Semen dispencer is not a bad choice but you have to remember that certain enemies recover when you cum or gain other positive effects, it's useful in some cases but the drawbacks are big, touch of ecstasy is good against non contact or seduction based foes like Sophia where physical resistances are not an issue, so i took that one first and disabled it for general combat, Allure seems the worst of the bunch to me, too much of a reliance on will in the late game to take the hit but for grinding it's great, as for SST it's not my cup of tea but it's better than allure IMO.
It really depends on how you play, what you're against and the approach you generally take in battle, they are all good but very subjective, remember you can will be able to get all 4 in the long run, we'll just have to wait till after the capital for Sophia's 4th fight.
NB: Take Touch of Ecstasy as the perk from the first or second fight, the third fight is a lot easier with it than without and considering that it is the hardest fight in the game even more so than the double oni twins on hard, Villi and mountaintron(waifu mod).
I just took all heroic runes for the three fights. I made a new save file on hard mode recently with 1 spirit to start. I realized I can get to 6-8 spirit rather easily through the level up perks and Selena's event. The monster perks, though, raise sensitivities too much to be worth the extra spirit. I last longer through healing with low sensitivity + fetish levels than getting a few extra spirit.
Guys, I think I'm stuck. I got the most recent game a few days ago and I've beaten the Will-Power Temple, but I can't proceed into the next area. I can only think of two reasons why: 1) I missed something and have to look around, like a new quest, and 2) The current build doesn't extend past the second temple. I'll muddle around and see what I can do, but I'm kind of thinking it's the latter.
Guys, I think I'm stuck. I got the most recent game a few days ago and I've beaten the Will-Power Temple, but I can't proceed into the next area. I can only think of two reasons why: 1) I missed something and have to look around, like a new quest, and 2) The current build doesn't extend past the second temple. I'll muddle around and see what I can do, but I'm kind of thinking it's the latter.
Guys, I think I'm stuck. I got the most recent game a few days ago and I've beaten the Will-Power Temple, but I can't proceed into the next area. I can only think of two reasons why: 1) I missed something and have to look around, like a new quest, and 2) The current build doesn't extend past the second temple. I'll muddle around and see what I can do, but I'm kind of thinking it's the latter.
The Temple is the last story area in the current build. However, the next story area, the Caverns, is slated to be released sometime this month. It was originally slated to be released around the middle of the month, but between a little creep in scope and Threshold having a function they need to attend, that is being pushed back a little. Current rough estimate is around the 20th of October now, but this is still subject to change. As a final bonus on that note, the update may include art for Camilla, the Arachne that can be found in the Mountain area and should also feature a return of our nemesis, Perpetua.
Then as ccccccccccc just stated, there are a few challenges that you can take. In fact, Sofia's third fight even requires defeating the Oni twins in their 2 vs 1 hardmode fight. Additionally, there are a number of characters you can develop relationships of varying degrees with such as the Manticore of the Mountains, Aiko and Bed-chan, Minoni, Kotone (if you succeed in her trial), Feng, Trisha, Ancilla, Mika, Jora (The Wyrm of the Mountains), Vili somewhat counts considering she has friendly content after winning her trial dungeon, Kyra (The Desert Lizardgirl in the Forest Area), Elena (this only really applies to her scenes at the Inn however), and probably a few others I have not mentioned.
One final note on that front is Sofia, you cannot currently start a more romantic relationship with her, but you can become her sub/pet if you are into such content. It does require performing a very specific action however that I'll hide in a spoiler for those who wish to discover it for themselves.
Any recommendations on which items or perks I should get from Sofia?
We're limited to three battles that will actually give rewards, I presume. I don't need the 10k eros, as that's so easy to farm up. So that's a wasted reward. That still leaves 5(?) items and 4 reversible perks. Or 9 possibilities with only 3 choices. I'm leaning toward the perks, as I can only equip one item at a time but can stack as many perks as I see fit. Even with that I can only get 3 of 4, and that's assuming my reasoning isn't faulty.
Other users have largely covered this rather well, thanks for that Volta and Konstantinus, but one additional note on the perks from Sofia is that supposedly there will be a special bonus for users who obtain all four of Sofia's perks. This could just be a little teasing, but it is something worth keeping in mind if it was an actual rare spoiler from Threshold and not them having a little fun. Personally, I decided to run with all of the perks anyways given that they are truly unique as those are perks awarded by Sofia and I prefer to use other items like Heart Runes and the Blessed ring since I'm running a max Spirit/Virility build to maximize Holy Skills along with a focus on the Willpower, Allure, and Luck stats.
