It seems like they handled the coding for destroying skulls with abilities oddly. If you destroy a regular skull, you'll just do one point of damage without taking your battle skill or items into account. However, if you destroy a red skull, your battle skill and item bonuses seem to get included in the damage.
Most bonuses are only applied if you do more than 2 or 3 points of damage with a single skull or line of skulls. Red skulls do 5 damage, so they get all the bonuses. If you're a mage, cast Hand of Power once or twice before using Fireball, and the bonuses will be applied to every skull you destroy.
ive just completed my third play through the game (yeah ok ive got an unhealthy obsession with it) and ive found a few interesting tidbits for those who are obsessive like me and want to see everything
my knight... taking the good path
at the start of the game i turned in the necromancer to the red tower knights. the resultant ending has you defeating lord bane and carving him up into little pieces
my wizard... taking the dark path
this time i released teh necromancer and he gave me a sword. towards the end of the story, syrus darkhunter finds out about this and leaves you. you then meet lord bane who gives you a quest to follow the sword. this leads to some place called the bloodspring (?) where you can drink and gain the immortality award. half your companions leave you while you are doing this quest, but in the end you actually replace bane instead of defeating him
my warrior... on the sneaky dark path
played it through as above, but this time i removed my companions towards the end of the story (except drong - hes your friend for life). this time i got the immortality award, replaced bane and then took a trip back around the map collecting my companions. it seems they only object to your lack of morality if they see it in action; so as my mom always told me, son, you CAN be the dark lord and still keep all your friends.
Yeah, early on I learned not to trust the suggested move and to look for something else. Sometimes, though, it's the only move, and not necessarily a bad one.
Quote from my friend who tried it: "What? Why does it keep telling me to do stupid things?" :P
My Amazon order came in yesterday and I spent all night playing it, instead of doing my research paper.
Level .. 17-ish Wizard. Two-headed ogre keeps kicking my arse so I'm off doing other things in the meantime. Sieged my first city, though. /flex
It seems like they handled the coding for destroying skulls with abilities oddly. If you destroy a regular skull, you'll just do one point of damage without taking your battle skill or items into account. However, if you destroy a red skull, your battle skill and item bonuses seem to get included in the damage.
Most bonuses are only applied if you do more than 2 or 3 points of damage with a single skull or line of skulls. Red skulls do 5 damage, so they get all the bonuses. If you're a mage, cast Hand of Power once or twice before using Fireball, and the bonuses will be applied to every skull you destroy.
That's how I annihilate opponents with my Wizard. I have about 100 Fire Mastery at level 32, and can build up to 70ish red mana pretty quickly. With Firewalker's Staff, each 4 red mana does +1 when you're doing 3 or more damage, and Hand of Power causes every skull to hit for 3 or 5 base (+2 or +4 respectively), and with those combined I can do 20ish damage PER SKULL easily. Fireball a grid with a +5 nearby and it takes out some other ones near it, and you can knock even a city down quickly.
Yeah, early on I learned not to trust the suggested move and to look for something else. Sometimes, though, it's the only move, and not necessarily a bad one.
If it is the only move and a bad one, don't forget that you can always cast a spell so that the opponent has to take the bad move!
Yeah, early on I learned not to trust the suggested move and to look for something else. Sometimes, though, it's the only move, and not necessarily a bad one.
If it is the only move and a bad one, don't forget that you can always cast a spell so that the opponent has to take the bad move!
And if you're out of mana you can purposely perform an illegal move. Sometimes it makes more sense to take the 5 damage than to set up your opponent.
It seems like they handled the coding for destroying skulls with abilities oddly. If you destroy a regular skull, you'll just do one point of damage without taking your battle skill or items into account. However, if you destroy a red skull, your battle skill and item bonuses seem to get included in the damage.
Most bonuses are only applied if you do more than 2 or 3 points of damage with a single skull or line of skulls. Red skulls do 5 damage, so they get all the bonuses. If you're a mage, cast Hand of Power once or twice before using Fireball, and the bonuses will be applied to every skull you destroy.
