Go multimedia here with my fandoms?

I wonder if I should just include other fandom stuff here. You know, manga and anime instead of just limiting it to games? I find myself watching and reading it a lot more lately, simply because I haven't had much access to my games by my own volition, even though I'm using my monitor at the moment. Just that the computer's not on. I still need to figure out a better way to record from my consoles. That TV tuner card isn't going to cut it and it's an ATI card. I have an nVidia card, so go figure. I just don't feel like clogging up my LJ with that kind of stuff anymore since I tend to write about RL things and use it to watch any fandom related things. Which reminds me, I need to join the Kuroshitsuji communities. And find something for the costume already. I now know that Sebastian's vest is purple according to the manga's character guide. So that's what I'll go with.



And I'm still helping out on the boards. Maybe I shouldn't help out while doing my papers? I'm almost finished my part, but I still need to write up another 2-5 pages for the other. Still, the question I'm answering isn't too bad. It definitely reminds me of when I started the game. I had, and probably still do, have a rather strong dislike of using Item Arts. It'll probably change once I get full access to Shards. I've never used Shards extensively before, so maybe my opinion will change then.Still, no LasuRemu for me until after some of the exams blow over.

Played a little FFXIII before heading to bed because I just wasn't feeling tired at all. The fact that I woke up at 11.30 is a moot point because that's what I always do on Sundays. Grinded some more, pretty much finished Hope, Lightning and Fang's primary roles. I think I'm almost done with the other 3, so just starting on their secondaries. Kept a save before heading into Chapter 12, in case I need to deal with more grinding. I'm only grinding because I can't read JP that quickly, so that slows down my command entry by quite a bit. Not to mention that the JP and EN names are different, so it's somewhat easy to mix up at times, or trying to find the command, but it's not there. It's going a bit smoother now, although I can't seem to remember how I beat the Ochu and Pikochus.

One funny thing... I've managed to get one person to like Hope a lot more! He was annoying at the beginning because of all of his whining, but when you look at things from his perspective, it becomes a little more understandable. But from a gameplay perspective, he's awesome, if you can stand the fact that he's THE most fragile mage. Ever. Good thing he can buff himself before letting loose a whole lot of pain. Got him started on the Jammer role so that he can help out with debuffing the enemy. While Fang does a good job, her best role is Attacker and her magic stat is easily one of the worst. Yeah, my team includes the 2 extremes and the most balanced character. Go me.

Also, I'm still a little annoyed that the 480i/480p output is so bad. I remember hooking it up to the (really old) bigger TV, and it looked horrible compared to my small monitor. I could hardly see the text! So I'm refraining from using that TV to play games. It probably needs to be replaced at some point. There's a few caption boxes burned into it... Two lines worth. It's really bad.

Busy...

Hm. It's been 10 days since I last typed up something here. Then again, I have good reason for not having much to say. You know, uni life, assignments and other miscellaneous things. Instead, I've been helping out at the Last Remnant boards more than I would really like to. Then again, I've kinda done that on the Tales of Rebirth PSP board too. It's now largely abandoned because they've moved on. That, and Namdai has no intention of localizing the title even though it's another chance for them to release the damn game! Passed over in favour of Tales of Legendia, not that Legendia's a bad game. It's just a bad Tales of entry, that's all. Been hanging around the SaGa boards instead, so...


ANYWAYS. Helping other gamers. I'm surprised I haven't snarked any of them yet. I guess it's mostly because they're all newbies to the game, so it's probably better not to get too sarcastic with them. Unless they ask a dumb question, then they were asking for it. There's still the occasion when someone asks if their computer/laptop can handle running the game. My patience for such questions is wearing quite thin now, since the demo's quite readily available for download and testing. DAMN IT YOU GUYS, SEARCH THE NET FOR IT AND TRY IT OUT. Or look up the recommended specs. *ahem* Also,I can't believe that I replied to a post saying that I was a girl. He seemed a little surprised, although it's understandable. After all, there are no girls on the net and the fact that my handle is rather ambiguous. There's really no need to be a GIRL anyways. Well, it also doesn't help knowing that people can never guess whether or not I'm a girl based solely on my typing patterns and interests. Until I bring up my preferred ships. I don't engage in shipping wars, so...



Found the Kuroshitsuji costume online... It's going to cost a bit just to get the top. I have enough black pants to last quite a while, so I just really need the vest/waistcoat, shirt (because that collar is weird...) and the tailcoat. I can't believe that I'm agreeing to dress up as a butler! Oh and gloves. I don't have white gloves. Still... it means that I get to act like a total jerk while smiling~

*yawn*

... Someone's asking about how to deal with the E7 battle. Stated BR, but didn't say if he was playing on Normal or Hard. That bit might actually be critical here. And he focused on getting rid of Snievan first? That's a first for me... Practically everyone I watched so far tries to off Milton first so that they can do Morale control with Snievan. Much easier to deal with since it's easier to heal after getting capped in the face or hit with Curse since he's not likely to Instakill an entire union twice. Eh, whatever. Looks like their question was answered.

Hm. I just haven't played anything lately mostly because of the impending assignments that need to be dealt with right now. Two 10-page papers isn't that fun to look at. Sure, they'll be double-spaced, but still. Then again, I actually had fun writing my 10-page report on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). It was a fascinating topic. These ones? Not so much. And I just haven't felt like playing anything lately. I still haven't bothered ordering End of Eternity, been busy fangirling over Baccano! and Durarara!!, with interest in Vamp! and Etsusa Bridge being tickled a little bit. Too bad light novels are such a pain to translate that there are hardly any licenses over here. Good thing that the fans are pretty dedicated. Besides, I want to see batshit insane Japan (Etsusa Bridge) since batshit insane America has been done and is still going (oh silly Claire, and Baccano!).


I seriously need to start drawing something now. Add another character that OnoD voices, and now I really want to do a costume switch. Let's see: Snow, Sigma, Shizuo, David. Funny... the oldest is Shizuo at about 23~24 and arguably the skinniest, youngest is Sigma at 17. Three of them are blond. The other... I have no idea what colour that is. Wait. I forgot the demon butler. And I'm listening to him singing.




