Now I must confess there are a couple of rough places here that I'm not exactly sure about (namely, the protection mechanics and the mechanics of Rage potion - but, on the brighter note, pretty much no one but the devs knows about those, the game's formulas are obscure), but otherwise it's a results of thorough and rather excessive testing and should really clear up some things:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1KQg9KyhnE

Thanks for this :)

Good insightful video. Some ideas you shared I hadn't really thought of yet, like the stacking of dodge 3 and quickness from insectoids giving a significant damage advantage.

There's a couple of points I didn't entirely agree with though.

I think you're perhaps downplaying the importance of the Strength attribute a bit.

I felt it was very important to me in order to attain a decent carrying capacity. Armour, food, potions, spare weapons/ammunition etc really end up encumbering you. Especially later on in the game. You briefly mention this, but for the rest you hammer a bit too much on how dexterity is superior. I raised the strength of 2 of my characters (my knight and rogue) brewing strength potions while I could've made more dexterity ones if I hadn't. And I really needed every bit of strength I got this way. Perhaps dexterity IS superior overall, but you need to find the right balance.

About Earth magic and enemies with poison immunities:
While it might not make perfect sense, not all types of undead and elemental monsters are immune to poison. Skeleton archers and frost elementals (both very common) can be poisoned. The only enemy types that are poison immune that you'll meet in large numbers are skeleton warriors and mummies.

It's not a bad element type to invest in if you kite a lot and use ranged weapons for other party members. It has the unique capability of dealing damage to monsters when they aren't straight in front of you (which even has the meta effect that you can see the damage numbers through walls to pinpoint the exact location of a monster that's chasing you). Granted, it's not an optimal element to invest in (especially in boss fights in enclosed spaces), but it is by no means bad.

On lizardman fighters; they do not have the most energy of any race in the game.. but the least? Not sure what you meant to say there. Was it about resistances? If you want the highest amount of energy you want to go insectoid (high will and fruits), or rat (mutation and cheese). Or was it about fast metabolism (energy regeneration)? I think a larger energy pool is more useful if you're not too conservative with potions. Like you said, you run out of energy quickly. So quickly in fact that the added regeneration hardly helps you in combat. If you always want to have energy to use special attacks when they're off cooldown, you are going to need potions for that anyway. And if your fighter has a small energy pool, the level 4 alchemy potions potentially restore more than he can use.

Lastly, while your observation that fast weapons with slightly lower damage outperform slower weapons with high damage numbers is true in theory - where all characters stand still and attack precisely when their weapons go off cooldown - in practice there are factors to take into account that allow the latter to be better in some very commonly occurring situations. It's all tied to timing.

For one, special attacks on a faster weapon do not seem to charge faster. You spend the same time holding down the right mouse button to do more damage with a slower weapon, and during that time you can't perform any other attacks. Likewise, a slower weapon can deal more damage when backstabbing. And with slower ranged weapons you can deal more damage per unit of ammunition (though there isn't that much variety in available ranged weapons within each category for this to be very noticeable).

Secondly, if you have plenty of space to maneuver it's often more important to keep moving as to avoid being hit, which will mean that you won't always be able to attack whenever your weapon goes off cooldown. If you wait for enemies to move into the square in front of you to unleash your attacks, higher damage numbers are again better than faster attacks.

Last but not least, there's only so many actions you can physically take as a player. You'll spend time on charging special attacks, shaping runes for spells, jumping between characters' inventories to quaff potions to keep them going, moving, observing enemy movement and on all of these actions you lose a bit of reaction time. Having more than one dual wielding character (let alone two dual wielders with two fast weapons in their hands) is very likely to result in you, as a player, being unable to keep up with the cooldowns. And then it really doesn't hurt to have a barbarian bashing things with a big axe and a shield in his other hand instead of a fast dashing swordscow.

that video is really worth seeing

a lot of stuff there I had not considered

I must admit I am just one of those that just takes the first party assigned and off we go

Good video, you've certainly given me a lot more to bear in mind next time I start a new game. I realise how bad my party is now.

I clicked on the video and saw an hour, and launched the game. I then thought,, hmmmm and checked it. WOW, tons of great info. You really explained the gameplay reasons behind building characters. Some times people go into a game with to much baggage about how a game should work. (old school dungeons and dragons) So you have your mind set on characters/builds and such.

But you explained well how the races and such works, in combo, and stacking traits. You really do give an in depth look on how to play, and power game.

that said, I thank you, and will try easy or normal, and play my semi weird, RP dungeon crawlers.. But at least now i can, and won't break um to bad.. :::evil grin::::

PS, When do you breath, you can sure talk fast! My vid saying all that would be 2+ hours... Thanks again for all the info...


**Edit
thanks to the others that through in their 2 cents as well. After playing around for about 3 hours in the first area with the different classes and starter builds, i decided on this group. My thoughts, from an RP sense as well as game play. It just sounded fun

Despite what people said about the guns, I just have to try um, and my thoughts, why not an herbalist? 5 Herbalist, 5 firearms, and 3 light weapon, 2 acc. with the huge dex boost, it just might work. Hack away from second line early, then get herbalist, and by Late game ill my gun too!.I read about late game, cannons while limited just sounded too cool not to try. Just hoping all around, making potions and shooting guns will be fun and work well enough.

Farmer mage human, extra skill and mind, so got fire for start.. I have read you can speed along fairly well, just ahead of your group with a farmer, so if that is the case it shouldn't be to bad as a second liner maybe not the best mage, but i hope she works..

Human barbarian. Almost went Minotaur, but human for bit less strength, but better defense i figured a with this group, i just might need to tank a bit longer., besides wanted to use a human portrait :)

lizard man Knight, light weapons, armor, natural armor, resists, 12-17-12-8 Took the extra armor over re-gen so i can stuff my farmer.



I will up date this post down the road, to say how it all worked out.. Of it was just a very bad idea all together..

Actually, the Fireburst spell has a chance to burn, which also adds damage over time.