That's how I annihilate opponents with my Wizard. I have about 100 Fire Mastery at level 32, and can build up to 70ish red mana pretty quickly. With Firewalker's Staff, each 4 red mana does +1 when you're doing 3 or more damage, and Hand of Power causes every skull to hit for 3 or 5 base (+2 or +4 respectively), and with those combined I can do 20ish damage PER SKULL easily. Fireball a grid with a +5 nearby and it takes out some other ones near it, and you can knock even a city down quickly.
Researching Enrage (add total red mana to Battle skill) and Hide (double damage) will turn you into a virtual god. Once you research Berserk Rage (turns red gems into skulls, keep playing if red mana >= 15) and forge something that gives you +6 to all mana every time you match 4 or 5 gems, just keep casting Enrage, BR and Flaming Skulls. Then you will be an actual god.
My wizard is now to level 33, and I'm doing the quests out of Dragonrealm. It's pretty nifty when I encounter a lower-level enemy (rat, goblin, etc.) on the world map from time to time; I can pretty much kill them by just looking at them funny.
The best mode of play for a wizard isn't just resource denial, it's controlling the board. Make the enemy set up your 4- and 5-gem matches for you, or get them to be the ones to do a boneheaded Mana Drain. It's surprisingly easy, once you get the hang of it (of course, that's the tricksy part ).
And, yeah, Flaming Skulls is a great spell to learn, but if you're pumping fire mastery, try forging
The Stone of Fire. It adds 2 to each of your mana reserves whenever an enemy casts a spell, and lets you start with 14 red mana. You can be a spellcasting WHORE with this item equipped. Also, Meteor Storm--generates more red mana on the field--and Finger Of Death--turns any targeted gem into a +5 skull--FTW. My god, these spells allow for so much cheapness.
I can't stop playing this damn game. Even with all the bugs (I've now gotten the white-outlined gems and weird numbers on the board bugs), it's still my DS GOTY so far.
yeah, sometimes the enemy will get a non-chalant looking match, then all of a sudden shit starts falling his way and numbers are flying everywhere and he half-lifes you in one turn.
My wizard is now to level 33, and I'm doing the quests out of Dragonrealm. It's pretty nifty when I encounter a lower-level enemy (rat, goblin, etc.) on the world map from time to time; I can pretty much kill them by just looking at them funny.
The best mode of play for a wizard isn't just resource denial, it's controlling the board. Make the enemy set up your 4- and 5-gem matches for you, or get them to be the ones to do a boneheaded Mana Drain. It's surprisingly easy, once you get the hang of it (of course, that's the tricksy part ).
And, yeah, Flaming Skulls is a great spell to learn, but if you're pumping fire mastery, try forging
The Stone of Fire. It adds 2 to each of your mana reserves whenever an enemy casts a spell, and lets you start with 14 red mana. You can be a spellcasting WHORE with this item equipped. Also, Meteor Storm--generates more red mana on the field--and Finger Of Death--turns any targeted gem into a +5 skull--FTW. My god, these spells allow for so much cheapness.
I can't stop playing this damn game. Even with all the bugs (I've now gotten the white-outlined gems and weird numbers on the board bugs), it's still my DS GOTY so far.
Bah, you're making it hard on yourself, lad. The best way to play a wizard is to go for the never-ending 4/5 of a kinds. Check out my current build(I'm sure I'll change it up once I'm stronger, but at level 50, this is doing me great, has been for the last 10-15 levels.)
Flaming skulls
Finger of Death
Burn
Headbutt(Destroy's all red gems, and your enemy loses 1 turn plus an additional turn for every 8 red gems destroyed[May change this one up, rarely use it now])
Berserk Rage(Turns red gems into skulls your turn does not end if red mana is 15+)
Conflagaration(Turns all gems of the selected type into red gems, any type can be selected, including skulls or gold)
See where I'm going with this? Flaming skulls lets me match blue to red for extra turns, and green to skulls for extra turns. Finger of death lets me plug holes between skulls to make extra turns. Burn turns green into red, extra turns. Berserk Rage, all these red gems I've left over from burn and flaming skulls into skulls, massive damage and extra turns. Conflagaration, icing on the cake, anything into red for extra turns.
