PixlBit

DAY 3

I am a little excited to talk about this day as there was a lot that happened.

After beating the Hydra, I acquired the quest that would eventually take me to a new city and hopefully some new gear.  I have been using the same stock equipment for the last 2 days and I am about level 20.

I decided to look at my party and really think about what I needed to make my wandering a little more successful.

The truth was I needed a healer. It was getting too costly to stock everyone with HERBs and there were always issues with giving the command at the right time so they can heal themselves. The PWN’s would tell me (a lot) that they couldn’t do that right now because they were fighting, or I found myself running to aid them as they were badly beaten and lay there slowly dying.

I was tired of all that.

I chucked’ my Black Mage for a level 27 Black Mage with all the next level spells and even a fire buff. Also traded my warrior for a level 25 Mage with second level healing and buffs as well.

I really took the time to get familiar with the PWN system because you have to pay for their services which means “You get what you pay for!” and I am not in the market for wasting any more Rift Cash that is soooooo crazy hard to come by. (either it drops as items for 50 – 100pts or more, or you pimp your Personal PWN to go up in price meaning you have to really make sure they are up to par.)

With my newly unbalanced party, I set out to test them. I made sure all of them still had an ample stock of herbs just in case, and I pushed the HELP command.

I was a little surprised that I didn’t notice that both the ladies were buffing the same fire enchantment. No biggie, just a little weird at times, hehe.

Alas, they proved awesome… seriously. Black Mage was crazy good,efficient and strong. Much respect to High Bolide.. that is the CLEAN UP spell of choice for right now. After every battle the healer came through, and she was great as well. So I picked well.

He is where the fun begins.

I went back to the site of the Bandits and thought I would test my new levels and skills against them. I found that I am great against a few, but the tank bandits (Heavily Armored Claymore wielding bastards) were still big issues to my group. They cut right through us. I could go back and re-draft the party but I was comfy with my choices. I just had to deal with the fact that my 2 striders and 1 healer, and 1 black mage were not the best offense group on paper. The actual execution of fighting proved that. I wish there was a way I could have the 2 PWNs be more aggressive in their casting but there is only so much you can do with them. 

You can give them new gear, but anything you buy is given as a gift and will not be returned. So you have to be sure that you want to invest in your PWNs. This means that you have to seriously take into account the skills and level they bring to the table at time of hire. You cannot afford to skimp else you will regret it later while they are letting you down every step of the way.

With all that said, I decided to take my strategy to a different level. I needed to focus on what we do best, and that is range and distance. Close combat is cool, as I and my personal PWN have all strength gear since we are rocking physical weapons. So if the bad guys got up close, we still could hold our own. The issue is when they gang up on us. My group falls to pieces, but I think this is a design flaw of the game.

You can only have so much AI going on at 1 time and while I am hard at work dealing with 1 person; I noticed the PWN’s will reset their target to whomever or whatever is in front of them, or directly attacking them. This is a bit problematic as I have noticed we suffer more when surrounded by multiple enemies.

So let’s see what situation entails for combat now:

• Incorrect party structure means quick death.
• AI for party members can appear random one second and focused the next.
• Unable to set preferred party settings for hired PWN’s you can set your personal PWN specifications as to how they will act and fight, but not your new hires. Those are already pre-set by their Creator, so I guess it is a give and take situation but I would still like the ability to USE their services, or at least tailor their combat to what I need. (Is that asking for too much?)

I applied my new tactics ( go around and flank  a smaller group) but my plan had a strange twist.

When I first encountered the bandits at the top of the hill with the boulder booby trap, I continued going forward and then going down a pretty steep drop into a forest filled valley. On the left was a rise which held the bending road and all the lovely bandits we love so well at this point. A little further down was the Fort /Castle in the distance. 

My tactic was simple – Go down and around and flank them and that was it.

It was an excellent plan till I did it at night time. Remember when I told you guys to listen and take heed to the sounds you hear at night. There was some strange guttural bellows coming from the rocks and trees at the bottom of this valley. My Gamer OCD was tingling and I thought “What the hell,  I might get lucky!”  Seriously I need some help with this.

Found out what was making those sounds, and I was really freaked out. I won’t spoil it for the newbies, but just be prepared for some fighting. I pushed forward out to the other side of the valley and saw that the Castle was FAR in the distance. I was now in a field of flatland and decided to push further.

I spent the next 20 mins traveling in one direction and ended up fighting Hobgoblins, and their 2 pet Cyclops.

My final stop was at Bloodwater Beach ( I know the name now ), this was just insane to me. I started to feel the vastness of DD and was very happy that I was playing something that made me really feel like I was right there in the thick of it.

Now with the sun setting and the darkness returning I got a real eye opener for how scary unknown spaces could be.  I was fine near my home town because there were safety guides: a big wall, the sea, beaches, and a nice short trail to guide you. 

Where I was had nothing but rolling hills, Hobgoblins by the dozens, and holes, plenty of holes.

