Sudeki - Gameplay
GRAPHICS:
It looked amazing a year ago, and still baffled me now. The textures on the many small details really makes it shine. The character designs and modifications of weapons and armor are great, and the expression of magic is used better than other ways I’ve seen; you can totally feel the power.
There are a few glitches which hinder your gameplay, like when Buki climbs up a wall, more often than not, if you’re not really careful, instead of hopping onto the top ledge, she falls through the wall, forcing you to reload your save. Although, the downloadable patch seems to fix that problem. There are other small glitches here and there, but they don’t really do much to stop you from playing this wonderful game.
SOUND:
The intensity level is perfect. The only time I had a problem with the distribution of sound was in the Aklorian stronghold, where the rushing of the water overpowered everything, such as speaking, battle effects, and everything else. There’s some nicely produced ambient tunes here, as well.
MENUS
Main Menu
Opening this menu (M) shows you the full status of the current character, including their current and maximum HP, current and maximum SP, level, experience, and experience required to reach the next level. You can switch characters on the main menu screen and within any of the sub-menus by pressing the F2 button. Scroll through the sub-menus by scrolling and left-click to open the one that you want. Any options within each sub-menu will be displayed across the bottom of the screen
Item Menu
This is where you’ll find all consumable items. You can use any of them if you need them (i.e. you can’t use a HP-restoring item if all characters are at full HP), look at the descriptions of each, or assign them to the Quick shot buttons for rapid access during battle by the relevant number (only 1-4 are available).
Valuables Menu
There are 3 lists here, side by side,
- items available for trade,
- equipment runes acquired, and
- Quest items.
Scroll over each item to see a brief description.
Advancement Menu
Here, you can spend available advancement points (acquired by levelling up) as you see fit on Max HP, Max SP, Power, or Essence, or you can learn new Skill Strikes. The points available are shown in the top right corner. The amount each category is raised by is also indicated. If you don’t have points to spend, you can still just look at where each character stands.
Weapons Menu
All weapons for the current character will be displayed. Scroll through them to see their basic stats, inscribed runes and available rune slots.
Press F3 while a weapon is highlighted to see a longer description of its qualities and history.
Armour Menu
As each character only owns one set of armour at one time, it will only display the current outfit, along with its inscribed runes and available rune slots.
Quest Log Menu
All current quests will be displayed in this menu. Highlight the quest title to read the description of the current task within that quest, which will change as you accomplish each task. Once the quest is complete, it will vanish from the list entirely.
MONSTER COMPENDIUM MENU
Each monster type that you’ve defeated will gain a listing in this menu, including a picture of that monster and a description of its abilities and status defences. There will also be a suggested strategy for fighting it.
maps MENU
Each monster type that you’ve defeated will gain a listing in this menu, including a picture of that monster and a description of its abilities and status defences. There will also be a suggested strategy for fighting it.
options MENU
Control various game settings. I won’t go into detail; the game tells you what you need to know. Of particular note is the ability to reverse the Y-axis (up/down) on aiming during first-person view, primarily of use in ranged combat.
QUIT MENU
You can select this option at any time to exit the current game, load a previous file, or return to the most recent save point. You might want to do this if your game is going particularly badly. You will often notice that the sub-menu icons have a “+” character laid over them. This indicates that something new has been added to that menu, such as advancement points available to be allocated, a new weapon or armour listing, new items, or new quest information.
QUICK MENUS
Opening this menu by pressing ENTER or L/Click slows down the world around the lead character substantially, but not completely (so in combat, you can still be damaged if you take too long). It is the only way to use Skill Strikes and Spirit Strikes in combat, and is invaluable for using items not added to the Quick Menu buttons in emergency situations. It is also the only way to modify your allies’ AI setting. The following sub-menus are available::
SKILL STRIKES
The current lead character’s special abilities will be listed here, along with a brief description and the SP cost. If you have enough SP, you can activate the skill by selecting it during combat
SPIRIT STRIKES
These ultra-special abilities are also particular to each character and will be acquired at key points in the game. Activating each during combat requires sufficient Spirit Strike Points, which can be restored by causing and taking damage in combat.
WEAPONS
Use this to change weapons on the fly. Does not contain the full descriptions that are found in the Main Menu, so get to know your arsenal well.
ITEMS
Use any consumable item on any character that needs it in a flash. Just remember that even though time is slowed while the Quick Menu is open, it isn’t stopped completely, so don’t take too long deciding what to use.
A.I.
Set the artificial intelligence settings that will influence how non-lead characters will behave during combat. See below for more details on each setting.
OPTIONS
Go to the options menu (same as for Main Menu) to change settings.
