Neoquest 2 Insane Difficulty Survival Guide by catwhisper1
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MERIDELL - So you've beaten Neoquest 2 on normal and evil difficulties. Now it
is time for you to play it on insane. You can feel the anxiety welling up inside
you as you begin the game. Your heart beats fast and loud because you know that
this time will be the toughest. Perhaps you wish that someone would guide you
through each step of the way. Well, this article, and the subsequent articles,
will do exactly that.
I have read over the guides at help sites and have found them to be lacking
when it comes to Neoquest 2 insane difficulty. This is especially true when
it comes to the choosing of skills. Many of the help sites tout the use of skills
that will be useless in the final battle against King Terask. Therefore, you
will need to choose skills that will not only be helpful along your way, but
will be beneficial in that final battle.
This guide will take you through each Chapter, and lay out for you the necessary
skills and tactics needed to be successful in beating Neoquest 2 on insane mode,
and receive your 50,000 NP and gold trophy. Not to mention the rather rare item
you receive as well.
ESSENTIALS
In this section, I will help you to become familiar with some general essentials
in the Neoquest 2 game. Since you have already played Neoquest 2 on Normal and
Evil Difficulties, you are probably already familiar with some of these. Purchasing
weapons is one of the essentials.
In every section, you will have many opportunities to upgrade your armor and
Weapons. Also, you will be able to purchase new damage potions, hasting & slowing
potions, and healing potions. One rule of thumb is that you should NEVER need
to purchase healing potions. This is also why I suggest that you always use
the healing potions that are being replenished at the time.
WEAPONS
When choosing your weapons & armour, be sure to choose wisely. Every town will
always have weapons available from which you can choose. However, it may not
always be in your best interest to do so. You need to keep a few things in mind
before you choose whether or not to purchase the weapons being offered.
As I’m sure you already know from playing previously, you will pick up weapons
along the way. Sometimes in battles along the way, also every time you beat
a boss you receive at least one new weapon. The ones you pick up in battle will
increase or decrease some of your skills. Be sure to take this into consideration
when you decide whether or not you should equip it. Therefore, higher damage
doesn’t always mean it’s a better weapon. Also, when you go into a town, you
need to keep in mind that you may pick up more weapons and armour before you
reach the next town. As you probably already know, you get less gold in Insane
Difficulty than you received in the prior difficulty settings. So, when you
spend, you will want to spend wisely. Therefore, even if you find that the weapon
does more damage, you have to ask yourself if there is enough of a difference
to make the purchase a wise one.
For example, in the town of Seaside, the weapon and armour I had for Rohane
were at 12 damage and 12 defense respectively. Mipsy’s weapon and armour were
at 6 damage and 6 defense respectively. The upgrades for Mipsy would have given
her 8 on each, whereas the upgrades for Rohane would give him 20. I considered
it to be a wiser decision to purchase the two for Rohane, and hold off on the
purchases for Mipsy.
Now that you’ve purchased your armour, you have one more very important step
to perform. Be sure to equip it. Believe it or not, that is one of the top mistakes
in this game. Another thing you will want to do is to sell the old ones that
you no longer need, since this will help you to be able to afford more weapons
later on.
ENEMIES
You will have many opponents that you’ll come up against in this game, from
the little guys to the big bosses. So, having some tips to help you to know
how to handle them is very important also. One thing to remember all through
the game is that whenever you’re in a cave or a castle of some sort, the enemies
will always be tougher. Many times you’ll find that the ones on the other end
of the cave are even easier than the ones inside. They tend to do more damage
to you. Those are the places that you end up using a lot of the healing potions.
This is one good reason why when building your skill points, you’ll want to
have the hasting skills take a semi-prominent role. These will help to speed
up your battles, and reduce the amount of damage to you, during each battle.
Another thing to consider is the hasting potions. Shortly into Terror Mountain
you will start building up Mipsy’s group haste. After that, you shouldn’t need
any of the hasting potions until Faerieland. Of course, hasting and slowing
potions are great in any battle. However, I tend to reserve them for just the
bosses. They may speed up some of the battles, but they tend to really make
a difference in boss battles.
Well, now that you have info on the enemies, it’s time to take you through
Chapter 1 of Neoquest 2, Meridell. This will be discussed in the next section.
MERIDELL
I suggest that when you start out at Trestin, you do not go more than two steps
away from the village until you reach level 4 then between there and level 6
you can branch out. However, do not go into the Cave until you reach level 6.
The main reason for this is that after each battle you will most likely need
to go see your mother in order to be healed. At level 6, you should really only
be at the mouth of the cave for the same reason. At this point, your enemies
at the mouth of the cave and around the trees outside the cave should have between
40 and 55 HP.
You will want to use Hunting mode, so you can build up your Experience points
more quickly. At first, you should focus on three main skills Damage Increase,
Critical Attacks, and Innate Melee Haste. You will also want to throw one skill
point in Stunning strikes at this point, since it is of some help at this point
in time. Overall though, you will only put a few of the skill points into Stunning
Strikes.
At Level 9 you’re ready to go against the Miner Foreman. You should have the
following approximate skill levels:
Critical Attacks 2: Serious Hit
Damage Increase 3: Assured Stride
Stunning Strikes 1: Confuse
Innate Melee Haste 2: Melee Haste II
You will find that with these skill levels at the time that it will be easy
to beat this boss. Take the teleporter to return to the surface. Switch to Normal
Mode and head to the east, cross the bridge and head southeast to White River.
You’ll want to pick up some Blast Potion. The battles inside the cave heading
to where Zombom’s lair is will not be easy. You will most likely need to return
to white river and stay at the inn several times in order to refill your HP.
