Anyone playing Inquisitor?

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You are making a strong case here Marceror. I might have to check it out.

 

Joa, I'm glad to see that my humble thread is piquing interest. I've added a few screenshots for anyone who's interested.

That said, as to avoid anyone signing up without knowing what they're getting into, in spite of the many things that this game has going for it, there are a number of things to be aware of.

1. The game does not coddle players in the slightest. Until you get used to the interface, you may struggle to play the game effectively/efficiently. I wouldn't expect this to be much a of problem for the seasoned CRGP vets around here, but it needs to be said. If you don't know the hot key, chances are you won't be able to do it.
2. Learn your hotkeys. These are the keys to controlling your group, and staying alive
3. Translation - The translation from Czech to English is a mixed bag. It ranges from very well done in some places, to god awful in others (some, usually less important, dialogues are just hard to make sense of). On average I'd say that the translation is a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being horrific, 10 being superb.
4. Inventory management - This is a sub game, there's no 2 ways around it. Nothing stacks. You have 4 backpacks, 3 weapon slots (for 3 quickly accessible weapon configs) and your main equipped inventory slots. There are no auto sort buttons. So you have to take time to arrange your inventory in such as way as you can find things quickly... or hunt and peck for them.
5. Opening locked doors, chests, overcoming traps - Early on in the game doing these activities are a pain if you are not a thief (and I'm guessing even thieves take a while to get good are countering these obstacles). You have to bash these open, and potentially set off a trap that will kill you. Save, and better yet, send your companions to bash these for you (using Z + LMB to select the door/chest). You'll find more efficient ways to deal with this as you gain power.
6. Darkness - Dungeons are dark. It's hard to see. Deal with it until you gain access to the light spell.
7. Open ended quests - Sometimes you have no clear idea what to do next. Quest NPCs don't have glowing orbs over their heads. You have to think about the big picture, and make educated guesses. I've actually found things to be fairly predictable actually, but I know many have complained about not knowing where to go.
8. Repairing equipment - Until you start finding indestructible items, most of your equipment will deteriorate as you use it. If it fully deteriorates it is no longer usable (ala Diablo). If you aren't a paladin who is investing heavily in blacksmithing, you will have to return to town to have an NPC blacksmith repair your equipment and pay them to do so. Returning to town often isn't convenient.
9. LOOOOONG arse dungeons! - Some of the dungeons in this game are huge. I've been amazed and astonished how in some dungeons areas there are 2 or more sub areas to descend into. And many of those sub areas have several sub areas. The end dungeon in Act I must have had 10 areas associated with it, if not more. To get to these deep dungeon locations, you have to walk. To go back to town you to... you guessed it, walk. It's usually not until the very end of a dungeon that you will finding a portal that allows you to return immediately to the surface (once you've used that portal, you can use it to get back down to the end of the dungeon, but not before).
10. Followers - my experience is that followers become very frail and have to be used carefully as you progress in the game. The issue is, your character gets all sorts of equipment upgrades but your followers don't. They just get their basic attribute and skill boosts. So they can die much more easily than your character, and need to be looked after. Note: I'm playing on normal difficulty. I've read that if you play on hard difficulty your followers get a huge boost to their power, and they are much, much more hardy. In fact, people say that hard difficulty is actually easier than easy difficulty, as you supposedly find better items in hard difficulty.

So you begin to see that many of the things that we've grown accustomed to having given to us on a platter are not present in this game. You have to earn your stripes. As you gain in levels many of the above challenges are reduced or go away completely, but not all of them (at least not at the point I've reached in the game).

Before anyone decides to pick this up, make sure you can deal with these sorts of features. Personally, I found most of these to be endearing. Inquisitor reminds me of the CRPGs I used to play back in my college years.

