How exactly is this thing supposed to work? Currently I'm using the Catch Reflection technique on third eye hunters, and then going to my character page and using the skill, but all I get is one (strength?) xp and never any items. Definitely getting a different message when using it with no reflections caught, but yeah. No items.
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How high is your perception? Maybe you got everything they can drop when you first kill them?
I've used it rather an amount of times and never acquired any items, and tried against a few different opponents. Base stats are:
Perception: 44
Reflexes: 56
Strength: 49
Will: 41
I didn't actually know until now that perception has an effect on item drops, so maybe I'll try it against other folks tomorrow and see what comes up. I guess it's possible I'm getting all the third eye hunter drops except for the maps, and it just doesn't work for quest items…
I don't suppose anyone has attempted to use this skill on the Flickering Guard.
Or, Dr. Johnson.
Or, the Ocean King.
Or, the Quad Psycho.
Or, Officer Stone.
Or, a sewer mutant.
Or, maybe, the Midgard Special Officer?
Actually, it seems to me that the Mirror Gazing skill actually has a lot of potential. Either it's just heavily unspaded or it sort of fell on the wayside. For now, anyways.
So, OK, based on what we know so far, this is a pretty lame skill. Apart from getting the odd item from capturing a very few opponents (and, yeah, unlocking a really cool avatar), this skill lets you get ONE MEASLY extra XP from a fight, but only if you use a crappy weapon with no attack power AND use Catch Reflection in the fight AND spend a turn to use the skill. I asked Kinak about this in chat and he said a few things, most notably:
- It's one of his favorite skills
- He has a policy of hitting anybody who asks for more content in this skill with a stick
- It may be more fun than optimal, but it's not intended to be useless
So the suggestion, at least, is that there's existing content still waiting to be found that does something useful.
I am pretty much stumped about where or how else to look for content, so I'm resorting to crazy brainstorming. The alt text for the Faceless avatar caught my attention:
Like a mirror, holding nothing, reflecting everything
Maybe there's a way to impersonate opponents you have caught in the mirror somehow? Seems like a long shot, but maybe if you've got the mirror equipped (and the avatar selected?) you could pull it off somehow.
Maybe you can reflect enemy attacks somehow? I have not noticed Catch Reflection doing anything helpful against any enemy techniques, but it's possible I just haven't come across the right one.
I have been watching my bonuses pretty carefully (hey, you try to win fights without an effective weapon) and have not noticed any hidden effects like with the elegantly torn pants, but, again, maybe I haven't tried the right stuff.
There don't seem to be any gaps in the Items by ID in the vicinity of the hand mirror, so any hypothetical missing content is probably more along the lines of new techniques or encounters (or new options added to existing choice encounters).
Crazy totally untested idea:
Maybe the results of the catch reflection technique depend not only on who you fought against, but also when in the battle you use it. Currently we know that many enemies give 1 XP - this looks fairly random but there seem to be some correlations; it seems that enemies that use ranged moves often give perception XP, etc.
A bigger sample size is needed for more definite conclusions but my theory is that if you mirror an opponent that is doing a reflexes move, you'll gain reflexes XP. This makes me want to try to mirror a bunch of opponents while unopposed to see if something different can be obtained.
EDIT: No, I don't think this works. Just fought a Gang Enforcer and I caught the reflection of him doing a short burst, and got reflexes. Not to mention now I see that Will XP was reported from him, and he definitely doesn't have any will-based moves. Unless it picks a random stat if unopposed or something, but that's stretching I think.
Random thought to check someday: Using catch reflection against an opponent a bunch of times in a single battle. Might be something special if you capture their reflection five or ten times at once?
aargh… I've been going for the faceless avatar for a couple days, but thought I could just store it up… now I finally use it and only get 1 XP. Does unequipping the mirror reset the skill? Or does rollover?
re: Al's old post above mine, nothing different for capturing a poseur's reflection 14 times, then winning
In the beginning, men were mortal.
/forum/t-201005/mirror-gazing#post-