Probably you not advance far enough? You can get elements after defeating the bandit Taio if you choose the right choice for example, or go to the mountain and do some chores.
1 Like
Kiihakai is objectively bad because we don’t have a stereotypical wizard outfit (with pointy hat) yet.
Think about it.
6 Likes
That healing elixir bug actually is real and I had to go add it in, should be fixed in the next update. The chiblade isn’t supposed to be improvable but I think, due to how the code works, it actually can be improved like any other weapon. I’ll keep that in. As for Desdemona, you do run into her again as the companion-mentor for MCs with the Kiihakai Style. You get another chance to run into a different companion of your choice in chapter 6, which I’m currently writing but it’s slow as I’m on paternity leave and babies are rude.
@mra4432 The standard human soul can only handle one element attuned to their yin aspect and one attuned to their yang. This will be covered more by one of the Master trainers at the Trials if you qualify and choose that master.
@Aizerghaul Objectively correct.
31 Likes
Can you maybe give us a sneek peak on what can we expect from the Masters? I assume each will focus on the diff styles you can have. Also does that mean we get to fight Jack again and win?(Can’t wait to play with him with my 4000 AP beast style human) lol
There will be 3-4 options and they’ll be more on methods of fighting/cultivation rather than style-specific, so you can pick one without needing the right style for the most part (if they accept you, based on results/choices/personality/events).
31 Likes
no i got all elements in multiple play throughs but i was confused om why i can only get 2 and not all of them at the same time but anon answered my question
Alright, I did another playthrough and I want to write about it. In my previous plays, I was pretty interested in hand seals but stopped at the second dot and used it only as a skill check in combat without meddling with rituals. And this time I decided to go all in and squeeze from it as much as possible. I ended up with over 1000 AP which is 200 AP more than my last run, which in my opinion was also quite successful. And I think that 1100 or maybe even 1200 is doable but will prevent you from buying extra techniques in chapter 4. For the current version that’s an overkill.
The hand seals is an extremely powerful and versatile skill but it shows even more power in chapter 3, when we use one year for our preparations. That’s because of two main reasons; first having us several ways to get funds and the second is the existence of the ritual which gives a discount for cycling shards. This is massive, but only if you know what are you doing and design your build to get as much from it as possible.
The gist is, get skill books from previous chapters and buy 3 from the market, also worth it to buy the weaker one which can be used only for increasing 0 to +1. You need to go wide with your skills, most of them being at +2 and get hand seals to +5. In your first or second month go with Big Chu to hunt for beasts. In my first blind playthrough, I got around 50 AP from that but with some planning, you will be able to get 80 or 90. Then train once with the barrier, teach your crew, and from that point onward it’s farming shards. The huge disadvantage here that will hold most players from picking this game style is the fact you can’t dawdle at the temple, which means no fun time with a miko. It’s 2 extra months and that will cripple your hand seals run.
That’s because a properly built ritual master will get over 300 shards per month of work. Moreover, with a maximum discount from the Hungry Spirit Seal, we can turn 150 shards into 20 AP, or even more. Training alone will also take a month but will give you around 15 AP. In addition, by working you can increase your prestige, give one of your allies a boost to combat strength, and so on.
Anyways, you invest your AP into unlocking more cores ASAP which also increases the amount of shards you get from working, which allows you to cycle more and unlock cores sooner.
So the question is, is hand seal skill too OP and needs a nerf? No, not at all. It requires the player to not only understand the game mechanics well but also nearly forces you to leave poor Mina cold in the big and lonely temple. Also, the game is quite forgiving and I think that one needs to intentionally play badly to fail, at least to this point of WIP.
7 Likes
You can get over 1100 AP at least while buying all the stuff:
Example
It’s mostly a matter of spending your shards early (before the fight at the end of Ch.3 or better yet earlier) while taking advantage of the Hungry Spirit seal and as high Handseals skill value as you can pull off with the temporary buff, to reduce amount needed for each boost.
5 Likes
Yeah, I guess I was too optimistic. I managed to get 1131 AP. It was without releasing the demon in chapter 3 which would get me 100 extra but I refuse to do it or get tainted.