I currently have Semen Dispenser for the extra Spirit and Virility, Succubus Sex Toy as it also gives a mild boost in that regard, and Mysterious Allure as it further enhances Allure which provides global damage boosts along with functioning as my sole Core stat (Power, Technique, and Allure are Core Stats and affect Core Skills) and source of non-magical and non-holy skills. Sure the latter decreased my Willpower, but a few levels corrects that imbalance as a loss of 13 Willpower is not too hard to replace unless your level is quite high.
Sofia's fourth fight is slated to arrive after the Capital area, so that is still fairly far away considering the Caverns and the Labyrinth areas precede the Capital. Additionally, after the Caverns update, development will shift towards improving the NPC system and probably expanding upon the town NPCs in the process, and then there is a combat system update that has been discussed as following the NPC update.
Plans after these updates are unknown however, they could be followed by fleshing out existing content again as there are still characters and areas light on content such as the Forest, Nicci the Alraune, and Camilla the Arachne/Drider not to mention the new additions with the Caverns. Then there has been discussion of a few side areas that are not story critical that Threshold would like to add, such as the Elf Village and the Harpy Village, so those are other possibilities that could further push back the release of the next story area after the Caverns which should be the Labyrinth.
The quest to fight Ancilla was removed along with the quest to fight Sofia as Ancilla can now be challenged at any time in the Nexus of the Forest Dungeon. The 1000 Eros payout was rather low and there are better ways to farm Eros nowadays, and since she can be challenged at anytime in the Nexus, unless you have earned her complete enmity and been locked out of her content, her quest no longer served any real purpose.
Being able to purchase Spirit in Easy mode is intentional, that is one of the bonuses to Easy mode as Normal and Hard do not allow Spirit to be purchased.
I do hope that you've found this useful, Konstantinus.
Can anyone help me with romancing Kaia ( The Manticore )?
I'm stuck on that. I've been already addicted multiple times, defeated her in battle throught vanilla sex. No matter which option I'll pick it always ends with her going histeric and saying how she's not ready and wait for some more. Is there some specific event I have to trigger?
Apologies that this is starting to get rather long, but I have a post here that includes a walkthrough for Manticore. It is possible that something has broken, but if everything is functioning as intended, then that should help you get to the point where you can become Mate Bonded and enter a relationship with the Manticore. It is a little outdated as there is more content available for the Manticore than that post mentions and the Blessed Cock Ring only awards 75% Virility now due to Spirit awarding less Virility now than when that post was made, but the steps to take should still be functional.
I do hope that you find the linked post useful, Modtesting.
I just took all heroic runes for the three fights. I made a new save file on hard mode recently with 1 spirit to start. I realized I can get to 6-8 spirit rather easily through the level up perks and Selena's event. The monster perks, though, raise sensitivities too much to be worth the extra spirit. I last longer through healing with low sensitivity + fetish levels than getting a few extra spirit.
This is a really odd way to look at it, as it forgets a few things:
1) The perks are endlessly reversible and can be stacked or unstacked in any combination *while also using other runes.* The runes cannot, by definition, be used with three others. With that in mind, and to think of this more accurately, imagine what runes you'd be using *instead* of the heroic runes. Now subtract those stats from your runes. That's the actual comparison of taking the runes vs taking the perks. You're also glossing over that they have precisely the same downsides that you dislike in the perks: raising sensitivities.
2) The point of extra spirit, beyond an extra 3 or 4, isn't about having more lives. It's about raising your virility and consequently raising the damage of the Demon Layer. That in turn can dramatically shorten fights where the whip is a solid tactic. In turn that removes the danger of iterative probabilities screwing you in a long fight. If it's a less viable tactic, just have that perk removed. I personally don't run with all of them all the time. It's just nice to know that I have that in my pocket, so to speak.
I actually run a low sensitivity build. I grabbed Selena and Vili's perks as they are solid with minimal downside, as well as Kotone's blessing, but I do not use the manticore's or Kotone's relationship one. I also grabbed the "resistance" levelling Perk on every 15th level so that I'd get both resistances and the 2 points to invest into cock sensitivity without having the awkward wait. In fact, it's actually the low sensitivities that makes the flexibility of the reversible Sofia Perks so easy to use.
At any rate, I was wondering more if there was any one item or perk that was known to be particularly powerful. I see that I've not really missed anything.
NB: Take Touch of Ecstasy as the perk from the first or second fight, the third fight is a lot easier with it than without and considering that it is the hardest fight in the game even more so than the double oni twins on hard, Villi and mountaintron(waifu mod).
Good advice. I was planning on a second build just to have fun with a different playstyle focus. A fully amped seduction/core build with high allure is very fun with this perk and a good strat to boot. My first build didn't need it, as moderately high technique, virility, buffs and demon layer made even the third fight a lot shorter than I was expecting. (I basically one-shot her in each phase).
