Rifts: Promise of Power is a game for the NGage based on the Rifts tabletop
setting from Palladium Games. It's a decent game despite its flaws considering
the platform's limitations. This guide is a collection of my own personal notes
made while playing the game and should hopefully assist you if you get stuck or
miss stuff. I'll just put this as v0.75 since I'm not sure how finished this is
and how much more I'll work on it, it's a very tedious game at times and I still
need more time away from it before I return, if ever.
=============
= 2. TIPS =
=============
--------------------------------
| 2.1 CLASSES AND COMPANIONS |
--------------------------------
When you start your game, you get to pick from 3 ProtoClasses, which are
Mercenary, Psychic or Mage. Later in the game (about 5 to 6 hours in once you
reach a certain location), you'll get to upgrade to a proper OCC (Occupational
Character Class). The upgrade paths are as follows:
Mercenary
-> Battle Magus
-> Crazy
-> Cyber-Knight
-> Cyborg
-> Glitter Boy
-> Headhunter
-> Juicer
-> Super Trooper
You'll find many companions over the course of this game., there seems to be one
for every advanced OCC except the Mystic. Your maximum party size is 3, and your
own character always has to be in the party. There will be times you are forced
to use a specific party member for a while as well, but you can kick them out
once you're done with their story mission. It'll usually be pretty obvious when
this happens, but you should check at the taverns for this as necessary.
Some of these companions are mutually exclusive as well. For example, you'll be
asked to choose between a Burster, a Headhunter and a Line Walker early in the
game, so if you want to pick up a Line Walker companion, you'll have to give up
on the Burster. In addition, some of the characters seem to be built off
specific bases. Your Cyber-Knight companion does not have access to the Healing
category of Psychic powers, which implies he's based off a Mercenary. This means
he will never have access to Induce Sleep.
If you want an easier time, I would strongly recommend either playing a Line
Walker or picking the one you're offered since they are very versatile, and
they're the best way to cheese the final battle in case you have problems doing
it fairly. I would recommend you have all these spells by the end of the game on
them or a suitable mage if you intend to cheese the final boss:
i) Super Speed
ii) Life Blast
iii) Speed Weapon
iv) Magic Rush
You can also consider raising your mage's Physical Strength to 8 so he can equip
the strongest ranged weapon in the game with just one PS boosting accessory.
Beside that, it would be good to have a Psychic character with Induce Sleep.
Induce Sleep is one of the most valuable crowd control abilities in the game as
it lets you shut down enemies for 3 turns, and it is very cheap. It has less
value in the early game when your character has only 4 AP, but this improves
once you have more AP to work with, and enemies start having much more HP and
damage output that it becomes more important to be able to disable some. The
rest are open to question. Healing Touch can't heal yourself and is mostly used
for curing status effects. Mind Block might have some use as there are some
annoying enemies with Charm, but that really doesn't come heavily into play by
even the end of the second chapter in NGR, and given how often you lose the
initiative, and how often some of the enemies spawn near to you, you might never
have the chance to activate it.
My run was done with a Psychic upgraded into Cyber Knight, and my companions of
choice were a Line Walker and a Glitter Boy. My Cyber-Knight provides Induce
Sleeps and good damage from Psi-Sword, the Line Walker provides magic buffs and
debuffs and various other useful spells, and the Glitter Boy can snipe enemies
from extreme ranges and is capable of doing high damage with his assault cannon.
However, my Cyber-Knight always had the worst initiative rolls and has never
managed to go before an enemy naturally. I've no idea if this is a bug or a
class 'feature', or something specific to your main character. I'll update this
if I ever get back to playing Promise of Power.
While the game does provide you with enough experience to hit the level cap
(12), it'll only be possible for your main party since most of the experience
comes from quests, and is only given to the active adventuring party. As such,
I've not had the opportunity to experiment with the other characters, and I
suspect arming all of them properly would be too costly for most too. However,
here are some light impressions after using cheats to cheat them to level 12 and
look at them:
i) Battle Magi are questionable. Their biggest plus is their mobility, they have
higher speed than average and IIRC they have the ability to jump up and down to
move across terrain like the Glitter Boys and the Super Troopers. However, they
have limited magic and a smaller PPE pool, so I feel I'd rather have a proper
mage instead.
ii) Juicers and Crazies seem really bad. I don't think the Juicers can hit hard
enough to make them worth it, and IIRC, they're capped at 6 AP which further
limits their damage output. If you want a melee attacker, you'd get much better
output from the Super Trooper and Cyber-Knight. Crazies have the same problem of
IIRC being capped at 6 AP, though perhaps you could get 8 AP for the Mercenary
type. However, Crazies have a chance of just going crazy in a turn, which loses
your turn as the AI decides what to do with it, which I don't consider worth
their benefits.
iii) Cyber-Knights have very powerful Psi-Swords, which are strong enough to
carry you through most of the game. There's a bug where they seem stuck at Lv8
forever, then immediately level to 9 and 10 in one great leap, which can be
annoying. The companion seems built off a Mercenary base, so they do not have
access to Induce Sleep. If you decide to play one, it's a choice between having
higher physical stats and skills from a Mercenary base or having higher ISP as
well as more psychic powers using a Psychic base. It's possible the Mercenary
base might give you 2 more AP too, since my female Psychic turned Cyber-Knight
only had 8 AP while the companion Cyber-Knight had 10 AP. Still, I personally
feel having access to Induce Sleep was more valuable.
iv) Cyborgs are in a weird position. With their best parts and a combat computer
attachment, they have +15 PS, +6 PP and +12 PE with +1 Init, +2 to Strike and
Dodge, and +2 AP. I believe a Cyborg maxes out at 8 AP, which only puts them on
equal footing in terms of AP with the Super Trooper with the combat computer
attachment. Their high PS may boost their melee damage, but the best melee
weapon seems to be the Vibro Robot Sword that does 8-33 MDC, which is very low
compared to the Super Trooper's 8-53 with their RPB-31 Blade, so they're not
going to be the best in melee combat. They can't even match Cyber-Knights either
in that department. And in terms of ranged output, their maximum would be
40-100x3 vs 30-180x2 for the Glitter Boy, assuming that the Cyborg can actually
reach a maximum of 10 AP, so they don't beat the Glitter Boy either.
Furthermore, that 40-100 is for a very late game weapon, and the Glitter Boy
will have access to the 30-180 MDC weapon before that.
v) Glitter Boys are great, but they do suffer some down time between upgrades
where you have more options in terms of weapon variety but no real increase in
actual damage output. Your final upgrade with the REAL BoomGun(tm) has the
downside of being expensive too, with each BoomGun shot costing 40 credits in
ammunition. It should hopefully not be an issue by late game, but it's
unpleasant if you're allergic to spending money.
vi) Headhunters seem like they could be very powerful. They have paired pistols
which effectively double the damage of regular pistols in exchange for some loss
in accuracy, which is relatively trivial by mid-game, and they have a skill that
allows them a chance of counterattacking every time they dodge successfully.
There are a decent number of enemies who do have very long range rifles or
similar attacks, so you won't always be getting this off, but you should be able
to do some massive damage to most enemies. Unfortunately, due to the final boss'
gimmick, this is generally ineffective against it as well. They also have access
to some unique accessories which might make them even better, though I find it
hard to justify playing one as it would generally force me to either give up
access to either a Line Walker or a Burster. You have other options for Induce
Sleep besides the Burster, but the stronger option requires a specific playstyle
to recruit her, and she also joins you very late. The weaker option saddles you
with a Crazy, and I've already mentioned why I don't like Crazies.
vii) Super Troopers look really powerful. They aren't as tanky as Glitter Boys
but they're slightly more agile, and definitely more cost efficient since
they're melee attackers. They also have some AOE options if you are willing to
splurge for their missiles.
viii) Elemental Fusionists seem horribly inefficient. They do have some powerful
spells and I've definitely not had the opportunity to explore them at their
peak, but given how expensive their good spells are in terms of PPE, it feels
like you'd run out very quickly in random encounters. I certainly didn't enjoy
having a Steam Fusionist being forced into my party during a story section, and
couldn't wait to be rid of him.
ix) Line Walkers are great. Their ability to use ley lines to teleport felt
insignificant throughout the game, but their large PPE pool and access to simple
but effective buffs like Life Blast and Super Speed allow you to empower other
party members instead. In addition, they have access to Lightning in case you
need to guarantee hits on highly evasive enemies, as well as things like
Blindflash, Carpet of Adhesion and Paralysis to slow down or disable your
opponents. However, they won't be the primary damage dealer in your party unless
you are ready to burn a lot of PPE, and have time to cast some buffs.
x) Mystics are horrible. The powers you gain are totally random and I'm not sure
you want a half psychic half mage when neither half is especially good. If you
feel the game is too easy for you, maybe you can challenge yourself further by
playing one.
xi) Bursters are pretty decent. They get up to 8 AP IIRC and do so relatively
early. Their Fire Bolt is relatively cheap and effective for its cost, giving
you an additional combat option. Otherwise, like most of the Psychics, you just
run around casting Induce Sleep when necessary and shooting enemies with your
gun the rest of the time.
xii) Mind Melters seem like the Psychic version of Elemental Fusionists. They
have some really powerful abilities but those cost a ton of ISP. The most cost
effective way is to make them a melee combatant using Psi-Sword, but while their
strongest Psi-Sword does 30-60 damage as opposed to 10-60 for the Cyber-Knight,
you have to spent 2 AP and 15 ISP to conjure it, and you're also generally
squishier than a Cyber-Knight. They also get fewer stat and skill points from
level ups compared to the Burster and Cyber-Knight, making them somewhat
questionable in effectiveness for a melee role.
---------------
| 2.2 STATS |
---------------
There are seven stat(istics) for your character which you can increase with
points as you level up:
Physical Strength (PS) = +2 damage to melee attacks at PS 17, +1 for every
extra point in PS until PS 30.
