Spoiler Sleep at the top of the cliff. Cast the FAL spell, jump off the cliff, and grab a branch on the way down. If you do this at night, you will not be able to grab the branch. Spoiler I finished in 3 days and did not get this message ... but the Serpents were still alive. In fact, the message said that it was unlikely any other messengers got to Mampang and that I was racing the Serpents there. I suspect there is a sweet-spot around 7 days in which you can kill the Serpents and beat other messengers, presumably giving you an advantage in part 4.
Ferryman's Whistle Does anyone know if there are multiple locations where you can find the ferryman's whistle? Spoiler I've found the one buried with the body in the Southern Steppe, but is there anywhere else it can be found?
Spoiler Fenestra will sell you one for 10 gold (6 if you haggle) if you tell her you're going to Lake Ilklala.
6-Day Serpent-Killing Speed Run Killed all 7 Serpents and made it to the Xamen Road in 6 days. Here's the text on the road: Spoiler You begin the slow climb. Ahead, the stony road leads into the Zanzunus towards the fortress at Mampang and the final stage of your quest. You may yet be able to arrive in secret. You have taken six days to cross the Baklands. Should the Archmage have other, more secret messengers than the Serpents, they may be with you on the road. You walk on as briskly as you can. So slightly different than the 9-day trip I made before. This run was entirely for speed. I barely rested and did not go to any unnecessary areas. In hindsight, I might be able to save a bit of time: Spoiler I did NOT go visit the Sham, and so I did not have a Staff of Oak Sapling. If I had one, I could have killed the Time Serpent early and spent less time rowing around the Lake. Longer path at the beginning to save time at the end.
Thank you Indy. So there are the options of no messengers (for example in 3 days), messengers whom will travel with you (6 days) and whom will be ahead of you (e.g. 9 days). And we don't know the timeframe for each of these three stages yet. I think it is time that we discuss the "perfect walktrough". By my definition that would be a walkthrough which already starts with a "perfect" savegame from previous games. Which then gives you all the magical items, rare items (chain mail), counterspells, stamina points and maybe events (e.g. meeting flanker). And all that in the least amount of time (at least level II from the above observation --> messengers from the archmage will travel with you on the road). So please discuss how the perfect route would look like
I'm trying to encounter the earth serpent but I don't get the option to go the place he's in when I'm nearby.
Would someone be willing to post links to the "perfect" walkthroughs for the first two games? I did really well in number 2, but haven't had a chance to optimize my number 1 run through. Any help would be appreciated.
I think that figuring out the cut-off for the different text regarding messengers is important. I can play around tonight with my 6-day run. I will rewind and then hang around the lake a bit to test 8-day and 7-day runs to see what the end text is for each. Knowing how much time we have to play with is important. Here's the route I took for the 6-day run: Spoiler Run was done with a strong save from Episode 2 -- Legendary Sword and lots of other items. At the start, I cast the float spell and jumped off the cliff at night. Took the most direct route to Fishtail Rock and summoned Shaddrack. If I had a Galehorn from a previous episode I could have gone straight to the bridge. From Fishtail Rock, I went straight to the broken bridge without stopping at the tower. Crossed the gorge with the float and wind spells, then headed directly for the mountain top to the East where I killed the Moon Serpent. After killing the moon Serpent, I slid down the Eastern side of the mountain to the forest. I went south from there until I encountered the Fire Serpent in the woods where I killed it. Since I didn't have any sand, I had to fight it at full strength. TIP: I did not have sand, but casting HUF before combat blows out the serpent's flames making it do less damage and leading to an easier fight. After killing the Fire Serpent, I went North to Fenestra and got the orb with the Sun Serpent in it. Went south to the forest tower, swam across the lake, used HOT to clear the branches, and lit the beacon. I very carefully directed the beacon so that the edge of it lit up the southern tower and also lit up the waypoints in the swamp to the south so that I could go directly and not backtrack across the lake. Went down to the south tower, casting BIG as needed to get through the swamp. Went in the tower, lit the beacon, and directed it to cover the Time Serpent island but very carefully made sure it did not illuminate the lake past that island -- I did not want my boat to disappear later. Used the crystal to hop back up to the forest tower. Directed the beacon in the forest tower to illuminate the bridge. Went west along the bridge until I reached the climbing spot. Climbed and crossed the bridge, giving a gold to the beggar. Did not stop at the hut at the end. Went to the rift on the slope below the bridge. I was not given the options to explore the rift that lead to the Earth Serpent encounter, but I did have the option to throw the Sun Serpent orb into the rift. Rather than waste time going down to the lake to fight the Sun Serpent, I tossed