Questions about Chapters 8 and 9 (major spoilers)

[rditto48801]

I made it to the end of Chapter 8 (omgwtf mama spider was big! where's the Dark Messiah's equivalent of an anti-tank missile at?!), and rescued Leanna.

Unless I misunderstood, it sounded like she said she was going to seal the portal.
She doesn't pass through the portal, even if she is on 'follow' mode, and her health gauge is still shown. If I got back through the portal, she is still standing there on the Necromancer base side of the portal.
Is she ever going to close the portal or otherwise come through it?
Or is she literally going to stay behind and close the portal without going through it, meaning I should just continue on due to it being the way the storyline is made to work?

I got 3 saves in the general area, one next to Leanna on the Necromancer's base side of the portal, one at the end of Chapter 8 (right as the 'area transition' type icon starts to appear), and one at the start of Chapter 9.

Is there anything I am missing? Or should I just continue on with chapter 9 without any trouble or worry?

Also relating to rescuing Leanna.
With the thing of getting 'purified' that Leanna mentioned after she was rescued.
I know from what a friend had told me, getting purified unlocks some good anti-undead type weapons, but I am curious if there is any other reason to get purified?
Is it possible to have saved Leanna, but not get purified, and still go for a 'good' ending and not an 'evil' ending?
I plan on going for the 'lock up tight' option (item on an altar?) rather than the 'release' option (toss item down a pit?).
Or shall I find myself having no real choice since I chose to rescue Leanna?

[Blín D'ñero]

Yes, she is literally going to stay behind and close the portal without going through it, meaning you should just continue on due to it being the way the storyline is made to work.

getting purified unlocks some good anti-undead type weapons, but I am curious if there is any other reason to get purified?
Is it possible to have saved Leanna, but not get purified, and still go for a 'good' ending and not an 'evil' ending?

You need the Bow of Dragons Claw, the Dragons Sword you have already. With these you can win the final battle later on, without them i don't think you'd manage.
If you want an evil ending this is not the moment to decide, it's later on.

[rditto48801]

I finally got back to playing Dark Messiah, but now I am stuck.
Mainly at the beginning of Chapter 9.
Mainly the fact the game lacks an apparent equivalent to nuclear missiles...
Duncan dies, I die...
It seems like a total waste of skill points to get better weapons and armor if a ghoul can kill me just as quickly and are about as hard to kill as they do in the beginning of the game... not including the fact there are 2-3 ghouls and a necromancer.
It seems like I can't hit anything (the attack visibly hits, but nothing happens as if I hit air), my charge attacks result in NOTHING happening... (not even a normal attack, I prep a power attach, sprint, attack, and NOTHING happens...) and I can't dodge/block fast enough half the time, and by the time my health is low enough to warrant a health potion, Sareth is usually dead on the ground before my finger even hits the hotkey to drink a potion... I am starting to believe have of the 'BS' a friend was telling me about the X-Box 360 version... (nearly impossible swarms of enemies and the game going down the drain near the end...)

For someone that seems to have survived a lot, Duncan seems like someone that could be taken out by a sneeze.

It seems like nothing I got does the trick. The firelord staff doesn't cut it (Ooo.... +6 damage, with a slow attack that is more as likely to hit a wall or obstacle near me as it is to hit the thing I am aiming for), the lightning daggers seem to be pointless (I saw a necromancer get shocked during one attempt to get past him and the first three ghouls), and using a bow would be just plain suicide with a necromancer and 3 ghouls trying to force themselves down my guy's throat...

Am I missing something?
I got more of a stealth build with modest combat and magic capabilities, which basically means I got crap for weapons and armor in terms of damage potential and protection, so I can't use an Earthfire sword to lay waste to the undead , and the only shields are got are the two indestructible ones I can't use (a fire and lightning shield iirc).