Physical Endurance (PE) = +1 Save vs Poison and Magic at PE 17, +2 total at PE
18 and another +1 for every 2 points of PE after
Physical Prowess (PP) = +1 Strike and Dodge at PP 17, +2 total at PP 18 and
another +1 for every 2 points of PP after
Physical Beauty (PB) = every increment above 11 gives 2% discount in stores
Mental Endurance (ME) = +1 Save vs Psionics at ME 17, +2 total at ME 18 and
another +1 for every 2 points of ME after
Mental Affinity (MA) = +1% XP from combat, starts at 12 MA and higher
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) = one time bonus of 3% to all skills at IQ 17, +1%
for every point after
I feel that PP is the most important statistic in the game overall since that is
the primary attack type for all enemies throughout the game. Being able to
reliably dodge hits and land hits of your own means taking less damage and
killing things more quickly, which means cheaper repair bills and thus more
money in your pocket for equipment. You will start encountering debuff magic and
psionics by the early to middle sections of the game, so PE and ME does have
value. Unfortunately, as you only get bonuses at a score of 17 and higher for
PS, PE, PP and ME, that requires up to a 7 point investment in a single stat at
the very least to start getting bonuses, which makes it really difficult to
raise multiple stats to get bonuses. The sole exception to this rule might be
the Cyborg which gets large bonuses to PS, PE and PP purely from bionic
upgrades. The Crazy and the Juicer get some amount of these as well, but they
don't seem to be anywhere as large as the Cyborg's, so it's not likely you'll be
able to do too much with them. This isn't as effective for most of your other
party members since you don't have control over their starting stats and some of
them join in so late that sinking more into PP is unlikely to get you quite
enough Dodge bonuses to matter.
MA is a waste as you'll get enough EXP by playing the game to hit the cap (Lv12)
by the endgame. IQ doesn't feel worth it unless you have corner cases where your
class lands you at skills that end with 5%. In that case, pushing to IQ 17 would
raise them to 8%, which would save a skill point in those skills if you have
plans on raising anything to 98%.
PS has some value, at least in theory. Firstly, it allows you to use railguns,
which are the only weapons that are close to a Glitter Boy's assault cannons in
terms of range. If you're a Cyborg, the Bionic II set gives you a total of +8
PS, and at that point, a TX-50 Heavy will require a PS of 24, so you would need
to raise your own PS of 16. That should be enough for the rest of the game as
the strongest bionic parts give you a total of +15 PS, so a base of 16 will
increase that to 31, which is enough to use any weapon in the game. That said,
the best gun in the game is the NE-75H Heavy, which only requires a PS of 13, so
it does feel very wasteful to sink a lot into PS just to use heavier weapons
when it doesn't reliably increase your damage. It might be more viable to just
use weapons with shorter ranges until your bionics and weapon selection allow
you to use something good enough without more PS investment.
Secondly, high PS allows you to wear super heavy armour. However, this is only
relevant to the Juicer as the Cyborg cannot wear those armours to begin with. No
other class will likely see a PS score that's high enough to get there without
significant investment. The best you can get is +2 from the Elite Harness and +6
from the Titan Juice for a total of +8. The heaviest armour in the game is the
Goliath Heavy EBA at 29 STR, so you need a minimum of 21. You can equip Dragon
Gauntlets for +5 PS, but you can equip a Camouflage Cloak for +3 Strike +7
Dodge, which is equivalent to at least a 6 points in PP, with an additional +4
to Dodge on top of that, so it may be better to put 5 stat points in STR instead
if you intend to do this. Of course, you could just do both and not equip any
repair kits or other consumables.
Finally, PS does add to the amount of damage you deal with melee weapons, even
Mega Damage ones. I don't have any significant experience with melee combat
using regular weapons to evaluate how viable this is. I've tested the companion
Juicer, Greg, at level 12 and while he did hit for 80 MDC on one swing for an
attack rated at around 22-60 or so, he only has 6 AP, which doesn't allow for
much. This may be more viable on a Cyborg since
(i) you can get 8 AP on your Cyborg normally as compared to 6 for your Juicer,
(ii) you get way more strength from your bionics without investment as compared
to a Juicer, and
(iii) you can have a regular long ranged weapon while equipping a suitable claw
attachment to your arm for it so you at least have multiple options in combat
instead of being restricted to just melee if you use a Juicer.
----------------
| 2.3 SKILLS |
----------------
There are three skill categories:
MILITARY:
Detect Invisible - probably gives you a chance per turn to detect invisible
enemies.
HtH (Basic)
40% +1 Dodge
60% +1 Strike
80% +1 Damage
98% Critical Strike (x2) on Natural 20
HtH (Expert) - Requires HtH (Basic) at 98%, 2 points starts you at 40% (Cyber
Knight starts with 65%)
20% +1 Damage
40% +1 Dodge
60% +1 Strike
80% +1 Damage
98% Critical Strike (x3) on Natural 20
HtH (Martial Arts) - Requires HtH (Basic) at 98%, 2 points starts you at 40%
20% +1 Damage
40% +1 Dodge
60% +1 Strike
80% +1 Damage
98% Critical Strike (x3 + automatic stun) on Natural 20
Mine Detect (Trap and Mine Detection) - self-explanatory
Robot Piloting - +1 Movement Point per 10%
Robot Combat Basic [Glitterboy + Super Trooper Exclusive]
20% +1 Dodge
40% +1 Strike
60% +1 Dodge
80% +1 Strike
98% +1 Dodge
Robot Combat Expert [Glitterboy + Super Trooper Exclusive]
20% +1 Strike
40% +1 Dodge
60% +1 Strike
80% +1 Dodge
98% +1 Strike
Weapon Systems [Glitterboy + Super Trooper Exclusive]
40% +1 Strike, +1 for every extra 20% up to a total of +4 at 98%
Weapon Proficiency (WP) for Melee, Laser, Particle, Rail, Plasma, Ion, Grenade,
Rocket
10% +1 Strike
40% +1 Strike
80% +1 Strike
98% +1 Strike
Cmbt (Special Combat Knowledge) for Supernatural, Tech, Humanoid
10% +5% damage
40% +10% damage
80% +15% damage
98% +20% damage
Demolition (Headhunter, Super Trooper)
Increases the damage of a planted explosive by the skill %
Trick Shot (Headhunter, Battle Magus)
Upon a successful dodge, the character will have a percentage of
shooting back
TECHNICAL:
Armor Repair - increases MDC gain from MiRRs and CNRRS
Electronics - Strike bonus vs robots and power armour. Lore Bonuses are not
cumulative
25% +1 Strike
55% +1 Strike
85% +1 Strike
98% +2 Strike
PERSONAL:
Locksmith - chance of opening locks, which are purely only for chests with
loot. There are no story or quest locks to pick
Paramedic - chance of doubling effects of recovery items (med kits, potions,
etc)
Lore (Monster, D-Bee, Juicer, Magic, Psionic) - Strike bonus vs appropriate
enemy. Lore Bonuses are not cumulative
25% +1 Strike
55% +1 Strike
85% +1 Strike
98% +2 Strike
Wld Survival - chance of doubling initiative on the first turn of a random
encounter in the wilderness
Acrobatics - +1 PP for every 20% of skill
Bodybuilding - +1 PS for every 20% of skill
Gymnastics - +1 PE for every 20% of skill
Running - +1 movement points per 20% of skill
Meditation - +1 ME for every 20% of skill
Etiquette - +1 MA for every 20% of skill
Perception - +1 IQ for every 20% of skill
Only Hand-to-Hand, Robot Combat (for Glitter Boys or Super Troopers) and
Acrobatics give you Dodge bonuses. All your characters will have some amount of
Hand-to-Hand (Basic), so I feel it's worth spending enough to get to 60% for +1
Strike and Dodge total for anyone who doesn't have it already. After that,
Glitter Boys and Super Troopers should focus on maxing Robot Combat (Basic) to
unlock Robot Combat (Expert).
For everyone else, you can consider Acrobatics. Characters with an Acrobatics of
0 will need 2 skill points to unlock the skill, starting with 10% in it (20% for
a Mercenary and possibly other Mercenary upgrade OCCs), then an additional 8-9
skill points get to 98% for a total of +5 PP. This translates to +2 to Strike
and Dodge, +3 if your stats line up with it for 11 skill points, 10 if you're
lucky. Early armours tend to have around -10 penalties to Acrobatics at worse,
so you'll want to raise this to 30% or 50% depending on how much your PP is.
If you're a Psychic or Mage class and not a Cyber-Knight specifically, the best
armour you'll have access to is the Fury Beetle Full which applies a -30 to
Acrobatics, so you'll get effectively +3 PP at best for an Acrobatics score of
90% or higher. As such, you may want to pour your skill points into Hand to Hand
again at some point for more Strike and Dodge bonuses.
The best Weapon Proficiency for ranged weapons is probably Particle, though the
strongest ranged weapon in the game (assuming you have 13 PS) is Plasma. For
your own character, if you are focusing on increasing PP exclusively for your
stats, you'll probably get enough accuracy just from your stat bonuses plus
Hand-to-Hand or Acrobatics, so there should be little need to get it from a
Weapon Proficiency.
I don't remember ever needing Trap and Mine Detection. Detect Invisible can be
obtained by spending 2000 credits on a pair of Infrared Goggles (which does eat
up one item/accessory slot), or by casting See the Invisible if you're a Mage
class, and they're only meaningful for one specific type of enemy late game, so
it's not a very valuable skill either.
Lockpicking is completely unnecessary. You can reroll attempts by exiting and
returning to the zone , or even just save scumming the roll by saving there
before you try the lock, then loading every time you fail, so it's mostly a
convenience for people who don't have the patience to try too many times.
I didn't feel that Armor Repair was worth spending skill points in. Investing
skill points in Armor Repair doesn't seem to increase the amounts repaired
dramatically. For the MiRRS+20 MDC item, raising your skill from 30% to 40% gave
+2 MDC and 40% to 50 gave another +3.
I've never tried using Paramedic since most of the things that it would benefit
from (PPE restores, HP healing) are not things you will want to handle using
items. If I needed healing, I personally had a Psionic character with it and a
suitable spell on my Line Walker, and if they somehow are both disabled, you've
likely lost the battle regardless. PPE recovery items feel too expensive to be
worth it, especially if you're using a regular mage character as their damage
output from spells tends to be lower, and there's also a way to cheese out PPE
recovery, which I'll cover in the next section. Perhaps they might be better for
an Elemental Fusionist, who might not have access to this trick.
1. For repairs, it's slightly cheaper to pay 500 for a kit than to pay for
repair in shops, at least at the early game. IIRC, your initial armour costs 22
credits per MDC in the shop while an MiRRS 01 repairs 25 MDC at 30% skill for
500 credits, which translates to 20 credits per MDC. Repair costs do vary by
armour, so I'd recommend you check the prices from time to time where feasible
if you really want to be economical about things.
