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It's entirely possible I'm just being dense but is Eleanor any relation to the Knights family at all, or is she just in there to fake you out about the 2nd generation's protagonist? If so, it certainly worked on me so well played keeping that a secret everyone.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:51
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I'm just going to say that I made it to South Moundtop and I completely forgot that Rich existed, but I always remembered Eleanor. I honestly wish she -was- the focus character of Gen 2.
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Apr 6, 2015 18:38
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No relation to the family, I think she's just a Digger who does some political work for Kelvin on the side (remember that whole thing that's going on at the same time?). One presumes she was one of Rich's mentors considering he doesn't care for his own father that much, although I don't know if it's ever stated whether she once worked with Tycoon Wil like Raymond and Patrick since we never find out what Wil did after his climactic non-death and now where he seems to be retired.
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Apr 6, 2015 19:21
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Word on the Wind posted:I'm just going to say that I made it to South Moundtop and I completely forgot that Rich existed, but I always remembered Eleanor. I honestly wish she -was- the focus character of Gen 2. I remember being so annoyed about that. I flail confusedly through Wil's chapters, then the game hands me a walking nuke for like two scenarios before saying "Ha ha, nope, just kiddin', your new hero is this doofus." Who I also had completely forgotten existed.
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Apr 7, 2015 01:05
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Rich is really weird looking. He's got weird hair, he poses weird, and he doesn't pull off the poofy pants like Johan did.
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Apr 7, 2015 04:34
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To the Fossil Caves (1280) A cave with a never-before-seen fossil of a giant creature is discovered in the North Continent. 1280 Rich journeys to the dungeon of fossils Rich tries to strike it rich on the Northern Continent.   (Novel)     Welcome to North Gate! It's kind of a second Westia, down to its music, pub, crappy shop and equip reclaimer. The main by the tree is the equip reclaimer, the shop's at the top, the pub is just below the equip reclaimer.   Like I said, crap--I'd say even Westia has a better shop, and that's at the start of the first gen. At least you can get Coral Rings again, if you failed to get enough while they were on sale at Vogelang. You can't repair items here like you could at Westia, but that basically never matters. You can convert chips, but I have no idea why, because there's notuing you want to buy.  A unique sprite! We all know what that means!    Most of my fellow villagers have given up on making a living here and have left. I've decided to remain here, though. Diana has a surprisingly hardcore background. This will never come up again.  Hmm, that must have been tough. Now I don't know what to do...I feel like I'm at a loss... Right now, I'm going off to try and strike it rich. Why don't you come with me? I don't think I'll be able to do anything. What are you talking about!? If you plan on living here, you have to do it! You're right. I'll try it. Rich interrupts her as soon as she starts speaking that line:  Y-Yes. I'll do it. The great thing about talking to people from the backwoods is that they never realize all of your inspirational quotes are plagiarism. Anyway, new party member!  Diana is kind of awful. I mean, just look at that HP, that LP, and those weapon lev--wait what  Diana is the only character in the game who gets 5 per-turn WP regeneration, and you can't increase that stat. She grows WP very quickly once she gets some levels, and despite her main aptitude actually being spears, her WP and WPR mean that it's usually better to just hand her the Cinderforge. Tiny girl in big dress with giant gently caress-off bastard sword--what's not to like? Not that any of it matters beyond theory, because this (and the interludes after it) are the only time you actually get to use Diana. Between her young age, stats, and ridiculously small availability window, she's basically physical Ventarbre, only without the great loot.  Oh well. She'll see use anyway. Her role is Counter, increasing the rate of Counter and Reaction Shot (the Martial Arts and Bow reactions) by 20%. I replace it with Dodge, which doubles the rate of Deflect and shielding; it'll help her stay alive, especially with the Water Mirror blocking all types of incoming attack. Her quote, talking to her again:  Talking to the other people in the bar gives you an idea of your objective.    