BACON LETTUCE

Various notes on the leaders...

Redone here.

Bored, should really be asleep right now.

Hm... kinda tempted to hire Faye. Dual wields axes, can have Hawkrang if she masters the One-handed style. Black belt can help with upping damage even more ([Dual Wield]+5 and [Axes]+5). Is a generic. And she can heal with items (Herbs and Lotions). Doesn't cost too much to hire, and she can come fairly early. Too bad she's in Celapaleis, somewhere that I don't visit that often unless I'm restocking on supplies and checking up on Rhagoh for his quests. Still, she's a candidate for another run. Maybe I'll hold off from doing the UL run until I can get the mic working properly without sounding like a complete idiot. I'll still probably record a bunch of random things though. Hopefully I can optimize the run even further since I want to beat everything at the lowest BR possible. Lots of Bai Ze then,huh? Good thing she has decent starting morale, at 67. Compare that to Rush... who starts at 45. Pretty high for a generic... I'm really curious about her upgrade paths though. Would she be willing to request the Shielding Hawkwind if I tell her to down the Combat focus? She needs to be in the Combat focus in order to take the belts, that's for sure. Having the Shielding Hawkwind and Might Splitter could be quite beneficial for her damage output seeing as how the Hawkwind customization has much better stats, and the Might Splitter imparts [Combat Arts]+5. Combine that with the Black Belt, and that's quite a few bonuses right there. Of course, it doesn't apply to actually using Hawkrang since it's a One-handed WEAPON Art, not Combat Art. Still, having the Peerless modifier on Dual-wield arts is great. Too bad she'll be pretty slow because of it, using Power modifiers and all.

Who else to consider... I always hire McGrady. Maybe I'll give him a Glaive this time so he'll get the Heaven's Door WA. Making him go Mystic will help amp up his Remedies. Problem with all the Generics is that none of them will have the "Special" attribute. So... it's going to be like the soldier run, only that they'll actively say stuff to you and can somewhat mold them to your liking. ... I also have no idea who has Hexes or Psionics. Eh... whatever. If I can deal with my current run with no Hexes, then I can deal with it using generic leaders! It would help though... although I think I'll be speed running the thing because I'd like to start hearing my party's voices. I'm really starting to miss Rush shouting all sorts of things while Emma's scolding him or being sarcastic about his performance on the field. "Hey1 Look at what I've got!" - Rush, when he sparked Life Powder during the Niram Sin/Namul Sin. "It's about time..." - Emma. And I wasn't really that low on health either... Actually, I just really miss Dave's voice.


So I guess it's decided. Next run will be using generic leaders, and the one after that will be using Unique Leaders. Hopefully I can get some... interesting lines out of them~ And stuffing all those Sovani into a union just to see how they react to one another.



Going through the 聖剣伝説４ OST... Tracks: Burning Spirits (Itou/Sekito), Reminiscence (Itou), Shadow of Vine (Sekito), Goblin's Beat (Itou), Red Wyvern (Sekito), Seeking the Light (Itou), Rondo of Sand (Itou), The Fool's Dance (Itou), Roar of the Iron Clump (Itou), The Final Decisive Battle (Itou), The Child of the Sprite Tribe (Soken), Don't Hunt the Fairy (Soken), The Darkness Nova (Soken), Irwin on Reflection (Soken). Disc 4 stuff, only the SK4 edits.

The OST really sounds like it was composed right after completing the ミンサガ OST. Lots of similarities, mostly because it's the same 2 composers involved in it, so it's really not that much of a surprise. Still, it sounds very SaGa like, not very Mana like... Maybe because the Mana music I usually listen to is from 下村陽子, and she did Legend of Mana, the only Mana game I've played to completion. With a partner because it wasn't my idea to play it.

Netbooks aren't meant for gaming!

Can I punch the idiot who's asking if LasuRemu will work on his netbook? Seriously... Speaking of which, I just got a netbook myself so I can type up my notes during class instead of writing them out. Kinda need to since my papers are getting a little on the messy side. Anyways... the requirements for LasuRemu aren't that demanding if you're just planning on running the game. If you want it to run very smoothly, then you'd need a lot more than the listed recommended specs. I have this feeling that I'm bottlenecking the GPU somehow, so I may need to look into that at some point. The resolution isn't really bothering me, so I'm good for now. Kinda pissed that Windows 7 Starter doesn't let me set my wallpaper, so currently stuck with this blank looking background. Bleh. A netbook just isn't strong enough to run the game anyways, so stop asking. By the way, it'll run on Windows 7. Or if you're crazy enough, just run it using the XP compatibility mode.


Progressed pretty quickly to the Aqueducts... Maybe a little too quickly? I haven't had the time to go looking for materials for those little soldiers. And... because of that, they're a little behind in their equipment. Well, not that it really matters because they're growing past their max (360) stats anyways. Still, they're taking a lot more damage than I had anticipated. Still, not that it really matters since all of them are quite capable to reviving, as long as I remember to let them revive. What I should do is never touch the "make the art unavailable" button and see what happens in my next run. But... that might screw over my Unique Leader run that I've been looking forward to doing all this time. Not to mention the recording at 1080p! I'm thinking about redoing the playthrough anyways, since the one that I recently did was really for testing purposes for the computer. Needless to say, it passed with flying colours. Still, recording at 1080p for the entire run is out of the question. Hard mode with the soldiers it is then! With no farming for components, and no need to show the grinding since that aspect of the game is boring to watch. And I'll throw in what the unique leaders are up to in the meantime.

So yeah... progressing quite well. Just cleaning up the side quests at the moment. Did all the ones concerning The Seven, so now I don't have to worry about recruiting them. Not that I'm going to end up using them anyways. They'll be needed for the Dragontail III formation, which grants a nice 200% ATK rating, for the next run, but it'd still be a while before they can even be used. The only ones that could be considered useful are Hinnah/Hannah (Shards, Twin Snowpetal), Ludope (Galaxy [Omni attribute, rarely seen], Arcana) and Milton (Wards, 10AP buff skill, and the fact that I don't have many people with Power Grip). Good thing I also have Cheat Engine installed to use the speed hack while traversing The Great Sand Sea, aka "the really, really, unnecessarily big obligatory desert stage."

