FAQ/WALKTHROUGH
v1.00 2006-10-16
Copyright 2006 by Barry Scott "PapaGamer" Will
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\O/ CONTACT INFORMATION \O/
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To contact me about the guide, send email to:
barry@papagamer.com
Please include "Mage Knight FAQ" in your subject line so I do not auto-
discard the message. Also, please read the FAQ carefully prior to asking for
help on any part of the game. If you send me additional suggestions or hints
for the game and I find them useful, you will be acknowledged in the Credits.
If you find this guide useful and would like to contribute a small token for
my efforts, you may send money through PayPal to:
Mage Knight Apocalypse is an action role-playing game based on the popular
miniatures collectibles game from Wizkids. It is a rough clone of games such
as Diablo, Dungeon Siege and Titan Quest. If you have experience with those
games, you'll be able to dive right into MKA with no problems.
The biggest annoyance may be the lack of screen-edge scrolling. In typical
third-person perspective games, moving your mouse to the edge of the screen
moves or rotates the camera. Not so in MKA. The only way to rotate the camera
is to hold the mouse wheel button down and move the mouse left and right.
Once you get used to it, you'll find it easy and intuitive; however, it will
take a while to get it right if you've played a lot of other action RPGs.
MKA's gameplay is pretty easy to learn. Regardless of your experience with
other games in the genre, you should play through the Tutorial mission with
each of the five playable characters. This will introduce you to the gameplay
for each character, which differs just enough to make the Tutorial a
necessity for each separate character.
The following are the default keyboard/mouse controls for the game. You can
change these settings using Options > Controls from any game menu. The game
recognizes controllers, but there are no options to configure one.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Action |Keyboard |Mouse |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Move Forward | W |Left-click open ground to move there; |
|Move Backward | S |or, hold down the left mouse button |
|Move Left | A |to continuously move in the direction |
|Move Right | D |of the cursor |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Rotate Camera | |Hold middle mouse button or SPACEBAR |
| | |and move mouse left and right |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Zoom Camera | |Hold middle mouse button or SPACEBAR |
| | |and move mouse up and down; or, scroll |
| | |mouse wheel |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Use LEFT skill | |Left-click |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Use RIGHT skill | |Right-click |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Use HOTKEY skill | 1 - 8 | |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Use an item | F1 - F4 |Right-click item icon in the lower |
| | |left of the screen; or, open Backpack |
| | |and right-click the item |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Equip an item | |Open Backpack and right-click the item |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Character Window | C |Left-click character portrait |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Quest Log | X |Left-click appropriate menu icon |
|Backpack (Inventory) | B |in the lower right of the screen |
|Skill Trees | V | |
|Recipe Book | U | |
|Forge | Y | |
|Game Menu (System) | ESC | |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Runestone | O |Left-click icon above the mini-map |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Map | M |Left-click icon above the mini-map |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Zoom Map In | Hyphen (-) |Left-click icon below the mini-map |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Zoom Map Out | Equal (=) |Left-click icon below the mini-map |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Toggle Run/Walk | TAB | |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Trade | ] | |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Snap Shot | + | |
+---------------------+------------+----------------------------------------+
|Partner ATTACK | R |Left-click command icons below party |
|Partner FOLLOW | T |portraits on left side of screen |
|Partner STOP | G | |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
NOTES
-------
* The Map toggle (M) actually rotates among three states:
1 - mini-map in the upper right corner
2 - large overlay map
3 - no map
* Pressing ESC or clicking the System icon in the lower right corner are the
only ways to PAUSE the game.
* You can skip cutscenes by pressing ESC twice or left-clicking the mouse
twice.
* "Snap Shots" are 640x480 JPG images saved in the "screenshot" folder in the
main program folder (by default C:\Program Files\NAMCO BANDAI Games\Mage
Knight(TM) Apocalypse). They're pretty poor quality; however, the HUD (Heads
Up Display) is removed from the screenshots.
##################
# Game Options #
# MKGO #
##################
Here is brief overview of the available game options, with special notes. You
can get to these options via the Options choice on the main menu or the in-
game system menu.
Graphics
----------
There are a limited number of resolutions supported within the game options:
800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, and 1360x768 (Widescreen). Each resolution can
be selected in 16 bit or 32 bit color depth. If you wish to play at a
different resolution, here's what you have to do:
Open the config folder in your game's install folder. The default install
folder is:
Find the file, default_gameoption.ini, and open it in a text editor, such as
Notepad. Scroll down until you find
SCREENHEIGHT = "X";
SCREEDWIDTH = "X";
where X are the default values (typically 768 and 1024 respectively). Change
these values to the resolution you want to use. Save and close the file. Now
find the file gameoption.bcf and delete it. When you next run the game, the
default option values will be loaded, including your preferred screen
resolution. Some caveats about using this method:
* Deleting gameoption.bcf also reverts all other game options to default. So,
if you have made extensive changes to the options (especially controls),
you'll have to make them again after changing the resolution.
* If you open the Graphics options, you'll see 800x600x16 displayed in the
resolution box. Don't try to change it, or it will change your resolution.
Unfortunately, when using an unsupported resolution, the game defaults to
using the 800x600x16 font, so all text will look awful. (Even more awful than
the text normally looks, if you can believe that.)
An alternative is to run MKA in a window. Uncheck the "Full Screen Mode" box
and set the game's resolution to something less than your desktop resolution.
When you restart the game, MKA will run in a window. This is the best option
if you're running the game on an LCD monitor with an unsupported native
resolution.
Sound
-------
Below the typical volume controls for different sounds within the game
(music, speech, etc.) is a "Sound" option. This will allow you to set the
game to use software or hardware for running sound. The important thing to
note is players with Realtek AC97 audio codecs (which is about 87.5% of the
population*) must set the "Sound" option to "Generic Software" in order for
the game to function properly.
*Not a real statistic; but, it sounds good.
Controls
----------
Changing controls is fairly easy. Select the command in the left pane, press
a key, then click Assign.
If you have a game controller plugged in, you will need to unplug it. MKA
recognizes controllers; but, it does not support them. It will read input
from the controller (even if you aren't doing anything with it) and the game
will be impossible to play. If you have a console-controller-to-PC converter
(such as a PS2 or Xbox controller converter), you have to unplug the
converter too.
Gameplay
----------
* The "Skip Intro" checkbox allows you to skip the brief intro movie that
normally plays after all the company logos. You still have to ESC or click
through the company logos.
* The "Profanity Filter" only affects multiplayer chat. It doesn't have any
effect on the single player game.
* "Skip Tutorial" allows you to begin new games at Silverholt. Only do this
after you've played the Tutorial with all five starting charaters. There are
enough differences in them to warrant playing the Tutorial with all five.
* "Minimap Rotate" causes the maps to rotate with the camera--the direction
in which the camera is facing will always be "up" on the map. This affects
both the minimap in the upper right corner and the large map overlay.
* "Map Overlay Transparency" affects how opaque the large map appears. Move
the slider right to make the overlay map more opaque; move the slider left to
make the overlay map less opaque.
* "Show Monster HP Bar" shows or hides the HP bar that appears over a
creature when you hover over it with the cursor. You will always see the
monster stats in the lower right corner of the screen.
* "Show Damage Numbers" shows or hides the floating numbers that appear when
you are attacking a creature. It does not hide other feedback, such as
"BLOCK" or "DODGE".
