Like many open-world games these days, Forspoken throws almost overwhelming amounts of activities at players, and one look at the game’s world map will reveal quite literally hundreds of icons. With so much to see and do, it can be hard to know what to prioritize and do first, especially if you’re not keen on 100 percent-ing everything in the open world. If you’re jumping into the world of Athia, we have a few tips for things you should do first in Forspoken.
6. Adjust some vital settings
This might seem like a strange recommendation, but Forspoken actually has some vitally important settings that can make your experience a lot more streamlined. The first option you should consider changing is under Gameplay Balance as “Spell-Switching Slowdown.” This will let you apply a slowdown effect when opening the spell menu during combat, or you can change it to stop time entirely so you can select spells.
There are a host of other changes in this menu that let you fine-tune your experience, like Automatic Spell Switching which instantly swaps you to a new support magic when you use one, so you always have an active spell selected. Forspoken really goes above and beyond to let you tune its combat, so don’t be afraid to play around with settings and get a feel for what works best for your own playstyle.
Similarly, the Accessibility Settings menu has a host of other helpful options. The two you might want to note the most are Automatic Item Gathering, so you don’t have to press a button to pick up every resource, and Cuff Chat Frequency, so you can turn down the commentary you hear while exploring.
5. Always prioritize Detours in Cipal
Forspoken’s side content is essentially split into two categories, open-world activities and side quests called Detours. The story will consistently take you back to the city of Cipal during its major beats, and this usually unlocks a handful of new Detours and events in the city. When Detours are available you should always prioritize them as they can be locked out as you forward your progress in the main story. Detours provide a lot of context for the world and people of Athia, but completing them can also yield some useful crafting items and experience, so they’re worth doing on multiple levels.
4. Always craft upgrades and have active Spell Challenges
There are a host of safe havens scattered around the world of Athia known as Refuges, where Frey can rest and use crafting tables. Whenever you rest at a Refuge you should craft any upgrades you possibly can, including increasing the capacity of your material and healing items pouch, as well as boosting the stats of Frey’s equipment. The world is packed with crafting materials and simply by exploring you’re bound to pick up a ton, so there’s really no reason to hang onto any materials.
At the same time, by interacting with the book next to the bed in a Refuge you can set Spell Challenges for Frey, and you can have three active at any time. These challenges are by far the best way to improve the power of Frey’s spells, as each one will grant a unique effect to that spell, usually boosting its damage, and increase Frey’s overall power in that Color of spell by one. The requirements for the challenges are also usually pretty easy to meet, such as the Dash spell simply requiring you knock down 15 enemies. Most of the time you’ll be able to meet the requirements by simply playing the game naturally, so there’s literally no reason to not have three active challenges at any given time.
3. Visit Founts of Blessing first
Founts of Blessing are the number one most important locations in the open world, as each one unlocks a new spell, many of which can make exploration a bit easier. For example, the spell Float will let you soften any fall with water, while Burrown sends out roots that instantly grab any items in your immediate area. The Founts are usually a bit off the beaten path of the main story, but it’s worth detouring to get new spells, and along the way, you’ll usually uncover more activities as well.
2. Locked Labyrinths yield the best rewards
Outside of Founts, the other activity you should always complete is Locked Labyrinths. These are basically mini-dungeons that have you fighting rooms of enemies before taking on a mini-boss. There are multiple reasons to take on the Labyrinths, not the least of which is the fact you’ll simply receive quite a bit of experience and mana with all the enemies you take on. The locations also hold some valuable crafting items, and the final reward is usually a snazzy new cloak or necklace for Frey, which usually comes with better stats. Each Locked Labyrinth also has an interesting little piece of lore that dives into Athia’s history and Forspoken’s main villain, if you’re interested.
1. Prioritize open-world activities that reward “Stat Increase”
So you’ve checked off the Founts of Blessing and Locked Labyrinths, but there are still a hundred icons to sift through on Forspoken’s map? Well, your time is best spent prioritizing any icons that read “Stat Increase,” including Monuments, Forts, and more. Completing these activities will boost one of three stats for Frey; Health, Defense, or Magic. Completing these activities before others will help you power up Frey, making combat encounters much easier, which in turn means you can complete the other open-world activities that much faster.
