Dreamscaper Tips

[Thomas Merino]

Dueto the title being an experience that not many have been able to go through before in other games, a newer player might find themselves getting stuck at the beginning. Moments that a knowledgeable player would understand can prove challenging for newcomers, so keep these tips in mind when delving into Dreamscaper for the first time.

Lucid abilities can be used within dreams, and are great to use against large swathes of enemies. They target significant amounts of enemies, and deal high damage. A player should prioritize unlocking as many as possible, so clearing out enemies can become easier in the roguelike experience.

Fast Travel is always an important addition to games with a large map. Dreamscaper is no different. Most players may be used to Fast Travel being restricted in some way. For example, in many games, it can only be used in certain scenarios, such as being unable to fast travel whenever there are enemies nearby.

A player should not neglect the real world when it comes to Dreamscaper, even though the main focus of the game is the dream world. Relationships in the real world can have perks in the dream world.

Parrying is an important skill to learn in Dreamscaper, because it will make almost every non-boss enemy incredibly easy to deal with. Learning how to parry will allow a player to reflect projectiles and other damage back at the enemy.

There are multiple skill trees that a player can upgrade in Dreamscaper, in order to make their play-through easier and their character even stronger. It is widely considered among many players of the roguelike that Meditation is the best tree to work on in general.

I don't know how to ask this without sparking more controversy, but the recent thread about a dining room manager suggesting tipping his team in the Reserve Class dining room and people chiming in on how much extra they tip (or don't tip) has me wondering... I apologize if this starts off another round of arguments about what is "right" and "wrong" when it comes to extra gratuities.

We are just average Jo/Joes going on our third ever cruise. We are in a balcony stateroom because they don't have ocean view on the Regal and we do appreciate an outside view. We have Princess Plus because we enjoy having some cocktails/wifi/gratuities covered, and we will be doing one specialty dining dinner, possibly two, but that's the extent of the bells and whistles or 'extras' we'll be indulging in.

For us regular cattle - what is the "extra tipping" culture like? We were kind of hoping that the included crew appreciation meant that the staff weren't looking for or expecting extra tips, but now I fear that may not be the case. We don't want to be "uncouth". Honestly, from the non-suite, non-reserve type of people.. should I be tipping extra? Has anyone noticed that a certain percentage seem to tip extra gratuities?

Some will try to tell you that pretty much everybody tips extra all the time. I believe that the truth is just the opposite and most people figure that the automatic gratuity they are charged for every person every day is enough. I live in the US where tipping is crazy out of hand. One is expected to tip for anybody doing any job no matter how poorly they do that job. Picking up a pizza that I have to take home and cook myself they want a tip. In my youth I was a cook in a couple of restaurants. I never got a tip. If I did a good job, made great food, and plated it in a pleasing manner the waitress might get a good tip but I never got - or expected - a tip. These days it seems like everybody feels they are "entitled" to a tip for simply doing the job they are paid to do. When I worked in IT I was often offered "tips" or "gifts" or payment for taking care of somebody's problem with their personal laptop. As long as I had the extra time and it didn't interfere with my regular work my employer didn't mind me helping the other staff with their personal issues. I always refused any sort of tip or payment as I was already on the clock for my regular employer and it didn't seem right to accept any extra compensation. (If I had actually been working for them on my own and charging them for my services they wouldn't have liked my bill at all.)

Thank you. I guess really I want to know if most people do it ("right" or "wrong") and if they tend to expect it. I figure I'll tip sometimes.. especially if we're drinking multiple drinks from the same bartender or waiter/waitress. But if they expect a tip for every drink they make or bring.. I need to be prepared for that!

There is absolutely no reason for you to feel you must, or should, tip over and above the standard gratuity charge. It is not expected and certainly not required. If someone gives you outstanding service that goes above and beyond what is expected, you may want to give them something a little extra, but that is totally up to you and is the exception. Some people still hand tip envelopes to everyone who provided regular service, but they are a small minority (this was the standard practice before cruise lines implemented a daily gratuity charge). Despite what some may say, routine tipping above the included gratuity charge is not the norm.

No you will not see people leaving tips on the table left and right. For instance, I would estimate that when I'm sitting in a bar I only notice 5-10% of the patrons leave a tip. A small minority. It's totally a personal choice.

My thought is that they are charging me the automatic 18%-20% tip, so that is what I am giving. I think for people that normally tip more than that amount (or if I feel like I want to tip more than that amount), then they may want to tip more as additional cash to get to their preferred amount. It's personal and frankly it's your hard-earned money, so you should decide how you spend it. I don't think in this case, cruising is any different from the rest of life.

We also try and make a note of any crew members names if we received great service and mention them in the post-cruise survey in the hope that it helps in their performance reviews (and chance of being promoted).Just another form of gratitude.

Totally up to the individual and has nothing to do with the type of cabin you are in. We have cruised with Princess for over 30 years and over time we have tipped less and less - due to the automatic gratuities, but also since the overall personal touch/service has not warranted it. Don't get me wrong, the service is certainly adequate, just for the most part not extraordinary. There are lots of reasons for this but in many cases it is the staff are overworked and can't spend the time getting to know you like they used to.

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