At any rate, I was wondering more if there was any one item or perk that was known to be particularly powerful. I see that I've not really missed anything.
Ah, for that then, the general consensus on the Discord is that Touch of Ecstasy is probably the strongest initial perk in terms of combat ability because of the number of attack options it can boost and the global damage increase from the increased Crit Chance and Damage.
The other three perks are more niche like Semen Dispenser is great for Virility builds since it gives a notable boost to the Demon Layer. Succubus Sex Toy also helps out the Demon Layer a little but can help make Penetrative Builds powerful, but that's useless against Sofia so is better off not chosen as the first perk. Finally, Mysterious Allure can further stack with all of the other Allure perks and make it into a powerful stat capable of large damage, in fact Allure and some of its moves were recently toned down as it was capable of putting out 6k+ hits with a little light setup (that's down to around 2k now). But if you run a primary Allure build, then Mysterious Allure can help make it into a powerhouse if you opt for all of the other level up perks that boost Allure along with some of the general combat perks like the body part specific perks or attack type boosting perks.
As for the items, the Archmagus Staff is viewed as being the strongest generally as it can make a Mage build deal relatively large amounts of damage as well, especially helpful for group combat since Willpower has the only AoE attack as of this moment. But once again, that only supports a particular build. The Heroic Runes were viewed as being fairly decent as well given they offer a general improvement with relatively mild drawbacks, but they are not necessarily the best runes to use in all situations, the fact that stats cap out at 100 with the exception of gaming the system by maxing out a stat before obtaining event perks that award stat points as those can break the 100 point cap at this time, the new leveling system that supports more diverse and flexible builds, and the fact that other runes can give bonuses that can ultimately contribute more than a flat boost to a stat like the Arcane Runes awarding 5% increases to magic damage. This is not very large admittedly, but if you're already at or near the stat cap for Willpower, then one or more 5% damage boost could ultimately do more than a rune that adds 5 Willpower along with 5 Power and Technique.
I do hope that you find this information useful, Sooba.
Also, I did not include this with my previous post, but as I did mention Camilla's art, here is a little teaser for those who want an idea of what the arachnid seamstress looks like.
Other users have largely covered this rather well, thanks for that Volta and Konstantinus, but one additional note on the perks from Sofia is that supposedly there will be a special bonus for users who obtain all four of Sofia's perks. This could just be a little teasing, but it is something worth keeping in mind if it was an actual rare spoiler from Threshold and not them having a little fun. Personally, I decided to run with all of the perks anyways given that they are truly unique as those are perks awarded by Sofia and I prefer to use other items like Heart Runes and the Blessed ring since I'm running a max Spirit/Virility build to maximize Holy Skills along with a focus on the Willpower, Allure, and Luck stats.
I currently have Semen Dispenser for the extra Spirit and Virility, Succubus Sex Toy as it also gives a mild boost in that regard, and Mysterious Allure as it further enhances Allure which provides global damage boosts along with functioning as my sole Core stat (Power, Technique, and Allure are Core Stats and affect Core Skills) and source of non-magical and non-holy skills. Sure the latter decreased my Willpower, but a few levels corrects that imbalance as a loss of 13 Willpower is not too hard to replace unless your level is quite high.
Sofia's fourth fight is slated to arrive after the Capital area, so that is still fairly far away considering the Caverns and the Labyrinth areas precede the Capital. Additionally, after the Caverns update, development will shift towards improving the NPC system and probably expanding upon the town NPCs in the process, and then there is a combat system update that has been discussed as following the NPC update.
Plans after these updates are unknown however, they could be followed by fleshing out existing content again as there are still characters and areas light on content such as the Forest, Nicci the Alraune, and Camilla the Arachne/Drider not to mention the new additions with the Caverns. Then there has been discussion of a few side areas that are not story critical that Threshold would like to add, such as the Elf Village and the Harpy Village, so those are other possibilities that could further push back the release of the next story area after the Caverns which should be the Labyrinth.
I have found it useful, including an idea for a third character build. Thank you. Although you've raised my curiousity. My "main character" build is similar to yours. It has High Tech and Will with decent Allure, (Specifically: Tech>Will>Allure>Power>Luck) and good virility bonuses (particularly when adjusted to focus on it for a given fight). Why did you go with Luck instead of Tech? Checking through the stats,Tech doesn't have much that it doesn't cover of Luck's abilities, but the reverse isn't true in a build that has lower Power. Luck grants a bit better crit, but is at greater risk of missing a buffed hit entirely (and you can't crit on a swing that misses) or of getting trapped in stances while you watch your buffs tick away (can't use the Layer while in a stance). Further, Tech buffs both Core and specific moves directly. Luck does not. What advantage were you going for? What am I missing?
