Going for Baroque! (wah wah wah waaaaaahhhhhh)

taliosfalcon · April 2008

I'm astounded, but gamespot actually gave Baroque a semi fair review, Much better than the crap nintendopower and demo-whatever the fuck that other place was.

On the subject of throwing stuff..the second Time i played I made it down fairly far, and was surrounded, about to die horribly. But then i remembered the rifle (angelic rifle? whatever its called) and that it could kill 5 things in 1 shot each. "i'm saved!" i thought to myself..right before I accidentally threw it at one, killing it in one hit i might add..but then being ripped apart by its 4 friends D:

I really don't see how only eating hearts when your VT is full can be at all viable..i'm usually chomping them as soon as I find them to keep my VT above 0

UncleSporky · April 2008

taliosfalcon wrote: »

I really don't see how only eating hearts when your VT is full can be at all viable..i'm usually chomping them as soon as I find them to keep my VT above 0

What difficulty are you playing at? I never have that much trouble.

And actually there are ways to boost it even if your VT is low. If you have several hearts, throw one onto a burning floor or fire trap to turn it Burnt, then eat the Burnt to fill your VT and then eat the rest of the hearts.

There's also eating bones and fluids, and VT-saving brands that make it empty slower. And if you're hesitant about rotten food, throw it to the Cursebringer and he'll toss it back, good as new.

fdiskcdrive · April 2008

Namrok wrote: »

cjeris wrote: »

Haven't gotten down past -400 yet, but I've died several times. I've been hanging onto bones until their effects are useful. Should I just be chomping the less useful ones (like Port Bones) for HP/VT instead?

That's what I do. Other helpful things I've learned is to not hesitate to throw stuff. At first I was hanging onto all my extra equipment for some fucking reason. Just throw EVERYTHING you don't have equiped. Swords, wings, coats, brands, crystals, you name it. I mean, what you'd like to do is throw the crystals into consciousness orbs in order to get the baroques from them, but that's not always possible. They do some GREAT damage too.

If there is an enemy you aren't so great at killing, just throw stuff at him.

Oh yeah, and if you can, only eat hearts and flesh when you are already at full HP/VT. The boost to your max is far, far more helpful than any healing benefit.

Yeah I'll let my good food items rot and just throw them in the cursebringer next time I see it, then munch it all down to increase my HP and VT. I also use sweat bones (or port and warp bones if I don't see myself needing them) to get me to my max VT and HP before using seeds and guryus to increase my max. Since I started making increasing my HP and VT the number one goal in these dungeons, I can make it through to -1600 without much trouble at all, without saving even (playing on normal difficulty). Just don't use unidentified items. Also, throw a variety of items through the consciousness orbs if they have never been thrown in before(even the worthless ones)... the more items you identify in the database the more room the kid in town has under his hood from what I've seen.

Spoiler:

I noticed when flipping through pages of items in the player's inventory, there is two little circles to signify what page you are on in the top right of the window, and there is room for about five. Anyone unlocked more player inventory space yet?

taliosfalcon · April 2008

UncleSporky wrote: »

taliosfalcon wrote: »

I really don't see how only eating hearts when your VT is full can be at all viable..i'm usually chomping them as soon as I find them to keep my VT above 0

What difficulty are you playing at? I never have that much trouble.

And actually there are ways to boost it even if your VT is low. If you have several hearts, throw one onto a burning floor or fire trap to turn it Burnt, then eat the Burnt to fill your VT and then eat the rest of the hearts.

There's also eating bones and fluids, and VT-saving brands that make it empty slower. And if you're hesitant about rotten food, throw it to the Cursebringer and he'll toss it back, good as new.

I'm playing on normal..but I think i've found my problem..I somehow never realized eating bones recovered VT :oops:

theprice · April 2008

After putting in a few more hours I've gone from finding Baroque merely interesting and occasionally frustrating to loving the hell out of it. There's a lot of strategy here; for example, following a level up with summon while having a fire breath brand equiped is the easiest way I've found to clear a level of monsters. This is even better when combined with an experience bone.

The use of burnt hearts followed immediately by seeds and fruits has already been mentioned and is awesome. The wings that reduce the rate of VT depletion are also my friends, although sometimes wings that prevent status ailments are the more prudent choice.

Another fun trick that may or may not actually work is to use luck wings early in the tower to get off to a strong start with awesome equipment drops, then send the wings back to the town through an orb a few floors down so you can do the same thing on future runs. By the way, thanks to UncleSporky for the list of orb locations; I never even thought to look up and now that I know how to find them they seem very generous in their frequency, especially given that my collector currently holds only 10 items.