Maybe I could pull that off if I didn’t buy every ritual and most of the techniques but I think it’s better to have them than one more core. Either way I ended up almost completely broke.
Speaking of which, I found another bug, though I don’t know if it was reported. In chapter 5 if we decide to take valuables, they are not added to our purse.
The code goes like this:
#Take the valuables, you’re risking your life for these people!
*set retainer_morale - 5
*set ruthless - 1
*set honor - 5
*set leonarep + 2
*set bffrep + 2
*rand val 130 150
[b][Item Gained: ${val} Shards][/b]
#Take the valuables, your status grants you the right.
*set retainer_morale - 8
*set honor + 2
*set borep + 2
*set bffrep + 1
*rand val 130 150
[b][Item Gained: ${val} Shards][/b]
I believe it should also have these lines
*set shards + val
*set val 0
It doesn’t seem that way to me, unless we are talking about some different way to enchant than by Soulsoak Imbuement.
1 Like
Dang I just discovered this game after finishing the Path of Martial Artist WIP and this game is also incredible. Finding two cultivation-based games that are extremely high-quality is amazing luck.
8 Likes
Well let’s hope more games about cultivation will come out
7 Likes
I am hoping there will be more flair to the starting species it’s good we have it in the beginning and early chapter of the story but I don’t see much of it grow in mid to late chapter.
I mean as a wolf surely MC have sone sort of ultra sniffing sense, i dunno some sort of that.
If you’re a yokai and kick the Sunfall cultist Oni in the balls when rescuing your mentor from the torture rack you can hear a high pitch squeal from said oni.
2 Likes
I’m actually trying to make saves break less often in the next couple updates, which means changing nothing at all in the earlier files due to how ChoiceScript works, so if there’s any race reactivity anyone wants they should DM me before the next update. I’ve got a couple more in mind and will try to think of some others before it’s too late.
22 Likes
How about allowing us to sell elixirs? I appreciate that there is an option to pawn off alchemic reagents but wouldn’t there be a bigger market for finished pills as well? Currently, alchemy is rather unnecessary because fights don’t really expect you come in with a bag full of steroids.
Edit: By ancestors, the more I play the game the more of top tier moments I discover. Right now I just took a debt on Mao’s tab on 300 shards. Anon, you are one glorious bastard.
Edit 2: Ugh, finally managed to get over 1200 AP. It should be possible to get 1400 by unleashing the demon and tainting yourself.
5 Likes
When MC get more tail as Kitsune, MC kind crazy strong at the end of demo yet no additional tail just yet, strong wolf should be able to sniff Kitsune but many seems oblivious to it.
Any chance you have a guide for doing this?
Summary
I reckon writing it in detail would take a lot of time. I had to replay the run several times and also savescum during several sections, to get as many shards from work as possible. That’s why a guide for chapter 3 would be extremely annoying. It demands you to constantly juggle menus to cycle shards at good moments, pick several very exact options at exact timing, and spam rituals without a moment of rest. It would have to be very in-depth.
That said, I could do it but writing that annoying wall of text will take me several days. I just can’t bring myself to do it in one sitting after getting a headache from my previous series of attempts. Additionally, I pick a very specific set of race, style and background to get the most out of this build. It probably could get tweaked to work for other combinations but I’m not writing more than one guide. Also, I pass over the temple in chapter 3.
Oh no, it’s not that I won’t do it. I will, I already wanted to for myself, both in case my saves got corrupted and also for when the full version comes out. I’m actually somewhat happy that you are interested. Just give me some time to write it all up, and expect it might look sloppy. My notes often look like ramblings of a madman.
Alright, here it goes. Guide for a try-hard martial artist who refuses to use jade dragon foundation but sees nothing wrong with save scumming. I also go for honorable and compassionate personality, feel free to tweak that part. I aim for my choices to increase our relationships with as many characters as possible and set romance flags as well.
Also, I am picking storm and ice but you can decide between storm and fire, and between wind, storm, earth, ice, and I think, darkness.