For example, Glitter Boy base plating (the base 150 one which you have) repairs
for 15 credits each, which is really cheap. It might be worth forgoing repairs
on the actual Glitter Boy Plating addons if you're willing to trek back to town
to get it fixed. Alternatively, the Plating itself is repaired with MiRRs
instead of CIRRS, so you can just focus on repairing the plating itself and not
bother repairing the base armour until you seriously need the MDC for a major
battle. And later, Glitter Boy Plating III repairs for 16 credits per MDC, Fury
Beetle Full for 17 and NE-CW20 Camo for 3.
2. MiRRS give you slightly more bang for buck as you go up the tiers, the base
ratios are the same per credit (20 for 500 credits) but due to their rounding,
you get a point or so extra MDC. So for example, most characters with their
starting Armor Repair skill will get 25 MDC out of the basic MiRR, which is
rated at 20 MDC (+25%), while they'd get 77 MDC out of an MiRRS 03 which repairs
60, for +28.3% more MDC. For the most part, you'll always want a few of the most
powerful ones you can have for big combat heals, so you should always buy a few
of the newer ones when available.
CNRRS kits are for repairing some of the special armours like specific
Glitterboy Plating and probably the Super Trooper and Cyborg armour too. The
002s are poor value for money, so try not to buy too many of them. The 003s and
001s offer the same MDC to credit ratios, and following the same principle as
the MiRRs, better rounding values.
3. You can save anywhere, even during combat. Make use of this as necessary.
4. Fights in the wilderness are randomly generated, so you can reload from a
save to reroll the encounters if you really do not like what you're
encountering, or if you really want to do better on the initiative rolls.
5. Some of the places with fixed encounters are repeatable, meaning that if you
leave and reenter the zone , the same enemies will be present. You can use this
to farm for money with the right enemies, but from experience, I do not recall
this being very practical in terms of efficiency (time and effort to money
earned), especially given how much fighting this game has.
6. You regain roughly about 25% of your maximum ISP and PPE after every combat
so don't hesitate to use some PPE and/or ISP where reasonable.
7. Selling value is about 60% of purchase price.
8. It's more profitable to sell full durability armour. A Homesteader Lt at 60
is worth 2000 at basic PB while a Homesteader at 38 is worth 1266. It'll cost
you 500 for a MiRR 001 that will repair that for 25, so you'd be spending 500 to
gain 734 when selling this. It is possible that some of the armours later don't
follow this rule, but I've not noticed this personally.
9. Leylines give you a small amount of PPE/ISP recovery at the start of your
turn and doubles all damage from spells cast. Not sure if it modifies Saves.
10. Healing spells may seem useless initially as their main use early on are for
removing status effects. However, throughout the game, you'll encounter enemies
with Mind Bolt and with some lucky rolls, they can two, sometimes one shot you
with some really good rolls. Having a stronger healing spell gives you other
healing options besides items. Also, if you are inclined, some of your Mage OCCs
have access to Life Source, which lets you trade HP for PPE in 10 point
increments up to a maximum of 40 per cast. You can use this around the end of a
battle in conjunction with some healing to keep your PPE topped up regularly.
11. There's potentially a bug that can affect your loot. I got the same type of
loot from the start till the end of the game, which means a lot of basic armour
repair kits and weak equipment that's not worth much. This means I don't make as
much money by comparison, and I don't get the opportunity to save money from
finding better drops either. If you encounter this, it may just force you to
save scum your game harder during fights and be more careful with your
expenditures. You'll still get a decent amount from the right quests and chests,
so you're not completely hosed, but it's something to take note of. I will note
that I save scummed all the random encounters in the game to pick what I'd
rather fight in most cases, so perhaps I'm only getting crummy loot because of a
bug caused by this, or that the game has a balancing mechanic that only gives
you better loot if you're poorer. Perhaps I'll test this some day if I ever feel
like returning to RIFTS.
12. TW Plasma Rifle oddly enough is labelled as Fire damage and not Plasma. This
is generally meaningless since the Technowizard category of weapons seem to be
pretty poor for their stats and requirements, but you may want to take note of
this should you decide to play one just because.
13. Inflicting status ailments on sleeping enemies wakes them up if they fail
their Save. However, you can put enemies to sleep after they're blinded and
they'll stay blind.
14. Healing spells and abilities only cancel out Sleep, Poison and Disease, and
you need Negate Magic which is specific to some of the mage OCCs to cancel out
Charm and Paralysis. Charm perhaps can be overwritten by sleep, I'm not sure
about this. Combined with the issue of the enemy often winning initiative at
points, it's quite easy to land in situations where your entire party is taken
out by Induce Sleep or Charm at the start of combat, so be prepared.
15. I've mentioned this earlier, but I'm repeating this because it's important:
EXP in this game is given only to your active party, and the bulk of your EXP
comes from quests. Anyone you don't use will end up unusable past a point, and
grinding them up is tedious since the amount of EXP you get from fights is far
less by comparison. As such, you should never keep anyone in your party that you
don't intend to bring to the endgame.
16. The amount of HP and PPE and ISP (and MDC for characters like the
Cyber-Knight) are random, so if you are so inclined, you can just save and
reroll your level ups until you're satisfied.
----------------
| 2.5 CHEATS |
----------------
This is accessed under Options. Enter the word below for the appropriate bonus.
BONEBACK - +1 level for all active party members (up to a maximum of 12)
PSIONIC - generates a 10000 credit pickup item where your character stands.
IIRC, you'll need to return to the game to pick it up or move your character
elsewhere before using the code again since it won't allow you to generate
multiples of these items on the same position.
====================
= 3. WALKTHROUGH =
====================
There is a Reputation system that affects various side quests and events in
the game. I didn't note down how my choices affected my Reputation since it
didn't occur to me to do so until far too late into the game. I'll look into
updating that if I ever replay this game again.
-----------------------------
| CHAPTER 1: NORTH AMERICA |
-----------------------------
==== SHANTY TOWN ====
After the initial tutorial, you'll end up in Shanty Town. You'll meet Tophet,
and you can't do anything else until you run his errands, so head over to CS
Kennels. There's a chest in the first zone . Go to the second and defeat the Dog
Boys. Pick up their drops before leaving, and go back and see Tophet, he's right
to the west of the entrance. After he removes your tattoo, you can begin
exploring Shanty Town.
Zone 1:
There's a weapons shop here where you can buy supplies and get your armour
repaired. You can pick up the NG-33 Las Pair if you intend to pick up the
Headhunter mercenary later.
Side Quests:
1) The Water Test
Trigger: Speak to the old man (Doc Holdan) outside the southeastern-most
building
Objective: Speak to all water merchants in this area, then return to Doc.
First merchant is directly north of your position, second is in front of
the north-most building (to the right of the exit north to zone 2),
third is standing outside the west-most building next to a barrel.
Reward(s): XP 200 CREDITS 970
2) Erin Tarn's Quest
Trigger: Approach the exit north to zone 2 and Erin Tarn will speak with you
Objective: explore enough of the area and return to Erin Tarn. This will be
accomplished just by doing all the other side quests.
Reward(s): Amulet of Erin Tarn (2) - revives a dead party member, consumes a
charge each time it does so. I can't remember if they're restored to
full HP, but they retain the MDC of their armour upon death, so if you
got taken down via Mega Damage, you'll be very vulnerable after the
revive.
Zone 2:
I would recommend you do the Brave Brother side quest first if you're a Psychic
or Mage since you'll have to fight Psi-Stalkers (who will drain your ISP on
attacks). You can recover ISP naturally between encounters over the next few
side quests. There's a shop here for a Cyber Doc, but it's only useful if you
intend on picking up the Headhunter mercenary later. Also, I'd recommend saving
either as soon as you enter here, or before as a precaution, since it's possible
to bug out the NPC for The Picture Book side quest.
Side Quests:
1) The Elixir
Trigger: Speak to Habdelas, you'll see an event with him as soon as you
enter this zone , south of the mechanics shop.
Objective: Retrieve the Elixir from Hawatha Wilds, then speak to Habdelas.
You'll have to fight two Undead in Zone 1, then a Mercenary in Zone 2.
Reward(s): XP 250 Credits 1450
2) The Picture Book
Trigger: Approach the northwestern building and Kassandra will speak with
you. Try heading here first, I've been able to approach and speak to
Kassandra before the event triggers by coming in from the northeast,
causing the game to bug out a bit. On your way out, a Fence will speak
with you and offer to pay more for the Picture Book.
Objective: Retrieve the picture book from the Hideout. You'll have to fight
a Burster and a Mercenary for it, the Burster has the larger damage
output of the two with Fire Bolts.
Reward(s): XP 100 Credits 5000 if you give the book to the fence
XP 400 Credits 1200 if you return it to the rightful owner
3) Brave Brother:
Trigger: Speak to the man (Gus) standing around the northwest side of the
mechanics shop
Objective: Go to Devil's Pass, you'll have to fight two Psi-Stalkers in zone
1. His brother is in zone 2.
Reward(s): XP 300 Credits 700
Pick up all three side quests, clear them, then hand them in (seeing Erin Tarn
on your way to zone 2). Head back towards the entrance of zone 1 and Tophet will
offer you an offer that you must ultimately accept. Agree and he'll hand you a
mercenary contract so you can recruit your first party member.
************************
* POINT OF NO RETURN *
************************
Choosing your mercenary will force you into a series of story events that will
put you in combat and render the stores inaccessible. There will be another
store after this section, but you will have to fight 2 short battles before you
get there, so make sure you at least repair your armour and have some spare
ammunition before you proceed.
There are 3 mercenaries for you to pick from, Kristoph (Headhunter), Raif (Line
Walker) and Selene (Burster). I feel Raif is the overall best choice since
you'll have a lot of fights with Undead going forward and IMO the best way to
deal with them is with Carpet of Adhesion to limit their movement. His Blinding
Flash spell is also very effective at disabling enemies. If you're playing a
Psychic, you can also use Healing Touch to heal him so he can use Life Source to
convert HP to PPE.