Though there's only one way out of town, so it's not exactly rocket science.  TO ADVENTURE  ...ehhh I'm not really feeling it let's just go back to the bar      (no, this has no affect on your rewards, and even if it does who cares, I already have a ridiculous amount of money; I pick yes) Actually, I'm in the middle of exploring the cave. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. Will you join me? I thought so. Yeah, we'll help.Talking to them again: It'll be a breeze, now that I'm here. Why don't you start saving, for a change?Raymond, have you seen my chip counter?   Eleanor is completely right, because both of them are still much stronger than Rich and they're leagues above Diana. Picking them up here makes this scenario even easier; ignoring them (and/or Diana) has no effect on the story. Rich has aged from 22 to 25 and gained +24 HP (367->391), +1 LP (13->14), +3 WP (57->60), +2 SP (120->122). Eleanor has aged from 26 to 30 and gained +27 HP (392->419), +2 WP (34->36), and +3 SP (111->114). Raymond has aged from 41 to 45 and gained -6 HP (451->445), -1 WP (69->68), and +1 SP (95->96).  (Underground) Right, back to the cave. See those enemies? These are also Rock Rhinos, and this is the game's most important drop area. If you get really lucky here, it's going to seriously pay off. Battle music is Feldshlacht III.  Every scene in this area with a Rock Rhino has a specific list of scene drops: Blue Water, Antler Spear, and the Granite Staff, in that order. The Granite Staff is an infinite-use Stone Staff Tool with 49 attack. The next-best Staff, the Limstokes Water Custom Tool, has 40 Attack and 40 uses. The third generation protagonist is quite good with swords (becoming the only characer who can really do the Cinderforge Sword justice) but really excels with Staves--if you somehow get a Granite Staff here, just chuck the Cinderforge and use that instead. The third generation doesn't have many scenarios compared to the first, but you'll still very possibly crack 35 Staves by endgame.   Pictured: why skill levels matter. Gale Blade has 90 power, the Cinderforge has 70 attack. Staves may not have many high-end attacks, but holy crap can the third gen protagonist do right by them.   Rock Rhinos also have a special individual drop, the Rock-Beast tag, which adds +3 SP and +3 to all defenses and is a Stone-Beast Tool. I got one on the second fight, which is stupid lucky. (Also, look at Diana, that win pose looks so goofy with any weapon in-hand but ESPECIALLY the giant steel sword)  Going down here puts you here. Of the fallen skeletons in this cave, some are treasure chests (like Beyond Grand Valley) and some are actual "living" skeletons.  I had Diana duel it, because why the hell not.    She did 1212 damage and killed it in one Bull Crush (60 power) despite the 1 Sword level. Okay skill levels don't matter that much, Rock Rhinos are just tough (and it'd raised its defense)... But hybrids also seem much more responsive to skill levels than normal Arts, which is part of why Twin Dragon is so good: it scales off of three things. Stepping back out, I found I had a weirdly high luck stat (two Antler Spear drops in a single set of three battles, and that's the drop right before the Granite Staff in the table), so I reloaded the Quick Save I'd done just before and gave it a try for a little bit. Got six more Antler Spears in short order, but no Granite Staves, so I reloaded. There's just two scenarios here, so you've got one more chance if you really want one.    The upper-right exit of the next room isn't very interesting, so I exit it again and lead for the lower-right.  The leeches jump out of little hideyholes as you pass; they can't catch you if you run past, though.  It's a Glacier Shield that blocks Cold instead of Heat.   A 15-attack Beast Sword. Not very useful, since Rich and Johan came with free swords of higher power and we got another one in the forest tower (to say nothing of the Cinderforge).    The skeletons that aren't treasure chests respawn when you leave and reenter.   If you're a rare drop hunter (that is, crazy), this is a good time to save/quicksave.  As you walk up, the ground starts to rumble.    (Obsession)  Impressive-looking, right? But it really doesn't live up to that. This boss has 6000 HP. The skeletons don't even break 800. It's easy if you bring Rich here alone; one Wide Swing or Tornado Blade will take out at least one of the skeletons. If you bring Diana, it's very easy. With a full party, it's a joke. There's two special drops in this fight, both from scenes: the Stone Plate and the Titus Greaves. The Stone Plate shows up in one other Scene drop--it's a Blackstone Armor copy with lower defenses (+5 SP, 22 Slash/Pierce, +11 elsewhere), but it's still anti-Petrify. The Titus Greaves are and are not unique: they're a Stone Boots Tool, and this one shows up with infinite uses, but you can get a limited-use version elsewhere. Their defenses are fairly hefty (+12 Slash/Pierce, +18 Lightning, +6 to others) but Stone isn't a very useful Anima, so there's no real reason to bother. I have no idea why the game devs decided to put exclusive/very rare drops on boss fights. It's a strange decision. At least you can make this boss a very quick kill.  