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Crispy's Grimoire Technical/Gameplay Tips Only (no spoilers) Thread

King Crispy

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The other thread is rife with story spoilers and info that doesn't help much because it's spread out so far across the entire thread, inevitably leading to stumbling over spoiler-ish info that some of us would rather discover on our own.

This thread aims to provide all the technical-only and purely mechanical gameplay tips into one thread, easy to access, and updated in OP as more tips begin to come in through discovery. I'll do my best to update OP as often as I can, so please, share whatever tips you have that serve to ease or untangle some of the difficulties in playing Cleve's masterpiece.

Some of these might be very obvious but they need to be mentioned anyway. Please, NO STORY SPOILERS.

---

- Grimoire, having been primarily designed in the 1990's, doesn't really like running under modern OS's. It can do it, but it's happier in an environment that matches as closely to Windows XP/7 as it can get. Therefore, temporarily lowering your Windows screen resolution to something like 1280x768 and selecting non-scaling in Grimoire's Configuration menu will serve to avoid any weird scaling issues.

- Also under Configuration, you can select your game's difficulty. I chose Veteran myself, and after a bit of a rough start, once my characters got up to speed I think it's a perfect setting. Blobber pros might want even harder. You poor little lambs who can't handle it might want easier. It's up to you.

- Grimoire, of course, installs from the Steam client. But it's not really a Steam application. Because of a recent rather... unwise decision by Cleve, Steam actually did auto-update the Grimoire client, which unfortunately invalidated all previous (ver 1205 and earlier) savegames. If you want to avoid this kind of thing from happening in the future, just copy the entire Grimoire folder from your Steam folder to some other location, then re-create a new shortcut to that new location's grimoire.exe. If you copied the entire folder over, it'll run just fine, all your characters and saves will be there, then you can choose if and when you get the Grimoire updates to the Steam "version" of your game. It remains to be seen if the savegame files will still work on newer versions of Grimoire. ***UPDATE*** Cleve has apparently worked most of the bugs out with his latest versions, so playing the game "off-line" shouldn't be necessary anymore. However, save games that were created with certain versions of Grimoire can't be brought forward, namely from ver 1207 and possibly others. 1205 and earlier are successfully imported and can be used going forward, however.

- As of August 7th 2017, allowing Steam to update your previously-intalled Grimoire client results in the game not launching any longer! That's because Cleve, in his infinite wisdom, actually forgot or somehow messed up the process of creating a folder on your C: drive to house the save and config files. Just create a folder yourself called "Grimoire" under C:\Users\Yourname\AppData\Local\ then copy all your .sav, .lib and .cfg files from the previous Grimoire location (which was entirely within your Steam folder before) to that new folder. It should launch and play fine now. Do note that your save games will ONLY still be valid if they were originally created in ver 1205 or earlier. Otherwise, re-roll! ***UPDATE*** The decision to store game data in the user folders has been reversed and reserved for later functionality. Newly-installed copies of Grimoire launch just fine now.

- Did you know that you can hold down the left mouse button on the left/right inventory scroll arrows and simultaneously hold down ENTER to rapidly scroll left and right? Brilliant! ***UPDATE*** Newest versions of Grimoire feature "Double-arrow" inventory scroll buttons which move the inventory bar one full length left or right, which really helps a lot. Thanks, Cleve.

- Instead of click, click, clicking to choose your combat orders, right-click on that icon. A popup appears allowing you to instantly choose what to do. More brilliance!

- If you fouled up or are unhappy with your initial party marching order, just click a character's name then click again on whom he or she should swap places with. Remember that it's crucial to have your HP sponges/tanks in the first two slots, which are actually the "upper left" and "upper right" positions.

- Use Identify and Improved Identify to greatly increase the chance to ASSAY any ?ITEM?. But you can also left click on that object then left click on one of your character's LOOK icon to get a verbose description of that object. You can also do the same thing with the ASSAY icon to get a (very tiny) box listing that object's in-game stats, if appropriate.

