*sigh* Made it past the Numor Mine. Took a few tries and a little manipulation of my union formation to get through it (almost forgot that Blizzard helps spread out units and provides a little boost in physical defense). Spark V from Rush was quite the lifesaver. The Ragna-rock accessory seems to stack, so that was a relief. Going to make sure that he keeps it whenever necessary. Unless it's a boss fight. It also looks like [Mystic] Extra Hit+3 only affects Invocations and Evocations. Really disappointing, really. Would have liked the extra ~11% damage done with the other mystic arts. I guess it's somewhat understandable since the Hexes and Psionics are meant to wipe out entire unions while inflicting statuses. Invocations and Evocations hit single targets unless they're AoE spells (the later Invocations/Evocations like Assault Acid/Caustic Blast, Assault Frost/Permafrost, Eclipse/Smoke Shot, etc.). They also become ridiculously broken late game when they hit large unions AND critical on each target.
Also made it past the Nest of Eagles, so Emmy's joined the party. Not that it really matters since she's not going to be in any fights, save for the "The Fated One" sidequest. And even when she pops in, she'll receive a massive boost in HP to compensate for the fact that she's the only one in the union. Now to complete a bunch of sidequests before saving Irina. A good number of them will be gone after finishing the 1st half of the game. I want to try beating the True Conqueror using only soldiers I've trained. So, no Rush dealing massive damage with Swift Spring Squall V. Seriously, that art is deadly. If he crits, that's well over 200 000 damage right there. So, I'll need to make a separate save where I've triggered the "Things Unchanged" sidequest, and one where I haven't. I think I need to set that specific event flag for the Rank 8 Conqueror. I'm pretty sure that's what triggers that specific fight, even with the number of sidequests completed to trigger the other ranked fights. But... the recording will be of the file that finishes the "Things Unchangeable" quest.
I think I'll do an LP of this first before finishing/restarting DMC4. I can't seem to figure out why the sound isn't working, so it might take a while. All I really need to do is get a mic to record whatever I'm going to say, and find a video service to upload the vids to. I'm thinking Veoh since pretty much all of my videos are WELL OVER AN HOUR LONG, and YouTube doesn't allow video sizes of over 2GB. Sorry for not keeping a timer beside me while gaming. Can't really play in 10-minute spurts, ya know? Well, 10:59 segments.
Also, I suggestions for a better video encoder... Xvid's nice and all, but I'm noticing a degradation of colour. It's not as shiny and vibrant as when I'm playing it. At least it runs smoothly and nothing's gone out of sync. Just a little annoyed at how the colours were dulled a little bit.
As a side note... Why does Paris' voice sound so stupid in English? For the most part, the English voice work is pretty good. Just... why do some of them sound so stupid? Just... ugh. I much prefer his JP voice. At least there he doesn't sound like a boy going through puberty with his nose pinched. And actually sounding like a royal. /rage
29 Dec 2009
Uh, oops.
Looks like I'm going to hit another REALLY PAINFUL wall soon. The next part after The Catacombs. Numor Mine. It's the Emma and Rush only part, which is going to suck oh-so-badly because those two haven't seen much battle. Emma's stuff also hasn't been upgraded all that much, so she's fallen behind a bit as well. Rush's equipment is fine since I'm the one creating them, but it's his HP that I'm concerned with. It was hard enough to fight Namul Sin and Niram Sin at BR3. If they get hit with Spark V, they're dead. I may have to sacrifice a few BR ranks to train them up, but not too much though. OK, really only training Rush at the moment. Need to make sure that the soldiers are also keeping up. As long as he's the leader, it's easy to manipulate his art usage. Good thing he has Poison Gas V now. It can wipe out most enemy groups at the moment. May need to dedicate some time to farming some materials for them as well.
Planned out the rest of the game, so hopefully it'll go a little smoother. Kicked out a few soldiers to make room for the more important ones later on. After Numor Mine, I'll have access to 12 active battle units and 4 unions. I'll still be spreading out my units since stacking them right now isn't such a bright idea. After the Nest of Eagles, I should have 15 on the field, so I guess I can start training up using Wisdom's Echo. Unfortunately, some of the units I want to use aren't available until after Wyrmskeep or a certain BR. They also haven't gotten any of their accessories, so their HP and AP/Speed aren't inflated. It's actually kinda annoying. I actually don't get why people think that stacking unions is a good idea... You can only deadlock one union at a time, so if you're surrounded, you could very well end up screwing yourself over. Not exactly a pleasant thought in LasuRemu. Especially in the beginning when you have no way of reviving for a long time.
Also, that little vertical bar beside the union's HP/AP bars? Apparently that's known as the Union TENSION Gauge, not the Union Morale Gauge. If it's high, they're tense/"hyped up" as Rush would say. If it's low, then they're sleeping/daydreaming on the job? Would probably explain why those soldiers are pretty bad at hitting stuff when the Union Tension is low. Actually, they just suck in general. Except for that qsiti, Mithidia. He's pretty cool, what with smacking his enemies with Spark III so early in the game. But you know, I need Hex users. BADLY. Good thing I'll have access to a few soon.
Still going fairly slowly in FFXIII. Just got to Chapter 9, and realized that it's a farming spot. Farming for Premium Chips and Credit Chips to sell for Gil. Farming CP to level up the Crystarium System. The nice thing about it is that it features leaked experience, so Vanille and Sazh are gaining CP even through they're not in the party. Snow is with the party, but he's currently not usable. Justified, since he's still injured from a (should have been fatal) fall. At the rate I'm going, I'll be finished just in time for the start of school again. I normally can finish an RPG in about a week, so I'm already running behind. Not at 100% completion, but just the main story.
A little something I noticed... It seems to feel less like FF and more like SaGa in terms of difficulty and progression. There's a lot of micro-management involved, including trying to sync up attacks. In SaGa, it would turn into some sort of combination attack. Here, it's used to ensure that the Chain Break gauge doesn't fall too quickly. You also have to think a little faster with the Optima Change system in place. Like LasuRemu's targeting and random variables, but in real-time. LasuRemu is essentially a renamed SaGa. FFXIII could very well be a SaGa-FF hybrid. Maybe that's why I'm starting to warm up to it a lot more lately.
Also, it's more of a NTS, but try not to fiddle around with the GPU's settings too much. I liked getting 400+ fps on certain scenes, ~170fps while moving on the field with no stuttering and 25~80fps in battle. The game purposely slows down during Critical Offense/Defense segments. But hey, at least I managed to record some rather hilarious clips of my GPU acting like it's bugged! Actually, why am I so amused by that anyways? It could have been an indicator that there's something wrong with my computer. It's not like dad can help since he doesn't deal with the crazier/high-end/gaming video cards. I also feel really tempted to boot up the "main" computer to check its specs.
Planned out the rest of the game, so hopefully it'll go a little smoother. Kicked out a few soldiers to make room for the more important ones later on. After Numor Mine, I'll have access to 12 active battle units and 4 unions. I'll still be spreading out my units since stacking them right now isn't such a bright idea. After the Nest of Eagles, I should have 15 on the field, so I guess I can start training up using Wisdom's Echo. Unfortunately, some of the units I want to use aren't available until after Wyrmskeep or a certain BR. They also haven't gotten any of their accessories, so their HP and AP/Speed aren't inflated. It's actually kinda annoying. I actually don't get why people think that stacking unions is a good idea... You can only deadlock one union at a time, so if you're surrounded, you could very well end up screwing yourself over. Not exactly a pleasant thought in LasuRemu. Especially in the beginning when you have no way of reviving for a long time.
