So blades are still just strictly inferior to blunt, huh? I was sort of expecting that to change somewhat between three years ago and now, but the exact same issues still appear to be present. Blunt does more damage, penetrates armor better, and inflicts stronger debuffs on enemies.
Apparently so. For reference, some guy completed a solo bladed run with a low STR hybrid build and still did all the tough fights.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/648410/discussions/0/3954784199556942748/?ctp=4#c3975051362888935575
He still says it would've been much easier with blunt.
After finishing the game on baby mode with a party of 3, I'm trying a Dodge This! solo pistol run. 4 STR, 8 CON, 6 DEX, 10 PER, 8 INT, 4 CHA. I hesitated between 8 for CON or DEX, but 10 HP and a subdermal implant seemed like a better deal than 2 AP and some evasion.
I'm like the terminator with trash enemies, but I hit the wall fast with the last Ch 1 Courthouse fight and Hargrave. I could simply skip these, but it's causing me considerable butthurt. The energy pistol you get at the start is a god send, but I need to get a better regular pistol ASAP. I had to take Big Game Hunter to do any damage.
Some more observations:
- I said the game is mostly balanced when it comes to combat, but the civic skills aren't. You can pass all the social checks on Ch. 1 by putting a single point in Streetwise and then snowballing it. The only balance comes from losing on combat xp in some cases, but otherwise seems like a no brainer. You'll be forced to spend a tag later on to get all the best outcomes, but that's still only one tag out of three skills. This is just like Fallout where you can tag Speech and be a master rhetorician even if you dumped CHA.
- Another bad example from Fallout is that the most charismatic characters will be the best at combat. Yes, I know this makes sense; in real life, it's even more about how many people you can get to fight for you. However, you lose the ability to play the weakling grifter that you could in AoD. I like that CHA affects character bonding and interactions, but please, stop tying it to companion numbers. People already see companions as an implicit difficulty slider, just embrace it.
- Computers/Electronics seem basically indispensable, even more than Lore in AoD. Has anyone ever played without these?