MM8 Chatter

[GrayFace]

Continuing from https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/ ... 00#p372679

Actually no. It's due to their skills. I've played the game (MM8) multiple times and the Dark Elf was a mainstay in most of my runs.
They are basically a combination of an Archer and a Thief, while getting the best of everything they can. Disarm traps. GM bow. GM chainmail. Master arcane magic. Great melee skills. Trading. And a quite few more things to a lesser degree, and some more etc. skills. Also they have a magical "school" dedicated to them.
Skill-wise, it's just way too convenient. Way too much. They are like two and a half member of a party from one of the previous games.

Melee skills are good up to some point, but very bad on high levels - not even a single skill with damage bonus.
You got me thinking of doing a Dark Elf solo run. I already I tried, but dropped. Melee felt too weak even halfway through due to no vampiric sword artifacts and not that much HP. Bow was a cheat. These 2 facts combined made me uninterested in continuing. Now I'm thinking of focusing on Poison Spray and seeing how it plays out.

[NotABroom]

Dark elves can deal quite a bit of dmg with 2 swords equipped, but they get nowhere near a knight with armsmaster or a vampire with really high dagger skill (20+).
Dark elves are nice for lazy people like me who don't like casting torch light and magic eye seperatley. Not so much use if you want a really really tough party. Then again I usually stick with one as well, since you can get Cauri very early on whilst she is 10 times tougher than the rest of your party at that point.

[Templayer]

Dark elves can deal quite a bit of dmg with 2 swords equipped, but they get nowhere near a knight with armsmaster or a vampire with really high dagger skill (20+).
Dark elves are nice for lazy people like me who don't like casting torch light and magic eye seperatley. Not so much use if you want a really really tough party. Then again I usually stick with one as well, since you can get Cauri very early on whilst she is 10 times tougher than the rest of your party at that point.

Yes, they deal less damage than Knights and Vampires, but not by that much (MASTER SWORD!), the main thing is their other specialities. Can Knights/Vampires do that much damage with a bow? What about Magic? Disarming? Trading?

Yes, I have said that they were like two and a half party members from the previous games, but I didn't mean as melee characters!
It's ALL the other parts of them that are somewhat insanely packed into a single character. The quite decent melee potential is only a cherry on top of that.

[Bandobras Took]

GM Chain helps mitigate a Dark Elf's lack of toughness.

[Templayer]

GM Chain helps mitigate a Dark Elf's lack of toughness.

That is like the ONE thing on a Dark Elf that I am fine with!

[GrayFace]

I've finished a Dark Elf solo run. He was fine. Damage output from Poison Spray was very decent, but I had to go to the temple a lot.

[Templayer]

I've finished a Dark Elf solo run. He was fine. Damage output from Poison Spray was very decent, but I had to go to the temple a lot.

Try a MM7 Zombie Paladin Solo run. :d

[garyd]

Just a few comments first my current DE solo is level 76, getting ready to take out the skeleton Transformer. MOstly going to level up the forced cleric so he doesn't get killed. Lack of hit points isn't a problem if you take full advantage of rock blast. NOthing like being able to shoot around corners. Lvl 15 earth magic. The best ranged weapon I've found so far is a caravaners crossbow 4d2 +6 or 7 however casting fire arrow on it makes it four d2 plus 3d6 plus 21 or 22 Level 15 bow skill +6 or 7 You have no earthly reason to get up close and personal with stuff, like cyclopes, can take you out with a couple of hits stone skin helps so can shield but not usually enough to matter even at master level.