MKA is a basic point-and-click action/RPG. The best way to learn the game is
to read the manual and play through the Tutorial. This is a brief rundown of
how the game works.
MKA lacks screen-edge scrolling, which is common in this type of game. You
can still use your mouse to rotate and zoom the camera. Just hold down the
mouse wheel button (or the SPACEBAR) and move the mouse left/right to rotate
and up/down to zoom the camera.
To move your character, use the WASD keys, or left-click open ground or hold
down the left mouse button and move your mouse. To loot a corpse or a loot
bag--loot bags appear when corpses disappear or when you smash a container--
left-click it. If there's just gold in it, you'll hear "ka-ching!" and don't
have to do anything else. If there's one or more items to loot, they will
appear in an inventory box on the left side of the screen. Left-click those
items you want to add to your backpack.
Your backpack only has 25 slots. When it's full, you can:
* Return to the nearest town and drop stuff in your storage box or sell
things to the nearest merchant.
* Drag an item from your backpack to empty space; you'll be asked if you want
to destroy the item. Answer Yes to completely rid yourself of the item, or No
if you reconsider.
* Forge some of your magestones to some of your equipped items. (You should
do this anyway, whether your backpack is full or not.)
* Make some potions using your Recipe Book. This will remove the ingredients
and empty flask from your backpack.
To attack (or do other things other than moving or looting), you need to
assign skills to your hotkeys. Your Skill Trees can be opened by left-
clicking the tree icon in the lower right or pressing 'V'. Drag a skill from
a skill tree into one of the eight hotkey slots in the bottom center of the
screen. There are four hotkeys on the left (representing the number keys 1
through 4) and four on the right (number keys 5 through 8). Some skills can
go either to the left or right, some can only go to the left, some can only
go to the right.
You can use any hotkey skill by pressing the corresponding number key. For
your most frequently used skills, assign them to your mouse buttons. Left-
click a hotkey skill on the left to assign that skill to your left mouse
button. Left-click a hotkey skill on the right to assign that skill to your
right mouse button. When you click your left or right mouse button over a
suitable target, you will use the mapped skill. Most characters begin with a
basic melee attack on the left mouse button and a basic ranged attack on the
right mouse button.
As you loot...err, explore, you'll find magestones in six colors: blue
(water), red (fire), white (air), green (earth), gold (holy) and black
(death). You can forge magestones into weapons and armor. Forged into
weapons, magestones add various types of damage. Forged into armor,
magestones add various types of resists. One item can have from one to three
magestones forged into it.
To forge magestones into items, first move the item you wish to forge into
your backpack (you cannot forge equipped items). Open your backpack and the
forge window ('B' for backpack, 'Y' for forge). Drag your item into the
center circle at the top of the forge window. Drag magestones to the other
three circles. Click "Forge" to meld the magestones with the item.
You cannot mix magestones of opposed types; thus, you cannot mix:
* Blue and Red
* White and Green
* Gold and Black
You can mix-and-match non-opposed colors for various different special
effects. Experiment to see what you get.
You cannot sell items with magestones forged into them. To take the
magestones from an item and re-use them, drag the item to the forge window
and click "Unmake". The item and the separated magestones are added to your
backpack (you must have enough open slots for them).
You can save your game at any time; however, when you load the game, you will
be back at the last Magestone Crystal (checkpoint). Also, all enemies will
respawn or regenerate. Only quit the game while in town. When you Revive
after dying, enemies do not respawn or regenerate (with the exception of a
few bosses), so there's absolutely no penalty for dying.
There is a base town in each Act, and you can freely travel between them;
though, there's not much reason to do so. After completing the first primary
mission (Brigand Camps), you receive a Runestone. You can use the Runestone
to teleport directly to any town you've visited. Press 'O' or the purple
Runestone icon in the upper right of the screen.
You can also teleport to a town by clicking one of the Magestone Crystals
located throughout the various regions. From within a town, you can use the
Portal Stone to return to the last Magestone Crystal you passed. Just click
the Portal Stone, then select the region you were last in.
In addition to the Portal Stone, each town has two merchants: arms & armor
and magic. The arms & armor merchant sells just that--weapons and armor
tailored for your character and your character's power rating (MKA's
euphemism for level). The magic seller sells everything else--jewelry,
potions, potion recipes and ingredients.
You can mix your own potions, if you're really into doing things yourself
rather than just buying them from the magic seller. You can collect the
ingredients you need by "looting" plants around the world. You will also find
ingredients and empty flasks (in three sizes: small, medium and large) as
loot on mobs and in containers. You can even buy ingredients and empty flasks
from the magic seller in each town.
To make a potion, you must have the recipe. When you find (or buy) a recipe,
right-click it in your backpack to "learn" the recipe. This will now be in
your recipe book (press 'U' or click the icon in the lower right of the
screen). Select the recipe you want to make and it will tell you the
ingredients. Select a flask size at the bottom of the dialogue and the number
of each ingredient will change. For example, you might need 1 ingredient for
a small potion, 2 for a medium and 4 for a large.
The quantity of each ingredient and the quantity of empty flasks in your
backpack are displayed in parentheses next to the requirements. If you have
enough ingredients and a flask, click "Create" to make the potion.
##############
# Bug List #
# MKBL #
##############
MKA has been released in a not-quite-ready-for-prime-time form. (An
occurrence all too common with PC games.) Here are some of the more egregious
problems with the game. Some of these are fixed with the v1.01 patch. If you
purchased your game on CDs, it should auto-update itself. If you purchased
the game from Direct2Drive* or your gaming PC isn't connected to the
Internet, you'll need to download a manual patch:
*The D2D version of the game is already v1.01 if purchased after September
30, 2006.
1) Looted items will not stack with items in your inventory. This problem is
fixed with the v1.01 patch.
2) The pathfinding is horrid. Be prepared to click open ground and have your
character run in place because there's an obstacle in the direct line to
where you clicked.
3) The game is capped at 30 frames-per-second. Framerates never rise above
30, though they can drop below 30. Players with high-end systems will not get
the ultra-smooth framerates they have come to expect.
4) Forged items occasionally cannot be unmade.
5) Unmaking forged items in multiplayer sometimes gives you random magic
items rather than the magestones used in the forged item.
6) Companions set for ranged combat will, after dying, "forget" their setting
and revert to melee combat. Teleporting to the nearest city using your
runestone will usually "reset" the companion. You can also save and reload.
7) The game goes wonky if you have a controller plugged in. You have to
unplug any controllers, as well as any controller converters (such as PS2-to-
USB). The game also goes wonky with some types of specialty gaming keyboards.
8) Players with Realtek AC97 audio codecs (common on many systems) will need
to use "Generic Software" under the Sound options, as detailed in the "Game
Options" section above.
##########################
# Choosing a Character #
# MKCC #
##########################
When you begin a new single-player game, you must choose from five characters
to use as your PC. After selecting a character and clicking NEXT, you will
receive some limited choices (5 options each) to change the hero's hair style
(horn style for Sarus), hair color (horn color for Sarus), face type, skin
color and eye color. Click PLAY to begin the game.
*NOTE* If you start the game in Multiplayer mode, you can change your chosen
hero's name. You can then save the game immediately and load it up in Single
Player mode. You now have a custom-named hero.
Each character has some type of magic energy level that defines how they can
use their special attacks. This magic energy, which is typically called
"mana" in games of this type, has a different name and works differently for
each character.
