Bad Choices I Make in Book of Hours Every Time

16 Nov

Heavy Spoilers, No Duh.

I’m a broken clock.

I’m not right twice a day because my dials are stuck at 25:00:00 (Crowned Growth got me down bad.) I also have diagnosed OCD. Who would’ve guessed?

I upgrade too many of my Elements of the Soul cards too quickly in the early game and to an unnecessary level in the late game

I end up with too few EotS in the late game to do everything I want to do because I over upgrade them in the early and mid game. By the time I can upgrade them fully, I really don’t need to, given that my skills are usually at a high enough level that the value of the EotS in a recipe is just that it is filling a required slot, rather than contributing much of any principle.

I upgrade Health at all

Unnecessary. It’s good to have more weak Health cards rather than a few strong Health cards because you just need a single Health card of any strength to do things like gather vegetables.

What Principles does Health have? Heart. Nectar. Scale.

You know what else has Heart? Chor.

Nothing else has Nectar and Scale, so why not max Health out to get a good Nectar and Scale EoS, right?

A maxed out Health card only has 4 Nectar and 3 Scale. While Scale books can be pretty scarce, or maybe I just have garbage RNG luck, it’s still not too hard to get skills that can contribute 4 Nectar or 3 Scale to a recipe.

Nectar Skills:

Drums & Dances, Insects & Nectars, Leaves & Thorns,

Scale Skills:

Furs & Feathers, Hill & Hollow, Inks of Power, Path & Pilgrim, Pentiments & Precursors, Serpents & Venom, Wolf Stories

Scale and Nectar skills:

Horns & Ivories, Stone Stories

If you literally get Horns & Ivories or Stone Stories past level 4, they’ll each have 5 Scale and 4 Nectar, making them as strong (Nectar-wise, stronger Scale-wise) as a maxed out Health card.

I forget about Dre about Mettle being immune to maladies

And if you didn’t know…now you know. Mettle is immune to all maladies, meaning it’s always safe to try to identify a book or read a book as long as you use Mettle as the EoS. I forget about this in the early game. I forget about this in the mid game. I forget about this in the late game.

I even forgot about forgetting to do this, and didn’t remember to add this to the blog post for at least two weeks.

I upgrade Mettle too early/too much

Mettle is the best EotS because it cannot get afflicted by any disease when examining mystery books. The more Mettle cards you have, the more books you can safely examine as you unlock new areas of Hush House. Guess who never has enough Mettle cards because she upgrades them? This person. Me. It’s me. I’m the girl from the story.

Mettle has Forge and Edge aspect. Well, Shapt is the exclusive EotS for Knock and also has Forge aspect. Ereb has Grail (as does Chor) as well as Edge. This means that if you need an EotS that has high Forge or Edge for some reason, it makes more sense to level up Shapt or Ereb, probably Shapt in my experience for that sweet, sweet Knock.

I Wisdom-lock skills based on their flavor

If a set of skills are clearly in a set, and share a specific Wisdom in common, they belong under that Wisdom

Disciplines of the Hammer and Disciplines of the Scar, for instance, share the word ‘Disciplines,’ and work together for a specific secret in the game. The only potential Wisdom they can both be committed to is Illumination, so that’s where I always commit them.

If a skill is about forging something, it goes into the Ithastry Wisdom

Anbary & Lapidary: It’s about working with stones.
Bells & Brazeries: It’s about making bells and crafting with brass(?).
Glassblowing & Vesselcrafting: It’s about making glass stuff.
Glaziery & Lightsmithing: It’s also about making glass stuff.
Inks of Revelation: Technically, it’s about making ink. It can be slotted in Hushery, but the aspects and themes don’t really fit Hushery. I think it should go under Horomachistry with the other Inks skills.
Lockworks & Clockworks: The recipes have to do with crafting and include one of the most important craftable items in the game. It’s a top tier skill for that reason alone. The skill that has to do with crafting an incredible item clearly goes under Ithastry.
Preliminal Meter: I don’t like this slotting any more than you do, but to be fair, Forge can break down doors or something. I don’t know. Hate this slotting, it should go in Nyctodromy or Birdsong, but it can’t.
Purifications & Exaltations: It’s got beakers on it. It can be used to craft a ton of stuff. But, it is heavily Lantern, so I guess it could go in Illumination. I’m not 100% dedicated on dedicating this to Ithastry or to Illumination.
Pyroglyphics: Flavor-wise, it seems like it goes under Illumination, but given it’s used to craft so many useful products, it goes under Ithastry.
Transformations & Liberations: Aspects are Forge and Moth. Forge is associated with Ithastry. The attunement reward for putting this skill in Ithastry is Phost, which has Sky and Lantern principle. The attunement reward for putting this skill in Illumination is Mettle, which has Forge and Edge principle. Does the Moth yearn for Forge or Edge? No. It yearns for the Glory, it yearns for the Lantern, it yearns for Ghost. It goes under Ithastry solely based on the attunement reward.

