Elminage ORIGINAL - Priestess of Darkness and The Ring of the Gods

[Haplo]

Hm, yes, the rate of rare drops seems really low in Original. I think I've had more luck in Gothic.. or maybe I'm just imagining things. I got decent drops in the armor categories (particularly for Lords and Fighters, which I don't have ), hats, lots of shields (which I don't use ). Very little luck in regard to gloves and the better weapons though.
Anyway, this makes the Thief character that much more important, as you have access to good guaranteed equipment.

 

[Dorarnae]

Hm, yes, the rate of rare drops seems really low in Original. I think I've had more luck in Gothic.. or maybe I'm just imagining things. I got decent drops in the armor categories (particularly for Lords and Fighters, which I don't have ), hats, lots of shields (which I don't use ). Very little luck in regard to gloves and the better weapons though.
Anyway, this makes the Thief character that much more important, as you have access to good guaranteed equipment.

you can new game+ to increase the rarity drop. (need to kill all the demonlord in the old world for that though)

 

[Haplo]

Thank you Dorarnae. But repeating games isn't really my cup of tea.

Whelp, I just now discovered the Rose Headbands you can steal from those Alraune plants (cursed and woman only... but what's alchemy for?). 50% Sleep and Confusion? Yes please! In fact I will have most of my party wear them.. Pretty OP I say... pity you can't enchant armor pieces with status affliction chance bonus.

Regarding the status breath, the chance is clearly not related to hand average. In fact when I had 50% on both main & sub, the chance dropped to measly 17%. But it clearly varies. Only Main hand seems to be affecting it. Anyway, seems like weapons are a much more reliable method of delivering the status ailments (not to mention being able to proc several different effects in a single attack).

 

[Dorarnae]

to beat the true final boss you have to new game + though. you have to find all the rings without gaining any fame.

 

[Haplo]

Guess I simply won't try to do that then.

 

[aweigh]

i never did it either. main reaosn I pumped hundreds of hours into elminage GOTHIC post-game and ibag's tower completion was because each dungeon and each new floor was better than the previous one and e: gothic's post-game dungeons are some of the best mazes Starfish has designed rivaled only by their dungons in Empire 2.

elminage ORIGINAL's old world and its normal dungeons are not as good, IMO, at least not good ENOUGH to make me want to ever New Game+ it just to beat the true boss.

also e: gothic's best loot and best itemization is in the post-game dungeons with the loot in ibag's tower being some of the most interesting stuff in the entire game constantly making you re-evaluate your party/class compositions, and the same can't be said for the loot inside the Old World.

yes stealing shit is great, and Original is better for it, but since 90% of the loot in Gothic is normal-drops it allows for thief-less parties to really shine in Gothic post-game since you don't have to tunnel-vision your thinking into "gotta steal dis from dat boss".

Gothic floor masters all have epic-level loot that can only be gotten thru stealing so there is still that.

 

[Dorarnae]

it's not that bad, there's two easy quest for an easy 7 fame you can get. use the fame, locate the ring, then reload and get it. repeat until you have all rings.
elminage 2 and 3 made it easier.
I agree that elminage gothic dungeon are better.

 

[Haplo]

Well, I kinda like Original dungeons. They don't provide as much challenge as some in Gothic do (huge numbers of teleporters and hidden pathways spanning across several levels... sometimes it was actually a bit much for me)... but somewhat resemble actual places that might actually exist somewhere. Some have nice puzzles or twists also. They might be my favorite crawler locations so far.


With heavy use of spoilers, I activated all the altars. Of course most of them were located in dungeons I never explored before (except Sheba), so it was a bit of a pain.
The dungeons themselves were perhaps quite interesting, but I've overgrown them like 20 levels before...

I was pleasantly surprised by access to the Library of Elminage that allowed me to repeat the earlier boss fights. So I could snatch Fendel's sword and Lecareth's Sash I previously missed.