Also, that little vertical bar beside the union's HP/AP bars? Apparently that's known as the Union TENSION Gauge, not the Union Morale Gauge. If it's high, they're tense/"hyped up" as Rush would say. If it's low, then they're sleeping/daydreaming on the job? Would probably explain why those soldiers are pretty bad at hitting stuff when the Union Tension is low. Actually, they just suck in general. Except for that qsiti, Mithidia. He's pretty cool, what with smacking his enemies with Spark III so early in the game. But you know, I need Hex users. BADLY. Good thing I'll have access to a few soon.
Still going fairly slowly in FFXIII. Just got to Chapter 9, and realized that it's a farming spot. Farming for Premium Chips and Credit Chips to sell for Gil. Farming CP to level up the Crystarium System. The nice thing about it is that it features leaked experience, so Vanille and Sazh are gaining CP even through they're not in the party. Snow is with the party, but he's currently not usable. Justified, since he's still injured from a (should have been fatal) fall. At the rate I'm going, I'll be finished just in time for the start of school again. I normally can finish an RPG in about a week, so I'm already running behind. Not at 100% completion, but just the main story.
A little something I noticed... It seems to feel less like FF and more like SaGa in terms of difficulty and progression. There's a lot of micro-management involved, including trying to sync up attacks. In SaGa, it would turn into some sort of combination attack. Here, it's used to ensure that the Chain Break gauge doesn't fall too quickly. You also have to think a little faster with the Optima Change system in place. Like LasuRemu's targeting and random variables, but in real-time. LasuRemu is essentially a renamed SaGa. FFXIII could very well be a SaGa-FF hybrid. Maybe that's why I'm starting to warm up to it a lot more lately.
Also, it's more of a NTS, but try not to fiddle around with the GPU's settings too much. I liked getting 400+ fps on certain scenes, ~170fps while moving on the field with no stuttering and 25~80fps in battle. The game purposely slows down during Critical Offense/Defense segments. But hey, at least I managed to record some rather hilarious clips of my GPU acting like it's bugged! Actually, why am I so amused by that anyways? It could have been an indicator that there's something wrong with my computer. It's not like dad can help since he doesn't deal with the crazier/high-end/gaming video cards. I also feel really tempted to boot up the "main" computer to check its specs.
25 Dec 2009
Next playthrough is being recorded.
Huh, there are more changes to the PC version than I thought. I guess I can start editing the Last Remnant wiki now. As an example, Mayfield starts with a Spatha customization so I thought that he would continue upgrading along that line. For some reason, he ended up upgrading to a Bluesteel after I visited a town to give Rush a Superlative Bluesteel to learn Cerulean Rain and provide better defense. Didn't happen as I just simply went "It's going to take too long. I'll just use its stats." As another note, Rush can't use Katana-based arts if the Bluesteel is in his main hand slot. I think pretty much every LasuRemu player knows that. Just noting it down for my reference for future playthroughs.
Anyways, finished my 2nd run, but just barely. As many people will note: morale control is key. The most surprising thing was that he didn't bother trying to kill multiple unions at a time with Deep Impact. The Conqueror did manage to use Animalcule twice, and both times, it didn't kill off the party outright. In fact, it didn't land any effects on 2 unions once, and the 2nd time was completely dodged by a union that can hold its own in a deadlock. And again, Rush was a main attack force with Swift Spring Squall V. At least he wasn't blocked or dodged when he was able to use it. There was some scrambling to get the unions back on their feet when I was left with only 1 union. None of the downed unions were near him, so breaking Deadlock was the only way to go and the only option I had unless I wanted to see the last one completely slaughtered. He was already in Savage mode when it happened, so the chances of seeing another dead union was much higher. I also basically cheesed him through abusing Cachexia V with Chamberland's union. I remember that specific one because he was the first to learn Cachexia, and the only one to reach level V with it. The damage didn't matter at all; it was the Clear AP effect that mattered.
And how much money did I get from New Game+ anyways?! Let's see... Before fighting The Conqueror: 1 357 992. New Game funds...: 92 142 067. Er... what? That's way more money than I need... EVER. It's the materials that are more important, although it's not necessary this playthrough. All soldiers means that Rush isn't going to see much of a fight unless forced. So... after Blackdale. I think that's where I'm headed next. Already got into an unnecessary fight at the beginning of the game, while wandering around the Gaslin Caves. Shouldn't have freaked out when that monster popped up from the ground. Oh well. Not like a fight there is going to affect my BR much anyways. Not going to care too much about my BR this time around, so let's see what happens, hm? Oh, and taking notes on the soldiers' weapon progression for the wiki!
FFXIII progress? Still very linear, but that's OK. I haven't gotten lost, so it's all good for me. Hope's got a lot of problems. Vanille is a little too happy for my liking. Fang is cool. Same with Lightning. Snow still needs a good punch to the head. Maybe several more. Sazh isn't that old, but he's actually surprisingly easy to relate to. Love the battle system. Libra/Scan is quite a life-saver, but you can't really use it that often since it's linked to the TP system. It refills gradually after several battles. There are other abilities that are linked to the TP system, and guess what? It also limits how many times you can summon. You can only control one character (Leader) in battle, and you can't switch. Perfectly fine with me because FFXII's way of doing it was a bit of a mess. The Crystarium system is like the Sphere Grid, but much more limiting. The game tells you how much you can upgrade by setting the Crystarium Level for that chapter. I like the Optima Change system quite a bit. It's possible to somewhat abuse it too. Sometimes when you Optima Change, the ATB bar refills instantly for all party members. Sometimes, not all the time. I don't know what the conditions are, but it's very helpful for the Healers to start throwing Cures in your direction. Best to do it when the HP starts getting into the YELLOW range. Once it's red, it's probably a better idea to spam Potions. It'll connect faster since the spells have to travel in order to activate. Another thing I like? BUFFS AND DEBUFFS ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING. Yes, that has to be in caps because you're going to need them. Enhancers and Jammers. Starting a battle with either of them makes it somewhat easier.
The boss battles are actually hard. There's a timing aspect in some of the battles too... The first one when in Lake Bilge created a few problems because there weren't that many Optimas to deal with. You need a Healer for almost all battles for the beginning, at least until everyone's leveled up a little bit to blast through the battles quickly. The Chain Break part of the game isn't that easily exploited, but it's something to aim for. The one boss that gives most people problems that doesn't involve a timer on your head? That bulb-like monster in Chapter 4. Keeping Lightning in the ATK role and having buffs casted in the first critical seconds in the battle were key. Then using Libra to figure out its weaknesses. Why? Because it changes its weakness every so often. It's annoying, but you practically have to leave it up to the AI to target that while you try to keep the Chain going with normal attacks or Ruin. The ATK also keeps the Chain gauge from falling too quickly. Helpful, to say the least. Oh, and timing? Knocking them up in the air, then synching attacks to KEEP it in the air. It stops the enemy from fighting back while you pound it with attacks. I summoned Odin into the battle, but it didn't help too much because it also stopped me from having Hope recast buffs. Basically, it was 2.5 minutes of trying to Break the boss while staying alive and Optima Changing every few seconds to maximize damage and healing.
