Intermission 12 Page 14
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After a few days of rest (much-needed for those that survived the poisoned well), Paws returns to the manor with his pack full of goods.
“Nice to see you, Kamau, Lohk.”
“I’m surprised Ricki isn’t here to greet me, though. She usually does.”
“She’s been busy lately. I’ll send a mushroom to go get her.”
“Sure are a lot of those little guys these days.”
“You have no idea.”
“These are just the big ones. More little ones keep sprouting under the couch cushions almost as fast as I can eat ‘em.”
“Well, anyway, there’s not too much for us to discuss this time.”
“You’ve already visited all the dungeons around here that I’m aware of.”
“Amadeusz still wants us to go to this research place. Ricki seemed to be on board, last I heard.”
“Hm.”
“Well, I imagine she’s gonna do what she’s gonna do. But you should all be careful.”
“That place is actually pretty close to the guard outpost you visited before, and the whole area is being heavily patrolled.”
“You’ll be lucky to even get there undetected, and once you’re in, I’ve heard it’s wall to wall with elemental creatures.”
“You have anything that can help us with that?”
“A few things.”
“Which of you are going, anyway?”
You can now choose which three characters will join Ricki at the Research Facility (it’s the only dungeon available).
The only dungeon available…
Does that mean that if we’d done the Poisoned Well earlier then we’d have been forced to choose between the Guard Outpost and the Research Facility, and then we’d have to do the other one?
Yes. Poison well was optional and could not be saved as the last one.
When we recruited Amad we had to take him on the next dungeon so we decided on Armory since taking him Blind into the Well seemed like a bad idea…(but we did it anyway later…)
I suppose it is at least worth considering if we possibly have another option, such as just staying home and waiting to see if a new dungeon appears. I’ve followed the story since the beginning but I’m actually a bit fuzzy on why exactly we want to raid an Imperial research facility other than that Amadeusz suggested it and getting loot. Is there some reason for doing this other than money and power?
I can say for the others,but I want more scrolls,check to see if the Siegesword can be enchanted twice,more wands,more Abilities for Lohk,etc.
I think LSN confirmed that it can’t have 2 enchants but it was a long time ago and I can’t find the source…
Um.. railroading? 😉
But more seriously, Paws said it: there’s nothing more to do, all visited. Until the team learns of anything more, the basic rules of the game, the cycle of intermission/dungeon force it. We’ve reached intermission’s end. We don’t get any options or actions during the intermission, just a movie to watch. There’s no “pass more time”. The story does not have any “more dungeons show up” at this moment. Like in any other game, you went through a level, there’s a boss waiting at the end of it, can’t you just sit and longrest until the boss walks away bored? :):):)
So your point of view is that Dungeon Eyes is a like computer game rather than a tabletop RPG?
Agree to disagree.
I don’t have an inherent problem with “railroading” since that is sometimes necessary for a storyline, but the Research Facility isn’t exactly being presented as a true railroad where the characters are forced by circumstances or an external force to go on an adventure (unlike the very first adventure, which was a classic railroad — escape or die), since in theory the characters are voluntarily choosing to travel to the Research Facility and to try to covertly enter it. I am simply curious why Ricki is choosing to voluntarily raid yet another Imperial facility at high risk to herself and valued companions. Is it because she’s an inveterate thief and wants as much loot as humanly (uh, goblinly) possible, is it because she wants to fight the ‘evil’ Empire any way she can, is she driven to complete any ‘dungeon’ she hears about, is she trying to show her value to Amadeusz, or something else. The plot or character motivations just seem to be a bit weak or undefined at this particular juncture.
This is nice, we decide on Characters first, purchases/loadout second.
So our hints are Elemental Creatures (weak to X, Deals X etc) and more patrols (less time?). Probably lots of staves, scrolls and potions. Maybe robes as well.
My vote is:
Ricki: (Attacker, scout)
Kamau (for tanking, solo swarms)
Lara: (Heavy hitter for big creatures. Wall climbing)
Lhok (Healing, frost and fire damage)
We “waste” a bond on Lara, but we could probably use the extra firepower from her since we’re going into this with the penalty of “Higher security” whatever that is. Also Lara does poison which might “count” as an element…
Kamau, Ricki and Lara have lots of slots for Loot and we also have 2 smalls in case there is a hole.
Reasons against other chars:
Mac: Rings are probably going to be replaced with Gold ones in Paw’s shop soon but we dont know for sure if we’ll see any blank ones in the next dungeon. If we bring him and dont find rings we’ve effectively handicapped ourselves.
Cyx: As much as I would have liked to try him, its too late to see him shine now. Sorry bud!
Botania: Weak to fire. Bad here.
Amad: Sketchy. No bond. No thanks!
Cordy: he’s a little too situational and slow for me. Those little shrooms were useful as a tanking tactic but since we’ll have Kamau, wont be needed. And if we do find we have a shorter time round, Cordy will really screw us since he takes so long to power up.
