Skeletons

Having to kill skeletons twice is already kind of annoying. In R16, it was less so because you got experience points for each kill.

Now, not only do you not get exp, when the skeleton comes back to life, it runs off back somewhere so you have to chase it home to kill it again.

Because of this, I am avoiding killing skeletons alltogether as it's not fun, or profitable.

 

This is also something that may sound minor, but I think is actually kind of a big deal immersion-wise; can we get some kind of actual indicator of something happening to cause the skeletons to rise up again? A crackling noise of bones knitting together, a black glow around the corpse and then it stands back up and we hear a "muahahaha" or just something. Right now it feels cheap not only in the fact that we just have to fight them twice for no real reason but cheap in it's just the same mob standing up again with no effects or polish.

Personally I think if we're going to have to fight them again I'd like to see them get up the second time with a random percentage of their starting hit points. So it's not always having to do the same fight completely over again. Maybe anywhere from 50%-100% hp just so we can't one shot them when they get back up. Having a few "easier" fights would go a long way to making it less of a slog to go through skeletons.

But yeah from a meta-game standpoint it's not even really fighting skeletons. Takes more durability, takes longer, might get pulled into more mobs (especially skeletal archers), twice the effort for the same XP. I mean, I guess in theory our Avatars should be avoiding skeletons when travelling though dark forests but this is making the player rather than the character avoid them due to apathy as opposed to fearfulness.

 

Would be nice if there was some kind of visual indicator that skeletons are in their "second phase" - cracked bones, an even more run down looking appearance, etc.

 

I hope they remove this "second needed kill". It's annoying, it does not create immersion and finally it makes no fun to kill them twice and receive only a one time experience.

 

I don't blame you at all for being upset with skeletons during the test of this game--more irritating changes as usual. So you chose wisely as the intelligent person that you are by saying to your SoTA community that you have had enough. So here is our advice to you. Skeletons die once (yes, I said Once) when you use magic, so you must be a melee warrior. Your best place to make money as a warrior is at Greymark Forest next to Owlshead on the Hidden Vale (Elves with loot that gives you lots of money as well as the best Bow in the game so far) and Brightbone Woods which is northwest of Adoris. It has lots of bandits to kill and loot but as far as I know the buildings are empty. These are the best places for a warrior but they are tough. So if you are not at a high enough level, then level up and go back and get what you deserve, i.e., lots of money and the highest level you think you deserve. Enjoy the game and if what I give you is not enough then ***** some more nicely and we will always try to help you. Why? Because you will always help the next person who suffers like you and you will make sure that they get what they need. I hope I helped you and look forward to seeing you in the game as a powerful melee warrior who can kill every elf and bandit at will.

 

Yeah it's lame, the only good thing about it so far is one guy tried to steal my skeleton kill and it was the 2nd time I killed it so I got to loot heh, other than that, no exp for 2 kills, not worth it.

 

You only have to kill a skeleton once, you have to defeat it twice if you're using meelee but you don't kill it until then. Unless you use magic then it's supposed to die after one defeat.

 

While I appreciate your advice, I was not seeking it, nor any backhanded criticism of my posting style. I'm trying to point out what I think is going to be a problem for this game as it evolves. I hope this situation gets some more consideration.

 

I am not a big fan of this either. I don't see the logic why every skeleton should come back exactly once and do that so soon after the first kill. It just feels annoying after a while. If it would be a minor probability chance event maybe it could work, not sure, such as a 10% chance it reanimates once, a 1% chance it reanimates twice, a 0.1% chance it reanimates three times etc. A further improvement could be to only have a reanimation chance when the player tries to loot the corpse and thus disturbs the bones. There should be some course of action for a player to take to avoid the reanimation or to minimize its probability, such as by not looting the skeleton or by moving away from a fallen skeleton when continuing the fight against other enemies.

 

Im sure its an experiment, probably a great idea at the time? A dev just watched vintage HH's Sinbad? But as entertainment currently its pants. I like the idea of a visual to show which skellies had been downed once alre
ady, but really, what's the point of this anyway? I don't see any gameplay benefits.

 

At low levels, magic is very ineffective in combat, melee works much better. Monsters like Greymark elves cannot be killed by low-level characters - skeletons are one of the only options, and maybe THE only option in terms of monsters that give loot, that can be killed by a low-level character.

Furthermore the game mechanic of magic being more effective than melee vs. skeletons makes no sense. If anything it should be the reverse. You beat and break a skeleton to pieces with a sword, and it resurrects, whole? But you kill it with death spells and it dies permanently (even though it's already dead)?

 

+1.. To destroy a skelton usually means destroying it until the pieces can no longer attach and move.

When its dead it should stay dead and if its going to become undead again i want something to be indicative of what powerful magic os putting it back together while i stand stupidly and watch.. Every time

 

And to mentioned that Skeletons are present in so many scenes. Only having the feeling, but i guess Skeletons are present in nearly every second or third scene. Btw i am currently try to play an Archer and its really hard enough with all that agressive and grouped mobs. Especially at the beginning when you have no ammo and no gold. Did i asked for some starter ammo?Skeletons are a good choice to get some gold, quest items (ectoplastic) and general items to sell. I am currently far away to kill Elves which mostly attack me sticked together with 2 or 3 elves. Also with wearing leather gear, they kill me faster as i can shot on them. I think our constructive discussion is very important in order to give the devs feedback about what makes fun and what not.

 

I use magic to kill them and I still see them rise up twice.

Even with getting experience after each drop, they are incredibly challenging considering you don't get to recharge health/focus. And they are usually found in groups, so it's difficult to lure only one over to fight, every time you fight them.

Are regular skeletons really meant to be that tough? In other games they are generally a lower level baddie. Undead that get back up again after you drop them are generally considered *really* tough. Since you can't rest, you should be looking at about double the amount of experience, per drop. Not half experience for both drops.

 

While i think its stupid to get XP before you killed... ahm... destroyed your enemy, i must agree that we should get more XP at the end of the fight, as it is anoying to win against them with non magical means.

 

Right now? It's the way it is because they're testing the rise again 'getting better' mechanism. Which is why every time, they all get up. Eventually, the finish off with magic is suppose to be the way to do it right the first time, otherwise some of them may rise up again a second time. Believe it's in the release notes/comments thread somewhere.

 

I'm using only fire and sun magic spells and I have to kill them twice. What spell are you using?

 

Maybe a change in animation would help. Watching them break apart when destroyed then reassemble when reanimating would be much more interesting

 

I might be mistaken, but I think that's the future idea, but right now it's not implemented yet.
The reviving skeletons are just a first test of a system to allow the need to different mobs using different tactics. the idea is create some variety and complexity in the future, altough right now is little more than an annoyance (altough, to be fair, they now have roughly half the life than when they only needed one death, so their difficulty stays roughly the same).

It is true, however, that there are skeletons everywhere. I hope most of them are actually placeholders for when more mobs are developed and available...

 

Yes, currently they rise up no matter how they are killed. Not all skeletons are tough, though. In low level areas like Kingsroad I prefer to fight skeletons as a level 5 warrior rather than the gift spewing spiders. At places like the Spectral mines the risen skeletons sometimes forget they were in a battle and wander off.