Sabotin

I think doom is just static damage added (either on top or to base). So if you're doing 500 damage, the 50 is a 10% increase, but if you're doing 50 damage on crits then the additional 50 is effectively a 100% increase.

How would you know if you could "add circles"? As far as you know those are just gui decorations. When you level up you get explanations that you pick new abilities, upgrade them and pick new talents. You see a new circle appears and you go "Aha, that's how it works!". Every item has a picture of the character that can equip it on it. When you pick up an item that doesn't have a face on it you get a message that you can't equip it and you should sell it. Logically you can link these two facts together I believe. I wasn't making a point about the camera, but about the help topics, which you know about almost first thing in the game. So it is assumed if you don't know something you'll open them up and read. You can't take indications from the first two games and then require the game to explain them again. Either you know them and don't need explanations, or you don't know them and have no preconceptions. The abilities themselves explain how they work: "Anjali jumps and this", "Anjali throws and that", whereas the talents just say what effect you get. You've no business thinking they work differently than described I think. I didn't say anything about the importancy of tutorials, I'm saying you're either blind to not see them or you're specifically looking for a hair in an egg, just to bash the game. Whatever, I'll keep enjoying the game. I don't think I have an especially high intelligence for figuring out a few things on my own. I also don't require spoon feeding, it's perfectly enough for me if the game puts a plate of food in front of me adds a spoon in my hand and sais "eat", to use your analogy. If someone does need help with any game things they know they can ask on the forums and they'll get an answer. Anyway, my last words in this thread and I urge everyone to read them: "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!"

Yes, but the ability damage differs from ability to ability. For example if you compare Anjali's kick attack and the spear throw, the throw is making higher damage numbers.

The information is provided by text as you play the starting level or gain new abilities, it's explained as you browse the menus and is explained in the help topics, which is the thing you learn about as soon as the game tells you how to move yourself and the camera. I'm not gonna say the game explains itself perfectly, because that's not true, but it's simply not as bad as you make it out to be. Why do you need an explanation in advance of how stuff you don't even have yet will work? Or about how to control party members, since there is no indication at all that you're able to control them? If you assume someone has no idea about the game controls when he starts it then assume also he has no expectations as to what is in the game and what is not. I'm assuming you also write emails about instructions to IKEA, because they don't say how to hold a screwdriver or which way to turn it when you're using it.

Well the stuff works as described. Normal attacks use Attack stat, offensive abilities use attack+will, doom adds critical damage. For the damage difference between deifferent abilities I'd assume they have the same dps, but the absolute damage number you deal in that attack depends on the length of the skill execution (as to keep the same overall dps). Just keep in mind that it's not always about the highest number, but also about overall dps.

Hit Escape -> Help Topics I don't think it's a good measure of what should and should not be explained if you turn your brain off and act from your perspecitve as someone who knows nothing about the game. And stuff is explained. What isn't explained is self-explanatory. What isn't either of those is minimal.

Take it up with your retailer for the requirements thing and your brain for the expectations thing.

I think too to rather make blocking stronger. Perhaps a slight stagger efect, so you can actually get a few attacks in and don't get pummeled to death as soon as you let go of the button. Though sometimes blocking is more practical than dodging or even required, the game still leans more on rolling arround and not getting hit. Vampiric - usually items with that have crap other stats (and I haven't seen almost any for Reinhart as is), can you say what are yours to compare? Loot - I don't agree there's too much loot/money. Often I just had enough (if that) for one piece for me or my companion. And loot is actually an issue with multiplayer I heard, where most of it (qualitatively and quantitatively) is for the hosts character. I would in fact increase the number of items that drop off of bosses and make them higher quality. Or at least make shops hold better items in stock. Boss following - don't get me started on the fish boss, I died there more than at the "boxed in" fight I think. But yeah, they should follow everywhere. Or maybe give them a mechanic to pull the player closer if he wants to run away that'd work even better. Difficulty stuff - I'm not sure if that's all the game does acutally. Comparing the game with normal I think the mobs are using abilities more often. And that boss for example was summoning skeletons periodicaly, I can't remember him doing that on my first play. Could be just my immagination though. But yeah every game does the +hp/damage thing, so classes that use a don't-get-hit machanic instead of absorbing damage are at an advantage. By the way, did you have any issues with fast mobs? Like the assassins or what are they, common at areas. Those I found very hard to dodge and kill with Reinhart. Even putting a geometry up wasn't trivial.

What platform are you on? For me on the PC it detonates them.

Empowered abilities are affected by upgrades. He was just saying that sometimes they can be redundant, i.e. they can have the same effect as the empowered ability already has.

Just a quick thing. Dunno if it's normal thing, but the 1st passive skill automatically gets a point in it every 2 levels for me (in Lucas's case the higher critical damage one), so it pays off not investing in it.

