Struggling a Bit to Play This Game

[jscott]

I find this game incredibly hard. So hard, that I think I'm doing something very basic wrong. Basically, it seems that I'm underleveled and undergeared, but I have no idea how to catch up.

1. I just finished Junktown and am moving to the Dig (so I have Monika and Gnolan). Monika is level 14, Gnolan is level 13, Gully is level 13, Cal is level 12, and Garrison is level 11. The enemies around the Dig are level 13, and the ones in the Dig are up to level 15 so far.

How on Earth do I catch up? Replay Junktown? This has been a problem for a while but it's gotten worse with 5 characters and only 3 earning XP at any given time.

2. Where do you get gear? Do you buy it? Get lucky finding it? All the gear I get in normal dungeons is pretty crappy. And when I can get the legendary rewards, it's behind my levels. I paid to upgrade the blacksmith once, but he rarely has anything usable (and it seems like he only ever has 2 things of my level in stock at any given time).

3. Should I be using potions all the time? This is an area where I wonder if I'm doing it wrong. I basically never have potions. I rely on healing with Gnolan or Cal.

4. What is a basic combat strategy? Should I be using abilities even when it consumes mana? Should I be using basic attacks? More defensive moves? I read somewhere that the game is a cakewalk if you use Taunt with Gully but I haven't figured out what would make that true.

Thanks!

[Koby]

Levels really don't matter as much as you'd think. Game caps out at level 30.

The key to this game is fishing. Fish EVERY chance you get. Turn the fish in for Shadow Coins and spend all your coins on Perk Point Books.

Proper Perk setup will make or break the game so you'll want as many Perk Points as possible as quick as possible.

By the time you hit around level 16, Gully should be capable of making large damage shields and taunting enemies to the point that your party's HP rarely gets touched at all. Meanwhile Garrison will have high critical rates (around 30% is fairly easy to accomplish) to easily one shot everything the game tosses at him on the chance that he crits. While Bretto is there to keep status effects healed and dish out a little bit of damage inbetween.

If you're not needing heals much, you could even swap out Bretto for Monica for that double dps... but I found Bretto just synergized better and often required wiping out debuff status effects.

Honestly it is recommended playing each dungeon twice. Play it first at whatever difficulty you feel comfortable with... then immediately replay it at the highest difficulty option available. You should be able to breeze through it and this way you stay at a good level while also getting loot required for good crafting.

2. Mostly you'll find and enchant things to make them better within the dungeons.

3. I don't think I ever used any potions in any of my playthroughs of the game. Rarely ever took damage.

4. Easiest way to cheese the game is Gully + Garrison + Callibretto. They work best together and outshine the rest of the playable characters by far. Gully is your tank with protective damage shields and taunts. Garrison is your dps capable of one shotting everything in his path. Bretto is your status healer.

Garrison is a glass canon. Without Gully he'll just die all the time.

Gully gets insane levels of HP plus with her ability to add massive damage shields you pretty much never see your HP get touched. In my plays Gully is capable of keeping damage shields up faster than the enemies can tear through them... Plus Garrison by end game was doing such massive damage I legitimately one shot the final boss by nearly double it's HP. I have been told the devs nerfed the game though since then so I'm not sure how drastically things were altered.

[jscott]

This all makes sense.

You must be using a lot of mana potions then, right? You can't be relying on overcharge for Gully's damage shields.

This is where I think I'm playing wrong. I don't think I've ever even used a mana potion.

Although I've also never fished.

[Nero]

I'd like to disagree here a lil bit.

But at first: Yes, the perks in this game (and therefore the perk books) are VERY important.
(the same thing goes for the Bestiary perks)
So it's probably a good idea to redo dungeons until you have found every lore-entry set to (most of the time) Perk Books.
Also: Search the world map for dead ends and look for the spots mentioned on treasure maps if you found some.

Secondly: There is actually no point in leveling two teams, unless you want to farm eg. money, materials, etc. (or are playing NG+ and need a certain character for a specific fight)
It's actually one of the few weak points of the game, that the bench doesn't get Exp at all (a third or so would be fair imo) and also can't be equipped.
If you really want to level the "B-Team", rest at the Inn an grind the world-map enemies. If you haven't found all lore-entries in a specific dungeon you could also use your B-Team for another run

Third: The game has certain points where stuff changes drastically gameplay-wise. For example when Gully learns taunt, Alumon learns Sanguine Embrace, Knolan getting his perk where he does ridicolous amounts of damage with high Mana, reaching certain milestones perkwise (basically every Overcharge-Perk, those who stack).
Until this point there may be some harsh parts (or at least "semi-harsh)

Fourth and most important: Status-stuff like bleed, poison, ignite, etc. is SUPER STRONG in this game.

Fifth: Your party should contain a character with a perk like "patch-up" (small healing after each fight. This is mandatory for long dungeon runs.

Six: If you have the money use buff-food all the time, esp for bosses.


BTW: Did you do the Hunts available before the Dig? (That Fire-Lord, That slime below the Inn, etc.)?


So, my disagreement with Koby:
The best party in this game doesn't include Calibretto nor Gully.
Gully isn't needed with the right setup and only slows things down.
Bretto may have the best def. Burst with his level 1 Burst. But he isn't that broken than another character.
His heals are HoT's mostly and in his game i's more about avoiding damage spikes.
And a Team of Gully, Garrison and Bretto is slooow in killing things.
Bretto has a time, where you could buy a special weapon for him for shadow coins. He's good for a while with this thing but in the other hand: Better buy perk books.

The best party for a fast ad chilled playthrough is Garrison, Red Monika and Alumon.
This party is so much faster in killing things, esp trash mobs.

Red Monika's Wild Shot is basically two normal attacks, which can crit both.
Wild Shot randomly hits stealthed targets btw.
Her 1st and 3rd Bursts are both super broken, use the first for fights against one enemy and the later (when you have it) against groups (like those airship fights).
She can mend debuffs with her Cleansing Bomb, throw Fire Bombs to ignite enemies (see above, it's great and also allows shenanigans with Alumons Boiling Blood, which auto-crits on burning enemies and there's a perk that heals the most damaged party member if Alumon crits).
And then there is Execute, which is a broken move and comes a bit late.
But even her normal Chimera Sting is good for bosses, just for its random debuff.

Once Alumon has the Sanguine Embrace it'll be your main tool for healing AND shielding, since the overheal creates a shield.
Once you reach the point where Alumon has 60+ Perk points in both trees you have his stacking overcharge perk for times, which means: +80% healing (and shielding) done for 10 Overcharge used.
This means either +80% if you Sanguine Embrace after one Shadow Whip attack (his normal attack) or even +160% if you use it after two Shadow Whip attacks.
Since Shadow Whip also ups the attack by 20% and healing/shielding uses attack power for the calculation we're talking about ridiculous numbers here.
(I know: 60 points in each tree i kinda NG+ though, but having 60 in one and still grabbing the perks directly in the tree relates to +60%/+ 120% - and this can be done easily in a normal playthrough)
NEVER use Soul Shard for something else than one-shotting trashmobs, even with its perk, since it reduces the power of the next attack/heal.
- Alumon doesn't need anything else and the rest kinda sucks anyway (dungeon skills, weak Bursts besides Blood Frenzy, which can be bonkers)

Garrison just breaks the game anyway.
"How much does he break the game?" you ask?
Well: https://i.imgur.com/052n8Ns.gif
Let them bleed, gather some Overcharge and then either Rage Wave (II) for groups or Warblade (II) for a single enemy.
If you really want to spit into the face of some enemy: Use his second burst and afterwards Berserk and start laughing.