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Trying to use quartz in Lies of P? Quartz is among the rarest materials you’ll come across in Neowiz Studios’ dark fantasy souls-like RPG, and it’s one of the most important. If you want to make good use of it, and the P-organ system it’s attached to though, you’ll need a good understanding of this fairly complex mechanic.
Here then, we’re going to explain how to use Quartz in Lies of P, and how the P-organ system works. Be sure to brush up on other crucial mechanics like how to parry and how to level up too, or get a more general overview from our tips and tricks guide, if you want to make the most of your experience.
Using Quartz in Lies of P
Quartz is used in Lies of P as an upgrade material for your P-organs. This offers a variety of multilayered upgrades that improve your gameplay in various ways while allowing you a strong control of direction over how.
By sitting down in the experimentation chair in Geppetto’s study at Hotel Krat, you can bring up the P-organ menu, and spend any Quartz you may have on you for upgrades. Keep in mind that to access this study, you first need to reach Geppetto at the end of the second level of the game. Find him on Alchemist’s Bridge after you make your way through Elysion Boulevard. You’ll need to defeat the Mad Donkey to save him, and then defeat the Scrapped Watchman at City Hall before he’ll return to the hotel. Defeating the Watchman will also give you access to the area you’ll need to go to if you’re still trying to finish Toma’s quest.
How to get Quartz in Lies of P
Getting Quartz can be a little tricky, given its rarity. Usually, players will only find it from extremely tough enemies, such as bosses. Expect each boss you defeat to drop at least one piece of Quartz. Rarely, other miniboss enemies will also drop the material.
On occasion however, you can find it for significantly less effort. Some well-hidden chests will contain Quartz, though these aren’t often easy to find. Some of them, like the piece you can get inside 221b Boulevard, are hidden behind mysteries and Cryptic Vessels, requiring thorough exploration to discover.
What are P-organs?
Before we move onto the system itself, it’s helpful to have an understanding of what exactly a ‘P-organ’ is. In universe, P-organs are the artificial organs within puppets that move Ergo around their circulatory systems, granting them life.
Mechanically, accessing this system allows you to purchase different upgrades that fundamentally alter certain aspects of Pinocchio. This can be something small like offering an additional Pulse Cell, or more significant like enabling new kinds of dodges and movements.
Lies of P P-organ system explained
Once you’re in the chair and you’ve got the P-organ upgrade menu on-screen, you’ll be able to start using upgrades.
Upgrades are separated into different Phases, running from Phase 1, to Phase 5. Each Phase has a total of four different upgrades that you can unlock, and each upgrade will do something specific. For example, Phase 1 has an upgrade that offers you an additional Pulse Cell charge – a good way to get more Pulse Cells – as well as one that’ll increase the window of opportunity for staggering an opponent when they become Groggy (the white glow around a health bar after repeated attacks).
P-organ upgrade enhancements
When you pick an upgrade, select that slot and equip the quartz into it. Doing this will open a window where you can assign a secondary layer of upgrades. These secondary upgrades, which we’ll call enhancements for the sake of clarity, are the same regardless of which upgrade you choose to slot the quartz into. The enhancements can be divided into four distinct categories:
- Attack Type. These enhancements improve particular aspects of your offensive capabilities, such as how much damage certain attacks can do, or the windows of opportunity when performing particular moves.
- Survival Type. These enhancements boost your survivability, improving your recovery capabilities and reducing damage you take in certain situations.
- Ability Type. These enhancements improve your abilities, such as weapon repair, your Legion Arm, and your stamina recovery.
- Item Type. These enhancements improve your maximum capacity for items, your Ergo collection, and more of your utility and items.
Each Phase offers access to a new selection of enhancements. When selecting an upgrade, you can use the quartz you’re imbuing to unlock two enhancements on the upgrade. These have to be enhancements of separate categories however.
Once you’ve selected an upgrade and its enhancements, you can confirm your choices and spend your quartz to permanently unlock it. Unlocking an upgrade will progress you towards the next phase.In our playthrough for our Lies of P review, we found that two upgrades at Phase 1 were enough to unlock Phase 2, indicated by a small glowing blue dot that moved across a line connecting the two phases on the menu screen.
P-organ system upgrade synergies
The final mechanic of note here is synergies. When you unlock all four upgrades within a Phase, you’ll unlock that phases’ synergy, a powerful bonus that’ll further enhance Pinnochio. Unlocking two or more synergies then grants access to the next level of a synergy, making them even stronger.
Lies of P change shape option explained
When sitting down in the upgrade chair, you may have also noticed another option, “Change Shape”. You’ll get access to all sorts of interesting extra gameplay and upgrade mechanics throughout the game, but unfortunately this isn’t one of them. Change Shape simply opens your cosmetics screen, allowing you to change Pinocchio’s current outfits, and headwear. It’s not too clear why this additional menu exists when you can also access these options from your character inventory at any time.
That covers everything you’ll need to know about how to use quartz in Lies of P and how the P-organ upgrade system works. Be sure to make good use of it – you’ll benefit immensely from these upgrades when facing off against the likes of the King’s Flame Fuoco or Fallen Archbishop Andreus in Krat.
Are P-organ upgrades worth it?
P-organ upgrades are absolutely worth it, as they represent deep and powerful permanent improvements to your build.
Are P-organ upgrades expensive?
P-organ upgrades are very expensive, as they cost quartz, a very rare material.
How many P-organ upgrades are there?
There are 20 P-organ upgrades total, spread over 5 unlockable phases.
Lies of P
- Platform(s): macOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s): Action, RPG