"Light works well!"
*casts Thunder Affinity*
This has happened repeatedly while dealing with undead.

It might be happening when there are mixed enemy groups, and the pawn is just not taking into account that there are more undead than anything.

I also traveled with Rook, the starting pawn for a while, and it didn't work out well. Sometimes he would cast one buff that was effective on my weapon, but then Kinara would throw on a different one on top of it.

Yeah, my main pawn Mage is a female. I know they go nuts for them and like to target them. Their butt becomes a weak point when it flashes, so I can get damage in on them when hitting the legs to knock them down as well. The Antler Toss skill is good for that. Follow it up with Downthrust once it's on the ground. Eats stamina though. Need to find a class that Augments that next, I think.

I think the big difference is playstyles. I didnt really have an issue with it because I didn't really care if they enchanted it or not. I considered the enchantment a little extra bonus. not a requirement. you seem to be wanting to "min/max" it, which while totally understandable is likely where the issues come up. plus I went with assassin who gets bonuses for going out without a party, so I did spend a lot of the game without any AI.

overall though how are you enjoying it? and how far are you?

I don't want to min-max in particular, though I do want to play intelligently. I don't have to have the best character possible to be happy, but if I notice a weakness in my playstyle I'd prefer to correct it however I can. I just want to play with some efficiency.
For example, I don't think it's OP to want to be able to change my skills in the field, rather than be stuck with the same few skills until I can make it back to town.
Case in point, treking through an area fighting wolves, I'm glad to have my dashing attack (burst something, I think) to close distances. But if I don't happen to have Skyward Lash when some harpies show up I just kind of have to stand around and wait for my party to finish them (or waste time grabbing their legs, which I admit is actually pretty entertaining for a while). And most of the time they're out of range for my Shield Drum taunting to pull aggro.
Or I'd really like to bring along the Steel Will skill to up my defense, but doing so means that I don't have room for something else, like Downthurst which I usually use to quickly finish Human-sized enemies.
I just don't see the point of putting the player in that situation where they have to choose 3 or 6 skills and hope that they are suitable for the things they encounter, which they have no way of knowing ahead of time without resorting to a guide or something.


That aside, I do like the game. I don't intend to stop playing anytime soon.
As far as the main story missions, I'm working for the Duke. I've translated a tablet and routed some goblins from a castle. About to start investigating a cult.
Aside from that stuff, I've done a bunch of exploration, and every noticeboard quest I can manage. Also, since figuring out that I can hire two pawns at once in addition to my personal one, things have gotten a bit easier.

What I've learned of the bigger enemies so far:
Chimera are pushovers.
Cyclops are easy, but take forever. Especially the armored ones.
Ogres are manageable, but still suck. Do not want to fight 2 at once, and I've seen such groups around the Abbey.
The one Griffen I've seen didn't do much damage, but it had a ton of life. Pretty sure it was a scripted encounter because it busted up a wagon that was under attack by goblins, roared while I hung onto it and slashed, then bucked me and took off. It didn't do much fighting, so I don't know how it fights, or how to counter it.
Made my way through the Ancient Quarry, and not long after I was attacked by...something. It was nighttime in a heavily forested area, so I didn't get to see what it was. But I could tell that it was flying, breathing fire, and had about 6 bars of life. Guessing something like a wyvern since it didn't appear to be as big as the Dragon. I ran for it, and made it to the Shadow Fort to do my goblin raid.

i didnt mean min maxing in the extreme, just used it as a general term. comparing your style with mine.

yea that was a scripted fight. later on you will get a quest to hunt down the griffin.

im pretty sure what you fought was a drake. and it is probably the hardest thing you will find out in the open world, but killing it is how you dragonforge your gear. (upgrades it to rank 4 basically) when ever you kill any dragon all your gear has a certain chance of being DF if it has been upgraded at all. the higher the upgrade the higher the chance.

Sweet.
I wasn't with it for long, and it never landed so I didn't really get a chance to scope it out. Am I going to need anti-air stuff to get it on the ground?

the griffin or the drake?

Also you can get an ability for one of your pawns (I believe it is a shield attack for the fighter) that you can use to literally launch you into the air. It can be used to grab onto flying enemies and fight them in mid air....and results in some pretty epic fights.

in regards to getting it grounded I think half the fun is experimenting, and not being told before you even get the fight, but you can click the spoilers if you really want to know

Spoiler:

The drake.
Went back and fought one during daylight. It never took wing, maybe because the trees were so think. Couldn't even get one of its many health bars gone. Just don't do enough damage. Even with what I assume is its weak point exposed (chest area).
Have to laugh at my pawns' stupidity again. Fighting this giant FIRE breathing drake, when I see my pawn start to conjure up the big Ice spell I taught her. Finally playing smart, eh? Well, no, as it turns out.
"Goblins, Master!"
"Their kind hate Ice and Fire both!"
*massive column of ice wasted on the tiny goblin.


In the Water God's Alter, one of my hired pawns decides to off herself and jump in the water. First pawn death I've had. Hope she wasn't carrying anything useful.