Chapter 1
Summary
- Race Kitsune, allows for a bit cheaper cycling and the skill spread is useful. Probably the best race for min-maxing.
- Profession herbalist. Gets us a free core later and extra alchemic reagents which we can sell for a quick buck.
- Tell father +1 insight
- Talk to ghosts +1 handseals
- Research tomes +1 lore
- Spirits +1 handseals
- Offer a handful of shards - reroll until you get 19 shards. It’s more important than it looks, we are operating on a shoestring budget. You can reroll by clicking [Show Stats] and [Return to Game] repeatedly, as many times as you want and as long as your sanity allows for.
- I’m tough enough +1 athletics
- Immediately when you unlock the option to cycle shards, do it.
- Worked like a charm +3 shards, +1 honor
- Cycle again
- Run juice stand, +1 persuasion, +12 shards, +1 commerce
- Weave small rugs with Rin, +1 craft, +5 shards, +5 sisrel
- Kosuke, +1 kosukecombat
- Exterminate pests, +1 perception, +5 brorep
- Fight
- Punch the fat one
- Jab into eyes
- Expected better
- Mock with truth
- Hunt for pelts, +1 survival
- Cycle after you get extra shards. When you click [Knock knock] you should have 87 AP.
- Charge Jack down the cliff, +1 lore
- Pull his pants down.
- Drink your healing elixir, +1 thievery. It’s important to have 1 point in thievery to rob the sect.
- “Who’s next?”
- Fortitude core. At this point, we have 173 AP just after cycling the gate.
- Pick Kiihakai style. The rest should also work well enough but I assume you went with this one. This is a min-maxing guide. You get extra 15 AP for synchronizing background and style.
- “Well fought.”
- “Defended my family’s honor.”
- “Do what you must.”
- Stay silent.
- “As you wish.”
- “Apologies for the delay.”
We end up with 188 AP and skills as follows:
Athletics: ●○○○○
Insight: ●●○○○
Persuasion: ●○○○○
Craft: ●○○○○
Perception: ●○○○○
Survival: ●○○○○
Deception: ○○○○○
Stealth: ○○○○○
Thievery: ●○○○○
Alchemy: ●●○○○
Handseals: ●●○○○
Lore: ●●○○○
Also, open handseals menu and pick Auspicious Southern Seal for free. Onto chapter 2.
Chapter 2
Summary
- Handsome prince. +1 persuasion. We need exactly 2 points in persuasion by that point, which we have now. Anything more would be an overkill unless something changes after v.0.2.1
- Cut hair short and spike them with alchemical reagents. Don’t laugh, it’s +2 AP.
- Calmly shut the door.
- Just one wouldn’t hurt. Steal the path manual. Very important, free skill whenever you want is big.
- “The natural aura of our region is weak.”
- Move on.
- Fortitude.
- Soul, +5 reagents.
- Soul, +3 ritual components.
- Power, +2 gold.
- Fox charm technique acquired. Grants +5 AP, +1 deception and lowers costs of seal rituals by one component. That is the reason why we will not increase handseals past +4 in chapter 3.
- “Victory to the sect.”
- Blast it.
- Volley of blasts.
- “Thanks, sensei.”
- Optional step. Open inventory and use your skill book. Increase athletics by 1.
- My clan. Reroll until you get 32 shards.
- Both of them. Lore check, by passing it, Jin and Rin unlock their aura early which gives each of them +2 to combat stat. If you have athletics 2, they will get +3 instead.
- “Mao hit harder.”
- “Natural scent.”
- “Where I please.”
- “Anything else should I know?”
- “Not a bad idea.”
- Check the house, crack the lockbox.
- Check the barn, calm the boy down.
- Check the fields.
- “Yes please.”
- “Forcefeed the farmer.”
- “You work for me now.” Persuasion check.
- Gather herbs from the farms, +5 reagents.
- DO NOT refine elixir, currently bugged.
- Build a weapon for Kosuke.
- Locate any hidden valuables, +4 components, and between 420 and 580 silver. Reroll until satisfied, I recommend getting at least 570.
- Detect spirit fruit. That’s the reason we invested 2 points into insight, it unlocks Kosuke’s aura.
