Month: April 2013

Link’s Awakening [4] – The Key Cavern

April 19, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Cover, Box Art

Key Cavern, the third dungeon of Link’s Awakening, was definitely a big jump in difficulty compared to the first two. I started dying on a regular basis here, mostly because some of the enemies started doing larger amounts of damage, compared to the half hearts I was losing up to now.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Bomb Enemies

These Bomb Enemies are annoying. Once hit, they bounce around the room and explode.

Even so, I somehow managed to get both the map and the compass, though I only got the compass when I already explored most of the dungeon. The focus of the dungeon was getting four keys in order to gain access to the boss area. The boss area was a separate area of the dungeon, connected with the main area by a side scrolling part, hidden behind a total of four lock blocks. Basically, it was all about getting keys. I needed to get one key to enter a room with another key, etc., until I got into a series of rooms where I could get more than key at a time.

Mini-Boss: Dodongo Snakes

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Dodongo Snakes

It’s easy to waste bombs in the Dodongo Snakes battle, but if you waste more than two, you lose.

The mini-boss was a pair of worms that swallow bombs, so that was the only way to kill them. The difficulty there was that I could only carry ten bombs at a time, and I needed 8 in total to kill both of them. They love to change movement directions, so it was easy to waste a bomb. After several attempts, I managed to do it with one bomb left. This got me one more key and I was finally able to enter the room with the item of the dungeon – the Pegasus Boots.

Item: Pegasus Boots

The Pegasus Boots allow link to dash, which allows him to kill some enemies more easily, break through some objects, such as those green crystal pillars, and when combined with the Rock Feather, jump greater distances. The last ability was the crucial to get the Nightmare Key and eventually, get to the boss room.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Pegasus Boots

Pegasus Boots were key in getting the last key!

Boss: Slime Eyes

The Key Cavern boss was a giant blob with an eye in the middle. It was actually easy, compared to the rest of the dungeon and the Bottle Grotto’s boss. In the first phase, I had to dash into it until I managed to split it in two. On each hit, Link gets knocked back, so the difficult part was staying on top of the boss and dashing into him before he recovered.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Slime Eyes

The Slime Eyes were actually easy, considering how hard the dungeon was.

Once the first phase was over, I just had to kill each of the two halves. The key here was not to spam-attack both of them, because then both would jump into the air, jump back down, stun Link and then damage him. Focusing on one at a time on my second attempt made the second phase extremely easy and the fight was one.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Switch Room

This room is easy to clear, it’s close to some stairs, and it contains a heart or two. Great for healing!

I got another heart container and another instrument – a Bell. Now, it was time to explore the world with my new dashing ability. I already have a couple of locations in mind. The Key Cavern is done for.

Gothic [7] – More Monster Slaying and Y’Berion

April 18, 2013 by Nikola·2 Comments

I bought the (Heavy) Shadow Armor

I started out at the Old Camp when I loaded up Gothic today, so I decided to just go ahead and give 1200 ore to Diego for an armor upgrade. Thus, the Shadow Armor replaced my Shadow Dress and further increased my protection. For some reason, the game calls it “Heavy Shadow Armor” in the dialog menu, but not in the inventory. I was also sitting on ten unspent skill points, but I decided to save those for the next level and then spend 20 skill points for the second level sword fighting skill.

The shadow armor was a definite upgrade and I have nothing to spend the money on anyway.

I Tried Out My New Gear

My primary mission was to go to the Sect Camp and figure out what they’re up to, but before I did that, I decided to try my luck and test my new equipment on some stronger monsters. As it turns out, this was well worth it.

I can now kill wolves and lizards with ease and in two hits. Blood flies and anything below that falls in a single hit. I also tried killing a lurker and I can quite easily do it, though there might be some danger if I tackle more than one at a time. The strategy here is similar to the one I had with the lizards before I got the armor upgrade. I need to hit the lurker once, then block one of his attacks and immediately hit it again.

I tried snappers to, but they still do quite a bit of damage. Even though I knew better, I also saved my game and tried attacking a shadow beast. As expected, I still can’t even scratch it. Its health bar literally does not move when I hit it.

I Did Some Questing in the New Camp

I decided to go to the New Camp and take care of that lurker that’s been doing damage to the dam. It turns out that one was slightly stronger than the regular lurkers, but since it was alone, I had no trouble killing it. On the way there, I also tried my luck with a gang of black goblins. I can kill them quickly, but their AI causes them to surround me, so it’s tough fighting them in big packs.

Lefty was a thug who forced me to deliver water to the peasants. Now I’m stronger than Lefty.

