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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Stomping my way thru Act I, I is. Joan has Deru and Taar along for the ride and the team is doing some heavy pillaging. Between two strategies, we cannot be defeated. Hurt sometimes, unconcious occasionally, even dead twice, but never defeated. It's either the toe-to-toe sumo slam or guerilla hack-n-hide. That heirloom guardian in the desert took a lot of the latter method and required two resurrections when I got sloppy, but most of the rest have been sumo specials.
It's that time of the month for the whole party, and the monsters are knowing much wrath in spite of bloating and the occasional wild mood swing.
Which brings us to my first complaints about this otherwise wonderful game.
I've seen in a couple reviews that the camera occasionally gets independent and swings about wildly, rattling the chains of my tyranical oppression. They're right. I don't like that. If I put the camera in the middle of a mountain, show me the inner structure of the granite. The poor camera is trying so hard to show me what I really meant to look at, but I think I'd be happier if it gave me what I asked for no matter how worthless it might be.
Second, this game is cruel. Completely cold, heartless, and generally unpleasant. Let it be known that dteowner is a "complete-ist" RPGer. That poor soul MUST complete every possible quest and uncover every inch of terrain. Some careless goblin may have dropped a broken arrow in an obscure corner of a meaningless zone of a pointless map...and I must go there and collect that broken arrow and find the lone merchant in the world that will give me a shaved copper piece for it.
Now, in some games, your humble narrator has been known to miss the occasional mission, or overlook a blade of grass or two, but they say ignorance is bliss and right they are! Sure, I've been known to replay a portion of a game after reading a walkthru just to cover some trivial bit that I neglected, but that's OK. Dungeon Siege 2 does not allow me that happiness. No, I'm faced with painfully blank holes in my quest log. They haunt me. They taunt me. They put whoopy cushions on my church pew.
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=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:14 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Ha! Conquered, have I. Filled all those blank holes in the quest log, yes I did. Starting Act 2, and right back in the blanks I go.
All hail Joan of Orc. Mission accomplished.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:29 am |
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Wulf
The Shepherd
Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England |
Ha ha dte, that was the easy bit, a kind of 'taster' to build your confidence.
In act-2 you will need to use more grey matter if you want to fill those empty quest squares. 
The "Treasure Map" quest was one i gave up on - got two parts of it done but it wouldn't complete, think i missed the plot earlier in the game. 
There's no simple solution to the camera-angle complexity - indeed as you say the focal point is 'calculated' and if it lands up in some stonework then thats how it must be....although i have a sneaky feeling it's meant to be like this - making the player have to learn how to 'swivel' around the infinate viewpoints....or as they say "more of a challenge" from the game dev's? 
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return. |
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Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:10 am |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Mission accomplished. All secondary missions complete, even. I will admit to using a walkthru to give me a few locations. I never "read ahead", but I found that it was annoying to try and remember which teleporter some of the special areas were near. Rather than run around for hours looking for that broken elevator I had some across that only Finala could fix, I cribbed it. Probably should have taken better notes, but so it goes.
The archwizard was a real pain until I switched to rampage mode and had part of the party work on obelisks while Joan did the slice-n-dice. Only time in the entire game rampage mode was of any use.
First time I've finished a game not named Wiz8 or NWN in a long, long time. Well worth the investment, and a ton of fun.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:41 am |
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Wulf
The Shepherd
Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England |
My feelings also...."a pleasant romp"
I didn't get as far as a second level try, but i suspect a team of four ranged archers whith each having a magic's sub-trace would be lethal...they still shoot the bows at close-up range...no need for a tank!
Going it again at second level with the knowledge previously gained would i suppose cut-out much re-tracing of ones steps which would also assist in reacing the final boss at a lower difficulty level...not sure?
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return. |
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Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:42 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Well, Wulf, we might just find out.
Joan of Orc is back in the saddle for now, going thru the game at the second level. I'm not promising she'll make it all the way since I've been known to get a bit flighty, but we shall see. Just made the Dryad Exile Colony. I told myself that I'd not pursue any side quests this time, but I just can't manage it. Hopefully, my compulsions will let me leave a few holes in the quest journal, but I'm still tackling most of the secondaries so far. They do go just a bit quicker this time since death is basically a non-issue (Finala still goes unconscious regularly, but no dying so far) and I'm already familiar with the maps.