But, hell, I'm going to run out of most mana except red really quick, right? Nope. Check out my equipment.
Trollkin's Collar(Adds +7 dmg for each full mana reserve when doing 3+ damage, +8 to starting life)
Jarl's Cloak(+2 blue mana every time you gain blue mana)
Holy Lance(+1 damage for every 4 of your yellow mana when you do +3 damage)
DragonHorn of Stone(Adds +6 to all of your mana reserves whenecer you match 4 or 5 gems. Gives +8 to Green mana at start of combat)
Dragonhorn of Stone is the key here. +6 to all mana when you match four or five of a kind? Just matching one gives you enough to pay the cost for using burn, or flaming skulls. It nearly pays for the rest, too, and you rarely will only be getting one 4/5 of a kind at a time. Trollkin's Collar is the damage maker. I do around 40 damage per match of skulls when all my mana is full, and it generally is after a few spells(Burn, Flaming Skulls, conflagaration, full mana for every slot... just an example). Using berserk rage when half the board is full of reds, and another 1/2 with skulls, insane damage. I killed one of the harder castles(315 life) first turn using this set-up. That made me very happy.
My armour and weapon are pretty much throw-away, so is Headbutt. But this setup decimates. Only thing that sucks are resistances, can screw you up when you have a bunch of possible 4/5 of a kinds, and try to cast a spell to get them all at once. Thankfully, once you get all your mana reserves to full, you don't need to really cast spells. Just wait out your opponent, getting the skulls you need. He'll be doing 8-20 damage per skull matchup, you'll be doing 35-50 with my setup(weapon included, does help for damage).
Finished this last night with my level 49 wizard. Bane went down the first time I fought him, though it was a bit tricky getting past his spell resistances.
My setup was:
Elemental Gem (+2 to each mana reserve for each full tank per turn)
Erik's bow (+1 to damage +1 for each 5 levels)
Poison Wrap (+4 Fire mastery, 20% chance of poisoning enemy when dealing damage)
Plague D Horn (+6 to all mana reserves when matching 4 or 5, 20% chance of diseasing enemy when dealing damage)
Match a 4 at the start, stack 2 Hand of Power, then blow up the world with Fire Skulls + Fireball. The last 2 items are great at inflicting negative status effects on enemies, crippling their mana supplies and dealing damage each turn. Erik's bow is ridiculous damage and the elemental gem is there because I didn't find anything better :P
I haven't read the entire 36 pages of this, but at least most of it has been read - and I noticed I don't think I ever heard anyone talk about being a Druid. Is this the basturd class no one has chosen? All I hear is wizard and warrior. It is a little diffucult starting out as you don't have high skull damage and very few damaging spells, but I am getting the hang of it I think. Anyone else have Druid suggestions?
I'm a 38 Druid and rather enjoy the class. You get a great variety of powers. Wall of Thorns plus Ultimate Ogre Ring makes you incredibly hard to kill. Your damage spells are the only real weak point but mounts can help with that, plus being able to force the other guy to miss some turns in a row is a great ability.
I think Druids are slower to kill but no less powerful.
I'm currently a knight. I find a few of their skills sort of silly.
I like them though.
Me too. I find myself spamming stun all the fucking time, the only other skills I really use are thrust occasionally and divine right. Are there some other skills I should probably get that would be awesome? Because I don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over to win matches.
I'm currently a knight. I find a few of their skills sort of silly.
I like them though.
Me too. I find myself spamming stun all the fucking time, the only other skills I really use are thrust occasionally and divine right. Are there some other skills I should probably get that would be awesome? Because I don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over to win matches.
I've taken Stun out of rotation and replaced it with Charge.
And it's a learned skill, but with 8+ red mana on the board, it's hard to beat Headbutt followed by Divine Right.
I haven't read the entire 36 pages of this, but at least most of it has been read - and I noticed I don't think I ever heard anyone talk about being a Druid. Is this the basturd class no one has chosen? All I hear is wizard and warrior. It is a little diffucult starting out as you don't have high skull damage and very few damaging spells, but I am getting the hang of it I think. Anyone else have Druid suggestions?
