Smallest possible party to do a full-clear? Anyone try it?

[isometric]

Hey y'all. I sort of feel the urge to play EO1 again, and do some sort of challenge. I've heard tales of solo protectors getting all the way to Ren and Tlachtga, and I believe I saw a video once of a 2-member party doing Entreant... but I can't recall the classes or how successful they were.

So, does anybody have first-hand experience with a 2-member party? I'm ruling out solo runs because I've never heard of somebody getting past Ren and Tlachtga. How far have y'all gotten and what composition? I've been trying to google, but I haven't really seen anything beyond speculation of possible duo parties and stories of solo protectors.

Maybe I'll try a parry/cure protector in the front, with a survivalist for damage at the back? This is likely the party I'm going to use if I don't hear anything from people.

The lack of tp-restoration from the Troub would be a pain, but having a Troub instead of a surv would probably kill my damage quite a bit (what with only having 1 person to buff and dealing mediocre damage). Lack of elemental damage will likely be a huge pain though, so maybe a troub isn't such a bad idea afterall?

Or heck, a medic instead of a protector would probably dish out pretty good damage with caduceus while having immunize and heals, while the survivalist could help with turn orders and ambush.

A drain/bait Dark Hunter would be pretty tanky and damaging as well... I remember using my Dark Hunter exclusively for the solo quests.

I'd rather avoid having to redo the whole game into the late 50's or whatever just because it becomes impossible past that point which is why I'm asking for other people's experience. If I don't hear from anybody, I'll likely give the Protector/Surv a go. Also, if anyone's interested in updates I can do a weekly thing or an update at every new stratum or something, I don't know.

[Maxine MagicFox]

I've heard people attempting stunts like this back in the game's hayday on GF, but I have no idea what became of it. ^_^ Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[isometric]

Alright, I've got a few hours 'til my Pathfinder group gathers, so I think I'm going to start my run!

Guild's named Valiance, and I've decided to go for a Protector (because they're amazing soloists and have heals in this game) and Survivalist (because its back damage is really good) I'll let y'all know when I get to Fenrir and how that goes. Wish me luck!

[isometric]

Had a change of heart. My protector was parry/cure and the survivalist was going to be damage-focused, but I don't know how effective they'll be in the long run. I'm giving a medic/dark hunter a try instead, since M's are pretty much better than P's in everything but the antis (immunize vs fortify, smite vs caduceus, salves vs cure) and I have a good feeling a dark hunter with drain and bait will be able to wreck stuff much more effectively than the surv, while maintaining some self-heal.

As for my experience with the P/S though, it went pretty well. First level was absolutely terrifying, as the first monsters I fought were a trio of butterflies. Got lucky with 1 attack being a miss, the second a bind though, so we killed 1 off within the first turn and only took about 8 damage from the attack.

I was pretty surprised at how easy it was going. One instance at around level 3 I had about 8hp and was fighting off a mole and a woodfly, but I decided to just attack with the surv(who would've gone first) and gamble the cure on my protector instead of wasting a medica. it paid off spectacularly! As long as I stuck to napping whenever I had to go back to town, I could keep using the 10tp spring for mana, and heal up using my protector's cure (first levels were pumping hpup on the P, agi/ambush for the S)

So yeah, overall I might go back to that party to see how far it'd get, but I don't see it killing the final boss. Maybe the DH/M will. If not, perhaps a P/T for debuffs and elementals? Who knows. I'll update when I feel the urge, beat a boss, or if I decide to restart again!

[Benkyo]

I assume the medic/dark hunter team aren't going to face the post-game dragons? Or is it possible without a paladin?

[isometric]

I'm not really sure what's possible just yet, as all I've heard are rumors here and there. Obviously dragons need antis (which is why I haven't RULED OUT the first party yet, just put them on a backburner I guess!), but the solo protectors I've heard of don't get much further than R&T, so I thought I'd go for something else.

Just getting a feel for class combos and synergies. If I clear the game even ONCE with 2-person party, I'll look more seriously into the post-game stuff.

That being said, if you've heard any stories/videos of solo/duo dragon teams, please share!

[Benkyo]

All I can say for sure is that they usually do an erase all buffs move followed by a hit all for 1300+ elemental damage move. Both are head skills.
If you bind the head they will do a shield buff and spam the 2000 point heal, both are arm skills.
The only way I can see Medic/Dark hunter working is if you can maintain head and arm binding at all times and I'm not sure if that's possible.

[Benkyo]

With paladin/ranger I can see the following:

As long as the dragon alternates debuff and breath your paladin can anti-shock and buff defence every other turn. Problem is your damage output is low (vs. 35000hp) so you'll soon hit the stage where the dragon is using random skills and have to anti-shock every turn. When your defence buff runs out the dragon can one-shot your paladin with physical damage.

It looks like a 3 member minimum to me...

[isometric]

Yeah, I'm not aiming for the post-game just yet.

I'll try to beat the main game with a party of 2 first, then maybe see how few it takes to kill the dragons. I can't see the main game being toooo impossible, what with people getting so far solo, but maybe I underestimate it. The times I've beaten it, my parties have been pretty standard.

[isometric]

Update because it's been a while. I'm taking forever to level, because I have to head back to heal at the springs/stock up on swag every few fights. It also doesn't help that I don't have as much time to play as I'd like!

The characters work fairly well, though. I sort of have bait for big-ish damage and drain for fights where I don't want to get smacked around too hard. The medic keeps immunize up and helps me beat things into submission. Not much synergy between the two, honestly.

I might just rest and remove the combat medic skills (well, mostly the attack up skills as of now, I'm still not really high level...) and throw her in the back row. Or not, we shall see... I mean, where would I put the skill points? I've got immunize, and a few in the cure/salve prereqs, so I'm pretty set.

[zamisk]

You inspired me to do a 3-member run of EOII. I figured two members wouldn't be easy enough for little old me...

[isometric]

I had much more success with EO2! In fact, I found a bunch of people who've tried duo and tri runs for that one, and I believe somebody did a full solo run with a dark hunter.

What party are you planning on using?

[zamisk]

I have Ronin, Protector, and War Magus. I might need to swap the Protector out for a Hexer later in the game, but for now I need it to survive. I died in my first fight, but after trying again got out and am now all level 3. This really makes the game more exciting for a second run.

[isometric]

I sort of want to try a Dark Hunter Hexer War Magus playthrough after I get this one wrapped up.

I imagine the first several levels would be next-to-impossible in EO2 for small parties, but I can see your crew getting through a good chunk of the game done afterwards, especially with the hexer later.

As for my game, A buddy of mine asked me to borrow my copy of EO last Friday, so I have sort of put it on hold. Popped back in Drowned City for now, but I'm so busy all the time that I haven't really managed to do much with my DS. :c

[zamisk]

I switched the protector to a Dark Hunter. I'm kicking ass more efficiently now, all level 10's and working on floor 3.