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Salt And Sanctuary (2D "Souls" game)

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
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Odd, the only boss that killed me more than once in NG was the Kraeken Cyclops, which was my 4th boss (after the Mad Alchemist, before the False Jester), and for him I switched to relying on 2-handed greatswords.
Perhaps your one-handed mace wasn't dealing enough damage. :M
 

Teut Busnet

Cipher
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Codex Year of the Donut
Possible - I think I had a lvl 2 mace, upgraded to +2.

Me not beeing very good at action RPGs was more important I guess - I keep trying to rush things and panic, despite knowing it's the worst thing you can do in soulslikes.

The dragon seemed unpredictable and had apparently more variety in his moveset.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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You probably would have been much better off using the warhammer found in the Sunken Keep (east of the Watching Woods sanctuary) or a greatsword, switching to a mace & shield when you needed to block.
 

---

Arcane
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The hardest boss for me was the Kraeken monster that you fight on the ship.
Goddamn, I repeated that fucking fight at least fifteen-twenty times :rage:
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
The boss I had most difficulty with was the first boss. I think that I died like 4-5 times. I did not have to fight any other boss more than 2 or 3 times.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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The hardest boss for me was the Kraeken monster that you fight on the ship.
Goddamn, I repeated that fucking fight at least fifteen-twenty times :rage:
You do realize that you're expected to lose that "boss" fight against the Cthulhu-esque monstrosity (the Unspeakable Deep) on the boat at the end of the prologue, after which the game begins in earnest? :M

It's too bad the game doesn't give you a second shot against the Unspeakable Deep in New Game plus mode. Instead, it just starts you at the Shivering Shore.
 

Rivmusique

Arcane
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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
The witch on the lake was the hardest for me. Was a heavy armour, shield + wep guy. When I saw that I died in ~3 hits even with that (and block would stagger near instantly), I took off all armour and just worked on dodging absolutely everything (I now died in 1 hit from most attacks) while whittling down health. There was probably a more effective strategy :M .

You do realize that you're expected to lose that "boss" fight against the Cthulhu-esque monstrosity (the Unspeakable Deep) on the boat at the end of the prologue, after which the game begins in earnest? :M

It's too bad the game doesn't give you a second shot against the Unspeakable Deep in New Game plus mode. Instead, it just starts you at the Shivering Shore.

But if you beat it, extra salt and a late game upgrade item!
 

toro

Arcane
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Apr 14, 2009
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I reached the Ziggurat of Dust ... but I somewhat lost motivation to carry on. Too many shitty teleporting mobs and edgy level design.

How much of the game is left?
 

Mozg

Arcane
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Oct 20, 2015
Messages
2,033
Seeing the character art in the avatar creator of this is one of the biggest "what the fuck why didn't you hide this in your otherwise good looking game" moments of all time.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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I reached the Ziggurat of Dust ... but I somewhat lost motivation to carry on. Too many shitty teleporting mobs and edgy level design.

How much of the game is left?
How much of the Ziggurat of Dust have you completed, and what else have you finished since the Castle of Storms? The shortest path to finishing the game after the Castle of Storms is to
immediately head for the Dome of the Forgotten rather than proceed down the Red Hall of Cages. After you kill the two bosses in the Dome (which you must have already done) and receive the hardlight brand, head right into the Ziggurat of Dust and use the hardlight brand to proceed upward, kill the boss, and receive the brand that lets you double-jump (and even triple-jump). Then, rather than finish the bottom part of the Ziggurat, simply go to the sanctuary by the Far Beach just east of the Ziggurat, head downward to the top of the Pitchwoods, and use your new jumping ability to travel ever downward until you reach the bottom of the Pitchwoods, at which point you exit left (mind the unicorns), continue left through the very bottom of the Ruined Temple (below the boss!), and reach the sanctuary at Siam Lake. At this point all you have left is the boss of Siam Lake (a mini-level), the Salt Alkymancery (a proper level), the Crypt of the Dead Gods (not too long, if you don't mind missing out on various items and an optional boss), and the final boss in the Still Palace.
However, you might find yourself too low level, or lacking in weapon/armor improvements, or missing other useful items, since you'll have skipped a number of areas.

The witch on the lake was the hardest for me. Was a heavy armour, shield + wep guy. When I saw that I died in ~3 hits even with that (and block would stagger near instantly), I took off all armour and just worked on dodging absolutely everything (I now died in 1 hit from most attacks) while whittling down health. There was probably a more effective strategy :M .
Use the Silver Shield (found in the Sunken Keep / Village of Smiles), or another shield with high resistance against arcane damage, to block any attacks you can't avoid. Plus make sure your armor is high arcane resistance, and use the Faithful Ring (found in the Village of Smiles) to further boost arcane resistance. If you learn the Witch's moves, you'll be able to dodge or otherwise avoid many of her attacks, and if you can't dodge you block with your shield. Best damage-dealer is a greatsword with fire or holy applied.
 
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toro

Arcane
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Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,023
I reached the Ziggurat of Dust ... but I somewhat lost motivation to carry on. Too many shitty teleporting mobs and edgy level design.