Anyways, finished my 2nd run, but just barely. As many people will note: morale control is key. The most surprising thing was that he didn't bother trying to kill multiple unions at a time with Deep Impact. The Conqueror did manage to use Animalcule twice, and both times, it didn't kill off the party outright. In fact, it didn't land any effects on 2 unions once, and the 2nd time was completely dodged by a union that can hold its own in a deadlock. And again, Rush was a main attack force with Swift Spring Squall V. At least he wasn't blocked or dodged when he was able to use it. There was some scrambling to get the unions back on their feet when I was left with only 1 union. None of the downed unions were near him, so breaking Deadlock was the only way to go and the only option I had unless I wanted to see the last one completely slaughtered. He was already in Savage mode when it happened, so the chances of seeing another dead union was much higher. I also basically cheesed him through abusing Cachexia V with Chamberland's union. I remember that specific one because he was the first to learn Cachexia, and the only one to reach level V with it. The damage didn't matter at all; it was the Clear AP effect that mattered.
And how much money did I get from New Game+ anyways?! Let's see... Before fighting The Conqueror: 1 357 992. New Game funds...: 92 142 067. Er... what? That's way more money than I need... EVER. It's the materials that are more important, although it's not necessary this playthrough. All soldiers means that Rush isn't going to see much of a fight unless forced. So... after Blackdale. I think that's where I'm headed next. Already got into an unnecessary fight at the beginning of the game, while wandering around the Gaslin Caves. Shouldn't have freaked out when that monster popped up from the ground. Oh well. Not like a fight there is going to affect my BR much anyways. Not going to care too much about my BR this time around, so let's see what happens, hm? Oh, and taking notes on the soldiers' weapon progression for the wiki!
FFXIII progress? Still very linear, but that's OK. I haven't gotten lost, so it's all good for me. Hope's got a lot of problems. Vanille is a little too happy for my liking. Fang is cool. Same with Lightning. Snow still needs a good punch to the head. Maybe several more. Sazh isn't that old, but he's actually surprisingly easy to relate to. Love the battle system. Libra/Scan is quite a life-saver, but you can't really use it that often since it's linked to the TP system. It refills gradually after several battles. There are other abilities that are linked to the TP system, and guess what? It also limits how many times you can summon. You can only control one character (Leader) in battle, and you can't switch. Perfectly fine with me because FFXII's way of doing it was a bit of a mess. The Crystarium system is like the Sphere Grid, but much more limiting. The game tells you how much you can upgrade by setting the Crystarium Level for that chapter. I like the Optima Change system quite a bit. It's possible to somewhat abuse it too. Sometimes when you Optima Change, the ATB bar refills instantly for all party members. Sometimes, not all the time. I don't know what the conditions are, but it's very helpful for the Healers to start throwing Cures in your direction. Best to do it when the HP starts getting into the YELLOW range. Once it's red, it's probably a better idea to spam Potions. It'll connect faster since the spells have to travel in order to activate. Another thing I like? BUFFS AND DEBUFFS ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING. Yes, that has to be in caps because you're going to need them. Enhancers and Jammers. Starting a battle with either of them makes it somewhat easier.
The boss battles are actually hard. There's a timing aspect in some of the battles too... The first one when in Lake Bilge created a few problems because there weren't that many Optimas to deal with. You need a Healer for almost all battles for the beginning, at least until everyone's leveled up a little bit to blast through the battles quickly. The Chain Break part of the game isn't that easily exploited, but it's something to aim for. The one boss that gives most people problems that doesn't involve a timer on your head? That bulb-like monster in Chapter 4. Keeping Lightning in the ATK role and having buffs casted in the first critical seconds in the battle were key. Then using Libra to figure out its weaknesses. Why? Because it changes its weakness every so often. It's annoying, but you practically have to leave it up to the AI to target that while you try to keep the Chain going with normal attacks or Ruin. The ATK also keeps the Chain gauge from falling too quickly. Helpful, to say the least. Oh, and timing? Knocking them up in the air, then synching attacks to KEEP it in the air. It stops the enemy from fighting back while you pound it with attacks. I summoned Odin into the battle, but it didn't help too much because it also stopped me from having Hope recast buffs. Basically, it was 2.5 minutes of trying to Break the boss while staying alive and Optima Changing every few seconds to maximize damage and healing.
23 Dec 2009
Ninja and Blaze Edge.
Yay, Legendary Ninja achieved! Along with several Swift level 5 arts. Pretty much end-game now. Going through The Ancient Ruins because I forgot about it in my first run. It's actually somewhat difficult with a Rush+soldier party. Mostly relying on Rush to deal damage with Swift Spring Squall V with one other unit doing Dispirit V/Bewitch V to lower enemy morale enough for the other units to make up for the lack of uniques.
While fiddling around with the trainer, I managed to change David's in-game model. Well, in battle model. I like his eyepatch, so I swapped his usual one with the one you see at the beginning of the game. Well, there are other things that I can say, but I'll just leave it at that. Don't think I'll be fiddling around with any more models. I could always sub in Emma for Emmy since I kinda miss her hat... Eh... whatever.
And I'm not sure if I can take on the final boss right now. It's "The True Conqueror" Rank 8. In other words, I'm screwed unless I can get some status control to deal with all about 2M HP. If it were Disgaea, 2M HP would be no problem whatsoever. Oh, and get another attack union. Currently, I have one attack union, one for morale control, one dummy union (3 units, no healing...) and I have no idea what the other 2 are for. They're kinda all purpose, like Rush's union, but not as effective. None of them can lower enemy morale, and no soldiers learn Wards, so no "Band of Champions" or "Cheer" for more morale control. The only problem about morale is that if it gets too high, he'll use Crimson Flare III to knock it back down while slaughtering as many units as possible. I think I spent at least 20 out of 40 turns just running around healing everyone while keeping him distracted with various dummy unions. Pretty everyone becomes a dummy union based on status, union speed and positioning. Breaking deadlock is sometimes beneficial if they're at full health. And maybe if they had more than 7000HP. I should get a few soldiers with Lotion arts. There shouldn't be any crossover for item consumption between the other Item arts, so it should be safe. Also, why are there no soldiers who can learn Shards? It seems a little unbalanced here. Not to mention that none of them can dual wield. But yeah, I need some serious status control.
Started some FFXIII, but didn't get very far. Eh, whatever. Not like I'm going to finish it in less than a week anyways. Very pretty, had a few close calls in battle and Lightning can punch out Snow. Kinda funny listening to him after playing Sigma Harmonics (Kurogami Sigma) and Last Remnant (Lord David).
Also
Build 4699. Try to find this specific build of the Dolphin emulator. Tales of Graces is extremely tempting. Not too keen on modding my Wii either.
While fiddling around with the trainer, I managed to change David's in-game model. Well, in battle model. I like his eyepatch, so I swapped his usual one with the one you see at the beginning of the game. Well, there are other things that I can say, but I'll just leave it at that. Don't think I'll be fiddling around with any more models. I could always sub in Emma for Emmy since I kinda miss her hat... Eh... whatever.
And I'm not sure if I can take on the final boss right now. It's "The True Conqueror" Rank 8. In other words, I'm screwed unless I can get some status control to deal with all about 2M HP. If it were Disgaea, 2M HP would be no problem whatsoever. Oh, and get another attack union. Currently, I have one attack union, one for morale control, one dummy union (3 units, no healing...) and I have no idea what the other 2 are for. They're kinda all purpose, like Rush's union, but not as effective. None of them can lower enemy morale, and no soldiers learn Wards, so no "Band of Champions" or "Cheer" for more morale control. The only problem about morale is that if it gets too high, he'll use Crimson Flare III to knock it back down while slaughtering as many units as possible. I think I spent at least 20 out of 40 turns just running around healing everyone while keeping him distracted with various dummy unions. Pretty everyone becomes a dummy union based on status, union speed and positioning. Breaking deadlock is sometimes beneficial if they're at full health. And maybe if they had more than 7000HP. I should get a few soldiers with Lotion arts. There shouldn't be any crossover for item consumption between the other Item arts, so it should be safe. Also, why are there no soldiers who can learn Shards? It seems a little unbalanced here. Not to mention that none of them can dual wield. But yeah, I need some serious status control.