Smith: He’s dead and that was on the easier version of the guard dungeon. Let’s make some good choices to set ourselves up for success and not gamble on “Maybes”
In defense of Tancya & Cyx:Tanya’s weakness can bbe mitigated with the Fire Robe & Magma Shield,& Cyx can just stay at range or hide behind Kamau.
I’m not implying I disagree,you’re completely right,bur they aren’t as useless as you think.
I’m not sure if Kamau is a good idea with lots of elemental damage being available to our opponents (e.g. fire may have some AoE effect, which causes damage to other chars than Kamau, who would then remorse out sooner or later).
That is a risk for sure, but even the armory had golems that did AOE so we’ve handled that before
My own 3 loadouts had similar reasoning.See below.
Ricki goes alone. LEEEEEROOOOOY JENKIIIIIIIIIINNS!
While that would be a chuckle (or heart attack, depending on who you ask) I think it’s in the rules we have to take a max party if we are able to
You know for a fact there’s going to be a gimmick dungeon sometime before a climatic scene,in which Ricki is separated from the rest of the group.It’s a narrative staple.
That rule is at I6P15: https://dungeoneyes.com/intermission-6-page-15/
“Finally, although any number of pets can be left behind at the manor, four party members must always go to the dungeon if possible.”
EVERYBODY stays home and just stares silently at Amadeusz until he talks.
I want magical loot,but your suggestion is cool too.
Hooray!We get to grab wizard loot now!
So,I think I’m just going to copy-paste what I said on I12P5,hope the rest of you don’t mind that.
■RICKI: Obviously can’t go WITHOUT HER!She should keep her current loadout,but switch the Bat Hide Armor for Wolf Hide Armor & take Lazuli as a pet.She should also grab the 3 Imbued Skulls to throw as distractions,because that’s their purpose (I also want the Magicrow Whistle,but I assume it was sold).She’ll be a decent DPS,& can steal a better weapon from the mooks.
-Her next ability should be Backstab for increased DPS or Steal for…well…pilfering
■KAMAU: The tankiest tank that ever tanked.He should wear the Crabplate (because it has just 4 ENC compared to normal Platemail’s 5) & take the Big Shield (Tower Shield is overkill) and Daisy for a pet (stat boost).Since we’re going to a MAGIC Dungeon,I assume there’ll be some annoying bullcrap like DEF-bypass or mind control,either as a gimick or Turn 50 Punishment,so a potion too.
-At this point,we improved him so much that he wouldn’t even NEED any new abilities,but Dauntless 2 is a good choice,with Heavy Strike & Adrenaline tied for 2nd place.
■LARA: 2nd best tank due to Siegesword & Drider.We might put her wall-climbing abilities to use (assuming there’s a lot of vertical stuff) AND if we find any Enchantment Scrolls,she has the HP to spare.She should take Siegesword (no duh) & either the lesser or greater Crit Greaves.We can grab better armor from the dead Imperial mooks we ice.
-As previously stated,her abilities are shit.We already took ICGAW & the only useful one is an upgrade to Venomous Sting.When will we be in a situation where we need to use Drider Bite instead of her signature Venom Siegesword?
■MACADAMIA: man,I feel sorry for this poor guy,he JUST wants to go back home.His current loadout is fine,& he can put his ring materials in Golly.I’m more worried about finding any decent armor so he doesn’t get flattened.
-Dig might just be the best thing ever.Breaking any floor/wall within a room (in exchange for a 7g pickaxe)would’ve been so useful in the Manor & Well.Scamper MIGHT be decent.
■LOHK: She is really useful,but underutilised .Plus,it’s stated that the Research Outpost will be extra difficult right now,so I’m a bit worried about taking her (though,credit where credit is due,she survived 2 Dungeons while being the weakest character).Her Cane can replicate a spell twice,so with a Venom Barrage Wand,she can deal 24 DMG to a target,enough to kill most of the things in the ENEMIES tab up there.She also comes with a free HP potion & ammo-less ranged attack.We just need to find a good chestpiece/shield for her,along with a tank-y pet.
-Honestly?I really don’t know which Ability she should unlock next,since she has so many useful ones.Maybe Rechannel or Herbal Tea II,I’m really not sure.We should try taking her more often.
■CORDY: A masso’spora (heh) that has a very niche use.He can act as a retroactive DPS/tank with his many minions,& he can also still use wands.I don’t have a lot to say for him,besides wondering about his history (An ASTEROID!?) or opinion of the group (he listened to Ricki to spare a mook)…
-Rot,so he doesn’t need the Cobra Hood,or Spore Bomb for AoE,or the ability that gives him a “thorns”-type of effect whenever someone hits him.
