Post by luposolitario on Jan 2, 2011 21:32:02 GMT
Hello to all.
In this topic I wish to discuss my personal view on the infamous battle against the Kleasà, which takes place in Section 149 of the first book of the World of Lone Wolf series - Grey Star the Wizard.
As you should know if you're reading this, winning this battle is statistically unlikely. The Kleasà has CS 25, EN 30, and you will suffer a fixed EN and WP loss every round for 4 rounds of combat, PLUS a 5-point loss in both EN and WP after 4 rounds have passed. The Combat Ratio for this battle will always be negative, whatever scores you start with.
Until today, the only feasible strategy against the Kleasà has been to use a huge amount of WP points to cause enough damage and kill the Kleasà before 4 rounds of combat have passed. This won't techically "kill" the Kleasà, but it should allow you to go on reading before the 4 expected rounds have passed (and you are dead, unless you somehow got only 9s and zeroes on the RNT for 4 consecutive rounds).
But. I've thought about it, and I think this particular battle should be looked at from another perspective.
This is the portion of text that caught my attention:
Here's the catch. This phrase, and the following section in the story, suggest that the Kleasà's attack is of spiritual nature: the monster is trying to destroy Grey Star's soul, not his body. Therefore, we could assume that the loss of Endurance reflects Grey Star's physical exhaustion in resisting the attack of the Kleasà, NOT a true phisical damage inflicted to him by the Kleasà.
Also, as I said before, Grey Star cannot actually win this battle. Therefore, I think that the unlikely event that the Kleasà loses all of its Endurance should not be considered as your ticket for the next section of the story. Grey Star is simply not expected to kill the Kleasà: it is an opponent way too formidable for the young wizard, who will not be able to kill it, not even in the rematch in Book 2 of the series. This is why the text in Book 1, Section 149 didn't originally include an option to end the fight prematurely. This is a scripted encounter, a key event in the story: it can't end before 4 rounds of combat, nor you can kill your opponent.
On this basis, I formulated another hypothesis. I believe that this battle should not be fought according to the usual combat rules. You can't win, and the Kleasà is an incorporeal ghost who can't physically harm you. So, here's how I see the whole picture: the damage detailed in the text I have quoted is the ONLY damage you will suffer in the fight. So, if you have erected a magical shield of Sorcery, the battle with the Kleasà will cost you 9 Endurance points and 13 Willpower points (because you are supposed to try to kill the monster, so you must use at least 1 WP point for every round of combat sustained). If you did not erect the magical shield of Sorcery, then the battle will cost you 13 EN points and 13 WP points.
I think this must be the right way to look at this, and the rest of the series seems to support this theory. WoLW is not a difficult series: most fights can be avoided (you can get through Book 3 without a single fight); compulsory fights are usually scenic, but not hard; you can have as many WP points as you can farm; the correct choice of Magicks will usually take you safe through the most insidious situations; there's even a way to fight Shasarak with as much CS as he has, or alternatively, to weaken him without having to fight him directly. WoLW is a series too carefully scripted to accept a nearly-impossible combat in it - and in the first book, too.
You may also note that, throughout the series, almost all the Endurance and Willpower "checks" will kill you if you have 14 points or less, and see you through if you have 15 points or more. 14-15 points seems to always be the critical score you must have to pass through a difficult test, and that's very close to the amount of EN and WP the Kleasà will take from Grey Star in my theory. Note that if Grey Star doesn't have that critical amount of points in the current check, failure is usually underlined by the words "You are too weak". You are too weak to hold on to the rope at the bridge of the Forbidden City; you are too weak to resist the touch of a Deathwraith; and here, you are too weak to resist the dark phantom that is the Kleasà. This reinforces my conviction that the amount of damage the Kleasà deals to you is fixed.
Of course, you may argue that the text doesn't state this clearly, and that it doesn't say that you should ignore the usual combat rules. I have considered this, and I think that this is due to a poor choice of words by Ian Page in this particular case. He probably didn't realize that giving the Kleasà a CS and EN score (exaggerated so as to suggest the enemy's incredible power) would naturally be a cue to the reader that the battle should be fought according to the usual rules, while this is in fact a scripted event resulting in an Endurance and Willpower check. Whatever way you look at this section, there is a blatant omission in the text: either you can "win" the battle before 4 rounds have passed, or the battle shouldn't be "fought" at all and the damage you suffer is fixed. Considering the disparity of strength between the two duelists, I have come to the conclusion that the latter is the correct interpretation of this otherwise stupidly difficult fight. There simply isn't place for such a difficult spot in a series that is otherwise very forgiving to the player.