I have. Although you've raised my curiousity. My "main character" build is similar to high Tech/Willpower/Allure. Why didyou go with Luck instead of Tech? Checking through the stats,Tech doesn't have much that it doesn't cover of Luck's abilities, but the reverse isn't true in a build that has lower Power.
Two reasons, firstly, this character dates back to the earliest builds of the game and some of the stats, functionalities, and such were somewhat different than they are now. Like leveling up awarded 10 Max Arousal and 5 Max Energy along with a stat point every level with every third or so level awarding 2 stat points, perks every five levels which is now every three levels and so on. It's why my character is nearly level 300, it was also easier to level up in the past, but that was changed during a combat balance update a while back.
Secondly, it fit the theme I had envisioned for the character, kind of a bardic mage who would either get through any situation with spell, charm, or sheer dumb luck. Alternatively, given the penchant for using Holy skills, or well rather our only holy skill at the moment, the luck portion could also be spun as the intervention of Venereae or one of the other unnamed gods or goddesses on behalf of a champion, take your pick.
Technique is arguably the better stat to pick nowadays and I could use the console to effectively convert my Luck into Tech, but I'm fine with how my build has turned out and I have had a few extra points to pump into Power and Tech since my other stats are capped out. Besides, there's no telling how things may shake out after the next combat balance update. I don't expect any major shifts or downgrades, but I can see Power being buffed at the very least since it is a little lackluster at the moment.
As for any advantages Luck has, they are slight at the moment. It is a little better for Crits than Technique but that's about the limit of its combat benefits compared to Tech. However, its global boost to stat checks that require a roll rather than a hard check/minimum can help out of combat and in certain combat scenarios for either helping ensure you succeed in a close check that your base stat barely covers on its own with a good roll, help make up for deficient stats on rolls where you would have no chance without a good base roll and a good luck roll, and can help mitigate the chances of RNG causing you to fail a roll you otherwise would have passed with a good stat and a decent roll. Its other out of combat boosts are the increased chance in getting drops from fights, the increased chance of finding treasure chests while exploring, and the increased chance of finding a rest stop while exploring, the latter of which could help with exploring in general by helping to maintain lower Arousal and higher Energy without using items. Of course, that last bonus is also mitigated by the fact that Eros are plentiful while potions are cheap and can also be used out of combat while exploring.
I hope that this is a satisfactory answer to your question, Sooba.
Buried in one of my walls of text on this page is a rough estimation, but here's a TL;DR:
The update is estimated to be complete around the 20th of October.
Now it could arrive a little sooner or it could come a little later, but you can expect it by the end of the month or start of November at the latest, barring some incident that could cause further delays that is.
I do hope that you've found this helpful and easier to parse, decker2.
The Temple is the last story area in the current build. However, the next story area, the Caverns, is slated to be released sometime this month. It was originally slated to be released around the middle of the month, but between a little creep in scope and Threshold having a function they need to attend, that is being pushed back a little. Current rough estimate is around the 20th of October now, but this is still subject to change. As a final bonus on that note, the update may include art for Camilla, the Arachne that can be found in the Mountain area and should also feature a return of our nemesis, Perpetua.
Then as ccccccccccc just stated, there are a few challenges that you can take. In fact, Sofia's third fight even requires defeating the Oni twins in their 2 vs 1 hardmode fight. Additionally, there are a number of characters you can develop relationships of varying degrees with such as the Manticore of the Mountains, Aiko and Bed-chan, Minoni, Kotone (if you succeed in her trial), Feng, Trisha, Ancilla, Mika, Jora (The Wyrm of the Mountains), Vili somewhat counts considering she has friendly content after winning her trial dungeon, Kyra (The Desert Lizardgirl in the Forest Area), Elena (this only really applies to her scenes at the Inn however), and probably a few others I have not mentioned.
One final note on that front is Sofia, you cannot currently start a more romantic relationship with her, but you can become her sub/pet if you are into such content. It does require performing a very specific action however that I'll hide in a spoiler for those who wish to discover it for themselves.
I do hope that you have found this helpful, Passerby#4554.
Other users have largely covered this rather well, thanks for that Volta and Konstantinus, but one additional note on the perks from Sofia is that supposedly there will be a special bonus for users who obtain all four of Sofia's perks. This could just be a little teasing, but it is something worth keeping in mind if it was an actual rare spoiler from Threshold and not them having a little fun. Personally, I decided to run with all of the perks anyways given that they are truly unique as those are perks awarded by Sofia and I prefer to use other items like Heart Runes and the Blessed ring since I'm running a max Spirit/Virility build to maximize Holy Skills along with a focus on the Willpower, Allure, and Luck stats.
