How long did it take you to beat the game with 1 BC?

[andrewb]

Because I have 64 hours playtime and I still can't beat the game with one Boss Cell. I got to the last boss two times but I always lose all flask charges in the castle and since there is no recharge before the last boss...

[Phirestar]

I'm not sure specifically, but my guess would be at least 70 hours. (Probably more.)

And bear in mind, this was also when...

1. The Time Keeper was still the final boss; Castle / HotK were still a month away from release
   
2. There were no Rise of the Giant enemies, like Knife Throwers
   
3. No health fountains had been removed in 1BC, yet.

So you're doing way better than I ever had.

[andrewb]

Originally posted by Phirestar:

I'm not sure specifically, but my guess would be at least 70 hours. (Probably more.)

And bear in mind, this was also when...

1. The Time Keeper was still the final boss; Castle / HotK were still a month away from release
   
2. There were no Rise of the Giant enemies, like Knife Throwers
   
3. No health fountains had been removed in 1BC, yet.

So you're doing way better than I ever had.

Well, that made me feel a little better about myself but it's still kinda depressing. Considering I read that the jumps in difficulty from 1bc up are even more ridiculous, it's very...disheartening. Makes me not want to play anymore since even if I do beat 1bc, I'm never gonna be able to complete the game anyway.

[Phirestar]

Originally posted by andrewb:

Originally posted by Phirestar:

I'm not sure specifically, but my guess would be at least 70 hours. (Probably more.)

And bear in mind, this was also when...

1. The Time Keeper was still the final boss; Castle / HotK were still a month away from release
   
2. There were no Rise of the Giant enemies, like Knife Throwers
   
3. No health fountains had been removed in 1BC, yet.

So you're doing way better than I ever had.

Well, that made me feel a little better about myself but it's still kinda depressing. Considering I read that the jumps in difficulty from 1bc up are even more ridiculous, it's very...disheartening. Makes me not want to play anymore since even if I do beat 1bc, I'm never gonna be able to complete the game anyway.

I wouldn't worry about beating the higher difficulties as a part of "completing" the game. For the most part, the higher difficulties are merely just challenge modes for the sake of wanting to push yourself further. (And if you do find it unejoyable, you have the option of going into Custom Mode and tweaking the game to make it easier, should you desire. You can even restore the health fountains.)

Up until Rise of the Giant added the skin system, I think that getting the Acceptance blueprint in 3BC was pretty much the only tangible reward for playing past Regular mode. And as far as the super-secret 5BC content is concerned, I wouldn't be surprised if it was made more accessible. As it stands, only a tiny fraction, of a fraction, of a fraction of people that have beaten the game even once will ever actually be able to reach it. I seriously doubt it will stay that way - a whole chunk of content that almost nobody will get to experience.

Although at the same time, perhaps taking a temporary break could also help. When the DLC came out, and I began trying out 4BC, I got to a point where I had felt genuine hatred toward the game. I stopped playing for maybe a month or so, and when I came back I began to play much better and calmer, and it felt so much more manageable and fun to play again.

[Gem of Temporarity]

40-something hours in the same conditions as Phirestar.

[Tiny Tyrant]

Like, around 60 or 70 probably? I didn't beat 1BC until Rise of The Giant was released, so I dealt with Knife Throwers and the like.

Tbh, it's honestly more about grinding than how "good" you are at this point. Trust me, once you grind the forge enough and start getting a lot of ++ item spawns, it makes it a whole lot easier to beat 1BC.

[OverRide]

Originally posted by Gnodab:

Tyrant makes a good point. How many upgrades you have, and particularly how strong your weapons are, makes a huge difference in how hard each difficulty is.

I'm of the opinion that the caps to each Legendary Forge weapon tier are extremely generous. You can beat 1BC with just + weapons, perhaps upgrading your main hand to ++ later in the game for an extra damage boost.

However, get an understanding of why you're taking so much damage in the Castle. Play safer if you have to. Learn all the attack timings of every enemy and how to approach them. If you have trouble with the Elites, fight the easier ones and avoid the Slasher, for instance. He's always in the blue room. Clear out the earlier biomes for scrolls, Legendary weapons and gold.

Make sure you have around 16-20 in your main stat by the time you hit the Castle. Also upgrade your weapons every 2-3 biomes, or you'll fall behind.

