About to start playing. Couple questions

[Kenshin-dono]

So i love the old isometric RPG's of the 90's and heard this was the game to play if your a fan of those. I was going to wait for it to be about 50% off or so but i said screw it when it was on sale for about 35% the other day.

 

Im going to try to play it pretty fresh without any real guides but there are a couple things i wanted to check on. 

 

1) This is the most important question: Since its a relatively new game I wanted to double check if there are any major bugs or glitches i should watch out for. Sadly this day and age games are damn near broken for the first several months after release. I dont want to spend a bunch of points in a broken skill, or encounter some glitch that makes progression/quests unfinishable.

 

2) is there an online manual or anything i can read? Id like to familiarize myself with the stats, controls and gameplay mechanics before i delve into it

 

3) How does the rep system work? I hear its important for Paladins and priests but how do you know your sticking to i? I.E. How do you know what response would be Stoic, or Diplomatic or something? Does it tell you when your picking it or do you just have to guess? 

 

4) Im probably going to use the regular in game party members but i hear you can make custom party members. Is it a good idea to just make a few custom guys early to fill in your party until you can recruit the real members? Im probably going to play a paladin/tank. I glanced at the party members and didn't notice a rogue so i'll probably need one of those for locks. Can i always dump them later?

 

5) Any general advice or warnings or tips are apreciated. Thanks guys

[the_dog_days]

Welcome!

 

#1: I've encountered bugs, but nothing game breaking. I saw on the forum one involving unlimited talents during level up.

 

#2: If you bought the game on Steam it comes with a game manual.

 

#3: I've never played as a paladin so I'm not sure how they're different, but with personality reputations the biggest difference is how NPCs react to you. Example, with an honest reputation while received a quest to steal something the quest giver might add a threat about what he'll do if you tell the authorities.

 

#4:The earlier you make companions, the better. The highest level you can make a companion is exactly one level lower than the PC, and at each level the cost (and yes, you have to buy them) goes up significantly. Also, working with the pre-made companions you won't have a full party until chapter 2.

 

#5: Pick one companion early on to specialize in Mechanics (a catch all skill for disarming traps and lock picking) and pour all their skill points into Mechanics.

 

Not sure if this will be helpful, good luck.

[globalCooldown]

On #4, the Reputation system--if you'd rather not roleplay it out for whatever reason, there's an option to turn on indicators of what sort of reputation you'll get from what dialogue options.

[redneckdevil]

On the Paladins, when u create one u pick the order they are from. Those orders not only give certain abilities but also have a certain reputation to uphold. I went with a bleak walker and their reputation is cruel and aggressive. So the more I am cruel and aggressive, the more bonuses I get towards my defense. Now if I start going the opposite as benevolent and kind, then my bleak walker will start losing points in defenses. Now i know the gain is called as 2 level of bonuses, but I don't know if the losses are capped as well.

Also the bonuses towards reputation is only for PC Paladins. Created or npc Paladins will not gain or lose due to reputation.

[Elzarath]

Also, patch 2.01 seems to have broken some things in the game and weird graphical glitches so stay on 2.00 until a new patch (presumably 2.02) addresses these other problems.

 

If you have the expansion, The White March, it included a two new companions, one of which is a rogue.

[KDubya]

As others have said you don't need a Rogue for traps and locks, you just need someone with skill in mechanics.

 

No reason you can't have your Paladin also be your trap finder and lock picker. I usually do and it works fine, not optimal in a skill point cost but easily accomplished and has the bonus of having the sturdy guy in the front being the guy looking for traps. The better rogue might be too far back and the Paladin steps on it or the rogue could be caught in front by the enemy and ganked quickly at the start of combat.

 

Plus I'm lazy and so I just have the Paladin be the trap finder and not worry about changing marching orders or scouting ahead. Everyone stealths and the battle formation moves ahead. Traps are found before someone steps on it and when combat starts everyone is already in their proper place in the order.

[Kenshin-dono]

thanks for the info guys. I'm assuming the option to turn on rep change indicators is just in the regular menu somewhere? Good to know theres no game breaking glitches but I am a bit concerned about how many regular bugs and broken things are in the game. I guess a lot of skills/abilities and just general mechanics are messed up. Seems odd they're already putting out an expansion when the core games still messed up, but this is Obsidian =P

 

oh, is the manual included in steam up to date? The one i found googling seems quite out of date

 

As far as the rep goes i guess i'll do either Kind wayfareres or the Shieldbearers. Probably leaning more towards the shieldbearers. What does the passionate disposition translate to in game? Acting like an emo teen or something? It boils down to Diplomatic/honest vs Benevolent/Passionate. I like Benevloant but dont want to have to act like a rash emotional child all the time. On the flip side i can see how having to be honest all the time can get me in trouble =P

 

Elzarath mentions 2.01 broke some stuff, particlarly graphically. I just started it briefly to look at my stats and character creation but for some reason im getting really low framerates. I'm not really sure why, my specs more than meet the recommended requirement

 i7-4720HQ

970 GTXM

16gb of ram

 

im getting like  30 fps or less, usually 20ish something. with character creation screens dipping into the teens. I googled it and it seems a lot of people have this problem even on higher end machines but i never saw an answer as to what was going on. Most posts were from back earlier in the year though. Anyone know what the deal is with that? Strange that this game would run so poorly when much more graphically intensive games run way better  *edit* forgot to mention its windows 10.. not sure if that matters

Edited September 15, 2015 by Kenshin-dono

[Kenshin-dono]

hah, forget the question about the framerate... im a derp. I somehow had the laptop in low power mode which throttled the hell outa the gpu/cpu =P