If you can, try focus on the boss itself, I found out that clearing or keeping thin the add numbers is pretty ineffective. I've only completed that fight with Reinhart, so I can't really put any other tips. Just dodging arround like crazy. Careful you don't get your head spinning . And careful you dont accidentaly use abilities on the outside of the square like I did :/ .

For the fight I was spamming Hurl Spear (awesome damage), till I had focus, then changed to fire form and hit a couple of times to regain focus. It went fairly fast, but I did have to reload a couple of times being slow to dodge that ground flame knockdown thingy. And a couple of spears went totally the opposite way of her due to teleporting in 2nd phase and clunky targeting. Lucas and the Jackal were doing a good job at harrasment though, Lucas didn't even die that fight. Dunno if it's the higher difficulty, but meleeing is quite hard for me. Sometimes I loose 90% hp just during the spinning kick animation if I'm not careful. Even so I'm not using fire form that often, just on bosses and some situational fights. Just can't do without aoe. Maybe at higher levels when the bonuses from the bracelets become more distinct from the spear ones.

I'm not so sure about that you know. With Reinhart I got 1 to mastery near the end of the game. Now on hardcore with Anjali I already have mastery with the kick and I'm just about to go to the Heroes' crypt (lvl 10), with the spear throw about 1/3 of the way. For some odd reason I still can't use the empowered version of the skill though, does it have some level requirement as well?

Hm, I just noticed this as well, it's always at 100%. Weird thing is it seemingly doesn't affect game or system performance. Usually when something's at 100% CPU usage my computer becomes unresponsive and slow as hell. I ran some other games together and the DS3's CPU usage went down accordingly to what the other stuff was using. Still no clue what's it doing or if it's related to any instabilities.

It's not possible to edit posts after a while? :/ Lescanzi Ally (Leave Gunderic mannor to Leona): +3 Will Ironhand (Execute Rajani): +2 Attack

All skills can be upgraded. Check your ability screen and hit next. Then you have a list of abilities and what each of the upgrades does. If you're talking about the clockwork trap, that can be upgraded to increase damage or to add to it a slowing effect. Obviously the upgrade only effects the skill you're upgrading. If the "spell" you're talking about is the basic attack when you hit the attack button/left click the damage depends purely on the "Attack stat". The basic attack is what it is and can't be upgraded. But you can use the empowered version from the start. And if you're asking if all gear affects both stances, that's a no. To have higher stats in entropy you need to upgrade the first slot (crystal balls) and to upgrade your stats in dynamic you need to upgrade gear in the last two slots (belt and gauntlet). The other gear works for both stances.

Upgrade points you get 1 every level. Passive skill points it's also 1 per level, plus sometimes one more or something; I had 30 at level 27 at which I finished the game. At the start I noticed one skill was getting 1 point in it automatically ("Genius!" for Reinhart), so could be due to that. But don't forget some come locked untill a certain level, so it's not always possible to invest in just those you want. As for specialisations, I think focus one one is better, with maybe some usefull skill from the other. For example if I focused on Anjali's Fire form, I'd probably upgrade her human form Fall from Heaven to knock stuff around a bit, because that would seem to complement her ranged attacks better than anything else. I'd try to plan ahead based on how I want to play, since it's more efficient to invest in the skills you use the most often, not those that have high potential, but only circumstantial use. The thing I'd watch though is overlaping upgrades. For example you don't need 3 skills with knockdown I think, better then to upgrade one or two for something else. But I'm not that good at juggling stances yet, so someone with more practice could pull more out of investing in both combat forms I think.

Yeah, but beware of investing in the "constant fire" abilities. I had Katarina shoot a mob for a second and proceded to shoot at rocks for the remainder of her focus (I presume).

Console games are easier, faster and cheaper to develop than pc games, because you already have a set hardware and tools to work with it. Pc is just another minority platform now. Easier to make a console title and adapt it to pc than the other way arround. Next, rpgs are getting simplified mostly I think because of costs. This genre has the least "bang for the buck", because it requires a ton of potentialy useless s**t to be in it simply for the atmosphere and choices and the feel of the game. Plus the market for it is not that wide, in fact it seems crpgs are becoming a niche thing. I think there's less and less people who can afford a 3k$ machine for just playing games, too. So people rather buy a 500$ console that's functionally a multimedia centre and have the guarantee that everything will work fine for years to come (untill the next generation at least). I can say for myself I'm actually very surprised and happy that I can run pretty much anything with my 5 year old pc, and don't even need to use minimum settings, just because the high end pampering stopped. Then I think back and see that about at the same time the ps3 came out, which was half the price of my pc, and for it 5-6 years is normal.

You understood that part right, it's just that you need mastery in the ability to do that.

I think none of the companions get their own epilogue, but they may be mentioned in slides that depend on other choices. Although I've only seen Anjali be part of one.