My primary motivation seems to be collecting complete item sets. I made a spreadsheet off someone's hint site of all the sets and am crossing things off as I get them. It's disappointing when you see that golden label drop only to find you've already got that one, although I went thru a fair bit of that sort of thing during the first time thru.
Party-wise, I decided I wanted someone that could use the Lorethal set, so I dumped Deru and picked up Sartan, whom I had levelled up as a tank during round 1. That makes Joan the dual-wield, Taar the nature mage, Finala the combat mage, and Sartan the meat shield. Provoke is reasonably fun to play with and even comes in handy from time to time.
I'm wondering if the story is different when you win the 3rd time. Doubt I'll find out any time soon, but who knows.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Sun Mar 26, 2006 9:56 pm |
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Wulf
The Shepherd
Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England |
Sounds good dte.
I thought the random insertion of weapons and armour was perhaps a dice-throw thing but if you think about it, in a team of three or four of the same types mage or ranged etc' then the extra sets would be more than welcomed. The "Rare" type items, i ignored as they seemed underpowered compared with the sets percentage advantage - but carfully ballanced out (especially the "reflective damage" items) they could be used almost as effective as the sets i guess.
Going through the game second time is going to be faster as you know where all various locations and npc's are but will there be anything new such as more powerful weapons, armour or spells...or is it just the same only faster, more of a challenge?...i always was curious...would have had a second go maybe on hindsight....but now you are well ahead, be sure to inform us of the differences found when upping the levels or at the game max ending. 
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return. |
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Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:51 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Roughly 1/3 of the way thru Act 2 in round 2. Picked up a few good set items so far. In fact, I've rolled my equipped sets for the first time. Dropped some of the Night's Shadow set for the Furious Tempest pieces that I've collected. Pulled the Thena set and swapped in the Circle of Four set. Of the 26 sets, I've got 8 complete, 8 over 50%, and 6 that I have nothing on so far.
Biggest difference I've noticed so far is in the quest bosses. In round 1, killing Arinth and the Amanlu Commander/murderer was a non-issue. This time around, those guys are pretty tough. Arinth had 80000hp; the other guy had 68000hp. Both of them hit pretty hard, too.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:27 am |
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Wulf
The Shepherd
Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England |
You're quite a hoarder with those sets dte... i was the same!
...so, as an *easy level* mercenary-mode (levels 0 - 39) completer only.... is the exact same game loaded in each of the subsequent following difficulty modes but with tougher opponents? - if so, then i can understand why some players have not wished to continue further!!
I would have expected a few extra goodies at least (including missing set pieces?) to pop-up in the further two modes - weapons and spells being the main candidates.
That rampage mode is not quite as lame as you make it sound dte, a quick session of rapid reversions (so as to recall the team) gave much needed assistance at gruelling times, i used it often throughout the game.
On the Finala issue, it seems the game writers are 'pushing' her to be included in the team as a kind of handicap, she is the most killed team member, but because of devotion to the hero (his childhood sweetheart) who is needed per the broken elevator issue, then that's how it has to be, should she be ditched and re-admitted at some stage? - - i say no because she would not then gain the levels that she might obtain otherwise, again guessing that she could dish-out some devastation in that final elite-mode onslaught. In theory this means that even with her lower protection limits (armour/defence) this would be cancelled out as the enemy would be defeated by her intense power before they could get to her....?
Did you ever 'pick up' that stone to enable the assassin quest or did you consider having the assassins two blade set in dual melee weapon (fast) mode? ...i wonder if it's possible to have a team of fast twin blade yielding assassins..!
I did notice how some of the magic spell effects became more spectacular and enhanced as the skill levels increased depending on which path of skill/traits were applied and at max attributes levels, so do the effects of the spells continue to climb further in your current "veteran-mode" which is the designated *normal level*... (levels 40 - 69) or do they simply 'max-out' ? ....i should imagine it is possible to max the trait-paths in all attributes towards the end of the third game, *hard level* "elite-mode" (levels 70 - 100)...?