Started some FFXIII, but didn't get very far. Eh, whatever. Not like I'm going to finish it in less than a week anyways. Very pretty, had a few close calls in battle and Lightning can punch out Snow. Kinda funny listening to him after playing Sigma Harmonics (Kurogami Sigma) and Last Remnant (Lord David).
Also
Build 4699. Try to find this specific build of the Dolphin emulator. Tales of Graces is extremely tempting. Not too keen on modding my Wii either.
17 Dec 2009
Moving along, moving along...
Woo, got Duke Ghor's quest to trigger! Finally did "Kate and Rhagoh," Jager's and Nora's are ready and I can do the "Hearts" quest now that the Darken Forest events are over. Guess it's also time to mop up The Fallen too, since that one locks after going to Undelwalt. I wonder if the entire army's strong enough to tackle everything at this point? Pretty sure that I'm going to need to start upgrading their equipment again. At least I still have Sheryl's quest open for smacking around Bai Ze. Going to level Nimble->Swift and Mighty->Peerless for them.
Turns out that some of my reserve units really have hit their stat caps. Their HP and AP looked inflated because of the accessories they had equipped, and that some of them had participated in a few fights earlier in the game. Pagus and Blocter were used for the mandatory fights while introducing the game's mechanics (not really...). Blocter jumped into the 3 fights during "The Standoff," which allowed for an extra union that normally wouldn't be available for control. Emmy hopped in for her quest, "The Fated One," and gained a point of Speed there.
The real highlight from this though? Other than finishing the Base Fights without too much of a problem. And accidentally Raidlocking Ludope so that I get clobbered with Galaxy (NTS: don't engage his union first turn). Rush FINALLY hit the Ninja class. So now I can "Rear Assault" unions like crazy! Cue jokes about rear assaul(ry. Would be even funnier if I did that with a candle, crossbow, or other sharp and pointy formation. It'll definitely come in handy for the larger enemies that can multi-deadlock. Prevents a direct encounter, but I also need to turn off some arts to make sure that Rush uses the rights ones, like Nimble Spring Squall III (at the moment). Should probably start planning the next playthrough (EN voices) and the one after (JP voices). Using purely soldiers means that I might have to forget about going low BR and abuse Wisdom's Echo and Bai Ze like no tomorrow. Definitely want to have Rush as a Ninja, and planning to have David as my Assassin. I'm dead serious about a marquis being an assassin. It also means that I should save up a ton of money for that. Dave's going to be using lots and lots of Shards. Oh, and recording the cutscenes in both languages. Found the LR commu on LJ, so maybe I can share that there. Better start giving that video card a work out!
Oh. Can't forget this little thing... I might end up with a physical copy of the game at some point in the near future. Can't really say how excited I am about it since I want the JP version but the shipping killed on all versions.
Turns out that some of my reserve units really have hit their stat caps. Their HP and AP looked inflated because of the accessories they had equipped, and that some of them had participated in a few fights earlier in the game. Pagus and Blocter were used for the mandatory fights while introducing the game's mechanics (not really...). Blocter jumped into the 3 fights during "The Standoff," which allowed for an extra union that normally wouldn't be available for control. Emmy hopped in for her quest, "The Fated One," and gained a point of Speed there.
The real highlight from this though? Other than finishing the Base Fights without too much of a problem. And accidentally Raidlocking Ludope so that I get clobbered with Galaxy (NTS: don't engage his union first turn). Rush FINALLY hit the Ninja class. So now I can "Rear Assault" unions like crazy! Cue jokes about rear assaul(ry. Would be even funnier if I did that with a candle, crossbow, or other sharp and pointy formation. It'll definitely come in handy for the larger enemies that can multi-deadlock. Prevents a direct encounter, but I also need to turn off some arts to make sure that Rush uses the rights ones, like Nimble Spring Squall III (at the moment). Should probably start planning the next playthrough (EN voices) and the one after (JP voices). Using purely soldiers means that I might have to forget about going low BR and abuse Wisdom's Echo and Bai Ze like no tomorrow. Definitely want to have Rush as a Ninja, and planning to have David as my Assassin. I'm dead serious about a marquis being an assassin. It also means that I should save up a ton of money for that. Dave's going to be using lots and lots of Shards. Oh, and recording the cutscenes in both languages. Found the LR commu on LJ, so maybe I can share that there. Better start giving that video card a work out!
Oh. Can't forget this little thing... I might end up with a physical copy of the game at some point in the near future. Can't really say how excited I am about it since I want the JP version but the shipping killed on all versions.
16 Dec 2009
Base fight time!
... DX
That was my basic expression when fighting those "DLC" monsters. Holy hell that was insane. Took me 38 turns to kill off everything. Using only soldiers there was just crazy. No unique arts to pull off from time to time. Limited to Weapon/Wield and Mystic Arts, while trying to spark more Item Arts for more efficient healing, and Weapon/Wield Arts at the same time to hopefully get a sudden advantage with criticals. And it was nice way to really see how big of a role Morale plays in the game. And that role is HUGE. Having morale in the red for the majority of the fight against that Remnant monster was not good. It's a good thing Rush and I were on the same page with the reinforcements after they came. "D< I've had about enough of this. LET'S WIPE 'EM OUT!" Lo and behold, Blackout popped up. Well, so did Whiteout, but that union is SLOW. Also doesn't help that Rush had 60 Speed to work with. I really think it came down to luck because I tried replicating the fight, but kept getting wiped out whenever Ala Melvilana Fusion decided that it was a good idea to use Run Amok III (sometimes even twice) then Hurricane III right afterwords. Stacking my unions didn't really help either. In fact, it made everything worse. Anyways, the next encounter's going to be tons of fun. Well, next playthrough, which I plan to start this week. Got a rather large number of equip drops from the fight, which is nice. I let the soldiers take what they wanted because the art modifiers were Power based (Mighty/Peerless). Weird thing is, the guy that took the Ancient Tataraichi doesn't have an Items Wanted list anymore. Great, it means that I don't have to look for materials to upgrade the weapon. The guy that took the Auld Highbrand though? Deacon is really dumb. Well, maybe more like the programming is really dumb. He's requesting materials for the Damascene Claymore, which isn't part of his upgrade path according to the LasuRemu wiki. Maybe it's a translation error? Info carried over from the 360 version, since the wiki's based on the PC version? So the Extra Missions that you can undertake are just plain insane. The amount of trouble I had against the Jhana Royals mission far exceeded the insanity of the Fourth Base from my first run. I realize that they're there for a challenge, but seriously? Now I really wonder about the Absolute Conqueror. I've already started triggering the rest of the quests that require talking to certain people a set number of times before they start moving. Jager, Loki, Nora and Rhagoh's quests are still up in the air because I forgot about recruiting them fairly early in the game, and the fact that I didn't have enough money after customizing some equips to ensure surviving the early game onslaught at a low BR. There's also Glenys' final quest, which doesn't open up until I reach Undelwalt and after the fight in the Holy Plain. I should be able to get Duke Ghor's quest and trigger a few red bubbles since I'm talking to EVERYONE after each Base fight. Also, it looks like some of the uniques have hit their stat caps. Not surprising considering how much time I spent grinding while looking for materials. I really only noticed that their stats weren't going up when I checked up on Rush's stats. Rush kept getting faster and stronger, but when I took a peek at the Athlum main force, not so much. HP and AP are improving, but at a very slow rate. Main stats and their unique parameters seem to have hit the cap, which is slightly higher than the 360 caps. They can exceed them once I start using them in battle, but that's not the point of this playthrough. Seriously, comparing Rush and David? Their stats, according to the JP360 wiki, are comparable. Dave is slightly faster, a bit sturdier and had better AP gain, but Rush beats him in maxAP and versatility (STR and INT when looking at the PC version). Both are balanced, unlike the other Generals who are more specialized. Even EMMY has higher strength than the boys at 100. Oh, interesting thing. The game's on sale for about $10USD on Steam right now. Jump Festa's in a few days. The SaGa team's currently free because they finished up with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Production Studio 2, IIRC). So... New SaGa game? Sequel to LasuRemu?! One can hope/dream. There better be a PC version... I like fiddling around with settings after my initial playthrough. And I love SaGa right now.
That was my basic expression when fighting those "DLC" monsters. Holy hell that was insane. Took me 38 turns to kill off everything. Using only soldiers there was just crazy. No unique arts to pull off from time to time. Limited to Weapon/Wield and Mystic Arts, while trying to spark more Item Arts for more efficient healing, and Weapon/Wield Arts at the same time to hopefully get a sudden advantage with criticals. And it was nice way to really see how big of a role Morale plays in the game. And that role is HUGE. Having morale in the red for the majority of the fight against that Remnant monster was not good. It's a good thing Rush and I were on the same page with the reinforcements after they came. "D< I've had about enough of this. LET'S WIPE 'EM OUT!" Lo and behold, Blackout popped up. Well, so did Whiteout, but that union is SLOW. Also doesn't help that Rush had 60 Speed to work with. I really think it came down to luck because I tried replicating the fight, but kept getting wiped out whenever Ala Melvilana Fusion decided that it was a good idea to use Run Amok III (sometimes even twice) then Hurricane III right afterwords. Stacking my unions didn't really help either. In fact, it made everything worse. Anyways, the next encounter's going to be tons of fun. Well, next playthrough, which I plan to start this week. Got a rather large number of equip drops from the fight, which is nice. I let the soldiers take what they wanted because the art modifiers were Power based (Mighty/Peerless). Weird thing is, the guy that took the Ancient Tataraichi doesn't have an Items Wanted list anymore. Great, it means that I don't have to look for materials to upgrade the weapon. The guy that took the Auld Highbrand though? Deacon is really dumb. Well, maybe more like the programming is really dumb. He's requesting materials for the Damascene Claymore, which isn't part of his upgrade path according to the LasuRemu wiki. Maybe it's a translation error? Info carried over from the 360 version, since the wiki's based on the PC version? So the Extra Missions that you can undertake are just plain insane. The amount of trouble I had against the Jhana Royals mission far exceeded the insanity of the Fourth Base from my first run. I realize that they're there for a challenge, but seriously? Now I really wonder about the Absolute Conqueror. I've already started triggering the rest of the quests that require talking to certain people a set number of times before they start moving. Jager, Loki, Nora and Rhagoh's quests are still up in the air because I forgot about recruiting them fairly early in the game, and the fact that I didn't have enough money after customizing some equips to ensure surviving the early game onslaught at a low BR. There's also Glenys' final quest, which doesn't open up until I reach Undelwalt and after the fight in the Holy Plain. I should be able to get Duke Ghor's quest and trigger a few red bubbles since I'm talking to EVERYONE after each Base fight. Also, it looks like some of the uniques have hit their stat caps. Not surprising considering how much time I spent grinding while looking for materials. I really only noticed that their stats weren't going up when I checked up on Rush's stats. Rush kept getting faster and stronger, but when I took a peek at the Athlum main force, not so much. HP and AP are improving, but at a very slow rate. Main stats and their unique parameters seem to have hit the cap, which is slightly higher than the 360 caps. They can exceed them once I start using them in battle, but that's not the point of this playthrough. Seriously, comparing Rush and David? Their stats, according to the JP360 wiki, are comparable. Dave is slightly faster, a bit sturdier and had better AP gain, but Rush beats him in maxAP and versatility (STR and INT when looking at the PC version). Both are balanced, unlike the other Generals who are more specialized. Even EMMY has higher strength than the boys at 100. Oh, interesting thing. The game's on sale for about $10USD on Steam right now. Jump Festa's in a few days. The SaGa team's currently free because they finished up with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Production Studio 2, IIRC). So... New SaGa game? Sequel to LasuRemu?! One can hope/dream. There better be a PC version... I like fiddling around with settings after my initial playthrough. And I love SaGa right now.
14 Dec 2009
I hate people.
I seriously don't understand the problem here. What is there to get? Bayo's a female protagonist. You're a guy. I would've thought that you would PREFER to play as a girl because it's eye candy. And why do boards get into such an uproar whenever there's a main female lead? WolfeyesVIII made a mention of FFXIII's unveiling, but I don't remember any of the backdraft. I just remember excitement from the announcement. I can understand some people being a little upset about Dissidia's cast (Tina, CoD, Ultimecia and Shantotto) though. Both sexes end up over-sexualized in all sorts of media, yet there's only outcry if it's the female. Very rarely the males. And about connecting to the characters? If you want to connect to them, fine. I have no problem connecting to a character whether they're human or not, male or female, or a robot. It just doesn't matter as long as said character was interesting.
Take Bayo, since that's one of the newer games. At first, in 2007, I just didn't care. OK, a gun on foot (heels = 99% sure it's a girl). Woo. 2008. Really didn't keep up with the news, no developer blog to really read. E3 '09. Still didn't really care that much until seeing gameplay. Loved how the game flowed. Didn't care that main was female. Oct 29th. Started playing the game. Yep, just like a female Dante, only with a bigger mouth. Did I connect with her immediately? Nope. It took until about Chapter 14 to understand her, why she does what she does. Started connecting there and appreciating the effort to create her and her world. Have to admit though, I still prefer Antonio Redgrave, even though he's dead, because of his journal entries. Maybe it's just my geeky tendencies taking over. OK, not really. I'm usually like this. What if Bayo was male? I really don't think it would have changed how I felt about the game. Why? Because it's damn fun to play. The narrative and interesting characters were an extra to give the game some more depth. For games like Bayonetta, it's all about the gameplay. But I guess some people have problems with a witch going around sending angels into iron maidens or cutting them in half with a massive chainsaw. If the character fits, there's no reason to get upset about it. It's a design choice. If you don't like it, just try to ignore it. Don't go online (or to your friends) complaining about how the main is a girl. Complaining about game mechanics is perfectly fine though. I have a complaint of my own: she's too floaty. There's others, but that's a moot point.
Taking a look at Demon's Souls. I created a female avatar. Why? Because I'm a girl. I could have easily created a male avatar if I wished to do so. In fact, I was going to start a new file with a male character (if I hadn't lent it out to someone) after finishing my original scenario. There's no difference between the 2 sexes other than some gender-specific equipment. Just like how Last Remnant has some RACE-specific equipment. You don't see people screaming racism against LasuRemu, now do you? ... I'm actually kinda upset that I can't make a guy run around in a dress though.
P3P? Didn't really feel anything when they announced that there was an option to play as a female. Actually, that's a lie. I felt "yay, we have a choice!" Then, "wait, that means that the girl's ending is non-canon." But yeah, I happen to like the choice. SenBASA is another one. I like playing as Kojuurou and Matsu.
tl;dr I hate people. People are stupid. And why didn't I go into game journalism?! Other than the fact that I hate writing most of the time.
