Leaving some enemies back in Darion

[trentjaspar]

Hello, all. Not sure how active these forums are, but I'm new to the game and thought I'd give it a shot.

This is my first game (Normal Paladin) and I've cleared out most of Darion. I killed the Turtle boss long ago but haven't gone to Freedom Islands yet (other than a quick scouting run). I've cleared out all of Darion except for King's Tournament, Cursed Child, Rezo's Tower, the horseman circus tent guards, and maybe 15-20 enemy stacks in Arlania, including Drammina (sp? the Dwarf Hero). Normally I like to clear out an area before moving on, but I'm wondering if I should "save" the rest of Arlania for when I come back to enter the Creiston Mines.

Drammina is "match" and everything else except Rezo's Staff is "weak" or "very weak." Oh and the horseman guards are...very strong? I'm not sure.

I have one of those "runes after 50 fights" items, so I thought maybe I should pretty much clear things out to get it as far along as possible. As far as rage-building enemies, the mage's tower provides its own and there's nothing near Cursed Child. The Tournament has the horseman guards and a couple of enemies just inside Arlania.

Off-hand, I thought I'd keep clearing things out and leave for the Isles just before 7 AM. The other thought I had, though, was to save a few mobs for sacrifice/resurrect to increase my stack of Royal Thorns or some other army type I'll find in the Freedom Isles.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[Sir Whiskers]

Any thoughts?

It really depends on what you're going for. Some players on these boards are focused on getting the highest score possible, so they attempt to complete everything with a minimum of travel and retracing of their steps. For myself, I prefer a more casual game and approach clearing areas the way you're doing.

As you've pointed out, one advantage of keeping a few easier fights available is that they provide excellent opportunities to refill your rage before going into a much tougher fight. And rest assured, there are tougher fights, especially Rezo's tower, the guards at the circus tent, some of the fights in the mines.

Also, later in the game you'll have reasons to come back to Darion, so it's not like you won't have later opportunities to clear out everything - perhaps after you've found additional items that give a bonus after 50 fights.

[trentjaspar]

Thanks for the reply, Sir Whiskers. I'm certainly not going for a high score (given that I'm playing on Normal), but that said, I am trying to economize time and troop losses. Not a "no losses" campaign, but other than one or two fights (plus the tutorial) where I lost 1-3 allies, I've gone no losses. I don't know how much longer that will reasonably continue.

It's a good point about finding another "after XX fights" item. Another consideration, if I understand correctly from these forums, is that you get more XP for your Spirits of Rage if you fight tougher opponents. On the other hand, maybe I'll be wanting to level a different Spirit by that time.

I'd like to see if I can get Drammina no losses, and maybe pick up leadership flags to give myself the best possible chance in the Freedom Isles, but sounds like I should leave some enemies in Arlania for later.

Thanks again.

[Elwin]

Rezo's tower you should do later. ITs difficulty is beyond this area

[trentjaspar]

Rezo's tower you should do later. ITs difficulty is beyond this area
Yes that and Cursed Child seemed way out of scope. I scouted out the top of the Tower just to see how bad it would be. Yikes!

[Fatt_Shade]

Also leaving Rezo tower and couple of other enemy is ok, but you`we also could leave bunch of enemy and just go for maps from lucky James without beating him, buy it for 100k gold as soon as you have enough and return later to beat him. With maps run behind Dramina and scout all mines, and got beyond to Hadar and gather all free treasures flags . . . and get Lina rage spirit (when you get those maps it`s possible to go all the way to Demonis, Elf islands and Undead lands to gather free stuff from ground, and get quests/shrines . . .) And then get back with maybe better units items leadership and clear starting locations. As this is you`re first play i suggest just go around and try all units, spells and other stuff. Have fun and later go again maybe on hard, and other hero class to see how they work.

And do you play basic game, or some mod ?

[trentjaspar]

Also leaving Rezo tower and couple of other enemy is ok, but you`we also could leave bunch of enemy and just go for maps from lucky James without beating him, buy it for 100k gold as soon as you have enough and return later to beat him. With maps run behind Dramina and scout all mines, and got beyond to Hadar and gather all free treasures flags . . . and get Lina rage spirit (when you get those maps it`s possible to go all the way to Demonis, Elf islands and Undead lands to gather free stuff from ground, and get quests/shrines . . .) And then get back with maybe better units items leadership and clear starting locations. As this is you`re first play i suggest just go around and try all units, spells and other stuff. Have fun and later go again maybe on hard, and other hero class to see how they work.

This will certainly be my only play through this game, unfortunately, especially as KB:AP awaits. I have a feeling that going everywhere will require lots of failed troop evasion and reloading which I'm not sure I'm up for; I don't seem to be very good at it. It also seems like there are certain "guards" that by design are meant to keep you away from areas (e.g., Darion circus tent), even if they can be defeated by clever/agile players.