Needless to say, a game looses a LOT of points with me when story line wise (and appearance wise), a character is a survivor and has hefty armor, yet they die in just 2-3 hits... it makes me wonder "how the hell did this guy survive orcs and getting back to the town if a lone Necromancer or ghoul wtfpwns him in 5 seconds?"... at least until Sareth also gets wtfpwnd while trying to kill the thing that was attacking and killed Duncan... nothing like burning through 5 health potions and a fire trap and trying to take on a mob of 3 ghouls, all in 5 seconds and still dying before getting a chance to drill the hell out of the health potion hot key even more...


What I wouldn't do for some sort of weapon that was good against undead and didn't require skills near the bottom of the melee combat oriented part of the skill tree... or an ally that wasn't a suicidal idiot that seems to get in the way of the half of my attacks that actually hit anything...

Last time I played, I more or less mowed through such bastards in earlier chapters, and now I die horribly in an area with several convenient ways to instant kill the bastards...
This is very frustrating.

I have to wonder, is there an infinite supply of ghouls in the beginning?
I killed two (one on spike rack, the other went flying off the edge with a kick), and I am still facing 3 ghouls, and Duncan is dead... (the time that a fire trap and 5 health potions in 5 seconds and still dying...)
I also had a Ghoul being IMMUNE to my attacks... (it took 3 kicks before the game registered a hit counting as a hit and actually sending a ghoul into a spike rack... the kicks were acting/sounding like they were hitting... on a later attempt, the ghoul was standing IN MID AIR, a good 2 feet off the ground over a guard it pounced on...)
It seems like my luck has gone out the window with this game, or else the game has taken a total leave of sensibility...

[Blín D'ñero]

Is that the part with the water wheel?

Back over the small bridge, climb on the roof of straw, walk towards to end, go through the hole in the fence, walk to the other end where you'll have a nice overview of the scene while being stealth. You can kill everybody there without suffering a single scratch yourself.
Find the right edge so your arrows won't stick into the wooden fence, there's some clipping there, but you can shoot just above that range.

Only thing you must watch for carefully is that no enemy walks into Duncan's house or they'll kill him. Every enemey walking to that door should get your highest priority.
For fastest results use the Dragon's Bow or Bow of Fire.

Needless to say, a game looses a LOT of points with me when story line wise (and appearance wise), a character is a survivor and has hefty armor, yet they die in just 2-3 hits... it makes me wonder "how the hell did this guy survive orcs and getting back to the town if a lone Necromancer or ghoul wtfpwns him in 5 seconds?"... at least until Sareth also gets wtfpwnd while trying to kill the thing that was attacking and killed Duncan... nothing like burning through 5 health potions and a fire trap and trying to take on a mob of 3 ghouls, all in 5 seconds and still dying before getting a chance to drill the hell out of the health potion hot key even more...

You are supposed to not only have the warrior-power but also knowing tricks to outsmart the enemy!

[rditto48801]

level starts, I romp through sewer, find freaked out guy worried about ghouls, I climb ladder, I find Duncan, I get sick and tired of watching the little 'cutscene' for the 20th time, guy screams and falls down steps dead... cue many, many deaths... also cue Duncan dying many, many times...
So I basically am having trouble getting more than a few minutes into the level...

The game is basically handing me my butt much of the time, and the few times I do save Duncan from the initial attack, I die anyways from the other ghouls that show up.


Skills (iirc)
for combat, I got melee 2 and archery 2.
For magic, I got fire arrow, fire trap, ice, lightning, and heal.
For the other I got stamina (or whatever the basic thing is), on top of alertness, burglary, stealth 3.
I got 14 skill points floating around, but I can't really figure out how to distribute them in a way that suites me best.

One thing I would like to try and do is keep Duncan alive, which is hard to do when he runs off to commit suicide moments after he stops talking after I get to the top of the ladder to find him... which means ranged spells (especially AoE ones) is out of the question since he gets in the way, and even close combat is questionable since he seems to get in front of my attacks as much as the enemy I am trying to attack when trying to save him.

Hell, what I would really want right now is the Patriot Arrow from Robin Hood: Men in Tights...