It'll save you a lot of headache later the more you learn about the game now, because 2BC is significantly harder, and is where most people get really stuck.

Just finished 2BC, Survival build

And I can say 20 is an amount where I wouldn't have ANY CHANCES against HOTK. Finished the game with stats: 7:4:28 and it was very difficult, mainly because of my pairing abilities and Nutcracker (Broadsword is much better imo, not to mention Giant Killer), Wolf Trap was pretty useless, and overall synergy if any lacked in power, no good DPS at all)

But that's mainly my fault, rushing and no patience because I was trying quickly finish 2BC again, to obtain 3BC, as I did it in alpha,

So I don't know, with 20 survival I would have to be able to parry all the HOTK attacks and pray to God about giving me some miracle abilities.... Where at the moment it's insane to even think about it, and don't reallly understand how to parry his charge attack? I can see I parried, but he's still going further and pushing me into the spikes, is it normal? Dodge in this case would work much better.

Now with upgraded forge, I can focus on finishing upgrading ++ in forge and hunting some last BP, which I don't have at the moment. And maybe try melee/tactics again. I wanted to learn how to parry and so on, but this need some really good skill and patience anyway...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1752874178

[andrewb]

Where do you guys even get that many scrolls? I always explore everywhere and usually end up with about 18 points in my main stat if I remember correctly. BTW the build I'm trying out in custom mode now is Heavy Crossbow + Explosive Crossbow + double crossb-o-matic + sinew slicer, for mutations I get Ammo, Support and Emergency Triage. I tried Hokuto's Bow with the Heavy Crossbow before but I felt like I needed a more reliable ranged weapon so I went with Explosive Crossbow. There isn't really any synergy but I like the way the weapons feel and it seems like it has a really good DPS...

[Crowrevell]

i played in EA and that was a different game. in fact, it's been a different game about 4 times. frost bow used to cheese every boss. And mutations and unlocks changed on how to get it's tough to even make a suggestion because what i just "got" might now have all sorts of hoops to jump through. I find survival the most forgiving because of the healing. hunter's bow/big grenades in custom mode with rampart shield is solid. I think you almost have to go custom mode on the harder difficulties because so many weapons just don't get the job done or don't have synergies.

[rad]

I managed to beat 1BC after around 30 hours, a parry build and taking things nice and slow helped immensely.

[OverRide]

Originally posted by Crowrevell:

i played in EA and that was a different game. in fact, it's been a different game about 4 times. frost bow used to cheese every boss. And mutations and unlocks changed on how to get it's tough to even make a suggestion because what i just "got" might now have all sorts of hoops to jump through. I find survival the most forgiving because of the healing. hunter's bow/big grenades in custom mode with rampart shield is solid. I think you almost have to go custom mode on the harder difficulties because so many weapons just don't get the job done or don't have synergies.

I would say go opposite. Launch normal mode, pick your main stat, and try any weapons you want to, and see how you feel with them, how they are balance, what DPS is, I find many weapons very satysfing to use, where at first glance they look pretty boring and useless. It's not really, you can use most of the stuff in-game as a real weapon, just every gear plays differently and need various playstyle techniques. Try not lo limit yourself to 1-2 weapons, which is kinda boring after some time.

I beat 2BC recently on normal mode, to see what game has to offer, and quite frankly, gameplay is different than I would remember it after buying a game - just after Pimp my Ride release, lots of changes guys.

Originally posted by andrewb:

Look at the progression map in Ray.G Explorers guide to pick optimal route, and don't forget to pick all the Cursed chests, as well try to look for the hidden challenges (portals opened by a hidden rune on a floor). Of course on 0BC few chests will be unacessible for you, as they are sealed by bsc doors which you can;t open yet... And every ++ weapon will give you single point to some color (depends on the weapon), where S class, max. what you can push out of the gear, can give +2 scrolls.

Later, starting game on higher bsc levels, will give you starting weapons on higher level, as well upgraded (like 2+ or 3++ Twin Daggers and so on).

So having all S-rated weapons, it's +8 to your stat, not to forget about necklaces, which also can give you 1-3 of stats and various affixes. So, don't forget to upgrade your forge, if you unlocked the gear you like (don't spend cells at the collector, save them, by breaking the doors after every level, and put them into the Forge after main boss fights). This really gives huge boost, especially when starting a new run.