I find the Grandhammer a rather amusing weapon to look at. It looks even too big for a yama to use properly~ Still, it's not a very good weapon considering the new PC stats. It's geared towards mystic users, but the ones that come with the weapon? Item users. Utterly useless for them, since their focus would be towards their item arts, or smacking the enemy with combat arts, which would favour higher ATK stats. Hm. Too bad it doesn't have an upgrade path that would lead to a better weapon path... Eh, whatever. They're mostly support units anyways. Good thing for my current run, I don't need certain skills to boost INT because it's absolutely pointless. Oh, and I'm definitely going to be struggling against a certain set of bosses. There's hardly any morale control since I'll only have access to the Traps users' Retreat/Rousing Flare and/or Pandora's Box, and there are only 3 of them. So much for morale... Might as well go all out with increasing my BR. At least the scaling isn't as bad as the 360 version... Or is it? It seems that the PC version monsters still hit a hell of a lot harder than the 360 version, and still longer to take down.

Of hockey and Sovanis...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Torgal's upgrade paths are pissing me off. They go from Power to Speed to Power then back to Speed, and that affects the modifiers on his arts. But if I give him the weapons, then he'd lose all the equipment EXP he would have gained thus far. Pretty sure there are others, but he's the only one I've looked at somewhat thoroughly. I've already decided to let him go the Combat route, along with Caedmon. Wyngale and Leucetius... Still not too sure. Probably both will go Mystic. Still just poking at the characters. I actually haven't started the run yet since I'm kinda just focusing on the no MA run. Started it, but I've only made it to Dillmoor, and currently camped there, experimenting with the trainer. I'm going to transfer the stats over when I actually start the run. Until then, they can stand around while the soldiers have vastly superior stats and inferior weapons.

Speaking of which... I'm still looking for a way to change the modifers on the end-stage Bluesteel customizations. I'm not sure how big the difference is between Mighty and Godly, but effects they have are tempting (Physical/Mystic Resist +5). Just don't want to train the arts that have been modified for speed suddenly changed towards power. Maybe I'll figure it out.

Also noticed that the game engine is incredibly stupid. You can trip flags, then roll back your BR, and the effects remain. What am I referring to? Recruiting the soldiers. By setting your BR to something ridiculously high, you can reveal all the soldiers that only appear based on BR (but the tiers are based on story progression). Then when you set it to 1, then disappear... but if you set it to a minimum BR, whatever effects that occurred from BR255 stay. So, by changing the BR each time before talking to the recruitment officer, you can force them to reach max stats AND have them reach maxed out arts! Too bad their weapons remain the same. Unfortunately, it also screws up their class if you were aiming for something. This is especially true for Herbs and Lotions users, because the Guardian/Scout/Hunter classes are all Rank 5 and have some shared requirements. The Scout class is especially annoying because the requirements are Rank 4, but it's a Rank 5 class. So, in other words, if you want Guardian, you HAVE to achieve combat significance, or not use items at all until reaching STR47. So then... what's the point of having IA if you're not going to use them?!

Then there's the formations I want to use for the unique leader run. Blizzard, Rattail, Whirlpool, Raiders' Fork, Pendulum, Hawk-Eye (only 4 units!), Batwings, Mystic Seal, Obelisk (?), and maybe Comet (if they can actually take damage).

Soldier formations? Uh... Let's not talk about that. There are hardly any formations they can use past the base. Still, since I probably won't be playing for a while, I can keep poking at formations a bit since I have no access to MAs.


Just making a note.
save01 - Fiery Gates.
save02 - White Conqueror.
save03 - Dead Heart, before using the Tablet.
save04 - Enlightened Seven.
save08 - Idols fight.
save09 - Demigod.
Archived: 22.Feb.10

Actually, there's another reason why I'm screaming. It's tied to my country and the Olympics. Go figure.

Mostly done...

So uh... I killed The White Conqueror without any problems at BR84. I don't think that was supposed to happen! Also got rid of the Demigod while I was at it. Recorded them too, so that was a plus, although it was with JP text. I think I accidentally killed The Lost Remnant without recording it, so that fight is currently missing. Unless I did record it... The one fight's that really pissing me off is the Idols fight. I actually managed to beat them... with 3 unions down. But I haven't been able to reproduce the fight. If I don't flank them, my team's screwed because of the end-of-turn attacks that really, really hurt. Especially from the Charged Idol and Divine Idol. They just don't have good enough defense to deal with all the damage, even while in the Mystic Henge formation, which boosts M.DEF by about 13% in its most basic form.

Oh, can't forget the Jhana Royals. That was a fun fight. Everyone survived and there wasn't much of a struggle against the giant piece of armor, Ala Melvilana Fusion. I still find it funny that they use Hermien's voice clips during the fight. Guess they can't really do too much about it since it's a DLC boss. Still, I wonder how the fight would go on the 360... Seeing as how everything just hits a lot harder on the PC. I watched MasterLL's version of the fight, and was amazed at how little damage Assault Frost did. Only about 600 or so. Normal mode at about BR21? I'd suffer almost 2000. Hard Mode? Uh... Practically kills the union (about 4000~6000, depending on units hit and if there's a critical). Uh. Yeah.