I'm a level 42 Druid and once I get my green and yellow mana up there are times when I can make the enemy miss at least 10 turns in a row (between entangle and web). Then if I keep my red and blue mana full I do an additional 7 damage for each of them, so I'm doing ~30 damage per hit, without giving the enemy a chance to even move. I like my druid.
I finally got the PSP version from GameFly today, and man, I was really wrong about there only being minor differences between DS and PSP. Aside from controls (the stylus is still way nicer), the PSP has everything else beat soundly. Everything's just a lot smoother; better animation, better music, no yellow/green color vibration, the wayyyyyyyyy clearer and larger battle grid itself. I kind of like having the portraits and info on the sides of the screen as opposed to on top, too, but a lot of the info is really compressed on the PSP to compensate.
Loading is a little dinky, but apparently it's only the first time something happens (like "first enemy skill of the play"), and more important it's a really quick snap back from sleep mode, which is completely miniscule but is something I totally obsess over.
So I pretty much ran out and bought Puzzle Quest for the DS when Tycho mentioned it on the blog.
I like it, I do. Seriously. But...
Does _every_ interaction in the game have to be resolved by a version of Bejewelled? I can even grok the emergent concept that manipulation of the gems is like, say, their version of casting spells or swinging swords. I mean, it's certainly no less valid than waving a mouse at a grainy icon or telling a dungeon master "I attack with my +5 Sword of Gillette -- the Best a Man Can Get".
So combat with monsters == Bejewelled. And forging items == Bejewelled. And researching spells == Bejewelled. And training your mount == Bejewelled with annoying time limits that are made more annoying by the fact that the stupid words won't evaporate from the screen fast enough for you to see the board in your three second time limit.
The only thing that is slightly different is capturing monsters, where the basic goal -- removal of every gem from the board -- is different, and it's a fundamentally different kind of puzzle.
Still, I can't help but feel that an opportunity was lost here. Why the same puzzle for everything? I guess it's a good proof-of-concept, but I feel like there is so much more this genre has to offer.
Of course, I know people who complained bitterly about the Towers-of-Hanoi puzzle in Knights of the Old Republic, so I guess you can't please everybody all of the time.
RickRussellTX on
0
Options
VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
I know what you mean Rick but I think the idea is that it's a puzzle game. The puzzle isn't the filler, the story is. To make any of the game not-puzzle would be defeating the purpose... and it's rare for a puzzle game to have many incredibly varying styles of puzzle. And this does have... 3 I think.
I really need to get to capturing more beasts and learning spells. needs a better mount too. I have a rat right now. any tips on mounts or monsters that I should get on capturing? currently just level 21 Druid with a level 8 rat (haven't spent much time doing anything except buying all the parts to the fortress thing)
My wizard is now to level 33, and I'm doing the quests out of Dragonrealm. It's pretty nifty when I encounter a lower-level enemy (rat, goblin, etc.) on the world map from time to time; I can pretty much kill them by just looking at them funny.
The best mode of play for a wizard isn't just resource denial, it's controlling the board. Make the enemy set up your 4- and 5-gem matches for you, or get them to be the ones to do a boneheaded Mana Drain. It's surprisingly easy, once you get the hang of it (of course, that's the tricksy part ).
And, yeah, Flaming Skulls is a great spell to learn, but if you're pumping fire mastery, try forging
The Stone of Fire. It adds 2 to each of your mana reserves whenever an enemy casts a spell, and lets you start with 14 red mana. You can be a spellcasting WHORE with this item equipped. Also, Meteor Storm--generates more red mana on the field--and Finger Of Death--turns any targeted gem into a +5 skull--FTW. My god, these spells allow for so much cheapness.
I can't stop playing this damn game. Even with all the bugs (I've now gotten the white-outlined gems and weird numbers on the board bugs), it's still my DS GOTY so far.
Bah, you're making it hard on yourself, lad. The best way to play a wizard is to go for the never-ending 4/5 of a kinds. Check out my current build(I'm sure I'll change it up once I'm stronger, but at level 50, this is doing me great, has been for the last 10-15 levels.)