And so far the fights in the Old World are just what I've been waiting for. Guess I will need to equip that Dark resist gear after all... Am a bit concerned what happens when I inevitably meet enemies with high Behead rates. Haven't found many ways to protect against that so far. Well, maybe a "kill them first" race... but if they also have swallow return...

 

[Haplo]

Well, haven't found many non-boss enemies with high behead rates. There's Sammael but he's kinda a wimp compared to enemies from Gothic post-game.

Now my party is about level 50-ish. Only Thief is like 74. Killed all the dukes and 2 of the elemental (white) bosses (summoning hand and dragon). But the chimera white reskin is destroying me. Well, maybe I need to try doing REALLY heavy prebuffing before killing the first enemy rows.

I've been finding some nice gear in the Old World too. Valkyrie rocks the Saint's Spear now and wears the Lunar Feather Robe. Bishop slays with the Death's staff. Also got some Angel's Sandals, Flame Boots, even a Diamond Blade (not that I have much use for it).

 

[Dorarnae]

Well, haven't found many non-boss enemies with high behead rates. There's Sammael but he's kinda a wimp compared to enemies from Gothic post-game.

Now my party is about level 50-ish. Only Thief is like 74. Killed all the dukes and 2 of the elemental (white) bosses (summoning hand and dragon). But the chimera white reskin is destroying me. Well, maybe I need to try doing REALLY heavy prebuffing before killing the first enemy rows.

I've been finding some nice gear in the Old World too. Valkyrie rocks the Saint's Spear now and wears the Lunar Feather Robe. Bishop slays with the Death's staff. Also got some Angel's Sandals, Flame Boots, even a Diamond Blade (not that I have much use for it).

try to kill the wandering gods and then with the items they give it'll help against the elemental boss.

 

[Haplo]

Hm, I haven't seen any gods yet. Don't you need to unlock them first by killing the white bosses at the altars?

 

[Haplo]

So I reached the central altar... tried fighting the baby god, but failed miserably.
I wonder if I'll have any chance with a level 46+ party to beat the post game.
My grinding tolerance is rather low. Shall see, I guess.

 

[didntdemon]

I'm facing similar issues, walking around the old world with level ~36 party.

Bosses and high-level mob would 1-shot my characters whose HP is around 200+.

Unlike EG, there's no big winding dungeon in Original. The Post-game dungeons is simply a large open area with multiple boss fights. I can't find the motivation to grind levels, and have moved on to replay SMT3.

 

[aweigh]

Elminage: Original gods are harder to beat than any post-game boss from Gothic, imo.

The main reason for this is because the devs mean for you to beat the Elminage: Original post-game Gods using items like the WAND OF FAME which can only be gotten with "meta-knowledge" and usable only on the 2nd "lap" of the game anyway.

Another contributing factor is that Gothic offers the player more options, tactics, items and stuff like that to deal with post-game enemy difficulty, with Gothic's EX-SKILLS being the most obvious example.

 

[Dorarnae]

nah don't need that wand. just a brawler with paralyse or the death spear. once you acquire the items from them, it makes the white boss much easier.

 

[STRATOS198XAD]

Thoughts on 3DS version?. Is the steam version really worth it over the 3DS version?

 

[aweigh]

STRATOS198XAD

3ds version has a better GUI than the original PSP version but there is no new or additional content. If you own both a PSP and a 3DS and a PC? Obviously the PC version is the better one by far in every single category (including GUI).

If you don't own a PC (how are you posting?) or for some reason plan to exclusively play E: Original "on-the-go" then frankly there's no reason to get the PSP version as the 3DS version is better in every single category that matters.

If we're talking emulation however, and for some reason you are planning on playing E: Original on an emulated PSP on your PC, then I recommend the PPSSPP emulator instead of using CITRA solely because of the amount of great digital filters and shaders you can use to spruce up the visuals.

