Solo vs party game

[EolSunder]

Well just something i was thinking about. I realized that between playing solo and with a party, that even if you want to use a party of characters in the game, its better to actually play solo for probably the good first half or so then pick up your final party members later. What i mean is this..

You have 8 slots, 1 is your main of course. That leaves 7 npcs you can pick up as you play. Many players do the old "switch" routine when they find a new npc, see who they can replace and drop an old party member to put in the much better one. Later on your npcs you find can have 30ish in their speciality area (melee/range, etc) where your current members might have 15, since you have 8 party members dividing up the experience.

Then I realized that me letting early game party members gain experience was a waste of time, since i was going to drop them later in the game for better npcs i find. All that experience wasted when my main character could have been gaining it by playing more solo. So then of course i realized that early game npcs should be there just for healing and carrying stuff while your main gets the experience, once you get your "final 8" party members then they can be use for fighting. Anything other than that just gives experience to party members you are going to drop off at the side of the road as you play. Waste of experience.

ULORA . basic
GYORN . basic
RUSK . basic
NAIDI . basic
ZED . basic
GLOERN 5 melee
KRODUK 8 melee
LORUN 9 combat
MERIK 13 nature
PHAEDERIEL 17 ranged
AMDIEMUS 24 nature
BORYEV 18 melee 34 combat
RHUT 38 melee
SIKRA 20 nature 38 combat
ULFGRIM melee 39
LORD BOLINGHAR melee 43


So you can see, from this you can probably work out what your other 7 party members will be and maybe plan ahead. Probably the first 5 or so npcs you get you won't have later in the game, so maybe just use them as pack mules and basic healers so your main gets experience, then later when you get other characters they can actually be used normally for fighting. The last couple, Ulfgrim and Lord you don't get till very late, so you also might just leave them out of the equasion.

So, if i was a melee main going to be the tank of the party, i might want my final party of me, with 7 archer/mage types as backup to keep me healed and for boosts, and killing foes at a safe distance while i draw the attacks. So I don't need melee characters later, ignoring ulfgrim, lord, rhut. That leaves 13. My final party will probably be

Sikra, boryev, amdiemus, phaedriel, merik, lorun, and 1 other. Since i get ulora first seems like the best fit, so can get exp from the start and still will be in my party at end-game. Need an archer so Ulora will be an archer. I'll use the other npcs as healers/mules until i get the final ones, which then will function as normal party member. This way, my main will be slightly more ahead since they are getting any experience that any party member would get in normal playing, and none will be wasted on characters that i'll be dropping at the first sign of someone better.

Just a thought.

[Duck]

True, this may make the game easier. I came to the same conclusion when I did a playthrough where I hired the first 7 people I came across. I noticed I was starting to be under-levelled so I disbanded half my party and carried on with just 3-4 people. I realized I would have been in a better position if I never hired the others in the first place.

But you know if you want more exp for your main, you can just export them to multiplayer once you're done the SP campaign and play on veteran mode. You can just play by yourself on LAN if nothing else but there are some people still trying to get games going online through hamachi or tcp/ip.

[Twobei]

I always try to keep the group small, but having more members is a lot more safe.
With a good amount of close quarter fighters you will have an easy time at first, but then they get a little underleveled and it gets normal difficulty again.
What I usually did was getting a combat mage, a nature mage, an archer and a tank (or even two), it's a fairly safe way imo :P
But what I go for usually is just get Ulora, Gyorn, Gloern and then Phaedriel etc etc... Just let the group grow together with the progress of your current safe file and you have a fairly good time.

[Chibi_Sixes]

Thanks for this, i was, well im one of the people that sees an npc thinking that i wont see an other one ever again xD Now im getting through the game, first time, still i can see ur point. Thanks for this tip and, as a first timer i can now see who the rest of these party members will be, i can get a rough idea of what my final team will be. Thanks a lot ^^

[*Caçador de GaMbOzInOs*]

Never tried before but if you said is true it's possible to kill the spider boss in Wesrin Cross with a single character? Usually i struggle a lot with Ulora, Naidi, Rusk and Gyorn and mine of course, 4 Meele and one Ranged.

