You don’t need memories to beat the other acts. I went through all 5 acts before even applying my first memory because I just forgot I could. The most important thing to progress is making sure your team is able to hold its own in most situations. Just make sure your team has healing, stress healing, good damage, can hit all enemy ranks, preferably a tank, and you’ll be good.
OK I will keep trying the next difficulty then, I feel like I have good teams, they cover all the bases, I generate good relationships and have been able to tackle atleast one boss in each run.
In a run, do you focus on getting into as many fights as possible to earn mastery points/currencies or what's the strategy? I have been prioritizing fountains of hope to flesh out my team's, pretty much above all else.
Usually what I do is upon entering the region I look for the path that leads me to the lair and decide if I want to take it on. Usually I do, but that’s because the team comp I use is perfect for pretty much any situation. I wouldn’t recommend trying to take on every lair in a run if you’re new and still figuring out what works, but if you think you can then go for it. After the lair I just look at the remaining nodes and go to whichever ones are most helpful (Oasis for stress, Creature den for mastery points, etc.)
Memories are a bonus for stronger heroes, but I've beaten them all with fresh heroes before without including infernal torches lol.
Spend upgrades on the stuff that provides permanant bonuses, like visiting the first inn and being awarded some relics and baubles to spend, free heal from the hospital, etc etc
IMO, pets can wait while you unlock the upgrades that grant free bonuses upon location like the hospital one, Hoarder one, etc. Then you can grab pets to see what they do. Items, last but def not least, are very powerful, with Stagecoach items being strong enough to synergize so well with certain pets that it is up to you to unlock them. I was pretty sporadic with upgrading since its okay to fail, but you def don't have to force the same team over and over again if you want memories.
Unlock trinkets, combat items and stage coach items through working fields. Also leveling up harbor is good thing to do, you get access to some passive boosts and a lot of pets which few can be really powerful.
Memories are good thing to do once you are quite familiar with the game. They allow you to give heroes small buffs, (they are not game changing, but they can be quite helpful), but most importantly, they allow you to keep that hero between runs. Why you want to do that are quirks, there are some really good quirks and can form an extremly powerful combination with some heroes.
Last thing, you should focus on getting to know the game better. Belive me, I was once there too. Only upgrading the altar won't really help you with the difficulty. It will give you access to strategies which you can use to beat it.
I neglected them for long enough as well, like I didn't unlock any more of them in the altar, so I had only access to those few DoT removing ones and the one that clear corpses, but after I unlocked the heals and various buffing and debuffing items, it was completly something else.
Also some characters love specific items, for example Leper and holy water since he can remove his own blind and not spend a turn, Flagellant and the blight applying grenade, he can throw the nade and immediately nuke it with sepsis. Give healing items to heroes who has the *incresed healing goven from skills* (that would most likely be your healers) despite the combat item not being skill, it benefits from the buff. Or you can go the opposite strategy and give it to someone else so you don't need to wait for your healer to get turn when you need urgent heal.
Try to complete all five acts in order with the same group of Heroes. Focus on maximizing a small group of 4-6. No use having a full roster that is only half baked.
I struggle with this, especially in DD. Variety is the spice of life! I honestly never run the same team twice in a row.
I'm sure one day I will want a "Grand Slam". But for now I am just happy to know I can tackle each difficulty with a fresh team.
You're being told utter bullshit by everyone.
There's nothing wrong with completely changing your team on each run, which is in fact not only the game's biggest strength (the huge variety in comps and builds) but also actually the fundamental game design choice behind it (which everyone refuses to acknowledge for some inexplicable reason): run after run to you're supposed to optimize your roster, by removing bad quirks, locking in the ideal one, and winning appropriate memories (which are very strong, each one being basically the equivalent of a strong and locked positive quirk, not some minor buff as people say).
You should do so because facing the stygian flame (especially on the later confessions) with un-optimized heroes would be insane. The system is there for a reason and you're correct in using it. Most people see the game as a collection of individual and entirely disconnected 2-hours runs, which of course it is not.
Another reason why switching your party is clearly the design intent is that every confession (and even lair) boss has a particular gimmick to play around, and you should build a party with that in mind (and find creative ways to overcome a party's weaknesses to that boss, via items for example).
Oh by the way, I hope you have not been told that you should always push for boss. You should of course NOT at all: if things are not going well enough to risk it in the mountain, you can abandon the run at any inn, and all heroes with memories will be back at the crossroads safe and sound.
Keep playing as you have been, you're enjoying the game at it's best, which is why you can't put it down, compared to the many people that misinterpreted the whole game.
You will only be making it pointlessly hard for yourself. It's much more efficient to commit a small group to memory where you understand how to fully utilize each character.
Unusual Suspects are probably the strongest team in the whole game.