If a skill is about human warfare/martial arts or Illumination as a practice, it goes under Illumination

Auroral Contemplations: It can go under Illumination or Nyctodromy. However, its principles are Lantern and Edge which are more associated with Illumination than Nyctodromy. The skill’s card art has an open eye against a yellow background, reminescent of the card for Fascination in Cultist Simulator, which is strongly associated with Lantern. This is a skill that can be associated with Nyctodromy despite those strong Illumination associations given the skill is about journeys. However, it’s just far more related to Illumination than to Nyctodromy given the art and the skill’s principles.
Disciplines of the Hammer: This is a themed pairing. Because both the Disciplines skills can go under Illumination, they should go under Illumination. Clearly martial themed.
Disciplines of the Scar: This is a themed pairing. Because both the Disciplines skills can go under Illumination, they should go under Illumination. Clearly martial themed.
Edicts Martial: Wonder how this is themed? Oh. It’s martial? Illumination.

If a skill has Winter, it goes under Hushery

Sights & Sensations: While this can be slotted in Nyctodromy, and Nyctodromy certainly has more to do with sights and sensations themselves than Hushery does, the products of this skill are very much associated with Winter.
Quenchings & Quellings: Quenching and Quelling something is basically like smothering something with a pillow, thus, Hushery.

If a skill is about Nyctodromy, it goes under Nyctodromy

Nyctodromy is the practice of travelling in dreams, and in particular(?), traversing the Wood, the Mansus, etc.

Door & Wall: What has Doors? The Mansus. Counterpoint: the Mansus has no walls.
Edicts Liminal: It’s got Knock, it’s about liminality. What space is liminal? The spaces visited via Nyctodromy. It’s just a million layers of liminality. Into the Nyctodromy you go. There’s a strong case for it being slotted into Skolekosophy given its Moth aspect, but it has to do with the Chancel, who isn’t dead, isn’t a God-from-Stone, and doesn’t have to do with the past. The Moth is also associated with yearning towards the Glory, and pursuit of that yearning is Nyctodromy.
Fur & Feathers: The skill description explicitly mentions the Wood. It’s about hunting in the Wood. How do you get to the Wood? Nyctodromy. Case closed, your Honor-in-Splendour. This is a hard pick because it does work for Skolekosophy as well, given the theme of being about animal parts.
Path & Pilgrim: It’s about traveling. Nyctodromy is about traveling.
Pearl & Tide: Moon aspect, Rose aspect, both associate this with Nyctodromy. The tide going in and out is reminiscent of the day/night cycle of Nyctodromy.
Watchman’s Paradoxes: Both the flavor descriptions for the Wisdom attunements mention Nyctodromy.

If a skill is about some messed up stuff, dead stuff, ancient stuff, Gods-from-Stone, Lithomachy, snakes, worms, bugs, Scale, it goes under Skolekosophy