ZOMBOM
When you finally reach level 13, it’s time to head toward Zombom. I recommend
waiting until level 14 to beat him, if you want an easier battle. However, he
can be beaten at level 13. If you go against him at level 13, you should have
the following approximate skill levels:
Critical Attacks 2: Decisive Hit
Damage Increase 4: Calm Presence
Stunning Strikes 1: Confuse
Innate Melee Haste 5: Rapid Movements II
If you decide to wait until you reach level 14, you should add one skill point
to Critical Attacks.
After you finish beating Zombom, it’s time to go get Mipsy, which will speed
your game up a bit. Mipsy basically needs 4 main skills all maxed out by the
time you reach Faerieland. However, while in Meridell, you need to be concerned
with which skills will be more beneficial now. So, when choosing how to spend
Mipsy’s original 12 skill points I chose 7 in Direct Damage and 5 in Innate
Melee Defense. Some people prefer to use Direct Damage, others prefer Group
Direct Damage, but there is no need for you to choose both of them. If you do,
it is just a waste of skill points that can be better spent somewhere else.
Hence when I use the term Direct Damage, I’m referring to either of the two.
It’s important to remember that while Mipsy is a hard hitter, she is also rather
vulnerable. She has the least amount of HP in the game. Therefore, you need
to be sure to protect her by building up her innate melee defense right with
her Direct Damage skills. By doing this, not only will she hit hard, she will
also be able to stand when she is hit.
GIANT SAND GRUNDO
Before you go through the Lost City of Phorofor, you need to stop at the city
of Lakeside. As far as the purchase of armor and weapons, my rule of thumb is
“buy sparingly”. You really don’t get as much gold this time, as you did the
last two. So you need to be choosy as to how you spend the gold you do get.
Also, keep in mind; you will pick up armor and weapons during battles. I usually
end up purchasing the two most necessary weapons or armor, early in the game.
My suggestion is that when you get low on HP use the healing potions that are
being replenished at the time, namely, the ones that give you the most hp. The
reason I do this, is not just because it gives you the most, but because, those
are the ones most likely to be replenished. So, you can use them, and when you
move on, you’ll still have 20 of them built up.
Go into the Lost City of Phorofor with your party at level 16, and work your
way toward the Giant Sand Grundo. You should be in the general area of the Grundo
before you reach level 17. Be near him though, so that once you get to level
17, you can immediately battle him, with full HP.
Your Skill points should be as follows:
ROHANE:
Critical Attacks 3: Decisive Hit
Damage Increase 6: Intimidate Foe
Stunning Strikes 1: Confuse
Innate Melee Haste 6: Rapid Movements III
MIPSY:
Direct Damage 9: Extinguish
Innate Melee Defense 7: Diversion I
MERIDELL CASTLE
You should be built up to Level 19 by the time you decide to take on Ramtor
for the first time. He won’t be hard to beat the first time. After you beat
him you will be offered a free place to rest. Whenever you’re offered a free
place to rest, it’s a good place to use to your advantage. Basically, you won’t
have to use any healing potions in the near vicinity, because you can keep going
back to Meridell Castle to refill your HP for free if you are nearby and you’re
close to dying.
Since you are only going up two levels, between the Sand Grundo and Meridell
Castle, the simplest thing to do is explain where you should put the two skills
points you just received. For Rohane, you should put one point in Damage Increase,
and one in Innate Melee Haste. For Mipsy, I suggest putting one in Casting Haste,
and one in Direct Damage.
RAMTORS TOWER
You will want to wait until you reach at least level 20 before you go into
Ramtors Tower. The reason is that you’ll want to build your party up to level
22 before fighting against Ramtor. Keep in mind that right after you beat Ramtor;
you will not be able to stop at an Inn right away. You’ll have to go through
a battle with Leximp to retrieve the WordStone. Also, of all the enemies in
Ramtors Tower, the one that is the most problem is the Demonic Grarrl. You’ll
want to avoid battles with them if possible. If there is two or three in one
battle against you, I suggest that you flee the battle. You can beat them, but
they will deplete your HP during the battle, every time.
With this in mind, I suggest you do your building up while on the base level
and in Dungeon level 1, then once you level up to 22, switch to Normal Mode,
and go to the second floor and head right to Ramtor. You will want to have your
party at these approximate levels in order to succeed fairly easily:
ROHANE:
Critical Attacks 3: Decisive Hit
Damage Increase 8: Battle Wrath
Stunning Strikes 1: Confuse
Innate Magic Resistance 2: Magic Resistance II
Innate Melee Haste 7: Lithe Agility I
MIPSY:
Direct Damage 10: Puree
Innate Melee Defense 7: Diversion I
Innate Casting Haste 4: Rapid Invocation I
SUMMARY
These tips will help you to be able to get through Chapter 1 of Neoquest 2
on Insane Difficulty fairly easily. While you may use several healing potions
at first, you will find yourself using less and less as you go further along.
I have tried to submit a walk-through that would make it so that your battles
with bosses would be fairly easy. I will be submitting follow up articles for
the rest of Neoquest 2 on Insane Difficulty as well. Please remember however,
that the skill points and levels are both approximations. You may adjust it
as you feel necessary. If you find you’re having too much trouble, slow down
a little, and take extra time. If you feel more confident, move a little faster.
However, be sure to be careful if you choose to move faster. I try to work at
a balanced speed. Either way, I think this guide will help you to feel more
at ease when you’re playing, and more capable when coming against the bigger
bosses.
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