- Fill your carts with explosives.
- Get some sleep.
- Seduction.
- These bandits will pay.
- Send Kosuke to take them out. It’s important to pick this option because unlike the crossbow one, it gives +1 kosukecombat stat.
- Calm down.
- Blow the tavern.
- First energy blast.
- We unlock immortal core advancement. At this point, we have 380 AP. Raise the soul core twice and the agility core once.
- Ki roar.
- Pocket the book.
- Point east.
- Deny the fire. You can choose to take it but I assume you didn’t. It won’t change that much.
- Recruit them as farmhands and guards. It gives +1 to commerce. It is a good time to explain what it does. To put it simply, commerce stat gives you a bit of passive income at several points in the game, most notably in chapter 3. You won’t notice it because the game doesn’t inform you about extra shards, at least currently. Hopefully, it will be changed in the future.
- Quite a bit. Lore check.
- We finish our report and take the second skill book.
We end up with 401 AP. Onto the next chapter.
Chapter 3
Summary
Before we start, I want to stress that while I enjoyed it a lot, this chapter gave me more headaches than all the others combined. It’s because chapter 3 is power gamer’s galore and to max it out, you need to make very specific decisions with a very specific timing, which also includes cycling shards. Cycling costs more the more AP you have, so some of the choices that raise AP we leave for the latter part of the chapter. There is also a ton of semi-random income so expect rerolling. Additionally, it is here that we start to use rituals. We start with 7 ritual components and won’t pay more than 1 per cast, and even then 7 is not enough for our needs. We will have to buy some more near the end of the chapter.
One more thing. Because of all the menu juggling, saves are prone to glitching so make one save at the start of Chapter 3 and use other slots to save often.
This time I will write what you do each month. In case when one activity takes more than 1, I will skip the number.
Summary
Month 1
Summary
- Visit the library. Research Martial Art tips but do NOT research elemental affinities. That’s for later.
- Visit the market, caravan stalls.
- Persuasion check.
- Dash.
- “Good. I need competition.”
- Convert silver and gold to shards. You should have around 495 up to 500.
- Visit Sage’s shop. Buy Western scroll.
- Open ritual menu. Cast Western by spending Chi, pick persuasion.
- Visit Apothecary. Sell 25 reagents.
- Go back to the market, caravan stalls. Haggle for a discount. Persuasion 3 lowers prices here by 15% and increases commerce by 1.
- Sell the portrait of Mao as a soyjak for 2200 silver. You can exchange it for shards now.
- Buy weighted clothing and equip it.
- Buy the first skill manual. You can buy 3 here and we will do it before the chapter ends but right now, 1 is enough.
- Open inventory menu and use both skill books to increase handseals from +2 to +4.
- Buy Factotum’s Blessing. Raise stealth.
- Return to Sage’s shop. Steal Northern scroll.
- Open ritual menu. Cast Northern, survival.
- Open the menu again. Cast Western, athletics.
- Leave the market.
- Hunt for Soul Treasures. Thanks to us pumping our skills with rituals, we should get 86 AP and an additional 9 AP from the weighted clothing. This activity has to be taken during the first month because the later we do it the lower the reward.
Month 2 - skipped due to Hunt taking 2 months
Month 3
Summary
- We start by obtaining the Auspicious Eastern Seal, courtesy of Desdemona. We should also get 12 shards thanks to our commerce stat.
- Go to Sage’s shop and buy the Hungry Spirit Seal scroll.
- Return to caravan stalls. Open the ritual menu, cast Southern and pick thievery.
- Pickpocket shoppers. Reroll until you get 20 shards.
- Open ritual menu. Cast Northern for perception and Western for persuasion.
- Guard duty. +200 shards. This time, no rerolling.
- Choose Kosuke to work as a guard. +100 shards, +2 prestige, +1 commerce and +1 kosukecombat
Month 4
Summary
- Advance your soul core by 1.
- Open ritual menu. Cast Eastern, increase handseals.
- Open cultivating menu. Time to start cycling shards. With increased handseals and Kitsune racial trait, it should cost 115 shards to increase AP by 21. Currently, you should have around 815 shards and 509 AP.