Flaming skulls
Finger of Death
Burn
Headbutt(Destroy's all red gems, and your enemy loses 1 turn plus an additional turn for every 8 red gems destroyed[May change this one up, rarely use it now])
Berserk Rage(Turns red gems into skulls your turn does not end if red mana is 15+)
Conflagaration(Turns all gems of the selected type into red gems, any type can be selected, including skulls or gold)
See where I'm going with this? Flaming skulls lets me match blue to red for extra turns, and green to skulls for extra turns. Finger of death lets me plug holes between skulls to make extra turns. Burn turns green into red, extra turns. Berserk Rage, all these red gems I've left over from burn and flaming skulls into skulls, massive damage and extra turns. Conflagaration, icing on the cake, anything into red for extra turns.
But, hell, I'm going to run out of most mana except red really quick, right? Nope. Check out my equipment.
Trollkin's Collar(Adds +7 dmg for each full mana reserve when doing 3+ damage, +8 to starting life)
Jarl's Cloak(+2 blue mana every time you gain blue mana)
Holy Lance(+1 damage for every 4 of your yellow mana when you do +3 damage)
DragonHorn of Stone(Adds +6 to all of your mana reserves whenecer you match 4 or 5 gems. Gives +8 to Green mana at start of combat)
Dragonhorn of Stone is the key here. +6 to all mana when you match four or five of a kind? Just matching one gives you enough to pay the cost for using burn, or flaming skulls. It nearly pays for the rest, too, and you rarely will only be getting one 4/5 of a kind at a time. Trollkin's Collar is the damage maker. I do around 40 damage per match of skulls when all my mana is full, and it generally is after a few spells(Burn, Flaming Skulls, conflagaration, full mana for every slot... just an example). Using berserk rage when half the board is full of reds, and another 1/2 with skulls, insane damage. I killed one of the harder castles(315 life) first turn using this set-up. That made me very happy.
My armour and weapon are pretty much throw-away, so is Headbutt. But this setup decimates. Only thing that sucks are resistances, can screw you up when you have a bunch of possible 4/5 of a kinds, and try to cast a spell to get them all at once. Thankfully, once you get all your mana reserves to full, you don't need to really cast spells. Just wait out your opponent, getting the skulls you need. He'll be doing 8-20 damage per skull matchup, you'll be doing 35-50 with my setup(weapon included, does help for damage).
That.... that makes a lot more sense, actually. :oops: A much better build than the one I've been attempting. Thanks. It's going to be helpful, since I've started running into brick walls again (AHHH damn Wyverns why do you have to be such a pain in the ass HUARGHGHGHGLGH). I need to get forging and capturing.
On a plus note, I have a new mount: the Dragon Spider. The stat bonuses are nice, but kinda standard (+2 in Fire Mastery, plus 1+ for every two levels you give it), but Breathe Fire is an OK damage-dealer--37 HP on each use with my current stats. Pity the mana cost is so high... 37 red, 15 yellow. Even with my current build, I think I've done more damage by targeting a grid with two or three regular skulls and one red skull in it (somewhere over 40 HP on weaker enemies).
Oh yeah, and learning Petrify is a hideous pain in the ass. 24 scrolls, 317 green mana, 237 red mana? Yeah, that's gonna take a while. I thought Call The Dead was bad? Hah. The game laughs in my face and spits at me.
This game was pretty frustrating for a while, then I got Headbutt, which combined with the knight skill I acquired that destroys all purples and the warrior skill that destroys all blues and yellows keeps me rolling. It's not as tight as the wizard build above, but it's working for me as it is.
Sounds good, really. Personally, I'm looking forward to starting another character, and trying a different type (maybe knight or druid) once I finish this game. There are so many different little story branches and such, it'll be fun to try more of them. Also, I missed a few quests and enemies back at the beginning of the game because I just kept stubbornly (stupidly) plugging along, so I'd like to see what I missed out on anyway.
I know what you mean Rick but I think the idea is that it's a puzzle game...incredibly varying styles of puzzle. And this does have... 3 I think.
...mounts or monsters that I should get on capturing? currently just level 21 Druid with a level 8 rat
I'm not really complaining about the "Bejewelled Game System" per se. But you could use the same game board (and pieces) to do so much more. Why does every part of the game (except capturing) have to be the same "match & drop" gameplay?
