Getting better equipment early game?

[MindfulOcean]

People constantly say that the game only requires grinding if you are doing something wrong. The advice usually given is to explore to get good stuff. By skipping random encounters I can get to better towns, but I don't have the money to buy the equipment that is for sale. Regular treasure chests don't have anything particularly good. The only nice thing I've come across is a shrine that gave me an extra class.

I really like the characters, the art, and the world, but something about progression in this game doesn't quite make sense to me (and I've played plenty of RPGs before).

[Sakhari]

On your very first foray into the world, exploring can be a little intimidating while you get your bearings but even if it takes a few hours to find some worthwhile gear, that time was still better spent than a day or more grinding chapter 1-3 zones. That is, if your goal is to build power and get through the story more efficiently. Usual disclaimer for other readers - if you 'enjoy' grinding, it's your game. Go nuts.

To keep things relatively spoiler free for now, I'll just offer some general tips:

- With few exceptions, nearly every save point and zone change in the game is 'just' far enough away from the previous one to reach it with Evasive Maneuvers without having to get into a fight. If you don't mind reloading after the occasional lost fight that you failed to run away from (easier if the have the Evil Ward passive on the Cleric but not necessary), you can reach almost every available chest in the world (including the dungeons) straight out of the gates.

- Bring Therion and Tressa along anytime you're out exploring. Most of the purple chests (that only Therion can open) have better than average loot and having Tressa in the party gives you a pile of cash every time you change zones after a hostile area. In the level 45 zones, you can get 2500+ in cash per zone change just by running back and forth between a town and a local dungeon without needing to fight anything.

- Treat every interactable NPC as a conditional treasure chest that Therion or Tressa can use. Many useful pieces of equipment are available for steal/purchase in almost every town outside of the chapter 1 zones. I don't save-scum steal-able loot myself but if you see something you want that has a low steal-chance, that is an option.

- For cash, on top of Tressa's zone-change ability, if you're running around grabbing chests, a few of them in the high-level zones carry lump sums of 20-50k at a time. As I recall, the chests in the chapter 4 towns alone can net you about 100k plus a significant amount in high value sell-able junk.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

In addition to the above, Alfyn and Cyrus can use Scrutinize/Inquiry which often leads to hidden item/gold spots

Dungeon crawling can also yield some decent loot/gold, but can be pretty dangerous

generally farming lots of gold for Tressa's path ability is probably the best approach

[MindfulOcean]

Originally posted by Bear in Mind:

In addition to the above, Alfyn and Cyrus can use Scrutinize/Inquiry which often leads to hidden item/gold spots

Dungeon crawling can also yield some decent loot/gold, but can be pretty dangerous

generally farming lots of gold for Tressa's path ability is probably the best approach

Thanks for the advice! Since I'm new to the game, what exactly do you use Scrutinize and Inquiry on to get good loot?

[Sakhari]

Originally posted by MindfulOcean:

Thanks for the advice! Since I'm new to the game, what exactly do you use Scrutinize and Inquiry on to get good loot?

Those abilities are like Steal/Purchase. They're also used on NPC's.

I didn't mention them since the monetary rewards generally aren't that great and there's no specific piece of loot worth going out of your way for but if you use them on every available NPC, you'll turn up some decent local bonuses (things like more items in a specific town's shops, better steal rates in that town, etc) along with some additional salable junk and some random stat-nuts, soulstones, pomegranates, etc.

Inquire has no drawback and Scrutinize only has a reputation penalty if you fail so if you're a high enough level to do the former or at a high/100% chance with the latter, there's no harm in simply using one of them on everyone and grabbing the rewards when you can. Note that when the reward is 'A Hidden Item', the item shows up somewhere in that town as a twinkling icon that you'll need to find and pick up.