- Before buying an unidentified item from a vendor, you can have them Identify it for you first. This helps when deciding which, for example, spellbooks to buy from them, if any.

- Remember that your Scribe skill has to be sufficient in order to successfully learn a new spell from any spellbook. Of course, it has to be successfully Identified first.

- Also regarding scribing new spells from spellbooks: Often, when you have a vendor Identify a spellbook for you first then you buy it, then attempt to scribe it, if unsuccessful, the message you receive is misleading. it claims you failed to identify ?SPELLBOOK?, but that's not really what's happening. Since it's already been ID'd, you're free to attempt to scribe it, but if your scribe skill still isn't high enough to scribe that particular spell, you'll get that message. I confirmed that spellbooks bought from vendors indeed can successfully be learned.

- If you want to know what a skill does in the game, believe it or not (easy to miss this), just click on the skill name in your character sheet and the small window below gives a full description of it. DOH!

- Related to the above, you're going to discover that a lot of the skills you weren't advancing might be necessary for the success of your character. For example, don't forget to put some points into Evocation if you want to successfully use magic wands! Otherwise, BACKFIRE!

- Want to know what keys do what in the game? Hit F1!

- On the map, there is a small button that you can hold down to reveal where your discovered safe rest areas are. Handy!

- There is a small icon to the right of the inventory bar that represents a single storage spot. This actually represents (I think) the "ground", and is useful if you want to temporarily set something down in order to move it or leave it somewhere or whatever.

- Use the Autowalk feature! On the map, just set the movement point (your destination) first then have autowalk calculate and draw the path. Then just hit the autowalk button to almost instantaneously go there. Beware that you can still run into wandering monsters this way so make sure you're prepared for that possibility.

- If you're stuck in the story and don't know where to turn to next, talking to NPC's can often get you back going again. Without spoiling, remember that there are certain spells that can coax them into doing what you want or telling you what you want to know.

- To buy from and sell items to a vendor, right-click on a character's talk icon, then you can select Buy, Sell, etc. Remember to use whomever in your party has the best Barter skill!

- Don't forget to use the different discovery spells when adventuring, especially in dungeons. Detect Secret is a must-have, and someone with a decent Scout rating is handy, too. There are illusory walls, so keep that in mind as well.

- Spell points regenerate while resting at different rates depending on (I think, someone please confirm) your Devotion attribute. ***UPDATE*** This actually appears to be more related to race. Humans replenish their spell points during rest at a fairly slow pace while certain others do at nearly double the rate. It's up to you to discover which!

- If you want to quickly get through an easy combat and you don't care about the particulars of it, just hold down Enter.

- In combat, sometimes your character will get extra attacks. If they happen to have a secondary weapon equipped, they'll use that one for each and every secondary attack. That's how darts and so forth can come in handy. But remember that your secondary weapon governing skills may not be as good as your primary! Decisions, decisions.

- In combat if you target a group of monsters with a spell or spell-like effect, and that particular group of monsters "moves" up in the order because your frontline fighters wiped out a previous group, that spell will NOT take effect and will instead hit empty air! So you have to choose which group to target carefully taking into consideration the other groups' overall survivability of your fighters' onslaught. I believe this might be a bug, therefore Cleve might fix it such that your spells "track" the group you originally specified, but I kind of like it the way it is.

- Related to the above, if your character is equipped with any secondary weapon, and you give him or her combat orders, the game actually asks you which group to target twice. This is not a bug. Cleve Grimoire wants you to specify which group to target with your primary attack and which group to target with your secondary attack(s). Neat, huh?

- If you're getting poisoned or diseased a lot, which sucks when you're first starting out, you may have to savescum a bit. But there are certain items that you can find that alleviate these conditions, such as a certain type of fruit you can find if you LOOK when standing in front of a bush.

- There is a separate thread for lockpicking. Look here.

- ***NEW*** Be very certain you want to use Raise Dead. This includes the use of scrolls that cast the spell and certain items that will raise a dead character back to life. The problem with it is that every time you successfully raise a dead character, he or she loses 10 points of CON permanently! There's no way to re-gain these CON points except through re-levelling and assigning points to the attribute again. Jeez, Cleve!