I hope that PQ is really a feeler for what this type of gameplay is capable of. I mean, can you see a Real RPG (with real parties and more classes and dungeons and exploration, etc) based on PQ? Because I totally can see that :-) Just replace the die rolling with hardcore puzzlin'.
Anyway, man, you gotta stop riding around on the rat. I mean, I know it's food efficient, and he'll sleep anywhere, but seriously the guys and I really don't want to be seen around a lame ride like that. Chet over there has this '19 Griffon and Susie thinks it is totally HAWT. You're never gonna see any action on a rat, man.
Rick R.
RickRussellTX on
0
Options
Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
I knew nothing about this game except the name until a few minutes ago. After reading up on it, holy shit do I want this game.
I'm not really complaining about the "Bejewelled Game System" per se. But you could use the same game board (and pieces) to do so much more. Why does every part of the game (except capturing) have to be the same "match & drop" gameplay?
I hope that PQ is really a feeler for what this type of gameplay is capable of. I mean, can you see a Real RPG (with real parties and more classes and dungeons and exploration, etc) based on PQ? Because I totally can see that :-) Just replace the die rolling with hardcore puzzlin'.
If you haven't seen it, Puzzle Pirates is more of what you're looking for -- a Pirate-themed MMO that uses a variety of puzzles (lookalikes of Tetris, Bejeweled, Poker, Puzzle Fighter, etc.) for all different sorts of MMORPG staples.
In Puzzle Quest, I don't mind the "varying takes on Bejeweled" approach -- as UncleSporky said way earlier and I've paraphrased him many times, it's like how Tetris DS handled the source material. The core gameply is the same across all of the different ways to play PQ, but the strategies change up enough that it keeps me interested. In duels, I want to make sure I don't leave any good combos open, but when forging or researching, I need to do the exact opposite. In forging, I need to focus solely on anvils, but in spell research I have to keep my eyes open to anything that nets me bonus mana. And the capture puzzles are downright brutal, although a refreshing change of pace from the constant drive of the battle grid.
Posts
Most bonuses are only applied if you do more than 2 or 3 points of damage with a single skull or line of skulls. Red skulls do 5 damage, so they get all the bonuses. If you're a mage, cast Hand of Power once or twice before using Fireball, and the bonuses will be applied to every skull you destroy.
my knight... taking the good path
my wizard... taking the dark path
my warrior... on the sneaky dark path
O==((==RedKnight=---
Quote from my friend who tried it: "What? Why does it keep telling me to do stupid things?" :P
Level .. 17-ish Wizard. Two-headed ogre keeps kicking my arse so I'm off doing other things in the meantime. Sieged my first city, though. /flex
That's how I annihilate opponents with my Wizard. I have about 100 Fire Mastery at level 32, and can build up to 70ish red mana pretty quickly. With Firewalker's Staff, each 4 red mana does +1 when you're doing 3 or more damage, and Hand of Power causes every skull to hit for 3 or 5 base (+2 or +4 respectively), and with those combined I can do 20ish damage PER SKULL easily. Fireball a grid with a +5 nearby and it takes out some other ones near it, and you can knock even a city down quickly.
And if you're out of mana you can purposely perform an illegal move. Sometimes it makes more sense to take the 5 damage than to set up your opponent.
Right now, im playing a Wizard.
Level 37
154 HP
20 earth
110 fire
40 air
20 water
22 battle
20 cunning
20 morale
First time I ever fought him, he opens up and on the first move, one shots me.
w....
t....
f....
Researching Enrage (add total red mana to Battle skill) and Hide (double damage) will turn you into a virtual god. Once you research Berserk Rage (turns red gems into skulls, keep playing if red mana >= 15) and forge something that gives you +6 to all mana every time you match 4 or 5 gems, just keep casting Enrage, BR and Flaming Skulls. Then you will be an actual god.
