Puzzle Quest Notes

For those who don't know this fantastic Puzzle/RPG hybrid, here is a couple links.

Main web site

Video Review

After playing both the PC and DS versions, I developed my own strategy for starting out with this game. Note I played the Knight all through the game with the DS, and now playing the Warrior on it and redoing the Knight on the PC version. The Druid and Wizard then is UNTESTED!

The idea is to pour all your leveling skill points into one skill while, at your citadel, buy just enough that (with the freebies you get while questing) you get 8 on all the rest and pour what you can through purchases into another. I created a spreedsheet working all of this out.

First of all, why 8? Each skill, which is associated with one of the puzzle pieces, increases what you get when you match three. But to get another +1 requires increasing amount of points. Level 0 in a skill gives you +3 when you match three, while 1 gives you +4, 8 gives you +5, 20 give you +6, and so forth. For that reason you should buy at your citadel just enough points, along with the free ones you get when questing, 8 in each skill except two (three for Druid and Mage). They are Morale and one (or two) which cost 1 point when you level. The latter, which I call leveling points, should go into one or two of these 1 cost skills, determined by your class. The one you buy from the citadel after getting enough for this value of 8 is Morale, unless you are a Knight. For Knights, Morale is the one you ought to buy with leveling points, and either Green or Yellow for citadel purchases. Here is a summary.

	Knight	Warrior	Druid	Wizard
Leveling Points	Morale	Red	Earth and Air	Fire and Air
Citadel Purchases	Green OR Yellow	Morale	Morale	Morale

If the Warrior would like to split his leveling points with Battle, I suggest bringing Battle up to 83 (+8 when you match 3) and the rest into Red. Do NOT split the Knight's leveling points in this way! Having a freaking high Morale, giving you an insane number of hit points along with spell resistance, is your ultimate goal. Don't lessen it! The reason I recommend for the Knight Green or Yellow is due to two weapons. The Holy Lance gives +1 damage for every 4 Yellow you have, while the Unholy Lance gives +1 damage for every 4 Green you have. Both cost 1800 and require 12 Morale. Get whatever comes first and then start investing in that mana skill.

As I mentioned before, you do get freebie points while questing. There are in order when they should occur:

• +3 Morale for choosing Sirian Knightly Order (the rest have +2 bonus)

• +2 Morale for Dwarven Heirloom

• +4 Cunning for Reassembly

• +4 Fire for Trial by Fire

• +4 Battle for Trial of Blood

• +2 Battle for Skullguard

• +2 Water for Baneguard

Besides these you also get +5 Morale for building the statue in your citadel. So to get 8 in your lesser skills without 'wasting' your gold, you should subtract from 8 the bonuses above along with your starting skills. And yes, you will get a negative value for Morale (Battle too for the Warrior). Here is a summary then of what lesser skills for each class you should buy and how many points you need for each... if I did my math right!

Knight:

• Earth: 8

• Fire: 4

• Air: 7

• Water: 4

• Cunning: 3

Warrior:

• Earth: 7

• Air: 8

• Water: 6

• Cunning: 2

Druid:

• Fire: 3

• Water: 4

• Battle: 2

• Cunning: 3

Wizard:

• Earth: 7

• Water: 6

• Battle: 1

• Cunning: 2

When you begin your game, choose the easy difficulty level with the -25% experience. On the very early stages, gold is more important; at the very late stages, experience till you get to level 50. Follow only the main quest till you finish Helping Hand, in which you help Darkhunter with a Sorcerer's minion. This should make the side quest Stolen Catapult available at Drakenburg. Run this mission at most three times before returning to your citadel. Hopefully by now you have enough gold for the Dungeon and Temple. On your forth run through Stolen Catapult, if you got the Dungeon you can capture it. Consider redoing this quest till you get 900 gold, enough to raise your two skills that start at level 0 by one point each. Around this time you should from from easy to normal difficulty setting. Finish Darkhunter's subplot till he joins you as a companion. From there, I recommend Bartonia's side quest Father and Son (for Erik's Bow) and Imperial Message in either order. The latter will eventually make The Marriage available at Enmouth, ending with Serephine joining you, along with a whopping 2000 gold.

When you get that finish, sweep up the remaining side quests you left behind then return to the main quest till you defeat Dugog and finish the quest Good Tidings. By then you should have brought perhaps some good equipment and a few skill points. I recommend at this point to get (if you haven't already) Forge, Siege Workshop, and Towers so you can capture cities while (with Towers) reduce the chance they will rebel. Although you don't have to, capturing cities allows you to access your citadel in other lands, reducing the need to travel a great distance to improve your skills. If you need more gold for this, go through Stolen Catapult again!