Selene is decent. I can't remember if she starts with Induce Sleep but you can
easily get ranks in it for her if she doesn't, and her Fire Bolt becomes pretty
strong later. I've never used Kristoph, though Headhunters look like they can do
some fancy tricks with the right gear in terms of damage output. If you do
intend to hire Kristoph, I'd recommend you get the NG-33 Las Pistol Paired from
the weapons shop first before coming here. He'll have a C-18 Las Pistol which
you can use if you haven't bought one for yourself already.
Your new party member starts at level 4. You will not be able to level up past
level 3 due to how the game plays, so there is no need to grind your character
up to level 4 should you be inclined to do so at any point. Once you leave here,
you'll fight a Dead Boy Grunt and a Commander. The Commander can use Air Raid
which doesn't need line of sight, so hiding to avoid his rifle shots seems
pointless. After this, you go into zone 1. where you will fight a Dead Boy Grunt
who can call Air Raid at will. Reducing his armour to 0 lets you choose whether
to spare him or kill him. Once you're done, head east to the Forest.
==== FOREST ====
Zone 1 of the forest has a shopkeeper in the southeastern side hidden in the
wall. You can return here to restock and repair as needed.
Head forward to fight a Dog Boy Alpha and Beta. The next zone has two Undead. If
you can sneak to the northeast side and gain initiative, you may be able to go
through the entrance there and take potshots at them from the high ground while
blocking the entrance to prevent them from getting up to you. There's a chest in
the northeast corner. You can repeat this trick in the last zone here by heading
to the northwest corner near the C shaped block. Once the fight begins, quickly
climb up and block the entrance and you'll be able to take free shots. Once you
clear this, the road to Amoor opens.
==== AMOOR ====
Once you walk in, you'll be told about the current situation with the local
sheriff. There is a shop here, so resupply and repair if you need to. Once
you're done, you'll find that you cannot progress without defeating the Sheriff
and his two goons. If you have Raif with you, Blindflash is very effective.
After you deal with them, head to the tavern in the next Zone and speak with the
bartender. He'll mention Maiz and once you leave and walk around a bit more,
someone will come after you and mark the location on your map. Head there.
==== MAIZ ====
Once you're here, speak to the old man (Idien) standing just in front of the
entrance to Maiz, outside the tavern. He'll update your main quest and direct
you to his farm. There's a ton of undead there, but there are explosive barrels
that you can make use of (which he'll tell you if you speak to him again). If
you took Raif, this will be very easy if you make good use of the Carpet of
Adhesion. Once you're done, head back and report to Idien and you'll get a path
to New Lazlo, as well as XP 200 Credits 500. Head to New Lazlo after you're done
with the Maiz Bandits.
Side Quests:
1) Maiz Bandits
Trigger: head towards the next Zone and the Consulman standing near there
will approach you with the quest.
Objective: Go to Trade Route and kill all the bandits. There's a Juicer, a
Cyborg and a Mercenary. The Cyborg is carrying a rifle and there's a
location nearby to the east of the entrance which you can abuse for
height bonuses and restricting fire. Once you're done, open the chest to
get the medical supplies and head back to Maiz. Once you're there,
you'll be given an offer by a Black Marketeer as soon as you enter. You
do not have to decide now.
Rewards: XP 100 Credits 6000 for dealing with the bandits
+ XP 100 Credits 3000 if you hand the medical supplies over as is
+ XP 50 Credits 5000 if you ask them to pay you extra for hauling the
supplies back
+ Credits 15000 for handing the medical supplies to the black marketeers
==== NEW LAZLO ====
Once you enter New Lazlo, you'll be directed southeast towards a Forest
Clearing. Just restock as necessary and head there. At the Forest Clearing,
you'll be briefed further and directed towards Raintowne proper to rescue
however many survivors you can find.
==== RAINTOWNE ====
The first zone has four Dead Boy Grunts which should be easy to take out. There
are 5 survivors here. They do have the ability to wander around but you'll
generally find them by running around the perimeter of the zone . The second
zone has an event, after which you should run to the left or right immediately
to take cover as there are 3 Dead Boy Grunts and an Officer with one or more of
the grunts on patrol. You can time your encounter there to fight one and then
climb up the nearby building to the northwest for a height advantage. There are
another 5 more survivors.
*************************
* SAVE YOUR GAME NOW!!! *
*************************
So at this point, before heading into the next zone, you should make a clean
save and leave this untouched. The next zone has another set of 4 Dead Boy
Grunts and an Officer. There's a bugged door to the southeast here which crashes
the game if anyone tries leaving from the top door to the bottom. I've fought
this battle several times and the most reliable way I found to fight this is to
send both characters to the nearby door to the west and climb up. From there,
hopefully they'll hang around you and try to fight you without trying to head to
the other side. You may want to make use of mid battle saves here, but do not
overwrite your previous save, before you entered here, in case you need to redo
it again.
There are 4 survivors here. Once you've gotten everyone, returning to the
entrance of the area will trigger a notice saying you've gotten everyone with a
reward of XP 1200. Return to New Lazlo.
Walk forward and you'll get an event with Mackie. Head to the next Zone and
you'll be awarded the key to the city by the Mayor. Head to the south zone , and
more events will follow, leading to Mackie joining you and you having to leave
for Torca's Hut. Mackie's a Battle Magus, and a welcome addition to your party
for now. There's nothing new in the shops and there doesn't seem to be any side
quests, so just head on towards Torca's Hut.
==== TORCA'S HUT ====
The first Zone has two Dead Boy grunts and an Officer. The officer is on the
ledge in the northeast, so perhaps it would be good to circle around and try to
ambush him. The second zone has one Officer, one Grunt, one Dog Boy Alpha and
two Dog Boy Betas, and there's a chest with 500 credits in the northwest corner.
The third zone has two Officers, one Grunt, one Dog Boy Alpha and a Beta. The
fourth zone has a stack of Undead. There is a ledge nearby with a one-tile wide
door so you can climb up and snipe them from there safely after you survive the
first round of attacks. Once you're done with this, you can proceed to the last
area to speak to Torca, who will finally unlock the path to Lazlo and put you on
the world map. Head there.
==== LAZLO ====
There'll be a long series of events, after which you're free to go pick your OCC
upgrade. After that is done, pick up any gear upgrades from the shops and start
doing the side quests here. I recommend you do Digging in the Dirt first as this
gets you a great Ion Pistol to use, as well as some other weapons for additional
options without spending large amounts of money.
Side Quests:
1) Digging in the Dirt
Trigger: The Digger is in the NE corner of the zone with the shops
Objective: Head to the Old Battlefield and he'll sell you up to 5 sticks of
dynamite for 300 each which you can use to dig up items. Once you've
gotten all the items, talk to him to finish the quest. There's no EXP or
monetary reward but the NG-57 Ion Pistol is very good at 3-18 per 2 AP
at this point, vs most of your other weapons which are 2-12 for 2 AP, or
3-18 for 3 AP.
Reward(s):
1) C-10 AL Rifle (southwest most hole next to the corpse), worth 540
credits if sold.
2) NG-57 Ion Pistol (nearest hole to the east of the Digger) - 590
3) CFT Peacebringer (furthest hole to the east of the Digger) - 510
4) C-18 Las Pistol (furthest hole to the north-by-northwest) - 300
5) NG-L5 Las Rifle (directly south of the Las Pistol, the hole is next
to a tuft of grass) - 710
2) Noise from the Ether
Trigger: The zone north of the one with the shops, speak to the man near
the NW building
Objective: Head towards Glendale. Continue on to Glendale after the event.
Wandering around will trigger the radio component and reveal more of the
map. Head towards Danwilds. Defeat the 3 Grackletooths there, then
wander around a bit more to trigger the next bit of dialogue. Head
towards Glenwilds. After a fight with a Burster, a Headhunter and a
Mercenary, wander around a bit and the Transmitter location will appear.
Grab the chest in the northeast here for 1000 credits and head for the
Transmitter. The first Zone there will be a fight with a Splinter and
two Grackletooths. The transmitter itself is in the next zone. Head back
and turn in the quest.
Reward(s): XP 2000 Credits 1000
3) Village of the Damned
Trigger: entering Somrun
Objective: Walk in and you'll be attacked by two extremely weak Undead,
though they hit as hard as regular ones. Head up north and you'll be
attacked by another 3 more. Head into the next zone and you'll fight
another 2 more. From there, you'll find an NPC. Pick option 2 if you
don't want to fight a bunch more Undead. This will deal with Somrun and
you'll be awarded XP. You can also make use of the shops here after
that.
Reward(s): XP 1500
4) Friend or Foe
Trigger: Approach the southwest corner of the shop district. Seems to
trigger only after you've spoken to Donobin about going to Ajx to
progress the main quest line.
Objective: You can join them in busting out a criminal or reject them, after
which you can report them to the militia by heading to the Zone south of
here. There's several permutations of choosing who to side with, but
ultimately you need to fight one of the sides and you'll get rewarded
accordingly.
Reward(s): XP 1500 if you assist the militia
Credits 2000 if you assist the criminals
5) Erin Tarn's Quest
Trigger: you'll be given this as soon as you step in town. Erin is in the
zone with the shops, on the south side of the weapons shop.
Objective: As with all the Erin Tarn quests, explore enough of the game and
report to her.
Reward(s): Amulet of Erin Tarn restored to full charges, if you need them.
6): A Terrible Prize
Trigger: starting zone, Greta is just right at the building near the
entrance. She'll only appear after you speak to Donobin and get your
main quest to go to Ajx.
Objective: Head north to the Trading Post Ruins. There's 3 Grackleteeth in
the first Zone and another 3 in the next. Most of them seem to be melee
so you can abuse the nearby 1-tile doors and buildings to snipe them
from above if necessary. Once you've killed the second set, you'll
automatically receive the Music Player and you can head back to Greta.
Reward(s): XP 2000
After you've done enough of these side quests, you can find Donobin and speak
with him to progress the main quest. You'll be sent to Ajx.
=== AJX ===
No one is around except for a child named Jasper, who will direct you to a
house. The place is closed otherwise, so just head in. This is a gimmick battle,
where you're supposed to attack the Mad Stalker using what they consider to be
concussive weapons? The idea is to line your characters up in a straight line
facing him while attacking. This will bounce him towards the wall and he'll take
HP damage from being impaled on the walls. Do it enough times and you'll win.