During the game, you will meet the other heroes and have the opportunity to
add them to your party as "partners". If, at the point in the story where you
meet another "Oathsworn", and you are playing that hero, you won't meet the
hero and won't get a partner. (This has the largest effect on Janos, as
detailed under his information below.)
You have almost no control over your partners. When you first add them to
your party, you can choose what path they will follow. Otherwise they act
independently. While part of your party, you can issue ATTACK, FOLLOW and
STOP commands. Use either the hotkeys (as detailed above) or the icons below
your party members' portraits on the left of the screen. Partner commands
affect every one of your companions; you cannot issue orders to them
individually.
*NOTE* Your companions will frequently seem to get "stuck" and will refuse to
move. They're not actually stuck, they've just forgotten what they're
supposed to do. Give the FOLLOW command and keep moving, they'll catch up.
Get used to pressing 'T' a lot, your partners love to twiddle their thumbs.
*BUG ALERT*
Partners don't follow their chosen path very well. After dying they tend to
only want to use melee attacks (and standard melee attacks at that). This can
be really bad for, say, Sarus, who is a weak fighter and will spend most of
the time dead if you let him get away with this. The only sure way of fixing
the problem is to save and re-load. Sometimes you can portal back to town and
then teleport back and they'll "reset"; but, that doesn't always work.
Chela: Amazon Huntress
------------------------
Starting Stats: Skill Trees:
* Health...........25 * Bear Stance
* Strength.........35 * Jaguar Stance
* Agility..........20 * Eagle Stance
* Stamina..........20
* Wisdom...........10
* Intelligence.....10
* Chela's magic energy is called Energy
Chela begins with a two-handed weapon (claymore) and a longbow. With special
attacks, she can do quite a bit of damage with both weapons. She also has the
highest starting armor rating of the five heroes. Playing Chela requires you
to choose a stance (Bear, Eagle or Jaguar). You can only use a skill from a
particular stance while in that stance. Changing stances uses up about half
of Chela's energy and takes a couple of seconds; doing so in the middle of a
pitched battle can be problematic.
Bear Stance skills are used with a melee weapon and mostly increase damage
done in a single strike. There are Bear Stance skills to improve shield armor
rating, two-handed weapon damage and blunt weapon damage. Bear Stance also
has skills to stun your enemies. Bear Stance is best used with a two-handed
weapon.
Eagle Stance is for ranged fighting. All Eagle Stance attacks are made with a
bow (or crossbow). There are also special skills that allow you to lower your
target's resists and to see invisible enemies. Many of the Eagle specials are
damage-over-time attacks.
Jaguar Stance is for finesse-style melee fighting. There are bonuses for
using slashing weapons, and a dual-wield skill to use two one-handed weapons
at the same time. Some of the Jaguar skills increase Chela's chance to Dodge
attacks or Resist attacks.
Requiring the player to switch stances makes Chela slightly less versatile
than other characters. She cannot blast enemies from range using special
attacks, then pull out a melee weapon and pound them close-up with special
attacks. She has to stick with either ranged or melee attacks; however, she
may be able to pull off one change of stance in large battles.
Chela's Energy regenerates over time. She can also use Energy potions to
restore Energy in the midst of battle.
The first thing you learn about Janos is his magic energy, called "Heat",
works in reverse. As he uses special attacks, his Heat meter fills up. When
it's full, he can't use any more special attacks. Over time his Heat "cools
down". You can also consume Coolant potions to lower the Heat meter. While
the concept is interesting, it changes the basic paradigm used in countless
games (as well as for the other four heroes in MKA) and is one of the sillier
things the developers did in this game.
Janos can switch between melee and ranged attacks (using guns for range,
rather than bows) easily and has pretty good special attacks with each. The
big problem with his specials is they fill up the Heat meter very quickly,
especially at low levels. This forces you to drop back to basic attacks more
often than you would like. While Chela can go an entire battle using nothing
but specials, Janos will either be quaffing Coolant potions like water or
have to settle for low-damage attacks.
Janos has another problem, especially for inexperienced players. He is the
first "Oathsworn" to make an appearance in the story as a potential partner.
If you play Janos, you miss out on a companion early in the game and going
solo at low levels can be a real chore. Be prepared to die a lot if you play
Janos, even at Easy difficulty.
Kithana: Vampire Nightblade
-----------------------------
Starting Stats: Skill Trees:
* Health...........20 * Necromancy
* Strength.........20 * Assassin
* Agility..........20 * Vampiric
* Stamina..........10
* Wisdom...........20
* Intelligence.....30
* Kithana's magic energy is called Mana
Kithana is a cross between a melee fighter and a caster. She cannot use a
ranged weapon; but she does have some ranged spell abilities. Unfortunately,
she doesn't get the real good ranged spells until a little later in the game.
This makes it difficult to take on enemy ranged fighters during the first
Act. You'll have to sneak up on them (using Shadow Walk) and then hit them
with something like Poison Touch or other Blood Harvest.
Kithana is also pretty weak at melee. Your best bet is to use Vampiric skills
to siphon health from enemies. This will not only damage them, but heal
Kithana and cut down on your use of health potions. If you stick with
Vampiric skills, once you get Bloodreave and Mindreave, Kithana becomes
almost invincible. The Necromancy skills are quite weak. You can only have
one zombie fighting for you at a time, and they are not that strong.
Kithana uses the standard "mana" for magic energy and can replenish it with
Mana potions or by waiting around while it regenerates.
Sarus: Draconum Mage
----------------------
Starting Stats: Skill Trees:
* Health...........15 * Earth
* Strength.........10 * Fire
* Agility..........15 * Storm
* Stamina..........15
* Wisdom...........35
* Intelligence.....30
* Sarus's magic energy is called Mana
Sarus is a typical mage. He has a variety of ranged attacks, with many
different types of damage. He also has some personal protection spells, which
will come in useful since he's a very weak character (low health and low
armor). He's not much use as a melee fighter and doesn't have any ranged
weapon--just the spells.
His mana regenerates naturally or you can consume Mana potions. Of all the
characters, he is the most dependant on mana--he essentially has no other
method of fighting.
Tal Windstrider: Elven Guardian
---------------------------------
Starting Stats: Skill Trees:
* Health...........20 * Martial
* Strength.........20 * Holy
* Agility..........15 * Aerial
* Stamina..........35
* Wisdom...........20
* Intelligence.....10
* Tal's magic energy is called Faith
Tal is MKA's representation of the bog-standard paladin--a holy warrior with
healing and buffing magic. He has many strong melee and ranged attacks, not
to mention his spell selection, and he can freely switch between them. His
one big weakness is his Faith does not regenerate naturally.
You can replenish Faith three ways:
* Consume Holy Water, which restores Faith in the same way a Mana or Energy
potion does for other characters.
* Stand still and Pray (use Prayer skill). This restores Faith; but, you must
remain still and can take no other action.
* The Salvation passive skill, which you have from the start, allows Tal to
"leech" the soul energy from dead enemies. Stand near a corpse and energy
will stream from the body to Tal, refilling his Faith meter. This works for
any enemy corpse--but only once per enemy--and Tal did not have to kill the
creature.
Salvation alone won't typically keep Tal's Faith meter filled. Thus, after
almost every battle, you're forced to turn on Prayer and sit there watching
the Faith bar increase. It's boring and really detracts from the game.
Further, Tal's ranged attacks are not as good as Chela's; though, unlike
Chela, he can switch back-and-forth rather quickly.
