The Guardian, my personal experience
| Author | Topic: The Guardian, my personal experience |
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Infiltrator
Member # 2245
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written Friday, July 1 2005 02:23
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There is a lot of talk about how the Guardian has been 'nerfed'. I finally decided to give him a go, after becoming bored with the Shaper and Agent. In my opinion, the difficulty of the game is the same for both Shaper and Agent (aka. piece of cake. I had eight Drayks by the time I reached Gull Island. YAAWWWWNNNNN). I first tried a missile Guardian (since everyone was ranting about the 'effectiveness' of missiles), which was a dismal failure. I sank points into dexterity and luck (so I could dodge and avoid damage). As a result, I could dodge the worms, but not a battle alpha. Don't bother trying to invest in luck or dexterity, it comes back to bite you on the backside... HARD. I had to sink points into missile weapons. Also melee weapons, because you can't always shoot from a distance. Strength so that I could wear heavy armour, carry all of the javelins, and do some damage via melee in an emergency. No points in intelligence or blessing magick. The problem with this assignment of points was the lack of specialization. I was getting my butt handed to me by the second isle. Discipline wands don't make up for it. Terror wands are good, but they are far too few, and don't do enough damage. I tried a second character. Many points went into endurance, melee, and strength. The most went into quick action. Later on, 3 points went into blessing magick, and then I bumped intelligence up. At first, this character was rather weak, but then he really started to shine. He was not nearly as capable as an agent or Shaper, but could hold his own. The most vital skill for a Guardian is Quick Action. Since the melee damage has been nerfed, and Parry is almost worthless, Quick Action is essential if you are to get the drop on your enemies. Quick Action gives you the initiative (you can decide whether to run, fight, or cast a spell). If not for my heavy investment in Quick Action, I would have had my clock cleaned in the Vlish Woods. Playing the Guardian in GF3 is like playing the Agent in GF1. I purchased Battle Blessing on the first island, and it really gave me the edge. Augmentation gave me my second edge, and on Dhonal's I purchased Essence Shield. This allowed me to go toe to toe with Battle Alpha's and glaahks. My high strength gave me 100% resistance to stun. Another advantage is the AP system, which is made for Guardian. When fighting a battle alpha, you can chug a healing potion and take a swipe in the same round. However, by this time, I was REALLY taking a hammering. Without war blessing, the high quick action, speed pods, augmentation and essence shield, I would not have been able to reach the Creator's Hall. Finally, I reached Gull Island with 100+ spell points. At last I could cast Speed. Then things started to turn in my favour. Slaughtered serviles, cyroas and vlish which would fall beneath my blade without doing a shred of damage. Battle betas whose fists needed to strike me at least 7 times before felling me. It was still difficult, but manageable. Speed is a lifesaver. I no longer had to rely on the speed pods and spores scattered throughout the game. Once I reached Icy End, I was torn between sinking more points into blessing magick so that I could cast Essence Armour, or invest them in endurance and melee. I chose the latter. It was a difficult end game, and it took me quite a bit of hopping back and forth to complete, but finally my Guardian stood victorious. To be honest, it was far more enjoyable then the missile Guardian. There is something noble about wading into the thick of it with the other soldiers in the infested valley. There is nothing more satisfying than crossing blades and crushing your enemy with quick action. Some quick points - Quick Action is essential. - There are several instances where Discipline Wands are ESSENTIAL. - Vlish who use poison bolts do a lot of damage, despite my Guardian having high poison resistance. - The Guardian Claymore is the best weapon. The Stunning Blade is worthless. - Speed saves the day. Anyone else have info on how to survive as a Guardian? -------------------- VIVE LA TAKERS! VIVE LA REBELLION! VIVE LA GHALDRING! Posts: 522 | Registered: Friday, November 15 2002 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5870
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written Friday, July 1 2005 03:22
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You were lying, you cant have eight drayks. Seriously, the best weapon is oozing blade. And parry is not useless. What truly essential is the right equipments. Many equipments add strength, parry and quick action. Posts: 122 | Registered: Tuesday, May 31 2005 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 3629
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written Friday, July 1 2005 03:22
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Actually, after playing a guardian, I have to disagree that it is the hardest character to play. My guardian character, Melina, was almost evenly invested in intelligence for (fire) shaping, dex and missile weapon, strength and melee weapon, and defensive skills (parry and endurance). And she kicked butt the entire way through. She never once used a baton or wand - the bonus from the guardian claymore was too much to give up. Instead, she relied on her Cryoas (and later drayks) to mop most things up, and when she needed to, she cracked open a swarm crystal or madness gem. Once she got her final gear, she was nearly unstoppable. And the only time I reloaded was when one of her drayks died or something. I believe the guardian's strength is that she has more room for error. Drayk's are really pretty hardy creatures, and it is pretty easy to direct the AI's attack. Most of the time, Melina used herself as a tank while her drayk's pounded on the enemy. But if she needed to, she could run away, heal up, and let her drayks take a few hits. This was as a loyalist guardian whose only canister use was the three drayk canisters on torment. While the agent and shaper may be more "powerful", there were times in the game where getting hit was unavoidable, short of complete avoidance or precognition. Most notably, when things came around the corner AFTER your turn has ended. Or in those maps with automatic damage. And on torment, the agent and shaper both die pretty easily. Honestly, the greatest difficulty was inventory management. Especially with charms alone taking up an entire row. But with the shaper and agent's lower strength, it must be even more of a pain for them. AND!... And... let's not forget who would win in a 1 on 1 fight ;) [ Friday, July 01, 2005 03:27: Message edited by: Travers ] Posts: 51 | Registered: Friday, October 31 2003 08:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, July 1 2005 03:58