---------- Added 1 hours, 1 minutes and 16 seconds later... ----------

A note about classes. Each class is designed to have a clear strength and I would say that in order to play the strongest character you need to emphasize that strength. Based on this I would categorize the 3 classes this way:

• Paladin: Melee Fighter
• Thief: Archer
• Priest: Caster

Attributes
The first way that this strength is emphasized is via attribute points. All attribute points can be raised to 50, but the primary attribute for each class can be raised to 100. For a paladin the primary attribute is strength, for a thief it’s dexterity, and for a priest it’s intelligence. Among other things, strength boosts melee damage, dex boosts ranged damage and int increases your mana pool. So if you want your character to excel, you really want to take advantage of the primary stat, get it to 100, and utilize the combat/play style that allows you to benefit most from it.

I suppose you could try a melee thief, for example, but since you can only raise your strength to 50, your damage output will be reduced. At a minimum, I’ll say that doing such probably isn’t recommended for an initial run through of the game.

That all said, there is equipment in the game that will boost your attributes further.

Skills
Each class gains access to a number of common skills but differs in how well they can master these skills. Each skill is broken into experience levels, essentially beginner, intermediate, advanced and master. Greater mastery opens up more doors (e.g. more powerful spells, better weapons/armor, etc.) and generally makes the character more efficient in the associated skill. Here’s how far each class can go in those key skills.

• Spell Casting – Paladin (intermediate); thief (advanced); priest (master) – all classes can learn spells from all 7 schools of magic, but will have to obtain spell books and spell scrolls during the game to learn them (a spell book opens access to a particular school of magic, and corresponding spell scrolls are needed to cast a spell from that school)
• Melee Combat – Paladin (master); thief (intermediate); priest (intermediate)
• Ranged Combat – Paladin (intermediate); thief (master); priest (intermediate)
• Armor use – Paladin (master); thief (advanced); priest (intermediate)

So again we can see that the game is enforcing that a paladin should focus on melee, a thief should focus on ranged combat and a priest should focus on spell casting. To do otherwise would limit your character.

But the game goes further with respect to specialty skills that each class gains. For example, a paladin gains skills that improve his abilities with a shield, and that make him harder to injure in combat. The thief gains skills that make him more nimble (in addition to a lot of common thiefly skills). The priest gains skills that make his spells more potent, less costly to cast, harder to resist and harder to interrupt.

So if you’re considering playing this game, you are *well advised* to look at your classes in the manner I describe at the beginning of this post. That is to say that the paladin is your melee guy, the thief is your archer and the priest is your spell caster.

 

"7. Open ended quests - Sometimes you have no clear idea what to do next. Quest NPCs don't have glowing orbs over their heads. You have to think about the big picture, and make educated guesses. I've actually found things to be fairly predictable actually, but I know many have complained about not knowing where to go."

I find that to be a "good thing" in games. To a point at least. I don't need the Devs to draw me a road map, just a nudge in the right direction is all that is needed. Old school games(Ultima, Realms of Arkania...) were good at this.

 

Yeah, my list isn't meant to be a list of negatives per say. Just a list of things to be aware of. For me, many of the items on that list are a welcome change of pace.

It's not like they go overboard here. If you're not sure what to do next, go start talking to people (i.e. investigate - that's what an inquisitor is supposed to be doing anyway). Leave no stone unturned. If you're supposed to locate a person and you don't know where they are, do a little connecting of dots to consider where they might have gone. A bit of thinking required every now again isn't actually a bad thing at all.

 

Interesting to read your continueing updates, Marceror. Is it just me or did your blue/red meter barely move off centre?

 

Yeah, you're right that it has barely moved. I think it's slightly to the left of where I started, but not by much. I'm not really sure what to think about this feature. I'm playing things as good as I can. I never ask for money to carry out a good deed, nor do I abuse my power as a priest to relieve people of their cash/items (I have several options to demand such items as "penance" for sins committed). Maybe I haven't gotten far enough into the game to do anything truly good or truly evil to make a difference. Maybe my inquisitorial magic use is cancelling out my otherwise good play style. I don't know. I've resolved to just keep playing as the good guy, and not worry too much about the alignment.

