For a long time, something didn't sit right with me about CoC2's combat. Sure, the customization with abilities and gear was great, but it felt... clunky, almost bewildering, in a way that CoC and TiTS never did. When I sat down to make a new character after hitting the end of published content with my Black Mage, I realized what the problem was:
Companions!
Your tastes will vary, of course. But for me personally, controlling them felt like it bogged down encounters too much, while letting the AI run them led to battles devolving into big walls of text and a confusing bevy of bars going up and down. So I decided to see how far I could go without them. The answer: "pretty far"!
First, note that all of this has been accomplished in Easy Mode. I tried it on Normal, but even early-game enemies were just overwhelming with only one person. Having finished all content up to the Fort on multiple Normal playthroughs, it's my opinion that soloing on Easy is still harder than playing with a party on Normal.
I think this is doable for anyone who wants to give it a try, although it took a lot of trial-and-error to find a viable build.
Have you guys ever tried anything like this? Is there a better build out there, and I'm just a scrub for playing on Easy Mode? Does anyone else find the mechanics of Companions to be as annoying as I do?
Companions!
Your tastes will vary, of course. But for me personally, controlling them felt like it bogged down encounters too much, while letting the AI run them led to battles devolving into big walls of text and a confusing bevy of bars going up and down. So I decided to see how far I could go without them. The answer: "pretty far"!
First, note that all of this has been accomplished in Easy Mode. I tried it on Normal, but even early-game enemies were just overwhelming with only one person. Having finished all content up to the Fort on multiple Normal playthroughs, it's my opinion that soloing on Easy is still harder than playing with a party on Normal.
I think this is doable for anyone who wants to give it a try, although it took a lot of trial-and-error to find a viable build.
I quickly found that it's not viable to focus exclusively on either physical damage or tease damage: some enemies are just too resistant to one or the other. Flying enemies are also a problem. For a while I was afraid I'd be forced to use ranged or magic, but there aren't any flying enemies that are also immune to teasing.
Glass cannons and "tanks" are both bad: you don't have any allies to protect, and you don't have anyone to protect you. Being tough is important, but you only need to live long enough to kill the other guy. I deliberately avoided summons, and soon discovered that buffing is a bad use of your time when you're being ganged up on. Instead, it's important to drop the most dangerous enemy as fast as possible to reduce your enemies' action advantage over you.
Accordingly, our Jane ended up being a Warrior dual-wielding shortswords for the extra damage. All her level-ups went into Strength/Toughness/Agility, with drinks or blessings to cap Willpower. She wears a breastplate for the armor and focus bonuses, with her other gear being devoted to armor, focus, or sexiness. Temptation isn't very important because we just stab tease-resistant enemies instead. I went into this being willing to use consumables, but they didn't end up being necessary.
Her abilities are Heal, Mark for Death, Dual Blitz, and Unbreakable. Heal means that if an enemy can't deal more than 30% of our HP in one round, we will eventually win. It's not a viable strategy against bosses, but it can sometimes trade HP for Resolve if they use a tease attack instead. Mark for Death and Dual Blitz are just damage, but Blitz can also remove conditions without wasting a turn on consumables. Smite Evil is there for restoring Resolve while still attacking; the Holy damage isn't much because of our low Spellpower, but the high Accuracy means it usually crits.
Unbreakable made the game much easier once I reached level 5, and is a great way to end a hard fight. Three turns of whaling on a boss is usually enough to finish it off. The other slots are arguable, but Unbreakable is just far more powerful for a solo character than someone in a 'normal' party.
Glass cannons and "tanks" are both bad: you don't have any allies to protect, and you don't have anyone to protect you. Being tough is important, but you only need to live long enough to kill the other guy. I deliberately avoided summons, and soon discovered that buffing is a bad use of your time when you're being ganged up on. Instead, it's important to drop the most dangerous enemy as fast as possible to reduce your enemies' action advantage over you.
Accordingly, our Jane ended up being a Warrior dual-wielding shortswords for the extra damage. All her level-ups went into Strength/Toughness/Agility, with drinks or blessings to cap Willpower. She wears a breastplate for the armor and focus bonuses, with her other gear being devoted to armor, focus, or sexiness. Temptation isn't very important because we just stab tease-resistant enemies instead. I went into this being willing to use consumables, but they didn't end up being necessary.
Her abilities are Heal, Mark for Death, Dual Blitz, and Unbreakable. Heal means that if an enemy can't deal more than 30% of our HP in one round, we will eventually win. It's not a viable strategy against bosses, but it can sometimes trade HP for Resolve if they use a tease attack instead. Mark for Death and Dual Blitz are just damage, but Blitz can also remove conditions without wasting a turn on consumables. Smite Evil is there for restoring Resolve while still attacking; the Holy damage isn't much because of our low Spellpower, but the high Accuracy means it usually crits.
Unbreakable made the game much easier once I reached level 5, and is a great way to end a hard fight. Three turns of whaling on a boss is usually enough to finish it off. The other slots are arguable, but Unbreakable is just far more powerful for a solo character than someone in a 'normal' party.
Alraune: Surprisingly easy. Fought at level 3; probably could've done it at 2. The fight ends when she's defeated, so I focused her down with teasing before her minions could do too much.
Argoth & Benny: I thought these guys would be terrifying because of their five turns to my one, but the mandatory inclusion of Arona made them a cakewalk. Fought at level 4; could've been done earlier. Maybe I should've turned off Easy Mode for this one?
Master Whisper: The hardest boss encounter I've done so far, fought at level 4. He always seems to open with Garrote, which is brutal. I had to change my gear to something more Evasion-focused to make him miss, after which it was a still-tight tease damage-race.
Miko and Mai: Not a "boss" according to the wiki, but absolutely brutal, even at level 5. Artificer Kazuo and Nakano were relatively easy with teasing and Unbreakable, but Miko and Mai heal each other and revive after one turn of being down. I just barely managed to weaken both of them, then down one with teasing and the other with damage while on the last turn of Unbreakable. It took a lot of luck and a lot of reloads.
The Jarl: Dunked on with Smite Evil and Banishment. Would've been nearly impossible otherwise.
Argoth & Benny: I thought these guys would be terrifying because of their five turns to my one, but the mandatory inclusion of Arona made them a cakewalk. Fought at level 4; could've been done earlier. Maybe I should've turned off Easy Mode for this one?
Master Whisper: The hardest boss encounter I've done so far, fought at level 4. He always seems to open with Garrote, which is brutal. I had to change my gear to something more Evasion-focused to make him miss, after which it was a still-tight tease damage-race.
Miko and Mai: Not a "boss" according to the wiki, but absolutely brutal, even at level 5. Artificer Kazuo and Nakano were relatively easy with teasing and Unbreakable, but Miko and Mai heal each other and revive after one turn of being down. I just barely managed to weaken both of them, then down one with teasing and the other with damage while on the last turn of Unbreakable. It took a lot of luck and a lot of reloads.
The Jarl: Dunked on with Smite Evil and Banishment. Would've been nearly impossible otherwise.
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