MOVING ABOUT
STAYING ALIVE
Opening this menu by pressing ENTER or L/Click slows down the world around the lead character substantially, but not completely (so in combat, you can still be damaged if you take too long). It is the only way to use Skill Strikes and Spirit Strikes in combat, and is invaluable for using items not added to the Quick Menu buttons in emergency situations. It is also the only way to modify your allies’ AI setting. The following sub-menus are available::
NAVIGATION
At all times, there is a round display in the upper left corner of the screen which displays the features of the immediate environment. The outlines of the local topography (basically the path that is open to you) will be drawn in blue. There will also be a white arrow around the outside of the circle while you are in the field, indicating the ultimate direction that you need to go in your current quest. This information is based on the current quest. Other features on this map include:
White dot + yellow cone: your current lead character’s position and the direction they’re facing.
Purple dots: other party characters.
Green dots: Friendly non-player characters.
Red dots: Enemies.
You can also access World Maps through the Main Menu (see below). These maps display the entire region you’re currently in. They can be hard to make out, but if you look closely, you can see the entire road system for the region. On these maps, there will also be icons indicating the locations of helpful service outlets:
SAVING STATIONS
Throughout the worlds of Sudeki, there are Saving Stations. Whenever you see these, save. You never know where the next one is.
COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS
As you approach friendly non-player characters, the action indicator will appear, providing you with the option to talk to that character by left-clicking the mouse (or ENTER). They will say what they have to say, both in text and audio format. You can accelerate speech by left-clicking again in the middle of it, but this skips the audio portion. Sometimes, after a character speaks, you will have one or more options with which to respond or prompt the character for further information. Highlight the option you desire by scrolling through points and left-click again to activate it. One of the options will always be to just say goodbye. Talking to characters may be required for a particular quest, may give useful but not absolutely essential information, or may trigger a new side quest. Different quests will be available at different points in the game, too. So if you’re in a big rush, you can ignore all passers-by, but it could also be in your interest to talk to every character every time you’re in a particular area.
FOUND OBJECTS
Throughout the worlds of Sudeki, there are valuable and useful items to be found. Some of these are restorative items, some are only good for trading with others for cash or yet more valuable items. The different ways to fill your inventory without spending any money are:Smashing vases/barrels/crates: Left-click when the ‘Break’ action indicator appears near certain objects.
Opening treasure chests: You know whatever’s in these has got to be reasonably good.
Dropped by defeated enemies: In battle, you must move over these earned items to add them to your inventory. But be quick, they disappear after a while.
Gifts from other characters: If you fulfil Quests for others, they will reward you in some way.
TRADERS
Traders (scales icon): Buy and sell items.Kamo’s Shops (duck in hat icon): Buy and sell items.
Blacksmiths (hammer and anvil icon): Upgrade equipment.
Inns (knife and fork icon): Rest to restore all HP and SP.
OPENING DOORS
As you approach a door, the action indicator will come up either as ‘Locked’, in which case you can still left-click to rattle the door (serving no real purpose, however), or as ‘Open’, allowing you entry. Only the lead character will enter a building while the others wait outside. This is a minor problem if there is a barrier inside that only one character may pass using their individual skills. If you find yourself with the wrong person, go back outside, switch to the right one, and go back inside (unless the right person isn’t in your current party, in which case you’ll have to return at a later time).
MONEY & SHOPPING
You can obtain Florins (the currency of Sudeki) in 2 ways: finding some in treasure chests or smashed objects, or by selling valuable items to traders or Kamo.As for buying, a word of advice: Save your money primarily for equipment upgrades. You can usually pick up enough restorative items in the field to meet your needs, and don’t need to spend Florins to purchase these items, though you may occasionally be desperate for a particular type of item, in which case spend away! There are 4 types of locations for you to spend your dough:
Kamo’s shops: These franchise locations, found in or near towns, offer a wide variety of restorative items and some weapons for purchase. You can also sell your items here, but Kamo’s pretty stingy and won’t pay you much.
Traders: Located throughout the world, traders are particularly interested in purchasing your valuable items, but also offer a few items for sale. Each trader has a particular fetish, meaning that they will pay top dollar for a particular type of item, such as animal furs, or precious gems.
Blacksmiths: These skilled tradesmen can imprint mystical runes upon your current armour and weapons, conveying special attack and defence properties. You can also find special runes which any blacksmith will then be able to inscribe. Basic runes are square, while round runes are generally stronger and more expensive.
Inns: These hostels offer rest, restoring the entire party’s HP and SP for the meagre price of 25 Florins.
See the Trader section much further down in the guide for details on the prices of all bought and sold items for every shop and trader.
TRAVELING
At some point in the game, you will have easy access to all the places by means of a portal system. There are Portals situated at certain points in each area and you can zap from place to place in a jiffy.