Thanks for the tips, fellas. I got a little tipsy off White Claws before playing and beat him on first try rofl. That blocking tip really came in handy. I employed the Drunken Master strategy a la Jackie Chan and just let the flow take over: the tipsy gamer. Felt amazing. Deflects still feel a little off and I'm half-surprised when I do them, but oh well I am sure I will get used to it in time.
My only other question: is this like Nioh where you basically need to level every stat up, or should I min/max two main attributes? Assuming the former. Currently going Wood/Earth and using a plain sword and big screw-off hammer with spikes I got from the first boss. Sword has been best for deflect and melting each boss so far. I stopped at the level you meet Guan Yu and Zhang Fei (based) but I'm excited to get back to it.
I just leveled 2 elements for the entire game. I think if you play through all the NG+ modes you might max everything but I didn't get that far.
There are sets later in the game that give you bonuses if you distribute your points evenly, but there are also sets that give you bonuses if you have a lot invested into a certain element.
Just level what you feel like leveling. Just don't forget to put 12 points into water for the teleport spell, you'll thank me later.
Yes, I remembered what you said! This game clicked after that boss you fight with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. I did not realize you could play single, and only realized until after I killed the boss...I thought about restarting everything because the game's systems are starting to make sense but eh I guess I'll just continue. I beat the yellow turban leader (always forget his name, so many Chinese names with Z's in them) solo. I guess I can get my gamer points on NG+1 when I re-do those first couple bosses. It's so much quieter and more atmospheric when you're alone, I like it a lot better. Even though your bros are cool.
I am currently rocking sword (not saber) + eff-off huge hammer. I kinda want to use the big sword but I already put so much into Earth and that requires Metal, and I'm not crazy about the Metal element (earth is way cooler than poison spells).
Are all the weapons viable or are some way more difficult to use? How are fists and the staff?
Ironically, even though it's the most dumbfuck looking weapon, I think the big hammer is the most difficult to use properly. It has a mechanic where certain frames of your attack animations count as a block, so if you time your attacks right you can keep attacking and not take damage. DLC weapons - fists, greatswords and whips - are also quite a bit more complex than base game weapons.
You can't go wrong with staff or any other poled weapon because they can make the enemies stagger (they let you build a stagger meter on enemies that gives you a few seconds of free damage when it's full).
I think individual weapon types in this game don't have that much depth to them so I recommend trying out different ones every few missions. I found the greatsword, glaive and staff the most fun to use.