Coil & Chasm: The principles of this skill are Scale and Nectar, strongly associated it with Skolekosophy. It’s clearly a reference to the Seven-Coiled, one of the old Gods-from-Stone. It’s thus related to something dead, something snake-like, ancient stuff, and is very much suited for Skolekosophy. The flavor text for slotting Coil & Chasm into Nyctodromy has to do with the Horned-Axe and doesn’t make a compelling case for its relevance to the study.
Horns & Ivories: It’s about trophy hunting and dead animal parts. It does mention The Wood, but is unable to be slotted into Nyctodromy.
Orchids & Narcotics: Don’t do drugs.
Pentiments & Precursors: Has to do with the Carapace Cross.
Putrefactions & Calcinations: It’s crafting related, but related to using organic biological materials, rather than mineral or synthetic materials.
Ragged Crossroads: I think it has to do with the Carapace Cross. I’m not sure. I also think the crossroads sign in the skill icon looks like a dragonfly.
Serpents & Venoms: Serpents have to do with The Seven Coiled.
Sharps: Edge.
Solutions & Separations: The flavor has a metaphor about surgery and masonry, so it could really go under Skolekosophy or Ithastry. Both utilize chemicals. The products of the recipes do seem more Skolekosophy flavored.

If a skill has Nectar or is nature-themed, it goes under The Bosk

Applebright Euphonies: It’s a skill with Sky and Grail that can go under Illumination or The Bosk. The Applebright is an Hour clearly associated with The Bosk, so the skill should go under The Bosk as well.
Drums & Dances: Very clearly a skill associated with The Thunderskin, who is associated with Heart, so it goes under The Bosk, given the alternate option for its Wisdom commitment, Horomachistry, is not strongly associated with Heart.
Insects & Nectars: It’s got Nectar in the name.
Leaves & Thorns: Clearly Nectar themed.
Orchids & Narcotics: Clearly Nectar themed.
Rites of the Roots: Clearly Nectar themed.
Spices & Savours: I don’t associate organic materials with Ithastry. It has a Nectar aspect. It’s about something with a Nectar source. Bosk.
Weaving & Knotworking: I put all my weaving related skills in Preservation or The Book if I can help it.

If a skill is about healing or restoration, or counters Corruption, it goes under Preservation

Herbs & Infusions: Counters Corruption (Keeperskin), flavor is clearly medicinal.
Maggephene Mysteries: Counters Corruption (Inkwell), flavor text is about treating plague.
Meniscate Reflections: Counters Theoplasmic Contamination (Actinic), and I don’t think it belongs in Illumination.
Resurgences & Emergences: I wish this could go under Skolekosophy because it’s clearly Carapace Cross related. It is effective against Contamination.
Sickle & Eclipse: I’ll be real. I usually run out of room in Nyctodromy pretty quickly. This skill is effective against Corruption, so, into Preservation it goes.
Stitching & Binding: Sewing skills are more associated with Preservation and The Bosk than they are with Ithastry. It has Heart, associating it with Preservation, and doesn’t have any aspects that would associate it with Ithastry.
Surgeries & Exsanguinations: Clearly medical.
Tridesma Hiera: A tough call, this goes under Preservation instead of The Bosk because it can be used to treat Curses.

If a skill has the word ‘Stories’ in it, it goes into the Birdsong Wisdom.

Sand Stories, Sea Stories, Sky Stories, Snow Stories, Stone Stories, Wolf Stories. They’re all slottable in Birdsong.They go together. They’re clearly a set. I’m on my Mazerine grindset.

If a skill is about songs or song related things, it goes into the Birdsong Wisdom.

Hill & Hollow: ‘The ways of the hill-children and the gods-from-stone. Old paths, old secrets, the songs that still echo beneath the earth.’
Rhyme & Remembrance
Strings & Songs

If a skill is about Sky, physics, metaphysics, laws, and Eternity, it goes under Horomachistry

I think all the Edicts and Inks should’ve been things we could put under Horomachistry, the way all the Disciplines can go into Illumination.

Edicts Inviolable: Directly has to do with Calyptra, which is responsible for enforcing(?) the laws regarding access to occult knowledge. This is a hard choice, because it can be slotted in Preservation, also heavily associated with persistence and inviolability.
Inks of Containment: Ink.
Inks of Power: Ink.
Ouranoscopy: It’s about the Sky, has Sky aspect, makes Sky stuff.
Sacra Limiae: Matched set.
Sacra Sol Invicti: Matched set.
The Great Signs and the Great Scars: About a conflict involving higher powers