- ***NEW*** Having trouble with your thief's Stealth skill? Does it always fail no matter what? Well, remove that armor! Even just leather armor will cause hiding failure. I'm still experimenting with other types of clothing and I will be interested to see if higher levels of Stealth will allow the wearing of armor again. Someone please clarify if you already know the answer to this. ***UPDATE*** I may have been wrong about this. Inexplicably, after re-equipping my thief with all his gear and armor, Hide is actually working much better now! I'd estimate it to be about 50% successful, and that seems to correspond with his actual Stealth skill level which is currently at 49. Maybe stripping the character then re-equipping reset something? Who knows? Also, the Stealth skill itself, despite multiple reports claiming otherwise, has not increased through use even a single time for me. ***FINAL UPDATE ON THIS ONE*** Okay, my thief's Stealth skill is very slowly improving through usage. Confirmed as of skill level 51 that it is indeed about 50% effective. I'm hoping that this, like other skills, once it reaches a certain threshold, will start to increase with usage much more frequently. I'll be removing this entry soon since it's no longer very helpful.

---

I'm sure there are plenty more and again I will update OP as handy tips pour in. Enjoy the game!
 
Last edited:

luj1

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May the incline follow ye wherever path takes ye, stranger.

Let me just add that reducing mouse polling rate to 125 Hz via driver software fixes sensitivity issues in full-screen mode.
 
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King Crispy

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I think Diplomacy governs your success when talking to NPC's. Maybe it'll serve to reduce any angry disposition with you if your Diplomacy is high enough?
 

Danthar

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I think Diplomacy governs your success when talking to NPC's. Maybe it'll serve to reduce any angry disposition with you if your Diplomacy is high enough?

Yes I think that's what the description says. I talk to NPC's with my highest Diplomacy character and have noticed the friendliness going up a few times. But I didn't try it extensively.
 

Lady_Error

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- Spell points regenerate while resting at different rates depending on (I think, someone please confirm) your Devotion attribute.

Mana regenration depends on the race. Feyfolk and Aerobs are the fastest.
 

Dexter

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- Grimoire, having been primarily designed in the 1990's, doesn't really like running under modern OS's. It can do it, but it's happier in an environment that matches as closely to Windows XP/7 as it can get. Therefore, temporarily lowering your Windows screen resolution to something like 1280x768 and selecting non-scaling in Grimoire's Configuration menu will serve to avoid any weird scaling issues.
If you have issues with High-res displays or want to play at 1080p+ on Windows and have problems with displaying, go into your local Grimoire folder --> Right Click "Grimoire.exe" --> "Compatibility" --> Tick Checkmark on "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings". Then Stretch to Full Screen in the game settings and everything should be fine. This isn't solely for Grimoire, but works for all sorts of older DOS or low-res 640x480 etc. games aswell.

Scaling after that works fine even on my 4K monitor and (imo) produces great results. Also remember to either use Windowed with No Scaling or Full Screen with Scaling (which breaks Alt+ENTER) since Windowed with Scaling seems to lead to a Black Screen.
 

JarlFrank

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Why is it that poison knives don't poison my enemies ever, but poison darts do it almost all the time when they successfully hit?
 

King Crispy

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Why is it that poison knives don't poison my enemies ever, but poison darts do it almost all the time when they successfully hit?

Poison knives need to be "re-poisoned" and there is a skill that governs that. Darts are covered in poison each and are one-and-done. Makes sense, no?
 
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Are there keywords that seem to work on a few different NPCs? (Your point on buying and selling is well-taken.) I've tried stuff like "recruit", "quest(s)", "job" but haven't had much luck with anything.
 

JarlFrank

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Why is it that poison knives don't poison my enemies ever, but poison darts do it almost all the time when they successfully hit?

Poison knives need to be "re-poisoned" and there is a skill that governs that. Darts are covered in poison each and are one-and-done. Makes sense, no?

