Bridge I - Burning Violin

[Miraglyth]

(Original title: "Episode 4: Mitigation penalty on boat?")

Starting to feel a little awkward posting all these topics, but they are all new topics and they are somewhat spaced apart.

Today's question comes on behalf of Episode 4; I've noticed that after getting onto the boat, at the start of the next battle (or after saving and loading once on the boat) my mitigation is changing from 20% to 0%.

I've double-checked to make sure there's no penalty caused by hidden companion stats; there isn't. It just seems to take effect when I get on the boat, without any notice! I've also checked back through the saves of my first character whose mitigation was -12% before the boat, and it doesn't reduce further (e.g. to -32%) after getting on the boat.

So... what gives? I'd really quite like to know what's caused this, so I can prevent it if possible. I planned this character to go for Burning Violin, and the loss of mitigation causes a real problem with muscling past the two Viscous Shadow in the first encounter they appear in.

[cthulhu985]

Messaggio originale di Miraglyth:

Starting to feel a little awkward posting all these topics, but they are all new topics and they are somewhat spaced apart.

Can't speak for anyone else but for me it's great fun remembering and discussing all this stuff. :)

The first battle is Bridge I, is that right? I found two saves before that battle, both characters had negative Mitigation and the value stayed the same at the start of the battle. I also checked the saves made before getting on the boat, still no change.

Mitigation isn't stored in a save, it's a computed value. Either the change is just a display problem or there's some underlying attribute change.

I'd suggest making a save before and after the change, and comparing the files.

[Miraglyth]

Messaggio originale di cthulhu985:

The first battle is Bridge I, is that right?

Yes. Having completed Episode 4 with the first character I anticipate this is actually the hardest fight for Burning Violin too.

Messaggio originale di cthulhu985:

I'd suggest making a save before and after the change, and comparing the files.

I did, that's how I could go back and find out exactly when it dropped from 20% to 0%. I've just gone back and done the previous battle yet again only this time with 40% mitigation and it didn't drop... and then again with 20% mitigation and it's not dropping either?

I am thoroughly confused. The only thing I can see is that it wasn't a display error - I am taking less damage with the 20% that didn't drop compared to the 20% that became 0%.

[cthulhu985]

No, I mean compare the actual savefiles line by line, using diff or something similar. The savefiles are pretty simple XML, so it shouldn't be a problem to find the difference.

[Miraglyth]

I checked them before and found nothing that had direct relevance. I figured it would be a separate modifier employed outside the character file, most likely dependent on the quest ID (e.g. "ep4_intheboat1").

But now I just can't replicate it at all, even on the old saves that it was happening to. I've moved the saves to my main machine, but I know I checked stuff like restarting the game before posting this topic, because I took a break before going through the pre-boat battle a second time and making a second save that also negated my mitigation.

This is somewhat annoying, but I guess I just ran into some strange quirk and that there's no question to answer here.

In other news (and to give the topic some use), Bridge I is still giving me trouble with with that 20% mitigation back. I can clear it Burning Violin, but the fewest extra skill points I've spent to accomplish it so far is 8 which is quite a steep cost for one battle!

Edit: 3 (Oblivion, Emptiness, Ether) is enough to get Pyre Princess but it can only hold off their murder for so long:

https://youtu.be/vby0urhG0Cs

I can't see a 4th that would tip the scales. Chaos would use 2 more and I suspect make it quite doable, but I'm not sure it's a good use of skill points for the rest of Burning Violin.

Edit 2: Lost patience experimenting and decided to see how far I could take a 70% Mitigation build. It's working very well 5/8 fights in. It helps to know that Emptiness' "half damage" effect is simply +50% mitigation meaning if you have positive mitigation it's better than halving damage, and if you have 50% it makes you completely invincible.

I really have to praise the design of "The Kingdom: Hall". It's almost a shame the enemies' reduced EP (compared to the previous encounters) allowed them to die to two rounds of Blaze, because it meant the puzzle element (which I worked out) became unnecessary, especially since Blaze is the required Pyre Princess skill for Burning Violin.

Winter Voices would have benefit a lot from having more encounters like this one.

Edit 3: 70% mitigation worked beautifully! Having done both No Law and Burning Violin and seeing the reason for maps' designs I'm thinking Episode 4 might just be my favourite episode. I might see if this is also good for Desert III.