TL;DR "Is the steam version worth it over the 3ds ver?"

- PC version is not locked to 3DS' 20fps.
- PC version utilizes high-definition art assets, and this is almost entirely 2d art so this makes such a huge difference words can't even.
- PC version GUI, while not as intuitive to its native hardware as the re-tooled 3ds GUI is to its native hardware, supports:

a) keyboard-only play
b) keyboard and mouse play
c) mouse only play
d) controller support (steam controller, 3rd-party PC controller, xbox or ps3/ps4 controller, arcade fight-stick, etc)

Simply put the answer to your question is that the Windows PC port of Elminage: Original is superior in every single way to the existing PSP or 3DS ports.

The only reason not to get the PC port of E: Original over the PSP or 3DS versions is if you've already bought those, since there is no new actual content (no new items, no new dungeons), and even then I'd still recommend getting the PC port as it would make for a fantastic 2nd or 3rd playthrough (the high-definition graphics alone would make this 2nd or 3rd playthrough so much more enjoyable, and the unlocked fps means you will fly through the dungeons and battles though I recommend locking it to 60fps).

 

[Haplo]

I've beaten Ildorath and the first incarnation of the central boss... and after some grinding, finally found the Silver Rapier. So Now I have a Ninja. Man, their equipment selection sure sucks. But I finally decided to ignore their AC bonus and go with equipment that will offer me a degree of Magic Resistance.

My biggest dissapointment was to find out that equipment Beheading bonus doesn't stack with Ninja Behead chance? WTF?! I think it stacked in Gothic? Not 100% sure, as I were using a monster adventurer Ninja there and her racial bonus definately did stack with the Ninja boost (but not with items). Still, she's my candidate to get the enemy resistance cancelling god ability... if I manage to get it.

 

[aweigh]

monster adventurers have over-powered shit like beheading chances stacking and other stuff like that which is game-breaking or trivializes combat.

imo, obviously. also funny to read it took you this long to get a Silver Rapier as I remember I got 1 of those on my very 1st fixed encounter right after setting foot in The Old World. Oh, random chance, fickle mistress!

In E: Gothic, aside from the stacking thing, they also capped Samurai swallow-return to a lower max than in E: Original. In E: Original your samurai can reach 75% plus (maybe higher) swallow-return activation which is, as with a ninja beheading rate, a combat-trivializing over-powered ratio.

I.E. what I'm saying specifically about samurai swallow-return is that it is a good thing they capped it to a lower max in E: Gothic, because in E: Original you can have samurai swallow-returning (excuse me, bird-blowing) too often.

As for ninja beheading chance, like I said, monster adv. in E: Gothic follow different rules which offsets the extreme difficulty in acquiring them: they offset your 20 hours spent poke-balling them by awarding the player with a character that can do combat-trivializing shit like stacking beheading chances or reach (and go past) immunity to something.

 

[aweigh]

i'm not a huge fan of ninja in E: Original, but I love them in E: Gothic because of Gothic's Ninja-only EX-SKILL called REPLICATE.

Basically an E: Gothic Ninja doubles himself/herself effectively allowing you to have 2x of your own damn ninja. What makes this different from summons or monster adventurers is that a normal replicated Ninja spawns with your ninjas OWN EQUIPPED GEAR. Once you factor in unique weapons you can do silly stuff like:

- have your party ninja equip something unique
- have him use replicate and spawn a second (Slightly weaker stat-wise, but not by much) version of himself with said unique weaponry
- have original party ninja then change to different weapons, perhaps a M-range or L-range set, and move to back row perhaps? or do things vice-versa and have spawned replica using ranged shuriken-type, then change original ninja weaponry to S-range? etc.

Allows for flexibility, just like having 2x ninja in the party, with bonus of replicating otherwise unique gear. I found it a lot more convenient as well because the replicated Ninja will obviously have whatever other skills/spells the original party ninja has, so if the original party ninja learnt spells the replicated ninja will have them.

