Getting my ass absolutely spanked!

[Alxndr]

I'm playing on explorer mode and I'm getting completely destroyed xD

Basically every fight I'm on always on fire or in poison, I have to keep spending 2ap walking out of it only to be on fire again the next turn.

When I get into a fight the enemy always has the first move and because my party are moving together, they're close to each other and they both usually always get hit by the enemies first attack.

How important is positioning in this game? Should I really consider using AP to position myself? How does your position help you attack / defend? From what I can see the enemies just attack you wherever you move to.

[Levianne]

You can spread them during exploration in the world (there's a "Formation" option in the pause menu) and you can also tick a field to use those formations at the start of each battle. Drag your party members further away from each other and they shouldn't be in one place when the fight starts.

[ACS36]

Positioning is the most important aspect of combat outside of what skills/builds you're using.

If you're having trouble on explorer chances are there is a lot you don't understand about the game. You might want to read a few newbie guides, or look up some general tips for the game.

There are a number of skills in the game that allows you to teleport your guys where you want them to be after combat starts. Initiative which is increased by wits is the stat you're looking for if you want to act sooner than your enemies. You can also use stealth or line of sight toggle,to deploy your characters to specific position, buff your team, or get the first attack on somebody before you start a fight.

[Alxndr]

Originally posted by ACS36:

Positioning is the most important aspect of combat outside of what skills/builds you're using.

If you're having trouble on explorer chances are there is a lot you don't understand about the game. You might want to read a few newbie guides, or look up some general tips for the game.

There are a number of skills in the game that allows you to teleport your guys where you want them to be after combat starts. Initiative which is increased by wits is the stat you're looking for if you want to act sooner than your enemies. You can also use stealth or line of sight toggle,to deploy your characters to specific position, buff your team, or get the first attack on somebody before you start a fight.

Yeah I think I'm going to have to watch some Youtube videos or something.

My party at the moment is just me and the Red Prince, both level 2 and I went into the frog cave thing in Fort Joy and couldn't defeat the frogs, even after 6 or 7 attempts. Then I fought Thola and can't defeat them either. Both enemy encounters are only level 3 but many I just don't seem to have the damage or HP to to outlast their entire squad of 4 people.

I'll check out some starter guides and see.

[Alxndr]

I just had another go at Thola and I put my caster up on the ledge for +20 damage bonus and -20% received (I think). Then the Red Prince is melee so he has to go in close.

Straight away both party members are on fire, receiving 3 - 4 damage every turn and after the enemies first turn all my physical armour has gone and my HP is starting to get eaten into as well. I must be doing something plain wrong because I can't even seem to kill one enemy before losing one of my guys xD

Are these places dungeons or something? Designed to come back in a few levels or just normal combat scenarios? I thought the 3 crocodiles encounter was hard enough but these other 2 are seemingly impossible for me :D

[Nibbie]

The party size in this game is 4. If you are going with only 2, you want the Lone Wolf perk. Having only two people without lone wolf is just playing at half strength. Recruiting a couple more characters will likely solve your issue.

Also, you can get a lot of xp just from exploration and conversation quests. I think I read you could get to lvl 4 without fighting anything in Fort Joy if you do all the right things, so not even being 3 is big. Level 20 is end game, meaning each and every level you gain means a lot. Being even one level behind an enemy encounter means trouble, and there should always be something to fight at your level (assuming you aren't skipping a bunch of quests or anything). Keeping equipment up to within a couple levels of you is also pretty important as you get further in.

[Alxndr]

Originally posted by Nibbie:

The party size in this game is 4. If you are going with only 2, you want the Lone Wolf perk. Having only two people without lone wolf is just playing at half strength. Recruiting a couple more characters will likely solve your issue.

Also, you can get a lot of xp just from exploration and conversation quests. I think I read you could get to lvl 4 without fighting anything in Fort Joy if you do all the right things, so not even being 3 is big. Level 20 is end game, meaning each and every level you gain means a lot. Being even one level behind an enemy encounter means trouble, and there should always be something to fight at your level (assuming you aren't skipping a bunch of quests or anything). Keeping equipment up to within a couple levels of you is also pretty important as you get further in.

Ah right this might be the issue then, I didn't know you could get 4 characters right away and assumed you encounter them along the story. How do I know if someone is recruitable or not?

[Valrynn the Dragoness]

The only recruitable characters are the starting six, at least, for the point you are at right now.