//Ohh, and don't forget about 30/60 kill streaks, this are often mandatory, at least in my case, without them, my stats and gear sucks. If you can't achieve 60-kill, at least finish the first biome, with 30-kill streak. It's very important. Don't give a ♥♥♥♥ about time, try to clear the level, pick all the scrolls, open chests and so on.. Don't rush. It's not a speedrun. Run from the screenshot above which I uploaded, was like 3hours or something, lol. But I cleared all the levels out of everything, secrets and so on. Almost no damage on most levels at all, except the boss fights and High Peak Castle.

[Bawta]

I'm currently at 19 hours still trying to beat it with one cell. I keep getting cheese in the sewers though so I've not gotten very far yet. I've beat the Concierge once.

[OverRide]

Originally posted by Bawta:

I'm currently at 19 hours still trying to beat it with one cell. I keep getting cheese in the sewers though so I've not gotten very far yet. I've beat the Concierge once.

Toxic sewers are quite hard starting a game, Ancient sewers are easier really. If you have a problems, stay on Promenade for now, and next one Ossuary, if you canm which is one of the easiest biomes to play. Go to Prison Depths if you have a good gear, it's always additional scroll and maybe some gear, if not, some cells and money extra, which are always needed.

Ramparts now tho, are much more complicated, more difficult and a longer run all together, than I remember in 1.0/1.1....

[andrewb]

OK so I just beat it, mostly because I just acquired the Heavy Turret blueprint and they are so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing. I had a lot more stat points than before since I was a little more confident with cursed chests and I also found some of the portal challenge rooms. I went to the Hand of The King with full health and full flask and I killed him super quick, he barely touched me.

[OverRide]

Originally posted by Gnodab:

I never took any Cursed chests on 1BC back in the day, I was terrified of them back then lol. They are completely optional for 1BC, although if you're confident you can remove the curse without too much trouble they definitely give you a boost.

The 16-20 scroll number was just an estimate, as it's been ages since I've played 1BC and I'm used to playing with gear that gives me anything from 8-14 extra primary stat.

If you end up in the Castle or fighting the Hand with 18 primary stat, that sounds fine for 1BC. Upgrade your gear before the fight, swap out your mutations for defensive ones, etc. Learning the Hand's attacks should be your biggest concern though.

It heavily depends on your playstyle and expierience with it - is it tactics, survival and so on. I just unlocked Magic Missiles, with Hunting Grenade, 0BC, quick rush to caverns and, having like 20 tactics, o man, HoTK was smashed like a fly, were on the paper DPS wasn't so good - about 6k or something, but speed and quick stun after getting hit... I don't know if the battle was 15 seconds in length, Battle went from 1st stage to last one straight away, with single enemy wave, which dissapeared faster than they spawned, lol. One of my favourites weapon right away, and so damn satysfying.

And having this enemies, even on 0BC in Caverns, means you can unlock War Javelin, Giant Killer, Boys Axe, Schrapnel Axe, Magic Missiles or Flawless just after killing HoTK for the first time. Kinda neat, although one of the shields or Berskerker mutation is still locked in 5BSC AFAIK.... (or they show up in easier bsc levels?)

[OverRide]

Originally posted by Gnodab:

Berserker is locked to 4BC, if you're talking about Thunder Shield that's locked to 5BC. But yeah, the new weapons are all really good, except War Javelin. That thing is way too restrictive. Even Spartan Sandals are more versatile.

I agree, it a throw would be like a secondary type of attach for some similar weapon, that's fine. But this thing takes one slot for main weapon, dealing average damage, if you have luck hitting guys and push them to the wall, it's much better, but still. This doesn''t happen often, and more time you're spending on running left to right to pick it up, than actualy dealing damage.

I know it's not made as a main weapon, but still - any shield is 20x more useful imho. Only good thing I see when throwed it sweep all the enemies on the way, like the *pierce all the enemies* affix, but otherwise, average weapon at best.

If the range would be 2-3x larger, not worse than a bow, when it barely make it to the edge of the screen, then I can see it would be helpful in many situations, but right now, big nono for me, at least for now.