- Cycle as many times as you can. Your AP should be 635 now.
- Earn funds. Enchant mystic seals reroll until you get 410+.
Month 5
Summary
- Train your skills.
- Craft.
- Consume Earthly Pill for one core, I pick fortitude.
Month 6
Summary
- Train your skills.
- Train athletics.
Month 7
Summary
- Train your skills.
- Train perception.
Month 8
Summary
Enough with training skills. We return to farming shards and prestige.
- Unequip the weighted clothing.
- Increase agility by 1.
- Increase power by 1.
- Cast Northern seal by spending 3 Chi. Increase perception.
- Earn funds by scouting the merchant routes - aim for 3250 silver. So reroll until you get about as much.
Month 9
Summary
- Equip the weighted clothes.
- Cast Eastern seal, pick handseals.
- Cycle shards - for the last time in this chapter. You should have over 800 shards. Spend them until you are left with at least 200.
- Go to the butcher and buy both items. You should have over 100 unallocated AP. Use them to level up fortitude.
- Buy 1 ritual component.
- Cast Western seal and improve athletics.
- Earn funds - dive for treasures. Reroll until you obtain a bit over 4000 silver.
Month 10
Summary
- Visit Sage’s shop. Buy 3 components.
- Cast Northern seal. Increase craft.
- Earn funds - build houses. Reroll until you get 315 shards.
Month 11
Summary
All the fundraising is done, and that also means we do not need to reroll anymore. Yorokobe shounen.
- Exchange your silver to shards.
- Go to the Sage’s shop and buy the last two scrolls, the Soulsoak and Counterseal.
- Go to caravan stalls and buy 2 skill manuals.
- DO NOT buy the soul treasure, unless you have accepted fire in chapter 2. If you go by this guide then you didn’t and the treasure is a piece of trash.
- You could buy extra components but in version 0.2.1 it is unneeded. It might change in the future
- Cast Eastern seal and pick lore.
- Go to the library and research the affinities.
- Teach Kosuke, Jin, and Rin the barrier technique.
Month 12
Summary
- Cast Western seal, pick athletics.
- Buy 2 components.
- Train using your barrier technique.
Congrats, the worst nonsense of this guide (as of yet) has ended.
Our stats should look just like that:
Summary
Aura Pressure: 835 AP
Power: ●●●
Fortitude: ●●●●●
Agility: ●● (do keep in mind, it is lowered by the weighted clothing)
Soul: ●●●●●●
Athletics: ●●●○○
Insight: ●●○○○
Persuasion: ●●○○○
Craft: ●●○○○
Perception: ●●○○○
Survival: ●○○○○
Deception: ●○○○○
Stealth: ●○○○○
Thievery: ●○○○○
Alchemy: ●●○○○
Handseals: ●●●●○
Lore: ●●○○○
Pretty decent jack of all trades. With our numerous skills and handsome face, we can roleplay as a typical bard in a typical DnD adventure. We just need to find some nice dragon lady. Or Jack’s mom. Anyway, time to meet Lady Fang.
Fight with Fang
Summary
- Start by casting Southern seal. Pick stealth. Pay using Chi.
- Now cast Eastern seal. Pick handseals.
- Proceed until the stealth check. Reroll (HAHA!) until you get 18 AP.
- Challenge to a duel.
- Go to the cultivation menu and add 1 power core.
- Shoot with Chi.
- Leap into the air.
- Leap overhead.
- Launch a beam.
- Embrace the storm.
- “Do you need an escort?”
- “Apology accepted.”
- “Is there a problem?” Is the best option if you want to continue with honorable/compassionate option but I like to intimidate them here. It doesn’t change anything aside from personality score, it’s just a flavor text.
- Reroll until you get 37 shards.
Congrats on finishing chapter 3. We are ending it with 971 AP. Nice.
Chapter 4
Summary
- Cast Northern seal. Pay with Chi. Increase survival.
- Cast Eastern seal. Pick alchemy.
- Camp in the woods. You should get 5 alchemy reagants but that’s currently bugged.