Comments
----------
The easiest starting characters are Chela and Tal. Both have powerful melee
and ranged attacks, decent health and lots of armor. Chela is the slightly
better choice as her ranged attacks are stronger and Tal can be boring to
play as you have to Pray a lot. Janos also has a high initial armor rating
and health; however, his melee and ranged special attacks build up Heat very
quickly, meaning you can't use them as consistently as Chela and Tal can use
their special attacks. Not to mention playing him denies you a companion
early in the game.
Kithana and Sarus take more skill and more experience with action RPGs.
Kithana, early in the game, must rely on sneaking up to enemies using Shadow
Walk, poisoning the ranged fighters, then using Blood Harvest to finish off
the group while restoring her own health. Sarus can use Diamond Skin to
increase his armor, and cast powerful, long-range attacks. But you'll need to
stop and rest fairly frequently to allow his mana and very low health to
regenerate.
*NOTE* Each character plays a bit differently. You should play through the
Tutorial with each character in order to learn how to use that character's
special abilities. Then check the "Skip Tutorial" box under Options >
Gameplay.
Follow the instructions and talk to Gron, the troll, sitting nearby as the
mission begins. Proceed east along the path and break through the barricade
(attack it) and kill the orc beyond. Collect Gron's tools from the orc's
body; return to Gron to receive a character-specific weapon as a reward.
Go back east along the path, breaking through three more barricades and
killing more orcs. After the third barricade, your path forward will be clear
of obstructions; but, there are a lot more orcs.
Most of the orcs and their pet stone boars are in groups of three or four. Do
not rush forward and possibly spring two or three groups at once. Use a
ranged attack to draw the orcs to you rather than rushing them.
Work your way south through the swamp. As you island-hop through the swamp,
try to go around the "backs" of the islands. If you rush through the center,
you'll soon find yourself surrounded by a half-dozen or more orcs and it will
be respawn time.
At the south end of the swamp is the entrance to Silverholt. You do not have
to kill all the orcs in the swamp in order to enter Silverholt. Once you
enter the dwarf town, you cannot return to the Tutorial swamp.
Silverholt Gate
-----------------
Upon entering Silverholt, you'll have a long cutscene that sets up the main
story. Afterward, talk to Dorin, the Dwarf captain. He should be standing
right in front of you after the cutscene. He'll send you to deal with slavers
in the hills outside of town. The exit to the Brigand Camps is to the south
(to the right of where Dorin is standing) through a narrow canyon.
Brigand Camps
---------------
Advance cautiously. There are a couple of brigand swordsmen just beyond the
Magestone Crystal. They will initially run away. Do no run after them. Wait
until they return, then take them out. Just past them is the first brigand
camp. You'll have to break through the barricades while under fire from
archers--there are a lot of brigand archers in this area.
While you're clearing the camp, you may get more brigands from a group that's
stationed just beyond the camp; if they come charging in, run back the way
you came and rest up a bit before returning and finishing them off. Once the
camp is clear, click on the cage with a dwarf inside (there's a blue
exclamation mark hovering over the cage).
Wait for the dwarf to exit, then speak to him. After he leaves, continue on
your way. At the point the path splits, take the left (northeast) fork, clear
out another brigand camp and free another dwarf. Be sure to loot the camp
thoroughly; you should find your first really nice gear in this camp.
Now take the south path to another camp and another dwarf prisoner. This
prisoner is guarded by a fireball-throwing mage. If you have any +Fire Resist
equipment, now's the time to put it on. After, return to the fork in the path
and go east. When you see a Magestone Crystal ahead, stop and prep yourself
for battle. Your first boss fight is just ahead.
As you walk past the crystal, a cutscene begins. The scene ends with you in
the final brigand camp facing a rather large number of enemies. In addition
to the boss, there are a couple of mages and several brigands (archers and
swordsmen). Your best bet for winning this battle is to run outside the camp
and snipe anyone who comes out after you. Drawing the brigands out by ones or
twos is a better road to survival than standing in the middle of camp and
taking your lumps.
Once everyone is dead, free the dwarf and talk to him. After the cutscene,
follow the dwarf into the mine entrance to return to Silverholt Gate. Talk to
the guard at the bottom of the stairs to get a pass inside the city. Then
talk to Sven, at the gate, to open the gates and enter Silverholt. Inside,
talk to Dorin, then proceed past him to enter the city proper.
Silverholt
------------
Silverholt is your first city and you should spend some time exploring. The
city is laid out in four quadrants. The northwest quadrant, the Tavern
Quarter, is where you should go first. Head down the entry hall and take your
first left. You'll find the city Portal Stone, two merchants, Sythvallis
(your "guide" through the story) and Jarl Rolko, leader of Silverholt.
Speak to Jarl, then Sythvallis. Sythvallis will introduce you to Janos
Freeborn. (Unless you're playing Janos, in which case you're referred to a
generic dwarf.) Sythvallis also gives you a runestone. You can now use the
purple Magestone Crystals to portal back to city Portal Stones for rest and
refit. Go walk near the Silverholt Portal Stone to "attune" your runestone to
Silverholt. Near the Portal Stone is a large chest marked "Storage"; this is
your place to put junk you can't use yet and don't want to sell. Anything you
put in Storage can be accessed from any city.
Talk to the dwarf standing near the Portal Stone; if it's Janos, he'll offer
to join. When he joins you can choose to make him a melee fighter, rifle-
dwarf or grenade launcher. The way east out of the city is now open.
Before leaving, poke around a little. There are two merchants in the Tavern
Quarter; however, the jewelry merchant is a fake. Don't buy his junk. The
other merchant, a dwarf woman, sells magic items. An arms and armor merchant
is in the southwest quadrant of the city (the Mageforge). The merchants are
marked by coins floating over their heads, and they're marked on your maps as
dollar signs ($).
When you're ready for the next hack-n-slash fest, head east along the main
hall until you exit Silverholt.
Abandoned Quarries
--------------------
You'll run into Shadow Spawn for the first time at the beginning of this
area. These creatures are invisible until they begin attacking you. You can
hear them and see their footprints as they come, so you're not totally caught
off-guard.
You'll also begin running into Dark Dwarf Mortars. These hand-cannon-wielding
dwarfs can dish out some serious damage. Load up on Fire Resist items. At the
first fork in the path, take the left (north) path to a small encampment you
can loot for good swag. Then, continue along the main path until it forks
again.
If you study your overlay map, you'll see both paths in front of you meet up
again, forming a circle. You're at the northwest point of the circle; the
southeast point of the circle is a very big battle. You might want to return
to Silverholt and stock up on health potions.
When you reach that clearing to the southeast, you'll get a cutscene followed
by a pitched battle against about a dozen Dark Dwarfs--a mixture of axe-
wielders and mortars. Try running around and clearing out the mortars first.
If you have some type of attack that will knock-back or stun enemies, now is
the time to use it with abandon.
After the battle, be sure to loot all the bodies, then head northeast to a
purple Magestone. Portal back to Silverholt, sell off your loot, and stock up
on health potions. Some buffing potions (+Armor, +Health) would also be a
good purchase. Ahead of you lies a very difficult boss fight.
Return to the Abandoned Quarries, buff up, and go north over the wood bridge.
At the far end is an extended cutscene with the Dark Dwarf King Brekh. When
he's finished, he and his coterie of mortars and axe-wielders attack. If
you're not playing Janos yourself, you will have his help in this battle, and
it does make a big difference.