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Folks, you've got to specify the difficulty level when discussing this kind of thing. So far everyone has found that Guardians are much trickier than the other classes, when playing on Torment difficulty. Delicious Vlish was able to beat the game (including Monastery Caves) with a 'hunter' Guardian, but to do so he pumped missile weapons and dexterity to outrageous levels. I used a more traditional melee Guardian, and had much the same experience as Waylander. I didn't bother with Blessing Magic past Speed, and I took my time getting up to 100 Energy even for that: there are plenty of pods around. Blessing and Protection were of course standard. Augmentation was handy fairly often. I agree with Hume that Parry is by no means useless: it acts as weightless armor. It just isn't the gamebreaker it was in G2. The Oozing Blade is good enough to pack for the whole game, but it is so bad against Rotghroths that you should carry the Claymore too, and switch back and forth. I have never gotten creations to work well with my Guardians, in any Geneforge game, so I end up going solo. I tried bringing Alwan, but he was mostly a loss. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5870
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written Friday, July 1 2005 04:05
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I heared the game was difficult for guardians, so I started at normal. Later I found it easy after I get claymore, so I turned it to tricky. Again after the talisman of might and ererald chestplate, it turned it to torment. If seems that as the game progress, the guadian run become increasingly easy. Posts: 122 | Registered: Tuesday, May 31 2005 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5754
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written Friday, July 1 2005 04:32
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What most people in this topic are saying in this topic is true its actually pretty easy as a guardian. There were only a couple of hard parts through out the game. I would of beaten the game as a guardian butt I accidentaly deleted the save file. Posts: 626 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 878
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written Friday, July 1 2005 08:41
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Parry isn't useless, its effect is just changed. Now instead of preventing you from being hit its main benefit is reducing the damage you take when you are hit. -------------------- Warning: Posts may contain misspellinks and typo.s Posts: 409 | Registered: Sunday, March 31 2002 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 2245
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written Friday, July 1 2005 10:00
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quote:Oh yeah. I was playing on Torment. -------------------- VIVE LA TAKERS! VIVE LA REBELLION! VIVE LA GHALDRING! Posts: 522 | Registered: Friday, November 15 2002 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 3629
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written Friday, July 1 2005 16:12
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quote:I was playing on torment, and I did specify that (if you were addressing me, or just noone in particular). Perhaps the reason you haven't gotten creations to be useful, is because you haven't used the right ones. IMO, you need creations that can take a couple hits, which means magic shaping is a no-go. But you also want creations to be able to support you with ranged fire, not melee: so that means fire shaping. Drayks are probably now my all time favorite creation in the game. Not only are they incredibly kawaii, but they hit hard and take hits. And you can get them really, really early. By end game, they should be only a couple levels lower than you. Posts: 51 | Registered: Friday, October 31 2003 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 2245
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written Friday, July 1 2005 22:44
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quote:Oh, you're right. I had 7 drayks by Gull Island (I never bothered to count, I always assumed 8 due to eight portraits). -------------------- VIVE LA TAKERS! VIVE LA REBELLION! VIVE LA GHALDRING! Posts: 522 | Registered: Friday, November 15 2002 08:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, July 2 2005 05:56
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You might be on to something with the Fire Shaping for Guardians, Travers. I think I never really tried that, beyond a few early Fyoras, because I had become so enamored with Magic Shaping while playing Shapers. Pushing for a couple of Drayks might really be a plan: they are certainly a good creation in every way. I learned Create Rotghroth from Khyrryk, and toyed with the idea of making one or two, but never did. But by all accounts they are pretty tough, so they might be viable as well. I guess I also agree with Hume that the game gets easier for Guardians the further you go -- well, after Greenwood, which is pretty easy. For my Guardian, Harmony was by far the toughest. Maybe a few fire creations would have made the difference. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |