MechDan
Mar 7, 2001, 02:49 PM
Getting started as a force character is tougher than any of the other classes. You need all the help you can get! That's what this guide is for.
Why is it tough starting as a Force?
First, you have an extremely poor weapon, so you'll depend almost entirely upon your (still pretty weak) spells to attack.
Second, those spells cost TP so you'll be constantly spending all your spare money on monofluids (at the expense of feeding your mag).
Third, you have low HP, so you'll die a lot--and it will take you longer to get ready to fight the bosses.
Here's how to deal with those disadvantages:
1. You badly need a handgun ASAP. Finding the gun is no problem, building up enough ATA to use it is. This is what you need:
1A. Level up. Play the "Battle Training" mission several times by accepting the Hunters Guild mission but cancelling at the Hunters Guild desk before talking to the client at the end of the mission. Use one fireball on each enemy, and let Kireek finish them off while you go looting crates. Unfortunately, this will not increase your ATA fast enough to get your handgun--but it helps you in general. Keep an eye out to see if you can arm a sabre. A sabre is a major upgrade from a cane. Somewhere around the time you get sick of Kireek's constant advice and can equip a sabre, you can level up faster on your own (alternate going through the forest normally and going on a Hunters Guild quest).
If you've never played PSO before, be sure to practice combos. A combo is a series of 3 attacks in a row--you can mix and match normal and heavy attacks. The best combos are normal-normal-heavy and normal-heavy-heavy. Do NOT press the button as fast as you can. Instead, use deliberate timing and wait for one attack to finish before pressing the button for the next attack.
One big tip for levelling up fast--learn to sell stuff really fast. If you're a newbie, selling stuff can be a very time consuming operation as you carefully compare the stats of each and every item. Instead, use Item Pack->Items->Sort->Automatically to organize your items before selling. Then sell your stuff. You can quickly compare the price of your current best sabre/handgun/armor/barrier to whatever you're selling. You can very quickly sell off anything with a much lower price than your current sabre/handgun/armor/barrier with full confidence that that stuff wasn't worth even looking at carefully. This is also helpful online, so the rest of your party won't have to wait around for you.
1B. Build up DEX on your Mag. Feed it a constant stream of Antidotes and Antiparalysis. These are pretty cheap and boost DEX. If you're playing offline, this is the most important thing to get you closer to your Handgun.
1C. Get a multi-slot frame and equip it with Marksman/Arm. Depending on your section ID, you might actually find the multi-slot frame by yourself. But you won't find or be able to buy the Marksman/Arm. Go online to beg for them or buy them (they cost 2000 Meseta each). If you can find a kindly person at level 10+, they should be able to buy Marksman/Arm at the armor shop for you.
Keep at it until you can equip a handgun. In the meantime, you will have looted enough crates to have a couple good sabres and handguns (look for high bonuses to Native and A. Beast), as well as a decent frame and barrier. Hold on to any multi-slot frames you find even if you have nothing to put in the slots yet. Hold onto any disks you don't already have, and any utility items. Sell everything else to build up Meseta and buy antidotes/antiparalysis to feed your Mag.
You'll still probably be very poor. There are a couple ways to conserve money, though. One way is to use a telepipe or make the long trek back to use the hospital to replenish HP and TP. If you're out of telepipes, you can save half the time and 10 Meseta by simply unequipping your weapon and letting yourself die!
2. The constant TP problem is actually solved by getting the handgun. Once you get the handgun, it will be your primary offensive weapon until you get better spells. You'll want to level up enough to take on the Dragon offline. You can change what you feed the Mag now--change to mates if you want more attack power or fluids if you want to learn better spells sooner.
Depending on how many telepipes you've got and how much Meseta you're willing to spend, you can go after the Dragon even if you're pretty low level. He retains any damage you've done unless you quit the game, so a perfectly reasonable strategy is to open a telepipe near the boss entrance, attack the Dragon until you die, and repeat. Refer to various other FAQs on how to defeat the Dragon. You'll want to shoot the head and/or use ice spells. Remember to talk to the principal afterward to save your progress.
After defeating the Dragon, you can go to the Caves, where you get much cooler stuff than in the Forest and where there are lots of fluids to find. Don't be too discouraged by how long it takes to slog through CAVE 1. CAVE 2 and CAVE 3 are much smaller and shorter.
