Darkstone difficulty jumps by 10x the 2nd time around?
Chris S.
I think something screwed up. I breezed through Expert almost as easy as
Novice. I'm bored with the game now.
Chris
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Geo
ranged weapons) will hurt you. Some spells are not reflected by the spell
(magic bomb, poison cloud, thunder, etc), but no monsters in the entire game
use these spells. This includes Draak, who can be beat with no damage taken
if you keep the spell on and range attack him. Wizards have pathetic HPs and
can't raise their vitality over 50 without elixirs, so try to get a couple
of rings of +60 HP or an armor of Mana Shield. Mana Shield requires you to
have the mana to prevent the HP loss, however, so you can still die quick if
you are attacked when almost out of mana, so keep the rings anyway.
The only offensive spells you need are magic bomb and poison cloud. I don't
think any creatures are immune to both of these (but you have to know which
are immune to which spell), and they are instant effect so you don't have to
worry about the creature moving. Also, no LOS is required, so you can use
them on creatures behind doors or whatever. Poison Cloud costs alot to cast,
especially at lower spell levels, but has an area of effect so it can kill
many creatures at once.
The teammate AI is decent but has some holes. Namely, if a spell is
selected, the AI will use it repeatedly even if the opponent's are immune to
the spell. (Your mage will cast Poison Cloud repeatedly on a troll and does
1 HP of damage per attack). Because of this, the best strategy is leaving
your warrior as the AI teammate and giving him a ranged weapon to cover you.
(His armor gets thrashed if he melees every time, and he tends to get
separated more often too.) If you make his active spell be healing, 95% of
the time he would die he heals himself right before the killing blow and
fights on (He will whine alot about needing help, though, and if he take
alot of damage all at once he'll still croak). If you must leave your wizard
under AI control, give him a ranged weapon as otherwise he will charge into
melee as soon as he runs out of mana.
Jim V.
name wrote in message ...
>The first time through, the game was hard, but at least your
>characters could survive longer than 5 mins. (Well, the last part was
>hard as heck, I kept getting roasted!) Anyway, now on Expert (level
>28 Fighter and 25 Wizard) it seems I am in danger of losing almost
>every battle. I was hit by 2 arrows then I died. I was like WTF!?
>
>As it is, I have to play the wizard with the flame spells to injure
>the simplest creatures on land, and the thunder spell does HARDLY
>ANYTHING? Just makes a noise, and nothing else really happens that I
>can tell. I have been using mana like water, and it is driving me
>mad! So I just started again using novice to get my characters up
>another 20 levels or so before I can tackle Expert level.
>
>Is it this way for everyone, or did something screw up?
>
Yes, unlike Diablo, this game get's CONSIDERABLY harder on
the next difficulty levels. When I was where you were, I decided to
stick with normal mode until I got into level 30+ range, and it was
still tough.
My biggest recommendation would be to learn and LOVE berserker.
It increases your Armor Class considerably. Once I was taught this
trick the game got WAY easier for me. When I first started playing
on Master I was overwhelemed by how difficult it was, but if you hot
key berserker and make sure you always have it going, it makes things
alot easier. You still have to be careful though, and try to kill enemies
with strategy like from doorways and stuff. Also, as you get into Master
mode you will start to see better stuff (actually there is some decent
armor and stuff in Expert, but you gotta clear down many levels
before it shows up). Don't be afraid to upgrade some of your armor
pieces if they have high durability. My Warrior is now like levle 49
I believe, with a natural armor class of nearly 300. With Berserker
it got up well over 400. I can handle about the first 12 levels or so
of Master by myself, but beyond that I need aid or gotta be REALLY
careful.
Jim
Methie
How strange. I found almost no problems at all with Expert difficulty.
I started a game with only one character, got to level 23 or so, and
immediately changed to Expert. It's true that Expert is more
difficult, but it didn't seem as lethal to me as it obviously is to
you.
If you've got a wizard, use Reflect, Fireball, and Berserker - you'll
walk over almost anything with that combination. Magic Bomb is a good
spell too, and if you can manage it, Poison Cloud rocks!
Also, it's worth running round with Meditation active all the time and
with Invisibility on. This normally gives you the time to pick off
tough monsters one by one.