the orb into the rift and fought the Sun Serpent at its full strength (I did not have water). I prayed and ate provisions to max out stamina before the fight. After killing the Sun Serpent and taking damage in the process, I rested by the rift and the Earth Serpent sequence began. Cast WOK to deflect rocks, then swiftly climbed out of the pit before dying, but taking significant heat damage in the process. When the Earth Serpent appeared, cast DOZ to slow it down. I was then able to grab and strangle it without a fight. Went down to the lake, blew the whistle and attracted the ferryman. Rowed out to the eastern part of the lake until the Air Serpent encounter started and killed the Air Serpent in standard fashion (ripping the snake skin on the body of the ferryman). Then rowed towards the middle of the lake until the Water Serpent sequence started (had to backtrack once). At this point I realized I didn't get any oil from Fenestra and I actually had to fight the thing and it has a massive combat bar -- way above mine even with the Legendary Sword! However, I found that casting FOF before the battle meant that I could defend and take ZERO damage. This made the fight easy since I could stay in defense mode to wait for a massive strike from the Water Serpent, counterstrike, then go back to defense. Easy perfect. After killing the Water Serpent, went to the island with the tower, lit the beacon, directing it over the Time Serpent island. Used the crystal to hop to the Forest Tower and direct its beacon. Hopped back to the lake, rowed over to the Time Serpent island, killed it, rowed to the statues, and went on up the road. I know I rested once to regain some Stamina, but I don't remember exactly where. Lost all my provisions in the water by the forest tower, but had multiple Blimberry Potions of which I used 2 at points after that.
Tested timing for the end-text. As noted previously, a six-day run (completed on Day 7) gives text saying that messengers aside from the Serpents "may be with you on the road." Rewinding the 6-day run and wasting time around the Lake and Tinpang, I get the same text for both a 7-day run (completed day 8) and an 8-day run (completed day 9). It looks like the dividing line for the secret messengers either beating you to the fortress and being "with you on the road" is between an 8-day and a 9-day run. So the "perfect" run looks like it would be an 8-day run, which gives you 2 days over my speed run to go around and gather items of various sorts.
There is another spell you can cast to kill it. Hint: what instrument does a snake charmer use? Now, the trouble I am having is being unable to cast TUF. I have directed a beam at the stone circle and stood on the central stone while holding a feather, but I am given no option to cast a spell. The message is something like, "There is magic here, but you don't understand it". Any advice?
Sweet. I have that from my Cloud Save save. That may allow me to do it in 5 days. Yes. Here's what you need to do: Spoiler Visit the Stone Circle [AT] at night. You can then look up into the stars and get the TUF spell. Sleep at the circle or leave and come back during the day. When you stand on the center stone and try to cast you will then be given the option to cast the TUF spell (also need a yellow feather).
How do I get these 2 achievements: Spoiler - Age to death, blow yourself up, and be eaten by ants... - Turn into a snake..
I don't think it's possible to both kill the Time Serpent early and cast TUF, because the nearby tower can't be entered in CT. I have tried many times to focus the Forest beacon on this tower, but I can't get it to reach far enough and simultaneously open the path to the south of the lake.
Killed all serpents in a 5-day run, finishing just after dawn so I think 4 is possible. Somebody remind me -- can you get a Galehorn in part 1 or 2? Killing Time Serpent early definitely saved time later on the lake. Also got the text saying no other messengers so looks like I achieved maximum stealth #
Somebody asked about the Sorcery 2 Walkthrough. Before getting Sorcery 3 I used the following guide (http://www.ign.com/wikis/sorcery-2/Walkthrough) because I forgot my cloud password and didnt want to rerun the previous games in all detail. What the walkthrough doesnt provide is the serpents ring which you can find in the backlands.
In Sorcery 2, the ring can be obtained from Theetah. It may only happen if you offer him food, I'm not 100% certain. Another note on this walkthrough: it's not necessary to go down the well to get the order of the spell lines. This is one of the things you can ask Courga.
I was a few hours short of day 4 just now, I'm sure it can be done. The no-beacon, all serpents run (can we call it NBAS run from now on? I love abbreviations) is a no-go, though. There is simply no way to Spoiler both kill the Time Serpent and cross the Horns without using beacons On a related note, I've got some time on my hands and I was thinking about writing up a list of all locations of interest and what items/information/whatever can be gained at each spot. Are people interested in that (and would anyone like to help)?
The doc that you provide for us is already helpful. I am pretty sure that all the pro players now know what to get at each location. Personally I would still be more interested in the "perfect run" walkthrough. In my free time I am playing sorcery 2 right now, to get that serpent ring. Then I will look into that.