The best mode of play for a wizard isn't just resource denial, it's controlling the board. Make the enemy set up your 4- and 5-gem matches for you, or get them to be the ones to do a boneheaded Mana Drain. It's surprisingly easy, once you get the hang of it (of course, that's the tricksy part
And, yeah, Flaming Skulls is a great spell to learn, but if you're pumping fire mastery, try forging
I can't stop playing this damn game. Even with all the bugs (I've now gotten the white-outlined gems and weird numbers on the board bugs), it's still my DS GOTY so far.
Alas, such is life after WoW.
I am... upset.
But my will to play this game wanes
Bah, you're making it hard on yourself, lad. The best way to play a wizard is to go for the never-ending 4/5 of a kinds. Check out my current build(I'm sure I'll change it up once I'm stronger, but at level 50, this is doing me great, has been for the last 10-15 levels.)
Flaming skulls
Finger of Death
Burn
Headbutt(Destroy's all red gems, and your enemy loses 1 turn plus an additional turn for every 8 red gems destroyed[May change this one up, rarely use it now])
Berserk Rage(Turns red gems into skulls your turn does not end if red mana is 15+)
Conflagaration(Turns all gems of the selected type into red gems, any type can be selected, including skulls or gold)
See where I'm going with this? Flaming skulls lets me match blue to red for extra turns, and green to skulls for extra turns. Finger of death lets me plug holes between skulls to make extra turns. Burn turns green into red, extra turns. Berserk Rage, all these red gems I've left over from burn and flaming skulls into skulls, massive damage and extra turns. Conflagaration, icing on the cake, anything into red for extra turns.
But, hell, I'm going to run out of most mana except red really quick, right? Nope. Check out my equipment.
Trollkin's Collar(Adds +7 dmg for each full mana reserve when doing 3+ damage, +8 to starting life)
Jarl's Cloak(+2 blue mana every time you gain blue mana)
Holy Lance(+1 damage for every 4 of your yellow mana when you do +3 damage)
DragonHorn of Stone(Adds +6 to all of your mana reserves whenecer you match 4 or 5 gems. Gives +8 to Green mana at start of combat)
Dragonhorn of Stone is the key here. +6 to all mana when you match four or five of a kind? Just matching one gives you enough to pay the cost for using burn, or flaming skulls. It nearly pays for the rest, too, and you rarely will only be getting one 4/5 of a kind at a time. Trollkin's Collar is the damage maker. I do around 40 damage per match of skulls when all my mana is full, and it generally is after a few spells(Burn, Flaming Skulls, conflagaration, full mana for every slot... just an example). Using berserk rage when half the board is full of reds, and another 1/2 with skulls, insane damage. I killed one of the harder castles(315 life) first turn using this set-up. That made me very happy.
My armour and weapon are pretty much throw-away, so is Headbutt. But this setup decimates. Only thing that sucks are resistances, can screw you up when you have a bunch of possible 4/5 of a kinds, and try to cast a spell to get them all at once. Thankfully, once you get all your mana reserves to full, you don't need to really cast spells. Just wait out your opponent, getting the skulls you need. He'll be doing 8-20 damage per skull matchup, you'll be doing 35-50 with my setup(weapon included, does help for damage).
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
My setup was:
Elemental Gem (+2 to each mana reserve for each full tank per turn)
Erik's bow (+1 to damage +1 for each 5 levels)
Poison Wrap (+4 Fire mastery, 20% chance of poisoning enemy when dealing damage)
Plague D Horn (+6 to all mana reserves when matching 4 or 5, 20% chance of diseasing enemy when dealing damage)
Match a 4 at the start, stack 2 Hand of Power, then blow up the world with Fire Skulls + Fireball. The last 2 items are great at inflicting negative status effects on enemies, crippling their mana supplies and dealing damage each turn. Erik's bow is ridiculous damage and the elemental gem is there because I didn't find anything better :P
Time to restart with a knight I think
Destiny Profile : http://www.bungie.net/en/Profile/254/7028016
I like them though.
I think Druids are slower to kill but no less powerful.
Me too. I find myself spamming stun all the fucking time, the only other skills I really use are thrust occasionally and divine right. Are there some other skills I should probably get that would be awesome? Because I don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over to win matches.
I've taken Stun out of rotation and replaced it with Charge.