Take Bayo, since that's one of the newer games. At first, in 2007, I just didn't care. OK, a gun on foot (heels = 99% sure it's a girl). Woo. 2008. Really didn't keep up with the news, no developer blog to really read. E3 '09. Still didn't really care that much until seeing gameplay. Loved how the game flowed. Didn't care that main was female. Oct 29th. Started playing the game. Yep, just like a female Dante, only with a bigger mouth. Did I connect with her immediately? Nope. It took until about Chapter 14 to understand her, why she does what she does. Started connecting there and appreciating the effort to create her and her world. Have to admit though, I still prefer Antonio Redgrave, even though he's dead, because of his journal entries. Maybe it's just my geeky tendencies taking over. OK, not really. I'm usually like this. What if Bayo was male? I really don't think it would have changed how I felt about the game. Why? Because it's damn fun to play. The narrative and interesting characters were an extra to give the game some more depth. For games like Bayonetta, it's all about the gameplay. But I guess some people have problems with a witch going around sending angels into iron maidens or cutting them in half with a massive chainsaw. If the character fits, there's no reason to get upset about it. It's a design choice. If you don't like it, just try to ignore it. Don't go online (or to your friends) complaining about how the main is a girl. Complaining about game mechanics is perfectly fine though. I have a complaint of my own: she's too floaty. There's others, but that's a moot point.
Taking a look at Demon's Souls. I created a female avatar. Why? Because I'm a girl. I could have easily created a male avatar if I wished to do so. In fact, I was going to start a new file with a male character (if I hadn't lent it out to someone) after finishing my original scenario. There's no difference between the 2 sexes other than some gender-specific equipment. Just like how Last Remnant has some RACE-specific equipment. You don't see people screaming racism against LasuRemu, now do you? ... I'm actually kinda upset that I can't make a guy run around in a dress though.
P3P? Didn't really feel anything when they announced that there was an option to play as a female. Actually, that's a lie. I felt "yay, we have a choice!" Then, "wait, that means that the girl's ending is non-canon." But yeah, I happen to like the choice. SenBASA is another one. I like playing as Kojuurou and Matsu.
tl;dr I hate people. People are stupid. And why didn't I go into game journalism?! Other than the fact that I hate writing most of the time.
Got the voices!
Poked at the demo again. Yep, you can finish it without fighting a single thing. Just run through the Ivory Peaks to Elysion. There are a few quests to undertake: Baulson, The Dreaming Rose, Athlum's Witch, Bravery and Loyalty. Mr. Diggs and A Day's Beginning have already been completed since those are mandatory. It's just really a primer to check out customization (Combat Broadsword +1 to Warrior's Broadsword +1, just how much stuff did he whack?!), combat and exploring dungeons/areas. Maybe even engage a few rares? The fact that you start at BR11 was slightly surprising to me after running through the full game (didn't pay that much attention when I first played the demo). I got there and I was barely BR2 or BR3. Maybe it's the recommended BR? When engaging in a battle, the morale bar is pretty much in the middle, so I guess it's the recommended BR...?
So, I've moved onto the 2nd half of the game. Don't think I'll be grinding anymore in the Wisdom's Echo sidequest anymore. It's just not viable at my current character BR, and I think there's a diminishing return for doing the quest too much too early. Next playthrough, which is going to be PURE soldiers (and recorded in English), I'm going to have to keep that in mind. The 4th run is going to be on Hard, or Ransatsu, mode with my favourite units (recorded in Japanese, and keeping BR stuck at 1 to keep morale at a disadvantage). So... TIME TO GRIND AGAINST DRAGONS! Namely, Bai Ze, who can be respawned through a certain quest regarding this one rather "interesting" character. Sheryl.
Dave still really deserves a hug after the game's events. And not the type that would crush him, a la Blocter. I really wonder how he can hold it together like that... Four to five years of being a Marquis, a bunch of different events, the stuff I posted in an earlier entry... Square-Enix, make a sequel for this? And try not to screw it up. This SaGa game deserves more than that. I also find myself shipping Rush/David. A LOT. It's kinda obvious, although I think the majority of the fandom ships David/Rush. ... I sometimes hate being stuck in the minority. Not much fanart for the pairings I like. I also really feel like sticking glasses onto David and pretend that he's Sigma. Both are voiced by Ono Daisuke, are pretty cute, and happen to experience a lot of death, so... Also voicing Snow, much to my surprise. Which reminds me, I'll probably be getting FFXIII in the mail this week! Joy!
Oh, and I managed to extract the voice clips from the game files. Problem is... most of them get cut off prematurely. If I could extract them as a single package without the offsets, maybe... After exams, maybe I'll also label them properly?
So, I've moved onto the 2nd half of the game. Don't think I'll be grinding anymore in the Wisdom's Echo sidequest anymore. It's just not viable at my current character BR, and I think there's a diminishing return for doing the quest too much too early. Next playthrough, which is going to be PURE soldiers (and recorded in English), I'm going to have to keep that in mind. The 4th run is going to be on Hard, or Ransatsu, mode with my favourite units (recorded in Japanese, and keeping BR stuck at 1 to keep morale at a disadvantage). So... TIME TO GRIND AGAINST DRAGONS! Namely, Bai Ze, who can be respawned through a certain quest regarding this one rather "interesting" character. Sheryl.
Dave still really deserves a hug after the game's events. And not the type that would crush him, a la Blocter. I really wonder how he can hold it together like that... Four to five years of being a Marquis, a bunch of different events, the stuff I posted in an earlier entry... Square-Enix, make a sequel for this? And try not to screw it up. This SaGa game deserves more than that. I also find myself shipping Rush/David. A LOT. It's kinda obvious, although I think the majority of the fandom ships David/Rush. ... I sometimes hate being stuck in the minority. Not much fanart for the pairings I like. I also really feel like sticking glasses onto David and pretend that he's Sigma. Both are voiced by Ono Daisuke, are pretty cute, and happen to experience a lot of death, so... Also voicing Snow, much to my surprise. Which reminds me, I'll probably be getting FFXIII in the mail this week! Joy!
Oh, and I managed to extract the voice clips from the game files. Problem is... most of them get cut off prematurely. If I could extract them as a single package without the offsets, maybe... After exams, maybe I'll also label them properly?
10 Dec 2009
Hm. No tiers.
Still surprised that I haven't seen a tier list for Last Remnant. While it'd be impractical to create one for all characters (there's what, 400 of them?), it'd be fairly easy for the unique leaders. Of course, there's also the catch dealing with their upgrade paths (balance, combat, mystic). And as with creating tier lists akin to the FE tiers, join time, base stats, stat growth, abilities and class availability can influence their placement. I don't think it's easy to place Rush because he's so flexible, even though you can't start training Shards until you reach Nagapur.
I can see David not placing all that high... He may start with Invocations (Black Out) and Herbs, learns Remedies (slightly redundant, Rejuvenating Waters) and Shards (Moonlight and damage, but expensive), but that One-handed+shield combo seriously hampers him. But hey, at least he's not stupid this time around with the Frostblade, and can learn Cerulean Rain. It seems like a good reflection of his character though: trying too hard to do everything at once. Keeping him in a union would be a good idea since he has Ex Machina as a Unique Art, meaning that he won't stop others from acting before shooting. One of the only other things he's got going for himself is above average HP when compared to other Mystic oriented (mitra?) units and pretty good Speed, giving his union a bit of mobility. Most other characters have a specific focus when you stare at their starting stats and skill sets. I mean, just look at Wyngale and Leucetius. They can become Warlocks because they can learn every Arcana in the game. They even START with Int>Str. Of course, this is a SaGa game. There ARE no concrete tiers because everything can eventually be steered in certain directions based directly on your actions in battle. It's just a matter of how quickly. Efficient leveling! It's like how someone tried to create a tier list for MinSaGa. It didn't work out because of all sorts of factors affecting outcomes and how everyone can be eventually tailored the same way. Or at least become game breakers if you have the patience to do that to every single playable character at ER22 (unless you're facing off against 10DS Saruin). Just a matter of working with their inherent traits and steering them towards something. Alfred with a D growth rate in Compassion? Not a problem! Just abuse Cosmology when you have the chance!
