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Never played these games before but they look fun! I want to try a thief character instead of a fighter or mage. Anything I should watch out for? Also, as far as stats go, a GameFAQs walkthrough said my stats should be "Strength at 20, Weapon Use at 20, and Vitality at 40". Sound legit? Thanks in advance for any tips!
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Rich9837: Never played these games before but they look fun! I want to try a thief character instead of a fighter or mage. Anything I should watch out for? Also, as far as stats go, a GameFAQs walkthrough said my stats should be "Strength at 20, Weapon Use at 20, and Vitality at 40". Sound legit? Thanks in advance for any tips!
I can't remember how high your skill level needs to be, but once you get to a certain point, you can pick your own nose with the lockpick to raise the skill. I think you need a 30 - 40 skill first. Otherwise you jab the lockpick in your brain and kill yourself. That only applies to the first two - after that you have to raise it on regular locks. Which sucks in 3, but in every other game there are practice locks you can use. Also, always use stealth, at least til it maxes, because it increases as you move. Some games slower than others.
Meh. I suppose GameFAQ's advice is okay if you're trying to power through the game as quickly as possible. But I isn't on a time limit - I don't think anything in I besides one optional quest is on a time limit, and you are advised of the time limit as soon as it begins.

A critical thing to note is that in QFG, as long as a skill is above 0, you can improve it up to the max (which is 100 x the game number, so 100 in QFG1) simply by using it. So fight things and your Weapon Use will rise. Do things requiring strength (fighting mostly, but some other things too like climbing) and your strength rises.

Vitality is actually one of the easiest to max out because it affects your max health and stamina, and most skills use up stamina -> increase Vitality; so, while starting with low Vitality will disadvantage you to start, I'd actually advise putting no points in it at all because it's just so darn easy to train up. Same with Weapon Use, you can always just go fight goblins. Dodging, just go find a single Goblin or Brigand out in the woods to fight and dodge like mad until you're low on stamina, then finish your enemy off and go rest. Just about every skill is pretty easily "practice"-able in QFG1 if you know how. Climbing is the only one that's tough: you can't get it past 80 or so, and definitely not to the full 100, unless you use a very specific practice spot that's in an area you can only go to once. (Not that you really need to get it past 80.)

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Anyhow, that's a lot of information without much actual good advice. So, advice:

-For any class, the first thing to determine is what skills, if any, you want to add to your character. Thieves already start with most skills, the only thing they're missing is Magic. It can be a popular one for people wanting to make a hybrid, since it's just one additional skill. You won't have access to everything magical: throughout the series, some spells and quests are accessible to anyone with Magic skill while others only to people playing as the Magic User class specifically. Ditto being actual Thief class vs. merely having Thief skills. But you will get to see nearly all the spells and overall a good chunk of the magic side of the game and have another option in combat. (Note: It's true you don't have Parry either. Don't change that. Even if you add the skill, you can't buy the shield you'd need to use it, you have to start with it. Only the Fighter starts with a shield.)
If you think you'll play through the series again as a Magic User, I'd recommend keeping your Thief "pure" so that you're forced to play through the games in true Thief style. However, if you prefer the idea of playing through the series once with as many options open to you as possible, doing a Thief with magic is probably one of the best ways to do that. (Magic User with Stealth and Lock Picking works too, and gives you the Magic Class-specific quests as opposed to the Thief Class-specific quests. But since adding entirely new skills is so costly, Thief with Magic is easier.)
If you do take Magic, Spend an extra 5 points to take it to 10 so that your Mana pool won't be too pitiful starting off.

-If you're worried about game difficulty, some Strength, Vitality, and/or Agility will give you extra HP and Stamina to start with, which will help. That said, those are all pretty easily trained, Vitality and Agility in particular. If you're willing to rough it starting out, ignoring these skills - again, Vitality and Agility in particular - will help you become well-rounded faster in the long run.