While I was at the new camp, I took care of a guy I was told took a hut for himself without asking anyone. The mercenaries didn’t like that so the reward for taking care of him was that I was allowed to use the shack for myself. I also cleared that drug den below the camp, but I didn’t find anything worthwhile in there.

I Got Killed by the Undead

On the way back, I took a turn into an area I didn’t explore yet. The first thing I saw there was a monster that looked like a chained snapper, called a biter. I killed it and got 120 XP for it, but I can’t help thinking it was part of some quest. It definitely looked unique.

I may have killed someone’s pet.

A short distance to the biter, there was also a shrine with a crypt below it. I charged into it and about ten seconds later, I was reloading my game. The crypt had several skeletons and a zombie in it, so I was taken care of like a newbie.

Don’t mind me. I entered the wrong house.

Doing all of that got me an extra level so, with twenty skill points, I went back to the Old Camp to learn the second level one handed weapon skill. I can now swing my sword even faster and can even do a circular attack, though I didn’t quite figure out how to do it yet.

I Spoke to Y’Berion

I made my way to the Brotherhood, killing monsters I missed during my previous visits. Once there, I was told by Lester that Y’Berion wants to see me, which meant I was finally allowed into the temple. I immediately went to him and got next mission. I also got to Chapter 2! Yup, I was thinking I’m getting close to the end and it turns out I’ve only completed the first chapter of the game. I guess Gothic is longer than I thought, which makes sense, considering there’s plenty of enemies I have no chance against yet.

What they do with women within the barrier is “uncomfortable” but it’s realistic.

My mission was to acquire one of the five focus stones. The focus stones are artifacts used to create the barrier and Y’Berion knows where one of them is. He sent a novice to get it, but the novice didn’t report back yet, so now he’s sending me. By the way, Y’Berion’s accent is not what I expected.

I Went and Got the First Focus

In any case, he gave me a map that I needed to follow to get to the focus stone, so that’s exactly what I did, killing more monsters along the way, mostly wolves, scavengers and blood flies. The missing novice was right where the focus was supposed to be. It turns out, the novice went a bit cuckoo, claiming the Sleeper spoke to him and told him to keep the focus to himself. He attacked me, so I defended myself and took him down. I looted him and took the focus, but I didn’t kill him, so he was able to run away.

Nyras has gone bananas, so I had to take him down, temporarily at least.

Side Note: Fighting NPCs in Gothic

The above might need some explanation. You see, when you fight NPCs in Gothic, defeating them only knocks them unconscious. You then get a short chance to loot their body and take their weapons, but after that, they get back up. That is, they get back up, unless you decide to attack one more time while they’re down. In that case, you actually do a killing blow and that’s it for the NPC.

I took the focus and brought it back to Y’Berion, which got my more experience and another level. I also got an Amulet of Fire Protection as a reward and was told to take the focus to Cor Kalom, the alchemist. That’s what I’ll be doing next time.

I Discovered New Things

One more thing, though. I encountered three new monsters for the first time. There was some sort of beast at the mountains close to the Brotherhood camp I can’t remember the name off. It’s killable, but it does a lot of damage, so I didn’t bother. There’s also a pack of orc hounds in the woods between the Sect Camp and the location of the first focus. Those are probably easier to kill, but since it’s a pack, they aren’t worth the trouble for now.

I’m very interested in that ship, but the fire lizards are too strong.

There’s also a beach close to the focus, with a shipwreck and some fire lizards. They do far too much damage to be worth the trouble right now, and I’m not even sure how to block them. Maybe my new Amulet of Fire Protection will help, but I didn’t get a chance to try it yet.

Link’s Awakening [3] – Getting ready for the Key Cavern

April 16, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

I was hoping to write one posting per dungeon, but either my time isn’t as free as I thought, or the game is longer than I expected. This time, I only got access to the Key Cavern, which is the third dungeon in Link’s Awakening, but I didn’t get a chance to get in yet.

Exploration

When I got out of the Bottle Grotto, I started to explore again, what with having the Power Glove and all. First, I got all the way north and actually found the Wind Fish egg. I hope no one spoils this for me, but I’m gonna say it – I think the Wind Fish might actually be a bird. Look how smart I am!

Zelda - Link's Awakening - Secret Seashell

I found quite a lot of these.

After that, I used the glove to get the heart piece from that cave in the woods I mentioned in my first article. This was apparently my fourth heart piece, so I got an extra heart container. The thing is, I can account for only three. I know I got one from the well in the village, as well as the one surrounded by chasms right next to the Mysterious Woods. This is obviously the fourth one, but I can’t remember where I got the third.

I got back to the village and gave Bow Bow back to Madam Meow Meow. She gave Link a kiss and that was about it. This means I won’t be entering the Bottle Grotto in any foreseeable future, since I need Bow Bow to clear the way.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Key Cavern Entrance

Finding the entrance was easy. The key? Not so much.