Run back over the bridge and draw as many of the minions with you as
possible. Destroy them piecemeal before heading back to King Brekh. Brekh has
a powerful knock-back attack of his own, so if you can counter by keeping him
on his back, you'll have better luck in this battle. Regardless, keep out of
Brekh's way until you've killed all the mortars and can concentrate on Brekh
alone.
Be prepared to die a few times. That's just the way this game works. Each
time you can Revive at the Magestone on the other side of the bridge and
quickly reach Brekh again before he regenerates any health. When Brekh is
finally beaten, loot the camp, then take the northwest exit to a cave that
leads back to Silverholt.
Silverholt (Invasion)
-----------------------
Go to the northwest quadrant of the city and talk to Sythvallis. After that
conversation, sell off your loot and stock up on potions. Go find Captain
Dorin in the Murder Hall (to the west). Talking to him triggers a cutscene
that ends with the invasion of Silverholt by a golem army. Captain Dorin will
be added to your party (giving you two partners if you have Janos).
You'll be surrounded by golems; but, there are also other dwarfs fighting, so
you don't have to take on the entire invading army on your own.
Yet.
During the fight, Dorin will inform you the steam engines have been shut down
and this reduces the ability of Silverholt's defenses. You know what you have
to do. The steam engines are in the northeast quadrant of the city. You'll
have to go and beat down a large group of golems and mages.
This is the first in a series of four battles that are all basically the
same. You (and your partners) will be pitted against a dozen or more enemies.
You will probably die--frequently. You'll revive at the city Portal Stone in
the northwest quadrant (the Tavern Quarter), which is conveniently warded
against the invading army. You can also use this for respite during battle--
just run away and return to the Tavern Quarter and rest for a bit. The
merchants in the Tavern Quarter are also open for business, so you can
replenish your stock of potions.
The four battles you have to fight will all follow the same pattern: run in,
hit as many enemies as you can before you die, Revive, run back in and hit
more enemies. Eventually, the combination of your attacks and the efforts of
your dwarf allies will wear down the attackers and you'll clear the room.
In the northeast quadrant are a number of golems, plus about three or four
Atlantean mages. When they are all dead, head up on to the platform in the
northeast corner of the room and talk to the dwarf in the white lab coat. The
engines will come back to life and Dorin will tell you to go to the Mageforge
and talk to Jorgen.
The Mageforge is the southwest quadrant. You'll repeat the earlier battle.
When the quest-related enemies are dead, several dwarf mages will erect a
circular ward in the center of the room. This is your signal to go up on the
platform and talk to Jorgen. You'll trigger a cutscene; afterward, you are
tasked with getting the Mauler's back on-line.
Head to the southeast quadrant, which is the control room for the War
Machines. Defeat the enemies in here, then find the red control levers on the
east side of the room. Click them to activate the War Machines. Another
extended cutscene takes place.
Your final task is to get the Aspect of Control from the invading Atlantean
mage. This is yet another run-in-bash-die-revive-run-in-bash-die...battle.
You'll have help from the dwarfs and your companions, but you're still going
to die a lot. That's the challenge in this game--avoiding boredom from dying
so often. One option here is to concentrate on Magus Jibarik. If he goes
down, all the other enemies conveniently disappear. Kithana's Bloodreave will
take Jibarik out in two shots.
Once the mage is dead, talk to Dorin. Go to the Tavern Quarter and talk to
Jarl and Sythvallis. The big blue guy sends you out to meet Amazons. (Boo
yah!) Click the city Portal Stone to be transported to...
The "city" of Firefeather is a small settlement, but it has a Portal Stone, a
Storage chest and two merchants. The arms and armor merchant is on the east
side of town, due north of the Portal Stone. The magic merchant is Priestess
Ixata; but, you have to talk to her about your quest first. Ixata sends you
to check on the Rain Temple, east of town, then offers to sell you stuff to
help you on your way.
Rain Temple
-------------
Leave Firefeather by the east gate to enter the grounds of the Rain Temple.
Charge up the stairs ahead of you and help the Amazon with the orcs.
Afterward, talk to her to get the next stage of your mission: clear all the
orcs out of the temple.
*NOTE* If you did not choose Chela as your PC, that is who you rescue and she
now joins your party.
Continue up the stairs to the main landing. There are some orcs at the north
and south ends of the landing. Once they are gone, search the east wall for a
section that appears different. Click it to lower the wall and step through
into a maze, which is, of course, infested with orcs. Head to your left
(north) to the next "section" of the maze and look for another "hidden" door
to your left. Go through that door, then another door into a building.
There are about six orcs inside the building. Dispose of them and go south,
over a bridge to a grassy plateau. Fight your way east to a waterfall with a
pool below. There's a Magestone Crystal here where you can save your progress
and portal back to town to unload loot. Continue east and then turn north
into a courtyard full of totemic statues.
After a cutscene, the statues start blasting apart. Pick your way through, as
quickly as possible, killing any orcs that get in your way. Your goal is a
stairway in the central west portion of the courtyard. At the top of the
stairs, you'll be on the first tier of the temple. Right in front of you are
the steps to the second tier. (For extra loot, run around the first tier,
killing all the orcs.)
On the second tier, you'll have to go around to the west side of the temple
to get to the stairs to the third tier. (Never let a game developer design
your house.) At the top of the stairs on the third tier is another Magestone
Crystal for saving and resting in town. While you're in town, buy the best
arms and armor available (unless you already have better) and stock up on
health and mana potions. Put all your collected magestones into your weapons
and armor.
From the third tier Magestone, go back around to the east side and up the
steps to the temple summit. After the cutscene, run like mad. Alright, this
boss fight is going to be a little different. The water guardian regenerates
while in water, so you have to lure it out of the pool and then you can't
die. If you die, it will go back into the pool and will be at full health
when you get from the Magestone back to the summit.
Fortunately, you should be powerful enough to take on the guardian, but only
after you've cleared out all the orcs. This may involve some constructive
dying. Once it's just the guardian, lure it out of the pool with ranged
attacks. Lure it down to the third tiers and keep running just a little ahead
of it, turning to fire at it occasionally, until you get around to the west
side of the temple.
You should now have it far enough from the safety of its pool to turn and lay
into it with everything you've got. Quaff the health potions and take it
down. If you're a ranged fighter, don't keep running away--it won't go much
further than this; instead, run back around it and lead it back the other way
around the third tier of the temple. Just keep it away from the pool on the
summit.
Once the guardian and the orcs are all dead, talk to the astral projection of
Priestess Ixata in the pool. Use the Magestone on the third tier to portal
back to Firefeather, and talk to Ixata again. Head out through the west gate
of Firefeather.
The Fist
----------
In front of you is a camp with about a half-dozen orcs. Beyond is another
camp, this one with a half-troll leader. Up next is your first Magestone
Crystal, then a couple more orc camps.
Finally you reach a mini-boss fight against a bunch of orcs, some wolfkin and
the head shaman you've been seeing in the cutscenes. The shaman has a nasty
whirlwind that sucks you up and holds you still while he unloads lightning on
you. Try to keep your distance and snipe him, or rush in and use a knockdown
attack to keep him off balance.
Once he's gone, there are plenty more orcs and wolfkin to wade through.
You'll also start encountering orc cyclopes. These giant beasties fling
boulders at you. Use a very long-range attack or get in close and beat on
them. You may need to run away and heal yourself--they won't follow as far as
other mobs.