-After considering the possibility of going for Magic and/or those three basic stats, dump the rest into a stat or two that are otherwise going to be hard and/or just plain annoying to raise. Lock picking can be slow to build up until you can safely pick your nose, as you have to go around picking actual doors, and you have to move on frequently or risk getting caught. Stealth can be slow to build up in general, so it and lockpicking would be my recommendation for dumping some starting points into as a Thief. Intelligence is pretty much impossible to max if you don't have magic and don't dump all your starting points there, but it's also not very useful if you don't have magic, so unless you're aiming for all 100s don't worry about it - maybe 5 points there if you took magic, otherwise ignore it.
Post edited May 11, 2012 by Kloreep
Actually, Thieves are missing Magic and Parry. Not that Parry means much past QfG1. You need Parry to fight the Weapon Master in QfG1, but other than that only having Dodge doesn't restrict you from anything, and in QfG5 Dodge and Parry get combined into Defense.
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CelticMutt: Actually, Thieves are missing Magic and Parry.
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Kloreep: (Note: It's true you don't have Parry either. Don't change that. Even if you add the skill, you can't buy the shield you'd need to use it, you have to start with it. Only the Fighter starts with a shield.)
:)

Didn't know having Parry would let you fight the Weapon Master, interesting. Is it a buggy battle or does it handle having a dagger wielder okay?
Vitality will actually raise just from running around (which you might as well do when you're in an area that you don't need to sneak - like town), in addition to most physical skills (early climbing and throwing practice being an easy method).

If you aren't adding additional skills then you can pretty much spread things around however you like. Getting lockpicking to ~40 would let you use the "pick your nose" trick right away, but otherwise there's no real "power build" and you might well be best off to just throw 5 points each into everything.

Actually, on second thought: cranking Intelligence might also be a bit of a time-saver since it does get trained by fighting (Intelligence contributes to offensive and defensive moves, unlike with many other games), but much more slowly than the other stats.

Luck would be another valid point-sink for the same reason (everything trains it, but only a little).
Sneak and especially lockpick are both skills that come heavily into play here and in later entries in the series so if you want to accomplish everything thief-related without having to mindlessly lockpick a door (or your nose) repeatedly just to boost your stats to a decent level then try distributing a decent number of points to those skills.

Agility is also pretty crucial starting with the second game when you have to do some deadly acrobatic maneuvers on a tightrope at the end. High agility really makes that section (as well as a section at the end of the third game) much less of a hassle.
Post edited May 11, 2012 by cannard
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Garran: Actually, on second thought: cranking Intelligence might also be a bit of a time-saver since it does get trained by fighting (Intelligence contributes to offensive and defensive moves, unlike with many other games), but much more slowly than the other stats.
If you want to max Intelligence without having Magic as a skill, you should definitely dump all your starting points there. At least in the VGA version, it's the hardest skill to raise, though perhaps most so for Fighters rather than Thieves.

However, Thieves and Fighters really don't need Intelligence, so it's mostly just a pretty number on your stats screen. :)
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cannard: Agility is also pretty crucial starting with the second game when you have to do some deadly acrobatic maneuvers on a tightrope at the end. High agility really makes that section (as well as a section at the end of the third game) much less of a hassle.
Yes, but it's easily leveled up to 100 in one. If you're starting with the first game, putting points in agility is mostly just a short-term boost to stamina at the cost of not putting those points into something that's harder to train.
Post edited May 11, 2012 by Kloreep
Keep in mind that the stats (other than Vitality) - Strength, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck - don't just get raised by using skills; they also contribute to your success or failure when using those skills. They're weighted differently per skill, and the skill itself is always the single biggest factor, but having those stats higher does make a difference.