During the exploration, I came back to the two bomb rooms (the one on the beach and the one in Tail Cave) and opened up a chest behind a green skull in the Mysterious Woods. This got me three extra secret seashells. At this point, I had four, but I had no idea what the seashells are for, except that it’s for something good. This will change soon.

Find Richard in the Southeast

I spoke to everyone in the village and they told me to go and find Richard, who’s living in a house southeast of the village. This seemed important, so it gets a note.

See Richard, Southeast of the Village

On the way southeast, I stopped by at Sale’s again. He told me about a raft in Tal Tal Heights. I have no idea where Tal Tal Heights are, but that’s another note.

This is Sale, by the way.

There’s a raft in Tal Tal Heights

This is a bit blurry, but I think I went in the wrong direction to find Richard. The route past Sale’s was a dead end, so I went back to the village and headed east, for the Savannah first. I found another seashell while exploring and then found the Seashell Manor. In there, I was finally told what the seashells are for – if I get enough of them, I get a sword.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Seashell Manor

It doesn’t really look like a manor, but that’s what it’s called – the Seashell Manor.

The Castle and Richard

I finally got to a castle, but the gates were closed. On the eastern side, I found a monkey who wanted some bananas. Luckily, I had some from the start of the game and gave them to the monkey. He called in his friends, and they created a bridge for me, so I now had access to more areas. They also left behind a stick, which I picked up.

So the bananas were meant for a monkey, just not the one on the coconut tree.

I couldn’t do much about the castle, so I kept exploring and finally found Richard. It turns out I did this the other way around. I was supposed to find Richard first, because he hinted at the monkey and asked me to find him five golden leaves scattered around the castle, so he would give me the key to the Key Cave – the next dungeon.

A good guy would just give me the key. I don’t trust Richard.

I got back to the castle and started exploring it this time. I found four of the five leaves easily, with some being given to me by dead enemies, some hidden in the walls of the mini-dungeon and other more or less obvious places. The last one gave me trouble, not because I couldn’t find it, but because it took some skill to get it.

The Five Leaves and the Crow

The western courtyard of the castle had a crow on top of a tree. There was no way for me to hit it with a sword while it was stationary, so I had to use a bomb. As soon as I did, it would fly across the screen and disappear. I knew I had to kill it somehow, because it was the last enemy I wasn’t able to kill at the castle.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Secret Stairs

Did I mention I got the shovel?

I first thought there was some trick, but as it turns out, I just had to be good enough. I threw a bomb at the tree, which caused the crow to trigger and then I hit it twice with my sword before it got away. That was enough to get the last leaf.

Richard didn’t outright give me the key for the leaves. He just told me where it was.

I gave the five leaves to Richard and got the key. I went and used the key at the dungeon entrance, but I actually had to go the long way around to reach the door from the key lock. I even managed to go in the wrong direction one more time and go all the way back, before I finally entered the dungeon. On the plus side, I found a bee hive as well as another seashell.

There’s a bee hive close to the Key Cavern dungeon

Next up, I’ll get through the dungeon.

Gothic [6] – The Old Mine and the Shadows

April 15, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

Today, after a few days of not playing Gothic, I loaded up the game and felt a bit lost for a few moments. A quick look at the title of my latest posting refreshed my memory, though.

The Old Mine

I decided it was time to go to the mine, but I had no idea where that was. That didn’t matter, though, because after about 15 minutes of hunting random monsters, I basically stumbled into the mine. So where is the Old Mine? Probably the easiest way to get to it is to go to where Drax and the other hunter are standing on the way from the beginning of the game and then follow the hill next to the forest until the mine entrance is visible. It really was as simple as that.

The mine is at the base of the hill next to the forest between the Old and the New Camp.

In any case, I got into the mine and started exploring it. It sort of acts like a smaller quest hub, with several NPCs and a few short quests. The quests mostly consisted of tricking guards into leaving areas unguarded so either me or some other digger would be able to steal. This meant I had to bribe people, like and sneak around a bit, but overall it was worth about 300 ore, so I would gladly do it again.

They have an orc slave working the foundry at the bottom of the mine.

I finally got to the bottom and found Ian, who was in charge of the mine. He gave me the list Diego wanted and my “Trial of Faith” was basically over. Before I went back to the Old Camp, though, I decided to take a pit stop at the new camp, to see if there are any monster books to be bought. I bought a book about Blood Flies in the Sect Camp and this added a new, valuable item to the Blood Fly loot list, so I thought it might be a good idea to get more books as early as I can. I didn’t find any, though, so the pit stop was for nothing.