Also, if you're on fire, while it's good to not stay on fire forever, you don't NEED to walk out of the fire immediately. It's ok to stand in it if you can afford to. If you can kill an enemy in one turn by staying in the fire as opposed to walking out and attacking, just stay in the fire. This isn't an umbrella thing, it'll vary depending on the situation, but I don't usually walk out of the fire if Im on fire unless I really gotta (playing on Classic, currently in Act 4)

You'll probably want to talk to everyone in Fort Joy first before you start getting into fights. Do some quests, maybe get some low end gear.

[kindofabuzz]

Originally posted by Rocket:

Originally posted by Nibbie:

The party size in this game is 4. If you are going with only 2, you want the Lone Wolf perk. Having only two people without lone wolf is just playing at half strength. Recruiting a couple more characters will likely solve your issue.

Also, you can get a lot of xp just from exploration and conversation quests. I think I read you could get to lvl 4 without fighting anything in Fort Joy if you do all the right things, so not even being 3 is big. Level 20 is end game, meaning each and every level you gain means a lot. Being even one level behind an enemy encounter means trouble, and there should always be something to fight at your level (assuming you aren't skipping a bunch of quests or anything). Keeping equipment up to within a couple levels of you is also pretty important as you get further in.

Ah right this might be the issue then, I didn't know you could get 4 characters right away and assumed you encounter them along the story. How do I know if someone is recruitable or not?

By talking to them.

[rasmasyean]

You can use this thing called a Water Balloon and Rain Scroll.
Part of being successful in combat is knowing counters. That causes this. This cancels that. But that enhances this. etc. A huge part of fighting is checking and reading the statuses, and finding out a way to deal with it. Sometimes this means moving out of a surface, sometimes it means it's better to endure it. There are also assortments of potions and herbs and stuff that set and counter statuses as well. You can find them or make them with recipes you find (or use a guide if you want). I think of it as a sort of complex rock-paper-scissor game. The more you know about each tool, the better you will fare against the enemies.

[BenSt88]

Sounds like you created a custom PC, and recruited the Red Prince. He's 1 of 6 recruitable/usable PCs that were on the ship. They're all in and around Fort Joy to recruit. Beast is along the shore; Sebille is just on the outskirts of the Fort; don't remember where Fane is b/c I'm playing him as my main this time; Lohse & Ifan are right next to one another in the Fort main square.

[Levianne]

Originally posted by BenSt88:

don't remember where Fane is b/c I'm playing him as my main this time; Lohse & Ifan are right next to one another in the Fort main square.

Fane's in the hidden alcove, where you teleport Gavin.

[AsianGirlLover]

If you’re still having issues and are down for some co-op, add me. I’m on central standard time.

Otherwise, it would be a good idea to recruit a full party or at least get the lone wolf perk if you plan on only traveling with one companion. I’d advise against lone wolf for your first playthrough, but it’s up to you.

[Alxndr]

Originally posted by kindofabuzz:

Originally posted by Rocket:

Ah right this might be the issue then, I didn't know you could get 4 characters right away and assumed you encounter them along the story. How do I know if someone is recruitable or not?

By talking to them.

There's dozens of NPCs though, I don't mind taking my time in a game but I also don't really want to have to talk to every NPC in the entire game just to see if they're recruitable or not, isn't there a tell tale sign that you can recruit them without having to talk to them?

[Levianne]

When your on board the very first ship, they are all in one room, you can talk to them there, or just ignore them, but look at them and memorize, what they look like (and no, they won't join you at that time yet) for later in Fort Joy.

[rasmasyean]

Originally posted by Rocket:

Originally posted by kindofabuzz:

By talking to them.

There's dozens of NPCs though, I don't mind taking my time in a game but I also don't really want to have to talk to every NPC in the entire game just to see if they're recruitable or not, isn't there a tell tale sign that you can recruit them without having to talk to them?

Talking to NPC's is a key part of the game. So much emphasis on it is given that like every single NPC is voice acted with custom dialog. Not sure if they are all by different people or some "change their voice", but that's one of the things about this game.

Anyway's this is how you get quests and figure out what you are doing. It's actually kind of hard and ambiguous sometimes as you would need to read their little books and letters and signs and whatever as well (sometimes multiple times unless you have perfect memory) to play the game truly legit and not use the internet. It's part of the immersion because it's not really just a fighting game (that's just a side thing that many ppl enjoy too), but its and RPG where to experience it fully, even the DEV's suggest you choose a Origin character. And it will take multiple runs taking you on different branches. And if you don't talk to the NPC's you might not know what's going on. If you don't read the stuff (besides internet) you don't get clues on how to beat monsters and such.