(I also wouldn't recommend cranking your starting Agility as a Thief though, mainly because it'll raise so quickly on its own.)
Yeah it's not so necessary in the first game but I found even having played through it thoroughly and then doing tightrope practice in the second game I still needed a pretty solid boost in the form of the genie's generous stat upgrade to properly manage that end section.
I would create a super-multi-class using thief, give him a few points in Mana and some Parry and bam -- multi-class! Pretty boss. Anyhow, here's how you max out your thief skill points:

Sneak EVERYWHERE. It takes a while, I know, and when you're still green the second a monster appears you're going to have to start running to a safe place (any non-generic forest). Once you start getting messages that you've avoided monsters, you'll want to sneak only half the places so that you can get some combat skill in until you max out Sneak.

Lockpicking: As I recall, one of the doors inside the castle is a "safe place" to practice. Just keep grinding, pick the lock, it will never open, but it will up your skill.

Throwing: The target on the south side of the castle walls. Buy some daggers, throw them at the target. You can also play the dart game in the bar, but that will only get you so far.

Climbing: this one is actually pretty easy. There are plenty of places to practice climbing in the game -- the spitting plants, the hermit's cave, and one you'll probably use the most, the castle walls at night. Any place that looks like there is something you can climb to, practice climbing on it. Even if you just flail in place at the base, you'll still up your stats.

When you're still weak, you'll want to head back to the castle as soon as the game's time starts telling you that Sunset is approaching (steer clear of the graveyard when sunset starts approaching--you don't want to walk in there the moment night falls and be there without the Undead Unguent. Well, maybe once. After you've saved). Once the guard at the parapet has left, climb over the walls and sleep in the stable. You'll wake up the next morning fresh as a daisy then get 5 silver and an increase in strength and vitality for your trouble (you can hit enter to skip the workout). You'll want to rest afterwards to restore your stamina. Since I multi-classed, I'd then go and train with the swordsman to up my Parry. I'd lose some of my day, but after a while, you'll get strong enough that you can wander around at night. At that point, you can switch it up, really get tough fighting the nighttime monsters. At that point, make it back to the castle once the time is nearly dawn, climb the castle walls, sleep in the stables--it still counts as a full-night's sleep, you still get 5 silver, etc. Do that as long as you need a) money, b) training, c) a safe place to sleep. After that, you can kip at Erana's Peace and wake up fully restored.
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Kloreep: (Note: It's true you don't have Parry either. Don't change that. Even if you add the skill, you can't buy the shield you'd need to use it, you have to start with it. Only the Fighter starts with a shield.)
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Kloreep: :)

Didn't know having Parry would let you fight the Weapon Master, interesting. Is it a buggy battle or does it handle having a dagger wielder okay?
As far as the EGA version is concerned (I am less familiar with the VGA remake) you need to have parry skill to fight the weapon master, but don't need to buy a shield. You borrow a sword and shield from the weapon master, so the fight plays out just the same as for a warrior.
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Kloreep: :)

Didn't know having Parry would let you fight the Weapon Master, interesting. Is it a buggy battle or does it handle having a dagger wielder okay?
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Crispy78: As far as the EGA version is concerned (I am less familiar with the VGA remake) you need to have parry skill to fight the weapon master, but don't need to buy a shield. You borrow a sword and shield from the weapon master, so the fight plays out just the same as for a warrior.
It's the same in the VGA version.
You can easily boost lockpicking to around 60ish right at the start. The Healers Hut(north of town gate) is an unpickable door, but it increases your lockpicking skill very fast. I just clicked alot on it and within less than a minute(literally) I was above 50. Started with 10. Cheap way of doing it, but it works. Slows down a bit after 55 or so though. (this was with speed set to high)

Healers hut also a good way to boost climbing, by trying to climb the tree.
Post edited May 12, 2012 by jonsnow
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jonsnow: You can easily boost lockpicking to around 60ish right at the start. The Healers Hut(north of town gate) is an unpickable door, but it increases your lockpicking skill very fast. I just clicked alot on it and within less than a minute(literally) I was above 50. Started with 10. Cheap way of doing it, but it works. Slows down a bit after 55 or so though. (this was with speed set to high)
Nice, I forgot about the healer.

Sounds like lockpicking isn't a good place to spend points either, then. :)