In this topic I wish to discuss my personal view on the infamous battle against the Kleasà, which takes place in Section 149 of the first book of the World of Lone Wolf series - Grey Star the Wizard.
As you should know if you're reading this, winning this battle is statistically unlikely. The Kleasà has CS 25, EN 30, and you will suffer a fixed EN and WP loss every round for 4 rounds of combat, PLUS a 5-point loss in both EN and WP after 4 rounds have passed. The Combat Ratio for this battle will always be negative, whatever scores you start with.
Until today, the only feasible strategy against the Kleasà has been to use a huge amount of WP points to cause enough damage and kill the Kleasà before 4 rounds of combat have passed. This won't techically "kill" the Kleasà, but it should allow you to go on reading before the 4 expected rounds have passed (and you are dead, unless you somehow got only 9s and zeroes on the RNT for 4 consecutive rounds).
But. I've thought about it, and I think this particular battle should be looked at from another perspective.
This is the portion of text that caught my attention:
For every round of combat, subtract 1 WILLPOWER point and 2 ENDURANCE points from your total. If you have erected a magical shield of Sorcery, subtract 1 WILLPOWER point and 1 ENDURANCE point for every round of combat as the Kleasá tries to claw at your soul.
Here's the catch. This phrase, and the following section in the story, suggest that the Kleasà's attack is of spiritual nature: the monster is trying to destroy Grey Star's soul, not his body. Therefore, we could assume that the loss of Endurance reflects Grey Star's physical exhaustion in resisting the attack of the Kleasà, NOT a true phisical damage inflicted to him by the Kleasà.
Also, as I said before, Grey Star cannot actually win this battle. Therefore, I think that the unlikely event that the Kleasà loses all of its Endurance should not be considered as your ticket for the next section of the story. Grey Star is simply not expected to kill the Kleasà: it is an opponent way too formidable for the young wizard, who will not be able to kill it, not even in the rematch in Book 2 of the series. This is why the text in Book 1, Section 149 didn't originally include an option to end the fight prematurely. This is a scripted encounter, a key event in the story: it can't end before 4 rounds of combat, nor you can kill your opponent.
On this basis, I formulated another hypothesis. I believe that this battle should not be fought according to the usual combat rules. You can't win, and the Kleasà is an incorporeal ghost who can't physically harm you. So, here's how I see the whole picture: the damage detailed in the text I have quoted is the ONLY damage you will suffer in the fight. So, if you have erected a magical shield of Sorcery, the battle with the Kleasà will cost you 9 Endurance points and 13 Willpower points (because you are supposed to try to kill the monster, so you must use at least 1 WP point for every round of combat sustained). If you did not erect the magical shield of Sorcery, then the battle will cost you 13 EN points and 13 WP points.
I think this must be the right way to look at this, and the rest of the series seems to support this theory. WoLW is not a difficult series: most fights can be avoided (you can get through Book 3 without a single fight); compulsory fights are usually scenic, but not hard; you can have as many WP points as you can farm; the correct choice of Magicks will usually take you safe through the most insidious situations; there's even a way to fight Shasarak with as much CS as he has, or alternatively, to weaken him without having to fight him directly. WoLW is a series too carefully scripted to accept a nearly-impossible combat in it - and in the first book, too.
You may also note that, throughout the series, almost all the Endurance and Willpower "checks" will kill you if you have 14 points or less, and see you through if you have 15 points or more. 14-15 points seems to always be the critical score you must have to pass through a difficult test, and that's very close to the amount of EN and WP the Kleasà will take from Grey Star in my theory. Note that if Grey Star doesn't have that critical amount of points in the current check, failure is usually underlined by the words "You are too weak". You are too weak to hold on to the rope at the bridge of the Forbidden City; you are too weak to resist the touch of a Deathwraith; and here, you are too weak to resist the dark phantom that is the Kleasà. This reinforces my conviction that the amount of damage the Kleasà deals to you is fixed.
Of course, you may argue that the text doesn't state this clearly, and that it doesn't say that you should ignore the usual combat rules. I have considered this, and I think that this is due to a poor choice of words by Ian Page in this particular case. He probably didn't realize that giving the Kleasà a CS and EN score (exaggerated so as to suggest the enemy's incredible power) would naturally be a cue to the reader that the battle should be fought according to the usual rules, while this is in fact a scripted event resulting in an Endurance and Willpower check. Whatever way you look at this section, there is a blatant omission in the text: either you can "win" the battle before 4 rounds have passed, or the battle shouldn't be "fought" at all and the damage you suffer is fixed. Considering the disparity of strength between the two duelists, I have come to the conclusion that the latter is the correct interpretation of this otherwise stupidly difficult fight. There simply isn't place for such a difficult spot in a series that is otherwise very forgiving to the player.