- Location
- Pindorama
I'm already voting for Blade; You don't need to convince me it's good. I just think Vertex has much more synergy with Blade in terms of Progress due to being pick-compatible. It kind of simplifies things.
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
A sensory-type ability would be rather good considering that for all our might, we are kind of fragile. Our best strategies rely on killing the hell out of enemies before they kill us, alpha-striking people is our bread and butter now. To properly leverage that, we need to avoid ambushes and ensure that we are always striking first.
...I kind of hope we still can pick up the Oracle. Maybe in the encampment by the temple?
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Don't let it set in, Hunger!
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- Location
- Omniverse #1345
Given her ability I suspect if she's still alive when we get back we'll run into her.
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@Orm Embar, I think you missed out on Negaverse: Erii Quest (839 words, Genesys)
Rihaku
The Internet
Mm, Hunger does have the constitution of two hundred+ men and Ring buffs / blood regeneration / sub-millisecond reflexes on top of that! And the Evening Sky still prevents part of the damage from attacks.
Well, "kind of", compared to the absolutely ridiculous damage output he already capable off, and even moreso when he'll get to Cut Through.
One day, we'll... still need more Arete.
My reference game is weak; I have no idea how arturian mythos actually apply to this update. Well, there is Gisena, there is Hunger which his King Arthur undertones, but Excalibur seems to be somewhat absent.
Behold, the fish that almost ended us in a spiral of bad status conditions. Well, we got a bunch of really sweet memes and art out of it, so I can't really say it ended all that badly.
These probably were prime-grade crafting materials. We sold them to feed our daughteru. Hunger is such a softie.
Notably, he actually allowed her to approach. I am happy we actually steered Hunger in direction of extending trust to some people and did some effort to shore up his mental health, instead of making him a total PTSD wreck with trust issues. That would've been a valid path to take, but also painful to read.
Early Hunger being reticent about relationships never stops reminding me of possibility that we could have just shut down and largely avoided any not utility-monster-like interactions with other people. Never stop feeling good about avoiding that route.
Remind me of that time when our Childhood Friend in EFB almost got literal magical Green Eyes of Jealousy when we decided to marry not-her. It was a potential discussion bonus. It also was hilarious, although a little sad.
Imagine not getting to do that before the whole Ber mess happened. Imagine double decimating everyone, including this Besieged City. It is a good thing we did this. Guilt is bad both from story perspective, and from a gameplay perspective as we get actually considerable debuffs from it.
Ha. Honestly, that was kind of weak, but her typical eye color does not have major negative associations as green does. Hunger had very little material to work with, here.
Despite being rude, Hunger nonetheless actually continues to interact with people here. If Hunger really wanted to shut up, he'd just stonewalled any attempts to talk with him, all dark impenetrable vanguard of mystery-like. He has the sort of grim face for that sort of thing. Letrizia probably would've given him sort of a silly nickname, too, very different from the undead juggernaut chimera.
A daily reminder that we passed on Food Porn quest in favor of immediate survival. Tyrannical forces of pragmatism robbed us of feeding our friends with good food every day and making them stronger through it.
Firm remainder that we were forced to pass the skill that would've allowed us to grow magical food of this quality on our own.
Yes, again. It is not wrong to be mildly salty, sometimes, even if I didn't actually vote for it. Well, if we get Pillars of the World we'll be able to grind for it, so no biggie.
Just need more arete.
Daily reminder... Just a reminder that Hunger is actually a noble, City Lord. He'd probably've spent the remainder of his life in peace and relative prosperity if he didn't try to ambitiously, but perhaps a little foolishly, go into politics without possessing ultimate personal strength or steadfast allies.
Ring of cooking, huh. Well, it does introduce an inexhaustible lust for life and experiences, so that translates into not half-assing your meals, which is a major reason why a lot of people eat not-go-good food even when they have access to quality ingredients.
Somewhat related, one day we might actually get some progression picks that give us not the mystery lore of the forebear, maiden or Ring Masters, but simple days of Hunger scrambling away from forces of the Tyrant together with his friends. That would be the day...