The screen shakes and rocks fall. Upon exiting either way...   The bone bridge rattles, straightens, seizes up...     ...and then falls apart.   On the plus side, that gives us access to this little cave!   Wait, only 1000 chips? Wow. I guess anima stone isn't very valuable after all. (Yes, this really does give you 1000 otherwise-unannounced Chips, regardless of how many people you took along)  1280 Rich journeys to the dungeon of fossils Rich tries to strike it rich on the Northern Continent. All interludes are available at this point, so I do the usual crowns-to-chips conversion.  I've hit 8000 Circulation, so the first Custom Tool weapon has shown up in the shop. The other Custom Tools cost 1500 or 2000 Crowns instead of 1000, but all of them have a 1000 Chip additional cost. Limstokes is no Granite Staff, but it's the best weapon a Staff user will generally have available endgame, and Water is a good Anima to have.  This is Raymond's last scenario. He managed to hit 27 Bows but I'm never, ever going to hit 25 Beast, so it doesn't actually matter very much (and the Paladin Bow is stronger than the Beast Dancer anyway). He improved a hell of a lot, didn't he? Shame he never really got a chance to shine--Patrick got to tag along for Ghoul Tower, after all. Next (chronological): To Cast a Rainbow (1285) Next (Knights): To Cast a Rainbow (1285) Einander fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Apr 10, 2015 |
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Apr 7, 2015 04:42
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One of the few things I really remember about this game was going through the tower for the Cinderforge with Rich and Diana, I took one look at her WP regen and had to get some use out of it.
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Apr 7, 2015 05:01
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I find it insanely inexplicable that RIch would recruit Diana. "Hey, here's this village girl that has absolutely no combat training. The perfect person to bring along a monster infested cave!"
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Apr 7, 2015 05:13
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Keldulas posted:I find it insanely inexplicable that RIch would recruit Diana. "Hey, here's this village girl that has absolutely no combat training. The perfect person to bring along a monster infested cave!" "Rich, I don't think I can... oh wow holy poo poo I am actually kind of badass with this thing."
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Apr 7, 2015 05:17
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The ironic thing is that statistically, Diana is more or less Gen 2's Cordelia, except she's got no magic growth rates (which means she really loves the Cinderforge since she's not a fan of SP anyway) and slightly worse weapon rank growths, in exchange for the second-highest WP growth rate in the game. One other character in the third gen ties with her, but the only character to beat her is Gustave. You get her for one mission that isn't even really that hard, and just as you start to find out how obscene those growths are... she's gone. SaGa Frontier 2, folks.
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Apr 7, 2015 05:20
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I never got around to grabbing Custom Tools in any of my attempts, I'm assuming they don't have infinite uses?
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Apr 7, 2015 05:35
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TARDISman posted:I never got around to grabbing Custom Tools in any of my attempts, I'm assuming they don't have infinite uses? 40. Except for the bow, which has 33.
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Apr 7, 2015 05:36
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Keldulas posted:I find it insanely inexplicable that RIch would recruit Diana. "Hey, here's this village girl that has absolutely no combat training. The perfect person to bring along a monster infested cave!" Rich is kind of a playboy. He's asking her out on a date, basically. I'm pretty sure he hangs out with a new girl every chapter. Clarste fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Apr 7, 2015 |
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Apr 7, 2015 05:47
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Clarste posted:Rich is kind of a playboy. He's asking her out on a date, basically. Not having the Cinderforge Sword I usually ended up sticking her with spears since I recognized her as Another Cordelia.
