I've started this game just recently. need a few pointers.

[Jinggo]

I'm not expecting a crash course in how to play this but what l would like is a few links to posts or threads that will get me started on the right path. I've been trying to read the enormous amount of previous posts but I seem to be getting confused by things that don't apply to me yet or things that everyone seems to already understand.

So basically if you happen to know of a series of posts that I can read in some kind of order so I can learn on my own that would be phenomenally kind of you.

I also have a few questions that may reveal what I'm actually struggling with. I hope the veterans here don't mind.

I keep seeing classes with a slash and people refer to it as sub classing? What is this and how do I do it?

I may have chosen a team that most people don't start with. So far from what I've read people are liking the hoplite and gladiator? These classes are vastly different from what I'm used to and they don't seem that similar to EOII. Let me tell you what I'm currently crawling the labyrinth with and then one of you veterans can share your insight with me. Hopefully I don't need to restart my game. I will if I need to though.

Here's my main group setup:

Jinga Princess level 8
Royal lineage 1
Nobility Proof 1
Attack Order 3
Guard Order 3
Regal Radiance 1 (not sure what this does yet)
Combat Study 1 (what is this one?)

Yao Monk level 7
Fist Mastery 3
Waking Chakra 2
Healing 3
Kikouken 1

Orochi Ninja level 6
Keburi no Sue 1
Knife Mastery 3
Senpuku 2
Fukubari 1
Sarutobi 1

(Back)
Luzi Zodiac level 7
Ether Mastery 1
Fire Mastery 1
Ice Mastery 1
Volt Mastery 1
Fire Star 1
Ice Star 1
Volt Star 1
Bandage 1
Combat Study 1

Ophelia Farmer level 8
Earth's Bounty 2
Keen Nose 1
Lullaby 1
Harvestry 4
Keen Eye 1
Horseplay MASTER

So what do you think? Good bad ugly?

[Dangerus]

1. Princes and Princesses are good for you. They do passive healing and buffing/debuffing off the charts. Regal Radiance is the first step to making a healbot.

2. Monks are pretty fine in my opinion because they actually heal and fight bare handed. With Fist Mastery, your ATK is fine regardless. However, it is still a bad sign when you'll start to only prefer them subclassed post-game. They are good though when they want to pass through the bad endings and such.

3. Now Ninjas... Congrats bro. With a Ninja and Zodiac, crowd control would be a cinch. However, some people prefer Wildlings to do binds and ailments. I've only RECENTLY retired my team. I am having trouble doing that post game without doing the Scylla quest over and over again. But from what I can tell, I've been using my Wildling for a good while and just recently have I realized that Call Snake can do nice things for people.

4. Farmers are a mixed bag. I never really used one for my party, but my brother and my boyfriend have. They may not do a lot of damage. If you are going to subclass, pick a Gladiator. I've made a Farmer/Zodiac though and he's been a huge help for me though. Still, not that many people like Farmers otherwise.

[Jinggo]

Thanks Dangerus. By healbot I'm assuming you mean the secondary effect of the princess buffs right? I don't think my farmer will really be able to be much help later in the game except for gathering. I see her getting replaced rather soon.

Orochi: "Ophelia we're getting our asses beat can you do something please?"
Ophelia: "Hey guys look I found a bent stick! Good right?"
*Collective facepalm*

[isometric]

[Jinggo]

Wow that sounds like some good advice. I'm going to try that out. And resting is only a 5 level drop in this game. I think I can live with that if it means getting better skills in the process. thanks

[Dangerus]

[Axanael]

From what I learned, the best way to start off is (All this is taken from the GameFaqs guide I read when I started off playing this)

Warning, reading anything past the first parts in the actual walkthrough contains spoilers.


What I got out of that guide was:

1. Hoplites are almost a necessity (early game), because early on, I had problems making it past the first floor when I tried to play without one because without overleveling most classes are too squishy to survive long on their own without excessive healing.

2. You're going to want a healer for obvious reasons (you can only carry so many Medicas, plus buying lots gets expensive early on), and the main healer class is Monk, but Prince/Princess works as well, though they are more focused on buffs and debuffs, and healing is a side effect.

3. The other 3 slots in your main party you're going to want either offensive classes, support classes, or a mix of both.

Offensive Classes:
Arbalists are good for taking on bosses and enemies stronger than you because of the Giant Killer passive, plus they have good attacking power. Their TP is relatively limited early on, so use skills sparingly while exploring.

Bucaneer is a good debuffer (at least with a rapier) with decent offensive abilities, but you're going to need to put some focus into the Trickster passive so you don't run out of TP. With a gun (though admittedly I haven't done this myself) Bucaneers have elemental attack abilities, which I'm not sure how to explain, but in my opinion, rapier is much better.

