Grimrock

Herro everyone.
I bought this great game yesterday and want to ask some questions before my start.
I completed my first playthrough in LoG I on Hard Difficulty with Old School Mode On. It was a great experience, but i see more options in LoG II.
Now we have Old School, Ironman and Single-Use Crystals, and i don't know how to start. First, i am sure i need an Old-School. What about others?
Probably Ironman is a best tool to eliminate save-scum and various quick-save abuses. No more reload over and over untill perfect result.
I still will be able to save on crystals, but dancing around crystal and wait for it recharge is not a good thing. It provides endless healing, not only saves.

However, if i will start with all this modes on, how i am supposed to complete the game? In situation where one of the characters died, there is no way to go. You can only reload your last save on crystal because next crystal can be very very far away.

Also, what about classes? I want to pick farmer in a back row because it's funny and adds a realistic aspect to the game (not every prisoner supposed to be a great warrior, the are just people in a first place). What if farmer is to strong with his ability to outlevel party and grow food? I want to clear hardcore experience, not an easy one.

Basically, everything can be archived to one question. How close crystals placed to each other and how many of them in the game? It would be terrible if there is only few and your progress will be saved only X times.
Is Ironman + Single-Use Crystals completable in the first walkthorught? I don't ask about Old School, because I will definitely use it.

What generally you can recommend me?

Lynx wrote:However, if i will start with all this modes on, how i am supposed to complete the game? In situation where one of the characters died, there is no way to go. You can only reload your last save on crystal because next crystal can be very very far away.

There are potions of resurrection in the game that can resurrect a single party member. 12 are spread across the game, plus enough alchemy ingredients to make up to 9 more, and if you have an alchemist then you get the ingredients to make another one every 7400 steps. There are also 7 crystal shards of healing, which are consumables that resurrect the entire party.

Lynx wrote:What if farmer is to strong with his ability to outlevel party and grow food?

Farmer does not have any sort of ability to grow food. And since it starts with 2 fewer skill points than every other class, it would have to outlevel the other classes by at least 3 levels in order to outperform them. It's just weaker than the other classes for the most part.

Lynx wrote:Basically, everything can be archived to one question. How close crystals placed to each other and how many of them in the game?

There are 20 crystals. There are 34 levels, but some of them are insignificantly small.

Lynx wrote:Is Ironman + Single-Use Crystals completable in the first walkthorught? I don't ask about Old School, because I will definitely use it.

I wouldn't recommend playing through for the first time without frequent saves, since like the first game there are a lot of cheap traps, but I can't think of any reason it would be particularly difficult to complete - it'll just waste a lot of your time.

minmay wrote:There are potions of resurrection in the game that can resurrect a single party member. 12 are spread across the game, plus enough alchemy ingredients to make up to 9 more, and if you have an alchemist then you get the ingredients to make another one every 7400 steps. There are also 7 crystal shards of healing, which are consumables that resurrect the entire party.

Well, that's a way to go.

minmay wrote:Farmer does not have any sort of ability to grow food. And since it starts with 2 fewer skill points than every other class, it would have to outlevel the other classes by at least 3 levels in order to outperform them. It's just weaker than the other classes for the most part.

Okay, I misreading something, but should I choose Farmer if I want more challenge or should I avoid him because he will outlevel my party by 3+ levels?

minmay wrote:There are 20 crystals. There are 34 levels, but some of them are insignificantly small.

Seems, like there is enough crystals to make them Single-Use only.

minmay wrote:I wouldn't recommend playing through for the first time without frequent saves, since like the first game there are a lot of cheap traps, but I can't think of any reason it would be particularly difficult to complete - it'll just waste a lot of your time.

Time to replay part of the game from last crystal-save?

Lynx wrote:

minmay wrote:Farmer does not have any sort of ability to grow food. And since it starts with 2 fewer skill points than every other class, it would have to outlevel the other classes by at least 3 levels in order to outperform them. It's just weaker than the other classes for the most part.

Okay, I misreading something, but should I choose Farmer if I want more challenge or should I avoid him because he will outlevel my party by 3+ levels?

I just told you it's weaker than the other classes...

minmay wrote:I just told you it's weaker than the other classes...

Yes, i saw it, but... Ah, okay then, i will pick one Farmer and place it in a back row.

Lynx wrote:However, if i will start with all this modes on, how i am supposed to complete the game?

By being carefull, observant and good with controlls.

Lynx wrote:What if farmer is to strong with his ability to outlevel party?

When done right - a.k.a. you learned how and where to get (more) food - he outlevels the party before leaving Shipwreck Beach which makes the "weak class" argument completely pointless. In case you don't want this to happen do not pick a farmer .. OR .. play a lone farmer

Lynx wrote:Is Ironman + Single-Use Crystals completable in the first walkthorught?

It has been done - even on Hard - so this is a definate "Yes".
Now when asked about how tough that was it should be enough to say that those doing it on Hard cursed AH quite a bit

Dr.Disaster wrote:When done right - a.k.a. you learned how and where to get (more) food - he outlevels the party before leaving Shipwreck Beach which makes the "weak class" argument completely pointless. In case you don't want this to happen do not pick a farmer .. OR .. play a lone farmer

Lone farmer is not a way to go for the first walkthrough, but I will keep this in mind for the future.

Dr.Disaster wrote:It has been done - even on Hard - so this is a definate "Yes".
Now when asked about how tough that was it should be enough to say that those doing it on Hard cursed AH quite a bit

For sure I am talking about Hard, just forgot to mention it.

Well, thank you, I will go with Hard + Old-School + Ironman + Single-Use Crystals, but I probably will not take farmer, need to think about another class.

minmay wrote:

Lynx wrote:Is Ironman + Single-Use Crystals completable in the first walkthorught? I don't ask about Old School, because I will definitely use it.

I wouldn't recommend playing through for the first time without frequent saves, since like the first game there are a lot of cheap traps, but I can't think of any reason it would be particularly difficult to complete - it'll just waste a lot of your time.

I did

*Best game I played during the many weeks it took me to finish the game too.

I've not used the hardest settings, but I have found Farmer to be fun and useful.
Underrated class that if used properly can be very powerful and make one of your other party members more powerful.