Also, can someone verify that the luck wings do what I think they do? It's possible that it was just coincidence but it seems like I was getting tons of hearts, crazy swords, and other fun stuff much earlier than usual while wearing them, but since I also have a suspicion that better equipment gets dropped earlier and earlier as you rack up more deaths, I can't be sure of how much the luck wings are actually contributing. Also, is my theory about multiple deaths improving drops at all valid?

fdiskcdrive · April 2008

theprice wrote: »

After putting in a few more hours I've gone from finding Baroque merely interesting and occasionally frustrating to loving the hell out of it. There's a lot of strategy here; for example, following a level up with summon while having a fire breath brand equiped is the easiest way I've found to clear a level of monsters. This is even better when combined with an experience bone.

The use of burnt hearts followed immediately by seeds and fruits has already been mentioned and is awesome. The wings that reduce the rate of VT depletion are also my friends, although sometimes wings that prevent status ailments are the more prudent choice.

Another fun trick that may or may not actually work is to use luck wings early in the tower to get off to a strong start with awesome equipment drops, then send the wings back to the town through an orb a few floors down so you can do the same thing on future runs. By the way, thanks to UncleSporky for the list of orb locations; I never even thought to look up and now that I know how to find them they seem very generous in their frequency, especially given that my collector currently holds only 10 items.

Also, can someone verify that the luck wings do what I think they do? It's possible that it was just coincidence but it seems like I was getting tons of hearts, crazy swords, and other fun stuff much earlier than usual while wearing them, but since I also have a suspicion that better equipment gets dropped earlier and earlier as you rack up more deaths, I can't be sure of how much the luck wings are actually contributing. Also, is my theory about multiple deaths improving drops at all valid?

I thought the lucky items were also raising my chance of good item pickups, but then looking at the 'lucky' item descriptions, it really implies the bonus is for chances at a critical strike. So I'm not really sure if it effects the drop rate at all as it's not mentioned in the descriptions.

LordGek · April 2008

fdiskcdrive wrote: »

theprice wrote: »

After putting in a few more hours I've gone from finding Baroque merely interesting and occasionally frustrating to loving the hell out of it. There's a lot of strategy here; for example, following a level up with summon while having a fire breath brand equiped is the easiest way I've found to clear a level of monsters. This is even better when combined with an experience bone.

The use of burnt hearts followed immediately by seeds and fruits has already been mentioned and is awesome. The wings that reduce the rate of VT depletion are also my friends, although sometimes wings that prevent status ailments are the more prudent choice.

Another fun trick that may or may not actually work is to use luck wings early in the tower to get off to a strong start with awesome equipment drops, then send the wings back to the town through an orb a few floors down so you can do the same thing on future runs. By the way, thanks to UncleSporky for the list of orb locations; I never even thought to look up and now that I know how to find them they seem very generous in their frequency, especially given that my collector currently holds only 10 items.

Also, can someone verify that the luck wings do what I think they do? It's possible that it was just coincidence but it seems like I was getting tons of hearts, crazy swords, and other fun stuff much earlier than usual while wearing them, but since I also have a suspicion that better equipment gets dropped earlier and earlier as you rack up more deaths, I can't be sure of how much the luck wings are actually contributing. Also, is my theory about multiple deaths improving drops at all valid?

I thought the lucky items were also raising my chance of good item pickups, but then looking at the 'lucky' item descriptions, it really implies the bonus is for chances at a critical strike. So I'm not really sure if it effects the drop rate at all as it's not mentioned in the descriptions.

I too wondered if luck played into determining if a box blew up on you or if the Toy Box would break. The Lucky Sword talks about increasing the rate of criticals but the Lucky Wings just say, "Raises luck". While most likely they both mean the same thing, maybe the "luck" referred to in each is different?

Gaming-Module · April 2008

I typed this up on Gamespot in response to someone asking if the game is worth buying and figured I'd post it here too. It pretty much sums of how the game works on a basic level, but I have only really scratched the surface.

There are really two things to focus on in this game.

First and foremost is working with the collector and consciousness orbs to save gear for your next run. Keep in mind that there is always an orb on the level before the last level, so you can save your sword. I haven't seen a coat worth saving yet and decent wings are plentiful. The rest of your gear you will lose, so don't get too attached.