The Shadow

Back at the Old Camp, I spoke to Diego, got a level and was sent to Thorus, who then allowed me to enter the inner ring of the camp. In there, I spoke to a guy named Raven, who led me to Gomez, the leader of the Old Camp.

Gomez is an asshole, but he’s got a cool throne room.

Gomez is an asshole, basically. I actually had a hard time figuring out what to say to him that wouldn’t cause him to rage and kill me. Once I did figure it out (don’t lie, don’t be sassy), I was finally accepted as a Shadow of the Old Camp. I spoke to Raven (or is it Revan?) and he gave me my first official mission – I need to get to the Sect Camp and figure out what the Brotherhood is up to.

I got a nice sword…

Before I did that, I went and spoke to the Fire Mages, to give them the letter I was supposed to deliver. It turns out, the letter was addressed to a mage that went rogue and built a tower in the Orc Lands, so there’s nothing I can do about that. The current leader of the Fire Mages was still pleased, however, so he gave me a Ring of Strength (+5 Str).

…and an even nicer uniform. Ignore the lady.

I also stopped by the local blacksmith and bought an awesome new sword. It’s a Battle Sword and it does 33 base damage, while only requiring 13 strength. Considering I also got a Shadow’s armor with my new title, I will now be kicking major ass!

I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Grandia [10] – Lower Laine Village

April 14, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

Last weekend, I only played Grandia for about 40 minutes, so there isn’t much to talk about. I only did one major thing – I got through the chaotic and twisted lower Laine village. It consisted of three or four areas, each a slightly different type of maze.

Gaia really did a number on Lower Laine

Lower Laine Village

I didn’t dodge any battles, sine my team started getting a nice amount of experience again, so Justin leveled by a lot in those 40 minutes, primarily because all of his skills now only cast half the SP, and his Dragon King Slice can kill most groups of enemies in the dungeon with one hit. As I said before, I’m not bothered with Justin getting ahead of the others in levels, because in the worst case scenario, the others will be able to catch up that much faster later on in the game.

The Boss

The boss of the dungeon was another Gaia creature of the same type I fought at the Tower of Doom, though I think this one was stronger. I spread my party around and mostly used spells and skills, so I didn’t even have to heal. Before I knew it, it was over.

Looking back at the screenshots, it looks like I did heal at least once. My memory sucks.

The Loot

As for the loot, I didn’t get much in the area of equipment, but I did get the last mana egg I’ll ever need. I got back to Laine and immediately used it to teach Rapp his final element – Earth. I gave the horn back to the wise man and he told me where I needed to go next – back to Zil Padon.

I got a mana stone, so gimme my magic!

The Story

Apparently, there’s a shrine in Zin Padon that’s connected to the Alent shrine, and the three races of Zil Padon somehow play a part in gaining access to the shrine. Before I could leave, though, it was time for another goodbye – Milda won’t follow me anymore.

The Medal of Knowledge? Original!

I was actually looking forward to this moment. Milda is strong and cool and all, but her four moves get really boring really fast and I was looking forward to transferring her skills to Justin. Well, that turned out to be a bust! Apparently, either her skills sucked, or I didn’t understand the transfer mechanics correctly, because I barely got a single level in all three skills combined. Suffice to say, that was underwhelming. I even gave one of Milda’s manuals to Rapp, hoping he would get more out of it, but no dice.

She left me almost nothing…

Oh well, see you in Zil Padon…

On a Side Note…

The people of Laine grow up in an extremely weird way. Before I went to the lower village dungeon, there was a group of kids in town, talking about how one of them will soon grow up, so they want to play together as much as they can before it was over.

A cute kid turns into that almost instantly…

I didn’t think anything off it, but when I got back, one of the kids was a full-fledged, all grown, talking cow. Apparently, the people of Laine just “sprout” instantaneously, instead of growing up gradually.

Grandia is a weird game. Weirdly awesome!

Link’s Awakening [2] – The Bottle Grotto

April 13, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

I’ve noticed Link’s Awakening is a bit less formulaic compared to the original Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past. I got out of the dungeon, with the owl immediately telling me the swamp is my next goal and as I got back to the village, I was told there was a moblin attack. The game pointed me in the direction of madam Meow Meow, where I wound out they took her dog.

Before I forget this, I took a note of something in the Tail Cave

There’s a bomb-able wall in one of the rooms in the Tail Cave dungeon

Rescuing Madam Meow Meow’s Dog

In any case, again, various hints within the game told me I can find the moblin lair somewhere in the highlands. I made the mistake of going straight for the swamp, though, so I spent some time looking for the place. With my new jumping ability, I found some chests with rupies, so I was getting close to buying the shovel from the village shop, but I couldn’t find the moblin lair anywhere.