I've also got a single player warrior, just started on Expert. Its not
as easy as with a Wizard, but its not very tricky.
I wonder if maybe you've encountered a bug, and somehow managed to get
started on Master level. After all - this game is not bug-free. I even
managed to replace my normal save game with one where I was dead. That
was obviously very helpful *grin*.
Hope you get past your problems - its a passable game for a while, but
it does get boring too quickly...
HTH
D
Kenneth M. Portner
playing and have two characters in lower 20's level but I didn't see any
option to switch the difficulty level. Can someone explain? Thanks.
Ken
Methie <nu...@nudge.wink.wink.know_what_i_mean> wrote in message
news:37da1919...@news.demon.co.uk...
c0de
>The first time through, the game was hard, but at least your
>characters could survive longer than 5 mins. (Well, the last part was
>hard as heck, I kept getting roasted!) Anyway, now on Expert (level
>28 Fighter and 25 Wizard) it seems I am in danger of losing almost
>every battle. I was hit by 2 arrows then I died. I was like WTF!?
>
>As it is, I have to play the wizard with the flame spells to injure
>the simplest creatures on land, and the thunder spell does HARDLY
>ANYTHING? Just makes a noise, and nothing else really happens that I
>can tell. I have been using mana like water, and it is driving me
>mad! So I just started again using novice to get my characters up
>another 20 levels or so before I can tackle Expert level.
>
>Is it this way for everyone, or did something screw up?
>
I found that hardest time around was at the start.
I didn't even bother to play all of expert and went straight to master
a.s.a.p and walked it with just one character. Kinda lost its appeal
now.
Geo
at least level 20 for Expert and 35 for master. DSI should be adding a new
difficulty level with the patch, thank god! It really gets too easy once
your char learns a couple of tricks...
TinaPack
spell was invaliable at wiping out monsters from afar. and yes Berserker has
been a real aid as well a the healing spell. I find the game more difficult now
. You have to aim better . Ive also noticed that your weapons will increase in
durabliity the more acurate you are. which is getting harder to do at times. It
seems that you have to be more efficent in the way you work at the game. I nver
played Diablo(did watch as couple of games though) and this is my first rpg .
So far I really like the game .Though some of the monsters are not as cool
looking as in diablo but they are tough . I like the 3d effect and understand
that some graphic elements have tro be scrificed for it .
Christian Seitz
>
>
> Yes, unlike Diablo, this game get's CONSIDERABLY harder on
> the next difficulty levels. When I was where you were, I decided to
> stick with normal mode until I got into level 30+ range, and it was
> still tough.
>
> My biggest recommendation would be to learn and LOVE berserker.
> It increases your Armor Class considerably. Once I was taught this
> trick the game got WAY easier for me. When I first started playing
> on Master I was overwhelemed by how difficult it was, but if you hot
> key berserker and make sure you always have it going, it makes things
> alot easier. You still have to be careful though, and try to kill enemies
> with strategy like from doorways and stuff. Also, as you get into Master
> mode you will start to see better stuff (actually there is some decent
> armor and stuff in Expert, but you gotta clear down many levels
> before it shows up). Don't be afraid to upgrade some of your armor
> pieces if they have high durability. My Warrior is now like levle 49
> I believe, with a natural armor class of nearly 300. With Berserker
> it got up well over 400. I can handle about the first 12 levels or so
> of Master by myself, but beyond that I need aid or gotta be REALLY
> careful.
Not my experience. DS Master is easy compared to Diablo Hell difficulty.
Only teleportings wizards are a threat to my level 51 Assassin. The rest
can be easily killed with berserker + reflection. Both spells can be
easily maxed out. He will kill almost any moster with one shot. This
doesn't happen in diablo.
Christian Seitz
Christian Seitz
> The only offensive spells you need are magic bomb and poison cloud. I don't
> think any creatures are immune to both of these
Wrong goblins on bats and some wizards are immune to both spells.
Christian Seitz
Hounds of Hell
<7rggmc$1f0m$1...@newssvr03-int.news.prodigy.com>...
When you reach lvl 25 (I think), you can start a game on the next lvl of
difficulty. And then when you reach lvl 35 you can play the hardest
difficulty.
--
Cwn Annwn
"Not all those who wander are lost" J.R.R. Tolkein