This fight is rougher if you have an all Psychic + Mage party like I do because
he can drain your ISP and PPE to restore his life based on the amount of damage
he deals. The knockback only triggers if you roll 10 or more damage on your
hits. It is possible to kill him by reducing the MDC to 0, but this seems like
an option that's only available to a Glitterboy due to the damage output of its
assault cannon at this point. Other weapons probably do too little damage. Once
you're done, you'll get 2000 XP and the town will be freed. You can use the shop
here now, though they don't have anything noteworthy.
Once you're done, report back to Donobin. You'll be rewarded with 2500 XP and
1000 credits, and told that you can speak to him again when you're ready. I had
a Crazy named Jenny join me at this point in time. Based on her dialogue, it may
be based on a high enough Reputation score here from doing quests. Donobin's
next task sends you off to the Raider Base northwest. The first zone has three
Juicers. The isolated one to the southwest has 100 MDC and carries a rifle.
Beware of his melee attacks, he swings twice a turn and I've been hit for 43
MDC. The next zone has a chest with 1000 credits in the southeast, it's very
near the exit to the south. The last zone has a Headhunter, a Mage and a Juicer.
Once you're done with them, go to the center of the zone and use the computer.
It is possible to fail and trigger a fight with a 95 MDC Headhunter, and you can
fail this twice. The third time you'll always succeed. On the way out, zone 2
will have a stronger Headhunter near the center, a Juicer to the west and a
weaker Headhunter to the north.
Head back to Donobin and hand in the quest for another 2500 XP and 1000 credits.
The last one is to sort out the situation at Cumberland. Head there (ignore the
Ruins for now).
==== CUMBERLAND ====
Go inside and talk to the Mayor and you'll trigger a fight. The goal of this is
to put everyone to sleep, you'll win once this happens. You may want to bring
Jenny with you if you don't have someone who can Induce Sleep, or just to have
extra people who can pull it off for convenience. There's a magic shop there
with nothing remarkable. The tavern there isn't usable, so if you want to bring
Jenny, you'll have to do it back at Ajx. Don't bother killing any of the Juicer
bodyguards, it's a waste of time. You don't get any EXP for winning the
encounter and you're sent away automatically out of there once you win so you
can't even pick up their drops. Once you're done, head to Eventown.
==== EVENTOWN ====
It has a weapons shop with the Homesteader Heavy, which costs the same as the
Fury Beetle Part for 5 more MDC with larger penalties to Gymnastics and
Acrobatics. You can buy a Peacebringer there too if you want extras. Once you're
done, go put the mayor and his bodyguards to sleep as well, then head to the
Ruins to finish this. Before you leave, look for a chest with 1000 credits in
the northwest corner.
=== RUINS ===Hand in the last quest, then go stock up if you need to. You'll want to be well
stocked on armour repair items, and you may wish to consider upgrading to a
better armour than your Homesteader Lt for the fight ahead, if you haven't
already. Head to the designated area on the map to progress the main quest and
surprise, Larson's back. This fight is utter rubbish, you already lose 8 MDC
from the initial shot, then he gets a turn of free actions, then probably
another one before you get a turn. On top of that, he has 160 MDC so it's going
to take a while to chew through all that. And all that trouble and not even an
XP reward. Utter garbage. Once you're done, look for a Villager near the
easternmost building of the shop district, he'll reveal the entrance you're
looking for is between two trees at a nearby fountain.
Head down there and you'll fight two Undead and a Fairy. The Fairy can throw all
sorts of debuffs like Charm and Cold Sleep. The next zone has a similar fight,
and the following one has 4 members of the Cabal with 80 MDC on two of them and
175 on the other two. They will usually cast Deflect on each other in the first
turn, which grants a large Dodge bonus. After you beat them, head to the center
of the Zone and you'll pick up the Red Tome automatically and be awarded 3000 XP
and 15000 credits. Leaving the area will trigger a conversation with Tophet, and
you'll be directed north to the Travelling Show. Restock as necessary, then head
there. Once you're there, you can talk to the clown and if you play his game,
you can gain 500 EXP for each successful answer you give to his riddles. The
answers to the riddles are as follows:
Darkness
Nothing
A coffin
After this is done, you're given the location of Old Bones. You can stop by
Ottawa on the way for a few new equipment options in their weapon shop, of which
the most important would be the MiRR 2000 for +40 MDC restores and a C12 Rifle.
There's also a chest with 2000 credits in the northwest corner of the zone with
the shop.
==== ROAD TO OLD BONES ===
Unity has a fight with two Headhunters in the first zone , and nothing else.
*************************
* SAVE YOUR GAME NOW!!! *
*************************
This upcoming section involving the Road to Old Bones has bugged out on me
before, so I strongly suggest keeping a spare save just before entering just in
case. You'll take it on yourself to escort a merchant named Golzar to Old Bones,
which means taking on a series of fights through four zone s. After each fight,
you should automatically advance forward to the exit and you'll call Golzar
over. If this doesn't happen, attempting to advance to the next area will give
you essentially a "We can't leave without Golzar" message, and you'll be stuck.
If you've already beaten the enemies for the zone , you'll be softlocked here
and will need to load from an earlier save.
The first zone has a Crazy, a Juicer and a Cyborg. The Juicer is the easiest to
take out given his low armour, the Crazy is the most dangerous with up to 4
attacks, of which the melee ones do around 18 damage per strike. There's a ledge
with a one tile door in the northeast, so you have that option to try to
mitigate the Crazy's melee attacks. The next zone has a Headhunter, Juicer and
Psi-Stalker. The Headhunter hits fairly hard but is pretty fragile, as is the
Juicer. The Psi-Stalker does less MDC damage, but the ISP and PPE drain might be
annoying to deal with.
The third zone has two Psychics and a Crazy. Before you engage them, go around
the perimeter of the zone to the east. You'll find two people near a chest.
Side Quest
1) Double-Crossed
Trigger: Speak to either of the two people there.
Objective: They'll tell you their story and you get to pick the reward you
want
Rewards: XP 4500 if you side with Hired Muscle
XP 1500 if you side with the Treasure Hunter
Siding with the Treasure Hunter will also allow you to open the nearby chest for
a Bushman 100, a Naruni Skullbox, a TX-26 PB Pistol and a TX-45 PB Rifle. The
gear is worth way more than the extra 3000 XP as the weapons are a grade above
whatever you have currently and the armour is two grades ahead. I didn't try to
see if you could lockpick the chest yourself, it would be worth trying out.
The next zone is the last and Golzar will give you 3 MiRR 001s, 4 Med Paks and a
CNRRS 002 at the start. Erin Tarn is here and does her usual bit about meeting
her up later. There are 3 Juicers here. Beating them finishes the escort quest
and nets you 4500 EXP and 2000 credits. Leave the map and head for Old Bones
yourself. You'll have to drop a party member for an upcoming one, so unequip the
party member you intend to drop for now as necessary.
==== OLD BONES ====
Once you enter, Trent (Cyber Knight) joins you and you'll have to drop a party
member. The game won't let you access the other zone s right now, so the only
shop available immediately here is the cyber doc, and a tavern if you want to do
more party member swapping. The nearest weapon shop is back at Ottawa. Trent's
generally a strong melee character with his Psi-Sword, though he's not bad with
a gun either when needed. Head to Old Bone Ruins and you'll get to see Tophet in
action for a bit. Once you return to Old Bones, Trent will point you to Samantha
who will provide you with your next quest.
You can finally go shopping here now. The weapons shop mostly has offerings for
Headhunters and Glitter Boys, and there won't be anything better than the
Particle Beam weapons you got earlier. However, you can buy additional NG-57 Ion
Pistols if you feel like having more. The zone with the magic shop has a chest
with 2000 credits directly to the east of the shop itself. Once you're done, go
to the zone with the weapons shop and speak to the Juicers in the southeast
corner. They'll eventually direct you to the docks which is the easternmost
zone. Davinci Jones is directly to the south. He has a ton of MDC, knockout
grenades and he hits hard in melee. His ranged attack has a long reach but does
minimal damage. Once you're done, return to Samantha and she'll offer a very
unique way to get to Scotland. Head to the FQ Observation Post.
Side Quests:
1) Tiny Problems
Trigger: Once you step into the zone with the Magic shop icon, Thomas will
approach you for help with this.
Objective: You'll have to either make it to the computer in the north-east
or the power systems in the southwest. It's a simple game of avoiding
the nanobot clouds, though touching them only sends you back to the
start, so it's more annoying than dangerous.
Reward(s): Credits 5000 credits or Thomas' Rifle which is worth 3470. It
does
far less maximum damage than the TX-45 PB you saw earlier (8-24 vs
11-36) but gives +3 to strike.
2) Pardon Me
Trigger: Once you step towards the south in the zone with the magic shop, an
old man will approach you and ask you to deliver a pardon for his son.
Objective: Head to Deadman's Grove as indicated. There doesn't seem to be an
actual time limit despite his statement about needing you to hurry.
Along the way, you'll have to fight Nathaniel, who doesn't want you to
arrive with the pardon. He has 400 MDC so he's a long fight. Once you're
done, head into the Grove proper and let the game take over. It's really
nice that they teleport you back to the old man so you don't need to
walk back manually.
Reward(s): XP 1500 Credits 1000
=== FQ COMMUNICATION STATION ===
You'll be picking up Petit here (Glitter Boy) as a party member for a while and
you'll be forced to use him. I'd recommend bringing in Trent for this upcoming
portion as well, if you're not using him already. Petit doesn't come with any
basic weapons, though his QST-104 Assault Cannon should be enough for your
purposes, so there really isn't a need to turn back and pick up an AM-100
Blaster, or even use a sidearm for the foreseeable future. You may want to pick
up a few CNRRS 01s and 02s for him though since you'll be stuck with him for a
while. He only has a Lv1 OS so he can't use any of the Lv2 weaponry currently
available at Old Bones. The next zone has a chest with 2000 credits directly to
the west of your starting location behind the tanks. The following zone requires
you to break both the radar dishes. They are 300 MDC each, which is where
Trent's 4x 6-36 MDC Psi-Sword swings and high movement range will help
immensely. Reinforcements spawn infinitely so it's better to just focus on the
radar dishes and immobilize the other enemies where possible. Once you're done,
you can leave. There'll be one more fight at the entrance with a lone Glitter
Boy and two gun turrets. You'll get directions to the next location, which is
the FQ Shipping Depot. This is the point of no return, so make sure you've done
everything you wanted. You can swap out Trent for someone else if you prefer.
