XP is over-rated

[stretch]

So I played Andrew first and got him really developed. Ended his quest line and the 'Game' and started Yun Mu. Realised that actually completing the game without all four starter captains is a little pointless and decided just to churn through the storyline for Yun Mu fairly quickly. Without getting overly caught up developing anything or trying to complete any major stuff. No guilds outside the story etc.
I levelled up maybe 6 characters to 21 and I think Yun Mu was 31. That's it. I didn't need anyone else levelled up at all. Probably 150k xp spent. Everyone else was at level 1 and it was easy. I needed some levelled up to do posts and such to do the story.

This is what I had at the end of her story.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2920680533

[Schutzengel]

Care to elaborate what you mean with 'completing the game without all four starter captains is a little pointless' ?

[dollars202]

Once you finish a captain to completion you can get them on another character you select. Ie finish andrew's game and you can go to lisbon and recruit him on another character.

[Naut]

If u were to complete other characters, are you able to go back to ur first playthrough to recruit the other main characters?

Lets say i start off with Yoshi, then i play the other 3 main characters and unlock them. Will I be able to go back to my first save file (The one with Yoshi) to recruit the rest ?

[stretch]

Originally posted by Schutzengel:

Care to elaborate what you mean with 'completing the game without all four starter captains is a little pointless' ?

Like @dollars202 says you get to carry your captains over to the next captain you play.
So while 'pointless' might be a little harsh I just feel that the best time to do ALL the content in the game would be at a time when you have all 4 starter captains in the one game.
I am just going to do the minimum needed in my 3rd captains game to get him through the story and then in my next game when I start with my last captain I will try and do all of it properly.

[Jiggles]

Originally posted by Naut:

If u were to complete other characters, are you able to go back to ur first playthrough to recruit the other main characters?

Lets say i start off with Yoshi, then i play the other 3 main characters and unlock them. Will I be able to go back to my first save file (The one with Yoshi) to recruit the rest ?

No. The system functions more along the lines of a new game+ of sorts, but the item that makes the main character's recruitable is the only thing you get.

[stretch]

Originally posted by Naut:

If u were to complete other characters, are you able to go back to ur first playthrough to recruit the other main characters?

Lets say i start off with Yoshi, then i play the other 3 main characters and unlock them. Will I be able to go back to my first save file (The one with Yoshi) to recruit the rest ?

I do not think so.
When you finish one captain you get an heirloom item and you start a new game with this item which allows you to recruit prior captains.
I checked my old save and no heirloom items have appeared in their inventory. I don't know how that old game would know you have later completed more captains.

[MustBeDone (J.B.)]

I feel the same way, I guess we need to level characters for reading books, doing land expedition and such but as far as money, battling, story, don’t need level much.

Perhaps just need to level enough where you can learn 2-3 skills? It has its use, maybe we got too far into the game with too much money and good ships.

[stretch]

Originally posted by MustBeDone (John B):

I feel the same way, I guess we need to level characters for reading books, doing land expedition and such but as far as money, battling, story, don’t need level much.

Perhaps just need to level enough where you can learn 2-3 skills? It has its use, maybe we got too far into the game with too much money and good ships.

Yeah. You can get through with the minimum. I didn't know this and my Andrew game was a long one where I tried to do lots of things and then it's just parked up. I enjoy the game but I just don't feel the need to do everything 4 times. My last game should be good.

[Antiga]

I really wish I had known this earlier. I've known for a while now but I wasn't about to throw away dozens of hours. I figured at the very least, if I want to play again some years from now, I'll have an extra character unlocked. But I am generally the type to try and get the most out of one playthrough and that's it. I've been in East Asia and SE Asia for 40+ hours, trading, developing, exploring and etc. I would've loved to be able to recruit the other characters at some point, and it does answer a question I had but did not connect yet - Do the characters meet each other? I suppose this is a definite NO. Even though this was a really fun and immersive aspect of the UW series, made more fun by already having played through the other character and knowing their story and lore.

Still don't know if I would have tried to play through 1 or more character before starting my serious playthrough if I knew about this beforehand, though. It would've spoiled a lot, for my feeling, to play for so long in such a way just to be able to play in my ideal way.

[Naut]

Originally posted by stretch:

Originally posted by MustBeDone (John B):

I feel the same way, I guess we need to level characters for reading books, doing land expedition and such but as far as money, battling, story, don’t need level much.

Perhaps just need to level enough where you can learn 2-3 skills? It has its use, maybe we got too far into the game with too much money and good ships.

Yeah. You can get through with the minimum. I didn't know this and my Andrew game was a long one where I tried to do lots of things and then it's just parked up. I enjoy the game but I just don't feel the need to do everything 4 times. My last game should be good.

I think the basis of the MSQ is a tutorial guide on how to actually play the game. Meanwhile the open world exploration is the bulk of the content. Its a sandbox of a sort. If u look carefully before u enter the game. You can check the Gallery, from here u can see the big difference in MSQ vs side story quest. The side story quest have full 5 pages of 20 quest while the MSQ is literally only 4 chapters per character.

So ill say the game is more base on open world exploration whereas the MSQ is a tutorial guide.

Since the difficulty of MSQ isnt really that high, meanwhile if u try to board the Ocean Fire Fleet for hand-to-hand combat (As a sidequest) you get decimated if your sailors are not all high leveled

[stretch]

Don't get me wrong. Each playthough is going to be different and there is a lot to do and I enjoyed what I have done. I just don't really want to do most of it 4 times, unlock every map, max out guilds, build rare ships etc etc. They take an awful lot of 'effort' and then you just start again with nothing. I don't really mind working through each campaign but I just don't want to fully develop and 'finish/complete' everything I can until I have all my captains. Their individual bonus skills are pretty sweet.

I don't really regret doing it. It's all a learning curve. But now that I know what I know I don't feel the need to do so much on these captain unlocking games. Because that's all they effectively are.

I am going to save the real effort for the one with all my captains.