3. Even after you've leveled up to 10+, you'll still tend to die a lot just because you have so little HP. Learning "Resta" helps (it heals HP), and makes up for the relative scarcity of mates in the caves. However, your greatest priority now is learning "Ryuker". Ryuker is the telepipe spell. With it, you can afford to drop a pipe every few rooms. That way, if you die then you can quickly return and get revenge! In fact, if you're still having money problems you can drop a pipe and then let yourself die to replenish TP. Ryuker won't make you die any less often, but it makes death only a minor inconvenience. You'll be able to buy/find Priest/Mind units and a Wand to help you learn the spells. Feed the Mag fluids to boost its mind bonus too. Note that you only need to boost your MST at the time of learning the spell. You can revert to another weapon and other reinforcing units and you'll still be able to use the spell.
The tips so far basically apply to Hunters as well as Forces--but they can do it all faster and easier. So far, the Forces are still behind the curve. But have no fear! You're at the verge of the "hump". The "hump" is the worm at the end of the caves. You defeat the "hump" with either of the two following spells--Rafoie or Razonde. With either of these, you will chew him up since they hit all 7 segments each time. Just make sure you're well supplied with monofluids and difluids. Remember to talk to the Principal after you defeat him to save your progress.
So now you're around level 13-17 and you've learned Razonde lvl 1. You finally slogged your way through the caves and killed the worm. What now?
Welcome to the Mines, the Force's playground. You will now slaughter robots en masse, gaining experience at a rate you've never seen before and levelling up in overdrive. The key is Razonde. Just go in, zap, and just before the Gilchics get up again zap again (if you do it too early, they won't be damaged when they're still lying on the ground). Two zaps will destroy a whole wave of 6+ robots. You'll salivate at the sight of those canadine formations--two quick zaps and you've got over a hundred EXP all at once! As a side-effect, the crates will get slaughtered along with the robots. Often, you'll just enter a room--ZAP--ZAP--and then pick up the pieces.
Unfortunately, the Mines aren't ALL fun and games. You'll burn up TP like lighter fluid, so unless you have a TP stealing gun prepare for frequent trips to Pioneer 2. You'll also need a decent autogun or mechgun to deal with those annoying Beats. The big missile launching robots are also initially a pain. Tactics against them are pretty straightforward--arm a handgun type weapon and shoot it from outside it's missiles's range (or if it's near the door use straightforward pop in and out tactics). However, if you're only level 14, it can take a real long time to destroy them.
Once you get to the Mines with Razonde, Ryuker, and Resta, your troubles starting as a Force are essentially over. Don't get too confident, though--you'll be in for a rude awakening in the Ruins...
Why is it tough starting as a Force?
First, you have an extremely poor weapon, so you'll depend almost entirely upon your (still pretty weak) spells to attack.
Second, those spells cost TP so you'll be constantly spending all your spare money on monofluids (at the expense of feeding your mag).
Third, you have low HP, so you'll die a lot--and it will take you longer to get ready to fight the bosses.
Here's how to deal with those disadvantages:
1. You badly need a handgun ASAP. Finding the gun is no problem, building up enough ATA to use it is. This is what you need:
1A. Level up. Play the "Battle Training" mission several times by accepting the Hunters Guild mission but cancelling at the Hunters Guild desk before talking to the client at the end of the mission. Use one fireball on each enemy, and let Kireek finish them off while you go looting crates. Unfortunately, this will not increase your ATA fast enough to get your handgun--but it helps you in general. Keep an eye out to see if you can arm a sabre. A sabre is a major upgrade from a cane. Somewhere around the time you get sick of Kireek's constant advice and can equip a sabre, you can level up faster on your own (alternate going through the forest normally and going on a Hunters Guild quest).
If you've never played PSO before, be sure to practice combos. A combo is a series of 3 attacks in a row--you can mix and match normal and heavy attacks. The best combos are normal-normal-heavy and normal-heavy-heavy. Do NOT press the button as fast as you can. Instead, use deliberate timing and wait for one attack to finish before pressing the button for the next attack.
One big tip for levelling up fast--learn to sell stuff really fast. If you're a newbie, selling stuff can be a very time consuming operation as you carefully compare the stats of each and every item. Instead, use Item Pack->Items->Sort->Automatically to organize your items before selling. Then sell your stuff. You can quickly compare the price of your current best sabre/handgun/armor/barrier to whatever you're selling. You can very quickly sell off anything with a much lower price than your current sabre/handgun/armor/barrier with full confidence that that stuff wasn't worth even looking at carefully. This is also helpful online, so the rest of your party won't have to wait around for you.
1B. Build up DEX on your Mag. Feed it a constant stream of Antidotes and Antiparalysis. These are pretty cheap and boost DEX. If you're playing offline, this is the most important thing to get you closer to your Handgun.