NOTE: the replicated ninja occupies the summoned monster slot.

2nd NOTE: remember that you can only pick ex-skill replicate on either:

a) rolling a ninja (Fuck that)
b) changing class into a ninja through training grounds.

becoming one via items (hermit knife) does not allow ex-skill selection.

 

[Haplo]

I guess its also possible for ninja class monster adventurers... provided that you have the patience to reroll till you get the desired ex skill.

 

[Doktor Best]

STRATOS198XAD

3ds version has a better GUI than the original PSP version but there is no new or additional content. If you own both a PSP and a 3DS and a PC? Obviously the PC version is the better one by far in every single category (including GUI).

If you don't own a PC (how are you posting?) or for some reason plan to exclusively play E: Original "on-the-go" then frankly there's no reason to get the PSP version as the 3DS version is better in every single category that matters.

If we're talking emulation however, and for some reason you are planning on playing E: Original on an emulated PSP on your PC, then I recommend the PPSSPP emulator instead of using CITRA solely because of the amount of great digital filters and shaders you can use to spruce up the visuals.

TL;DR "Is the steam version worth it over the 3ds ver?"

- PC version is not locked to 3DS' 20fps.
- PC version utilizes high-definition art assets, and this is almost entirely 2d art so this makes such a huge difference words can't even.
- PC version GUI, while not as intuitive to its native hardware as the re-tooled 3ds GUI is to its native hardware, supports:

a) keyboard-only play
b) keyboard and mouse play
c) mouse only play
d) controller support (steam controller, 3rd-party PC controller, xbox or ps3/ps4 controller, arcade fight-stick, etc)

Simply put the answer to your question is that the Windows PC port of Elminage: Original is superior in every single way to the existing PSP or 3DS ports.

The only reason not to get the PC port of E: Original over the PSP or 3DS versions is if you've already bought those, since there is no new actual content (no new items, no new dungeons), and even then I'd still recommend getting the PC port as it would make for a fantastic 2nd or 3rd playthrough (the high-definition graphics alone would make this 2nd or 3rd playthrough so much more enjoyable, and the unlocked fps means you will fly through the dungeons and battles though I recommend locking it to 60fps).

What about the translation? Heard the PSP version is pretty bad. How do 3ds and pc versions compare to eachother and to the psp version?

 

[aweigh]

3ds and PC versions utilize same exact game script.

 

[ilitarist]

My grinding tolerance is rather low.

Didn't expect to see that phrase in a thread about a game like this.

 

[Haplo]

In E: Gothic, aside from the stacking thing, they also capped Samurai swallow-return to a lower max than in E: Original. In E: Original your samurai can reach 75% plus (maybe higher) swallow-return activation which is, as with a ninja beheading rate, a combat-trivializing over-powered ratio.

I.E. what I'm saying specifically about samurai swallow-return is that it is a good thing they capped it to a lower max in E: Gothic, because in E: Original you can have samurai swallow-returning (excuse me, bird-blowing) too often.

Sure, it makes sense. But this specific part of the mechanics is of very little consequence for me. Perhaps if the caps kicked in at level 100 or so, I could care a little (not much). Although in Original I very doubt I will cross level 60-70 or thereabouts. But skill caps at levels 400-800? That's entirely abstract for me, as I'm not getting anywhere near these levels.

As for ninja beheading chance, like I said, monster adv. in E: Gothic follow different rules which offsets the extreme difficulty in acquiring them: they offset your 20 hours spent poke-balling them by awarding the player with a character that can do combat-trivializing shit like stacking beheading chances or reach (and go past) immunity to something.

Yeah, although you don't exactly need 20 hours to poke-ball the amazing Dragonfly or a RedCap (which is possible VERY early). In case of Nue samurai, DonMag mage or, to a lesser degree, Tempest Efreet brawler, sure, you've earned it.