Hum…I expected people would be discussing my reasoning.But everyone just made their own comment.Oh well,
■BOTANYA: YES,the next Dungeon will have FIRE,which she is weak to.But hey,we didn’t take Coccyx to the Well,even when he’s immune to poison,so THIS isn’t any dumber.Plus,said fire DMG can be negated with the Fire Robe & Magma shield.She should also take the Pan Pipes orMend Wand to make her more useful.Maybe one of those Golem Bombs too.
-Like Lohk,she has so many good Abilities to unlock!Petalporter can obviously teleport,& the Beanstalk acts as a ladder for the whole party.But the best is Vine Wall,to act as area denial to any pesky Demonic Spiders we come across.
■AMADEUSZ: who’s a good boy?Not HIM,because he’s SKETCHY!I don’t really want to take him,because he prevents Bond points,but he IS still powerful.Maybe he’ll be more powerful once we get Kamau to max Bond.He can take whichever armor he needs to not die.
-If we want to go for “combat medic”,Energetic Jig,if we want to go for DPS,Rend or Bloodlust.Extra NOTEs would also be nice.
■COCCYX: man,this guy is half as unlucky as Mac,which is impressive.We’ll have to take him sooner or later,& if we take Kamau aswell,we won’t have to worry about Cyx being insta-killed.Since Lohk & Tanya are the only ones with a good healing spell (AKA not exclusively for 3HP or below),we can also see if they can heal him,since Cyx can’t drink potions like everyone else.He should take 18 arrows & give them to Golly,+ the Tower Shield & Longbow.
-I have no clue….
■■My suggestion for the party is:
Ricki (+ Lazuli),Kamau (+Daisy),Macadamia(+Bigshroom),Coccyx(+Golly) with 3 Imbued Skulls & Golem Bomb [This composition has more DPS & DEF]
OR
Ricki(+Lazuli),Lara(+Bigshroom),Lohk(+another Bigshroom or Daisy),Botanya(+Golly) with the skulls & bomb [This composition has more healing & maneuverability]
OR
Ricki(+Lazuli),Lara(+Daisy),Coccyx(+Golly),Lohk(+Bigshroom) [a mix of the 2]
~~~~And that’s it.I copy-pasted everything!~~~
Team:
Ricki
Lohk
Kamau
Cordy, one last time and then never again
Kamau and Lohk are good characters that need some Bonding time with Ricki. Kamau the mass murderer Kamau is self explanatory and Lohk has elemental magic to counter at least some of our enemies.
I feel like there is no reall discussion here.
Cordy vs Lara long term.
Both will be a “waste” of Bond. Cordy gives us permanent Gold generation and level-up while Lara just level up. I don’t really value level ups on either of them very highly.
We got all the good ones on Lara already and making her stronger for future runs feels ill advised, considering we won’t be taking her. What upgrade would we even take on her anyway? Antivenom I?
Cordy, his children labour for us on per dungeon basis, the sooner we get them the more work they will do. There needs to be some game left for them to be “worth it” and we are nearing a treshold where getting more mushies will simply not pay enough. It’s Cordy time, one last time. For Capitalism!
I agree with the Lara part.The only Ability that looks good to me is the upgrade to Venomous Sting.
Cordy is more useful for his area-od-effect,& the poisonDEFbypass.Getting loot from plundering & “reapropriating” is a bit more reliable than the 7 extra labour from the minishrooms.
Capitalism,HO!
I think we should take Cordy at the same time as Amy or anyone else with MAX Bond.
I support Cordy here.
As I mentioned in my post, I’m worried Cordy might slow us down since he wont be able to contribute to a fight until he’s all shroomed up. That said, he is better than Botanya in this instance since she cant contribute reliable damage at all.
I wanted lohk last time but no need for heals now and her damage is so weak
Party composition aside,I hope Cordy is sensible enough to not recreate the Yellowstone elk problem but with fungus,I hope someone made sure to buy a ladder so noone gets stuck on the roof,AND I hope Coccyx made sure to set “-FriendlyFire:OFF” before trying to kill whatever it is he’s trying to kill…
>>>>[NORMALLY Spider Minstrel does this for those with poor vision/colirblindness + those who don’t just click-&-drag the way I do)…buuuut I think they slept in.
Respectfully,I’ll take over for today.
■After a few days of rest (much-needed for those that survived the poisoned well), Paws returns to the manor with his pack full of goods.
PAWS: “Nice to see you, Kamau, Lohk.”
“I’m surprised Ricki isn’t here to greet me, though. She usually does.”
KAMAU: “She’s been busy lately. I’ll send a mushroom to go get her.”
PAWS: “Sure are a lot of those little guys these days.”
LOHK: “You have no idea.”
“These are just the big ones. More little ones keep sprouting under the couch cushions almost as fast as I can eat ‘em.”
PAWS: “Well, anyway, there’s not too much for us to discuss this time.”
“You’ve already visited all the dungeons around here that I’m aware of.”
KAMAU: “Amadeusz still wants us to go to this research place. Ricki seemed to be on board, last I heard.”
PAWS: “Hm.”