But yeah. I guess SaGa is Square's version of non-linear play. Too bad it's not one of the pillars for them, and that the West isn't particularly fond of the games either. I wonder how well SaGa2GoD sold... Probably not that well. Still haven't bothered progressing with my playthrough. Running around gathering materials for their upgrades, then ended up poking at the demo. You don't even need to fight a single battle to finish the demo at all. Just run through the Ivory Peaks to reach Elysion. That's it. Not many quests are available, Blackdale isn't on the map, and you can't open up new area either. It also kinda makes me feel like I don't fight enough battles. By the time I reached the Ivory Peaks, I wasn't anywhere near BR11. Probably also sparked a hell of a lot more arts than available.
I don't think I can upgrade their stuff any further at the moment. No access to Platinum Ores, amongst other materials.
I can see David not placing all that high... He may start with Invocations (Black Out) and Herbs, learns Remedies (slightly redundant, Rejuvenating Waters) and Shards (Moonlight and damage, but expensive), but that One-handed+shield combo seriously hampers him. But hey, at least he's not stupid this time around with the Frostblade, and can learn Cerulean Rain. It seems like a good reflection of his character though: trying too hard to do everything at once. Keeping him in a union would be a good idea since he has Ex Machina as a Unique Art, meaning that he won't stop others from acting before shooting. One of the only other things he's got going for himself is above average HP when compared to other Mystic oriented (mitra?) units and pretty good Speed, giving his union a bit of mobility. Most other characters have a specific focus when you stare at their starting stats and skill sets. I mean, just look at Wyngale and Leucetius. They can become Warlocks because they can learn every Arcana in the game. They even START with Int>Str. Of course, this is a SaGa game. There ARE no concrete tiers because everything can eventually be steered in certain directions based directly on your actions in battle. It's just a matter of how quickly. Efficient leveling! It's like how someone tried to create a tier list for MinSaGa. It didn't work out because of all sorts of factors affecting outcomes and how everyone can be eventually tailored the same way. Or at least become game breakers if you have the patience to do that to every single playable character at ER22 (unless you're facing off against 10DS Saruin). Just a matter of working with their inherent traits and steering them towards something. Alfred with a D growth rate in Compassion? Not a problem! Just abuse Cosmology when you have the chance!
But yeah. I guess SaGa is Square's version of non-linear play. Too bad it's not one of the pillars for them, and that the West isn't particularly fond of the games either. I wonder how well SaGa2GoD sold... Probably not that well. Still haven't bothered progressing with my playthrough. Running around gathering materials for their upgrades, then ended up poking at the demo. You don't even need to fight a single battle to finish the demo at all. Just run through the Ivory Peaks to reach Elysion. That's it. Not many quests are available, Blackdale isn't on the map, and you can't open up new area either. It also kinda makes me feel like I don't fight enough battles. By the time I reached the Ivory Peaks, I wasn't anywhere near BR11. Probably also sparked a hell of a lot more arts than available.
I don't think I can upgrade their stuff any further at the moment. No access to Platinum Ores, amongst other materials.
8 Dec 2009
... Battle voices? Anyone?
Heh... After looking at the Japanese TLR PC wiki, it's extremely apparent that it's a SaGa game. Just taking a look at the Remnants, there's at least five that are references to the previous SaGa equips. One of them was even upgraded from being a lowly sword to a "flying monster." That would be the Lob Omen. The Schiavona, my FAVOURITE LONGSWORD from Minstrel Song, has appeared as the Schiavona spear for either Jager or Rush to use. Of course, there's also the infamous Overdrive spell, Crimson Flare (which I never synthed), various arts and how about half the game is sidequests. It's really not as bad as Romancing SaGa, since you do have to go to specific locations for the story and that quest cutoffs are based on event flags instead of a hidden battle counter. In MinSaGa, you could just finish the game in about 2 hours if you knew exactly how to progress and not actually finish any quests along the way (pretty much every quest is optional as they only progress time). Oh, and the Ice Sword makes its infamous return. Why is it infamous? Because anyone who's played Romancing SaGa will remember that the best way to get it is to kill Galahad. Conversely, people only remember Galahad as the guy who starts with Grey and is killed for the Ice Sword because he's a jerk. Yeah, his defining characteristic is being killed for a sword that you give an Elemental Lord. Isn't it sad?
It's also somewhat surprising that I can't seem to find a wiki with all the battle lines. I guess it's not popular enough for that (like the rest of the SaGa series). I'm very tempted to compile them myself, but I wouldn't know how to translate a majority of the lines. I did notice that Rush is generally more playful in his tone in the JP version... "な～にやってんの" is one of the lines (I think it's the "Ugh, what are you doing?!" line). "やる気か？" is another, which I think is the equivalent to "You wanna play"? I guess it's because of how many lines there are for each situation. There are 48 uniques (7 of which are one character but different classes, and thus different base stats), lines for deadlocking, flanking, back attacks, healing, etc. There's just a lot of stuff to record and trigger. And some people will only say certain things if certain people are in their union. Some people even say something when they spark an art. Although, I can't really say that they're sparking anything since that little light bulb doesn't pop up. Just energy swirls. Pretty energy swirls, but still energy swirls. If it had popped up, it would have been a dead giveaway that it was SaGa. Still you're sparking arts in the middle of a battle. How many other games let you do that without cost?
Anyways, more about the game itself. What I don't understand is why all of the soldiers I've hire so far have "illegal" end-game upgrades. Seriously, it sucks. They're not even sensible upgrades either! Either way, I need to upgrade everyone's equips before heading off to "Disc 2," even though there is no Disc 2 for the PC version. Or at least as far as I can since some of the materials aren't available until the Seventh Path opens up. Also got Rush's Intelligence to over 100. Pretty much unintentionally because I was raising the soldiers' HP because of their sucky defense from the weapons. About 1/4 of them use katanas, which give THE lowest defense ratings.
... More later.
It's also somewhat surprising that I can't seem to find a wiki with all the battle lines. I guess it's not popular enough for that (like the rest of the SaGa series). I'm very tempted to compile them myself, but I wouldn't know how to translate a majority of the lines. I did notice that Rush is generally more playful in his tone in the JP version... "な～にやってんの" is one of the lines (I think it's the "Ugh, what are you doing?!" line). "やる気か？" is another, which I think is the equivalent to "You wanna play"? I guess it's because of how many lines there are for each situation. There are 48 uniques (7 of which are one character but different classes, and thus different base stats), lines for deadlocking, flanking, back attacks, healing, etc. There's just a lot of stuff to record and trigger. And some people will only say certain things if certain people are in their union. Some people even say something when they spark an art. Although, I can't really say that they're sparking anything since that little light bulb doesn't pop up. Just energy swirls. Pretty energy swirls, but still energy swirls. If it had popped up, it would have been a dead giveaway that it was SaGa. Still you're sparking arts in the middle of a battle. How many other games let you do that without cost?