Started a new run with unique leaders. I'm just goofing around with the trainer at the moment, since I still need to do the Rank 8 fight with those soldiers. I really think it's going to be near impossible once the Valeria Heart pops up. It's physical damage, and I don't have anything to protect against that, unless you count using the Shield Potion. Yeah. It's really not going to help. Crimson Flare and Fatal Eclipse are going to kill as well since they have the Omni modifier. There count be a chance for them to dodge those... but only if they're Mysticknights. At least they seem to be dodging and countering a lot more lately. Kinda weird. The Ancient Ruins isn't giving me as many stat ups as I'd like. Not to mention that there aren't that many enemies to deal with in the first place. How the hell did I manage to get Rush's Intellect to 255 anyways?! I don't think too many of the soldiers are anywhere near 200 for either Strength or Intellect. Speed and their Unique don't matter too much, and trying to get their arts to the Peerless/Swift modifiers. Still taking too long, and they're bound to kill Bai Ze in fewer than 30 turns. I don't have enough units to lower Morale without dealing way too much damage. Maybe I should bring in those Rogue Athlum Soldiers? They all have WAs to use if I can get their weapon and wield stats high enough... Anyways, was just checking to see what types of weapons they would take along their upgrade line. What I WILL do for the run is to change the BR to force them to ask about their focus (and re-focus) and their new arts. Oh, and change their class to their legitimate end-game classes. It means that I'll be at a slight disadvantage because they'll be stuck in the first rank of said class until they reach the requirements for the next rank up. Which WILL take a while since most of them are Rank 5 or higher. Rank 7 in Rush's case. I'll give Emmy the Legendary Ninja class as well since I'm not exactly keen on giving her the Nightbloom. Maybe. I'm going to have 2 other simultaneous runs. One is a fresh run. The other is a No Mystic Arts run. Yes, absolutely no MA. Morale control is going to come solely from items (Pandora's Box, Retreat/Rousing Flare) and flanking. All soldiers that are going to be hired will be using either IA or only WA. Going to choose the soldiers that have One-handed and Power Grip options. That'll help with variety of moves used. Again, I'll only be recording special fights (events too for the 1080p Unique-乱殺 run).

Last Remnant references...

So, I got bored and started looking up all the Remnants, then weapons, and some of the skills. Well, what do you know, lots of callbacks to the SaGa series, which really shouldn't come to a surprise. Considering the Executive Producer, the fact that its working title was "SaGa Frontier 3" and plays like a successor to the Romancing SaGa trilogy? Well... It's just missing the Minstrel to spin the tales~ It's very much a work-in-progress, and I'll probably never finish it, but this is what I have so far. Mind you, I've only played RS1/MS and SaGa2/SaGa2GOD extensively, so any mumbling would really be limited to those 2. The others... I'll get through someday. *looks at computer and emulators because systems are really old*

ONWARDS!

Remnants

アンバーマリーチ/Umbermarici - Celapaleis' Remnant. Appeared in SF2 and MS as an accessory, more specifically as a necklace in MinSaGa (Amber Maleate).

ヴァレリアハート/Valeria Heart - Athlum's Remnant. Appeared in SF as a sword, but was spelled "Valleria Heart." Interestingly, the flame attribute carried over to the Conqueror's version.

オブシディアン/Obsidian - RS1/MS. The Obsidian Sword, one of the Destiny Stones used to seal Saruin. Funny enough, you find the Obsidian Sword in the Frosthold Fortress, which I mistook the Ancient Ruins for. Must be the ice-like walls...

エメス・タグ/Emeth Tag - Royotia's. SF. An accessory.

グゥエイン/Gwayn - Nagapur's. RS3. Was also a dragon.

ゲイ・ボルグ/Gae Bolg - Another of Athlum's. RS2, where it appeared properly as a POLEARM.

月下美人/Nightbloom - RS3, SF. Found as a katana, much like here, but was named "Silvermoon" in SF. This one's an interesting one as well... The JP name is a name for the "Dutchman's Pipe," which is an actual flower. It's sometimes also called the Nightblooming Cereus.

ケレンドロウス/Kellendros - MS. Was a polearm, spelled Khellendros, and channels Aerology (wind magic).

氷の剣/Frostsword - RS3. Large sword. You get this when you kill Young... Too bad it's not the Ice Sword!
*アイスソード/Frostblade - RS1/MS. This one is. It's probably a little jab at a certain character that many people will remember as "the guy who had the Ice Sword." Why is this significant? Because no matter what, you can't really get the weapon. Galahad will always buy the sword right when you get enough money. So, how do you get it? Get him to join the party... OR KILL HIM (and earn Saruin's favour while going towards the Evil end). Or you can take the Ice Sword to Pyrix and watch Galahad's horrified expression when it's destroyed. Fun. I personally opted to kill him~

シルティーク/Syltique - RS3, SF. Armor, but I think more specifically as clothes.

スキアヴォーナ/Schiavona - MS. Was a Long Sword. Also, it's a historical sword, more specifically of the basket-hilted types. Cue WTF expression when I learned that it's a Spear here.

トウテツ/Tao Tie - Balterossa's. RS2, SF, SF2. Was a monster in RS2, and accessory in SF/SF2. Known as the Tao Tie Pattern then (Tao Tieh Pattern).

ハートエイク/Heart Ache - RS3. Accessory.

ハルモニウム/Harmonium - Undelwalt's. SF2. Accessory. Known as the Harmonium Earrings.

ビールキス/Bilqis - Ghor's. US, MS. In Unlimited Saga, anything made with the Queen Shiva as the base material would result in a weapon called Bilqis. Was a Hand Axe in Minstrel Song, which allowed the skill ベルクウィニスの刃/Fury of Bel'kwinith. Strangely enough, it looks like an axe mixed with a chainsaw. Could it also be a reference to the chainsaw weapon found in the original SaGas (hilariously broken in 魔界闘士サ・ガ because you can OHKO God)?

フラショナル/Flachonelle - US, MS. Armor.

ブルーエルフ/Blue Elf - Melphina's. SF, MS. Armor.

ブリムスラーヴス/Brimuslabus - Baaluk's. SF2, MS. Appears a staff. It also appears as a staff in TLR, if you use a trainer to hack it into your "Special Items" list. Too bad it's not usable. Anyways, it channels Bewitchery in MS. Very useful~

ブリューナク/Brionac - SF/SaGa2GOD. Appears as a gun in SF. Since SaGa2 was released AFTER TLR, you could almost say that its part of the SaGa family. Oh, it was a spear.

ラストリーフ/Last Leaf - Crookfen. SF2, MS. Accessory, and a ring in MS.

ラバーソウル/Rubber Soul - Dillmoor. SaGa in general. Usually pops up as shoes or some sort of accessory.

ロブオーメン/Lob Omen - RS2, MS. Appears as a sword. Was renamed "Werewolf" in Minstrel Song, and can be upgraded to the "Beowulf."

