is the game too easy?

[fruithead]

wondering if the game is too easy for me at this point, and if i should bother finishing, or just start over on hard.

lv 18 mage, playing normal difficulty

here's a screenshot of my boy.

http://images45.fotki.com/v1427/file...17/Capture.jpg

most battles in ellinia end with two shots of this. (click on the image to view full size)

http://hotimg25.fotki.com/p/a/72_231.../Capture_2.jpg

haven't lost a unit for a long long time now.

comments?

EDIT 1: even geyser is ridiculously overpowered, dealing an average of 2250 damage to 8 enemies wherever they are on the screen. if you happen to be fighting 8 enemies, that's 16k X 2 = 24,000 damage before the fighting even starts!

dunno why, but here's a pic of that, too.

http://images46.fotki.com/v1441/file.../Capture_3.jpg

Originally Posted by Ryastar

You didn't ask for advice, and so I won't give unsolicited advice, but there is plenty of challenge left in the game for you.

EDIT 2: just to clarify, i would love any wisdom and advice anyone has to offer!

[Ryastar]

You gotta remember that a majority of the troops you face in ellinia are vulnerable to fire, so, naturally your fire rain will pretty much own. Things won't be such plain sailing in the land of the dead, and will be nearly impossible in demonis. Your attack and defense ratings are abysmal, and consequently your army is weak. There are two ways to compensate. One: buy creatures with high natural stats, but these, in general do less damage and are less effective than large numbers of weaker units. Two: chaos magic! Blast your foes with your spells and laugh as they burn to nothingness. However, in the land of the dead, you will face red and black dragons. Black dragons are completely immune to magic, and reds have high health, and 50% fire resist, so your fire spells will do half damage. I assume your have other damage spells, lightning, geyser, ice dragons etc. but these do less damage than fire rain, and are less reliable, and this still leaves the problem of black dragons. In demonis, ALL demons are 50% fire resistant, so the same problem applies, also, they generally have high health, and are difficult to blast.

You didn't ask for advice, and so I won't give unsolicited advice, but there is plenty of challenge left in the game for you.

[fruithead]

i am a little confused. this is my first playthru, so i decided, what does a mage do? go for high intellect, that's what! difficult parts of the game, i don't mind. i loved the beginning, which was indeed challenging. but i am bothered by the possibility that demonis will be impossible. hard i'm cool with, even really hard, but i sure hope it won't be impossible, especially since it would annoy me if i couldn't play the game purely as the character i wanted, e.g.; if i played warrior, i would be investing very very little into magic skills and such, as those would be "helpful", but the thrust of my game would be based around my army. so too, as a mage, i would want the main part of my game to follow the path of magic, where my army is either augmented by magic, or takes a backseat to it.

sadly, going through my spellbook has made me realize that many of the games spells do not reflect higher effectiveness for the mage, despite his elite magical skills. for instance, although the game says that every 15 points of int grants an extra turn of spell effect, spells like sheep, target, doom, pygmy, hypnotize, etc, have a set amount of time they affect enemies for. is this an oversight? does this mean that i will simply not be able to compete when pure damage is no longer as relevant as it is now?

i would certainly appreciate if anyone had helpful comments or advice.

[Ryastar]

The first time i tried demonis, i had to completely change my tactics. I was a mage on normal, and my strategy was based around zapping (lightning is probably the most efficient damage spell against demons, and until you get fire rain, the best in general) the "dangerous" enemies first. For me, that was demonesses, Archdemons, and both kinds of imps, as far as demons go, but in general, it was any ranged troop, ridiculously fast troop, or troop with deadly abilities. However, my damage spells could not do enough, though it bears saying that my int was in the mid-twenties, because i hadn't focused on it quite as single-mindedly as you. High int is a good thing, but you cannot do it at the total expense of your troops.

My recommendations for you:
1. switch up your equipment. I would recommend getting more attack, so you can have your troops deal damage as well.
2. look into the other kinds of spells. I can see from the screenshots you provided that you have pygmy, blind, target, and phantom, all very good spells, especially phantom, blind and pygmy. Other spells you should look for, if you don't already have them:
demon portal - Fight fire with fire! Has a 1 turn time delay, but summons an amount of demon troops based on your int, so your high int will mean lots of expendable, powerful troops.
ressurection: why should paladins get all the fun? Your version of the spell will be more powerful, and will help greatly in reducing losses. Note that this requires order magic, which i am frankly surprised that you have not invested in.
Magic Shackles: your lifesaver in demonis. At level 3, it becomes mass, and prevents ALL level 1-4 enemy troops from using any of their abilities. Since most of the demons power is in their abilities, they will be severely weakened.
There are other useful spells which i won't spend time explaining, i've got an early class 2mrw, and need to get to bed, but here are some of them: trap, hypnotize, sacrifice, pain mirror, helplessness, dispel, battle cry, and others that i just can't think of now, I'm tired.
3. SPRITES! Possibly my favourite troops, these little females become quite powerful with anga's ruby (which i see you have). Send them in to the middle of the opponent's troops on turn one, and let them counterattack, and then attack again the next turn. Then use time back to get them all back, and leave your enemies in a ring - perfect targets for an attack spell (which aren't COMPLETELY useless in demonis.)
4. Never give up. There is always a way around the enemy. Develop strategies around what you have, and if they don't work, try new ones. I'm sorry if i discouraged you with my first post, but i was really trying to encourage you not to quit. Demonis is a challenge, but it is not impossible.

To show how I run my mage, I have provided a screenshot of my character screen from the last area of the game. I can give more, and some better strategies etc tomorrow, but for now, i gotta sleep.

[Johannes]

Different tactics for diffrent areas, your original post showed concern that the rest of the game would be to easy and single tracked. Congratulations, that's not the case! In the end the different classes provide slightly diffrent variations of the common theme, troops fighting troops. From rystars screenshoot I'm happy to say there's still room for some variation, I'm playing my mage more like a battle mage, neglecting int to a bigger extent.

[Vladan]

Just one question...how do heck do you that much damage on level 18?
I'm level 24, have 31 int, Prismatic Helmet and Necklace of Firestorm yet I'm doing almost 1k less damage with Fire Rain than you...

[daisymaria]

As you progress, the levels become significantly more challenging. They require careful coordination, timing, and puzzle-solving skills, which can test even seasoned players. Fireboy and Watergirl