************************
* POINT OF NO RETURN *
************************
=== FQ SHIPPING DEPOT ===
There'll be two Glitter Boys at the front. After you deal with them, there'll be
a story sequence which leads to a defence mission. Buy the mage time to open the
rift. Killing the enemies is pointless so just put them to sleep if you have a
Psychic type around.
-----------------------------
| CHAPTER 2: NGR |
-----------------------------
You'll be awarded 2000 XP, and after some dialogue, you'll be free to move
around. If you need more supplies, there's a hidden shop in the door next to
where the old man is standing which you can buy basic supplies from or get
repairs.
The next zone throws you straight into a fight with a bunch of NGR Triax Jagers
with some very questionable support from two Gargoyles. Induce Sleep works on
them too, just like the Glitter Boys. Beat them and head north to Fursteanau
Wilds, and you'll get dragged into a mission to rescue some children. Before you
head off to Garnor's Cave, head back into Fursteanau Wilds. Head the other way
into the second zone , there'll be 2 Juicers and a Headhunter. There's a chest
on the west side near the water with 4000 credits and you actually can sneak
around the perimeter to get to it if you don't want to fight them. The next zone
has two Juicers and two Headhunters.
Head back to Garnor's Cave and you'll have to fight Spinni and Barlev, who have
180 and 225 MDC each. This fight is horrible. Barlev can get ridiculous as he
can Fly and then Air Drop 4 times for decent damage while stunning you. Don't
expect much from Gustav, I've mostly seen him put out 22 MDC per turn on
average, though he's supposed to be able to do more. The terrain is horrible as
the fliers can hover in locations which make them hard to gang up on, I would
recommend you try fighting from the corner furthest away from the high terrain
so at least when they run away after their first few Air Drops, they will have
to come back to you to attack. After you defeat them, go into the next zone and
speak to the kids. Speak with Adalia outside for 600 XP, then head to Fursteanau
to end this.
==== FURSTEANAU ====
Once you're there, head to the next zone and decide whether you want to fight
Garnor or allow him to stay in power. Fighting him only nets you 333 EXP and
some random loot, so it's really not worth the effort from a practical
standpoint. Regardless of your decision, you'll get another 3000 XP for your
troubles. More of the map will be also revealed to you, and you'll be free to
shop and explore this place. This place sells the Lv2 OSes and gear for the
Glitterboy and Super Trooper, and some other notable things you can buy are a
Gel Suit which gives you +3 PP (so effectively +1-2 to Strike and Dodge,
depending on your stats.) In addition, this place sells the Fury Beetle Full
armour, which will be your highest MDC armour for any Psychics or Casters
(Cyber-Knights excluded).
Leaving this place will bring out Gustav, who forces his way into your immediate
party. However, you don't need to hold on to him, so just head to the tavern and
switch him for someone else if you prefer. Explore the rest of the map as you
wish.
=== WILDERNESS ===
Side Quest:
1) Listening Post
Trigger: Entering the Wilderness
Objective: The first zone has a fight with 3 undead. Beating it shows
someone running away in panic. Follow it and you'll find out the truth
about this place. When you leave the zone, you can sell them out for a
huge monetary reward or you can fight a fairly tough fight with 3 Jagers
and a Super Trooper for a bit of XP and another party member later.
Reward(s): Credits 25000 if you sell them out
3000 XP if you don't (and a party member joins you later)
=== JAGZSTELL ====
There's a weapon shop and a side quest. Notable things here include the 130 MDC
Mega Juicer Combat Armor.
*************************
* SAVE YOUR GAME NOW!!! *
*************************
I'd recommend saving here now since I've had this quest bug on me and loop
infinitely.
Side Quest:
1) You, Robot?
Trigger: Speak to Horst, he's the cloaked figure on the southeast side of
the northeast-most building.
Objective: Pruvin is actually a cyborg trying to infiltrate the place and
kill everyone. If you pick the right options (the second one, accusing
him of being a cyborg), you can trigger a fight now and kill him. If you
pick the wrong options (ie, trusting that he's a robot), nothing happens
now but once you return later, you'll find the place wiped out and
you'll still have to kill him.
This mission seems bugged to some degree where sometimes they
don't
register your kill and speaking to Horst will just loop through
the
entire process again. I did it a second time and it didn't bug
out.
One difference is that I used Fear in the first fight, I don't
know
if this somehow broke the game in any way.
Reward(s): XP 3000 from speaking to Horst if you defeat him now
XP 600 if the village gets wiped out
==== TRISTRAU ====
Dana the Super Trooper joins you here. I didn't get him the first time I went
through NGR and I missed out the Listening Post side quest, so it likely is
related to that, especially given the dialogue. Perhaps you might get another
character instead if you sold them out.
Side Quests:
1) Erin Tarn's Quest
Trigger: She approaches you as soon as you enter here
Objective: the usual, explore enough of the place and come back to her
Reward(s): the usual amulet recharge
2) The Arena
Trigger: Speak to the Arena Manager on the east side of the map.
Objective: You can take on fights in the arena and bet 100, 500 or 1000
credits on yourself. You can take up to 3 fights:
Fight 1: Juicer, Mercenary, Headhunter
Fight 2: 2x Super Troopers, 1x Triax Jager
Fight 3: Juicer, Elemental Fusionist (Dust), Elemental Fusionist
(Steam).
Rewards: XP 600 for Fight 1
XP 900 for Fight 2
XP 1200 for Fight 3
The fights themselves also give you XP, and you win how much you bet. This is
mostly just trading money for XP as 1000 credits is only worth two MiRR 001s
which is just 50 MDC worth of repairs. You don't get gear drops from the enemies
either, so all you have is your winnings, so you are likely going to see a net
loss in terms of resources going through this fight.
Fight 3 is especially rough. The Juicer is the worst threat since he tends to
move first and strikes for up to 4 times in melee for 50+ damage each, with
knock-back. 2 strikes will already break most armours available at this point in
2 hits, and that's not including the potential damage from the knock-back
itself. The two elemental fusionists with him are no slouches either.
=== HARUMSBERG PLAINS ===
Eventually, you'll meet the gargoyle leader, Diebal, at Harumsberg Plains.
You're tasked with stealing a weapon from the NGR R&D Facility to the east. The
first zone is empty, the second has two Jagers, the third has a Super Trooper
and two Jagers. Head to the east to trigger a conversation with someone for the
necessary codes, then follow him North. Doesn't seem to matter whether you kill
him as the alarm will trigger regardless. It's going to be a long fight out as
there's four enemies in each zone , all with at least 200 MDC each. The first
round is against two Super Troopers and two regular Jagers. The next has one
Super Trooper, one regular Jager and one of the stronger red Jagers. The last
room has two Super Troopers, a regular Jager and a red Jager. Return to
Harumsberg Plains and speak to Diebal for 3600 XP, then continue to explore
further.
=== VATERLANDS BANK ===
Side Quests:
1) Deadly Tellers
Trigger: Enter Vaterlands Bank
Objective: There's 6 turrets and they all fire bursts that do around 70
damage. Coupled with the game's penchant for going first in terms of
initiative, there's a decent chance you'll see someone killed in the
first turn alone if you're unlucky. The game also forces you somewhat
into the middle regardless of your approach, and the first two guns seem
to have ridiculous range, so there's no way to avoid this. However,
once you manage to take down the first two turrets, the rest will mostly
be easy pickings since there'll be plenty of cover you can use. Once
you're done, head forward far enough and you'll finish the quest
Reward(s): Credits 15000
=== MERLAUGH WILDS ===
Side Quests:
1) Last Stand
Trigger: Entering Merlaugh Wilds
Objective: Walk far enough into the stage and you'll be challenged by
Adalbrecht. If you want the quest entry, you'll have to beat him. He has
600 MDC and he seems to have high dodge so it'll take some effort.
Reward(s): XP 3000
==== PLAVEN ====
There's a weapon store and a cyber doc here, as well as a side quest.
Side Quest:
1) No Warranty
Trigger: Speak with Delph, he's in the northeastern-most zone, ight in front
of the building
Objective: Go to the Ruins of Belzig. The first zone has a Headhunter and a
Cyborg, and beating them will get you one servo. The next zone has a
stronger Headhunter, a regular Cyborg and a stronger VX500 Cyborg.
Beating them will get you another servo. There's a chest in the
northeast with 4000 credits.
Reward(s): Credits 25000, and as a bonus, Delph will find you immediately as
you enter Plaven, saving you the trouble of walking all the way to him.
==== MERLAUG ====
The weapon shop here has probably the most comprehensive list of weapons and
armour to date, and has a Hyper Gel Suit that grants additional resists on top
of the +3 PP. Super expensive though, so it's questionable as to whether it's
worth buying. The cyber doc has a missile launcher for the Super Trooper if
you're using one and an Arm Ion attachment for the Cyborg and Headhunter. This
also seems to be the only magic shop in this NGR portion, unless I missed one
somewhere.
Head up into the northernmost area and speak to the man near the boat (Dewar).
He'll direct you northeast towards the Raider Camp. In the first zone , there's
a regular Jager and the stronger red one. Directly to the north of the entrance
point is a chest with 4000 credits. In the next zone , after the fight, head
forward to pick up the cargo, then leave and return to Merlaug. Speak to Dewar
and you'll be rewarded with 3000 XP and 15000 credits. Finish up whatever else
you need, then leave for Scotland.
A Mystery Woman appears and hands you a Temporal Amulet before leaving. Further
forward is your introduction to the Cernum. They're pretty annoying at times as
they can cast Paralysis. If you have the Invincible Armor spell, that at least
makes you immune to their Fire Bolts. You'll meet Erin Tarn on your way out.
Head to the Trading Post.
==== TRADING POST ====
There's a chest with 8000 credits in the northeast corner of the first zone .
This place has 3 weapons shops with each of them specializing in different
equipment. One of them bizarrely has duplicate entries of Audio Filter in there.
There's only one new pistol which is the NG-45LP Pistol. It does the same damage
as the TX-26 PB Pistol you had access to, but it does have a higher maximum
range (+3) and ammunition capacity (+2) so it may be worth picking up.
Erin Tarn is just right outside the entrance. Once you're done with your
shopping, talk to the villager in front of the tavern (which you can't use) and
head up north to Gateside.
==== GATESIDE ====
There's a tavern if you want to rest and change party members, and some side
quests. Once you've done all of them, head to Dunnekelde.
