Stuck in SPELLSHARD? READ THIS!

KF Harlock · Post by **KF Harlock** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:20 am

Hey all. It's come to my attention that there were a few puzzles in the game that were stumping many people. Eventually, I may make a few in-game alterations to make this more clear, but for the time being, if you find yourself stuck in the game, please consult this link:

http://spellshard.crithit.org/tips.html

This is a special last-resort guide to some of the more challenging obstacles. It'll likely be distributed with future updates of the game. If any of you encounter situations that you find particularly challenging, please respond to this thread, and I'll see about adding them to the list.

Moreover, let's do this oldschool! If anyone has discovered any particularly effective tips or strategies, please share them here so that other players can check it out!

charbile · Post by **charbile** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:40 pm

- I thought the thief was pretty useful, but with his class upgrade, he easily becomes the reason I can play casually. Specifically, his Stunning Salts skill. My favorite skill.

- The katana is worth the money. The thief and sorceress can equip it, and it sometimes hits twice.

- Sometimes the fairies will respawn. So when in doubt, travel back to where you found one. It also means if you remember where one is, and can't afford to use the inn, you have this option.

- It's OK to run. It makes dungeons less tedious. It only has to be tedious when you want it to be (or when fighting a ninja clan.)

(Currently at point right after ninja clan -- I'd be a lot farther, but I want to keep my character's levels the same, so I never win a battle with one of them dead. Makes it a bit more challenging. WILL I BE THE FIRST TO FINISH?!)

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:47 pm

I still haven't reached where the old demo ended, but:

-If you have a sorceress instead of a wizard, give the silver knife to her instead of to the thief - the thief will be taking most of his turns trying to pickpocket, but the sorceress will often be attacking anyway. (Her spells do only a little bit more damage, so save them for enemies with elemental weaknesses and the bosses.)

-The cleric should be using the herbs to heal; save her first-level spell slots for disrupting the undead.

-Steal from ghosts. Everyone will benefit.

-Steal from wolves, but not rats or roaches. If they have anything(which they don't seem to) their steal-rates are too low to be worth the thief's time.

RMSephy · Post by **RMSephy** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:03 pm

Katana: Not worth the money! You basically find a better version of one VERY CLOSE BY.

Sorceress: Favorite class so far, and keeps getting better and better.

I'm finding that having all my heroes at different experience levels makes it more fun to level up. It's like having four mini-birthdays a year rather than just one big one.

If you're having a tough time with the desert chapter, don't give up and keep playing! The game gets much better from that chapter on!

charbile · Post by **charbile** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:28 pm

What better version? The bokken? Think the katana is still better!

AND THERE SHALL BE BUT ONE BIRTHDAY

- in the desert, the best formation to find is the 2 skeleton dragons: they are easy to steal from and give you rain

ncw64 · Post by **ncw64** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:12 am

So I don't know if this is where I'd ask questions like this, but any thoughts on the classes? here's mine:

Warrior < Ranger. My file has a Warrior and I do like him, but speed is definitely my biggest complaint with the game and the Ranger has more of that which just seems to almost flat out make her the winner. This choice is at least more balanced than the next though.

Wiz < Sorc. I can't see a single reason why the wizard would be better than the sorceror other than I guess different variety of spells, but it's almost no competition to me.

Bard <= Thief: The thief is awesome, hands down. But I did try the Bard once and maybe it's because FF3 for the ds (the one with Luneth) really got my faith restored in bards, but the bard seems like it could be such a cool and good choice honestly. I mean the Thief is better, but still... great balancing choice idea!

Priest ? Paladin: not much to say here honestly, I'm not far enough in the game to make an argument for either but I'd probably pick the cleric just to be safe.

novakaiser · Post by **novakaiser** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:18 am

Jeez, you can steal rainwater from the desert dragons? Spellshard EZ Mode.

I have the bard in my party. I gave her the bokken and bought katanas... for everyone. EVERYONE

Which wasn't a good idea, naturally. Not that the katanas aren't worth it -- they are. It's just that, true to Spellshard fashion, you find weapons later in each chapter, which in this case involves at least one katana for free, so there's that much I could have saved. Groan.

Fenrir-Lunaris · Post by **Fenrir-Lunaris** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:53 am

My party's the same as NCW64's group, and I can easily say this party will probably take me through the game with little to no hassles.

