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Tips and issues with Bards Tale IV

Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,386
I thought it'd be good to list any we're aware of here.

FRAPs caused CTDs for me in some areas.

The Baedish skill point bonuses don't apply for Baed mercenaries when they're recruited as of the first patch version.

The Rabble Rouser and Commander opportunity bonus points don't stack with each other. I've no idea if this is a bug or a feature, but there's little point in picking both Rabble Rouser and Commander as of the first patch version.
edit: I can confirm there's some sort of bug with the Commander talent. It works with Dalgleish, but not on any mercenary companion I gave the talent to.

Baedish Bard is probably the best starting character at the moment. Not because low level bards are good, but for later game min/maxing because that's the only character that'll have the three bonus points to spend on utility skills in the crafting tree. Also, none of the first four companions are bards.

Mercenaries start at the player character's level*, but with no additional XP so it's best to recruit them immediately after the PC has leveled up. The later story companions don't join the party at the PC's level, but they do level up if left in the adventures guild.

Activating skills either uses opportunity points or spell points. Due to limited opportunity points, it's best to plan on skill picks that support spell point using characters as the party grows. It's not viable to have a party of six rogues for example, as they don't use spell points, and there won't be enough opportunity point to make full use of them.

The longbow bonus to reduced the opportunity cost of Rain Of Arrows does not work as of the first patch version. That makes longbows pretty useless at the moment.



* As far as I can tell, but you can dump your main character at the adventure's guild and run with a party entirely composed of mercenaries. No idea if this breaks anything though.
 
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Tiospo

Learned
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Aug 1, 2018
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129
I seem to be having an issue with the talent archmage. I have picked it but it does not seem to be working? I got the achivement but the spells are nowhere to be found. And when i try making a new merc i cant select it, even tho a have the criterias for it.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,386
i try making a new merc i cant select it, even tho a have the criterias for it.
I had a similar problem with third circle skills. Even though I'd unlocked them before they weren't active when trying to recruit a merc. I went back to the review board again, got conformation that I was ready for advancement again, the review board quest closed, and I recruited and speced the merc without problems the second time. I don't know about the archmage skill not appearing though.
 

Roqua

Prospernaut
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual In My Safe Space
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The Rabble Rouser and Commander opportunity bonus points don't stack with each other. I've no idea if this is a bug or a feature, but there's little point in picking both Rabble Rouser and Commander as of the first patch version.
I had six opportunity until a made a whole new party. I had commander on a new guy, but still only had four points. I think it opens it just for the first character, because in my original party both bonuses stacked. But, I just opened rabble rouser on my new bard and it went up to five. I'm going to try adding and removing everyone and see how that works.

Baedish Bard is probably the best starting character at the moment. Not because low level bards are good, but for later game min/maxing because that's the only character that'll have the three bonus points to spend on utility skills in the crafting tree. Also, none of the first four companions are bards.
I agree unless your part is a front line character. If so I think dwarves are best for all front line characters because getting knocked around out of place can really mess everything up.
The longbow bonus to reduced the opportunity cost of Rain Of Arrows does not work as of the first patch version. That makes longbows pretty useless at the moment.

Without the two-handed used in one hand skill (that only fighters seem to get), using a longbow is really bad stat-wise, so not good strength-wise (damage wise). Same for staves and casters. Rain of Arrows is a nice three square aoe, but since it requires a cast time, fighters using a two-hander in one hand using sweeping strike (or whatever its called) is much better in my opinion, but I still rarely use it. Rogues using a dagger mainhand and a bow offhand is much better for their damage. But I honestly now only use my rogue for finishing the odd guy in the far corners. My mages use almost all my points, and if I need to use my other points for spell stopping or armor breaking.

Great post and great idea for a hints/help thread.
 

Roqua

Prospernaut
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual In My Safe Space
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
4,130
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YES!
I seem to be having an issue with the talent archmage. I have picked it but it does not seem to be working? I got the achivement but the spells are nowhere to be found. And when i try making a new merc i cant select it, even tho a have the criterias for it.

That confused me too. You need two other mage mastery skills before picking archmage. So that means all three masteries go into that tree only, with the last going into archmage.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,386
Without the two-handed used in one hand skill (that only fighters seem to get), using a longbow is really bad stat-wise, so not good strength-wise (damage wise). Same for staves and casters. Rain of Arrows is a nice three square aoe, but since it requires a cast time, fighters using a two-hander in one hand using sweeping strike (or whatever its called) is much better in my opinion, but I still rarely use it. Rogues using a dagger mainhand and a bow offhand is much better for their damage. But I honestly now only use my rogue for finishing the odd guy in the far corners. My mages use almost all my points, and if I need to use my other points for spell stopping or armor breaking.
I picked up rain of arrows for my vanguard tank fighter because he was stuck over in the corner most of the time, can wield the longbow one-handed, and needed a good "hit anywhere" attack. Seemed like a good choice on paper, but was a total waste of three skill points to be honest. I've two bards, built as mana pumps, with two practitioners clustered in the center. Even on hard difficulty, they wipe out the trash mob skeletons on Stronsea Island in the first round with zero opportunity points used. Trow squeezins+falkentyne's fury+dragon's breath. I don't even have to use the OP archmage AoE. It seems rogues dominate the early game and practitioners dominate the late game.

What do you think of the difficulty levels? Hard seems to me the way it was meant to be played.
 

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