Where is the Moblin Dungeon in Link’s Awakening?

I decided to go back to the village and start looking from the start again. This turned out to be a good idea. I found there’s a chasm I can jump over on the screen with the witch’s hut and that was finally the route I needed to take. The moblin cave was a few screen’s after that.

Zelda - Link's Awakening DX - Moblin King

Yes, I must be an assassin. The magic acorn I got in the previous room helped with this boss fight.

The moblin lair was basically a smaller dungeon, with a couple of rooms where I needed to defeat all the enemies and a mini-boss in the final room. The boss was easy to defeat, but I’m not used to following patterns and playing carefully (to few games these days ask for this), so I managed to lose on my first try. The trick was to just dodge the boss until it crashes the wall and then hit him once. Doing this a couple of times was enough to defeat him.

Exploration

I got madam Meow Meow’s dog and I loved having it with me. It was basically a companion which attacks enemies nearby automatically and can even kill enemies I can’t hurt. This turned out to be the key in entering the next dungeon – Bottle Grotto, but more on that later.

What a cute puppy!

I spent some time exploring and found a few more items. I got another heart container near the area with the witch’s hut, in a very obvious place. I can’t be sure, but I think I also found another one somewhere nearby. I need to take better notes. I also got several chests with rupies, so I got more than enough for the shovel, but I didn’t buy it yet, mostly because I didn’t get around to going back to the village.

Finally, I got to the next dungeon, the Bottle Grotto. I stumbled into it earlier on, but I couldn’t enter it because it was surrounded by plant enemies I couldn’t hurt (but they sure could hurt me). As I said, the key to entering was the dog. It had no problem devouring the plants and clearing a path.

Link’s Awakening Dungeon #2 – The Bottle Grotto

The Bottle Grotto was definitely harder than the Tail Cave. The layout was circular, with two basic paths I could explore. The left path was shorter, required a key and took me to the room with the Owl Beak.

Owl Beak, you ask? I forgot to mention this in my previous posting, but some of the rooms int he dungeons have beakless Owl statues. Finding the beak gives Link the ability to get hints from the statues, which was extremely helpful in the Bottle Grotto.

The cyclops was easy to beat. You need to dodge the bombs and hit him when he calms down. That’s it.

The right path was much longer and it lead me to a side scrolling area, which then lead me to the second half of the dungeon and a cyclops mini-boss. Throughout all of this, I was mostly fighting bats and skeletons with a couple of those enemies that mimic Link’s actions. The cyclops was easy to beat. I just had to dodge his bombs and movement, while hitting him when I had the chance.

Next up was an annoying room with bats and a “magnet” which pulled everything towards it. Of course, the room was also full of chasms, so I ended up losing a lot of health in that one.

The Power Bracelet

A few rooms after the cyclops room, I finally found the treasure of the dungeon, the Power Bracelet. A few moments after that, I found one of the game’s annoyances. For some reason, the designers decided that every time I run into a lift-able object without having the power bracelet equipped, I would get a dialogue box slowly telling me “I can’t just lift this object with my bare hands”. In a dungeon where you constantly have to switch between the Power Bracelet and the Roc Feather, this got really annoying, really fast.

The Power Bracelet is needed to lower this platform.

After getting the bracelet, I explored the rest of the area and spent a lot of time being lost, trying to figure out where the Nightmare Key was.

The Bottle Grotto Nightmare Key

Thanks to the Compass and it’s new ability to chime every time I enter the room with a hidden key, I found the room where the Nightmare Key was supposed to be. It was the room with a cloaked swordsman enemy, a bat and one of those rabbit enemies. Again, since I’m bad with names, I had to google the name of the bat enemies. The bat enemies are called Keese. As for the other two, the game told me their names. The rabbits are called Pols Voice and the swordsmen are Stalfos.

As I said, an Owl statue was important in the Bottle Grotto. There was a side scrolling area connecting the Nigthmare key room and an Owl statue room. The Owl statue outright told me I need to kill the “Trapped Polls Voice” first and the Stalfos last. Logically, this meant the killing order in the Nightmare key room was

Pols Voice (the rabbit)
Keese (the bat)
Stalfos (the skeleton)

Killing them in this order made a chest appear and I finally had the nightmare key. Two rooms later, I was in the room with the Nightmare door. A few more rooms and another side scrolling area after that and I was in the boss room.

The Genie Boss of the Bottle Grotto

OK. It’s possible Link’s Awakening DX is giving me a few hints to many, because the Genie almost outright told me what I needed to do to kill it. The pattern was easy to figure out. First, the Genie is out of it’s bottle, throwing fireballs at me. After dodging 8 of those, he goes back into the bottle. Picking the bottle up and throwing it does some damage and causes the Genie to come back out and throw fireballs again. Repeating this four time destroys the bottle.