ワンダーバングル/Wonder Bangle - RS2, RS3, SF, MS. Was a shield in the first 3 listed, and gloves in MS. Sometimes translated as "Wonderous Bangle."

デッドハート/Dead Heart - Darken Forest. RS3. Accessory.

シルマールリオン/Simarrionne - SF2 accessory

ブラッドチャリス/Blood Chalice - SF accessory, no Instakill.

アラ・メルビラーナ/Ala Melvilana - Siebenbur. MS. Appears as... armor. Named A'la Melviranna, is a quest reward. Decent defense ratings, but kinda heavy.

E7 fights, go!

Yep. I got mauled by Ludope. The problem is that I kill off Snievan way too quickly leaving me against Milton, so it doesn't give me enough time to regroup. I also don't have the advantage of having a summon for a distraction, so no massive regrouping. May need to abuse Bewitch and set the Hex users as leaders. Cachexia isn't going to do any good against them, although it can stop Milton's massacre if he starts with an AP-based ability (like Mixed Message V). So that was attempts 1 through... I lost count.

My attempt on recording day, after going through about 2/3 of the Ancient Ruins, I beat them. Yay! Of course, it could also mean that I was vastly overpowe(ry. Like hell I was overpowered... Morale was still mostly red when I start the battle at BR71. I didn't take that many chances against Milton, so it took longer than necessary. Not to mention that he didn't abuse Iron Will III as many times as my previous encounter. When Ludope and Zuido entered the scene, the bar was all blue, so that helped with keeping the damage lower, although they still kinda died from excessive damage. Young was easy. Hinnah and Hannah weren't too bad, but take too long and they'll hit you with Twin Snowpetal fairly often. Kept a save around because a friend wants to see the fight. I don't have a save before I went into the Ancient Ruins to upgrade my equipment. Actually, I think I would have won at BR67 if I had remembered to turn on only Bewitch... Oh well. Wait. I think I still have a save at BR66. Hm...

Also bested The Fiery Gates. Wasn't too bad, but I decided to fight it multiple times, and noticed that the flow and outcome of the battle varied quite wildly. Some of them turned out OK, without too much effort required of bashing of my unions. One of them was spectacularly bad because I always had one union Enthralled, and managed to kill Mayfield's union so that the Gates could use Pandemonium on them. Oh, and the fact that no one could get the morale to anywhere near the middle. Spelled out to lots of pain my way...


Anyways, on the "game-related, but doesn't involve actual playing" front... I've decided to go through the ENTIRE SaGa series for their arts, characters, locations, etc. to see what was referenced in Last Remnant. Insane, probably won't ever finish, but it's something to do over the Reading Week other than, you know, read/study. And maybe learning how to play D&D. I can't believe that I've actually caved into playing with them... but now's a good time to explore one of the first commu-based RPGs. With my friends, no less.

Farming...

OK... Component farming now. Grinding can be done along the way since the weapons are more important right now. After beating The Fallen, it's off to the Ancient Ruins for even more grinding! And maybe not dying against the Demigod? Most of the components needed are from magazine drops, making it even more annoying since I would have to chain them together to improve drop rates. I should also clear up some of those Guild Quests now. Still can't seem to spawn Prometheus, which is annoying me to no end. It's required to reach Union of the Golden Chalice Rank 2. Rank 1 is easy enough by zoning in and out in Blackdale. And to think that I'm planning to do this all again in Japanese for my next run.

Notes
Mattis upgraded to an Excellent Konbo from the Commander's Bludgeon, and has items listed for the Blackjack. Will probably stop upgrading at Superlative Blackjack. If that's the case, he too will have a Weapon Art: Double Down. It looks like if there's a customization to another "type" of weapon that's less expensive, they'll go for it. Although... There was a soldier in my previous run that didn't do that. He was using the Tomahawk customizations, but didn't upgrade to the Hawkwind. I think the line has to split sufficiently early before they do that. The Commander's Tomahawk only has the Elite's Tomahawk as its upgrade, unlike a few other "Commander's" weapons. Still, it doesn't really explain why Mayfield goes from Spatha to Bluesteel, other than it's less expensive and requires fewer materials. It's still stupid though. He goes from the Power modifier to the Speed modifier. At least for this run I realized that and just kept him from using ANY arts. Still hits a few things with the sword though. Still... Can't upgrade to the Bluesteel until after beating The Fallen.

CE has a speedhack that I can use. USE IT WHILE GRINDING.

... I need to start drawing again. Really want to draw ラシュダヴィ just to annoy a few friends, and possibly much to the delight of another. Stop looking at me like that.

Curbstomping the Gates of Hell?

Well, the Gates of Hell isn't even a challenge anymore. What the hell. So, I'm currently past the 1st half of the game, and now have the option to create a full party. I've already hired everyone that I need (I think), so I think I'll get right onto training them. Really no need to component farm for now, since they'll just upgrade on their own. I'll probably start farming once I need to beat The Fallen.

Jager and the Lob Omen weren't too much trouble. Don't really remember how many unions fell, but I was able to keep the two away from each other. The Base fights weren't too bad, but it's a good thing I left Snievan for last. The Cyclops was a huge pain to deal with. So much that I had to restructure my unions to 4 just to survive the Gae Bolg [Berserk] blasts every other turn. And in return... having to run around healing all the damn time as well. Eh, whatever. It's over and done with. The unique leaders should have an easier time with this. I kinda want to start a fresh file just for kicks. Anyways, need to grind and possibly component farm a bit because The Fallen can kill everyone in 2 turns. Ugh... BR's already kinda high and they're not quite good enough to grind against Bai Ze for some reason. Will probably have to re-evaluate my tactics against it if I want to get those Peerless and Swift arts ready for smacking around. AP is also a little on the low side... Somewhat annoying for the larger unions. Not so much for the Item Arts union, since most of the damage is from throwing around Frost Tinctures, Flame Bottles and Cyclone Creams. The Land Mines and Explosives aren't dealing that much damage yet. Still no components for Rousing Flare, so I guess Retreat Flare is all I have to work with at the moment. The only other place I can grind right now would be in Aveclyff. I have the option of going against a huge number of Landworms, or smack around those dragons. No items will be used, or else they're going to die too quickly. Hm...