And it's a learned skill, but with 8+ red mana on the board, it's hard to beat Headbutt followed by Divine Right.
XBL: UnderHero5
Steam/PSN: UnderHero5
FUCK HIM UP THE ASS!
Loading is a little dinky, but apparently it's only the first time something happens (like "first enemy skill of the play"), and more important it's a really quick snap back from sleep mode, which is completely miniscule but is something I totally obsess over.
I like it, I do. Seriously. But...
Does _every_ interaction in the game have to be resolved by a version of Bejewelled? I can even grok the emergent concept that manipulation of the gems is like, say, their version of casting spells or swinging swords. I mean, it's certainly no less valid than waving a mouse at a grainy icon or telling a dungeon master "I attack with my +5 Sword of Gillette -- the Best a Man Can Get".
So combat with monsters == Bejewelled. And forging items == Bejewelled. And researching spells == Bejewelled. And training your mount == Bejewelled with annoying time limits that are made more annoying by the fact that the stupid words won't evaporate from the screen fast enough for you to see the board in your three second time limit.
The only thing that is slightly different is capturing monsters, where the basic goal -- removal of every gem from the board -- is different, and it's a fundamentally different kind of puzzle.
Still, I can't help but feel that an opportunity was lost here. Why the same puzzle for everything? I guess it's a good proof-of-concept, but I feel like there is so much more this genre has to offer.
Of course, I know people who complained bitterly about the Towers-of-Hanoi puzzle in Knights of the Old Republic, so I guess you can't please everybody all of the time.
I really need to get to capturing more beasts and learning spells. needs a better mount too. I have a rat right now. any tips on mounts or monsters that I should get on capturing? currently just level 21 Druid with a level 8 rat (haven't spent much time doing anything except buying all the parts to the fortress thing)
That.... that makes a lot more sense, actually. :oops: A much better build than the one I've been attempting. Thanks. It's going to be helpful, since I've started running into brick walls again (AHHH damn Wyverns why do you have to be such a pain in the ass HUARGHGHGHGLGH). I need to get forging and capturing.
On a plus note, I have a new mount: the Dragon Spider. The stat bonuses are nice, but kinda standard (+2 in Fire Mastery, plus 1+ for every two levels you give it), but Breathe Fire is an OK damage-dealer--37 HP on each use with my current stats. Pity the mana cost is so high... 37 red, 15 yellow. Even with my current build, I think I've done more damage by targeting a grid with two or three regular skulls and one red skull in it (somewhere over 40 HP on weaker enemies).
Oh yeah, and learning Petrify is a hideous pain in the ass. 24 scrolls, 317 green mana, 237 red mana? Yeah, that's gonna take a while. I thought Call The Dead was bad? Hah. The game laughs in my face and spits at me.
I'm not really complaining about the "Bejewelled Game System" per se. But you could use the same game board (and pieces) to do so much more. Why does every part of the game (except capturing) have to be the same "match & drop" gameplay?
I hope that PQ is really a feeler for what this type of gameplay is capable of. I mean, can you see a Real RPG (with real parties and more classes and dungeons and exploration, etc) based on PQ? Because I totally can see that :-) Just replace the die rolling with hardcore puzzlin'.
Anyway, man, you gotta stop riding around on the rat. I mean, I know it's food efficient, and he'll sleep anywhere, but seriously the guys and I really don't want to be seen around a lame ride like that. Chet over there has this '19 Griffon and Susie thinks it is totally HAWT. You're never gonna see any action on a rat, man.
Rick R.
In Puzzle Quest, I don't mind the "varying takes on Bejeweled" approach -- as UncleSporky said way earlier and I've paraphrased him many times, it's like how Tetris DS handled the source material. The core gameply is the same across all of the different ways to play PQ, but the strategies change up enough that it keeps me interested. In duels, I want to make sure I don't leave any good combos open, but when forging or researching, I need to do the exact opposite. In forging, I need to focus solely on anvils, but in spell research I have to keep my eyes open to anything that nets me bonus mana. And the capture puzzles are downright brutal, although a refreshing change of pace from the constant drive of the battle grid.