The first part of the Genie fight is easy to master.

After that, the Genie floats around and throws fireballs. Hitting it causes it to go invincible, split up and move around in a spiral for a while, before being hit-able again. A few more of these hits and the battle is over.

Simple, but again, I’m out of practice. I probably had to repeat the battle ten or so times before I finally got it right. I got annoyed to, because it’s quite a trek to get from the entrance to the boss room, even with the warp shortcut. Even worse, I had to switch between the Bracelet and the Feather a couple of times on the way there, which meant there was a lot of dialogue cancelling.

The second phase of the battle is harder, but Link has plenty of health if the first part is done right.

Still, knowing you’re getting better at the game with each try is a great feeling and part of why I decided to do this Legend of Zelda challenge. Eventually, I got to the point where I could go through the bottle phase without getting hit and finally, I beat the Genie with one heart remaining.

I got the second instrument, the Conch Horn and the Bottle Grotto was clear. Next up, the Savannah.

Road Redemption

April 13, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

I really don’t write these type of posts, but I just have to share this with someone. I just saw a link on reddit to a Kickstarter for the game Road Redemption. Apparently, it’s heavily inspired by the Road Rush series, which I barely touched on back in the day, so there really isn’t any nostalgia at play here.

I don’t know why, but watching the video made me giddy, happy, excited, basically everything positive I associate with games. It looks awesome and fun and I want it now.

My first thought? “That looks like it’s going to hurt.”. Seconds later? YES! IT DID HURT!

I’m sorry, this really isn’t a meaningful article, but I had to share Road Redemption with someone. The fact that I was never a fan of Road Rash should say something.

My only reservation? It says real time, but it looks staged. If the game can actually create moments like those in the video during gameplay, that’s amazing. If not, then a lot of my interest will go away.

Gothic [5] – Impressing the Brotherhood and the Old Camp

April 12, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

All that monster slaying in my yesterday’s Gothic session got me a level and a half of experience, but I was still a level or so away from getting strong enough to become a full-fledged member of the Old Camp. I figured, other camps are waiting for me to impress them, so why not do it and get the rewards? I don’t have to become a member after I’m done.

Impressing the Brotherhood of the Sect Camp

I went to the Sect Camp first, mostly because I barely explored it the last time I was there. I found it confusing and I was in a hurry, so I skipped it.

I stumbled into this giant skull randomly. There’s a gate in the mouth, but I can’t open it.

This time, I thoroughly explored the entire camp and found out what I needed to do to impress them. The alchemist I need to steal the recipe for Dexter from is also the camp’s boss, pretty much. He wants me to impress at least four Baal’s to be considered for acceptance. The Baal’s are the guru’s I’ve mentioned before and most of them won’t even talk to me right now.

I’m not allowed to enter the sect’s temple yet.

Instead, I spoke with some of the novices and other low ranking members of the sect, until I finally got a quest. One of the novices was supposed to be replaced on the job by another guy, but instead of showing up, he was getting high and sleeping at home. I hit him a couple of times with my sword and this made him show up for work. A guru noticed me doing this, so he spoke to me and gave me a proper mission. I was supposed to get the next shipment of weed from the swamp and deliver it to the alchemist.

Weed Farming

Of course, he wouldn’t tell me where the weed farms are, so I had to scour through the swamp on my own. I found the first farm nearby, which got me 50 of the 100 stalks I needed to deliver. The leader of this small camp said the other farm was on the other side of the swamp, so I naturally misunderstood him completely.

There’s a Baal at the first weed farm, but I’m not sure he’s a real Baal. He definitely smoked too much weed, though.

I thought he meant “the other side of the camp”, so I made a circle around the entire camp, before getting back to the farm and feeling silly. On my second go, I tried going deeper into the swamp, dodging swamp sharks, killing blood flies and avoiding the edge of the barrier, which was dangerously close. I finally found the other farm at the very edge. Before I got there, I saw some random guy get chased and killed by swamp sharks. I can’t deal with these monsters yet, so I wasn’t able to help him, or loot his corpse, for that matter.

They wouldn’t give me their shipment, though. First, they wanted me to kill all the blood flies nearby. While doing this, I managed to nearly get myself killed by jumping into the barrier. I got hit twice, but I managed to stay at near zero health and survive. I got the shipment and delivered it to the alchemist (I really need to start writing down names). While I was there, I also took the opportunity to pick open his chest and steal the recipe for Dexter. He was so distracted with his work, I didn’t even have to steal.