I currently have Semen Dispenser for the extra Spirit and Virility, Succubus Sex Toy as it also gives a mild boost in that regard, and Mysterious Allure as it further enhances Allure which provides global damage boosts along with functioning as my sole Core stat (Power, Technique, and Allure are Core Stats and affect Core Skills) and source of non-magical and non-holy skills. Sure the latter decreased my Willpower, but a few levels corrects that imbalance as a loss of 13 Willpower is not too hard to replace unless your level is quite high.
Sofia's fourth fight is slated to arrive after the Capital area, so that is still fairly far away considering the Caverns and the Labyrinth areas precede the Capital. Additionally, after the Caverns update, development will shift towards improving the NPC system and probably expanding upon the town NPCs in the process, and then there is a combat system update that has been discussed as following the NPC update.
Plans after these updates are unknown however, they could be followed by fleshing out existing content again as there are still characters and areas light on content such as the Forest, Nicci the Alraune, and Camilla the Arachne/Drider not to mention the new additions with the Caverns. Then there has been discussion of a few side areas that are not story critical that Threshold would like to add, such as the Elf Village and the Harpy Village, so those are other possibilities that could further push back the release of the next story area after the Caverns which should be the Labyrinth.
The quest to fight Ancilla was removed along with the quest to fight Sofia as Ancilla can now be challenged at any time in the Nexus of the Forest Dungeon. The 1000 Eros payout was rather low and there are better ways to farm Eros nowadays, and since she can be challenged at anytime in the Nexus, unless you have earned her complete enmity and been locked out of her content, her quest no longer served any real purpose.
Being able to purchase Spirit in Easy mode is intentional, that is one of the bonuses to Easy mode as Normal and Hard do not allow Spirit to be purchased.
I do hope that you've found this useful, Konstantinus.
Apologies that this is starting to get rather long, but I have a post here that includes a walkthrough for Manticore. It is possible that something has broken, but if everything is functioning as intended, then that should help you get to the point where you can become Mate Bonded and enter a relationship with the Manticore. It is a little outdated as there is more content available for the Manticore than that post mentions and the Blessed Cock Ring only awards 75% Virility now due to Spirit awarding less Virility now than when that post was made, but the steps to take should still be functional.
I do hope that you find the linked post useful, Modtesting.
I did complete the fights with Sofia, I did win the 2v1 with the oni twins, I did quite a lot of things, but I'm not sure I recall Vili and I probably haven't maxed out relationships yet (since there's no real way to keep track of it, at least none that I know of), so I'll do that. Thanks for the info and I'll look forward to the next release.
This is a really odd way to look at it, as it forgets a few things:
1) The perks are endlessly reversible and can be stacked or unstacked in any combination *while also using other runes.* The runes cannot, by definition, be used with three others. With that in mind, and to think of this more accurately, imagine what runes you'd be using *instead* of the heroic runes. Now subtract those stats from your runes. That's the actual comparison of taking the runes vs taking the perks. You're also glossing over that they have precisely the same downsides that you dislike in the perks: raising sensitivities.
2) The point of extra spirit, beyond an extra 3 or 4, isn't about having more lives. It's about raising your virility and consequently raising the damage of the Demon Layer. That in turn can dramatically shorten fights where the whip is a solid tactic. In turn that removes the danger of iterative probabilities screwing you in a long fight. If it's a less viable tactic, just have that perk removed. I personally don't run with all of them all the time. It's just nice to know that I have that in my pocket, so to speak.
I actually run a low sensitivity build. I grabbed Selena and Vili's perks as they are solid with minimal downside, as well as Kotone's blessing, but I do not use the manticore's or Kotone's relationship one. I also grabbed the "resistance" levelling Perk on every 15th level so that I'd get both resistances and the 2 points to invest into cock sensitivity without having the awkward wait. In fact, it's actually the low sensitivities that makes the flexibility of the reversible Sofia Perks so easy to use.
At any rate, I was wondering more if there was any one item or perk that was known to be particularly powerful. I see that I've not really missed anything.
I vehemently disagree with you saying "it forgets somethings". You have your build, I have mine. You disagreeing with my opinion is not "forgetting".
Personally, I prefer the heroic runes. I was using cold runes until then, but the stat boosts helped me beat Sofia's third fight rather easily. Why do you assume I am not counting the opportunity cost? I know very well that I could equip something else, but 5 in each stat is worth 20 seduction. I only reach 105% even with 3 heroic runes equipped, and swapping in cold runes if necessary would dramatically lower that. As I said, the stat boosts help me more than raising spirit and cost fewer sensitivity. Sofia's perks, on the other hand, raise my sensitivities much higher than heroic runes.