Side Quests:
1) Tentacle Love
Trigger: It'll trigger as soon as you step further into Gateside.
Objective: Speak to the old man to the south of the tavern to get the
location of Sochan Grove, then head there. There's two versions of this,
and it seems to be based on either your reputation or your actions to
date. The version I got forces you to go warn the couple and thrusts you
into a fight against Throm. He has 650 MDC and gets ***SIX*** ACTIONS a
turn. You do have two people backing you up though. The other version
has you fighting against the couple.
Reward(s): XP 800 and a Flaming Sword if you save the couple
Credits 10000 if you slay the couple
2) Hidden Threat
Trigger: Speak to the lady in the corner to the west of the tavern's
entrance and you'll be given the location of Daneshire.
Objective: Head to Daneshire. Once you're there, speak to Nulty, he's the
old man around the middle of town. If you take up the task, he'll ask
you to collect the Widow's Tear Toadstool Stem (toadstool pile in the
southeast corner of town), the Morningstar Lily Pollen (the huge flower
northwest side of town) and charcoal from a tree struck by lightning
(the obvious tree in the northeast side of town). Collect the three
items and get ready for a tough fight.
Once you're ready, speak to Nulty and you'll be sent into the other
plane of existence to fight a very tough battle against the
poltergeists. One type copies your party members, the other has a stack
of Psychic powers and will likely put your party to sleep with Induce
Sleep, so you are going to take some lumps. I noted issues hitting some
of these in regular combat for some reason. Perhaps it's because they
copied my main character, who was virtually unhittable at this point? I
had Raif kill them with the Lightning spell, since that always hits its
target.
Once you're done, walk around the map and you'll be teleported back to
Daneshire. Speak to Nulty for your reward. Oddly the mission seems to be
removed from my side quest list too. Before you leave, check out the
shops, there's a weapons shop and magic shop here, with some new items.
The most noteworthy might be the Jetpack Pro for the Headhunter. The
NE-L Pistol does Plasma?Fire Damage but probably is inferior to the
NG-45LP Pistol in general.
Reward(s): XP 700 Credits 10000 MiRR 003 x10
3) Story Time
Trigger: Ask for gossip at the tavern and you'll get the Library Ruins
location marked on your map as soon as you leave.
Objective: Head there and you'll find a lot of bookshelves around. Reading
them causes you to be teleported into a fight with the monsters being
described in the book. These fights do give XP but there's no loot
drops, so this doesn't seem worth the trouble.
A Cernum named Old Horn is in the southeast corner He wants a specific
book from he nearby shelf, so you'll need to pick the right one. The
game gave me a hunch that the right book was the green one, which is
probably a benefit of playing a Psychic. Take the green book and give it
to Old Horn for your reward. Before you leave, there's a chest in the
northeast corner with a NE-CW20 Camo armour, which is an EBA armour with
nice +5 Dodge bonus
Reward(s): XP 700 TW Nova Rifle
==== DUNNEKELDE ====
Once you're here, speak to Mayor Abenzio (the man with the blonde ponytail on
your way in near the center of the town) and his brother, Ronan (Elemental
Fusionist: Dust), will join you while revealing the route to Maes Howe. You do
not need to keep him in the party, so you can head to the nearby tavern to
remove him immediately. Over there, pick Gossip for a side quest. There's a
weapon shop and a magic shop here.
Side Quests:
1) Monstrous Magnet
Trigger: Pick Gossip in the tavern in Dunnekelde and leave. You'll be
directed to Katwick.
Objective: Once you're in Katwick, the mayor will approach you for help. If
you agree, once you head to the center of the village, you'll be forced
to fight a battle against waves of Undead, starting with two, three and
finally another three of them/ They come from all directions. It's
easiest if you end the fight around the center of the map so you have
time to react to the reinforcements. Once you're done, the quest will
end with the mayor paying you a modest reward for a fairly easy fight.
Katwich has a weapon shop and a magic shop you can check out, though I
don't remember it having anything remarkable.
Reward(s): 5000 credits
==== MAES HOWE ====
Once you get there, you'll be put through a long conversation and directed to
deal with the local troubles. As such, you'll need to assist Angus, a Steam
Elemental Fusionist, so you'll have to drop a party member for now. Restock and
resupply as necessary, then head down south towards Cawdar Woods.
At Cawdar Woods, head forward deeper in there and approach the flower. You'll be
ambushed by four Fomorians with almost 160 MDC each, and they generally target
Angus. Possibly because he was the easiest to hit in my party? You may want to
use the ledge to the west and climb up since the Fomorians have no range
capability. Keep fighting them but eventually they'll leave and you'll get the
necessary macguffin and 1400 XP. Return to Maes Howe and speak to Birkira. After
a cutscene, restock as necessary, then make your way northeast to Quoyness. Head
in and face THE BALOR. 900 MDC and it regenerates 36 MDC per turn, so it's going
to take a while to chew through that. He's accompanied by 3 Fomorians. While
there will be reinforcements, they are not immediate, so I'd recommend using
Angus' Tidal Wave to take out the smaller Fomorians ASAP so you can focus fire
on the Balor without taking more damage from its goons. The Balor also has an
Evil Eye move that does what I assume is Blue Fire damage in a 4 tile line, so
don't line up around it. Once it is dead, you'll be automatically sent back to
Maes Howe, where you'll be directed south towards Clava. Restock as necessary,
and you can also swap out Angus for someone else at this point. Make sure you do
whatever else you haven't done as this is a-
************************
* POINT OF NO RETURN *
************************
==== CLAVA ====
The shops here have nothing remarkable and you'll be in a new place soon with
new equipment options. Gallo is the NPC around the open area in the south with a
unique design. Speak to him and make your choices. Picking the girl gives you
3000 XP (I believe she was the one that appeared before you when you landed in
Scotland and gave you the Temporal Amulet). Picking the guy rewards you with
1500 XP instead. Regardless, you'll be sent back to North America, and dropped
in a pretty famous place in the RIFTS universe.
-----------------------------
| CHAPTER 4: BACK IN N.A |
-----------------------------
==== TOLKEEN ====
As per the dialogue, go to the tavern and Gossip. Leave and you'll come face to
face with your impostor. Chase him/her down and (s)he'll shed some light on
what's going on. A little. And you'll be richer by 410 XP and 1460 credits. Walk
around a bit and you'll meet Tophet, who will direct you to Bankum. There's some
new gear so shop around. Of note is the NE-4 Pistol as a potential upgrade for
your pistol users. It does more damage and has +1 ammo capacity compared to the
NG-45LP Pistol, but the weapon type is plasma, and it also has 2 less range. If
you're using a Glitter Boy, you'll have access to a real BoomGun that does
30-180 damage, but it does use 20 Ballistic ammunition per shot for this, which
basically is 40 credits per shot. If you are hurting for money, you may still
want to keep your old assault cannon for cost effectiveness. That does make your
Glitter Boy pretty poor though in terms of damage output since any character
with 8 AP can put out 40-160 just purely from 4 shots of the NE-4 pistol, while
your Glitter Boy is still doing 32-132 tops with the QST-188. That said, it's
still better than any of your other options as there isn't a better sidearm yet.
You might want to pick up a pair of Infrared Goggles for everyone one who can
equip one as you'll be fighting the Xiticix, which have the Camouflage ability
that renders them invisible. Xiticix are melee only outside of the very limited
AOE damage the advanced Xiticix can do with Plague. Plague however spawns 3
larvae on the map which have to be killed. The larvae drop about 1-30 credits
each at best so it is generally not worth your time to farm them. They lose
their Invisible status when attacking, but can also be knocked out of it if they
are damaged or hit with a status effect while being invisible. You can make use
of AOEs to handle them, or hit them with a character that can actually see them.
You just can't target them unless you have the ability to do so (or succeed in a
Detect Invisible roll I assume).
Once you're done, take a detour to Hillscrest first. You'll meet Erin Tarn on
your way out, with the usual quest.
Side Quest:
1) Erin Tarn's Quest
Trigger: Approach the exit north to Zone 2 and Erin Tarn will speak with you
Objective: explore enough of the area and return to Erin Tarn. This will be
accomplished just by doing all the other side quests.
Reward(s): The usual Amulet of Erin Tarn (2)
==== HILLSCREST ====
Nothing here but a tavern and a side quest.
Side Quests:
1) Too Close for Comfort
Trigger: Speak to Everen, the mage with a unique sprite standing near to the
entrance as you walk in.
Objective: It doesn't really matter what you pick at this point though it'll
mark the dialogue accordingly based on your personality, then reveal the
Psi Stalker Camp on your map, as well as a path to Plinville further to
the east. Go to the Psi Stalker camp and speak to the people involved.
Ultimately, you have a choice whether to urge Everen to wipe them out,
or to encourage co-existence. If you pick the latter, the mages will
band together and attack you. IIIRC, the other choice results in them
heading over there and wiping out the Psi-Stalkers themselves. The
quest rewards are the same regardless. You can visit the Psi-Stalker
Camp for an extra update to your entry afterwards, at least if you
fought Everen. Once you're done, head to Plinville.
Reward(s): XP 800 Credits 3650
==== PLINVILLE ====
A tavern, a weapons shop and a side quest.
Side Quests:
1) Power Leeches
Trigger: Speak to Revly, the mage right near the entrance
Objective: He'll direct you to the Leyline Nexus. After you destroy any
single pyramid, a Necromancer (300 MDC) will appear with two Undead (225
MDC) to stop you. Slay them and the remaining pyramids will be destroyed
automatically. Report back to Revly for your reward.
Reward(s): XP 800 for destroying + 1300 Credits 4400
From this point, you can head down southeast and clear the loop and you'll be
able to revisit the rest of North America, though there really isn't anything
else to do here besides doing any side quests you might have missed, assuming
they're still available. If you revisit Shanty Town, you'll get a unique scene.
Anyway, head to Bankum.
==== BANKUM ====
Once you get here, try to leave immediately and you'll be attacked by two
Headhunters and a VX500 Cyborg, all with 200+ MDC. Once you beat them, a citizen
will come forward to explain the situation to you and you'll get 1200 XP 2920
credits. Do any shopping you need, then head up north to Torontin. The most
notable item in the shops here is the Hair Trigger Pro for Headhunters. There's
a new T-12 Medic EBA armour and a TW Snare Gun here, but neither seem terribly
useful.