There are some skill and Wisdom pairings I just don’t believe in

Desires & Dissolutions: It can go into The Bosk or Horomachistry, and I always slot it in The Bosk. It has Grail and Moon, and, in addition, sexy art. Nothing about that says Horomachistry to me. It goes under The Bosk. Frankly, I think it should get to go under Skolekosophy (because it has Grail and is about desire, similar to Orchids & Narcotics, whereas The Bosk seems wholesome) and Nyctodromy (because it has Moon).
Putrefactions & Calcinations: It can go into Skolekosophy or Ithastry. I don’t think it’s a fit for Ithastry because Ithastry is usually more about using naturally occurring minerals or artificial substances to craft things. It’s not usually about using biological components for crafting. However, I’ll fight myself on this one. Getting stronk is associated with Forge Hours and Ithastry. What’s the line between an organic biological component and a naturally occurring mineral? Limestone is made of shells or something. Does that mean it isn’t eligible for use in Ithastry? I don’t think you’d find a Forge Long that would argue that.

There are some skills where I disagree with both their assigned Wisdoms

Preliminal Meter: This can currently go under Illumination or Ithastry. This should go under Nyctodromy or Birdsong, given meter is related to songs.The flavor text explicitly mentions rhythm. It’s got Rose principle, associating it with Birdsong. It could go under Nyctodromy because it has Knock and is clearly about The Mansus, given it mentions The Summit.
Ragged Crossroads: This should go under Hushery or Nyctodromy given it’s about Winter and traveling.

I wait until I have a language to commit to level 1 of a Wisdom tree before I commit other skills

Why this is a bad choice: This means that I have to wait until my first visitor arrives before I can get more Elements of the Soul and this slows my pace down significantly. It doesn’t make sense for me to do this when I am supposedly trying to speedrun the game and unlock every ending. Speedrunning endings doesn’t require that I max out my Tree of Wisdom.

I always commit the languages the same way for two reasons: because it allows me to fill all level 1 slots in the Wisdom tree with languages, and because of lore implications. Note that there are 10 languages and 9 branches on the Tree of Wisdom, meaning one branch gets two languages.

Cracktrack: Preservation because they’re both associated with Nectar(?)
Deep Mandaic: Ithastry because they’re both associated with Forge
Ericapaean: Illumination because they’re both associated with Lantern
Fucine: Hushery.* It’s associated with three high level Winter books, it’s associated with some Winter skills. It’s a language of a lake and civilization that doesn’t even exist anymore. that makes it perfect for Hushery
Henavek: The Bosk. The language has the Scale principle. Committing it to The Bosk gives Health which also has the Scale principle. It’s used to decode a book that gives Stone Stories which has the principles of Scale and Nectar. It’s used to decode two other books that give skills that can be committed to The Bosk.
Hyksos: Skolekosophy. It’s a primal language. Skolekosophy is strongly associated with primal things and the primordial(?) Gods-from-Stone. It’s described as ‘addictive.’ The skill Orchids & Narcotics is similarly about addiction and can be slotted into Skolekosophy. Also, both Hyksos and Skolekosophy contain the letters k and s.
Killasimi: The Bosk because I associated it with The Berry Book, which is a Nectar book that gives Leaves & Thorns.
Ramsund: Birdsong, because of lore implications. The description of the language says it’s used by the Aviform Hours. Both Wisdom attunement options mention the Aviform Hours. It’s a birdsong, so it goes under Birdsong.
Sabazine: Horomachistry. According to the Book of Hours wiki, Sabazine is named after Sabazios, a sky-god, associating the language with Horomachistry. There are two skills associated with both Sabazine and Horomachistry: Sacra Limiae and Sacra Solis Invicti.
Vak: Nyctodromy, because Nyctodromy is about exploring in dreams, including exploring the Mansus. Vak is the Peacock Door in the mansus.

* I know this is a bad choice given Fucine cannot be used to upgrade Trist on its own (the EoS reward from commiting Fucine to Hushery) given there’s no Hushery evolution station that will take both Fucine and Trist. I don’t care. I can use a Memory. Whatever.

I rush to unlock certain Hush House secrets

You know what they are. I know what they are. I rush to unlock them every time, meaning I don’t have to learn to play the game without relying on using them.

Eldra Echo