Hm. So Irina says "やった！" when she wants something, and says "えぇ。。。しかったないと。" Or at least that's what I heard. It's a good thing that they have to be in the active party if they want to request equips that weren't dropped or were dropped when they didn't participate.

This is interesting... We'll see what happens from here. Hopefully it's true, because I know that I'll definitely get it for the PS3 even though I already own it for the PC (thanks Tommy!). I'm holding out for a sequel/prequel as well. There are still things that could be wrapped up, and ラシュダヴィ. Want/need more ラシュダヴィ! It's just so blatantly obvious.

The other interesting thing... Square-Enix and 5 unannounced games, of which 2 will come out this year. One of them better be a SaGa game... And there's supposed to be Versus XIII info this month too.

Speculations...

And thus I have confirmed that you can spark the same tech twice in the same battle. The Speed/Power modifier and Art level. Got Lavelle to spark Blue Streak IV, then a few turns later, Nimble Blue Streak IV. This makes sense since the experience gains for them are independent of each other. Other stuff later...


Also, I'm having a decent convo on GameFAQs. Kinda strange, isn't it? Well, we're just talking about the possible changes if there's a Last Remnant sequel/prequel. We're just throwing around ideas, although it hurts my brain a little bit when I'm reading the posts with not-so-perfect English.

Anyways... I wanted bows and more unique assisted arts. There was a whole cast to work with, but we only got 1. OK, 2. Twin/Dual Snowpetal were added for the PC release. The difference between the 2 were the activation conditions and the characters required to use them. Twin Snowpetal requires Hinnah and Hannah, 50AP, can be used at the beginning of every battle, Godly Slash modifier, can be recruited as soon as you can beat the Enlightened Seven. Dual Snowpetal requires Irina and Khrynia (who can't be recruited until past entering Undelwalt), 50AP, high Union Morale/Tension (I think) and has the Godly Pierce modifier. Those are the differences that I know of. Think about it... There are many character relationships, so there really should be more assisted arts. Rush and Irina, Rush and David, David and his Generals, Torgal and Allan, Pagus and his buddies (Maddox and Sibal), Caedmon and his Silver Falcons, Nora and the Ladies of Bloody Alice, etc. There was also the suggestion of stat boosts and decreases when certain units are placed in the same union. I'm assuming that's on top of the formation attributes as well. Would make sense to me since certain characters may not like each other all that much. Don't mind the idea of support convos either.

I don't like the idea of "manual" control simply because of how it eliminates the need for unions. That wasn't the point of the design, which uses pooled AP, and can be used to justify the escalating AP costs for the end-game skills. I mentioned the Fixed Order thing that I really liked from Unlimited Saga and Minstrel Song. Seems like they agree as well, but there's the potential for making the game too easy. By controlling when (and how) the unions moved, you could force very specific art users to flank the enemy. This could be balanced by making the enemies harder to beat, or tone down the damage from attacks. The Raidlock thing, I can understand because you're purposely taking a risk by attacking from afar, leaving yourself open for attack from other enemy unions. The one option I would have loved was allowing units to defend while healing and maintaining Deadlock. Breaking Deadlock in this situation may be beneficial, but if you had bad morale control, it could just lead to being Terminated.


Then there's this poster that comes along to suggest a bunch of things that don't quite fit into the established LasuRemu world. Firearms could be used, but only if it was a sequel. The world suggests that the tech isn't quite good enough to make guns. Or there are guns, but aren't widely used. Guess he also hasn't played enough SaGa, because there's the martial arts style that units could use. No need to bring up Tifa or Sabin for it. And then there's the one thing that really pissed me off: suggesting chocobos. THIS IS SaGa, NOT FF. LasuRemu references the SaGa series. There was no (or barely any) trace of FF in it. A stronghold for storing stuff and your own blacksmith? Redundant. Why? Because you visit towns along the way that provide you with those services. Also, individual character inventories? That would only work if you didn't have that many units to deal with... But with an entire army?! Not to mention the costs for upkeep on Item Arts users... Guess he also didn't catch that Remnants don't really do anything until it wants to or the one that it's bound to uses it. Survival battles suck, and SaGa's kinda been a series where you try to find the fastest way to kill something. Eh... I could skewer it even more, but I'll stop here.

Dragging them along...

Holy crap, Rush already learned Spring Squall. Or 霧雨斬り, since I currently have the JP text displayed. Only managed to use it twice so far due to its incredibly high cost at BR11. Thanks to that and 無心の太刀, Namul Niram fell really quickly. Probably only had about 15 000HP. Ran along, struggling along the way with pathetically weak soldiers to past the meeting in Nagapur. Didn't think that I would get there that quickly, but now I have to be a little more mindful about which quests that I might close off since the Aqueducts are coming up pretty fast. I think I'll do what I did last time: leave the Cosmos Maiden quest chain alone since that'll net me the Rank 6 fight. It won't be easy on Hard Mode, but it'll certainly be better than contending with ~2M HP.

Made it up to BR18, and trying to use the Wisdom's Echo grinding spot, but I can't get past linking more than 7 enemy symbols. They simply don't have enough HP to survive anything, nor do they have the equipment to block and reduce damage. They're also really not that bright, not reassessing the situation "properly." It's probably because of how low their respective unique parameters are at the moment. One of the first things to do is raising BR, learning Blackout, and upgrading equips. Actually, they still haven't asked for/cloned their HP and AP/Speed accessories yet. It's seriously compounding on their lack-of-HP problem. Wonder what BR I need to be before they get those accessories...? Or is it because I haven't crafted any of them yet? Either way, their weapons come first. I need that defense rating up! Too bad I can't just craft a bunch of weapons for them to take.


Oh, I also got the Bayonetta patch. Runs MUCH better now, although the load times are still a little on the long side. What's weird is that sometimes the loading can't keep up with what I'm doing... It skipped slightly while doing a few torture attacks, but it's nothing major. Just something I noticed. Oh, and it was Sony who made the patch, apparently. Wonder why, even after Sega saying that it's not possible to fix the load times and texture quality... Either way, not complaining!