The big focus here is advancing the story, solving quests by figuring out the NPC's and expanding the dungeon. During this process you're not going to keep much, so again don't get attached to items.

The thing that is really interesting is the vitality depletion. You are constantly losing vitality, which when depleted will drain your health. One of the most important aspects of inventory management is using your items to boost your max vitality and health. There are consumable items that when eaten with less than max VT or HP will simply refill them. But consuming them when VT or HP are maxed will "level up" your maximum capacities in those two stats, thus allowing you to take more damage and survive off your vitality longer.

One interesting situation that I usually find myself in is whether or not I should consume my antidotes and other items that are intended as cures for status effects to bring my VT or HP up to maximum so I can eat a bunch of meat/hearts and get the best possible improvement to those stats. There are even items that cause status effects that you are supposed to throw at enemies, but you eat them yourself and get a slight boost to health. Sometimes it's worth it to infect yourself with lust or some other status effect so you can use those three hearts in your inventory to improve your VT by 30 points, rather than use one of the hearts to max your VT and the other two after for only 20 points.

This is just the tip of the iceberg really. This game is all about making tough choices with your inventory, which can only hold 20 items. Whereas in other RPG's you can get to the end with 99 Ethers, three varieties of healing item and various other consumable items, you are forced to use each and every thing that you find, and the few things that you don't use can be synthesized into other items when you come across a wandering character in the dungeon.

I haven't even begun to talk about crystal swords, parasites, brands or any of a myriad of items yet, and I haven't even been past -1600 yet.

Gaming-Module · April 2008

On a side note, does this game cause eyestrain for anyone else?

I played quite a bit yesterday and woke up this morning with the most mind destroying migraine headache. It probaably has something to do with the fact that you're constantly running around in spirals trying to dodge enemies and out-flank them.

LordGek · April 2008

Gaming-Module wrote: »

On a side note, does this game cause eyestrain for anyone else?

I played quite a bit yesterday and woke up this morning with the most mind destroying migraine headache. It probaably has something to do with the fact that you're constantly running around in spirals trying to dodge enemies and out-flank them.

I've actually found that I need to play it in a darkened room, not for effect so much but because of the game's dark background. If the sun hits the screen, while not a big deal for most of my Wii games, I really can't see what is going on and reading the overhead map is a REAL PAIN (especially when I need to find any unexplored "passage nubs" on the map).

METAzraeL · April 2008

I just picked this up today after hearing that it's a roguelike, something I hadn't known back when I heard about it. I have to say, the graphics are definitely old, but in a pleasant way, and the art style has an amazing atmosphere. The music is somewhat hit or miss, sometimes conveying the proper mood...I'll probably just listen to some dark ambient while I play this. I'm having issues controlling the camera with the wiimote's dpad, so I want to try the classic tomorrow. Other than that, the gameplay is rather solid and I'm enjoying it a lot.

hm, a thought - is the ost for the original Baroque around at all? I did find some mp3s on a comparison review somebody linked earlier in the thread, but I don't think that's everything.

Xagarath · April 2008

Oh, look. A positive review.
http://www.gamesradar.com/wii/baroque/review/baroque/a-2008042114272794091/g-20071212164532618099

LordGek · April 2008

Something weird I noticed, not clear if it is a bug or intentional regarding carrying over your "Collection Database" to a new game. Basically I had finally cleared the story in Normal and wanted to give Hard a try with my Collection Database intact (as it says will be the case when I chose to start a new game).

Unless you clear the tower in the very first run of the game (thankfully this very first incarnation of the tower is very short), you WILL NOT gain access to your old Collection Database. Normally it's okay to let your character die to continue the story but it this case it is IMPERATIVE that you backup your game on each of the levels of this first run and make it through successfully if you don't want to have to start your Database Collection from scratch.

elevature · April 2008

METAzraeL wrote: »

I just picked this up today after hearing that it's a roguelike, something I hadn't known back when I heard about it. I have to say, the graphics are definitely old, but in a pleasant way, and the art style has an amazing atmosphere. The music is somewhat hit or miss, sometimes conveying the proper mood...I'll probably just listen to some dark ambient while I play this. I'm having issues controlling the camera with the wiimote's dpad, so I want to try the classic tomorrow. Other than that, the gameplay is rather solid and I'm enjoying it a lot.

hm, a thought - is the ost for the original Baroque around at all? I did find some mp3s on a comparison review somebody linked earlier in the thread, but I don't think that's everything.