Since it's sometimes awkward looking ingame (or people are too lazy to/can't find find the help topics ), here's what the stats do (copied from the game and slightly organised): Base stats Stamina - Stamina represents your ability to survive wounds and injuries. As you equip weapons and armor that grant a higher Stamina value, your character's Hit Points will go up. Attack - Attack is a general measure of your hero's ability to damage enemies. As you equip weapons and armor that grant higher Attack values, your hero's Attack DPS will go up. Will - Will represents your ability to draw on the magical, or supernatural. As you equip weapons and armor that grant you a higher Will value, your character's Ability DPS will go up. Agility - Agility represents your hero's precision, and converts into Critical Hit Chance. However, the higher your hero's level, the tougher enemies become, so you will need more Agility for your hero to keep the same Critical Hit Chance. Armor - Armor represents the ammount of damage that your hero mitigates with their gear. As their Armor increases, they absorb a higher percentage of damage from enemy attacks. But, as their level goes up, monsters become tougher and a higher Armor value is required to have the same percentage of damage reduction. Block Value - Block value represents your hero's ability to deflect damage when blocking. Whenever a hero blocks, they will take no damage. But, they lose a percentage of Focus equal to the percentage of their health that the damage would have inflicted. Block Value is subtracted from the incoming damage before the percentage is calculated, so having a higher Block Value means your hero can block attacks without losing as much Focus. Derived stats Attack DPS - Attack DPS (damage per second) is a mreasure of the average damage dealt with your character's attacks each second. It is an average value because the actual damage of your attacks will vary based on the speed of the attack, and the number of targets it is capable of hitting. Additionally, when you use Special Abilities, your Attack DPS is added to your Ability DPS to determine the ammount of damage dealt. Ability DPS - Ability DPS (damage per second) is a measure of the average effectiveness of your hero's Abilities. For Offensive Abilities, your Attack DPS is added to this value to determine the damage dealt, whereas Defensive Abilities generaly rely only on your Ability DPS. Critical Hit Chance - Critical Hit Chance determines how likely it is that your character will score a critical hit. Note that more Agility is required to score a critical hit against targets of higher level, so you must continue to increase your Agility as you fight tougher monsters to keep the same Critical Hit Chance. Gear Abilities Offensive Doom - The Doom statistic grants you additional damage when you critically hit monsters. The ammount of damage is increased with slower attacks. Momentum - Momentum grants your hero additional Focus when attacking enemies. The ammount of Focus gained per point of Momentum is dependent on your level - as you become more powerful, your attacks require more Momentum to generate the same ammount of Focus. Stagger - The Stagger statistic grants your attacks a chance to stun your enemies. The chance is determined by the value of your Stagger statistic - however, as you gain levels and your enemies become tougher, it will require a higher Stagger value to have the same chance to stun an enemy. Chaos Statistics - There are several Chaos statistics you will find on armor and weapons. These statistics provide you with a chance to inflict an effect on your enemies. The chance to inflict the effect and the duration of the effect are always the same, but the higher the Chaos statistic is, the higher the damage of the inflicted effect. Chaos: Bloodletting - Chaos: Bloodletting grants your attacks a high chance to inflict bleeding wounds on your enemies, dealing moderate damage over 6 seconds. Chaos: Fire - Chaos: Fire grants a moderate chance to set enemies on fire, dealing moderate damage over 6 seconds. Chaos: Ice - Chaos: Ice grants your attacks a moderate chance to freeze your enemies, dealing low damage over 9 seconds. Chaos: Lightning - Chaos: Lightning grants your attacks a small chance to electrocute your enemies, dealing moderate damage over 2 seconds. Chaos: Poison - Chaos: Poison grants your attacks a moderate chance to poison your enemies, dealing heavy damage over 9 seconds. Chaos: Vampire - Chaos: Vampire grants your attacks a moderate chance to drain life from your enemies, returning that life to you. Chaos: Weakening - Chaos: Weakening grants your attacks a moderate chance to weaken your enemies, dealing low damage over 9 seconds and reducing the ammount of damage they deal. Chaos: Withering - Chaos: Withering grants your attacks a moderate chance to wither your enemies, dealing low damage over 9 seconds and increasing the ammount of damage they take from subsequent attacks. Defensive Retribution - Retribution grants your hero a high chance to deal damage to enemies that attack them. The ammount of damage dealt is equal to your character's total Retribution score. Note that Retribution will take effect even against blocked attacks. Warding - Warding grants your hero a low chance to stun enemies that attack them. The chance of the stun is increased with additional points of Warding, however as you gain levels and fight more difficult enemies you will need a greater Warding score to have the same chance of stunning enemies. Note that warding will still take effect even against blocked attacks.

If you destroy the heart the boss is a bit harder. Other than that doesn't make a difference I think.

Ones that haven't yet been reported (Chasted wrote all the others already): Sharpshooting Sidekick (2nd deed from Katarina's influence): +3 Agility