Do I actually have to do anything to re-poison them or does it happen automatically as long as the skill is high enough?
 

King Crispy

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Are there keywords that seem to work on a few different NPCs? (Your point on buying and selling is well-taken.) I've tried stuff like "recruit", "quest(s)", "job" but haven't had much luck with anything.

I honestly think you might enjoy discovering this stuff on your own, but here's a push in the right direction: Wouldn't it be nice to probe an NPC's mind to see what he or she knows?
 

jfunk

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Are both Detect Secret and Scout necessary? Or do they overlap in function?

They overlap. Also, Scout additionally detects Safe Havens for resting while Detect Secret doesn't.

Tip for leveling your scouting early since your scout won't find much at first. Cast detect secret you find them, but don't push buttons or otherwise activate them. Just move in and out of the square repeatedly until your scout finally sees it. It will level up their scouting, letting you save some of those skill points at level up for other things.
 

Lady_Error

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- ***NEW*** Having trouble with your thief's Stealth skill? Does it always fail no matter what? Well, remove that armor! Even just leather armor will cause hiding failure. I'm still experimenting with other types of clothing and I will be interested to see if higher levels of Stealth will allow the wearing of armor again. Someone please clarify if you already know the answer to this.

Hiding skill just needs to be high enough and Cleve said that he will make it easier to hide too. It also improves by doing, so if someone tries to hide in every fight, they will quickly get better past a certain point - maybe after around 30-50 points.

I think you should also post this list in the Grimoire guides section on Steam.
 

YES!

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It is nice to see one of the codex staff play an actual rpg and not shitting over the actual rpgs like they usually do. I still think you are a creepy weirdo, but at least now you are a creepy weirdo playing at least one good rpg.
 

Biggus

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Use the workshop, Jarl. It's a small icon on each character portrait.

Re this repoisoning. Is this related to the feedback the alchemist gets where it says <this thing> + mandrake (or whaterver) = ?
In other words, you can combine 2 things (1 being a reagent I guess) to create a third, which in turn you can do ? with?
I didn't play with this much because I assumed the whole aspect here was either broken or (not) working as intended, or simply not implemented.

So you have actually applied poisons then?
How do you know that poison needs to be re-applied? Super ID seems to give no indication?

Poisons aside, have you ever actually done anything in this interface that is worth pursuing?

I don't mind experimenting and wasting time, provided there is some sort out outcome :)
 

YES!

Hi, I'm Roqua
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Use the workshop, Jarl. It's a small icon on each character portrait.

Re this repoisoning. Is this related to the feedback the alchemist gets where it says <this thing> + mandrake (or whaterver) = ?
In other words, you can combine 2 things (1 being a reagent I guess) to create a third, which in turn you can do ? with?
I didn't play with this much because I assumed the whole aspect here was either broken or (not) working as intended, or simply not implemented.

So you have actually applied poisons then?
How do you know that poison needs to be re-applied? Super ID seems to give no indication?

Poisons aside, have you ever actually done anything in this interface that is worth pursuing?

I don't mind experimenting and wasting time, provided there is some sort out outcome :)

From what I've seen you apply poison to make a poisoned weapon, that is always poisoned and has a poison proc chance. A off hand dagger (the early one you get for a while)plus poison makes a the main hand poison dagger that you also see early in the game. I haven't gotten the poison applying skill up high enough to make anything else. Alchemy makes potions and other consumables (like dusts and shit), you can mix two potions to make another potion (like cure light wounds and cure light condition makes a cure heavy wounds) but there is no experimenting from what I've seen. Either you have the skill or don't. Also, you need to combine some quest items to make new quest items through the workshop too.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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The opening post should include some information about the usefulness of the lethal blow ability, which combined with a weapon with the "lethal" trait (of which there are many), gives a PC the chance to inflict a critical blow on the enemy, killing them regardless of remaining HP. This skill seems more likely to trigger the lower the enemy's remaining HP %, but a higher skill level makes it more likely to trigger in general. And it increases quite quickly on its own, or at least did before the patches.
 

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