I didn't like how this game controlled with the Wiimote and Nunchuk so I bought a Classic and I'm liking it much better.

UncleSporky · April 2008

LordGek wrote: »

Something weird I noticed, not clear if it is a bug or intentional regarding carrying over your "Collection Database" to a new game. Basically I had finally cleared the story in Normal and wanted to give Hard a try with my Collection Database intact (as it says will be the case when I chose to start a new game).

Unless you clear the tower in the very first run of the game (thankfully this very first incarnation of the tower is very short), you WILL NOT gain access to your old Collection Database. Normally it's okay to let your character die to continue the story but it this case it is IMPERATIVE that you backup your game on each of the levels of this first run and make it through successfully if you don't want to have to start your Database Collection from scratch.

What! That's stupid, because you can only get one of the movies by dying instead of finishing it (or so I heard). Is it just when switching difficulties, maybe?

Ack, I've had no time to play more/work on the guide.

LordGek · April 2008

UncleSporky wrote: »

LordGek wrote: »

Something weird I noticed, not clear if it is a bug or intentional regarding carrying over your "Collection Database" to a new game. Basically I had finally cleared the story in Normal and wanted to give Hard a try with my Collection Database intact (as it says will be the case when I chose to start a new game).

Unless you clear the tower in the very first run of the game (thankfully this very first incarnation of the tower is very short), you WILL NOT gain access to your old Collection Database. Normally it's okay to let your character die to continue the story but it this case it is IMPERATIVE that you backup your game on each of the levels of this first run and make it through successfully if you don't want to have to start your Database Collection from scratch.

What! That's stupid, because you can only get one of the movies by dying instead of finishing it (or so I heard). Is it just when switching difficulties, maybe?

Ack, I've had no time to play more/work on the guide.

I hear this WAS NOT A PROBLEM with the PS2 version so I think we have a Wii port bug here.

Woodroez · April 2008

Bought this at Gamestop yesterday. It's the first time I've heard anyone at the counter try to talk anyone out of a game, myself or otherwise. Being prepared for it's flaws, though, I love what I've played of it so far.

Any quick tips for a noob? My only experience with roguelikes is some dabbling in Nethack.

METAzraeL · April 2008

elevature wrote: »

METAzraeL wrote: »

I just picked this up today after hearing that it's a roguelike, something I hadn't known back when I heard about it. I have to say, the graphics are definitely old, but in a pleasant way, and the art style has an amazing atmosphere. The music is somewhat hit or miss, sometimes conveying the proper mood...I'll probably just listen to some dark ambient while I play this. I'm having issues controlling the camera with the wiimote's dpad, so I want to try the classic tomorrow. Other than that, the gameplay is rather solid and I'm enjoying it a lot.

hm, a thought - is the ost for the original Baroque around at all? I did find some mp3s on a comparison review somebody linked earlier in the thread, but I don't think that's everything.

I didn't like how this game controlled with the Wiimote and Nunchuk so I bought a Classic and I'm liking it much better.

I tried it and actually can't stand using the classic, but I've gotten comfy with the chuk setup. It's still a handful for a real-time roguelike, though.

cjeris · April 2008

Woodroez wrote: »

Bought this at Gamestop yesterday. It's the first time I've heard anyone at the counter try to talk anyone out of a game, myself or otherwise.

Register guy at the Gamestop in Dorchester tried to talk me out of Ikaruga for Cube almost five years ago. I wanted to smack him.

RedMageDarion · April 2008

I just started this today.

Am I just supposed to kind of... explore for now?

Just get as far as I can, then die?

I'm not exactly sure what I should be doing.

UncleSporky · April 2008

RedMageDarion wrote: »

I just started this today.

Am I just supposed to kind of... explore for now?

Just get as far as I can, then die?

I'm not exactly sure what I should be doing.

Just play it, get used to the items, talk to everyone each time you beat the game or die. Meet people in the dungeon.

You can beat it in two different ways when you get to the bottom floor. There are specific events that will progress the story and make the dungeon deeper.

Mashalot · April 2008

Woodroez wrote: »

Bought this at Gamestop yesterday. It's the first time I've heard anyone at the counter try to talk anyone out of a game, myself or otherwise. Being prepared for it's flaws, though, I love what I've played of it so far.

Any quick tips for a noob? My only experience with roguelikes is some dabbling in Nethack.