I have defeated a Griffin now. This one too attacked me as I neared the main town, but he was actually looking for a fight. I actually figured your tip would be the case since that's what does it for Harpies. Unfortunately, being the party fighter means I have no way to hit them with Fire unless a pawn enchants it on me, or casts a spell with it themselves. Indeed, I was fighting a second griffin during some southern exploration, and my pawns, despite previous experience seeing that it doesn't work, refused to use any Fire magic.
Being the party fighter,

ah, the drake takes flight on occasions. there will be parts during the fight where he flies up. once he does it a few times you will catch on and know before he does it and have time to grab on and attack him while he is up there.

you may want to look into being a mystic knight. it is a pretty powerful class. it is basically a fighter with some magical abilities.

skip to about :23 in the vid to skip part the crap in the beginning

That's where I was looking to head next, actually. I was betting it could enchant its own weapons, but that other stuff's pretty sweet too. And from the looks of it, I can bring some of my existing sword skills along, or there are similar ones in that class.
Shouldn't be long since I've only got one skill left to get in Fighter.

Had a pretty awesome moment last night while fighting another griffin. This one wouldn't land either, and yet again my pawns refused to burn it. The sword I have now, Eden's Ward, has a permanent Fire enchantment on it though, so I was just waiting for my chance. Well, just as with the goblins and the drake story, some Harpies decide to crash the party. These my pawns know how to fight, so again they set about hurting them to the exclusion of the griffin.
But it didn't matter. The griffin flew in close about the same time I grabbed a harpy. I leap off of the harpy and snag the griffin's tale. Then I just had to climb up and start beating it. Just glad I had a number of stamina items along.

The pawns dont automatically know all the weaknesses, they fight goblins so they know it is weak to ice, they fight harpies so they know it is weak to fire, they arent going to automatically know that other similar creatures share that same weakness, but over time as you fight more of them they will learn and they will use the right elements just as they have been on the weaker stuff you have been fighting more frequently


EDIT: also what classes are all your pawns that your using?

Yeah, I know that. But you'd think that if they'd done something and had it work before they'd kind of remember that.
"Hey, Pawn. Remember yesterday when that griffin showed up, and you burned its wings with your fire spell? Remember how it crashed into the ground, and allowed me to get my face-stabbing on?"
"Yeah. That was awesome!"
"Could you do that again now?"
"...What?"
"It's just that he seems to be picking up that other pawn to carry away, and I'd kind of like him to not do that. Pawn. Pawn?"
"One second, Arisen. I see a goblin over there. Their kind hates Ice and Fire both."
"I know that, Pawn. But the griffin--"
"Fire works well!"

Anyhoo, my point is not so much that they don't learn, but that they don't prioritize well, or act quickly enough to suit me. Really am missing the old FF12 gambit system for that. And the ability to switch control among the party members. However, when the combat does work in this game, I will say it's a lot more fun than it ever was in FF12.



I switch out pawn fairly often. The only ones I haven't changed are my own class, Fighter, and my main pawn, Mage. They're about to got to Mystic Knight and Sorcerer, respectively.
The others have switched around a bit more, but it's usually another Mage with different spells and a ranged attacker.

you can also check a pawns knowledge of griffins when picking it from the rift, and it should end up sharing its knowledge with your pawn

Now that I did not know. Somewhere under their Details, I assume?

I've considered it, believe me. But he's also about 50 levels higher than me, and I don't want to make the game too easy.
Thanks though. Once I'm up around there I'll probably run with both yours and Nobody's, which is only a few levels lower. Using randoms at the moment since none of the people on my list have pawns in my neighborhood.
Hmm.

But if he will share his knowledge with my pawn, I might borrow him for a moment. I don't think it would make the game too easy to make my pawns not retarded.

I just think that cobalt is too low a level to take on a drake. He needs to level up more.

Certainly. I attempted the fight once just to see how far I could get. I lasted several minutes just dodging his attacks and pinging him. They are really easy to read. I just couldn't do any damage is all. Also, I was a lot better at dodging than my pawns were. Kept having to run around and revive them.
I haven't been back to fight him since, and I expect it'll still be a while yet before I go. Just hit level 40, btw. Have yet to find any significantly better gear too.


I've been throwing the odd goblin/bandit off of cliffs wherever I can. It is a giggle.
Also picking up random townsfolk.

how many chimera have you fought? those were always fun to fight imo

A few. They go down easy enough.
At the very least they actually stay where you can fight them...unlike those stupid griffins.

There's one that's annoying me quite a lot. It shows up, but then just flies around high out of range, never really landing. I'm tempted to switch to an archer class just to ping it into coming down to fight.

Liking the Mystic Knight so far. Just got my first enchant skill. Interested to see how the Magic Cannon improves later.

have you gone off to the tower in the north east yet?

Not for story purposes yet, but I did go anyway just to see what was there. Some nice equipment, a lot of fun jumping segments (love my Skyward Dash), and a door I couldn't unlock. Assuming I'll get the key for that later.

you may want to progress your story

I'll do that when I run out of other quests to do.
I never want to advance too fast for fear of making something else unavailable.

Well, now I'm mad at myself.

I took on the Talent in Bloom quest to deliver a Blessed Flower, but I got to forging items/turning them in and let the stupid thing wilt.

I know you can forge it, but that won't make it a fresh one.
This is why I hate games that don't allow you to pick your save files. I don't like having my game screwed up by small mistakes.

I don't suppose any of you out there have kept one in storage that you could forge and send my way?