[ZanyScum]

I think it is a great post and I am thankful for the information.
But: I will ignore it.
I am playing a RPG, not some meta game where I optimize numbers. When I encounter a NPC, I don't think, "hey, you are bytes and I only see your level and XP", instead I see a person who wants to travel together with me and fight the enemies.

[Crinlorite]

I had the same problem, tried at first picking into my group to everyone and I became under levered when I reach the goblin factory.

Now I will try a more slow paced game with less group members.

[Tr4nsist0r]

I was quite happy to see other people having the same ideas here. But yeah, thats the "problem" with dungeon siege combat systems. Im just here to add a few things if u really wanna max out effiency:

Play as a tank
1. get ZED
1. 1 get 2 Mules (thats the 1:1 ratio with droping items, u can always carry everything until the next shop)

2. get LORUN 9 combat-HEALER (only healing)
3. get MERIK 13 nature-HEALER (only healing)

4. get AMDIEMUS 24 nature-HEALER (only healing)
5. get BORYEV 18 melee 34 combat-booster (spell: hit 3 with one hit)

6. get rid of one mule, so u can add:
6.1 get SIKRA 20 nature 38 combat-booster (spell: hit 3 with one hit)

7. get rid of the last mule, so u can add:
7.1 get LORD BOLINGHAR melee 43

8, Tactic:
Your 2 Tanks rush into enemies, getting boosted by booth combat mages with that spell, hitting up to 6 enemies at one(u dont lose exp here). The nature mages use wind of healing etc.

Helpful: Just dont forget to pick up every ♥♥♥♥♥♥ loot, so u have enough money to buy always the very best and also most expensive gear. Save some early gear with good bonus attributes, mostly bows giving +35 mana etc, gloves with +1 to nature etc, u can use them later on on the rest of your party, cause the stuff u find then will have too high agility requirements.

9 and final:
Enjoy the final fight and get ready to being pissed cause the steam versions cut scene doesnt trigger..

10. Play Dungeon Siege 2 :D

[landis73]

I just play solo. Superpowers.

[Matthew]

The xp requirements for levels rises exponentially and all of that xp you think you are saving by soloing the first half of the game amounts to almost nothing by the end.

http://ds.heavengames.com/library/numbersgame.html

This website lists the exact numbers. If you don't trust the link, you can just google search for something similar and it will come up.

If you were to solo a character all the way to level 30, it only amounts to 1, maybe 2 more levels at the end of the game. This is likely intentional by the developers for the exact reason of allowing players to pick up or drop NPC's along the way without needing to game their system. Whether you have Ulora "steal" some xp or not won't matter in the long run, your characters are going to end up at roughly the same level by the end.

Yes, I realize it is an old thread, but seems to be bumped recently and just replying for anyone else who wanders by. If you want to do this for the fun of it, go on ahead, but it is completely unnecessary to do otherwise.

[Blue]

IMO playing with a party is more fun than solo which is why I enjoyed the game far more once my character had companions I had to control. I paid gold for Lorun to join my party and bought pack mules Flare and Mabel to store the gear found along the way but the rest of my party were characters who volunteered to join as the game progressed. My only swaps during the game were the pack mules for Sikra and Lord Bolingar respectively.

My final party members on completion of the game were my character, Ulora, Gyorn, Gloern, Lorun, Merik, Sikra and Lord Bolingar.

For my next playthrough, I want to reduce my party by half to reduce the spread of the xp and gain more xp for my smaller party of characters so they can use some of the higher level armour, weapons and spells that I never got to use when I had a full party. Solo is not something that really interests me as I enjoy the party-based RPG elements of the game.

[Shahadem]

Originally posted by ZanyScum:

I think it is a great post and I am thankful for the information.
But: I will ignore it.
I am playing a RPG, not some meta game where I optimize numbers. When I encounter a NPC, I don't think, "hey, you are bytes and I only see your level and XP", instead I see a person who wants to travel together with me and fight the enemies.

While I see games the same way, game developers usually do not.

They absolutely do often balance and design the game around the optimum metagame strategy.