A guy tried to talk me out of buying Siren. He was like, dude, at least buy it used, and I was like, dude, I'd only save $3 and it's mangled. So i bought it and didn't like it.

but it was still none of his goddamned business, the jackass

Xabora · April 2008

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/sting/sting2.htm
Its great beeen playing it off and on.

But it looks like its been remade... alot. O_O

Lord Jezo · May 2008

Oof, game finally showed up yesterday from ordering on launch and I started playing tonight. I guess that's what I get for ordering it with the econo class shipping.

So like someone else asked above, just explore?

How often do you guys let yourselves die as oppsed to loading up a save game? I know I am supposed to be dying to make things move ahead but how often? Is there a limit of dying too many times where it becomes pointless? I haven't made it more than 10 levels deep yet. Last run through I tried to fuse my leather coat and ended up with a random bone that did nothing. Whoops. I didn't last too much longer after that.

With all the folks I find in the dungeon, like the box man and that dude with the two heads, am I supposed to be doing something with them?

UncleSporky · May 2008

Lord Jezo wrote: »

Oof, game finally showed up yesterday from ordering on launch and I started playing tonight. I guess that's what I get for ordering it with the econo class shipping.

So like someone else asked above, just explore?

How often do you guys let yourselves die as oppsed to loading up a save game? I know I am supposed to be dying to make things move ahead but how often? Is there a limit of dying too many times where it becomes pointless? I haven't made it more than 10 levels deep yet. Last run through I tried to fuse my leather coat and ended up with a random bone that did nothing. Whoops. I didn't last too much longer after that.

With all the folks I find in the dungeon, like the box man and that dude with the two heads, am I supposed to be doing something with them?

If all you're concerned with is progressing the story, it can be finished really quickly if you do everything in the right order. I can't really say you should do this or that, because you really only need to do specific things once or twice.

Dying over and over doesn't actually progress the story. Finishing the tower might, if you finish it the right way.

Talk to everyone each time you're back in town, look for changes in NPC behavior. Throw things at people and see what they say. I will say, the most devious thing you have to do to advance the plot is really obscure and involves throwing something important at the right person.

If you get really stuck I would sooner send you to GFAQs since what I put in the guide is the same stuff I would tell you here. But you'll get more play out of it if you figure it out yourself.

Lord Jezo · May 2008

Spoiler:

i have died 4 times now and still haven't made it there. i must stink, although I really thought I made it much deeper than that.

Spoiler:

Xaquin · May 2008

I feel bad for my copy of Baroque .... here I am playing faithfully for a week and then Okami comes out and I haven't looked at Baroque since. I'll be back for it though.

urahonky · August 2008

So Gamefly is having their monthly sale, and this game is $23. Is it worth that?

Xaquin · August 2008

urahonky wrote: »

So Gamefly is having their monthly sale, and this game is $23. Is it worth that?

I really enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunatly, I never got very far into it. I got Okami (still haven't beaten that) and then moved houses and haven't had more then an hour at a time to play in months.

I'd definatly buy it for $23.00 (heck, I got it for $50.00 heh)

hmmmmm

maybe I'll update the op with some walk throughs and reviews or something

urahonky · August 2008

Sold. I'll give it a shot. Can't hurt for $25. (Tax!)

I wanted to buy it day 1, but ran out of cash.

Xaquin · August 2008

OP is updated god dammit.

UnbreakableVow · August 2008

I pick this up every time I go to GameStop, but I think about how it's gonna hand me my ass and I get something else.

When it's not there anymore, I'll curse the missed opportunity though.

Xaquin · August 2008

New from Amazon $30.00 (Wii Version)

New from Amazon $30.00 (PS2 Version)

not sure how that stacks up with new or used from a local store, but it's not too bad new from Amazon.

cj iwakura · December 2008

So on my fourth life, I made it to -1600, and I've been told to 'enter the consciousness orb' to reach the bottom.

I have no idea how to do that.

How deep does the tower go, anyway?

Well, never mind the first part... I guess this is the point that determines one of the endings.

What just happened? O_o

Spoiler:

Figgy · December 2008

This video game can be purchased for 20 fun bucks http://www.amazon.ca/Atlus-BA-70004-2-Baroque/dp/B0011GD54K/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1230367499&sr=8-1

solsovly · December 2008

Believe it's been down to 20 for a while. I like roguelikes, didn't like this game. Just didn't have enough interesting encounters for me. I also hated the controls with the wiimote and nunchuck.

Penny Arcade

Going for Baroque! (wah wah wah waaaaaahhhhhh)

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