Character transfers

[Kirrh]

Hello! I am close to finishing the first BT (Volume 1 of the trilogy) for the first time. And I've read in the manual about Character Transfers.
Now I got a slight idea of what each option means (basically full transfer, moderate - which seems random as hell and starting from scratch with excellent stats)

I have 2 questions:
1) What is the best way to experience the game, especially for a person playing the trilogy for the first time - Going for a full reset? Or transfering over the existing party, with all the experience it has (Ive finished the Baron's castle and my chars are level 22-ish, with my casters being level 13 in Magician, Conjurer, Sorcere, and 12 in Wizard) ---- I think the intermediate option is not even a good idea.

2) In BT 2 what are the levels of the starting monsters? If you go for a full transfer, are they leveled up to be a decent challenge? Or they all start at level 1 and you basically just faceroll the game if you have a high-level party transfered from BT1 ?

Thank you in advance for your replies!

[Metro]

BT2 features an optional dungeon in the starting city where the completion of the quest gives a freshly created party a huge experience boost to put it on par with a party that has completed BT1. Short answer: Back in the day most people imported characters from BT1 so BT2 is designed with that in mind. So you'd just skip that optional/starting dungeon.

[GandGolf]

If you do the full transfer do you still have the option of exploring the starter dungeon and do you still get the full XP reward?

[Metro]

You can still do the starter dungeon. As for the xp, I can't recall off the top of my head. I believe it's a fixed amount so I don't think it would be that significant to a higher level party that's gone through BT1. It's meant to boost people who start level 1 characters in BT2.

[Kirrh]

So for the best experience, starting fresh would be optimal?

[steven1mac]

If you start fresh you loose your gear, but get better initial skills like strength than if you started a brand new adventurer.

I chose the third option, keep my character and loose a few levels, but keep my loot and gold from the first game. I found that your stats can change from from the transfer, so you can still optimize them to a degree. I can't remember what level they were after the transfer but it seemed like they reset to around level 26.

[Metro]

Originally posted by Kirrh:

So for the best experience, starting fresh would be optimal?

Not at all. Better experience is to play through the game with the same party/characters. If you're that inclined to see the catch-up/starter dungeon in BT2, you can still do it. There's really nothing special about it -- it's just a hole in the ground with monsters!

[kaypy]

It really comes down to your preferences.

If you enjoy the early stages of the game building your party from nothing into a force to be reckoned with, then do a full reset. If you'd rather faceroll a few dungeons until the rest of the world catches up, then use one of the other options.

Unless you go up at least a half dozen levels before finishing the mid or full power probably wont make any difference. If it does, its again a matter of preference for character development vs facerolling.

One thing: as a first timer, you will probably be spending more time exploring than a repeat offender, so unless you make a point of running away from everything then you will likely stay overleveled for a long time.

[charliechuckleberry]

In BT3, you get a bard song that allows you to avoid ALL encounters. I practically cleared that entire game without getting into a single combat. To beat the bosses, I had to keep reloading a save until my thief scored a critical hit for 1dmg to insta kill the few combats I needed.

All my fights are like this: miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, crit 1dmg dead. I'm not sure if the game is designed to be this way; but from reading other threads they seem to hint that this is how it goes.

[Kirrh]

Truth be told I did feel overleveled and still do even in my current first playthrough of BT1 (am somewhere in level 3 of Mangar's tower and I've yet to face a challenge here - level 26 with most chars, except wizards). When I said a full reset, I meant the option to keep your party, but start with 18 stats in everything.

But now that I think about it, I think choosing the middle way sounds liek the best way. Even if your stats aren't what they used to be, they will be easily adjusted across the game eventually. Something to ponder...

[RoguishPaladin]

It's also worth noting that some of the loot you can get after a full run of BT1 can cover you, with a few notable exceptions which are more luxuries than actual necessities (like picking up a Nospen ring. getting the special plot sword (you'll know it when you see it and it's awesome), or maybe getting an Aram's Knife) through about mid-Gelidia in BT3. The Spectre Snare, especially, remains exceptionally useful for its AC buff. Just don't expect the Destiny Wand segments or the Destiny Sceptre itself to transfer over after BT2 and bank the consumable items which you might need in BT3.

Originally posted by charliechuckleberry:

In BT3, you get a bard song that allows you to avoid ALL encounters. I practically cleared that entire game without getting into a single combat. To beat the bosses, I had to keep reloading a save until my thief scored a critical hit for 1dmg to insta kill the few combats I needed.

All my fights are like this: miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, crit 1dmg dead. I'm not sure if the game is designed to be this way; but from reading other threads they seem to hint that this is how it goes.

So here's the problem, and it's twofold based on how you're running your game it sounds like. While you import at stupidly high levels, your attributes are still only 18 when you've transferred into BT2 or 20 when you've transferred into BT3. Attributes matters a ton for hitting and the game seems to be balanced with the presumption that you'll have a 20 in Unterbrae and go up from there. Unfortunately, if you're level 100 with 20 in everything, getting those ability scores up will be slow going. Your best bet is to equip Rings of Accuracy and some other to-hit boosting items, run the Traveller's Tune, and get in fights in Unterbrae and Arboria. The more you skip fights early on, the more you won't be able to hit your enemies later on when the games assumes you've got 30 in every attribute. Then again, later on you're more dependent upon spellcasting, anyways, so perhaps it doesn't matter so much just as long as your rogue can hit.

(Speedboots and Sir Robin's Tune, while short-term enjoyable for the user, are awful game mechanics for what it's worth. When the player skips fights, they just fall further under the power curve. This is actually a great example why "giving the player what they want" i.e. infinite ability to flee can backfire horribly.)

[Kirrh]

Hmm, so basically items-wise, the stuff you keep from BT1 will very much be your entire equipment through BT2? That sounds a bit ... weird...was hoping to see some nice upgrades in the sequel (If I choose to keep the current inventory).

Question about Full reset (from level 1) - your starting attributes will be all 18?

[kaypy]

There are a few extra items in BT2, but not much. There's a whole bunch more once you start dimension hopping in BT3

Your starting attributes from a full reset are the maximum you could possibly roll for the given characters race, also max HP and SP.

Consult the Base Racial Attributes page in the manual and add 7 to each. So eg for a human 17,13,15,15,12,30,25(?). Nothing you couldn't have started BT1 with if you were willing to keep rerolling till the heatdeath of the universe

[Stone]

Originally posted by RoguishPaladin:

getting the special plot sword (you'll know it when you see it and it's awesome)

<snip>

I have to ask: what is the "special plot sword" of which you speak in Bard's Tale 1? The Spectre Snare? The only other "plot" swords/weapons I can think of are the Bardsword (great if you've got a bard, but useless, otherwise) and the Crystal Sword (which has only one use).

[Trunk Muffin]

Originally posted by Stone:

Originally posted by RoguishPaladin:

getting the special plot sword (you'll know it when you see it and it's awesome)

<snip>

I have to ask: what is the "special plot sword" of which you speak in Bard's Tale 1? The Spectre Snare? The only other "plot" swords/weapons I can think of are the Bardsword (great if you've got a bard, but useless, otherwise) and the Crystal Sword (which has only one use).

Wow what an old thread with no reply! Yes, it was the spectre snare. You can get multiples. I ran the tower four times and put it on each of my front line characters. They didn’t get any upgrades in BT2, really. I’m about to start BT3 and I was hoping it was possible to get either the wand segments or the final wand to transfer over (even though one person said that it would not). Wand 5 and 6 make all of the anti magic areas super easy!