How much of the game is left?
How much of the Ziggurat of Dust have you completed, and what else have you finished since the Castle of Storms? The shortest path to finishing the game after the Castle of Storms is to
immediately head for the Dome of the Forgotten rather than proceed down the Red Hall of Cages. After you kill the two bosses in the Dome (which you must have already done) and receive the hardlight brand, head right into the Ziggurat of Dust and use the hardlight brand to proceed upward, kill the boss, and receive the brand that lets you double-jump (and even triple-jump). Then, rather than finish the bottom part of the Ziggurat, simply go to the sanctuary by the Far Beach just east of the Ziggurat, head downward to the top of the Pitchwoods, and use your new jumping ability to travel ever downward until you reach the bottom of the Pitchwoods, at which point you exit left (mind the unicorns), continue left through the very bottom of the Ruined Temple (below the boss!), and reach the sanctuary at Siam Lake. At this point all you have left is the boss of Siam Lake (a mini-level), the Salt Alkymancery (a proper level), the Crypt of the Dead Gods (not too long, if you don't mind missing out on various items and an optional boss), and the final boss in the Still Palace.
However, you might find yourself too low level, or lacking in weapon/armor improvements, or missing other useful items, since you'll have skipped a number of areas.

Thanks but I found this map:
salt-and-sanctuary-world-map-walkthrough.jpg


I'm level 55 and I've cleared out everything except: Dome, Ziggurat, Pitchwoods, Blackest Vault, Still Palace, Siam Lake, Salt Alkymancery, Crypt of Dead Gods.

So, I guess I've done more than 50% of the game but I still have a lot to go ... which sucks cause I'm not in the mood to carry on. I need a break.
 

Mozg

Arcane
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Oct 20, 2015
Messages
2,033
Hard to play this after getting acclimated to Dead Cells, between being slow and the lack of color. How long is it until you get a double jump?
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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Hard to play this after getting acclimated to Dead Cells, between being slow and the lack of color. How long is it until you get a double jump?
That depends on which direction you travel after the Castle of Storms. To obtain the double/triple jump
head right through the sanctuary of the Red Hall of Cages until you reach the Dome of the Forgotten. Defeat the two bosses in the Dome to receive the hardlight brand. Then continue right to the Ziggurat of Dust, and use the hardlight brand to proceed upward, defeat the boss, and receive the dart brand.

If you went and found a map, I feel like you don't get the point of this game.
I'd only suggest checking on the locations of the Masterless Knight and the Despondent Thief, since there are a few places where it's possible to miss them before defeating the boss, which will cause them to no longer appear. Otherwise, the game should be completed without a map or anything like it.
 

sullynathan

Arcane
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Dec 22, 2015
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Not Europe
the combat is so ridiculously bad in this game that it's odd. It's almost always unresponsive even with low equip load, it still feels this way. Like someone pointed out, using the very simple souls combat but in a 2D plane and with worse input is pretty boring and makes for annoying fights in which you will almost always get hit even if you press the button on time.
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
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Jan 19, 2014
Messages
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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
You can get through 2-3 areas without having to rest if you are decent at the game.
 

Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
7,471
Location
California
Like Apotheon, this has very loose/limp combat. Like fat wiggling when you try to jump. The level design is what makes the game worth playing.
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I actually liked the combat. Both in this and Apotheon. (Beat this twice and Apotheon four times.)

What I can complain about is that the hitboxes aren't the best. Sometimes they are in favour of the player and sometimes it felt like they tried to screw me over. In general, though, I felt like the combat was fluid enough and I had fun with it.

Ivan I can understand the complaint about the combat in Apotheon but the game was basically built around its physics. Once I got a grasp of it, I could fling enemies across the screen. The only fight I loathed was when you had to fight the deer boss (was it Artemis?)
 

sullynathan

Arcane
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Dec 22, 2015
Messages
6,473
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Not Europe
I played Apotheon before this and the combat was definitely more fun. The hit detection is fucked and you can hit characters without actually touching them, they can do the same for you
 

gromit

Arcane
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
2,771
Location
Gentrification Station
There are many things I could accuse Apotheon's combat of, but "loose/limp" is not one of them (and Artemis was great, but definitely in love-or-hate territory)
 

Mozg

Arcane
Joined
Oct 20, 2015
Messages
2,033
Gave it some decent time and was able to get into it, recommended

What should I put sphere grid points in with a heavy armor/axe-or-mace+shield build after I've gotten most of the relevant weapon and armor skills? Note that I'm completely betraying the build already by keeping under half equip load (which basically means I wear one piece of armor) and p. much never leaving a shield equipped to two-hand instead.

Edit - p. fucking unreal it was a husband-and-wife development
 
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Arcane
Joined
Dec 19, 2015
Messages
1,724
Location
Italy
You can put more than one point in each sphere.
Useful to improve your stats points.
 

Mozg

Arcane
Joined
Oct 20, 2015
Messages
2,033
Yeah but the grid is designed so that stuff like "sword 2" costs 2 and still gives two strength, i.e. the lowest value thing on the board you can do is buy a pure stat increase on an old spot so I figure I ought to buy something so I can at least move towards more estus flasks. Unless there's a topper strat i don't see
 

Decado

Old time handsome face wrecker
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Dec 1, 2010
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San Diego
Codex 2014
I don't like this game. It is not growing on me, at all.
 

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