I've gotten to a point where when I see a teleporter outside a dungeon (which means that it's a large dungeon, which will allow you to teleport out when you have reached the end of it) I breathe a sigh of hesitation before starting.

Some of the dungeons are tedious. There's no two ways about it. I thought I was basically wrapping up Act II, then I went to find someone in a familiar location, only to realize that once I passed a particular door I was about to embark upon another long dungeon crawl. I'm going to take a breather on that tonight me thinks, and pick things back up tomorrow.

It probably doesn't help that I got stuck in the last dungeon. It took me the better part of a day (of coming back to it periodically) to realize that there was a lever in a dark corner that I needed to pull before I could continue. I think that experience zapped some of my dungeon going enthusiasm. At any rate, otherwise my game is still going strong.

I added some pictures of what it looks like when you torture and burn heretics. I recently had the occasion to "clean house" -- if I can be permitted to describe it in such a way.

---------- Added 1 hours, 18 minutes and 44 seconds later... ----------

Woah, I just made a discovery reading about some of the spells in the game. There is a spell called Holy Ground that seems to work a lot like Turn Undead, except that it works for all monsters (all monsters in this game are considered to be unholy). I knew about that spell.

What I didn't realize is that the spell Divine Mercy, when cast, teleports me and group to the last place that I cast the Holy Ground Spell. THIS is going to be useful!!

 

Reviews

Here are a handful of reviews of the game:

• Gamebanshee - A generally negative review
• Halfbeard's HUD - A generally positive review
  [*]Gameranx - More negative than positive things to say. Recommended only for players who don't want their hands held.
• Beefjack - Content of the review focuses more on negatives than positives, but ends with a strong recommendation of the game for anyone looking to play an old school RPG.

rpgcodex discussion - A relatively short discussion prompted by the Gamebanshee review. I found it interesting, so I decided to share.

I generally don't agree that combat is too difficult, playing on normal, which is the major contention held by a number of codex posters. There is an initial learning curve that has to be overcome, however. That said, I play as a priest and I think casters may ultimately have it easier than a melee heavy paladin. I can cast my spells against anything I can see on my screen, so I can easily take out half of an enemy force before they can do anything about it. I would think that an archery focused thief would have similar advantages, but I'm not sure if their damage output would match that of a priest. Thief would be my class choice for a second playthrough, and I would play on Hard difficulty in order to have stronger followers.

 

Thanks for the updates and information Marceror.

A question on followers. I noticed in your screenshots that you stuck with the dog and fighter type that you get at the beginning of the game. Are these really all that you'll get? because that would certainly favour any class other than the melee class.

I wonder what kind of balance issues the guys over at the rpg codex mean? They say that it's very unbalanced (most unbalanced rpg ever, apparently), but don't really explain what or how it is unbalanced. Disclaimer: haven't read the gamebanshee review yet.

 

There are other followers available, but it seems that earlier in the game you are limited to the dog and one other. I have stuck with Hugo because I've been leveling him since the beginning. Also, I like having my weapon and shield inquisitor, 2 handed weapon guy (Hugo, who hits HARD) and finesse fighter (the dog, Diabolus). It's a good party mix.

There is also a thief follower you can recruit in Act I, but it requires bumping Hugo out. I have also encountered another good melee fighter in Act II, but again, I didn't want to drop Hugo.

My understanding is that as you continue in the game you gain additional recruitment options. For example, my understanding (not verified by experience, mind you) is that a thief, who is a displaced noble, can eventually add up to 3 additional recruited soldiers to his group as he regains title and status. I believe that a priest can eventually add a recruited inquisitor to the game. I'm not sure about the paladin. It does seem that followers are mostly geared toward melee combat though.