Don't get me wrong-- I'm fond of scouting around grabbing flags and freebies, but getting to undead lands at level 10 seems to be counter to the design intent of the game, even if it is technically possible.

I could be wrong-- maybe the developers intended it, but perhaps it's not my play-style...?

[Fatt_Shade]

Avoiding enemy troops (kiting) is much harder in the Legend since there are quests/battles you have to do before going to other areas :
1) turtle battle to get to wastern islands
2) lucky james mines to get map
3) fighting in mines to get dwarf prince quest, i dont remember names
4) free dwarf prince, to get quest for elf lands (i`m not sure you can go to undead lands on 10 lvl, because for that you have to free dwarf prince to get there)
5) kill karador to get entrance to orc labyrinth . . .
In AP/CW it`s doable to kite all the way to reha/shetera island and return to first location debir on 20+ lvl with bunch of gold, leadership, items, great units . . . and then start playing (that is 1 of ways to go no loss impossible). So as i said just play and have fun :-)

[trentjaspar]

In AP/CW it`s doable to kite all the way to reha/shetera island and return to first location debir on 20+ lvl with bunch of gold, leadership, items, great units . . . and then start playing (that is 1 of ways to go no loss impossible). So as i said just play and have fun :-)

LMAO, that's crazy...and awesome that folks have figured out how to do that.

For me, though, "playing and having fun" is more about going more-or-less sequentially through the game, experiencing as much content as possible, and hopefully "beating" the game at some point. :)

[Fatt_Shade]

That`s not crazy, you haven`t seen a part of it :-) As you said this is first playthrough (of many to follow hopefully :-) ) so there is allot of things to find out, and learn.
In future it would be nice to get some multiplayer and possible to compare our skills against other players, not just AI. Until then have fun :-D

[trentjaspar]

I have a feeling that going everywhere will require lots of failed troop evasion and reloading which I'm not sure I'm up for; I don't seem to be very good at it. It also seems like there are certain "guards" that by design are meant to keep you away from areas (e.g., Darion circus tent), even if they can be defeated by clever/agile players.

[...]

I could be wrong-- maybe the developers intended it, but perhaps it's not my play-style...?

Let me at least partially correct myself-- much to my surprise, getting to Hadar via the mines is a straight shot with no fights and no troop evasion! I didn't scope it out a whole lot, but it's now tempting to go get Lina charged up as early as possible. Further, there are 105 Griffons ready to be recruited there just inside Hadar...

[Fatt_Shade]

That`s only part of it my friend :-)
To get to elf islands you have to finish quest for dwarf king, but this doesn`t limit you.
Spoiler :
From Creiston mines mines you can go to Uper Hadar, then run through it to Lower Hadar, run to Hadar mines and past dwarf prince castle Bogacho i think to Underground sea. If you manage to run by guards there to Demonis entrance scouting demon lands should be easy, and there almost always are some great unit picks, after that returning to Hadar and have fun with brand new dragon army/or whatever you find in demon lands :-) My advice if you do this
1) dont go before 15 lvl so you can get at least decent amount of leadership to buy units and have enough gold for them in first place (leading 1 marauder units in battles to dig through corpses is great way to do this with gift spell if you find it, or investing runes in trophy skill).
2) in demonis there is couple quests finishable without fighting, with high rewards for lvlup. Take quest for dragons in Ultrax accesable through portal behind guy who gives you quest, but dont go through (once you enter you have to finish 3 hard battles or fail quest for lots of exp) it before you finish tournament in Darion castle reward there is very useful for dragon fights. This is reason i say dont go there early 25lvl at least http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=10567
3) after you manage to free dwarf prince, you will get death rage spirit and get quest for elf islands. There also are some quests to get exp without fighting. Also portals to undead lands are almost free to enter and roam around for couple more free quests and lots of treasure lying around.

[trentjaspar]

Well much to my surprise, I was able to scout all the way through the Dwarf Lands, Underground Sea, and Demonis. I haven't uncovered all of the map or scouted out all recruitable troops (and available items), but I have a decent idea what's going to be available when I reach these areas. The only tricky part was getting past the guards to Demonis, but even that wasn't very hard, though it seems clear that the level is designed to prevent you entry to Demonis. Also, I haven't tried to get back. ;-)

I'm doing this strictly for scouting and have gone back to my game in early Western Islands, lol. I will still consider trying to take out Lucky James reasonably early, then going to Darion/Creiston/Hadar to pick up Lina and maybe some Griffons. I'll have to decide what kind of losses I'm willing to take against Lucky James since I'm really trying to minimize losses. Not a no losses campaign, but have only had single-digit losses since the Tutorial. We'll see.