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Apr 7, 2015 06:35
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Einander posted:Every scene in this area with a Rock Rhino has a specific list of scene drops: Blue Water, Antler Spear, and the Granite Staff, in that order. Funny story - last time I played this game, I tried grinding in this area not for the Granite Staff, but to get Diana some HP. Not only did I discover Diana's nutsy WP growth, but I also found that Eleanor has crazy HP growths (she had broken 600 HP before Diana ever broke 300)... ...And in the process of all that, I got five Granite Staves.
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Apr 7, 2015 07:18
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Wow. Diana had 5 WPR? I thought it was 6. Close enough. Anyway, at this point I guess we can safely guess that 45 is when you start losing stats due to age. I don't think we've ever seen anyone between 41 and 45... EDIT: I just realized you didn't post the final stats of Diana, since it IS her first and only participation. Sketchie fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Apr 7, 2015 |
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Apr 7, 2015 16:51
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KataraniSword posted:SaGa Frontier 2, folks. A lot of design and story decisions in this game just seem wasteful.
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Apr 7, 2015 20:14
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There's a certain half-finished quality to many SaGa games. I mean, one of the seven main characters of SF1 has a story flowchart that is literally "My dad is missing! --> Talk to lady in the very first town --> Go fight poorly explained final boss." There is not only no meat in that sandwich, there is barely bread. You only have to run around In some ways it's part of the series' bizarre charm. It's like a drawing by an extremely enthusiastic but easily distracted child.
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Apr 9, 2015 21:06
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Wonderslug posted:There's a certain half-finished quality to many SaGa games. I mean, one of the seven main characters of SF1 has a story flowchart that is literally "My dad is missing! --> Talk to lady in the very first town --> Go fight poorly explained final boss." There is not only no meat in that sandwich, there is barely bread. You only have to run around I guess it's kind of charming but I'd still prefer less stuff like "Cordelia conspicuously has no lines if she survives Alexei" and "the girl who forces herself into your party and has candy-themed names appears to have a subplot that doesn't actually exist." Anyone know if Romancing SaGas 1 and 2 (or Minstrel Song; that game is impenetrable to me) have any weird, unfinished stuff like that in them?
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Apr 9, 2015 21:11
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To Cast a Rainbow (1285) There is a Water Tower that irrigated the dry lands during the time of the ancient empire. 1285 Rich journeys to the Water Tower Rich paints the sky with a rainbow.  No music at the start this time, just ambient wind noise.        Dreams that one day, water will fall upon this land, like a magnificent waterfall.    (Novel)   Okay, I remembered wrongly, you return to Westia one more time. This is it, though.  Another Pocketstation thing. If you're wondering, no, Narcisse isn't in the house. Uh. Guess I should have given him more of those Life Seeds?  There is another old friend there making a return, though: It's the informant!  Since it's a large facility, it's easy to imagine that it requires the aid of Quells, but alone, they probably won't suffice. Setting up the Quell by itself will just end up splashing water everywhere uncontrollably. It is likely that a support mechanism to control waterflow exists somewhere in the tower. I just suggest you look carefully.  The Westia shop has also changed again; it's much better this time... Not GOOD, but better.  This is a bald-faced lie.  Perfect Works pegs Westia as near the bottom of the river here. That's also roughly where Zahl Peak is, according to the Battle of Buckethill's lead-in, but Westia doesn't really look like a town at the top of a mountain range... So that means that Wil would have had to trek over/through/around a mountain range to get to the Ruins of Hahn (center of the Lordless Land), which would make Westia kind of a bad starting point if you want to go there. It's also really weird that Rich headed all the way to Westia to gather information/people, considering that this required him to cross both the Eastern Lordless Lands and half of the Grand Teille. You think he'd at least go to the City of Night, which is much closer to the Water Tower, also has a bar, and is already used in another scenario... To say nothing of wherever Julia grew up, since she apparently saw the murals on the surface several times as a child. (I remembered all of that information off of the top of my head. My memory is highly optimized for useless game trivia.) Let's go to the bar!  