Also as I do not use a virility build, demon layer is much weaker than my other skills. Even if I raised virility Demon Layer would at best match my other attacks, so why boost the monsters' heals? The fact virility can do something is not a good reason to raise it.
As for the perks you listed, I took the same perks you did, except I also took Kotone's lover perk and did not take any of Sofia's. Kotone's gives 5 willpower and a crucial 50 arousal in exchange for 1 fetish level in a few stats. As long as the fetish level for each is low, it is much less of a hindrance than Sofia's rise in sensitivity. And despite disagreeing with my opinion that the monster perks mentioned in the post I quoted are not worth raising your sensitivity for extra spirit, you yourself have advocated against taking them. (Specifically I have Selena's, both of Kotone's and Vili's Wisdom perks.)
I also question where you draw an extra "3 or 4" spirit from. As I said, I have reached 8 spirit from 1. That is already an extra 7. I see no need to take on sensitivities to get even more.
Personally, I prefer the heroic runes. I was using cold runes until then, but the stat boosts helped me beat Sofia's third fight rather easily. Why do you assume I am not counting the opportunity cost? I know very well that I could equip something else, but 5 in each stat is worth 20 seduction. I only reach 105% even with 3 heroic runes equipped, and swapping in cold runes if necessary would dramatically lower that. As I said, the stat boosts help me more than raising spirit and cost fewer sensitivity. Sofia's perks, on the other hand, raise my sensitivities much higher than heroic runes.
Also as I do not use a virility build, demon layer is much weaker than my other skills. Even if I raised virility Demon Layer would at best match my other attacks, so why boost the monsters' heals? The fact virility can do something is not a good reason to raise it.
As for the perks you listed, I took the same perks you did, except I also took Kotone's lover perk and did not take any of Sofia's. Kotone's gives 5 willpower and a crucial 50 arousal in exchange for 1 fetish level in a few stats. As long as the fetish level for each is low, it is much less of a hindrance than Sofia's rise in sensitivity. And despite disagreeing with my opinion that the monster perks mentioned in the post I quoted are not worth raising your sensitivity for extra spirit, you yourself have advocated against taking them. (Specifically I have Selena's, both of Kotone's and Vili's Wisdom perks.)
I also question where you draw an extra "3 or 4" spirit from. As I said, I have reached 8 spirit from 1. That is already an extra 7. I see no need to take on sensitivities to get even more.
If you're only using cold runes, it explains why you don't find the flexibility to all that helpful. I didn't "assume" you weren't counting the opportunity cost, however you glossed over it, so I covered it. 50 arousal is 2 1/2 levels worth of stat point allocation (or about ~10m of levelling), while permanent fetish levels can't be removed.
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As for "advocat[ing] against taking them..." No. Sofias perks are basically a toggle, making them situationally highly powerful while you can avoid the pitfalls entirely if they're problematic for any given challenge. Additionally, this advantage of her perks not having an opportunity cost (while the runes do) can only get more pronounced as the game proceeds. Any more rune options available with Caverns/Capital/etc and the value of that choice drops. Whereas the perks can be layered with anything later in the game.
At any rate, the point wasn't to denigrate your choice of taking the runes, but to see if you had deeper reasons (or maybe some math) to show your reasoning more explicitly. So thank you for what analysis you have laid out.
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My point about "an extra 3 or 4 spirit" wasn't that you had limited yourself to 3 or 4 spirit. I understand that getting 5-7 additional spirit is simply a matter of course. My point was that 3-4 spirit is about the max anyone needs in a permanent way. Any further needs can easily covered by flexible rune/item/perk usage (such as getting all the way through the story on the food delivery.) It's easy enough not to get drained if one is paying attention. Consequently, any more than 3 or 4 is superfluous, *unless* we're talking about the Demon Layer.
The demon layer scales higher and higher with spirit. Hence my point was that your analysis about "too much spirit doesn't really help anyway..." was flawed because it wasn't including the actual reason to raise spirit. A simple "I don't really plan on using the Demon Layer with this build" might've been a more concise explanation as to why spirit will never really be valuable to you.
Even better (if less concise) if you lay out what your build excels at as an explanation as to why the Demon Layer isn't used as much. For example, I don't use the mods, along with movesets that come with them. My primary build can use the DL really well, but is also really strong with penetrative skills and magic. It's a little less focused on Power/Luck (and any changes that might occur with those in the future). My second build *can* use Demon Layer, but isn't quite as good at it. It has great Allure and prefers using Core skills along with the levelling perks that make them a great maintenance/debuff skill.