As far as balance, to the best of my understanding the biggest gripe here is really about the lack of level scaling, that the game is too hard. My experience is that by avoiding the harder areas early, the game has been entirely manageable. It's good to do as much as you can in town first. Talk to everyone. Then head to the place of execution which is close to all towns and take care of any undead and/or spider problems that might be in the area. Then head to any graveyards on your map for more slow, lumbering undead to fight. A lot of monsters respawn in these areas, so you can milk them until the game starts to get easy. THEN start heading farther away from town, where the challenges become tougher. And, be prepared that you might need to leave an area if you aren't ready for the enemies there. You'll figure that out really fast, or at least, I did (generally when they kill more of you than you of them, you're clearly outmatched).

Again, I think this mostly boils down to the fact that players are used to being catered to. Enemies should only be as tough as your character, and so they scale along with you, and all that. I'm not saying that there aren't other balance issues depending on your class, but as a priest, if anything, I'm the guy who's out of balance. Most enemies have no chance against me. A tough enemy I can cast crucify on from a distance, which imbolizes him for a good long time (there is a chance the enemy can resist), then while he's immobile, I cast stoning on him a few times, which does major damage. The enemy dies and I don't even break a sweat. Not all battles go that easily, but it's not uncommon for them to. I almost don't really need my companions anymore, but I keep them because I prefer to have a party.

 

I can see how that would be considered unbalanced - if the gap in difficulty between one area and the next is too great. Also, it would necessitate you to level grind before moving on, which can be considered rather tedious.

Plus I know that you like a challenge, whereas I myself don't really want a game to be too difficult.

Still, it seems like an interesting game, so if there's a sale on GoG I will probably get it.

Another thing that I just remembered - you mentioned earlier that stats are limited to 50 for normal stats and 100 for the main stat. Then on the stat screen you showed of your lvl 35(-ish) character, you had most of those stats boosted quite a bit beyond those limits with the help of some equipment. So did you reach the level where you can no longer improve your stats already? What is the maximum level?

 

There is an element of tedium to the game, to be sure. Some dungeons are just massively huge, and not particularly interesting. For my playstyle and ability any "level grinding" was minimal. I think I spent an hour at a graveyard to obtain a couple of extra levels, as I was finding some battles overly difficult. Early on bosses can really through you for a loop. I managed to clear one particular crypt in act I, for example, fairly easily, but need to wait a while longer before I could defeat a lich that resided in that dungeon. You say you don't like level scaling, well, this is what happens when there is none, and you have an open world to explore.

I do, but I've mellowed out on that in recent years. I'm just too busy to play through a game where I have to replay certain battles 5 - 10 times before I can defeat them. I don't want a game to be a pushover, but I'm not looking for "Improved Anvil" anymore either. I would say, based on watching gamehorder's Paladin Let's Play that melee classes have it hard in this game. If you don't want hard, play a ranged character (thief or priest) who can pick off enemies from afar. I'm not having nearly the difficulty gamehorder seems to have, and I'm also playing on normal difficulty. I've noticed that he's using his bow a lot more in the later episodes.

Cool, it really does have a lot going for it. The price is already nice and low, so if you find it on sale, you really can't go wrong!

Yeah, although I guess that for some classes it's a bit more involved than what I originally said (like that Paladin can actually gain higher CON and DEX than what I had thought). My understanding is that the priest can go to 100 in INT, and 50 to all other stats.

At any rate, I have not yet maxed out any stats, on purpose. The reason why is because you can find something in the game called devil's root that you can pay a midwife to convert into a powerful potion that permanently raises a random stat. I'm trying not to directly raise any stat within 10 - 15 points of it's limit, as I want to be able to take advantage of devil's root for a good long time. This allows me to raise all of my stats to reasonable levels.

I have found a number of items that give me pluses to all stats, so that is why all of my stats are above their maximums. I think that all of my stats are boosted at least by around 40 points, a few by even more. This has also helped to make the game a lot easier. I'm not sure if it's common to find so many plus all attribute items, but I know I've gotten a few very luck drops in the game.

Another thing to keep in mind is that skills are HARD capped at 20. Since you will find items that boost all magical skills or all non-magical skills, this is important to keep in mind. There's no point in raising a magical skill to 20 if you have +5 to your magical skills from items. You will still only benefit from a skill level of 20, so this allows you to spend your skill points in other areas, and become even more well-rounded and powerful.

