Seedlings only get 2 levels(4 with perk)each time they reshape and cannot reshape on overworld map, and also unlike spirits, they need catalyst trait in order to be used for fusion with anything but themselves(and result in impure characters). That's what kills them from being an effective level source, though for evolved characters they are fine. I'm stating this because some people still think they are the same as spirits, when in reality they are similar but not the same overall.
I just discovered this game last week and have been kind of obssessed, but I feel like I'm playing too slowly and not making much progress. My first playthrough is probably over 20 hours and I'm only on day 12. I keep having decision paralysis and obssessively checking the wiki. So I figured instead of poring over outdated wiki entries and second guessing myself I should ask people who actually know what they're doing.
I've been following the newbie build in the wiki to try to get a feel for things, but the problem is it often tells you what to do without explaining why you're doing it, so now that I've reached the end I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. My current team is a centaur, lymean and Aila all lvl 10, a lvl 7 eaglegirl, and a lvl 5 seedling dragon and they're almost able to beat the king, I can take out one of his lava dragons and severely wound the other before being overwhelmed. The problem is they're all at max level. I know I can raise their max level by grinding up a spirit to 20 max level and fusing it, but is there a less grindy way to level it up besides just fighting battles with units you're going to fuse away and keeping a couple seedlings in reserve? I know I can train them with Aila but that's limited and it seems like a waste to use on a seedling. The guide seems to steer you towards playing a seedling support character but you can only have 1 dragon and the other types don't seem that strong so I'm not sure how viable it is to have a group of seedling beasts.
Mostly I just want recommendations on how to proceed from here or whether I should scrap this run and start a new one. I played with Evolution a bit and she seems much more fun to play than druid, but I want to see this run out. Also:
- I have a light orb, will getting that to level 10 unlock the light starting element or does it need to be a base light spirit?
- Once I beat the king should I kill him? The guide tells you to spare him but reading the wiki it looks like killing him actually unlocks a major druid mechanic?
- Any specific unlocks I should aim for on this run?
- Any recommendations for fun/powerful Evolution starts? I was playing an entertainer with fire affinity and a succubus and shadowgirl just recruiting everything I saw with decent traits and breeding them together. Which was fun but probably not optimal.
Sorry for the long and meandering newbie post. I really want to get into this game but I see posts with people completing runs in a couple hours and it feels like I'm playing it wrong.
If you play druid, killing the king is fairly powerful option; for others it locks out of king's rewards, mythril and potions in exchange for a misc item that gives regenerating effect and has 100 uses of healing for a total of 1000 health recovery - not particularly bad, but considering you have more effective healing later on and the fact it doesn't protect from being killed in a single turn, not so great.
Sparing doubles the cash reward, which is already fairly low and doesn't scale anyway, gives daily income, weekly supply of potions, and allows to continue gathering mythril as well king's objective rewards that are often worth it alone.
Light orb doesn't unlock light element - only basic spirits do, like light spirit, shadow spirit, and so on. The one you have is a evolved type.
You should try to rank up tavern and arena, not doing either or better yet, both is a way to lose to fact you don't have characters that can keep up with increasing difficulty of the game. It's also how I won first time blindly, since they keep my party from being completely useless with tavern recruits of high rank, but also let them be stronger by ranking up.
The game encourages getting the strongest characters, basic hybrids are stronger than base species, but weaker than special hybrids and tanid hybrids, which have good amount of growth and skills that can completely make the battle into your favor. Special hybrids are from fusion/breeding specific combinations, tanids are from creator's hives or being summoned if playing as creator, or fused/bred.
The king is level 10/15/20 depending on challenge rank, which means your entire party should be at least that level before engaging. Preferably with strong units, as noted above. If you can do king's tasks but cannot defeat him, simply delay them by doing them in time, or using high relation by training his soldiers, reroll the quests until you get something doable. Or extend them.
Professions and traits also help in runs, but that really depends on play-style and needs, so let me just list examples; if you want a tougher main character, take knight and have armor at the start, you need greater breeding potential, take farmer, you need to have the strongest creatures and evolved spirits(specifically elite creatures), take tamer, you get one that has solid growth with max level of 20 and so on.
As for traits, there's many, ranging from useful if you are playing creator like strong, resilient and such, to something that is good for backup like eagle eyed, to something that may depend on your needs like beautiful, magic adapt and so on.
For portals, never bring less than 5 party members, and ensure that the party is well balanced - have at least 1 healer/support, fighter, an tank, an fast fighter, and a spellcaster, but it can be different depending on party composition. And venture onto unstable portals if you can; while they are difficult, they are also very rewarding, and have stronger characters and is an excellent way to level spirits up.
Well, I could tell more, but that's as far as I can mumble, since various people have different perspectives to tell, and let's just say not all will agree with it. Some would like to do it repeating the same strategy over and over, even if it fails, some would like to do various things that are fun, but working each time in a different way.