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OT: Enjoy your day. You seem to be upset that I poked the reasoning a bit in order to try and determine why you made the choices you did. You can see I did the same for L30. It's curiousity, cc, not disrespect.
Erm, ok. That's seems to be a bit of a defensive overreaction for an internet discussion on perks in a sex game. /shrug
Short responses on various things:
If you're only using cold runes, it explains why you don't find the flexibility to all that helpful. I didn't "assume" you weren't counting the opportunity cost, however you glossed over it, so I covered it. 50 arousal is 2 1/2 levels worth of stat point allocation (or about ~10m of levelling), while permanent fetish levels can't be removed.
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As for "advocat[ing] against taking them..." No. Sofias perks are basically a toggle, making them situationally highly powerful while you can avoid the pitfalls entirely if they're problematic for any given challenge. Additionally, this advantage of her perks not having an opportunity cost (while the runes do) can only get more pronounced as the game proceeds. Any more rune options available with Caverns/Capital/etc and the value of that choice drops. Whereas the perks can be layered with anything later in the game.
At any rate, the point wasn't to denigrate your choice of taking the runes, but to see if you had deeper reasons (or maybe some math) to show your reasoning more explicitly. So thank you for what analysis you have laid out.
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My point about "an extra 3 or 4 spirit" wasn't that you had limited yourself to 3 or 4 spirit. I understand that getting 5-7 additional spirit is simply a matter of course. My point was that 3-4 spirit is about the max anyone needs in a permanent way. Any further needs can easily covered by flexible rune/item/perk usage (such as getting all the way through the story on the food delivery.) It's easy enough not to get drained if one is paying attention. Consequently, any more than 3 or 4 is superfluous, *unless* we're talking about the Demon Layer.
The demon layer scales higher and higher with spirit. Hence my point was that your analysis about "too much spirit doesn't really help anyway..." was flawed because it wasn't including the actual reason to raise spirit. A simple "I don't really plan on using the Demon Layer with this build" might've been a more concise explanation as to why spirit will never really be valuable to you.
Even better (if less concise) if you lay out what your build excels at as an explanation as to why the Demon Layer isn't used as much. For example, I don't use the mods, along with movesets that come with them. My primary build can use the DL really well, but is also really strong with penetrative skills and magic. It's a little less focused on Power/Luck (and any changes that might occur with those in the future). My second build *can* use Demon Layer, but isn't quite as good at it. It has great Allure and prefers using Core skills along with the levelling perks that make them a great maintenance/debuff skill.
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OT: Enjoy your day. You seem to be upset that I poked the reasoning a bit in order to try and determine why you made the choices you did. You can see I did the same for L30. It's curiousity, cc, not disrespect.
It's not a defensive overreaction, although it may be an overreaction. However, it really, really annoys me to see someone assume things about others simply because they cannot understand their thought processes. Saying "forgets things" as opposed to alternatives such as: "neglects to make use of" or "could be improved by" makes it closer to a commentary on me more than my opinion. I don't care if you denigrate my choice to take runes or not; I care if you write about me simply because you disagree with my opinion. Thus, I vehemently disagreed with that choice of phrasing. Regardless, if you were curious about what setup I ended up using, you could have simply said so instead of roundaboutly saying I "forget" to mention facts which contradict me.
My build is rather straightforward. I put enough luck to reach Selena's forest clearing and willpower to clear Kotone's trials. That was about 20 and 30 respectively. The rest I put into technique. The versatility of technique lets me target most enemies' weaknesses while healing as necessary. My arousal is a low 250 (300 with Kotone's perk) but I can clear most stat checks so it suffices. Aside from the technique based damage up perks, I have the spirit and resistance up perks. I mentioned which monster perks I took in the last post.
I think the key part of my build was lowering the seduction sensitivity as much as possible. Because it was so low, I could keep my damage within healable ranges. My power is so low the character has trouble escaping stances, but the damage is low enough that the character can heal until they do escape.
I also do not use mods.
PS: I would argue from the moment I said I wanted low sensitivities it should be obvious I won't use demon layer, but whatever. You are also wrong about Sofia's perks not having an opportunity cost. The opportunity cost is taking one of the items or a heroic rune. The heroic rune had more use for me, so I took it. I would disagree about 3-4 spirit being enough for two reasons. First, the level up perks were the quickest method to gain those extra spirit I needed for the early game. Second, while you can probably win with just one spirit, it's faster to add a bit more than 3-4 and play a bit sloppier.