I can see you are becoming quite adept to DS2 dte, and although it could be tough going at times, i reckon you could triumph over that third and final game. This would be a justified cause to show us 'early dropouts' myself included, just how the game should be progressed, i will watch and follow with great expectations.
PS. That DS2 'Broken World' expansion pack looks good.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dungeonsiegeiibrokenworld/index.html
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return. |
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Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:59 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Quite the heap of questions there, Wulf. Let's see if I can answer most of them.
1) As of near the end of Act 2, Veteran level is 99% identical to Mercenary level. Differences: you skip the beach training map, you can't hire RPC's you've already hired in the past (since I hired all them in order to complete all the henchie quests, I can't hire any of them. They still appear at the same place, so you can end up with twins, but you can't hire them even by trying a rotation thru the inn), you keep your inventory and chants from the first round including inventory quest items (as opposed to journal quest items) so you can cheat a few side quests.
2) Item drops are different since the game tries to dole out level-appropriate loot. For example, there are set items that require character level 52. Those would never drop in a mercenary round because the player shouldn't be anywhere close to that level. Same for rares and uniques. Part of the reason I have no pieces of 6 sets is because some of them require level 60+ (5 more than my current level which seems to be the threshold based purely on observation).
3) I don't particularly like Finala. I wasn't aware of the romance angle (perhaps because Joan is a girlie) so her commentary is mostly irritating. She has a bad habit of stopping her attack for no apparent reason. The only real reason I put up with her is because the drown curse is such an effective crowd control tool. A dozen of those damn skitters is no problem. Hit 'em with drown and take their attacks until they die, which don't take long.
4) On my first round, I did all the side quests, including the assassin stone. When I got that one done, I had 4/5 of the Nightshadow set so I was better off not using Luun's stuff.
5) Spell graphics are the same, but there are new spells available at higher level. I particularly enjoy "impale", which you may have had cast on you at some point. Purple cloud, followed by black spikes coming out of the ground. Good times.
Yet another appeal to my vanity, eh? We'll see how it goes. Looks like I don't have any new games on my radar until May/June, so I just might have time and concentration to drive right into round 3.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:42 am |
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Wulf
The Shepherd
Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England |
Great interesting info's dte "new spells at higher levels" - cool - yet sounds logical, i missed that, of course this is all unknown stuff to me so thanks a bunch.
"You can't hire RPC's you've already hired in the past" - how about that! - so then you could have say a 'trio' of identicles?.....any further advancements into that medium level.....or is it getting tough?
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return. |
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Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:47 am |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
I haven't made much progress the last couple weeks. My parents came in for Easter, so they watched the wild dogs while Mrs dte and I took in a couple movies and a dinner at a place that didn't have ketchup bottles on the table. With the Cup playoffs getting started, I'm not sure how much gaming time I'll get in between now and when Yzerman hoists the silver.
At the moment, I picked up mission 3 in act 3. I've got to go to the Morden town, although I might tackle a couple side quests that are on that road. Of 105 set items, I'm up to 61 (plus lots of duplicates). 9 complete sets, 5 "ain't got nuttin"'s, 12 partials. Since I don't use summoning spells (combat nor nature), there haven't been any new spell effects to view recently. I have discovered a 4th level of spells like grave beam and icebolt--lesser, [std], greater, master.
The most you could get is twins- no triplets. You'd have one in your party and encounter the same RPC in his/her set position. Since I have copies of every RPC either in my party or at the inn as part of my complete-ist run thru round one, I can't add any of the RPCs I encounter to my party this time thru.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Sat Apr 22, 2006 3:49 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Took a while, but I've finished round 2. Elite level is next, although I must admit my enthusiasm is waning a bit. I might dig something else off the shelf for a bit before trying my luck with round 3.
We're about level 65 now. I did another equipment roll before the last save, swapping out some "lesser" sets for bits and pieces of some of the more powerful sets I've collected. Let's see here...I'm up to 65 set items out of 105. I'm down to only 3 sets that I have nothing from. It's getting more frustrating when I see the gold item drop, only to discover that it's a duplicate of something I've already got.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Sun May 14, 2006 10:54 pm |
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