I doubt we'll ever regain Hunger's name in this quest, but a man can dream.
Teaching daughteru manners. Precious. Though, with her affinity with Gorge, probably a wasted effort; battlefield does encounter adversarial type of meals and hasty eating; manners are hardly needed when you are hurrying up to finish the last of your latest opponent before next wave of enemies comes.
Seriously, for a tsundere from the nobility, she can be quite undignified. I wonder if she is going to show the same sort of excited reaction about learning magical systems. Surge would be probably more exciting to her, while at that...
Notably, not resting would've reduced Hunger's combat capabilities in a time of need, so Gisena was actually the pragmatic one here. Hunger's desperate need to keep doing stuff does not come from the place of rationality. Meanwhile, Gisena despite losing everything is in a somewhat better mental place.
Notably, this is a retained, shaped memory. In a drained husk of a man where everything else is faded and blurred, this once is clear and shining. Therefore, it defines Hunger even more than a normal man.
And from a certain perspective, dying here would be squandering it too, so we need to
generate more arete
Seriously though. Dying would be such a messy way of breaking our promise to the Accursed to repay him eventually. We better not. We also got a bunch of people to resurrect, places to be, daughters to feed...
You are a noble too, Lord Hunger! Your wife was a princess! You are a city lord! You have a doom of the Tyrant! Your task is to conquer a massive interstellar civilization! Can't run away from that! Better just acknowledge it, run with it, and turn it into your strength, making it a sort of a pseudo-tyrant mitigation! A curse is not a curse at all if it never kicks in.
Honestly, with progression, this is also kind of viable. We proceeded to overcome these sorts of circumstances barely a few days later, after all, and Hunger is never going to stop healing and growing stronger after this. Just pressing the "MAXIMUM EFFORT" button always could work if you are strong enough not to break from that.
"Looks at how exhausted the thread looks after omake storm"
But perhaps we should not be attempting that.
Well, considering the eventual strength of surviving progression-based cursebearers, he might as well have done it for free to be entirely honest. It is a steal sort of deal. Well, he chooses his heroes well, so it is not like people he makes deals with are not going to go on to make the universe at least somewhat better even without his direct guidance.
Amongst all our potential companions, Gisena is unarguably best in terms of mitigation offered. It is a good thing we picked her, otherwise, we'd be stuck with that half-a-step from Magic-defeating stance, lol. That would've been painful, especially with Apocryphal Curse.
Those times when Hunger still did not completely trust Gisena, but started to open up a little.
Imagine if we decided that we do not trust Gisena at the start. Imagine ditching Letrizia at the start. Imagine having adversarial relationship with this people.
That's right, those were options at the start of the game. Playing Hunger with much more pronounced PTSD and incapable of trusting anyone was an option. This would've been a very different quest. We could have grabbed nulity resistance early, ditched Letrizia, done so many unfluffy unpleasant things...
There haven't been much of shoe-tossing action in this quest to be honest. There was a lot of shoe-trickery tho. Gotta like slow development of in-group secret language and jargon that was actually meaningfully employed later on. Literally killed a man with it.
Decimator's mitigation we have is still incredibly insufficient, to be honest. But we do have ways to ensure it'll always stay sated with Pillars of The World... Which is an undiscounted 25 points worth EFB of the evening cloak?
Man, we need more arete.
One of the... Three, I think? moments in this quest Hunger actually got somewhat resembling a social victory in this quest.
This is a woman not entirely unfamiliar with that sort of sacrifices. Nevermind her own attempt to blow up in Jotarun's face - biological orc killbot that was The Hero that protag of previous transaction was sent to slay - there is at least one sorceres that can ressurect other people by sacrificing her essence and life energy permanently.
The sort of powers that do that sort of damage in exchange for some dramatic benefit are not unfamiliar to her.