I did complete the fights with Sofia, I did win the 2v1 with the oni twins, I did quite a lot of things, but I'm not sure I recall Vili and I probably haven't maxed out relationships yet (since there's no real way to keep track of it, at least none that I know of), so I'll do that. Thanks for the info and I'll look forward to the next release.
Vili is the arch-imp that was added in the 20.6 imp update for the Forest Dungeon. I have a post here that has a image of what she looks like. If you have not encountered her yet, this is how you find her:
The Forest Dungeon has had a few other new things added relatively recently given it was the focus of several updates to flesh it out before the shift in development to the new story area. Sofia, Ancilla, and Mika's updates are relatively visible since they deal with unique characters. Then the imps in general can now be visited on friendly terms either by defeating them as a group or by being kind to them via Ancilla's cleaning events. However, the Matango also received a small update that includes a trap/ambush encounter that can include a surprise for players.
This is the second time you've been defensive (and thus pointlessly hostile). I extended an olive branch last time, but you're still acting like I'm being offensive. Well, this time I'll just be mirroring your response style.
Was the descriptor not perfect for you? An overreaction is an overreaction. And, I might add, it *was in defense* of your ego. Hence the coming diatribe you posted. ie. Defensive.
Oh, right, I couldn't possibly "understand". Forgive me. Instead I am to divine that you left out pertinent material... because higher thought processes. Ok then.
I didn't "assume" anything. You seemingly just don't like particular words that are perfectly neutral, particularly if it's from someone disagreeing with you.
Saying "forgets things" as opposed to alternatives such as: "neglects to make use of" or "could be improved by" makes it closer to a commentary on me more than my opinion. I don't care if you denigrate my choice to take runes or not; I care if you write about me simply because you disagree with my opinion. Thus, I vehemently disagreed with that choice of phrasing. Regardless, if you were curious about what setup I ended up using, you could have simply said so instead of roundaboutly saying I "forget" to mention facts which contradict me.
"Forgets" instead of "neglects to mention" makes no such value judgement. They both suggest a minor error in neutral terms. You read that value judgement on your own. Once again, pointlessly taking issue with words that aren't perfectly crafted precisely as you want them, despite them communicating the point perfectly well. This is pointless pedantry.
My build is rather straightforward. I put enough luck to reach Selena's forest clearing and willpower to clear Kotone's trials. That was about 20 and 30 respectively. The rest I put into technique. The versatility of technique lets me target most enemies' weaknesses while healing as necessary. My arousal is a low 250 (300 with Kotone's perk) but I can clear most stat checks so it suffices. Aside from the technique based damage up perks, I have the spirit and resistance up perks. I mentioned which monster perks I took in the last post.
I think the key part of my build was lowering the seduction sensitivity as much as possible. Because it was so low, I could keep my damage within healable ranges. My power is so low the character has trouble escaping stances, but the damage is low enough that the character can heal until they do escape.
See? That wasn't hard. I don't necessarily agree that the Hc runes follow from this, but it's good info. And hey, you do you. Incidentally this explains the reluctance to use a lot of the virility items even for good DL fights. The downside for many of the items is to lower max arousal, and you run with low max to begin with.
PS: I would argue from the moment I said I wanted low sensitivities it should be obvious I won't use demon layer, but whatever. You are also wrong about Sofia's perks not having an opportunity cost. The opportunity cost is taking one of the items or a heroic rune. The heroic rune had more use for me, so I took it. I would disagree about 3-4 spirit being enough for two reasons. First, the level up perks were the quickest method to gain those extra spirit I needed for the early game. Second, while you can probably win with just one spirit, it's faster to add a bit more than 3-4 and play a bit sloppier.
Not necessarily obvious, no. As high virility does not necessarily mean low resistances to relevant attacks on any given fight, with proper building. I also didn't say that Sofia's perks have no opportunity cost whatsoever. I said they don't have *that* opportunity cost. And they don't. Yes every choice you make at Sophia's offer means you don't pick another choice. That's true of *any* choice and is irrelevant to my point. The items and runes have an *extra* opportunity cost in that they can only be used in place of other items and runes. That's not a cost of the perks. And as I mentioned before, this will only accentuate if any other good runes/items pop up. I mean, you could have just acknowledged this, said "yup, I think it's worth it anyway" and moved on. Hell, bonus points (but not necessary) if you take the time to actually break down the numbers and show how it's superior for your build.
That's not really what I was getting into when speaking about spirit. But I think the waters are muddy enough and we're both getting annoyed. So I'll drop that one.
If you're wanting to see the extra content from Sophia, any collar will do. Apologies if you're looking for that collar for any other reason. I can't remember off the top of my head. I'm sure L30 would know and will be back at some point.
