FTK: For The King

[Gustaran]

A question for those who have played For the King: What are the differences between the ship types?

Haven't played the game, but

...and I used that influx of cash to upgrade to the Armored Boat for 500 gold. That ship is much sturdier at 10 HP and has 4 base movement plus 5 more Talent checks for additional movement. There were a couple points in time where Sierra landed a perfect roll for the maximum 9 movement points, and that was really cool to see in action. The Armored Boat had my crew flying about the ocean from one end of the seas to the other. As the name suggests, the Armored Boat also has 1 point of armor to defend against monster attacks that target the ship itself, and that would prove to be significant on this run.

...another ship deed, heh. This one could be turned in for the Pirate Boat, a ship that had the same movement rate as the Armored Boat but came with additional health for a grand total of 14 HP. Was it really worth clearing three dungeons for this minimal upgrade in transportation? Eh, probably. My characters needed to grind their way up to higher levels of experience and equipment in order to face the ending boss anyway. Might as well get the top tier ship in the game while going through that process, right? I figured that more health on the ship couldn't hurt and might very well come in handy.

[haphazard1]

Thanks, Gustaran! I had not read Sullla's tale of his Into the Deep playthrough, as I have not yet completed a run in the standard game mode and am not ready to try the other game modes.

My blacksmith had another weapon destroyed , this time by a hermit crab. I can not seem to keep a decent weapon on that guy. I ended up taking a town item quest to get a new weapon for him; this one does have armor piercing. Fortunately my party is doing well on chaos and did not need to take the chaos reduction quest instead.

With the third part of the key recovered from the Lich's Crypt, it is on to the King's Maze next.

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

Haphazard - I've not figured out for sure what triggers town refreshes, but I think that at least quest progression is involved, probably passing of days also. It also usually indicates prices going up.

[haphazard1]

It also usually indicates prices going up.

Thanks, Eauxps! I have noticed the occasional price increases; makes sense that they go along with the refreshes.

The game seems to have the balance worked out pretty well. Money is always very scarce, forcing you to prioritize carefully, but you have enough to get at least some of what you want. If you could just stack piles of gold and buy as many consumables as you wanted, most of the challenge would disappear. Sullla's comparison of the chaos meter to the rebel fleet in FTL is apt. It also keeps things from getting too grindy.

I think the town refreshes are connected to quest progression, at least partly. I got the most recent refresh just after completing the Mind Lord fight for the second part of the key. Could be coincidence, but probably it is connected.

Does anyone know how item quality is determined? Tied to hero level, quest progression, enemy level, region of the map, passing time? Knowing which would help determine if risking a higher level fight in the hopes of better loot is a useful risk or just a waste of resources.

[haphazard1]

And yet another question. While inside a dungeon, is there any way to use a party life to revive a dead party member? This is hypothetical (for now, anyway), but since you have to move onto the tile where your character died I am guessing there is no way to actually use your party lives inside a dungeon. I have 8 party lives, but if you can not use them....

First demon cave cleared, need to get the other one for the airship. Late game enemies are tough. I really need a better weapon for my hunter; she is only doing about half the damage my blacksmith and minstrel are doing. But I can't seem to find an awareness weapon that has good damage and armor piercing, and everything has too much armor/resistance at this stage to use a non-piercing weapon.

At least all three of my heroes have curse immunity now. It is really nice to just shrug off all the curse-throwing enemies, and be able to walk through cursed tiles.

[haphazard1]

My trio of heroes has reached the end. Three brave common folk of Fahrul who answered the Queen's call:

The battles through Harazuel were tough, but my group was very well supplied. I am a bit worried that I have used up all my luck in this initial game of For the King, so many things went ridiculously well. The Mind Bender's camp plus the cult device for the Poisonous Bog showed up just a few tiles from the edge of the Golden Plains, so I spent almost no time in the nasty swamps. (I did come back later once I had the air ship and hit the towns for supplies, tributed statues, etc.) In the Dropstone Badlands the town of Imp Corridor was almost perfectly positioned between the two Demon Caves, allowing me to return to the town repeatedly for healing after the tough battles in that region. And it seemed like almost every dungeon and sea cave had a goblin merchant selling godsbeard. I even got two firesilks from town quests.

With that much healing available, even the final battle was mostly just a matter of making sure no one dropped too low on health.

My minstrel got the honor of the final blow. Note the ludicrous 9 max focus -- Nour could brute force anything if necessary. 32 godsbeard still in inventory (started Herazuel with 42), along with all 5 firesilks unused. And 10 party lives -- not a single death all game, although I did lose 4 sanctums. Including my blacksmith's during Herazuel, destroyed fighting the lightning revenant. He was always the slowest of the three even using the Old One's hour glass, and he got double-moved and the sanctum was smashed before he could heal. One thing I never found in this game was an item with group heal, so his faster comrades could not heal him before he got hit again.

It has been a while since I have played a game of this type and immediately started a new game after finishing. For the King is a real gem.

I really like the art style of the game, and all the little touches the devs put into it. Here is a moment that made me laugh: my hunter's called shot ability kicked in while fighting one of the mummy lords plus minions in the Buried Temple. Note the resulting arrow in the enemy's eye socket :

[haphazard1]

The random map generation in For the King can be a bit screwy. I just had two instant restart games as I tried to start up a new game.

The first time it rolled a map where Oarton was next to the Golden Plains, and the only path out of the city had a vale imp blocking it. Two hexes away in the Golden Plains was a level 2 bandit who would get pulled into the fight. Restart time. The next game also had one path out of Oarton, and when I activated the reduce chaos quest (might as well get it on the map early, right? ) it dropped the chaos leader camp right next to the town blocking the only exit.

Thankfully the game retains your current party naming and customizations, so restarting is a quick process.

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

Hey Haph, sorry for not answering sooner. Don't check here too often.

I don't know anything about how item quality is determined, or if there is any particular method to it.

As for party lives, you can definitely use those in a dungeon. Actually, after Sullla wrote his first report, a game update made it so that you can use one during a fight - and it rushes the revived party member as well. A bit too much of a bonus if you ask me, but at any rate the total number of lives still limits you. You can also revive party members before leaving each dungeon room.

Glad you're enjoying the game!

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the info, Eauxps. After I posted I did see that Sullla revived one of his characters in a dungeon in one of his streams. It is good to know all those spare lives are still useful once you enter the dungeons.

Definitely having a lot of fun playing the game. Maybe a run through Frost Adventure next....

[haphazard1]

I am having fun with my new party of herbalist, hunter, and busker. I think I like the busker more than the minstrel -- as useful as encourage can be, distract can really save you by preventing nasty effects. And the entertain ability raising additional cash is very nice, more helpful than inspire's occasional free XP.

The herbalist's party heal and occasional bonus herbs are very useful. I have not played a scholar yet, but my herbalist has an item giving him the Refocus ability -- I can see why many people like the scholar so much, it is really helpful to get those extra focus points.

I have also tried firearms for the first time in this game. Impressive damage, but the round spent reloading is a BIG penalty to take. I don't think I like them much, and found a different weapon for my busker as soon as I could.

Ambushes are a pain. Especially by thieves -- you are moving across the map, something you can not see pops up, gets two free turns, steals, and flees before you get a chance to react. Steal immunity is incredibly rare, so you are not likely to have it in place and nothing else would help. Having negative things happen with no chance to do anything about it is not a fun game mechanic.