Eventually you'll wind your way down to the Forbidden Temple and a boss fight
on the bridge. Your little party will be surrounded by the orc Khan, some
Amazon zombies and a bunch of wolfkin. Run back along the path and try to
draw the wolfkin with you and take them out.
Once they have been dealt with, you can concentrate on Khan. He's got a
powerful knockdown attack; don't close with him unless you can resist it. A
nice damage-over-time ranged attack will work wonders. Don't worry too much
about the zombies, they move so slowly they're not really much of a problem.
When everyone is dead, advance toward the main gate to the Forbidden Temple;
after the cutscene, step inside.
Forbidden Temple
------------------
Clear the orcs out of the entry area and walk toward the altar with the green
light coming out of it. There should be a blue exclamation mark hovering over
the altar. If there's not, you left a few orcs alive. Click the altar and
you'll be transported to the gate area.
The first set of gates will open and you'll have to kill a bunch of orcs.
Backtrack to the entry area, killing more orcs; then go south to find the
altar with the yellow light. Kill all the orcs around the altar; then, click
the altar to open the second set of gates. This time there's a couple of
half-trolls mixed in with the orcs inside the gate.
After all the gate guards are dead, backtrack to the entry area and go north.
Find the altar with the red light. There are more orcs, some half-trolls and
a couple of orc cyclopes guarding this altar. When they are all dead and the
blue exclamation mark appears, click the altar to open the third set of
gates.
Inside these gates are a lot of orcs, at least three to four half-trolls and
two orc cyclopes. Fortunately, there's the Magestone just back a ways from
the gates, so if you die, you don't have to run far to die again...err,
finish off the mobs.
Once all the orcs are gone, advance through the gates to see the inner part
of the temple strewn with Amazon warrior bodies. Pretty soon a cutscene plays
and the zombies start to rise. You'll have to work your way down to the
central plaza, where the zombie queen awaits. There are a lot of zombie
Amazons between you and her, but you'll rarely face more than three at a
time, and they move slowly, so you shouldn't have much of a problem with
them.
You shouldn't have much of a problem with the zombie queen either. You may be
noticing the game is getting much easier. You are on the verge of becoming
super-powerful and wiping out your enemies easily. Crank the game difficulty
up a notch if you're getting bored. (That won't help your boredom, but at
least you can brag about beating the game at High Difficulty later.)
The queen has a whirling strike that can do serious damage, so use a
knockdown or stunning attack, or stay back and snipe her from range. When
she's dead (re-dead?), go up the stairs and loot the chests near the
Magestone Crystal. Use the Crystal to return to Firefeather.
Talk to Ixata, who gives you the next stage of your quest. Shop if you wish,
then click the Firefeather Portal Stone to be taken to the undead city of
Ashton.
############
# Ashton #
# MKAS #
############
Immediately in front of you is Kithana. She'll fill you in on proceedings,
then offer to join your party. (Unless you're playing Kithana, then you meet
a generic vamp.) Head north to find Sythvallis and talk to him. Nearby is the
Ashton Portal Stone and Storage chest.
Blasted Lands
---------------
Your first order of business is to exit Ashton by the southwestern gate and
explore the Blasted Lands. This desert is rather sprawling and probably the
largest region in the game. Your main objective is to watch your map and head
for the objective points marked on the map.
These objectives are a bunch of stelae (nine total) rising out of the sands.
Click each one to add a short translation to your Quest Log. As you traverse
the dunes, you'll fight a lot of gnolls (pretty weak) and some sand
creatures. The sand creatures have the ability to travel through the sand so
they can almost instantaneously be on top of you. Fortunately, they're
solitary creatures; try not to take on three or four at the same time.
After the last stelae has been translated for you, a bunch of gnolls appear
around a nearby doorway. Kill all the gnolls and a portal opens in the door.
Step through to your next mission.
Aridaxis
----------
The ancient city of the minotaurs looks pretty new. With good reason; you've
just traveled 1,000 years into the past. (As if this story really needed
time-traveling. Never fear, you'll get the full headache-inducing
"explanation" some time later.) Kill the minotaurs that immediately beset
you; then, take stock of your surroundings.
There's a Magestone Crystal nearby; you can teleport only to Ashton. (For
some reason the city appears the same 1,000 years in the past...oh, well.)
Sythvallis is no longer in Ashton; instead, you can talk to an orange
Solonavi named Varythmasis. He won't tell you much.
Back in Aridaxis, take a left at the first intersection and begin winding
your way through another city that was deliberately designed to make you wade
through as many enemies as possible. Rather than, you know, convenience for
the inhabitants or anything like that.
You have to go north, then east, then west, then east again. You'll run into
a water fountain inhabited by a water guardian. (A small version of what you
fought on the summit of the Rain Temple.) Once it is dead, find the small
temple-like structure just east of the fountain. Go up the south steps, kill
the minotaurs and go down the north steps.
Wind your way through some more narrow, ambush-happy streets. When you reach
a large, clear area, you'll enjoy a nice cutscene that ends with a mini-boss
fight. Try and stay away from the king of the minotaurs, as he has a nasty
whirling strike. His minions shouldn't pose much of a problem.
When the king bull is dead, head north into...
The Altars of Power
---------------------
As you enter this temple, you'll get a cutscene followed by a battle with
about a dozen nightblades. This won't go well, especially since there are a
lot of archers. If you have some AoE skills, now's the time to use them;
anything to keep the archer off balance so they aren't all using you as a
pincushion at once.
When you finally kill the nightblades, you'll have to complete four very
similar tasks. There are four altars--two on the north side and two on the
south side--that have to be disabled. During the cutscene you saw the
guardians go through the doors to their altars. You can open these doors and
follow. Each little mini-quest follows the same pattern:
1) Step through the door into a small maze. Fight your way through hordes of
enemies (various types--though one, the southwest altar, has harmless slave
girls rather than monsters) until you reach the altar room.
2) Enjoy some tete-a-tete with the altar guardian.
3) Slay the altar guardian and her horde of minions. (Easier said than done.)
Some of the minions, especially the pain wraiths in the northeast room--are a
real problem. Any nightblades will go invisible, which makes things even
worse. The altar guardian also goes invisible and is much better at making
attacks while staying invisible. This can get real nasty real quick.
4) Once the guardian and her minions are dead, kill the nightblades that are
standing on pedestals around the room. This disables the altar.
5) Leave the way you came in and be ambushed by invisible nightblades as you
exit the altar room.
Needless to say, this can be pretty tedious. Fortunately, there's a Magestone
in the main room, so you can return to Ashton at any time for rest and refit.
When you've disabled all four altars, click the big doors on the east end of
the room and enter the final arena.
You're in for a very bad fight. You'll be attacked by constantly respawning
pain wraiths and skeletons, not to mention the sorceress who's controlling
them. Concentrate your attacks on the witch and try not to allow yourself to
be surrounded. This is difficult because the wraiths are very good at
stunning you. If you do get surrounded, you're probably dead.
Once you kill the sorceress, she summons the titan you've been hearing about.
Now, at least, the skeletons and wraiths stop spawning; though, whatever were
left from before the titan are still there. Mop up the minions as best you
can before turning to attack the titan.
The big thing to watch out for here is that bone whip he's carrying. When he
crouches, then slams that thing to the ground, you're about to be blown off
your feet. This not only hurts, it immobilizes you for about five seconds.
When you see the titan stop and crouch, start running; you may even be fast
enough to avoid the explosion.