Since my observations on this game are limited to the first hour of so of playtime, I can safely say that Spellshard follows the "NES hard" theory of game design, and so I've decided to follow up on this by GRINDING LIKE ITS A BLOODY SaGa GAME.

Starting off, ignore the magic shop and simply outfit everybody with their best weapons from the shop, then buy the BEST armor sets you can - while making sure to leave at least 30-40 gold in your pocket in case you have to make a stop at the INN. Spend a few minutes running around the forest, picking up whatever treasures you can find, and try to get everybody to level 5 or so. The Thief is an ideal addition to the party here since she (he?) will likely be spending most of their actions pickpocketing everything in sight. Sell off everything she picks up so you can finish off your armor sets, then purchase the Disrupt spell for your Cleric (it'll come into play very soon). Finish the first dungeon, and continue on to the graveyard.

Once you're in the graveyard, ditch everyone but your cleric and one other person to act as a meatshield. You're going to be grinding here for a bit to get up the extra gold for the next chapter or so. Repeatedly walk over that one spot where the zombies show up and nail them with Disrupt until you're out of uses. It won't take long. Visit the Inn, rinse, repeat. Once you get your meatshield up to a respectable level, either swap them out for another character, or go it solo with your cleric and continue disrupting the undead to your hearts content. Finish buying off your spell lists with the excess gold you have lying around. By the time you finish, you should have about 200+ Herbs and at least 2500 Gold in your inventory.

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:25 pm

I'm pretty sure the thief has a mustache. That's generally a nod toward masculinity.

charbile · Post by **charbile** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:57 pm

You spoony bard players are SUCKERS!!

I haven't really grinded at all yet. It's enough to simply fight your way through a dungeon, (bosses give huge exp and gold.) I'd be careful on certain ones, however. Because it's very painful to run into an instant kill or boss by surprise and lose all that progress, ie:
Namely the pyramid dungeon
That and later enemies give more EXP, so if you need to grind, it's always best to do it later, if that makes any sense. Just how I play, I suppose.

Also, concerning the boss who summons:
When he becomes untarget-able, and summons a weak bat or something, spam your supply of suger/jerky on the ranger/warrior. Makes things pretty easy from there on out.

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:31 pm

I feel like a failure cause I can't beat the freaking pirate boss.

I'm using a WAR/WIZ/THF/PAL, all about level 10. Things tend to go downhill when he kills the WIZ (especially when he gets lucky and one-shots him from full health right toward the beginning of the fight).

Shizuma · Post by **Shizuma** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:36 pm

Meatball; You have more than enough levels for the guy, here's how you beat him since you have a Wizard:

cast SLEEP on the Pirate King, Kill all his pirates with Fighter Whirlwind, Cast SLEEP on Pirate King after he wakes up

Fenrir-Lunaris · Post by **Fenrir-Lunaris** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 10:41 am

It's been a week now. Still stuck in the desert. STILL. Having access to some sort of minimap would definitely help out. The best that I can figure out is that it's at least 300 x 100 tiles, with very few landmarks scattered around it.

If you go directly west of your starting position you'll find a lone skull formation out in the desert... and due to my getting lost there's also a tent and a 4-bone formation as well. There's no hints as to what to do or where to explore... but equip turbans on everyone.

Shizuma · Post by **Shizuma** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 11:01 am

The desert is simple. You can use basical spacial logic to beat it. If not, here's a hint:

Following the arrow pointing west points you directly to where you have to go

Fenrir-Lunaris · Post by **Fenrir-Lunaris** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:44 pm

Finally finished the infinite desert. From the start go immediately northeast until you run into a hut. The boss at the end can be run from - which I'm guessing is a programming oversight. I'm counting it as a legitimate way to defeat the boss because story-wise that's how the previous group of adventurers who encountered him survived. Maybe it ISN'T an oversight...

...But good lord the Pyramid is BRUTAL.

Anything with spikes instantly kills you if you get remotely near it. While this is more of an engine bug due to the wonky "on touch" NPC activation, those spike traps just move way too fast for most people.

The block pushing puzzle is clever however, is one of the few instances where the game actually gives you a hint on the correct way to do it.

At least the room of pentagrams doesn't instantly kill you...

Next floor, first lever *DEAD*