Difference between revisions of "Quickstart Guide Regular"

Revision as of 14:30, 28 March 2008

Quickstart Guide

It's pretty easy to get started in EUO. But be prepared for:

chunky, 2d, top down graphics
keyboard controls - there is no mouse!

To get started, download the installer, install, create an account and run euo.exe.

This game is rather fast paced and even a little twitchy. Unlike other MORPG's, you generally fight more than one monster at a time, and battles are usually pretty quick. It helps to know where your spells and items are and what they do. It also helps to have a guide early on in the game. There are many players who will happily take a well mannered newbie through their first romp of the Nordhaven Jail.

So having said that, here are some pro-tips for playing the game.

Character Creation

At this screen press any key. It should bring up the main menu. If it doesn't, alt-tab out and back in again, then press a key.

Press the arrow key down once so that Create New Character is highlighted, then hit Enter.

Enter your account name and password in the appropriate fields. Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the fields. If you don't have an account then you will have to make one - click here. Pick a name, your gender (gender does not affects stats or gameplay), an avatar and a class. Use the left and right arrows to select your gender, avatar and class. Once done, press the down-arrow key to highlight enter the world of EUO! and press enter.

It's not critical which class you pick as it only affects starting stats. You will be able to tailor your class a little by selecting your starting skills once you enter the game.

Newbie Island

Once you successfully connect to the server you will start on Newbie Island. Glance over the summary of keyboard controls (which you can view at any time with the ? key (shift+/)) then press ESC to dismiss it.

Use the arrow keys to move around. You can use the numeric keypad to move diagonally. Follow the path east and let the popups guide you on your way.

It is important that you talk to Max at the end of Newbie Island to get your starting skills sorted out.

Walk up to him, press T then a direction key. Read carefully what he has to say. Not only does he teach you your starting skills but he teaches you how to talk to NPC's!

Say primary to Max to choose your primary skill. Say secondary to Max to choose your secondary skill.

Entering Nordhaven

Everybody starts in Nordhaven after completing Newbie Island. You'll probably have everything you need to start your adventure.

If you haven't already, you might want to ready your weapon & armour, and learn your spells (with SHIFT+L). Wander around town and say hello.

To say something to another player (they will have a white name above their heads with a blue health bar), hit ENTER and type your message, then hit ENTER again.

Starting Equipment

The equipment your new character starts with varies depending on which class & skills you picked. All classes get basic provisions such as food and potions.

Weapons and Armour:

Readying your starting equipment

Press r to ready arms and armour, then scroll through the list using the up/down arrow keys. When you want to toggle the readiness of an item, press space. A little icon (such as a sword or or shirt) will appear to the left of the item name if it is being wielded or worn.

Provisions:

Torches: press i to ignite a torch
Food: press e to eat some food

Potions:
Press p to use potions...

Red potions cure poison
Yellow potions restore health points
Blue potions restore mana points

Scrolls:

Town Portal - press R (shift-r) to Read scrolls

Tomes:
If you picked mage as your class, then you will get a small sample of spell-tomes that you can study and learn, to allow you to then cast those spells. Press Shift+l to study and learn any tomes that you have in your inventory. It would be wise to study your new tomes before leaving town for your first adventure. Spells only need to be learned once.

Binding items and spells to keys

For fast and easy use of items you may bind them to the number keys. During use, view, ready, etc, press a number from 1 to 0 to bind the currently selected item to that key. Then pressing a number key with a bind will use the bound item. Spells (and special abilities) can be bound to the function keys: press Shift+C, then use the arrow keys to highlight the spell you want to bind, then hit the F-key you want to bind to, followed by ESC. You can also bind spells by pressing shift-F-key.

Talk to NPCs

Just as players have white names and blue bars above their heads, characters with blue names and health bars are good aligned NPC's, while characters with gray bars above their heads are neutral aligned NPC's. Make a point of talking to any NPC with a blue name - you'll more than likely be sent on a quest.

To talk to an NPC, stand next to them, press t, then select the direction of the NPC. If you see a druid called Max, walk up to him and do exactly that. Then ask him his job (press enter, type job, then press enter again), or his name, whether they have any "work" for you, or even the time. Try continuing the conversation by asking about any of other words they have mentioned.

Exiting Town and entering other maps

When you're done looking around town, you might as well head down to the Jail. Exit town by walking south past the guards (Harold and Stirling) - you will soon find yourself on the continent of New Sosaria. Head due east until you see a cave entrance - that would be the Nordhaven Jail. Stand on the entrance to the cave and press Space.

Leaving Nordhaven: Nordhaven jail is just a few steps to the east

All of the areas in EUO are divided up into distinct maps. Towns exist as separate maps from the over-world, as do dungeons, caves, shrines, castles and keeps. To enter a town or dungeon, move toward the entrance and press Space. The entrance to a town is represented on the over-world as the town tile: just stand on top of it and press Space to enter. Inside dungeons, it is usually ladders that are used to move between levels. Again, just move on top of the ladder and press Space.

Nordhaven Jail: your First Serious Dungeon Romp

Nordhaven jail. Note the ladder exiting up just to the south and Bill the Jailer just to the north.

The newbie dungeon is a place where you can go kill some rats and other low level monsters to get acquainted with the game. Note that the monsters on newbie island are harmless, while the monsters here and everywhere else will cause you grief, so be ready!

Explore, kill, collect the treasure, sell the stuff you don't need, then spend the money on equipment. When you're feeling tougher and better armed, you can head down to levels 2, 3 & 4 of the newbie dungeon. Beware - opponents get tough pretty quickly though, it would be wise to have some decent armour and plenty of healing potions at the ready.