Other than that, the titan is a big wuss; especially if you have some strong
ranged attacks. Avoid his special attack and keep out of his way (he's pretty
slow) and you should be fine. Once the titan is dead and the cutscene has
played, loot the room; then, step into the glowing circle on the east side of
the room.
You'll arrive back in present-day Ashton and you can talk to Sythvallis and
Varythmasis. The convoluted time-travel story will make your eyes ache; but,
that's the price you pay for "enjoying" this game. Sythvallis will send you
to the Draconum. Head for the north gate of Ashton to get to...
Chrys'alara is an Asian-themed village of streams criss-crossing beautiful
gardens with houses built on wood platforms surrounding peaceful pools. What
this means to you is Chrys'alara is like a maze; you have to make your way
around the wood platforms on which the houses are built, since you can't get
anywhere just running through the gardens.
Cross the bridge in front of you and go up on the wood platform at the end of
the bridge. Sythvallis is in a house on the north side of the central garden,
next to the town Portal Stone. Talk to him; then, go see Calabra, Speaker and
Priest for the Dragon Gods. You'll find Calabra northwest of town--go west
from Sythvallis, then north down into a garden and from there up a set of
stairs to the island shrine where Calabra awaits.
Calabra sends you to talk to some ghosts.
Great...
The Mausoleum
---------------
To get to the Mausoleum, go back down to the Portal Stone and go east into
the house where you can find the arms & armor merchant. Go out his "back"
door and over the bridge to the crypt entrance. Head up the stairs to the
main doors and you'll be transported inside.
Go to the end of the first room and sit through the cutscene. Afterward, find
the column with the blue exclamation mark hovering over a glowing button on
the base. It's on the north side of the room and slightly behind you after
the cutscene. Clicking the button opens a door into the main crypt.
In the crypt you'll face mainly mummies and ghosts. The mummies only break
out of their sarcophagi if you click the sarcophagi, so...don't. The ghosts
are harder, as they can remain invisible even while attacking. Use a "see
invisible" skill if you have one; e.g. Chela's War Trance (Eagle Stance). Go
straight east through the first room of the crypt and to the east end of the
large room beyond to find the first sacred fountain. Click it and then turn
around and go back to the first room.
Go north and then head east down a long hallway full of ghosts. At the end of
the hall, where it turns south, you'll find the first ritual brazier (it has
a blue exclamation mark hovering over it). Click it to light it.
Turn around and go back west just a little bit and find the door on the south
wall of the hall. Leave this room through a door on the west wall; turn
around after going through the door to see ritual braziers two and three.
Click them, then return the way you came to the long hall.
Go south until the hall ends. Ritual brazier number four is in the corner. Go
through the door to the east and enter a room with a lot of sarcophagi and a
large Old One statue. Go through the north door and turn around to see the
final two ritual braziers. Light them, then go straight south to a Magestone
Crystal.
From the Crystal, go west and through the first door on your right (north)
into a small room with the second sacred fountain. Click it, then head west
down another large hall to a meeting with the Makers. After the meeting is
over, go through the newly opened door to return to Chrys'alara.
Sacred Caverns
----------------
Return to Calabra and tell him what you were told by the Makers. Calabra
doesn't understand it either; so, he sends you to Dardanus. You may have
already spoken to Dardanus, he's the magic merchant for the town. Go back
into town and work your way to the Archives, which are on the southeastern
end of town.
Dardanus tells you of problems in the Sacred Caves and sends you to
investigate. If you are not playing as Sarus, you are first told to go to
Sythvallis. Sythvallis introduces you to Sarus and the Draconum mage now
joins your party. If you are playing as Sarus...well, you get bupkus.
From Sythvallis, head straight west and over a bridge to reach the Sacred
Caverns. Once inside, you have to work your way around to a large cavern
(hmmm...looks like a boss arena) that's marked on your map with the objective
marker. Just use your map to work your way through the caves; they're not
that difficult.
You will have to slog through a lot of corrupted draconum; and, they tend to
burst out of their chrysalis cocoons right on top of you. Forewarned is
forearmed and all that. When you reach the boss arena, you get to fight a
two-headed draconum and a lot of lackeys.
It'll be so much fun, you'll be happy to know you have to kill him three
times. Doesn't that just warm you from your head to your toes? This is a
difficult fight because there's a lot of rubble, a lot of enemies and the
poor pathfinding means you will frequently get pinned and be unable to escape
the horde of mini-dragons surrounding you.
Concentrate your attacks on the boss. Each time he dies, the draconum run
away to protect his cocoon, from which he'll emerge in a moment. This will
give you a brief respite from the gang that's attacking you. What makes this
even more fun is the huge explosion the boss can unleash--and he unleashes it
regularly. This is especially problematic when you're pinned and can't run
away. On the plus side, the explosion may unpin you!
After the third death, he stays down and some new bad guys show up. Head for
the southeastern cavern to find the entrance to...
The Shyft Tunnels
-------------------
Wind your way through the tunnels. The overlay map will be helpful in
determining which branch paths lead to dead ends. You should be able to make
your way quickly enough to the Matriarch. After the short cutscene, you'll be
mobbed by a couple dozen minions and be a sitting duck for the Matriarch's
grenades.
It will actually work to your advantage if you die at the beginning of this
battle. After reviving, you will find the Matriarch's minions have scattered
and the room is large enough you can work your way around the periphery,
taking them out one or two (occasionally three) at a time. The Matriarch will
ignore you while you do this.
Once all the minions are dead, you can turn your attention to the Matriarch.
This is a good thing, since you have to kill her four times.
Yes. Four.
She has only one weapon, grenades (of various damage types), and you can see
them coming so they're pretty easy to dodge. Unless, of course, you choose to
melee her, in which case you may not have room to get away when she winds up.
If you can avoid the grenades, this will be an easy fight (or four);
otherwise, you might have to Revive a few times to defeat her.
Once she's really dead, her minions miraculously revive and begin attacking
again. Don't waste time on them, run back to the Magestone Crystal and
teleport back to Chrys'alara. Speak to Sythvallis to receive your next quest.
Click the Portal Stone to get started.
##################
# Vale of Dawn #
# MKVD #
##################
If you're playing as Tal Windstrider, the guards at the entrance to the elf
camp will let you in. If you're not playing as Tal, you'll meet him now in a
cutscene and he'll join your party. Once inside the camp, which is the "town"
for this Act, find Commander Darkmoon and speak to him. He sends you on a
mission to recover some stolen artifacts from Mistral, Lord of Winter.
The Frozen River
------------------
Exit the elf camp by the east gate and follow the frozen riverbed. It will
twist and turn a lot, which means plenty of opportunity for you to kill
hordes of monsters. Once the slogging is done, you'll approach Mistral's
Keep, where you meet the big ice man himself.
He'll spring a load of minions on you. You'll have to kill most of the
minions before you can touch Mistral. This will be difficulty because you're
on a narrow path and there is no room to maneuver. Hopefully you have some
decent melee fighters in your party.
When Mistral pulls his big sword out of the ground, start attacking him.
Again, this will prove difficult due to the narrow path on which you're
standing. Mistral will also freeze you once in a while. This won't do much
(if any) damage, but you will be stuck for a while and Mistral can beat up on
you as he pleases. Using ranged attacks from a distance works best here.
Once Mistral is defeated, you can continue up to the keep.