 

You can make standard potions that will raise your stats up. The Book of Magic PDF has all the info you need on how to make complex potions and elixirs that will permanently increase your stats

 

True. I haven't put any skill points into alchemy though. I assume that these potions would require master level alchemy. It's something to think about, but there are plenty of other skills I'd rather max out first. And between the devil's roots, attribute points per level, and the period attribute boosts from shrines and the like, it seems like I have plenty of attribute points to go around.

Are you still playing Topken? What Act have you (did you) make it to?

 

After checking it out a little I havent played as other things have cropped up such as house hunting.

 

I haven't played much lately. This is mostly because I have been working way too much, and have also been fairly distracted with the Project Eternity Kickstarter in what limited time I have had for more recreational pursuits. That said, I am also finding Act III of the game to be rather tedious. Everything is bigger in this act, compared to the first 2. A bigger city, more dungeons, bigger dungeons, etc. The tedium factor on dungeon crawling has gotten to a point that my motivation to keep going is waning considerably. I'm stuck in some dungeon currently (one of several) under a graveyard that I expected would be fairly short. Well, no, it just keeps going, and I'm seeing a lot of the same undead monsters and the same repetitive dungeon backgrounds, and I'm wondering what the point is supposed to be.

I still very much like the story related aspects of the game, but the mindless dungeon crawling is becoming a bit much....

 

Inquisitor is now on sale on GoG.com. For a measly $3.74, I really had no excuse not to get it. So I did. Don't know when I'll have time to actually play it, but I'll post my findings here when I do.

 

I know this is a old thread, but I got Inquisitor a little while ago. So far I'm enjoying the game immensely! But I have a couple questions though, Is there any way to get some form of teleportation spell to transport back to hillbrandt? I find myself trying to power through a couple levels of the Orc Cave in Act I, but I run out of health and stamina potions. So I'm forced to make the slow trudge back to town.

My other question is did you find any other companions early on that could be of use? I use the inquisitor from the local chapter and did use diabolus (he perished in the caves sadly). Other than the marksman that I saved, I haven't found anyone else I can use. I hope there is a priest or clergymen that can accompany my group, I need someone who can heal and cast protection spells.

 

Was on sale and i got it. Haven't had the time to play past the few opening quests.
But it's on my to do list.

Still have to figure it out.

 

It's fun, But I think there are a lot of problems with the game.

1. The amount of potions needed to do much is really annoying. Your followers will gulp them down rather quickly, so you'll spend most of your time replenishing your supply of potions.

2. The human follower I had I would mistakenly click on during battle. So I'm killing Orcs, and all of a sudden a text box would pop up asking if I wanted to relinquish him. Maybe a combat mode would've been more useful in this game.

3. The game gets obnoxiously hard ridiculously quick. I went from slaying monsters left and right to all of a sudden getting demolished in about 3 seconds. I love hard games, but this game is a little above what I'm used to.

But I can push past that though. This game is still fantastic though. I loved playing it, even though I'm still stuck in Act I.

 

It's been a while since I played this, but if I recall correctly, the priest can get some sort of one way teleport spell. They basically set a "bind location", and they can teleport to that location thereafter. They can change the bind location as they desire. I think this is a mid level spell, so you don't have to wait too long to get it.

I really don't remember the game well though, and I didn't finish it because it became too tedious. It's a good game, but has a lot of rough edges, one of them being pointlessly huge dungeons that look mostly the same throughout, with endless amounts of the same kinds of enemies.

At first I loved the game for not "catering", but I could have used a few less massive dungeons in place of a bit more personality for sure. And the translations to English are often rather bad, and I'm a bit of a stickler for the writing.

If I wasn't married with children and a demanding job, and could just sit around and game all day every day, I'm sure I would finish the game. But it starts to feel like too much wasted time for me, and time is something I am perpetually short on, so I had to put it on the shelf.