Gladiators are a solid, relatively rounded out offensive class that focuses on physical attacks. They have a lot of offense based skills along with some attack increasing skills and buffing skills, though I haven't really used them much other than as a subclass

Zodiacs are a TP reliant mainly elemental damage dealing offensive class that can outdamage most classes when they do have TP. Best if back line because low defense.

Support Classes:
Farmer: Low attack and defense, not much damage dealing capability. Good for increasing you EXP gain, debuffing enemies, recovering from buffs, etc.

Ninja: Not exactly damaging but has a good skill set based around binds, an instant kill skill, and the ability to clone himself.

Wilding: They have debuffs that can help you with defeating enemies, along with the ability to summon beasts that are especially helpful early game. Without TP or a beast they aren't too as helpful.

For the rest of your 25 slots, I'd fill about 20 of them with stuff you want, ex. any class you didn't pick for your first five, a few extra zodiacs so you have one for each element, an extra hoplite/prince/princess, anything you feel you might need or want. Just remember to put all their inital points in combat study so they gain exp while you explore the labyrinth with your main party. The actual guide goes really in depth about your idle members so if you want to read that, go ahead.

The reason I don't fill all of them is because


Of course, at the end of the day, it's your call, so do whatever c:

PS. Don't be dumb like me and almost use formaldehyde on anything relatively early game because it's a waste.

[Wolkenritter]

[Axanael]

[igniz13]

I started with a
M/B/P
N/Z
set-up but for the first boss I used a
B/P/H
M/A
set-up

I only started training up a Hoplite because I found the defence of the B and M too lackluster for the front line. In Strata 2 it's become untenable and the Bucaneer is being dropped for a Gladiator.

The first boss didn't cause too much trouble, but you need that aoe to fish him out otherwise he'll probably slaughter you with earthquake. You should get a few rounds to fish him out though, so not sure why he'd get you.

I can't see much point in giving monks unarmed and expecting them to heal, sure if you want to use a princess set-up, it's a little less necessary but you could just buy them a club and save the points.

I'm just not sure about B's and Z's though. I have an A replacing the Z but their TP is so low it's just not useful for AOE damage. On strata 2 I've found elemental damage (or solid aoe) more important, but I'm having a tough time of it. Don't remember having these problems in EO1-2 but I can't remember why not.

I do know I had a Ronin in EO2 that did Ice damage and a Gunner rather than an Alchemist or whatever bobbins Wizard character, and they were better for single target elemental damage and covered 2 out of 3. I don't think the same is viable in EO3, Club Gladiator can do Ice Damage, Hop can do Lightning damage and Monk can do Fire, but they're too costly to even afford in skills, let alone use.

So any suggestions on what to do with Z or A's? I started with just one element on a Z but recently I've gone to getting the level 1 power and maxing Ether Mastery and for A's i'm just leveling up all the elemental bursts.

Bucaneer's, I have no idea what to do with them. They seem weak without a team set-up for them and the link skills are too costly for skill points to be useful right now.

I'm currently bumbling around floor 7, wishing nearly every fight wasn't nearly a boss fight.

[Jinggo]

I love my Z and my monk does really well unarmed with fist mastery mastered. For my first Z I have the elemental attacks only as high as they need to be to get level 1 of each aoe. It's been working out well I also pumped up the elemental mastery skills to at least 5 each because they increase damage without increasing tp cost. My next strategy for my Z's is to have one Z for each element and have them specialize in that element. Then I'll switch them out as necessary. It seems you rarely need all three elements available at one time for your Z. So in all I'll have 4 Z's and only one will have all elements.

[igniz13]

I've struggled on to Where you have to battle Olympia's pet dragon. My composition is now.

G H P
M A

It's just about working but it's a pain. I lack cc now (it's never easy). I'm thinking of holding out until I can subclass into a Zodiac, probably Ninja/Zodiac but I might go with a sole element Zodiac as you suggested. I know they can be pretty potent but they're lacklusture adventuring partners. I did find that giving them one of the status inflicting weapons compensated for their lack of damage when they have TP, also works for my Farmer.

[Jinggo]

I've never had an H. Your M is useless in the back row. Why do you have him there? Mine is great at soaking damage and dealing damage as a part time healer. Sometimes I don't need him for healing and just use medicas instead. If you have passive healing set up on your P he/she would be better in back using ad nihilo and guard/attack order. Just my opinion though. Your setup wouldn't work for me the way I play so the way I play may not work for you. I also don't have an H right now. Don't see the use.

[isometric]

[Jinggo]

That helped me out too even though you were responding to someone else. Maybe I should take my arbalist more seriously. My Z has been doing pretty well so far but I'm guessing by that post it will soon have to change. I guess I'll find out when I can finally subclass