was to sit there and tank.

Ramas: Didn't use him much through my own sillyness >< For some reason I assumed characters in back row couldn't attack unless they were ranged so basically stopped using him as soon as I got amukiki figuring there wasn't any more room in the front line and loren was my main physical damage dealer anyways. Can't say much about him but will use him more next playthrough.

Dora: I used mostly casters this time around so rogues/thiefs didn't make it much to my line up. When I used Dora though, I learnt to appreciate pinning arrow and snipe (any move that kills a % of enemy hp is likely to appeal to me). Will likely use her more next playthrough.

Rei: Possibly my most least used character due to back row being full and when I wanted an archer, I'd use Dora. Ended up investing ability points into fatality and it did its job in occasionally killing an enemy under 50% hp. Really the trick with those skills is to expect a critical hit and be pleasantly surprised when the demon with 300hp left gets 1 hit killed

Karen: Suffered from a big problem in that I could never find her a spear to replace what she started out with. As a result she was my weakest hitting character and I initially disliked her as figured I already had ranged thieves with the abilities to snipe, pin and even fatality their enemies. What could karen bring to the table?
The answer was mark target. That ability made me use Karen more often then I'd like when I'd anticipate a tough fight (i seriously should have bought her along for fost :\) and was a great way of raising my overall damage output. Hefty stamina cost though so ended up pumping lots into will so she could use mark target 3 and still have enough left to use other abilities.

Draco: Was my primary caster. Got 1st level of all elemental spells and then maxed out fire and was aiming to max out ice. His job was to exploit the enemies elemental weaknesses and did his job well when the enemy had such a weakness. Otherwise would be reduced to attacking with magic wand and cheerleading for loren.

Apolimesho:I don't know what I'd have done without the paralyze ability. I ended up relying on it so much as the first spell to be used on enemy casters.Made the fights vs wyrms a joke (they ain't immune to paralysis :D). Wasn't quite sure how to specialize apolimesho especially as my lineup ended up including 3 mages, so skill wise set him up to be versatile: Clarity 3 for support purposes and rank 2 in earth and some other elemental forces. Which ended up being a big mistake as if he wasn't casting paralysis, he was casting clarity to recharge someones stamina/sp. Clarity seems to have a massive time delay so in practice I found apolimesho never got to fire off those fancy spells i leveled him in >< Also found 0 use for regen but that's because I also used myrth I guess.
Apo takes my vote for most useful character after loren overall, paralysis is possible THE most useful skill I had in my team.

Myrth: Initially took her with idea of making her the primary healer/support caster. Except apo was doing fine supporting and I found the first 2 ranks of heal adequate for my needs so had a few skill points to invest in her elemental spells and to my surprise... She might possibly be the best offensive spell caster in that the mana cost for her spells (which hit all targets) are really low compared to equivalent spells from apo or draco. Yeh her spells hit less hard, true, so when it comes to single target magic damage, draco or apo would fare better.
But when it comes to continously casting aoe spells, myrth is in a league of her own, in my next playthrough I'll probably use her as main caster instead of draco, she is just far more reliable.

And that's my 2 cents after finishing the game, take it with a big pinch of salt.

[FireSeraph]

Heh...nice to see a different tactical approach to the game. I'll probably need to look into how I can use Draco and Apolimesho a lot more ^_^

[jack1974]

Nice post Francis, was wondering if you were playing at Hard level? Do you think Amukiki needs to be buffed? because I was about to after FireSeraph previous post, but after reading yours I'm not sure anymore I'm still thinking to buff up Apo regenerate though.

[Francis]

Am glad I could contribute a different viewpoint

Otherwise played this on normal so am unsure how much of this is relevant in hard mode.
Regarding Amukiki, I feel he is well equipped to be a tank on normal but cant vouch for higher difficulties. I don't imagine people would mind if he was buffed though, he is the only tank oriented party member so doesn't have any competition (warrior saren comes closest but lacks dedicated tank skills beyond access to taunt)

Started a new playthrough on hard with thief saren and will let you know how my amukiki fares this time around, though will be picking him later as will be going through elven lands in first chapters.

Team composition im aiming for this time around:
First row: Loren, amukiki, Ramas/Karen
Second row: Thief saren, Apo/Nora and Myrth.

[CharmBlue]

Could anyone give me advice on beating the Tobaar boss fight? I can't put anyone down because the healer elfs keeps healing everyone and they're in the top row, so I can't reach them with the warriors, I don't know what to do. It really is sad that I can't beat it on easy mode.

[jack1974]

In easy mode? Just use shooters and keep using long range to kill the healers. Use Apolimesho to paralyze the healers in each turn and should be a simple fight.
I'd use this setup:
Front - Loren / Karen (she can shoot with bow) / PC
Back - Dora / Rei / Apolimesho

[CharmBlue]

In easy mode? Just use shooters and keep using long range to kill the healers. Use Apolimesho to paralyze the healers in each turn and should be a simple fight.
I'd use this setup:
Front - Loren / Karen (she can shoot with bow) / PC
Back - Dora / Rei / Apolimesho

Thank you very much! I already managed to figure it out though. Guess it wasn't so hard after all, I just needed to use stronger weapons and think it out.

[Themobboss]

That reminds me. Jack does delivering melee attacks interfere with spell point regen? I've noticed that spell casting NPCs will never engage in hand to hand under any circumstances.

[FireSeraph]

I don't think melee attacks interupt SP regen otherwise frontliners won't continuously spam their special attacks. I think it's a programming bit. Healers in this game from what I've seen so far either cast healing spells only or if they're mages with healing spells, they'll fire off their attack spells. When they don't have enough SP for their spells, they start turtling i.e. defending themselves until they get enough SP to fire one spell.