Speaking of Sega, End of Eternity's now out, and it apparently plays like VP2. Sorta. Might pick up the JP version because the NA boxart is hideous.

It took 3 playthroughs.

Bravery and Loyalty. That quest is kicking my ass right now, but at least I got a Bandit and rare monster kill! THREE PLAYTHROUGHS BEFORE I FINALLY SEE A BANDIT IN A DUNGEON. ... Maybe I'll get back to it at another time. For the time being, getting through different bits, but I know that I should get this quest done since it has a time limit. Needs to be before the Nest of Eagles fight, but that shouldn't be too bad. After all, Wisdom's Echo opens up before it, just after David's meeting in Nagapur. I'm going to need all the grinding I can get for those soldiers. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage the unique leaders' skills since they're so many more of them.

Rush hit the Wizard class, which isn't too bad for a unit that has a Dual-wield Katana specific art right now. Managed to use it ONCE. Freakin' high AP cost at this point of the game. Because of having the 2 Ragna-rocks, he's also managed to learn Divine Echo/Kiss of Life and Reboot/Second Chance. Like hell he's going to be able to cast those anytime soon. Still, it's pretty funny. I've decided to stack the unions to have them survive a little longer, but it also means that I can't flank stuff as often. I'm hoping that I don't screw over some of their classes right now. As for unions, will probably end up using Jewel of Undelwalt a lot for the Herbs users. The bonus is better than what the Hourglass formation gives. Either way, it's not going to matter all that much because I'll be using the Mystic Seal formation for grinding. Oh, Lythete learned Eye Cream naturally. Managed to get him use Antivenin multiple times by stacking unions in the Gaslin Caves and telling Rush to NOT use Cure/Refresh. Now, all that's left is to get them to learn Vivification Herb/Tincture to make sure that they can start reviving. Can't do much about Hartshorn because it's a Rank A Lotions art. The enemies at the Ivory peaks are more than enough to KO the 5-member soldier-only union. I don't want to move either Rush or Emma over there... I need to move forward some more before hiring more soldiers. I'm being a little slow because of training Emma and Rush for their section. Admittedly, it wasn't bad on Normal, but considering how much harder everything hits on Hard, I'm not taking that many risks. I also want to get Rush to hit either STR59 or INT59 to get the Ninja class benefits. The bonus to Dual Wield should give some advantage against Namul Sin and Niram Sin.


Noticing a few differences between the JP and EN settings. The JP version colour-codes a lot more stuff, namely the Classes. It actually highlights which ones are Combat/Combat+Mystic/Combat+Item/etc., unlike the EN version, which just highlights that when you achieve the first level of the class. Then it just changes to all yellow once you hit the Legendary level. The "LOOP CHANCE!" and "OVERDRIVE!" text graphics are also different. It's more rounded in the JP version. The text speed is also slightly faster, which is nice, but I wish that it was that fast in English.

Also, while reading the "Discussion" sections of some pages, my curiosity has been piqued. I want to stick Dave and Wyngale (and maybe Leucetius because he's afraid of Dave) in the same union to listen to what they say. Apparently, Dave changes what he says from time to time based on who's in the union. I want to hear him say "scream for me." I generally would prefer a party full of nutcases.

Random note, but I've downloaded the Ar Tonelico 3 soundtracks. There seems to be more corrupted Hymmnos this time around. It's kinda... unsettling.

Yeah, Hard mode is hard.

Well, that almost took too long. Finally got past Blackdale, and even beat the Fiery Idol in my first attempt. Didn't think that would happen... I should have recorded that since it was a pretty good run. Never have I been so happy to see Rush get deadlocked by the Idol... Didn't really have to lower enemy Morale, but I did notice that it didn't take as long to kill it. Weird, since it has more HP this time around. About 10 000. I even used the same set-up from my Normal run, although with considerably more skills. As in, I can smack it around with Wield/Weapon arts right now (Third Eye, to be specific). If I had trained with the Shielding Glaive from the beginning, I think I would have a Weapon Art by now, but I wouldn't be able to use it due to lack of AP. What I don't get is how I ended up in the Healer class. While his INT hit 35 first, I really don't think that Remedies was his significant Mystic group. If anything, it should have been either Hexes or Psionics, since I was abusing those like crazy before the class change from Ranger for Morale earlier in the game. Oh well.

Well, time to start assembling my soldier army again! And try to steer certain ones towards specific classes...? It'll be hard, but I'm pretty sure that it's doable.


Oh, and good news. Bayonetta's getting a patch to allow us to install the game into the HDD. Yay. Maybe I'll go back to it now. After all, I still have Hard mode to get through.

Hard mode time?

Defeated the Enlightened Seven at a somewhat high BR. BR73. So it wasn't a soldier-only kill, but I replaced a soldier with a weaker unit. A newly hired Khrynia because I was curious about her voice clips. Needless to say, I want to shoot her, but there no bows in-game.

Recorded the final fights twice... Rank 6 and Rank 8 at BR75 and BR76 respectively. Didn't think that there would be such a difference with only 3 quests remaining. I think it's because the Rank 8 fight is triggered purely based on whether or not you complete the "Things Unchangeable" quest. Either way, the final boss fight wasn't exactly easy. OK, lying. Rank 6 was a complete push-over, whereas the Rank 8 one was somewhat challenging. I think I did considerably worse when I had Rush in the union simply because I didn't have enough unions with a Cachexia/Bewitch user. Because he was the one with Cachexia and Bewitch. Meaning... I didn't bother with the skill grinding.


Anyways... started my Ransatsu Maniacs run. It's... uh... hard. I really don't know what else to say. Maybe I shouldn't let Rush dual-wield just yet. Problem is... I don't want to give him the Parrying Tataraichi. One, it looks ugly. Two, it's a Power-based weapon. And three, I don't care about the Weapon Art. Or... I'll just let him have it on his off-hand. The off-hand gains half the EXP, so it's not that big of a deal. I have more than enough materials for the time being. Or the Shielding Glaive? It won't affect the progression of his Katana arts, until I get past that part and get the full party. Or... I could just not care considering that I'll be using the soldiers. I'm only going to do selected quests simply because I don't want to deal with the Rank 8 Conqueror without the Uniques.