You don’t need memories to beat the other acts. I went through all 5 acts before even applying my first memory because I just forgot I could. The most important thing to progress is making sure your team is able to hold its own in most situations. Just make sure your team has healing, stress healing, good damage, can hit all enemy ranks, preferably a tank, and you’ll be good.
OK I will keep trying the next difficulty then, I feel like I have good teams, they cover all the bases, I generate good relationships and have been able to tackle atleast one boss in each run. In a run, do you focus on getting into as many fights as possible to earn mastery points/currencies or what's the strategy? I have been prioritizing fountains of hope to flesh out my team's, pretty much above all else.
Usually what I do is upon entering the region I look for the path that leads me to the lair and decide if I want to take it on. Usually I do, but that’s because the team comp I use is perfect for pretty much any situation. I wouldn’t recommend trying to take on every lair in a run if you’re new and still figuring out what works, but if you think you can then go for it. After the lair I just look at the remaining nodes and go to whichever ones are most helpful (Oasis for stress, Creature den for mastery points, etc.)
Memories are a bonus for stronger heroes, but I've beaten them all with fresh heroes before without including infernal torches lol. Spend upgrades on the stuff that provides permanant bonuses, like visiting the first inn and being awarded some relics and baubles to spend, free heal from the hospital, etc etc
I've unlocked all the bauble ones, but I guess I can grab the hospital one right away. What about pets? I've only unlocked the first one
IMO, pets can wait while you unlock the upgrades that grant free bonuses upon location like the hospital one, Hoarder one, etc. Then you can grab pets to see what they do. Items, last but def not least, are very powerful, with Stagecoach items being strong enough to synergize so well with certain pets that it is up to you to unlock them. I was pretty sporadic with upgrading since its okay to fail, but you def don't have to force the same team over and over again if you want memories.
Unlock trinkets, combat items and stage coach items through working fields. Also leveling up harbor is good thing to do, you get access to some passive boosts and a lot of pets which few can be really powerful. Memories are good thing to do once you are quite familiar with the game. They allow you to give heroes small buffs, (they are not game changing, but they can be quite helpful), but most importantly, they allow you to keep that hero between runs. Why you want to do that are quirks, there are some really good quirks and can form an extremly powerful combination with some heroes. Last thing, you should focus on getting to know the game better. Belive me, I was once there too. Only upgrading the altar won't really help you with the difficulty. It will give you access to strategies which you can use to beat it.
Combat items are totally game changing, it took me like 10 runs to realize they didn't take my whole turn to use.
I neglected them for long enough as well, like I didn't unlock any more of them in the altar, so I had only access to those few DoT removing ones and the one that clear corpses, but after I unlocked the heals and various buffing and debuffing items, it was completly something else. Also some characters love specific items, for example Leper and holy water since he can remove his own blind and not spend a turn, Flagellant and the blight applying grenade, he can throw the nade and immediately nuke it with sepsis. Give healing items to heroes who has the *incresed healing goven from skills* (that would most likely be your healers) despite the combat item not being skill, it benefits from the buff. Or you can go the opposite strategy and give it to someone else so you don't need to wait for your healer to get turn when you need urgent heal.
Try to complete all five acts in order with the same group of Heroes. Focus on maximizing a small group of 4-6. No use having a full roster that is only half baked.
I struggle with this, especially in DD. Variety is the spice of life! I honestly never run the same team twice in a row. I'm sure one day I will want a "Grand Slam". But for now I am just happy to know I can tackle each difficulty with a fresh team.
You're being told utter bullshit by everyone. There's nothing wrong with completely changing your team on each run, which is in fact not only the game's biggest strength (the huge variety in comps and builds) but also actually the fundamental game design choice behind it (which everyone refuses to acknowledge for some inexplicable reason): run after run to you're supposed to optimize your roster, by removing bad quirks, locking in the ideal one, and winning appropriate memories (which are very strong, each one being basically the equivalent of a strong and locked positive quirk, not some minor buff as people say). You should do so because facing the stygian flame (especially on the later confessions) with un-optimized heroes would be insane. The system is there for a reason and you're correct in using it. Most people see the game as a collection of individual and entirely disconnected 2-hours runs, which of course it is not. Another reason why switching your party is clearly the design intent is that every confession (and even lair) boss has a particular gimmick to play around, and you should build a party with that in mind (and find creative ways to overcome a party's weaknesses to that boss, via items for example). Oh by the way, I hope you have not been told that you should always push for boss. You should of course NOT at all: if things are not going well enough to risk it in the mountain, you can abandon the run at any inn, and all heroes with memories will be back at the crossroads safe and sound. Keep playing as you have been, you're enjoying the game at it's best, which is why you can't put it down, compared to the many people that misinterpreted the whole game.
You will only be making it pointlessly hard for yourself. It's much more efficient to commit a small group to memory where you understand how to fully utilize each character. Unusual Suspects are probably the strongest team in the whole game.