Making foods worth it?

[Irishguard]

I find my bags filled with items that I just don't see myself using. So time to cut the fat and I'm looking at buffs from food. Is it worth using?

[verum.amo]

Cyseal pie, Elven stew and the Roast Pork are the only things I keep around.

[Irishguard]

nice I'll have to look up those recipies

[devland]

Early on they're a good way to regain hp during battles since they cost only 3 ap to use.

[raubrey]

I've always wondered why there is so much food with its limited use -- mostly in the beginning. Though I haven't checked out all the recipes verum mentioned.

I've seen similar in other games too and thought it more a roleplaying thing for people who don't like magic/potions ...but not sure that applies here since you don't camp etc.

[Dorok]

My first experience of play with some focus on food usage is a mixed feeling. For now I don't think it worth it without the Five-Star Diner talent that I haven't tried yet (but my party in current replay is ready with 1 talent point available for each character).

I have yet to see a meat with really noteworthy bonus and without painful malus. The healing effect is definitely an option but the malus effects are troubles. Moreover the healing effect isn't significant enough to makes feel it worth bother with meats, that's why perhaps it's better with Five-Star Diner talent.

One problem is definitely how complex it is to make a meat, just too many crafting for the benefits it brings.

I haven't yet explored this very deep, so it's only first impressions, and there's many meat I didn't tried yet.

[verum.amo]

The dishes I mentioned are quite easy to make. For Cyseal pie...flour obtained from wheat, plus water, equals dough. Dough plus fish plus furnace equals the pie. What is useful about the pie is the bonus it gives you to intelligence. It does decrease speed as well, but my mages are generally glass cannons and aren't too worried about a single point in speed.

For elven stew, drag a hammer onto a tomato to make tomato sauce. Now drag the sauce onto a 'dinner' item, which is made by either putting raw meat or fish into a furnace. Elven stew gives a bonus to dexterity. Elven stew also has no negative effects at all.

Roasted pork I only use outside of combat, if at all, since it gives slow status. It also gives a small bonus to strength, offset by a penalty to speed. All in all, you are better off selling it.

There is also a dwarven stew which heals more than the elven stew, and provides a str boost instead of dex, but it has the slow effect as well, so it's of dubious use.

[Woodland Outlaw]

Originally posted by devland:

Early on they're a good way to regain hp during battles since they cost only 3 ap to use.

Food comsumed in the middle of a fight! That's a terrible waste of AP's, especially if the food has a determentail side effect. In fact the only thing I consume in any engagement is healing poitions, and then only sparingly. From the midway point of my first playthrough and even earlier on my second. Food, potions (other than healing), and some scrolls (other than scrolls that enable summoning of something to aid the party in combat), were left in a box at the bottom and to the right of the stairs leading up to the area behind the abandoned house in Cyseal. Everything in the box being earmarked for sale, which included books, weapons and armour. However some scrolls were retained in order to add them to skillbooks.

I also moved two barrels from outside the undertakers house (where the box came from), and parked them up against the right hand wall at the top of the stairs. The first as close to the wall and the nearest weapons rack as possible and the other up against the same wall next to the first barrel. The barrel next to the weapons rack was used to store items I considered important, such as scrolls I wanted to add to skillbooks, as well as skillbooks I could not assign at the time. Firey Hearts, Swearling Mud and Tormented Souls being the most important items. The other barrel was used to store all other crafting items until such time as I could use them. In short my characters were not allowed to carry too much junk before leaving this location.

As to combat. By the midway point of my second playthrough all four characters in the party were able to cast healing spells. Either on themselves or each other. In fact "Mad" Madora was able to cast 2 healing spells in the same round of combat. If necessary you forgo any offensive action to heal a compainion or yourself. It was one of several key aspects in my taking on and defeating the Titans during my second playthrough, and furthermore, without having to swallow a single healing poition once during a very long engagement. Two of the party were at full health when the last Titan fell while the other two were not far off being at full health!

[Dorok]

It's not about required stuff, but about useful stuff. No way healing potions are required nor any potion nor any scroll nor any food.

The point of those items beside sometimes to craft a rare spell book, is they options available for a special way to solve a problem, or for some party builds with an original weaker design.

Then all can be useful but for food/meat. I haven't dig yet a lot the subject but for now it's not clear that food/meat can be useful at all.

[Woodland Outlaw]

Originally posted by Dorok:

It's not about required stuff, but about useful stuff. No way healing potions are required nor any potion nor any scroll nor any food.

The point of those items beside sometimes to craft a rare spell book, is they options available for a special way to solve a problem, or for some party builds with an original weaker design.

Then all can be useful but for food/meat. I haven't dig yet a lot the subject but for now it's not clear that food/meat can be useful at all.

I fully agree with that. Useful stuff! Not junk! As far as I'm concerned if I can craft a meal it will provide a better cash return when sold, than it would selling the individual foods. I sell food all the time, meals, fish and apple pies etc, etc. Along with a lot of other "junk" to merchants who have money. The object being to provide the merchant with an overkill in goods for the purchase of next to nothing. The merchant then has to make up the difference in gold. That is the way to aquire pots of it - 99,999 x 3; plus the float with one of my primary characters who did all of the trading.

[verum.amo]

I guess if you don't find an extra point in intelligence or dexterity useful. In either case, that's an increase of 6% to your offensive rating, and decreased cooldowns and increased effectiveness for those skills. In the case of Elven Stew, getting healing and a Dex buff at the same time, with no negatives, is pretty decent for 3 AP...especially for an expert marksman or scoundrel.

[Woodland Outlaw]

Originally posted by verum.amo:

I guess if you don't find an extra point in intelligence or dexterity useful. In either case, that's an increase of 6% to your offensive rating, and decreased cooldowns and increased effectiveness for those skills. In the case of Elven Stew, getting healing and a Dex buff at the same time, with no negatives, is pretty decent for 3 AP...especially for an expert marksman or scoundrel.

Frankly I still don't think it worth it, if only because the effects of food don't last that long. At least not long enough for my liking. The role of a scoundrel does not fit my play style and on finding two shields more or less back to back that provided +2 constitution as the main bonus of two, my primary archer started to use a sword and shield more and more along with spells. I didn't completely abandon the bow, but it did become a secondary weapon. I even switched Madora over to using a sword and shield at one point, with her two-handed weapon (and a bow), being carried as backup weapons. And then another shield turned up... with a +3 constitution bonus. Jahan boosted the blocking level to 57% and then he added in an essence of all four elements to provide 25% resistance to everything, 5% higher than with the previous shields. On top of that a void essence was also added. I was expecting +1 sneaking when I did that, as with the other shields, but no. Much to my plesant surprise, I get a 25% resistance to Tenebrium instead!?