- Blast it.
- Volley.
- Finish the beast.
- Reroll (sniffle) until Soul Treasure’s AP is around 770. At this point, we are far away ahead of the difficulty curve so it won’t five us that much but we are trying to get as much as possible, so hey.
- Skin and craft.
- Equip your cloak. That’s an amazing item because it gives +1 to power and +1 to persuasion.
- Go to the cultivation menu and absorb the treasure. It will give you 13 AP, more or less. We also break over 1000 AP. Congrats.
- Look for survivors.
- Treat the burns.
- Introduce yourself as part of your clan.
- Sign the contract.
- Repair the wheels.
- Cast Southern seal. Pay with Chi. Pick deception.
- Go to the alchemist.
- Inspect the Memorywell elixir.
- Buy it and tell that Mao will pay. Heh.
- Pick one element between earth, wind, storm, and ice. I chose ice.
- Convert gold to shards.
- Go buy every manual except doublechant. At this point in the game, it’s useless and if I read the code correctly, there is a hard cap on knowing 25 techniques. It’s still far off but no need to waste money.
- You can buy clothes if you want. I picked a travel cloak and straw hat.
- Leave and meet your mentor. I assume it’s Desdemona.
- “Okay.”
- Flirt.
- Completing the trials.
- Time to pick two techniques. I chose Fake Sun and Studying for the extra skill points.
- You can also realign your aura color.
Chapter 4 ends and we end up with 1106 AP.
Chapter 5
Summary
- “I’m counting on you.”
- “Working for Taio is going to get you killed.” It’s an easy-to-miss persuasion check. By passing it, you will get one extra martial retainer.
- “We can talk without the chains.” It’s persuasion 3 check and you should be unable to win this but the game didn’t notice it should have lowered your persuasion score by 1 as you don’t have your cloak equipped.
- Tell him the truth.
- Truth again.
- And truth once more.
- “Terrible acting, kowtow.”
- Deal with the chain, use crafting.
- Escape from your cell, pick the lock.
- Deal with the prison guard, fight head-on.
- Break his spear.
- Deliver a speech.
- “To arms.” It increases persuasion by 1.
- Kiss Kosuke.
- “Feign imprisonment.” Now your inventory returns. Cast Western seal to increase persuasion, Eastern to increase alchemy and Southern to increase stealth.
- Leave the valuables - right now it is bugged and you won’t get anything. Also, it lowers the morale of your people if you steal now.
- “Come with me if you wish to live.” Should give you 12 retainers and 6 martial retainers.
- “I wonder if there is any loot left.” Will give you 1 commerce.
- Focus into beam.
- “I’ve got some idea.”
- Launch a surprise attack.
- Catch it.
- Kick.
- Not so fast.
- “Are you ready to fight yet?”
- Cycle the heavenly darkness gate.
- Lance a beam.
- Maneuver above him.
- Launch an energy attack to strike his Technique out of the air.
- Form a shield of ice.
- Charge an Mystic detonation bigger than your body.
- “You tell me, you kept them alive while I fought.”
- Pick whichever ship you want, I chose combat vessels.
- “I would never do something so stupid.”
Chapter 5 finished. This time I ended up with 1236 AP so a bit less than in the previous run. I think I cycled shards one extra time, probably in chapter 4.
About other resources, I still have two skill books, over 200 shards, 5 ships, 40 civilian retainers and 8 martial retainers. Also 15 prestige. And 384 unallocated AP, despite trouncing Taio and finishing him without a single wound. Trials seem quite promising for this young patriarch.
That’s it for the guide, I hope at least someone found it helpful. I will probably continue it but if anon decides to make a significant change In one of the earlier chapters I might just abandon writing it.
Another edit: checked the code and it seems that trapper/midorikatai can have very similar results but will have a bit fewer shards in chapter 3 for cycling. Still, it should work mostly similarly. I might write an alternative guide for that but won’t do the same for merchant and blacksmith backgrounds.
22 Likes
I gotcha that does sound it would be annoying to do lol guess I’ll have to experiment
1 Like
Thank you you are a legend for this!
2 Likes