The Winter Keep
-----------------
The keep is, of course, teeming with enemies. At the end of the entry hall,
hang a left (west) and wind your way through a hall and a couple of rooms
until you come out into a courtyard. Here you get to have it out with Mistral
and a couple dozen of his closest friends.
Yep. Again.
At least this time you have some room to maneuver. Ranged fighters will
appreciate the ability to run away from the confusion and snipe the
stragglers. You can also more easily keep away from Mistral's freezing spell.
After the fight, go up on the balcony that runs along the west wall and head
back inside; then, go east along a hall. The hallway will make a little jog
to the south; after it does so, find the door on the south side to enter
another courtyard.
No fight with Mistral here; bust through the blocked doorway to the southeast
and wind your way into yet another courtyard. At the north end are two exits:
a blocked door and a set of stairs up to a balcony. Go up the stairs and head
north into another courtyard.
Ah! Here's another fight with Mistral. Rinse-and-repeat your tactics from the
earlier fight. There are more minions this time around. When the courtyard is
clear, take the exit at the southwest corner of the yard and follow the
concourse west and then a little north into a large yard that runs the entire
length of the keep.
You've got perhaps three or four dozen enemies to clear out of this yard.
Once they are all dead, a large door in the center opens and you can enter
the throne room for your final confrontation with Mistral...
Well! That was easy. The room with the trinkets mentioned by Mistral is to
the left of the throne (west). After you've looted to your heart's content
(or backpack's fullness), go through the door across the throne room to find
a Magestone Crystal. Portal back to the Vale of Dawn.
Fallen Citadel
----------------
Talk to Commander Darkmoon; then, talk to Sythvallis. Sythvallis tells you to
talk to Darkmoon again; but, actually, he has nothing useful to say to you.
Find the exit just past the commander, and wind your way up to the Fallen
Citadel.
You'll have to trek up a frozen bridge, harassed constantly by Atlanteans.
Shortly after entering the area, some of Lord Mistral's minions show up and
offer to help. Say, "Yes". When you encounter your first large group of
Atlanteans, the minions will pop out of the snow and take care of business.
With a full party and the help of the minions, the trek to the citadel itself
is pretty easy.
Once inside the citadel proper, take a good look at your overlay map. Even
though you can only see half the area right now, you'll see it's laid out in
an octagon and you're going to circle that octagon a couple times to get to
the center, which is your objective.
This entrance hallway only goes around the north side of the octagon, and
then you enter the main concentric portion of the citadel. At the point where
you turn into the first ring, you'll kill a lot of magi and golems in a large
room. After all the enemies are dead, before entering the first ring, look in
the corner of the room. You should see a desk with a blue exclamation mark
hovering over it; click the desk to pick up some ley line charts--you'll need
these later.
Enter the first ring and fight your way around the citadel. At the point
where you turn into the second ring, keep going around the first ring. In the
room at the end, kill all the golems and look on the back (north) wall.
You'll see a machine with a blue exclamation mark. Click it and Janos will
pick up a key used to power up the skiffs. You'll need it a bit later.
Turn into the second ring and fight your way around the citadel again. At the
end, kill all the enemies and click the levers on the big machine with the
gears. A door around the northeast side of the second ring will open and you
can get into the center of the citadel.
There you are in for a big fight. Some 50 or 60 enemies will swarm you; many
of the mobs are miniature flying gunships--always a fun time. It will take a
while; but, there's nothing special about these enemies. Just keep hacking
and slashing; after all, isn't that what this game is all about?
Once the enemies are dead, you can click the ramp on the skiff in the center
of the area. Assuming you picked up the charts and key earlier, you'll enter
a cutscene to the next Act. If you didn't pick up the key or charts, you get
to do a lot of backtracking. Have fun!
Vurgra Divide
---------------
After the cutscene, you find yourself at the southeast corner of a volcanic
crater. You have to travel around the outer part of the area, shutting down
spires. You shut down each spire by killing the acolytes that are controlling
the spire.
The fighting at this points gets crazy stupid. The game will throw *hundreds*
of enemies at you as you go around to the five spires. Even at Easy
Difficulty you will die more than once. Try to ignore the mobs and
concentrate on the spire at each location.
Break through the obstruction leading up to the spire, then kill the acolytes
that are feeding energy to the spire. As soon as the acolytes are dead,
you'll get a cutscene and most of the enemies will disappear.
There's no "easy" way to do any of this. You will frequently find yourself
surrounded by 30 or 40 mobs, with no way to move and nothing you can do
against that many. The Magestone Crystals are positioned such that, should
you quit and reload the game at any time, you'll be forced to wade through
the hordes all over again (though you won't have to shut down spires you've
previously stopped). The trek around the Divide is a true test of your
patience.
The best path around is to travel clockwise. Go west from your starting
position and take out two spires. You'll then find a Magestone Crystal where
you can save your progress. From the Crystal, go north to the third spire.
From there, go east, bypassing the bridge to the Temple. (Try to bypass the
guards too, they're just a waste of your time.)
Just past the bridge is another Magestone Crystal. Save your progress, then
head southeast to the final two spires. After the fifth spire and the
cutscene, backtrack northwest to the Magestone Crystal. Save your game, and
take a breather if you need to. You can safely quit now without having to re-
do any portion of the Divide.
Now head for the bridge on the north side of the are. You'll find yourself up
against yet another horde of enemies. Ignore them. Bash your way across the
bridge as quickly as possible and enter the final area.
The Temple of the End
-----------------------
Off to your left you'll see the Landshatter Dragon; you can't touch him now
so don't worry about him. Down to your right is a Magestone Crystal and a
merchant. Yes! A merchant. He sells everything: weapons, armor, magic items,
the works. So, you don't have to portal back to a town; although, you can do
so from the Crystal.
Ahead of you is a ramp leading up to the temple. Kill the bad guys on the
ramp and turn right at the top of the ramp. Kill another group of enemies and
then go down into the main temple. You'll have a nice long chat with
Katalkus.
When the cutscene is over, ignore the spawning monsters and run to a pair of
acolytes in front of one of the spires. Kill them, then click the base of the
spire when you see the blue exclamation mark. The monsters will disappear and
different monsters will take their place. Ignore them also.
Just concentrate on running to each pair of acolytes, killing them and
clicking the base of the spire when you see the blue mark. Try to stand near
the spire while killing the acolytes; that way, you won't be blocked by mobs
and unable to reach the spire when the priests are dead. (They respawn after
a moment, so you want to click the spire very quickly.)
You should get a nice cutscene; and, when all five spires have been de-
activated, you get to fight Katalkus. He's not that tough, especially if
you've got some good ranged attacks. At least you only have to fight him (no
minions). When he dies, the Landshatter Dragon appears and the final battle
is on!
And...it's a bit anti-climactic. Get behind the behemoth and what at its
tail. It has some very nasty attacks, including an instant-death attack, but
they all come out in an arc from the front of the beast. It will also summon
vampire skeletons that will attack you. Best to leave them alone and
concentrate on the dragon.
The dragon does regenerate health, and quickly. If you die, run back into the
temple as fast as possible so it won't be back to full health. If your
companions are still alive, they may be able to help a little. Still, this is
mostly a matter of getting behind the dragon and staying behind the dragon.
You're actually pretty safe back there and you should be able to take him out
without dying even once.
Congratulations! You've just finished Mage Knight Apocalypse.
Don't you feel good about yourself now?
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\O/ VERSION HISTORY & CREDITS \O/
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reader agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the author, Barry Scott Will,
from any consequences of using this information.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
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