How to Attack

To attack with your equipped weapon (or with your bare hands if you don't have a weapon) stand next to your opponent, hold down CTRL and press the arrow key corresponding to the direction you want to attack. E.g., to attack north, it's CTRL+UP. If you are using a ranged weapon, CTRL+UP is used to attack your currently targeted enemy, regardless of the direction of the enemy.

CTRL+direction you wish to attack

How to Cast Offensively

If you picked mage as your class, then you should have learned the spell Minor Harm by now (if not, press shift+L, and select the Minor Harm tome to learn it). Minor Harm (aka An Mani) deals damage to an adjacent target. Stand next to one of those rats, press c, then a then m then enter, then the arrow key for the direction you want to cast.

This is a bit of work, so you can bind the spell such that you can cast it with Shift+direction. Press Shift+C, then use the arrow keys to highlight the Minor Harm spell (if it isn't already highlighted), then hit F1, followed by ESC. Minor Harm is now bound to the F1 key. Using Shift+direction will cast the spell bound to F1 in the direction of the arrow key pressed.

So you can now cast Minor Harm on rats with Shift+direction just as you would attack rats with a weapon with CTRL+direction.

bind Minor Harm to F1 with Shift+C, then F1
SHIFT+direction to cast Minor Harm on enemies to harm them

Pro tip

you can bind additional spells to F2-F6 and cast them with combinations of CTRL, SHIFT, ALT and a direction

Healing Techniques for Newbies

There are quite a number of ways to heal yourself, however for the new character these can be limited. Here's a list of what you can do to heal yourself.

drink a yellow potion (press p)
meditate (press m)
mage can cast the Mani spell (press c then m then Enter)
you can use a bandage: press ` (backquote/tilde: the key left of 1 on most english keyboards)
you can drink from a fountain (can be hazardous, but can also be rewarding): activate the fountain with a

Health also regenerates while not in combat.

Pro tip

use (u) empty flasks on fountains to create clear potions, which will usually have an effect not unlike a yellow potion

Leveling up

The Shrine of Compassion, on the far north coast of New Sosaria. To get there, leave Nordhaven and head northwest.

When you get the blue "You feel experienced" message, head to a shrine (pictured right), press space to enter the shrine map (just as you did to enter Nordhaven Jail) and meditate near the flame (walk to the brazier and then press m) to increase your stats. Every shrine has a different effect on your stats (strength, dexterity and intelligence) - consult the list in the next section.

You should increase your strength if you want more hit points (HP) and power with fighter weapons, increase dexterity if you want to move faster and power with rogue weapons, and increase intelligence if you want more mana, magic resistance and increased power with spells.

A rough guide for stat point distribution while progressing through the levels might be:

Fighter - increase strength until you get 80-100 STR, then increase dexterity until you get to 100 DEX
Rogue - increase strength until you get to 60 STR, then increase dexterity until you get to 150 DEX
Mage - increase strength until you get to 60 STR, then increase intelligence until you get to 100 INT and then increase strength again until you get to 100 STR

You don't have to follow this guide, however it will give you strength (and thus more hit points) early on to help make your adventures go smoothly.

Shrines

To locate a shrine, either study the map of New Sosaria online, or look in your EUO folder for the "MAP-Shrines.jpg" file.

Meditating (after you get the You feel experienced message) at the different shrines have the following effects:

Compassion:   Dexterity +6
Valor:        Strength +6
Honesty:      Intelligence +6
Sacrifice:    Strength +3, Dexterity +3
Justice:      Dexterity +3, Intelligence +3
Honor:        Intelligence +3, Strength +3
Spirituality: Dexterity +2, Intelligence +2, Strength +2
Humility:     Nothing

Humility does not add any stats but will increase your level if you meditate there. Unless you are actually feeling humble, it's best not to level up at the Humility shrine!

Humility does have a use however - meditating there reduces your criminal status time more quickly than normal.

Finally, shrines are used to cure resurrection sickness, which is a debilitating condition you'll often get after dying and resurrecting.

Dying

Everyone has to die eventually, and it's not a big deal. Just hit ! (shift + 1) to respawn in the town to which you are bound (the default town is Nordhaven). Doing this will give you resurrection sickness however, which requires you to meditate at a shrine to cure. While you have resurrection sickness, you will suffer significant penalties, so you should cure it as soon as you can. Alternatively if you're playing with other people, they might be able to resurrect you with a scroll or spell on the spot. If you are in a party with the person who resurrects you, you will not get resurrection sickness.

Sometimes you cannot respawn with ! ... it is most likely because you are on a no-casting zone tile. If this happens simply move a step or two away and try again.

Additional equipment

Once you've accumulated some gold, you'll probably want to get some additional equipment. Player merchants will have the best prices. Go to Player Merchant Item Search and type at least part of the name of the item you're looking for. You'll need a sextant or an Locate spell to find the coordinates of the listed merchant in the town, but bearing in mind that coordinates start in the upper left corner of the map, you should be able to find the merchant without a sextant.

The Goal

The goal is to have a bit of fun. Talk to the other players. By all means ask questions, but this manual isn't that hard to read. Try and read it all first before asking "How to I sell stuff" or "Where do I hunt?". Get out there and find out for yourself - that's all part of the adventure!

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 [[image:newbieIsland.gif]]
+It is important that you talk to Max at the end of Newbie Island to get your starting skills sorted out.
+[[image:talk2max.gif]]
+Walk up to him, press '''T''' then a direction key. Read carefully what he has to say. Not only does he teach you your starting skills but he teaches you how to talk to NPC's!
+Say '''primary''' to Max to choose your primary skill. Say '''secondary''' to Max to choose your secondary skill.
 ==Entering Nordhaven==