Things you wish you knew before you started (Spoilers)

[mvdeckard]

I'll start:

1. Food is overrated. Let them starve.

[Jirodyne]

2. One Alchemist makes the hardmode a breeze, 2 of them is godmode, 4 of them makes Ironman, Hard, Old-School, Single-Use mode a breeze.

[msyblade]

That gold keys aren't as rare as I thought. I was afraid to spend them, knowing I would regret using it. Finished with SIX.

[mvdeckard]

That gold keys aren't as rare as I thought. I was afraid to spend them, knowing I would regret using it. Finished with SIX.

This is encouraging. I encountered a weapon I really want (heavy axe near the blue crystal in Ruins of Desarune) , but it would be my last gold key, and I like having at least one on hand to preview a gold key item and then reload.

[LastFootnote]

That gold keys aren't as rare as I thought. I was afraid to spend them, knowing I would regret using it. Finished with SIX.

This is encouraging. I encountered a weapon I really want (heavy axe near the blue crystal in Ruins of Desarune) , but it would be my last gold key, and I like having at least one on hand to preview a gold key item and then reload.

So far I have found about one Gold key for every gold lock, with the exception of the Vault. There are 4 locks, but only one key there. I opened two locks when I first got there, which left me about one key behind until I found a Gold key room that just had a bunch of firearm ammo. I had no trouble skipping that one.

[mvdeckard]

So far I have found about one Gold key for every gold lock, with the exception of the Vault. There are 4 locks, but only one key there. I opened two locks when I first got there, which left me about one key behind until I found a Gold key room that just had a bunch of firearm ammo. I had no trouble skipping that one.

I'm pretty sure there are less gold keys than there are locks in the game. In the case of the Vault, I got the feeling the designer of the game expects you to choose one one lock to open for a bonus item, not all of them.

[sapientCrow]

There are either enough gold keys for many of the locks.
I initially thought there was around 9 but I counted over 11 in my last playthrough.
However the first playthrough is what this post is about and none of us knew the first time so it was a big decision in the cache and the vault.
I am glad I did not know for my first playthrough though.
My second playthrough I ran straight for the vault with a bunch of gold keys in hand (4 or 5 are readily accessible right away)

I also had no idea about alchemy my first run through the game. I chose a wizard and a battle mage and evasion rogue and a mino barbarian.
Second time through I chose 2 alchemists and barbarians and my 3rd time it was 3 alchemists and a barbarian.

[Sir Tawmis]

The thing I wish I knew ahead of time; was requirements for weapons and mostly spells.

Nothing like leveling up one skill, finding a great weapon, and discovering you now need to level up 3 times, to up a different skill just to use the weapon.

Same with the spells. This was more annoying than the weapons thing. Having known the spell requirements ahead of time would have made for a much stronger battle wizard in my party.

[mvdeckard]

- Missile weapons suck, even with +5 points into missile weapons and the best bow in the game.
- Hardmode for first playthrough will mean a lot of reloading unless you researched min/max's, classes and skills ahead of time. Better to play Normal mode first and learn the game, since certain enemies take forever to kill without proper gear & stats (example, common Skeletons in Cemetery area seem to have as many hitpoints as Wormwound bosses.)

[any6]

Do not make your Battle Mage the alchemist -.-

Between concentration and 2 fields, you really don't have points to spare on 5 levels alchemy, but once you commit, you have to go down that road. My battle mage has been reduced to utility.