Midboss spading center

Summary:

Compiling data on Shard, Saber, the Hammer, and any other midbosses, and the tricks around them.

Midboss spading center

llamaman 15 Jun 2009 09:46

So, recently Shard was re-changed to have a hard mode, in addition to the formerly announced "easy mode," and the base "normal mode." The hard mode announcement coincided with an option to "lure away a guard." I have managed to lure one away, but not the second, with buffstats of 16 14 10 11, as I've been grinding to figure this out.
Possible ideas I've had to try to lure the dude out is some amount of higher stat, which i would kind of doubt since I've done a goodly amount of grinding already, and you have no access to any slags level gear or better.

You might also need some amount of stealth power? I'm not 100% sure how to test this at the moment, as I'm not sure what the dominant stat for stealth is.

Is it also possible that its impossible to pull the second guard off, and Kinak left that option to mess with us after the first?

In addition, noone seems to have found, to my knowledge, the way to "think outside the box" and take him out, other than bypassing him competely. It would see that this would have something to do with eclipse or something, but nothing seems to present itsself.

Then there's Saber giver of "Crushed perceptions." In my grind to try to get shard hardmode, I ran him, got crushed perceptions, died. He's easy enough to kill if you beat shard beforehand and intimidate him, but how do you prevent crushed perceptions? A straight will check? 10 points? Or is there some other minipuzzle to figure out?

Re: Midboss spading center

Vholes 15 Jun 2009 10:05

Interesting… here are some thoughts, although keep in mind I haven't resetted in ages so I haven't seen any of this firsthand.

The stealth power page should give you some ideas if you want to test that. You might also want to try wearing a Third Eye shirt or other Third-Eye-related equipment to see if you deceive him. Don't have any great ideas on this though…

I also heard that intimidation is no longer a 100% chance to avoid crushed perceptions. I'm guessing it's a tough will check with a hefty bonus for intimidation and quite possibly some other behind-the-scenes stuff.

---

In the beginning, men were mortal.

Re: Midboss spading center

TheWyrd 15 Jun 2009 11:51

I lured one guard away. Tried to lure another one away, failed. Then I charged in and got this: "You kill the guard closest to you from concealment, before anyone realizes what's happening." Leaving only shard for me to fight.

I had a bonus of only 1 stealth power when I charged in (more when I tried to lure another guard away) and 2 stealth techniques in my deck.

The fight with just Shard, pretty darn easy. :)

Re: Midboss spading center

The Kitchen Sink 15 Jun 2009 21:14

IGNORE ME I'M STUPID

Last edited on 16 Jun 2009 09:36 by The Kitchen Sink Show more

Re: Midboss spading center

TheWyrd 15 Jun 2009 21:24

Gas grenade? What?

It's new, as llamaman posted. You lure one dude away by choosing "Lure away a guard" when you get to choose between: Charge in, Eavesdrop, Lure a guard away and Leave or something like that.

Old Devblog posts:

Some difficulty balancing on the bosses in the University Quest. Shard is easier, although it may not be readily apparent how at first, and Sabre is more difficult, largely centered around his opening attack.

and

The Shard (David/Lo rescue) fight also has another option to tune the difficulty and risk/reward yourself. This is in addition to the old method, so you can now get a pretty neat spectrum of difficulty.

Last edited on 15 Jun 2009 21:27 by TheWyrd Show more

Re: Midboss spading center

llamaman 16 Jun 2009 01:56

It's also kind of weird that if you listen at the door to Shard after Saber has killed his prisoner, they still talk about her as if she was still there. I guess it's only a bug depending on how much "time" passes during the game, though they apparently have guard switches(even though the ones you kill don't get replaced).

None of those are really "bugs" but potential weird inconsistancies.

Re: Midboss spading center

Kinak 16 Jun 2009 15:55

It's also kind of weird that if you listen at the door to Shard after Saber has killed his prisoner, they still talk about her as if she was still there. I guess it's only a bug depending on how much "time" passes during the game, though they apparently have guard switches(even though the ones you kill don't get replaced).

Yeah, communication is not that great. Which is good for you, because otherwise it'd go south pretty quickly.

I think it works out (gameplay-wise) pretty well the way it is, but I'd happily rewrite the David/Lo chunk to be a bit more straightforward but respond appropriately to guard changes. But that would mean both replenishing guards you removed through trickery and probably killing the prisoners if they realize anyone is dead.

Cheers!
Kinak

Re: Midboss spading center

llamaman 17 Jun 2009 01:01

Mainly was just complaining for the sake of complaining, but that'd be kind of neat, if they only noticed non-stealth kills, like the faulty wiring kill wouldn't count as drawing an alarm, or the shift change, maybe, but they'd be more wary or something. The bribe probably wouldn't be noticable, either, but the grenade probably would, unless you could make it look like an accident somehow.
Anyways, that second guard seems like he may be impossible to "draw away" from the adventure, or if he isn't it must involve a specific item or something.