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Completing these will reward you with new summon spells and tokens that boost your stats. This is a great way to get chunks of extra experience in one go and will also help you to uncover most of the game’s sidequests. Talk to everyone you can and get involved with extracurricular activities (like listening to drunks sing). Unless you’re going for a speedrun or something, you’ll also benefit from thoroughly exploring all towns and dungeons you come to. Trust me on this one.Īs with most RPGs, it’s best not to avoid too many battles, especially early on, so as to gain experience and make your Bard healthy, wealthy, and strong. If you’re worried about missing out on something, do remember that save points are relatively plentiful, generally making it not a huge hassle to experiment with dialogue options.Īlso, when you meet a trow offering you passage across a river for a small fee, take his second offer (in other words, be snarky once, then nice). However, this advice is not across the board true. As a general rule, if someone is being prickly with you, respond in kind and the same goes for if they seem like an amicable sort. Unfortunately, you can’t ever truly guess what the best response is in any given scenario, which could lead to missing out on experience or items. In this game, kindness is not always rewarded, something that becomes apparent from the start, as the proprietor of The Drunken Rat pub, the Widow McCreary, evidently has self-worth issues and will only lay with the Bard if he’s a total bastard to her. It Pays to Be a Prick (Sometimes) During many conversations the Bard has with other characters, the dialogue will pause and you will be presented with the option to say a nice or snarky response.