Eleanor! And some other dude that's presumably just here to pad out slot 4.  Nice to meet you too, random padding character.  Ah, Eleanor. You're just the one I needed to see. Do you know anything about the ruins of the Water Tower? What's this, so suddenly? I'm not a walking encyclopedia, you know.   Hey hey, even I can picture that. Since there's no water, that means that the Quell has been lost, right? If the tower's mechanism is damaged, it probably won't work, even if you have the Quell. When the ancient empire fell, many of the Water Towers were destroyed as well. That means that we need two things: the water Quell and an undamaged tower... Rich, what are you trying to do? I'm going to revive the tower. For Julia's sake.     Midlife crises are rough. Based on their relationship and Eleanor's talents/appearance, I wouldn't be surprised if she's a relative of Narcisse's; the fact he's acquainted with Cielmer, who's Gruegel nobility, and that we saw him in Vogelang suggests that he's from that area and probably of similar social status. Also explains why Patrick and Raymond were adventuring with them, despite their difference in experience--it wasn't just a favor for Wil.  Julia is too young to have much in the way of stats, but she's okay. Despite her higher sword level and slightly better sword, she's actually better with Bows. Raymond's gone, so I'll be handing her the Elven Lyre. This is the only scenario she'll appear, so there's no reason to get too attached.  Sargon is essentially here as a cameo: he has a role to play later on, and it has absolutely nothing at all to do with any of this. He's notable for his awful base SPR, but at least that doesn't matter too much--he's pretty good with swords, and that is some seriously impressive HP for his age. (That LP is absolutely awful, though, even considering that he'll get more as he ages.) He'll get the Cinderforge.   For comparison, Rich and Eleanor. Rich aged from 25 to 30 and gained +35 HP (409->444), +2 WP (63->65), and +3 SP (124->127). He's also lost 1 WPR (3->2). Eleanor aged from 30 to 35 and gained +24 HP (428->452), +2 WP (36->38) and +1 SP (114->115). Rich would be levelling Sword even more slowly if I'd stuck to that, if you can believe it... And this is with him keeping Cannonball on at all times, ensuring that he acts first and that his weapon levels always get a chance to increase. At least Twin Dragon is ridiculous enough to keep him useful.   I get Julia and Sargon geared up and go.   (Open-Air Music) I love this scenario, and the music of it is a drat big part of why--it really adds the right sense of adventure. There's two staircases: left and right. Left is progress, right is treasure... So right first, naturally.    Then I deliberately get into some fights. I want to show off the duel sprites for Julia and Sargon (and I never showed off Eleanor's, either), and...  (Field of Battle IV)  (Show of Joy IV) ...this area has the best goddamn battle theme in the world. Listen to that. (Second track is the fanfare, as always.)      The longer swords really suit Sargon's win poses. Sadly, Feldschlacht IV only shows up in two scenarios, and for various reasons you don't want to fight too much in the second... But drat do I love it.   The Coral Spear is an inferior Water Lance and therefore will never, ever matter. Having barely any more attack than the second-worst Spear (11) is just insult to injury. That's all for this little area. Up two sets of stairs, down the left staircase on the surface.     I take the left; you have to hit all the same points either way.    I head up the stairs.  Nothing else in the room.    There's a click, followed by a pulsing blue light along the lines.  This part and that part are broken. And... I guess that's it. If we can find replacements somewhere...Rich seems to be drat good at his job, considering how quickly he figured that out. A lot of areas in this scenario are too narrow, so you get into a lot of fights, but Feldschlacht IV makes this a lot less annoying.   This is the area through the right exit. Remember that this area is flooded. I head back up and head down.  To the right is a staircase we would have gone down if we hadn't crossed the bridge arch earlier.  Another click and pulsing blue light.  