The swamp sharks are to strong for me. This scene did not end well.

I went back to the guru who gave me the quest and he told me I have his vote. He also gave me a sleep spell, which I immediately used to impress another guru, as I was told to do by someone in the camp. All I had to do was to put one of his students to sleep. Being able to use magic was impressive enough for that one.

Recruiting Dusty into the Brotherhood

I had one more guru I knew how to impress, but for that, I needed to go back to the Old Camp. There was a guy named Dusty there, who asked me to check out the Sect Camp and tell him about it, because he was considering defecting there. A guru wanted me to find him more recruits, so this guy was perfect.

This book taught me how to extract stingers from dead blood flies. Of course, I got it after the swamp.

I got back to the Old Camp, spoke to Dusty and also gave the recipe to Dexter. Dusty asked me to escort him to the Sect Camp, but he also needed 100 ore to bribe the guards because they wouldn’t let him leave. I figured 100 ore was worth whatever experience I get from the two quests, so I agreed.

This is me right now. You don’t level a lot in Gothic, but every level matters.

Since I already cleared the route to the Brotherhood, there was no danger for Dusty, so this was an extremely basic escort quest. I finally got him to the Sect Camp (he moves a bit slower than me, so I had to wait) and this got me a total of 750 experience, 250 from Dusty and 500 from the Guru.

Impressing the Old Camp

Three out of the four gurus were impressed now, so I decided it was time to go back to the Old Camp. I got a level, so as soon as I got back, I increased my strength to 41 at Diego’s. I was now confident I can beat at least Kirgo at the arena, so that’s exactly what I did. I got 250 experience for this and according to Diego, I impressed everyone I could at the Old Camp. All that was needed now was Diego’s test of faith. I needed to go to the Old Mine, but I have no idea where it is.

In any case, I won’t be doing that yet. I think I’ll go impress the guys at the New Camp first. I want more experience!

Gothic [4] – Monster Slaying

April 11, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

So far in Gothic, I’ve been to the Sect Camp and I’ve been to the New Camp. Neither impressed me. The Sect Camp are a bunch of always high, overly religious types and the New Camp guys are mostly just thugs. I mean, sure, the Old Camp guys are also mostly thugs, but at least they’re thugs with a cool armor. This is why I decided to join them. I wasn’t anywhere near that point, though.

Impressing the Old Camp

I still needed to impress Fingers, Dexter and the arena master whoose name I forgot. Fingers wanted me to learn a thieving skill (I opted for sneaking), so I needed to invest a whole level of skill points into that. Dexter wanted me to obtain a potion recipe from the Sect Camp and the quest log was strongly hinting at me stealing it, so I probably needed sneaking for that as well.

The arena master wanted me to win an arena battle. I tried challenging the New Camp fighter, but I failed miserably. He basically took me down with one swing of his weapon. Then I tried challenging the weakest fighter there, the one from the Old Camp, but he also beat me without any issues. Obviously, I needed one more level’s worth of skill points invested into strength to. This meant I needed two more levels in total, and I was sort of out of the easy quests to solve.

This guy took me down in one swing.

Monster Slaying

I decided to roam through the area between the three camps, killing anything I’m able for a while. My session was mostly spent this way. First, I went towards the new camp, because I remember there being plenty of mole rats and scavengers in the region. At this point, I could kill those with no danger for me. I could also tackle wolves quite easily and even kill lizards, as long as I’m very, very careful.

How to Fight Lizards?

Actually, the lizards gave me a lot of trouble, until I figured out the way to fight them. They love to retreat from being hit, which blocks my damage. The trick is to block their first attack and then quickly swing before they’re able to get away. You can’t block forever, though, because then they just break through the block. Blood flies can be killed in a similar fashion, though I don’t need a lot of strategy with those any more – they’ve become easy enough as it is.

Quite a lot of things died today.

Just as an estimate of how many monsters I killed, when I came back to the Old Camp, I had over a 100 pieces of meat, a bunch of wings and plenty of skins.

Of course, I also stumbled into brand new monsters I had no chance against. Lurkers are extremely rare and I can actually do damage to those, but they kill me in two hits and I barely scratch them, so there’s no point in trying those. I also ran into a couple of snappers (they look like dinosaurs). These guys have a huge aggro range, so it was very annoying trying to get to the weaker monsters around them. They also kill me in a single hit, so I’m not even close to being able to beat them.

This about sums up my encounter with a snapper…

Lastly, I stumbled into one monster I won’t be able to beat in any foreseeable amount of time – the Shadowbeast. These guys are, from what I understand, some of the toughest enemies in the game. There’s one of them in the woods between the Old Camp and the Brotherhood. I tried attacking it just to see if I can scratch it, but I didn’t even get a chance to hit it. Luckily, their aggro range is much smaller compared to the snapper’s, so I managed to clear most of the scavengers, wolves and blood flies around them.