“Well, I imagine she’s gonna do what she’s gonna do. But you should all be careful.”
“That place is actually pretty close to the guard outpost you visited before, and the whole area is being heavily patrolled.”
“You’ll be lucky to even get there undetected, and once you’re in, I’ve heard it’s wall to wall with elemental creatures.”
LOHK: “You have anything that can help us with that?”
PAWS: “A few things.”
“Which of you are going, anyway?”
■You can now choose which three characters will join Ricki at the Research Facility (it’s the only dungeon available).
I think an interesting party composition might be Ricki, Kamau, Lohk, and Botanya. Lots of defense and healing, which feels like it’s going to be necessary for this dungeon. Lohk is also our best source of elemental damage, since she has both fire and frost attacks.
It also gets Botanya to her threshold, letting us build her room and get her bonus effect. Her fire weakness is also easily counteracted by giving her the Magma Shield; we can also give Botanya the Wand of Mend since she can’t make attacks on her own, freeing up a slot on Lohk (who already has an innate healing spell, and has precious few slots for carrying the wands/staves/robes we’ll want to equip her with). Botanya’s inventory slots are middling, but I think Ricki and Kamau will more than make up for that.
We’re also supposed to encounter a recruitable character in this dungeon; the extra healing would be nice since we can’t control their actions before they’re recruited. We might be able to foist extra gear upon them too, depending on their circumstances, which would help mitigate Lohk’s below-average inventory slots.
I’d also suggest leaving our own enchanted/special gear at home for this dungeon so we can either enchant the stuff we bring in with us, or abandon the gear in favor of what we find. Maybe keep the Swiftblade since it’s our only source of Lightning damage, though. But I don’t think we’re anticipating a lot of super heavy items in this dungeon- scrolls, wands, robes, and staves don’t take up that much space and are probably going to be mostly what we find for loot.
As for the other characters:
Amadeusz: We can’t really afford to waste many more Bond points, so he’s automatically not a great choice. But if people insist on either Lara and/or Cordy again, he might be worth taking too since we’d be losing out only one Bond point at most in that scenario.
Cordy: We already make 20~ gold per dungeon off of Labor, so generating more mushrooms shouldn’t be a huge priority. Focusing overly much on economy at the expense of Bond points also seems like a bad idea, since Bond dungeons should earn us more value in the long run with character enhancements and any extra loot we manage to nab. As I’ve explained with Lara down below, I don’t think poison damage is going to be all that useful in this dungeon, too.
Mac: Few inventory slots, and without gold rings we can’t really upgrade any of our current rings all that much. He’s mostly tempting because, like Kamau, he’s close to his bond threshold- but the extra security for this dungeon makes his squishiness a liability.
Coccyx: Sadly, he seems to be permanently benched until the stars align and we get a dungeon with lots of sniper points, mindless undead, poison, and/or water. Or until Halloween rolls around again. Them’s the breaks for our ranged specialist.
Lara: Lara’s pretty tempting for this dungeon due to just how damn versatile she is with her wall-climbing and having just unlocked her Corruption abilities again- not to mention her above-average inventory slots- but I don’t think she’s 100% necessary. I’m not super convinced that poison damage will be in high-demand for this dungeon, given that we’re already coming off of the heels of a big poison themed dungeon, for one thing. I think it’s more likely we’ll be dealing with the classic elemental trifecta of ice/fire/lightning. For another thing- we’ve already gotten her most important level up post-Drider transformation, so we’d be wasting a Bond point to no real benefit in terms of character development.
Other thoughts:
>We NEED to get the Foyer and Living Room upgrades. Not only will it please Amadeusz, it’ll finally let us see most/all of our potential upgrades. We should sell off whatever we have lying around to afford these two upgrades, if nothing else, in addition to whatever we decide to buy to prepare for this dungeon (and grab any other Manor upgrades). Anything we aren’t taking into a dungeon or planning to use in the future does us no good lying around.
>If we take the Upgrade Press with us, we can combine our two Harpoons into a single, superior weapon. We can do the same with our two sets of chain mail, but I feel like the Harpoon is a better choice since the base version gives both ATK and DEF in addition to being able to be thrown, used underwater without penalties, AND counting as both a weapon and a ranged weapon. Slap an enchantment scroll (which we’re likely to find in this dungeon) on that bad boy and I think we’ll have something great.
>The Upgrade Press is heavy, but it was so expensive that I feel like it’ll be worth it to try and combine items whenever possible. We’ll probably end up selling it before the final dungeon anyways, but any extra upgrades are always welcome along the way.
>I’m also very curious about whether or not we can combine multiple times; like combining two Greatswords to make a Greatsword 2.0, then combining two Greatsword 2.0s to make a Greatsword 3.0, etc. My guess is that we probably can’t, but we won’t know until we try and combine something.
>Buying an Arrowcatcher for Kamau might be an interesting idea if we have enough gold; there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll encounter ranged elemental attacks, and the Arrowcatcher should offer +5 def against those- making it the best shield for any ranged elemental attack (aside from fire, in which case the Magma Shield is superior).