[Blín D'ñero]

Oh there! City of Flames. Start level. That city guard isn't Duncan, don't worry you can't save him.
You climb ladder
Let the city guard fight with that flamethrowing necromancer
so you can aim your Rope arrow at the wood above that window with the balcony, climb up, find potions, kill all ghouls from there using arrows.

[rditto48801]

Based on the dialogue, he is called Duncan as that is what Sareth called him, he responds to the name Duncan and he goes on to mention a cousin named Percy, and when he dies, Sareth makes a comment about Duncan being killed, so the game has tossed a lot of stuff at me indicating it is Duncan that I have run into after exiting the sewer via the ladder.

I can usually gut the flame tossing Necromancer without any trouble, its the three pack of ghouls that are the main trouble, especially the one that is occasionally invulnerable until it is done doing whatever animation it was trying to do after pouncing on and instant killing a guard at the top of the steps right past where the necromancer was at.

I decided to TRY and keep going after Duncan gets killed... (even though I'd rather wipe out all enemies in general trying to save even a single 'ally'... such as that servant in I think was in the beginning of Chapter 2... lots of running up and down stairs to ignite arrows to snipe blackguards with from upstairs window...)

I made one final attempt for today, getting Melee 3, using the best sword I could use (Sword of the Disciple, I think) and Lightning Shield since it is indestructible and can shock enemies when blocking their attacks.
I lasted a little longer, no thanks to mister suicidal soldier, but I'm about to give up after I get killed by ghouls 8-10 and all health potions are gone (had 16 left at the start, and I didn't even have time to try and go to inventory to toss the full health into the same belt slot the health potions were in AND fight off ghouls that knocked me down to 1/5th in under 3 seconds after I burned up the last healing potion...)

I can't even do anything but fight... I could run and then get gutted from behind or simply have my path blocked by one or more ghouls grinding me to a stop as they seem to simply come from where ever it is they are coming from... it's like the game is out to ensure I can't get anywhere past the top of the stairs just past exiting the sewers.

Is there some minor thing I missed earlier due to some absent need to know information and that the game is now punishing me for missing said little thing?

or else I might as well say to hell with the guy the game insists is Duncan, and take the one route mentioned via the rope bow.

But for now, I need sleep before I stay up to long trying to button mash my way past ghouls to the point of my keyboard and mouse spontaneously combusting...

[Blín D'ñero]

Oh your right then it must be Duncan, but he is not crucial anyway and you don't have to save him. It's also a waste of energy and time to try to kill the ghouls on ground. Like i said, use the Rope Bow to climb on a balcony (i always climb the first one in this scenery). From the balcony, you can hunt and kill all ghouls using any bow you like.

[rditto48801]

It bums me out that there is a 'named NPC' such as Duncan that basically has no chance for survival...
Although he seemed to last a lot longer when I wasn't trying to save him... (rubber band A.I. or dynamic difficulty at play?)

I'm glad I got the special quiver that gives infinite arrows, because I get the feeling I am going to need a lot to pot shot ghouls.

Although, at this moment I given up trying to kill ghouls with any speed with a bow since they aren't staying still much (wtf, I can normally head shot a moving target a fair distance away, now I can't seem to even get a hit on the body at shorter ranges), so I am presently amusing myself with the ice bow... one ghoul casualty so far from slip and slide accidents...
Although they seem to gleefully trip over the ice, the suddenly avoid it like the plague when I ice up the ground near some spiked racks...

On a related question.
Are there any fire based weapons other than the earthfire sword or the firelord staff? Such as fire based daggers or bow?

In the meantime, I look for a sniping position with access to a fire, so I can ignite regular arrows...


edit:
I think I found a minor bug...
adrenaline mode kicked in when I was messing around with the ice bow with an arrow that froze a ghoul, so let rip a shot before the ice bow recharged since the ghoul was not moving for the moment, and the ghoul shattered with an adrenaline bow shot to the head and it had one bit catch on fire for a moment.

at least I am running out of ghouls to harass at the moment...

edit 2:
I just found the fire bow after finding Percy.
Now I just need to know if there are any fire based daggers.

[Blín D'ñero]

Enjoy the game!