Reminds me of our own special eyes in EFB. Those discounted a start-of-the-game potential type item, a ring of power somewhat. Rather regrettably, they apparently did nothing aside from that. Still! They kind of enabled our path to victory that in perspective been rather like threading the needle, so they were not a waste. They also unlocked a path to Zang Kong's presence in that quest, and that was fairly entertaining.
Seram: You don't say.
There was a reason why a bunch of posters had issues with Gisena, is what I am saying. Well, at least it was actually intentional back then. Pity the enemies she used it against these time were probably unaffected.
Literally sleeping in the fluffy sky-fresh texture that never gets dirty and always smells fresh. Living the live, here. Armor might have had the cool appeal and a helmet, but evening sky is comfy. Such a pity we neglected upgrading it...
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DarkSideBard
Flying, without moving on
[X] Relaxing at the Hot Springs
[X] Studying the Blade
[X] Vertex
Bloodwraith kinda kicks ass, but it's not like Verschlengorge's blood is going anywhere. These other two are both somewhat location-sensitive.
And if we're taking an EFB, then I want to avoid spending Arete until we take it. The last two days have been such a flurry of activity that I can hardly believe it.
I like Vertex as a concept more than the other one. Though isn't it an issue if it's powered by user lifespan? She'd be double dipping on that resource for her big specialties, without a way of redressing the lack of lifespan recovery.
(God, a sad situation for Ring voters, but at least it's somewhat Praxis at last? Holy shit, imagine having both of them. Though if we build up to another EFB it should probably be Pillars, due to the versatility of utility effects which we really, really need that it offers. Maybe even if we get offered a synergistic EFB option that would solidify our build. It'd be sad for Zia to have gotten so much wordcount, if she's gonna just keel over soon from Decimation.)
[X] Studying the Blade
[X] Vertex
Bloodwraith kinda kicks ass, but it's not like Verschlengorge's blood is going anywhere. These other two are both somewhat location-sensitive.
And if we're taking an EFB, then I want to avoid spending Arete until we take it. The last two days have been such a flurry of activity that I can hardly believe it.
I like Vertex as a concept more than the other one. Though isn't it an issue if it's powered by user lifespan? She'd be double dipping on that resource for her big specialties, without a way of redressing the lack of lifespan recovery.
(God, a sad situation for Ring voters, but at least it's somewhat Praxis at last? Holy shit, imagine having both of them. Though if we build up to another EFB it should probably be Pillars, due to the versatility of utility effects which we really, really need that it offers. Maybe even if we get offered a synergistic EFB option that would solidify our build. It'd be sad for Zia to have gotten so much wordcount, if she's gonna just keel over soon from Decimation.)
Rihaku
The Internet
Btw, for long-term planning, I do want to mention there is a Special Advancement you can get if you have exactly one EFB-equivalent for each for the Forebear's Blade, Ring of Power and Evening Sky!
Great effortpost! I would say that Willforce is probably too shifted towards the "power" side of power/potential, whereas Bloodflame is somewhat too weak overall for a 7 Arete. There's probably an Imaginary Element that does interface with Pressure like Willforce can, but it would yield more benefits over time rather than being a straight Rank boost.
On the other hand, given that you're in this for useful utility effects that Accretion Rank can't cover, going for a Pressure-based element may be somewhat counterproductive! Better to get something with a broader remit for long term potential, or a specialized, focused one for immediate power!
By the way, in the long term it may be interesting to consider what you could do with the Ring of Blood alongside a society of Vertex crafters or especially Surgers! The potential is immense... though you'll have to figure out a way around the Voyaging Realm's protections if you wanted to actually use such an army against the Human Sphere!
Great effortpost! I would say that Willforce is probably too shifted towards the "power" side of power/potential, whereas Bloodflame is somewhat too weak overall for a 7 Arete. There's probably an Imaginary Element that does interface with Pressure like Willforce can, but it would yield more benefits over time rather than being a straight Rank boost.
On the other hand, given that you're in this for useful utility effects that Accretion Rank can't cover, going for a Pressure-based element may be somewhat counterproductive! Better to get something with a broader remit for long term potential, or a specialized, focused one for immediate power!