1C. Get a multi-slot frame and equip it with Marksman/Arm. Depending on your section ID, you might actually find the multi-slot frame by yourself. But you won't find or be able to buy the Marksman/Arm. Go online to beg for them or buy them (they cost 2000 Meseta each). If you can find a kindly person at level 10+, they should be able to buy Marksman/Arm at the armor shop for you.
Keep at it until you can equip a handgun. In the meantime, you will have looted enough crates to have a couple good sabres and handguns (look for high bonuses to Native and A. Beast), as well as a decent frame and barrier. Hold on to any multi-slot frames you find even if you have nothing to put in the slots yet. Hold onto any disks you don't already have, and any utility items. Sell everything else to build up Meseta and buy antidotes/antiparalysis to feed your Mag.
You'll still probably be very poor. There are a couple ways to conserve money, though. One way is to use a telepipe or make the long trek back to use the hospital to replenish HP and TP. If you're out of telepipes, you can save half the time and 10 Meseta by simply unequipping your weapon and letting yourself die!
2. The constant TP problem is actually solved by getting the handgun. Once you get the handgun, it will be your primary offensive weapon until you get better spells. You'll want to level up enough to take on the Dragon offline. You can change what you feed the Mag now--change to mates if you want more attack power or fluids if you want to learn better spells sooner.
Depending on how many telepipes you've got and how much Meseta you're willing to spend, you can go after the Dragon even if you're pretty low level. He retains any damage you've done unless you quit the game, so a perfectly reasonable strategy is to open a telepipe near the boss entrance, attack the Dragon until you die, and repeat. Refer to various other FAQs on how to defeat the Dragon. You'll want to shoot the head and/or use ice spells. Remember to talk to the principal afterward to save your progress.
After defeating the Dragon, you can go to the Caves, where you get much cooler stuff than in the Forest and where there are lots of fluids to find. Don't be too discouraged by how long it takes to slog through CAVE 1. CAVE 2 and CAVE 3 are much smaller and shorter.
3. Even after you've leveled up to 10+, you'll still tend to die a lot just because you have so little HP. Learning "Resta" helps (it heals HP), and makes up for the relative scarcity of mates in the caves. However, your greatest priority now is learning "Ryuker". Ryuker is the telepipe spell. With it, you can afford to drop a pipe every few rooms. That way, if you die then you can quickly return and get revenge! In fact, if you're still having money problems you can drop a pipe and then let yourself die to replenish TP. Ryuker won't make you die any less often, but it makes death only a minor inconvenience. You'll be able to buy/find Priest/Mind units and a Wand to help you learn the spells. Feed the Mag fluids to boost its mind bonus too. Note that you only need to boost your MST at the time of learning the spell. You can revert to another weapon and other reinforcing units and you'll still be able to use the spell.
The tips so far basically apply to Hunters as well as Forces--but they can do it all faster and easier. So far, the Forces are still behind the curve. But have no fear! You're at the verge of the "hump". The "hump" is the worm at the end of the caves. You defeat the "hump" with either of the two following spells--Rafoie or Razonde. With either of these, you will chew him up since they hit all 7 segments each time. Just make sure you're well supplied with monofluids and difluids. Remember to talk to the Principal after you defeat him to save your progress.
So now you're around level 13-17 and you've learned Razonde lvl 1. You finally slogged your way through the caves and killed the worm. What now?
Welcome to the Mines, the Force's playground. You will now slaughter robots en masse, gaining experience at a rate you've never seen before and levelling up in overdrive. The key is Razonde. Just go in, zap, and just before the Gilchics get up again zap again (if you do it too early, they won't be damaged when they're still lying on the ground). Two zaps will destroy a whole wave of 6+ robots. You'll salivate at the sight of those canadine formations--two quick zaps and you've got over a hundred EXP all at once! As a side-effect, the crates will get slaughtered along with the robots. Often, you'll just enter a room--ZAP--ZAP--and then pick up the pieces.
Unfortunately, the Mines aren't ALL fun and games. You'll burn up TP like lighter fluid, so unless you have a TP stealing gun prepare for frequent trips to Pioneer 2. You'll also need a decent autogun or mechgun to deal with those annoying Beats. The big missile launching robots are also initially a pain. Tactics against them are pretty straightforward--arm a handgun type weapon and shoot it from outside it's missiles's range (or if it's near the door use straightforward pop in and out tactics). However, if you're only level 14, it can take a real long time to destroy them.
Once you get to the Mines with Razonde, Ryuker, and Resta, your troubles starting as a Force are essentially over. Don't get too confident, though--you'll be in for a rude awakening in the Ruins...