==== TORONTIN ====
Speak with the mayor (he's just outside the weapons shop) and he'll fill you in.
Shop if you need and head up further north to the Xiticix Hive. There's a lot of
ledges here with 1 tile doors which you can make use of as sniping positions.
The first zone has 2 regular Xiticix with 200 MD, one of the advanced onces that
has 225 MD. The next zone has 2 of the regular and 2 of the advanced. After
you're done, head back to Torontin and report to the mayor for 800 XP. Head up
north to Corraive first.
==== CORRAIVE ====
Side Quests:
1) Xiticix Invasion
Trigger: Enter Corraive and speak to the mayor. Once you leave, the Xiticix
will attack. What happens next seems to depend on your Reputation.
Objective: If your Reputation is 0, you'll abandon them to their fate and
get no reward. Returning doesn't seem to yield anything either, though
you'll find the village completely decimated.
If your Reputation is 10, you'll be forced to defend them. I fought a
total of three advanced Xiticix and one regular. I'm not sure what
happens at other reputation levels. Once you're done, head southeast to
Project Shackle.
Reward(s): XP 1300 Credits 3000 if you save the village
==== PROJECT SHACKLE ====
There's nothing in the first zone. The second zone has two VX400 Cyborgs and 3
Headhunters with over 200+ MDC each. There's a chest in the southwest corner
with 16000 credits. The third zone will have an event, and deep in the fourth,
there'll be an object you can interact with. On the way out, there'll be an
event and you'll be given 1600 EXP. Head back to Tolkeen. I stopped by in
Torontin briefly and Greg (Juicer) joined me. This is related to the Xiticix
Invasion sidequest earlier. If you abandoned the village to the Xiticix, Lisa
(Mind Melter) will join you instead. From my tests, Greg also appears if you go
to Bankum or Tolkeen, but not to Corraive. I assume this is the same with Lisa,
but I've not tested this as I didn't get Lisa during my playthrough.
=== TOLKEEN ===
Once you're there, there'll be a round of exposition revealing your true
identity. After it's over, you'll get 800 XP, a sidequest and the location of
Anderton.
Side Quest:
1) Shots From the Dark
Trigger: Automatic
Objective: Deal with all your assassins. Just walk around between zone s in
Tolkeen and they'll come after you. The first is a 225 MDC Juicer in the
middle zone . The second is a Grackletooth in the west zone . The
third is a Headhunter named Salamat in the north Zone with 350 MDC.
Beating him ends the quest.
Rewards: XP 1200 Credits 3650
==== ANDERTON ====
Speak to the villager in front of the tavern and he'll mark the location of
Bonar Falls. There's only a magic shop here. At Bonar Falls, an NPC will direct
you all the way up north again to Glennford. Before you leave, there's a chest
in the northeast corner with 32000 credits.
==== GLENNFORD ====
This is a repeat of Bonar Falls, but on the way out, you'll meet Plato who'll
direct you to your final destination in North America. There's a weapon shop
here with some new gear, notably the best regular ranged weapon in the game per
shot, the NE-75H, which does 40-100 Plasma for 3 AP per shot. It has a minimum
STR requirement of 13. For reasons I'll go into shortly, don't dispose of your
old weapons yet if you're upgrading to the NE-75H. Once you're done, head to the
final location, and you'll be sent off to China. You'll get into a fight without
any chances to restock, so make sure you're ready.
-----------------------------
| CHAPTER 5: CHINA |
-----------------------------
One of the new random encounters you can fight are Shen Mo. They take half
damage from magic and ballistic and are immune to plasma and psi-sword. They can
be put to sleep.
==== HAICH'MIM BAI ====
There's no need for your Infrared Goggles anymore, so you may swap them out for
something else. A Magus Third Eye for +2 Save vs Magic might help given what
you're fighting next.
You'll get some dialogue before you're thrown into a side quest which is
basically a fight.
Side Quests:
1) Defend the Monastery
Trigger: Automatic
Objective: You'll be fighting one Battle Magus and an Undead. Killing one
will bring out another Undead, then another Battle Magus, then another
Undead, followed by a final Undead.
Reward(s): XP 17000 Credits 3030
Before you leave, look for a chest in the northeast corner, it contains the
LiquidLightTM, which is a very powerful accessory. Head to Fun Chiang.
==== FUN CHIANG ====
You'll meet Erin Tarn here in zone 1, who'll hand you the usual side quest and
ask you to meet her at Manchuan. Note the chest near the east exit which she
uses, it has a N-F12A Light FF.
Zone 2 has a pack of four 225 MDC Undead. Beating them triggers an event and
unlocks a new location. There's an exit to the north and to the northeast. Head
north first.
There's a fight against five of the same undead here and an event. Leave and
head to the northeast for a similar fight, though without the event. I'd
recommend you head to Man Chuan first.
==== MAN CHUAN ====
Side Quests:
1) D-Bee Mating Woes
Trigger: Automatic
Objective: Speak to the green D-Bee outside the tavern, then speak to the
Juicers near the entrance. You can pay them 21,000 credits to solve this
peacefully, or you can just kill them. Return to the D-Bee once you're
done wit them.
Reward(s): XP 13000 N-F20A Medium FF
2) Kidnapped Daughter
Trigger: Speak to the man in front of the Cyber Shop. You can't go in anyway
presumably until you complete this side quest.
Objective: Go to Guai Dong in the southwest. On your way, by stop at Sak
Shing o open up a path to Ke Wu Zi Shen Gu later. Continue on to Guai
Dong. You'll be facing some very ainful melee opponents with high Horror
factors. If you have Carpet of Adhesion and initiative, you can keep
them away and kill them from ange. Once you're done, pick up the little
girl and bring her back to er father in Man Chuan.
Reward(s): XP 17000 Credits 25000
Once you're done with your side quests, head to Ke Wu Zi Shen Gu, and you'll
meet Larson for the very last time. From there, if you're equipping any plasma
weapons, swap them out first since you'll be dealing with Shen Mo where we're
headed. Head to Lung San and you'll have to defend a bunch of Mystics against
waves of Shen Mo. It starts as 2 of the weaker variety, then one of the stronger
appears, then one of the weaker and stronger with reinforcements until only one
of the stronger Shen Mo appears. Kill them all and you'll be done here. Hak Sum
Lum lies to the north, and the final boss waits there for you.
=== HAK SUM LUM ===
The final boss. Man, what a piece of work. Multiple actions, summons 1 or 2
random minions every now and then. The minions die after a certain time has
passed regardless of status and I'm told they're replaced if you disable any of
them with debuffs. I've seen Fomorians, Undead, the Ma-Tao horsehead demons
which inflict Horror and two other types of enemies I didn't note down.
It has two barriers of 150 MDC and a 800 MDC main body. You need to break the
150 MDC barriers first. Once the barriers are down, a hit on the body will do
regular damage, causing the boss to slump over and allowing you to hurt the main
body normally for a bit. Once you do enough damage, it'll get up and take 50
more damage, after which it'll raise the wards again. This continues for a few
cycles, but it seems to stop after you've lowered him to somewhere within the
50-75% range.
It casts Deathword, Tornado and has a Tentacle attack that can moves the target
elsewhere on the map and inflicts horror if it lands. It also resists fire, ice,
electricity, magic and psi-sword, which kills pretty much all the gimmicks of
the Psychic OCCs and your Cyber-Knights. Isn't it great having your class
gimmicks denied without any workarounds?
It'll fire shockwaves at you from time to time as well, but there are rocks on
the map you can take cover behind. They will be broken eventually, so you can't
hide forever. The game also seems to hang if you end your turn while it's
slumped over, so be careful of that.
Good luck with the fight, and enjoy the ending if you win. I'm told that if you
pick the evil route, the fight is a little easier as he only summons one goon
instead of two.
There is a way to make this fight extremely trivial if you want/need to. You'll
need a suitable Mage character with Super Speed, Life Blast, Magic Rush and
Speed Weapon. yourself. Mackie may not be able to pull this off due to his
limited PPE pool and I don't think the Fusionists get access to the necessary
spells.
Step 0: Before the battle, equip your mage with the most damaging weapon you
have available in terms of damage per action, and a Magus Third Eye to
increase his odds against Deathword in case he gets targeted with it. The
best weapon normally would be the NG-P7 PB Rifle which does 20-80 damage for
3 AP per shot. Theoretically, if you raised your mage's base PS to 8, you
can spent an item slot to equip a Dragon Gauntlet to raise your PS to 13 so
you can use the NE-75H Heavy Plasma to do 40-100 damage per shot instead.
I am assuming that they can equip a Dragon Gauntlet, I've not checked this
myself. The NG-P7 PB Rifle is more than enough anyway unless you're very
unlucky, or have completely neglected your Strike bonuses on your mage.
Step 1: Spend your first turn casting Super Speed + Life Blast on himself for a
net bonus of +7 AP, Dodge +6, Speed +200%, +3 Init, +1 Strike going forward.
Step 2: If you're a Line Walker, you'll have 15 AP now. Hopefully you didn't die
to Deathword or get disabled in some other way. Cast Speed Weapon (thus
lowering all attack costs to 1 AP) and Magic Rush (+90 HP, +3 Init, +1
Strike and Dodge, +100 vs Horror, Stun, Poison, PS = 30, PE = 24, AP = 200%)
This puts your AP at 30 next turn. The PE of 24 should give +5 vs Magic
which should further protect him from Deathword. The Horror and Stun
immunity protects him from anything else so that should be all you need, as
long as you don't get extremely unlucky in some way. I'm also assuming that
you do have enough Dodge bonuses to survive anything that might be thrown at
you, given you've made it this far.
Speed Weapon and Magic Rush cost a total of 8 AP, so you do have 7 AP left
to do whatever you want. You could consider Power Weapon, but due
to the damage type, it'll only add 2-12 damage per shot instead of 4-24 due
to the boss' resistances. It might be better to just spend the remaining AP
working on the wards and reloading your gun as necessary.
Step 3: Assuming nothing has gone wrong since your last turn, enjoy the feeling
of complete dominance as you blow away the boss with a barrage of 1 AP
shots. For reference, I started turn 3 with only one ward up at 34 MDC and
the boss itself at 687 MDC. By the time I had 9 AP left, it was down to 5
MDC, so you will generally have damage to spare even just with the NG-P7.