By the way, in the long term it may be interesting to consider what you could do with the Ring of Blood alongside a society of Vertex crafters or especially Surgers! The potential is immense... though you'll have to figure out a way around the Voyaging Realm's protections if you wanted to actually use such an army against the Human Sphere!
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
!!!
Sorry Once and Future but Pillars of Creation is my new baby. Might we enhance it even further by picking up three Defining Advancements that follow suit? Just need Stranglethorn and something for the Evening Sky? Can we go Even Further Beyond our Even Further Beyond?
Get Cut Through -> Get the Ring -> S A V E for the Pillars -> Win.
It's not even that far!
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Talace
It must be raining somewhere else!
So this is the true [Balancebro] Advancement..! How Philosopher King of us, huh.
Urgh... Fair. I think I overcalibrated for the value of AoE effects for Bloodflame, and upon reflection I see a few ways to tilt Willforce back towards a more potential-oriented slant without sacrificing the flavor of [Returning to Yourself].
Interesting, maybe something like changing the versatility and pliability of Rank? Or perhaps havng more widescale uses for it?
It's probably true that widening our toolbox is the correct play. Probably getting something out of left-field would be most effective in the long term, to cover our bases-- but the aesthetic is just too good!
Rihaku
The Internet
Current vote count?
It's pretty hard. For most people, impossible.
All the stars in the sky are your enemies!
It's pretty hard. For most people, impossible.
All the stars in the sky are your enemies!
[X] Studying the Blade
85% chance of free picks + reducing Tyrant's proc? I don't see any issue with this!
[X] Pursuing Technological Solutions
Didn't we want to make our allies more powerful and less dependant on us to survive? This is a great opportunity, especially since there's no Rank scaling.
[X] Surgecraft
In the long term this feels like the better option - while the power of a Surge might be based on Arete at the start, it doesn't seem to require exceptional expenditure later on. On the other hand Vertex is going to require a lot of Arete to unlock the shiniest option, which is another shiny distraction we don't want to sink Arete on.
85% chance of free picks + reducing Tyrant's proc? I don't see any issue with this!
[X] Pursuing Technological Solutions
Didn't we want to make our allies more powerful and less dependant on us to survive? This is a great opportunity, especially since there's no Rank scaling.
[X] Surgecraft
In the long term this feels like the better option - while the power of a Surge might be based on Arete at the start, it doesn't seem to require exceptional expenditure later on. On the other hand Vertex is going to require a lot of Arete to unlock the shiniest option, which is another shiny distraction we don't want to sink Arete on.
Mhm, Cut Through into Ring into Pillars sounds like combo we will go for. A bit greedy, as most are potential based, but they multiply power of each other(Cut offers power system, Ring amplifies it and Pillars allows us to farm it) so we could get a lot of long term value.
RIP Once and Future I guess.
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
Does this mean my
Should we ever manage to destroy the Moon Temple Civ, we'll be left with a lot of refugees on our hands. Lots of refugees with access to soul evocation. Lots of refugees we'll probably refuse to just abandon, and that are likely to later find themself in this city we chose to defend.
Which of the two magical systems available here would synergise better with soul evocation?
Which of the two magical systems available here would synergise better with soul evocation?
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
If the lifeforce of others can be used as fuel for Vertex the obvious solution seems to be to simply use the Astral beasts that constantly attack Versch as the fuel for Letrizia to make stronger things.
Indeed. It's two mixed and one Utility. But the utility lets us abuse the mixed, and based on arete generation and reasonable assumptions about how long things are going to take we won't be getting Pillar until done with the Temple anyway, at which point we can afford to be a bit greedier, as if we are still alive at that point Apocryphal is still busy looking around wondering where the hell we are we jumped the curve by so much. Won't last but...
Tragically Gisena's surge is Nullity. Because of course it is.
Is... Special advancement more special than defining advancement?!
I'd prefer the True Quintessence EFB for Evening Sky, over Pillars of Creation. I think those are the only two EFBs we've seen for that artifact.