You must’ve posted your comment just a second after mine,Kat.Because WOW I already made the same arguments!What a coincidence!
-Tanya CAN resist the bonus DMG with the right equipment.
-Lohk + Tanya provide the best healing,& Lohk can eat Wands for extra Abilities.
-Lara IS at max bond,but we mostly use her as a tank & pack mule when Kamau isn’t enough.
-Cordy,to me,is more useful when fulfilling his niche.The +labour is cool,but I want to get 300 coincs from all the magical loot we sell,like after the Guard Outpost.
-The 3 party compositions I suggested are also based on the argument you wrote.
Note that Macadamia’s ability to run away came in clutch last time, as it satisfied the dungeon goal of exiting the dungeon with loot. These dungeons were introduced as a pair with the goal of gathering loot so I think it’s reasonable to expect a similar win condition.
Agreed that we don’t have meaningful growth left in smiffing with our chosen level ups and equipment, it’s a shame gold rings weren’t stocked after finding one. Probably waiting for Act 3. We also aren’t expecting the same density of guard equipment as last time, though there’ll probably be a few guards around to supervise and guard.
That’s a good point; I’m still concerned that Macademia won’t be bringing much to the table aside from that, but being able to complete the dungeon at-will is a big enough draw that taking him along might be a good idea. Plus, it gets him another Bond point, like Kamau.
I THINK we can also grab 3x Silver Rings and have him Smiff them for a small profit; Silver Rings cost 10 Gold and Silver Rings of Protection/Aggression sell for 12.5 Gold. We’ll probably encounter guards in the dungeon, so that’ll let us ‘loot’ their equipment.
It’s not much, but it’s honest work
We have one gold ring which we found in the last guard dungeon, and some Imperial chain or plate will probably try to kill us. Mac isn’t in best possible condition but he’s far from useless.
My concern with Botania is that we are leaving damage to Kamau and ricki and occasionally Lhok (with limited uses). If Kamau is tanking, then it is just Ricki and Lhok. If Kamau is also attacking then we are risking Remorse.
To be fair, Botanya does have her Flytrap pets that let her ‘attack’ through them (not to mention our other pets, which can attack freely with Kamau interposing; we’ll probably take Lupus and/or Daisy, or possibly a Large Mushroom, in addition to our mule).
And Lhok has quite a few charges of magic at her disposal. She can use three Channel abilities, her cane lets her use a wand/staff without actually using up one of their charges twice (or she can use it for an extra Channel), and that’s not even counting her actually using the wands/staves she’s carrying or finds in the dungeon. Or just attacking normally, which she CAN do, especially if Kamau is interposing.
Taking Botanya also frees Lhok up to actually use her attack spells; without her, we’ll probably want to keep some of Lhok’s healing in our back pocket just in case, whereas Botanya is free to heal so long as she has a Flytrap out.
Taking Macadamia is a strong consideration though, like King Marth pointed out, so I wouldn’t be too put out if we brought him instead of Botanya or Lohk. I just think that taking Botanya has a lot of potential benefits in this scenario, both from a dungeoneering standpoint and from a character development one.
Ricki kamau coccyx lokh
Lokh can heal and range hit, and learn whatever useful spells we’ll find from wands and scrolls and whatnot immediately
If we take Kamau, coccyx can use that beautiful bow we found. These two can be their own squad if need be,
Ricki is free to move around as she pleases, kamau only needs to interpose to protect Ricki for whatever reason, otherwise kamau can pretty much always be the only one in the middle of all the action swinging/cleaving while the others attack safely from afar, a little death squad.
Everyone gets bond
Also coccyx will get spooky scary since we’re probably gonna be in the next dungeon through October (+2 att and def!! OP!)
> we’re probably gonna be in the next dungeon through October
That doesn’t seem likely at all. The Guard Outpost took us about six weeks to play (late January–early March). So we’ll probably finish the Research Facility sometime in late August. But hopefully we can take Coccyx to the dungeon after it!
I agree that this is the best party setup for the next dungeon. Cyx provides ranged damage, has no bond points, we do not know any of their level ups, and we will probably lose the halloween bonus again (last year October was intermission for the full month).
Considering how long we take to do stuff inside the dungeons, this is probably our last chance to use Scary-Cyx.
While everyone is busy picking the characters for the suicide mission, we bring you another transcript of the coloured text.
After a few days of rest (much-needed for those that survived the poisoned well), Paws returns to the manor with his pack full of goods.
PAWS (pointedly ignoring Botanya): “Nice to see you, Kamau, Lohk.”
“I’m surprised Ricki isn’t here to greet me, though. She usually does.”
KAMAU: “She’s been busy lately. I’ll send a mushroom to go get her.”
PAWS: “Sure are a lot of those little guys these days.”
LOHK: “You have no idea.”