Main Story = OK. Extras? Not so much.

Well, that was odd. I tried to take on The Lost without recording it, and I won without any problems. Then when I was recording, lost on all attempts. Hm. Well, I can challenge it again after a bit. After I clear the Ancient Ruins. Which, incidentally, is what I did not too long ago. Lost on my first attempt against the Demigod, then struggled for about 20 turns. Then went ahead with attempting to beat the Idols. Didn't work out too well. The Charged Idol wiped out the party quite handily with the Tempest Insignia. The Idols get a move before and after every turn, whether or not you use Cachexia, I think. I should be able to stop the Insignia moves with Cachexia though, and at least I know that they're Mystic attacks. I think the only way I'm going to survive it is to have insane amounts of HP, something I don't have. And I can't play defensively because of lacking Wards and other arts.

Really, all that's left now is to finish off the main story, and the remaining 3 quests (The Cosmos Maiden, Kosmosfest and Things Unchangeable). I'll keep the file around to level up some more before heading off to face against those DLC bosses again. I'm fighting most of them for the first time too, so it'll be interesting. Definitely not push-overs when using soldiers because the move pool just isn't there for reassessing the situation. It'll be even worse in Hard Mode. Probably will degenerate into brute forcing everything. I think I'm going to allow myself to use generic leaders, but it's going to be "along the way" thing. The rogue Athlum soldiers, for the sake of the run, will count as soldiers and not as leaders. Wonder why all of them have the "Cowardice" unique parameter? It better not screw up their Rethink process.

Probably won't chronicle much more from LasuRemu, unless something really comes up. Or I'll just continue fangirling over certain things. *ahem*David'seyepatch*ahem*

This sucks.

... Hamauzu left Square-Enix, and more are expected in the next few months. Sekito...? Please don't go? Well, it's not anything can stop them from leaving. It just means that I'll have to hunt down whatever they're composing for. Wonder what he's going to work on next...


Still grinding on Bai Ze. Trying to spark Frost Tincture and Cyclone Cream for my item users. It's just really annoying because it takes a while to achieve the level required to learn it. Even more annoying with Lotions users because all but Eye Cream are situational. Hartshorn requires KO'ed unions, and the rest of them deal with statuses. At least they're learning their wield and weapon arts fairly quickly. Still trying to spark Cerulean Rain for Mayfield, but still no luck. I don't have a clue what his Wield and Weapon levels are at the moment either. They should be around 15... Eh, whatever. Still need to actually spark it.

Note: Selecting Support at BR69, 9999Chain and Ragna-rock equipped netted 12EXP. Base EXP is 3?

EDIT: Never mind.. Base EXP is 4 (2 for selection and 2 for execution). +200% from Ragna-Rock means x3 EXP gain. If executed, he would have gotten 24EXP.

Knocked you down!

The Fallen has fallen! Purposely ran around collecting materials for creating then disassembling equipment to improve the army's stuff. Also purposely gave Rush the Nightbloom to keep both Irina and Emmy from asking about it. About half the katana users have upgraded to the Mithril Katana now (Damascus Katana in JP). It's weird with Mayfield. He starts with the Spatha customizations, which are Power based weapons, but his upgrade tree leads him directly into the Bluesteel line, which is Speed based. At least until it reaches the Shielding/Enchanted customizations, which are only available to unique leaders and guild leaders. It's dumb, but oh well. It's actually not that big of a deal because his main purpose is to use Hexes like crazy. So now he has Mighty Knee Splitter, Mighty Cutting Lunge, and Nimble Blue Streak. Well, he did. It's moving towards the Speed route now.

Anyways, while monitoring the trainer, it turns out that you can only spark a higher level of the same tech once per battle. The rest of the EXP gained would be added after the battle's done. Not too sure about the art modifier though. I think it follows the same rules, but since there are only 5 levels of the modifier, it would be pretty rare. Power: Mighty/Peerless. Speed: Nimble/Swift. Unmodified. More grinding against Bai Ze for more testing? Either way, it'll be good to get the army's arts to the Peerless/Swift modifier, and sparking their weapon specific arts. Still don't have all that many for the mystic users, so that'll need some working on. Unfortunately, the Esoteric skill found on most of the mystic units (save for the poor guy stuck as a Druid) brings up the mystic commands quite often.

Moved on... All that's left is to finish up sidequests, and get to the final boss. I have "The Cosmos Maiden" and "Kosmosfest" left to deal with. I think that's about it. Then there's the superbosses... Demigod and The Lost Remnant. Those ones are NOT going to end well at all. Well, more directed at The Lost, because I have 5 turns to kill it, compared to the 10 for The Fallen. I killed The Fallen on the 8th turn, so... Saying that I'm screwed might be an understatement. Sure, equipment's better, but I still need to deal with how quickly the unions are moving. I need to make sure that the Cachexia unions flank it. Unfortunately, Chamberland's union (the most damaging Hex user) is way too fast unless I purposely hang back. I wonder if the Mystic Henge/Shield formations are going to be necessary for this...?


I've already started planning my Ransatsu Mode run(s). Going to deal with both a Unique Leader (record full run) run AND a generic run (only boss battles). Still haven't quite decided if I'll go all soldiers, or go ahead with hiring generic leaders. The good thing about the generics is that some can dual-wield and have larger movesets to choose from. Money isn't a problem, so I can hire away~ But doing a soldier-only run would be more challenging. Need to manage not having all that many mystic units. I think I'll cut out an Herbs user, reduce Hex users to 3 and sub in a few Potion users? Not sure if that'll be enough to take advantage of the Buff Duration ability because only the Scouts and Hunters would have it. And based on the party composition, that'll only be 5 party members. Still, I'm extremely annoyed that there aren't any Shards users amongst the soldiers. Just need to keep 3 Invocations/Evocations users around for Blackout. Animalcule is near useless... Low damage and somewhat dodgy occurrence rate.