SoulTerra Odyssey beginner's guide - 5 tips for getting started on your own odyssey

SoulTerra Odyssey is an interesting mix of match-3 puzzling and roguelike tactics. As I said in my preview, while it has a few issues that hold it back from greatness, I've largely enjoyed my time with it. Perhaps because it's not a mish-mash of genres you see all that often, and it's scratching an itch that I didn't know existed.

Anyway, partly thanks to the game being incredibly stingy with giving out freebies, progression can be fairly difficult early on. So, I decided to create a SoulTerra Odyssey beginner's guide to help you win more battles and maximise the small number of free goodies.  

Tip #1 - A critical attack-focused build is king early on

While I'll try not to keep harping on about how SoulTerra Odyssey isn't generous whatsoever, it does mean your roster will likely remain limited for a while. Unless, of course, you're willing to put some money into it. If, like me, you're not, then chances are that for the first ten or so stages, your options will include Brawlya, K33, Yin Han, Delores, and Von Seagull.

From those options, you'll immediately want to ditch Von Seagull, even though they're my favourite aesthetically, and aim for a crit build on each run. Why? Because three of the four characters synergise wonderfully with it. 

Brawlya's Deadeye can increase her own Crit Chance, and then the team's if you upgrade it. On top of that, Warrior Zeal makes Crits do additional damage. Meanwhile, Delores also has numerous abilities related to Crits, including Starting Shot, which begins every battle with a guaranteed critical shot. K33 then offers some assistance with Crits once Tremor is fully upgraded, though you might want to focus on his defensive options to help keep your team alive. Yin Han is less focused on increasing damage, but the healing is nice, if a bit of an afterthought in this build.

Of course, given this is a roguelike, there's a chance you won't get the perfect critical attack set up on every run. However, it's good to have something to work towards, and your damage output will be significantly higher even with a few Crit-focused abilities equipped than any other options available to you with limited heroes.

Tip #2 - Make Brawlya your lead character and have Berserk Frenzy equipped

Before each run starts, you're able to pick a starting Hero. Then, the others are added as you complete goals in the matching section that takes place ahead of an encounter. Once you've got Brawlya, I'd recommend choosing her. The reason for this is her Berserker Frenzy ability, which gives her +2% attack for each hit. 

While that doesn't sound like a lot, the final version is called Berserker Way, allowing these buffs to carry over between battles. If you can get this fully upgraded earlier in a run, then her damage output towards the end can become fairly ridiculous. To increase those odds, you'll also want to equip Berserker Way in the Hero Skills menu. This means she'll start each run with it ready to go, leaving only two more upgrades to find.

Tip #3 - Match fast and match indiscriminately 

The matching portion of SoulTerra Odyssey tasks you with cleaning up a big pile of stuff. Within that pile will be two to four objects that you have to collect a set number of. In-game, this is referred to as Goals, with each one completed providing another Skill upgrade to choose from. Naturally, we want as many as possible to further bolster our heroes' Skills.

That makes it tempting to scan the previously mentioned pile of stuff for the objects you need. I wouldn't recommend that approach since it can waste precious time. Instead, simply match fast and, specifically, whatever objects you can see the most of. This gets them out of the way, making the ones you need easier to find. The timing is pretty generous, with the real danger being running out of space on your item shelf, so just focus on clearing stuff without filling it up. If that happens, you're locked out of making more matches and can't get any upgrades, likely spelling disaster for your current run. 

Tip #4 - Don't forget the PVP and to check in on your ship

SoulTerra Odyssey doesn't do the best job of explaining everything. There is a quick PVP tutorial, but then things move on so quickly you might forget it even exists. Make sure you don't and use up all your tickets regularly. Even if you lose, you can earn Gold and XP Potions to level up your heroes and boost your team's overall power.

Likewise, just off the shore of the main map, your boat is floating in the sky. It's an airship, I suppose... Anyway, now and then it'll provide Coins and XP potions, but you need to tap on it to claim them. Given that you have to move the camera around to find it each time, it's easily missed. Still, every little helps, right? So we want to be checking that.

Tip #5 - Make sure to do your dailies and log in every day

An obvious tip yet a fairly important one. Make sure you're completing all your Daily Quests. They don't provide plentiful resources. However, it all helps chip away at those upgrades, ultimately leading to the promised land of progression. Likewise, simply logging in is definitely recommended. The rewards can be better if you keep up a streak as well, including a free hero, which isn't something I can see SoulTerra Odyssey giving away all that readily.