“These are just the big ones. More little ones keep sprouting under the couch cushions almost as fast as I can eat ‘em.”
PAWS: “Well, anyway, there’s not too much for us to discuss this time.”
“You’ve already visited all the dungeons around here that I’m aware of.”
KAMAU: “Amadeusz still wants us to go to this research place. Ricki seemed to be on board, last I heard.”
PAWS (channelling his inner Amadeusz): “Hm.”
“Well, I imagine she’s gonna do what she’s gonna do. But you should all be careful.”
“That place is actually pretty close to the guard outpost you visited before, and the whole area is being heavily patrolled.”
“You’ll be lucky to even get there undetected, and once you’re in, I’ve heard it’s wall to wall with elemental creatures.”
LOHK: “You have anything that can help us with that?”
PAWS: “A few things.”
“Which of you are going, anyway?”
You can now choose which three characters will join Ricki at the Research Facility (it’s the only dungeon available).
Uh,sorry if this offends you,but I’ve already copypasted the text since you weren’t here.I assumed you were asleep or at some job.
Much appreciated!
=)
I think that we are looking into bond more that we look at strength of out characters and it will hurt us in the long run, so this is my vote:
Lara: She is our highest lvl character, lets keep building her up, frenzy can be good in lots of situations
Amad: we started to build his bond, why stop now? lets get him as strong as possible fast as possible. Also he is the most interesting character if you ask me.
Mac: he is not very strong, but that’s why we have Lara and Amad. In the long run his crafts are super useful, and he can learn very cool abilitie (dig) that reshape the map, also thanks to his size he can help Ricki in small holes rooms. This guy need more focus. I don’t care that he wont get bond points, i want to build him anyway, with enough level ups he will be very strong and interesting character.
If we want to bond Ama, we have to give up on bonding all other characters. It’ll take 5 dungeons to bond him, during which we can’t bond anyone else.
That’s why we should start ASAP. If we will do it only once in a while we will end up with 1 bonding point missing on him at the end of the game and all of that will be for nothing.
In games where you need to toggle between party members (X-com is great example) the best strategy is to fill all the spots with the same characters again and again, and only after you have an OP team you take one member out and add low lvl one for story/exploring reasons, we are already invested in him, no reason to bail out now.
It’s better to take Amadeuz to see, and get, super powerfull skills we unlock for succesfully maxing characters Bonds.
We will 100% want to at least see them, so at that point at least one of our characters will be wasting Bond, Amadeuz hurts far less when we are trading 2 Bond for 1 (Maxed Character – No Bond, 2 non maxed) for 1 on Amadeuz than with your plan trading 3 bond for 1.
Lohk, Kamau, Mac and Botanya match perfectly to his 4 Bonds before finall treshold. We can even take other maxed characters at that point if we feel like it.
The issue with X-Com strat is that we are worried if there will even be enough Dungeons left for us to Bond everyone. Even without Amadeuz Sketchy.
We will never complete their stories if we “only” do single bond per dungeon.
This plan pretty much makes sure we will never see Lohk, Botanya and Coccyx storyline.
It makes much more sense to max out whatever bond we can first since using ama in a party with max bonds characters basically negates sketchy. Ending up in a situation where we have multiple characters missing a few bond points is worse. Plus we have not committed that much to wolf vs other characters so far.
The sooner we have max bond characters, the safer future dungeons should be.
I’ve decided to agree with Krakabooom (who makes a good argument) and go for bonding Amadeusz ASAP, but with slightly different reasoning. I’m getting so @#%! tired of the arguments about which characters to try to build bond with or whether or not to bring Cordy because of “passing up on the chance for bond” that I’ve decided to support the idea of getting max bond with Amadeusz just because that means we won’t have to continually argue before every dungeon we go to in the future about which characters need more bond this time! If we’re always bringing the Sketchy guy then Bond doesn’t matter and we don’t need to continually worry about and argue over it. In this point of view Sketchy become an advantage that eliminates arguments about which of the other character to bring based who wants to bond which character first. If everyone dies at the end because we didn’t bond more characters then so be it!
I’m not against bringing Mac but I don’t like bringing him and Amad to the same dungeon. Remember Intermission 10? I feel like building up Mac’s bond is the only thing that *might* keep him from selling us out to the emperor in the final act.
I would also rather leave Amad out of this dungeon precisely *because* it was his idea. He’s likely to have a dubious side mission in mind, just like he did at the Guard Outpost. Of course he might assign that mission to us anyway even if we leave him at home, but there’s only one way to find out.
None of Lara level-ups are worth loosing Bond on someone else.Amadeuz is good, and i want to max him out before game ends, but let’s for now focus on Kamau and Lohk story. They are so close and if Kamau max Bond fixes his PTSD that would be huge benefit. Far greater than Lara getting +1 attack.There are no Gold Rings in store so if we take Mac we will be turning items into Silver rings that we will then need to replace anyway. Better to wait.
