Builds / Skillpoint Investments

[Stübi Senpai]

So I was curious what kind of builds you guys been running, and where you put your skillpoints.

I put a few hours into the game first to see how skillchecks worked, and whether there was a bias in checks (You know, if there are way too many Int checks but barely any End or something like that).

Now that I've done this and wanted to make a proper first run, I'm struck with crippling "Dunno what to do". I'm pretty sure I would lean towards high Intellect, since I dislike my character acting like an absolute moron (The game already pushes you into that spot enough without the char being ACTUALLY stupid). Considering that you can die, I'm a little wary of letting health / sanity be below 2, but then I'm not sure how kill happy the game is. I ran into 3 random injuries, but I might have just been unlucky.

Other than that, which stat / attribute is linked to the slots for your thought cabinet? I managed to start with 6 slots instead of 2 with a character, but I'm not sure whether it's linked to Psyche or something else. Considering the stuff costs 1 SP each, I feel like starting with more seems like a good investment.


Also, unrelated to the topic at hand, but might as well ask two story related things:

How do you get the corpse down? The two kids wouldn't climb the ladders for me, and after I missed the shots I didn't have any other options left.

Can you pay cafeteria guy without seeling your partners stuff? I assume it has consequences later down the line if you rely on him to pay for your debt.

[Sisyphus]

I'd highly recommend either LARPing a real-life detective, or finding an approach you think you might take yourself. The way the thought cabinet with its modifiers and skills, clothes/drugs, finding things out all modify skill checks with bonuses and drawbacks that you can't predict without metagaming. I don't think trying to game the checks is an enjoyable or necessary way to play.

Basically, if you hit a brick wall somewhere, do something else, level up, put a point in the related skill and come back.

I've gone a 4/4/2/2 build, focusing on logic and visual calculus. Splashing out for some empathy. Basically just going for a Sherlock Holmes "want to deduce what is going on" type. After putting 2 skill points into my 'core' skills, I focused on adding more thought cabinet slots, since that's where the most interesting stuff happens with your character.

[Tryust]

if you ask the uni boss, he'll send someone take the corps down for you

there is an option to ask money from the rich negociator on the boat (ouest of the map ), if you ask for the 130 real, she'll give them to you

[RodHull]

Originally posted by Sisyphus:

I'd highly recommend either LARPing a real-life detective, or finding an approach you think you might take yourself. The way the thought cabinet with its modifiers and skills, clothes/drugs, finding things out all modify skill checks with bonuses and drawbacks that you can't predict without metagaming. I don't think trying to game the checks is an enjoyable or necessary way to play.

Totally agree, and Im a terminal metagamer. When rpgs bore me (so mostly always) I resort to metagaming cause frankly if a plot isnt holding my interest i just want to find a way through it asap.

What this game does is so clever in that the writing is so good when I fail it feels natural like a proper PNP rpg of yesteryear. I consider other ideas or approaches. I mean I am playing a physical character tried punching the kid and rolled a double 1 fell on my a*** nearly died of heart failure but rather than reload I let it play out and it ended up being like 20 mins of plot and reading Id never have found if the punch had landed. Was glorious...

[Sisyphus]

Yeah, they do a good job making sure fail states don't end runs (which would be annoying with dice rolls) and actually add humour and enjoyment in their own right.

[Aria Athena]

This is the only game I may save scum so I can see what happens if I fail.

[Nokturnal]

The "optimal" way seems to just be a jack of all trades instead of heavily investing in or dumping any one stat. The % chance differences to succeed/fail don't change by too much depending on your skill level and you're penalized for heavily investing into any one thing. Though, I agree with the people who say "failing is fun," problem is, there's a lot of game breaking bugs and being unable to proceed with the main story because you failed too many checks seems a bit flawed....

[owl]

I'm investing heavily in Motorics skills. Perception, savoir faire (or whatever it's called), stuff like that. Dipping into intellect as well. What I've ended up with is an extremely effective detective, but one who barely has a handle on his own sanity, and is completely incapable of empathizing with others -- except his partner, thanks to the police relationship skill and bonuses toward empathy with Kim.

[AliceWalker]

Originally posted by Sisyphus:

Yeah, they do a good job making sure fail states don't end runs (which would be annoying with dice rolls) and actually add humour and enjoyment in their own right.

Exept where you get explicit game overs from certain innocuous actions like saying nice car in the beginning for certain builds losing u morale leading to the under bridge game over.
I like consequences and cause and affect but it does seem a little too random and wacky for the sake of wackiness,especially when the game goes out of its way to switch from super serious to crazy every other line of dialogue does get jarring some times.

[owl]

Originally posted by slicewalker:

Originally posted by Sisyphus:

Yeah, they do a good job making sure fail states don't end runs (which would be annoying with dice rolls) and actually add humour and enjoyment in their own right.

Exept where you get explicit game overs from certain innocuous actions like saying nice car in the beginning for certain builds losing u morale leading to the under bridge game over.
I like consequences and cause and affect but it does seem a little too random and wacky for the sake of wackiness,especially when the game goes out of its way to switch from super serious to crazy every other line of dialogue does get jarring some times.

This is mostly only a problem in the early game. Once you get even two morale bars, that problem sorta goes away, at least from what I've seen.

[Dan]

Remember that when an action causes you to lose your last health/morale bar, you have a brief moment to pop some meds using the buttons in the bottom left corner.

[Tremere]

Originally posted by slicewalker:

Originally posted by Sisyphus:

Yeah, they do a good job making sure fail states don't end runs (which would be annoying with dice rolls) and actually add humour and enjoyment in their own right.

Exept where you get explicit game overs from certain innocuous actions like saying nice car in the beginning for certain builds losing u morale leading to the under bridge game over.
I like consequences and cause and affect but it does seem a little too random and wacky for the sake of wackiness,especially when the game goes out of its way to switch from super serious to crazy every other line of dialogue does get jarring some times.

I didn't make it out of my apartment the first time. I didn't even walk 20 feet. I turned on the light and died. Who would have thought turning on a ceiling fan lamp would do 1 point of damage and kill me?

[Stübi Senpai]

I've now finished the game, thanks for the input folks.

As for the random health loss, honestly I have no idea why the game felt the need to have death in the first place. It's in a lot of random locations and seemingly only there to justify the existence of the Endurance and Volition Stats. ANd considering the game is very picky with autosaves, it usually just means annihilating half an hour or more of progress and then having to redo a lot of conversations.

Btw, if anybody wants my two cents on what Character to play: I would prolly recommend a high Int character, something like 5/3/2/2 or 4/4/2/2. There is some stuff in the game that would probably make 0 sense to me if I didn't have the Int bubbles pop up to explain stuff.

Also, don't invest in thought cabinet slots too much. They mostly increase caps with very little way to tell what they actually do, which I feel like is pretty useless most of the time.

[MrMurLock]

My current playthrough involves being a Sherlock holmes type detective, very intelligent and perceptive, but horrible social skills and health due to drug abuse.
I'm hoping to try out a more physical, gut-feeling type detective sorta like John Mc Clane from Die Hard.

[Dirty Wizard]

I made my own character, I started off with a 4 intellect, 2 psyche, 3 physical, and 3 motorskills. Seems to have fit my playstyle quite well because I don't tend to rely on emotion or empathy much and I like threatening people and beating people up yet still being quite materialistically intelligent.

[Rebus Sohal]

Went with 2 Int, 4 psy, 4 phys, and 2 motor. Crazy and violent about it, solving crimes with gut feelings and imagination. Been a laugh so far.