It took me a while make it back to the edge of the valley and I was greeted by a few of the same friends that I found in there originally. I looked in the distance and I saw that Castle. It was calling to me… Come Hither,  You might get lucky!

So I went around the right side avoiding Bandits and the like.

I get inside the place and find that it is a bandit hideout.

But I noticed that no one was attacking me. They just warned me to keep my distance and such. But this is a problem in the game. These are bandits, and they are attacking me outside, but not inside? That is a little far-fetched.

I search the place and loot everything,  but I still feel there is something there to go back and get.  I am serious on that. I will come back to it later.

Once outside, I was attacked by bandits,  REALLY!?!?

I ran from them and headed toward the middle of the valley. They did not want to deal with the other friends who dwelt there.

I happened upon a crossroads where going right would take me to the PWN Fort, and going left would take me to adventure!  LEFT IT IS!!! (I feel lucky!)

I was following this path for a bit. It was narrow and filled with bandits and wolves. I came to a canyon and followed it up to a Waterfall. I am thinking that there has got to be something over here, and low and behold there was a CAVE ( and yes I didn’t need to explore it, but I might get lucky!).

It was the entrance to the Alter of the Water God. I went exploring and very much started regretting my decision, but I managed to clear out the dungeon. Well, I cleared out what I could but I was not able to find the key to this one door. So I will have to go back and see what was behind it.

That journey took me all the way back to my home town where I stocked up, got some sleep, and received some additional gift for my Newly acquire PWN Pimpin’ Service.

I finally set my mind to do the Escort quest that would take me to the next city of my journey – Gransys.

Once there I was educated more about the wonders of the game.

Here is the new things we learned while in the city:

• How to Change Your Vocation
• Buy and better Equip you and your PWNs
• Enhance your party’s equipment.
• Cherish and store interesting items that you might have wanted to sell

The last point is very important as you will collect a bunch of items that could be considered trash, but Capcom has made it so that most of the trash is useable. My suggestion is to keep at least 4pcs of anything that is not a Unique item. This is because you can use them to enhance items, and the very cool thing is that you can store them and not have worry about being bogged down with crap. The shops know to dip into your storage and take what they need. (Nice…really nice)

So now I am level 27.. and have changed vocations to MYSTIC ARCHER. My boy-wonder was changed to a RANGER. The cool thing with similar classes is that we can share gear. Still, I walk the fine line of unbalanced party because we are still Bow and arrow guys. Though, I did get a few points in the realm of “party balance” because now I shoot magical arrows and I am able to do magical damage which helps a lot, but there are some nice monsters out there that are unimpressed with my arrows and I will get to them later (Bastards!)

**I would like to take this time to point out that I am comfortable in my choices I have made in this game. It is has been a great feeling to play a game and actually worry, ponder, fear, and rethink about many of the things I have done. I will admit that Skyrim, and its ilk, leave you with a sense of superiority. That “I am the Badass” feeling. I don’t get that from this game (at least yet). I have done some reading and listened to the drums of some nice forums and found that I have not brought out the full potential of my character. I found out that in order to get the best bang for your buck, you have to basically play out your Vocation till its max. Then, when you switch, you can bring similar skills that are universal and some additional skill into the fray. But I don’t know about you. I am having a great time with my character the way he is. He is strong, not powerful, he is fast but not speedy, he is the underdone chicken of this game, and I like it that why. WHY? Because it is what I originally chose in the first place!

I wanted to add that bit in because I have evolved in my gaming over the years. I don’t need to be the Achievement or Trophy whore of all time. I don’t want to beat EVERYONE. I do, however, want to create a character and experience a game based on my F#$ked up choices whether good, or bad. I can decide in the NEWGAME+ (if that is an endgame option) to make the Juggernaut that I would love to have, but that is after I put in my time playing and getting my well-earned bumps and bruises.

So, before getting back on point, I would like to say that I decided to not max out my Vocation and live with the choices I have made. It makes it more real and you can more easily get lost in the game that way. No game disconnection that makes you feel separate from your character.

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So. With my new vocation we all set out with new gear and quest. I started to now explore more of the area of my own, and I just thought that wandering was the easiest way to do it.

Tis the best way until I found out what wandering has in store for you.

Your PWN’s usually tell you that off the beaten path monsters lay waiting for those unsuspecting travelers. CHIMERA’s are mythical beast of yore composed of a mixing of 2 or more animals. In DD, it is a lion, a goat and a snake. The lovely beast can be seen in the tutorial when you first play. It is a different story when you are just taking a stroll through the woods and you just happen to see one chillin’ in the area up ahead. This was but 1 of many times I would encounter a mini boss such as this. So far my exploits of luck have brought me into the path about 3 Chimera, 4 Cyclops, 3 Orge’s, and one BADD ASS DRAKE ( no not the wack rapper, and he took me 15min to beat…damn winged worm! ).

Day 3 was a busy one, I will come back with an overall impression in a bit.

 

Jink