Ahhh too many pros and cons to consider… its hard to vote >.<
My brain is really happy we dont have to think about loadouts at the same time ^_^’
A good sign when there is no strong for or against.
Hiya, made a mix of the plans that are currently leading from Zuvatan and Krakaboom
Choices made with the priority of saving our new and final party member’s that will be in this dungeon. I dont wanna repeat of the blacksmith dying ;_;
Ricki: duh
Amadeus: Can REVIVE others!! The recruit-able characters are pretty much suicidal(blacksmith tried to solo all the golems) and this dungeon is even more dangerous so now even if they do something stupid, we can revive them after
babyproofingclearing the area. Also have a ton of hp and easily healable with cheap meat to test dangerous new mechanicsLohk: Everyone else pretty much listed the reasons. I like being able to hit both fire and ice elemental for super effective damage on top of good healing and magic loot synergy.
Cordy: Not because of capitalism, but because we can start them with a big shroom or two so he starts powerful and become even more so. We dont need to be greedy and start them with nothing guys
I also like Kamau’s interpose, but am paranoid about the bullshit hard new magical enemies can pull. Like, one chain lightning spell or something like that while we have a squishy and Kamau peaces out and its game over.
As long as we bought Requiem of Resurrection for Amadeusz and we apparently know that there will be a new character in this dungeon and based on the last couple of dungeons with recruitable characters there seems to be a decent chance that the new character might actually die before they can join then it makes sense to bring him even if his Sketchy trait prevents accumulation of bond with others. Also, he’s the one who wanted to go on this dangerous mission in the first place. Have him start in werewolf form and be sure to buy a couple of stacks of cheap raw meat to heal him.
Yeah, it’s the last character we will get to recruit. Here is their preview https://ko-fi.com/album/Dungeon-Eyes-Prologue-10-K3K5TWBJP
I’m not against prioritizing bond after this, but I think saving our new friend should come first. It was so sad to have lost the smith ;_;
On the flip side, we apparently don’t have enough dungeons remaining to max out bond with all the characters we already have and many of them have good Ability upgrades available. Adding yet another new character isn’t going to help that situation and may just intensify the discord over which characters to bring to future dungeons. Maybe we should consider not bringing the Sketchy Amadeusz and just take our chances that the potential new recruit gets killed off like the last one apparently did. I’m making this comment so that people who like the idea of not bringing Amadeusz can give this a “thumbs up”.
No heals needed, max damagemaxing time! 1.Lara 2.Cordy 3.Wolf
Hey, that’s the same group that went to the Poisoned Well.
I’ve been watching the upvoting and downvoting for a while and it looks like Cordy has some VERY dedicated fans, or at least some person or people who are VERY intent on bringing Cordy to the Research Facility.
To all the people suggesting Ama and generally ignoring bond: Remember how much of a powerup Lara got at max bond? Easily worth 2 levels. Plus she gave a benefit to Ricki. Her levelups have always been the most lackluster – I wouldn’t be surprised if the other characters get even better boons from bonding.
That said, I suggest:
Ricki
Mac (for his ability to exit rope us)
Kamau
Lohk
I understand the attractiveness of pursuing Bond. However, I also remember when it looked like the result of the Lara bond dungeon was going to be that she would be lost forever to the party…
We really don’t know what the results of getting full bond with any given character will be, it might be awesome like Lara or it might permanently remove that character from the group (e.g. Macadamia goes home or even sells Ricki out to the Emperor). We just don’t know.
Similarly, the list of choices of Abilities that Lara could buy has been lackluster, but there might be a new option available to her the next time she completes a dungeon (like It Can’t Get Any Worse appeared after the Poisoned Well) and the new option might be awesome. We just don’t know.
One thing that I think I do know is that we won’t get any benefits for a character that permanently dies or if we need to abandon a dungeon unfinished. Since the Research Facility has been presented as very difficult, I do think we need to keep an eye towards making sure the characters we bring will be able to complete the job and that none of them will get permanently killed.
I don’t have a problem with trying a Bond-oriented lineup if that is what most people want, but we need to be acutely aware of the risk being taken to do that.
All characters might get something good next dungeon. That’s not an argument for Lara, really, just an argument for continuing to play.
It is very possible we’ll lose a character in a bond dungeon, but I’m pretty sure there will not be any railroaded losses. Like with Lara – if we hadn’t made the time limit, she would have monstered out and killed Ricki (or forced Ricki to abandon without her). But we DID make the time limit, so she monstered out, but retained sapience. I’d be willing to bet all the bond dungeons are going to be ‘make the goal for a big power up (possibly with a cost), fail the goal and lose the character.’
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mac’s loss state is him ditching, but I’d be willing to bet the bond dungeon has something in it that will shake his belief in the emperor/sway him to our cause if succeeded.
>but I’m pretty sure there will not be any railroaded losses.