Anyways, more about the game itself. What I don't understand is why all of the soldiers I've hire so far have "illegal" end-game upgrades. Seriously, it sucks. They're not even sensible upgrades either! Either way, I need to upgrade everyone's equips before heading off to "Disc 2," even though there is no Disc 2 for the PC version. Or at least as far as I can since some of the materials aren't available until the Seventh Path opens up. Also got Rush's Intelligence to over 100. Pretty much unintentionally because I was raising the soldiers' HP because of their sucky defense from the weapons. About 1/4 of them use katanas, which give THE lowest defense ratings.
... More later.
5 Dec 2009
It's exam time!
And I'm not studying just yet. ... I really want to finish the 2nd run first before getting to it. Besides, my first exam on the 10th doesn't actually require any studying whatsoever since it's open-book and the fact that most of the info required is given in the exam itself. It's more of an exercise to see how well you can connect the dots under a time limit.
Anyways, moving on.
As mentioned above, I've started my second run with what I touched upon in my previous post. Essentially, I'm emulating what would have happened if I were stuck with the 360 version's Leader limit (only 6 can be deployed, including Rush). The mercenaries aren't bad, seeing as how most people would end up hiring McGrady for his Remedies until Rush learns it/you get tired of using Herbs. They're just rather limiting because they don't learn new skill trees at certain BRs. And the fact that they're counted as "leaders." That's where the soldiers come in handy. They're free to hire and come in tiers depending on where you are in the story. So for me right now, I can hire up to Tier 6 because I haven't tripped the event flag for entering the Aqueducts yet.
As for the soldiers themselves... They're not that bad. Limited, but what can you do? They don't ask for better equipment and they only bother raising HP and AP with accessories, unlike the uniques who sometimes ask for the weirdest things (which I can't quite remember, but it involves David asking for something that he didn't need). I wouldn't mind giving them better equipment, seeing as how I'm not exactly fond of finding their materials. It also means that I have to be on the lookout for them while also taking apart some older equips. You can only get Imperium that way... It's also infuriating how even though you HAVE THE STUFF IN YOUR INVENTORY, that they don't just ask for it! It's not like I need Platinum Orex100 for an extended period of time.
Using only soldiers isn't too bad. Didn't end up scraping by the Nest of Eagles fight at all. I had an easier time, probably because I've kept my BR a little on the low side, spread out my units with certain formations and didn't stack my healers. Having at least one person in each union able to heal is a real life saver... The mobility of a stacked healing union needs to be really high if you don't want them to be raidlocked or intercepted along the way. A combination of Remedies, Herbs and Lotions is a good idea as well, seeing as how learning "Kiss of Life" takes a freaking long time and costs 129AP when you first get it. That's more than me force triggering Blackout 4 times in a row. Which reminds me, I need to stock up on some herbs.
The main limiting factor for the soldiers is their arts. They only know one style, and they stick with that style for the rest of the game, unless it's one of the ones that can alternate. One-handed to Power Grip. Gives them a few more options, but it also affects their damage output upon a regular attack. What also sucks is that there aren't any dual-wielding soldiers. Guess it's not orthodox/they need to be a General of Athlum. Those that only start with Item Arts or Mystic Arts can eventually learn Wield Arts and Weapon Arts, making more versatile, but they tend to start with lower stats. Straker was rather annoying at first because his HP wasn't exactly impressive. When I was doing the PC grind, he started with about 288HP, whereas everyone else was already approaching 350HP. He had One-handed Katana arts and Remedies. Hm. Well, he's getting better, although everyone else is still ahead by quite a bit. Rush's stats are already approaching the 70 range, which is pretty much overkill at this point (before Aqueducts). The ones in Reserve are also gaining a few stats here and there. Judging by the distribution, Dave is geared towards a balance of Str and Int, Emmy is Str, Pagus with Int (obviously...) and Torgal with Str. What's funny is that Dave is the fastest out of all of them. So... Are they supposed to chase their lord?
Anyways, to do list for the day: Chopping veggies (not with a sword), studying some anatomy (not going to kill someone), poke at biochem (no drugs to kill someone with either), and grind until the team can get +50AP per round and Rush learns Kiss of Life. Oh, and stop using Dragonfly. It has the Mighty/Peerless art modifier, since I want the Nimble/Swift modifer.
EDIT: Holy crap BR50 kill of the Enlightened Seven.
Anyways, moving on.
As mentioned above, I've started my second run with what I touched upon in my previous post. Essentially, I'm emulating what would have happened if I were stuck with the 360 version's Leader limit (only 6 can be deployed, including Rush). The mercenaries aren't bad, seeing as how most people would end up hiring McGrady for his Remedies until Rush learns it/you get tired of using Herbs. They're just rather limiting because they don't learn new skill trees at certain BRs. And the fact that they're counted as "leaders." That's where the soldiers come in handy. They're free to hire and come in tiers depending on where you are in the story. So for me right now, I can hire up to Tier 6 because I haven't tripped the event flag for entering the Aqueducts yet.
As for the soldiers themselves... They're not that bad. Limited, but what can you do? They don't ask for better equipment and they only bother raising HP and AP with accessories, unlike the uniques who sometimes ask for the weirdest things (which I can't quite remember, but it involves David asking for something that he didn't need). I wouldn't mind giving them better equipment, seeing as how I'm not exactly fond of finding their materials. It also means that I have to be on the lookout for them while also taking apart some older equips. You can only get Imperium that way... It's also infuriating how even though you HAVE THE STUFF IN YOUR INVENTORY, that they don't just ask for it! It's not like I need Platinum Orex100 for an extended period of time.
Using only soldiers isn't too bad. Didn't end up scraping by the Nest of Eagles fight at all. I had an easier time, probably because I've kept my BR a little on the low side, spread out my units with certain formations and didn't stack my healers. Having at least one person in each union able to heal is a real life saver... The mobility of a stacked healing union needs to be really high if you don't want them to be raidlocked or intercepted along the way. A combination of Remedies, Herbs and Lotions is a good idea as well, seeing as how learning "Kiss of Life" takes a freaking long time and costs 129AP when you first get it. That's more than me force triggering Blackout 4 times in a row. Which reminds me, I need to stock up on some herbs.
The main limiting factor for the soldiers is their arts. They only know one style, and they stick with that style for the rest of the game, unless it's one of the ones that can alternate. One-handed to Power Grip. Gives them a few more options, but it also affects their damage output upon a regular attack. What also sucks is that there aren't any dual-wielding soldiers. Guess it's not orthodox/they need to be a General of Athlum. Those that only start with Item Arts or Mystic Arts can eventually learn Wield Arts and Weapon Arts, making more versatile, but they tend to start with lower stats. Straker was rather annoying at first because his HP wasn't exactly impressive. When I was doing the PC grind, he started with about 288HP, whereas everyone else was already approaching 350HP. He had One-handed Katana arts and Remedies. Hm. Well, he's getting better, although everyone else is still ahead by quite a bit. Rush's stats are already approaching the 70 range, which is pretty much overkill at this point (before Aqueducts). The ones in Reserve are also gaining a few stats here and there. Judging by the distribution, Dave is geared towards a balance of Str and Int, Emmy is Str, Pagus with Int (obviously...) and Torgal with Str. What's funny is that Dave is the fastest out of all of them. So... Are they supposed to chase their lord?
Anyways, to do list for the day: Chopping veggies (not with a sword), studying some anatomy (not going to kill someone), poke at biochem (no drugs to kill someone with either), and grind until the team can get +50AP per round and Rush learns Kiss of Life. Oh, and stop using Dragonfly. It has the Mighty/Peerless art modifier, since I want the Nimble/Swift modifer.
EDIT: Holy crap BR50 kill of the Enlightened Seven.
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