…and a Shadowbeast

All of this took me well over an hour and gained me about a level and a half. I got back to the Old Camp and spoke to Fingers, hoping he’d teach me how to sneak. Apparently, the master thief of the Old Camp can’t do that. Instead, he sent me to Calvalorn, a hunter in a hut on the way to the New Camp, just down the first hill.

See that chest behind Cavalorn? He will teach me how to steal from it.

Cavalorn taught me how to sneak for a cost of 10 skill points. I immediately repaid the favor by sneaking through the back of his shack, looting his chest, taking the key to his storeroom and then looting the store room. This got me a bow, a nice amount of arrows and a bunch of ore and other stuff. Now that I can sneak, I’ll get real rich, real soon.

There’s time for that later, though. For now, I needed to take a break, so that was it for today.

Gothic [3] – Questing and the New Camp

April 10, 2013 by Nikola·0 Comments

Last time in Gothic, I learned a lot of new skills, got a hunting teacher, practiced sword fighting and then finally visited the Sect camp at the Swamp or, how they call themselves, the Brotherhood.

Thorus and Diego

Now I was back in the Old Camp and I finally had a conversation with, I guess, the highest ranking guard in the outer ring – Thorus. He made the requirements for joining the new camp official. I need to impress several people buy doing favors, getting strong, learning skills, etc. I already impressed a few, but I still have more than enough to do.

Thorus can also be bribed to let me into the inner ring, but it’s not worth the 1000 ore and the missed experience.

Thorus sent me back to Diego, who asked me to go fetch something from the mine, which will give me his recommendation. He was also now willing to increase my Strength and Dexterity, provided I have the skill points. I used the opportunity to increase my Strength by eleven points, all the way up to 21, because this directly increases my damage.

I got some extra are and decided to invest it in my first armor – a pair of digger’s trousers. This increases defense from weapons by 10 (or 15?) and defense from fire by 5, so I can now survive better to.

With these two things, I am now able to dispatch scavengers and mole rats without any issues. I can also kill a wolf if I’m careful and I can get rid of blood flies easily, though they can still kill me if I get swarmed.

Modrag and the New Camp

Thorus also had a favor for me. He wanted me to somehow get rid of Mordrag, who is a member of the new camp. Apparently, he steals their stuff and then sells it back to them, so they can’t have any of that. I went to talk to Mordrag and told him what’s up. He gave me an option. I can try killing him, which won’t end well for me, or I can follow him to the New Camp, to keep my options open.

Mordrag uses a bow, like a lot of members of the New Camp.

Either choice accomplishes my goal, so I chose the latter. The way to the New Camp was much easier than the road to the Brotherhood, with mostly scavengers and goblins along the way. I took note of some landmarks I’ll pay a visit to later, but I didn’t go far from the main road for the most part, because I didn’t have a lot of play time left and I wanted to get there before I’m done.

The New Camp is sitting on top of a dam, next to a lake. They have a mine of their own and a group of mages of their own – the Water Mages. I actually told one of the Water Mages about the letter I have for the leader of the Fire Mages, interested to see if there’s some rivalry, but he simply told me I have the option of joining the New Camp and then getting in contact with the Fire Mages via a regular communication route they have. I guess mages don’t plot against each other in Gothic.

I bought a book of spells, but it only contains descriptions, nothing else.

I explored most of the camp, got some quests, gained a level and learned acrobatics. I even went to their mine to check it out and gave water to the rice farmers. I learned two things. Firstly, their plan is to gather as much ore as they can and then detonate it to destroy the barrier. Secondly, other than the mages, almost everyone else in the new camp is an asshole, especially if they’re in a position of power.

I decided to join the Old Camp

It was night time again, so naturally, I decided now would be a good time to try and find my way back to the Old Camp. This time, I strayed away from the path quite a lot, which got me some experience and loot, but also got me some reloads. The first one happened soon after I left the New Camp. To the left of the primary entrance to the New Camp, there’s a cave with a laboratory and a bunch of people in there. As soon as I got in, I was attacked by one of them. I’m guessing I stumbled into someone’s meth lab or something.

It was morning by the time I got back to the Old Camp.

I moved on along the road to the Old Camp, getting lost several times and even stumbling into the forest I was told not to get in because it was too dangerous. Eventually, I saw the outlines of the Old Camp, albeit from a whole different direction than the one I was supposed to come back from. The net result is the same, so it doesn’t matter. I’m back at the Old Camp, I have a bunch of quests and now I’m free to roam and kill monsters.