Part of the issue here is that I am not sure about that! This is something that the author/DM/GM/storyteller/etc has created by not giving any Amadeusz backstory when he got his own room and by teasing Lara’s removal from play (whether that was to build drama or just to troll the readers). It seems to me that these are examples of the author advertising that unknown events are not necessarily always going to be what we expect or even good for Ricki and her group. My expectation at this point about full bond results are that perhaps 50% of them will be good or mixed blessings (like Lara’s, or perhaps getting full bond with Kamu will result in him getting rid of Remorse and/or One-Handed), perhaps 25% of them will be somewhat neutral (for instance, perhaps getting full bond with Amadeusz doesn’t get us any more of his backstory and he’s still Sketchy) and maybe 25% of them will be bad or remove that character from play (for instance, perhaps Botanya grows into a giant immobile beanstalk that gives the manor some benefit but removes her as a playable character).
To use a D&D analogy, I see getting full bond to be more of a Deck of Many Things than a guaranteed power-up. If that is what the author intended then they succeeded. If it was not intentional then that is something for the author to address.
Or it’s something for you to address in your way of interpreting things. I didn’t interpret things that way. There’s no way for an author to get 100% of readers to interpret something as intended, even if it’s spelled out in great detail. It’s harder if he’s trying to be subtle.
I think 100% of bond dungeons will be high risk/high reward, with the level of risk and reward varying a bit.
>Or it’s something for you to address in your way of interpreting things.
As far as I currently know either of us may be interpreting things incorrectly. I have explained why I am currently less interested in maximizing Bond than some others appear to be and I have provided my rationale for my current opinion. If you have a logical rationale for your interpretation other than just faith that “100% of bond dungeons will be high risk/high reward” then I will be interested to read it. Perhaps if there are posts on Discord or things that have been said in streams then that would be information that is not available to people who are participating on the website only.
>There’s no way for an author to get 100% of readers to interpret something as intended
If the author posts a comment that says, “maximizing bond will always result in a bond dungeon and 100% of bond dungeons will be high risk/high reward”, then I would accept that as an established fact and be more willing to place value on gaining bond. If the author does not post such a comment that I take that as evidence that there is intentionally ambiguity about what the results of maximizing bond will be.
Regarding your faith that :
>I think 100% of bond dungeons will be high risk/high reward, with the level of risk and reward varying a bit.
I was going back through the archive and found the following little gem back near the bottom of Intermission 11 Page 6 :
>LSN said something along the lines of ‘Not every story has a happy ending. If you want that, go read an isekai novel.’
Honestly, I want story and closure for these characters. Not pursuing bond is like refusing to continue reading a book because you’re worried a character may die.
I’d like to know all of the character’s stories. Sadly, it appears this interactive webcomic has been intentionally designed such that it is impossible to get them all.
I don’t see how the analogy of reading a book applies here. For a book the story has already been written and it won’t change based on what the readers do or do not do, whereas here the story of Ricki and Dungeon Eyes has not yet been written and can and will change based on the decisions that are made.
Are you trying to say that there are particular characters whose story you want to see fully written? If so which characters specifically? I assume it isn’t Amadeusz or Coccyx.
Note that if there are several characters whose stories you REALLY want to see fully written (max bond) then you may want to consider not getting the recruitable character in the next dungeon since learning more about that new character will just take time away from the characters you are already interested in. Taken to an extreme you may want to consider possibly even getting some of the existing characters that you don’t care about killed off so that they’re not in the way and potentially “sucking up valuable dungeon bonding time” of the characters that you do care about…
…in that vein perhaps you should be happy if other people vote to bring Amadeusz to the very dangerous Research Facility so that you can try to get him killed off there. (sigh)
I think I was happier when I just ignored the comments section and just read the comic. I’m quickly getting tired of all the arguing. Perhaps it would be better if I just ignored this webcomic for a couple of years until it is finished, then I can just read it like a book and not have to worry about its unique interactive nature.
Apologies. I know this comic can be stressful. My “not reading the book” comment didnt really contribute anything to the discussion.
We have to walk that fine line between short term goals (Finish the dungeon, not dying etc) and the long term goals (level ups, Bond). Finding that middle ground is very tricky when we’re doing this as a giant team and everyone has different ideas as to what we’re going to encounter/unlock.
I know everyone is tired of this discussion, so I’ll keep this short:
We want to strike a balance between “How easy to complete dungeon” and “party improvement (ie, Bond and Level ups)”.
My suggestion:
Kamau (we’re very used to using him and he can really dish out damage when he’s not looking after the others, also has Bond)
Lhok (elemental damage and healing will most likely be very useful here. Also has bond)
Cordy (His shrooms can really shine when Kamau is tanking, at full strength, he can have an attack of like 12-13).
I dont want to bring Amad not just because it cuts off our long term progression, but even in wolf form, he doesnt do all that much more damage than anyone else really.
Its the same as Zuv’s, I know, but I’m trying to help break the deadlock.