Whoa... This one's still usable. Guess I'll take it with me.He's referring to machine parts, if the translation makes it unclear (it does). We now have the part we need to fix the broken water pump from earlier. Both the stairs to the left and the tunnel to the right are blocked off by rubble, so the only way is back.   After the click and blue light, there's the sound of flowing water.  Reasoning that reactivating the water pump will clear out this watery basement gets you a prize! ...an awful prize  This Rock Heart is somewhat unique--it has 20 uses instead of the usual cap of 10!--but we've had the Stone Dragon for ages and that still doesn't see use. Now we have the Obsidian Gloves purchasable, and they're better in every way (unless you really want the Coral Ring, Birch Ring, or Bone Gloves). Why would you still be using Rock Hearts?    Despite what you'd expect (what with this being a very important part of the mechanism of the Water Tower), you get to keep the Spring Orb after this. It's a Water Quell that gives +10/+1 SP/SPR, +11 Heat Defense, and +1 to all other defenses, along with Water immunity. It's basically just an infinite-use Hyper Water with +1 SP Enhance. It's not very useful with so many other Water sources on non-accessories (Ice Spear, Lake Robes, Coral Rings, the Birch Ring) and so many other good Water-immune items (Birch Ring, Lake Robes, Water Mirror), but hey, free Quells are free Quells.     There's several clicks in a row. It's not moving. This one's no good.  ...Just hope it works.   The Crystal Wings are the game's best boots outside of the Titus Greaves, giving +10 SP, +8 physical defense, +5 magical defense, and Stun and Sonic Immunity. (Plus high SP Enhance! ...though we still have no real idea what that does.) They're obtainable from a variety of rare drop locations, including both Griffon Scenes and certain Polar Drakes, but these are the only pair you're guaranteed. They're amazing, but if you're crazy enough to obtain every Art, they do have a downside: the game's second-most powerful magical buff (the only one really worth using, outside of Reviva) is Sonic-based, so equipping the Crystal Wings (or Elven Lyre, or Silver Chain) will keep it from working on that character. It's something to keep in mind. Rich already has Water and Water Immunity from the Lake Robe, so he replaces the Birch Ring with the Crystal Wings; he takes a -1 SPR hit and loses Tree access, but he doesn't really need either. The next steps are a bit murky.   You may've thought, from the earlier dialogue, that this panel just didn't work at all. Nope! Inspecting it is absolutely necessary.    This is the only bit of rubble you can do this on anywhere in the game--in every other case, it's totally inacessible. (Hell, a single small rock blocks off a passageway just a little earlier in this scenario.) It's a dick move, but at least the treasure makes it a LITTLE more obvious.    Next, activating every terminal on the way up. If you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all, though.    We got one of these way back, during the second At the Mines. Very good headgear, nothing special otherwise.   If you didn't open all the valves:   After taking a moment to admire the view...  The music stops.     Considering the distances involved just from the Water Tower to Westia and back, Rich spent, like, three to six months getting this one girl to sleep with him (or to keep sleeping with him). I'm not sure whether he's determined or just incredibly desperate... Either way, good job! Although, uh, you probably should have left the Spring Orb with someone, because I'm sure there's SOME use for this giant mid-desert irrigation system.  1285 Rich journeys to the Water Tower Rich paints the sky with a rainbow. All of the interludes are available after this scenario. As usual, I do conversion and cram items I want to keep long-term on characters who aren't coming back; I'll retrieve the things I need from them with the Item Retriever later.  Laubholz's items have changed--unfortunately, you no longer get perfect Crowns->Chips conversion... Not that this really matters any more, since after Rich, the only party that can visit Interludes is the last one, and they have no reason to. If you just want Chip Circulation, though, converting 500 Chips to 3000 Crowns will let you buy 50 Holly Staves, which will return your 500 Chips and give you 1000 extra Circulation. Not bad for getting Custom Tools.  I do that, and the Babrashka Custom Tool Tree Spear shows up, thanks to Wil's Tree level and Cordelia's Spear level. There's also one other side-effect of the Laubholz store upgrade:    None of this is very good (if you missed the Beast Lance, the Steel Spear isn't a bad upgrade for now; the Brigandine and Field Suit are both worse than the Steel Armor Patrick came with and much worse than the Silver Chain), but it's neat to see some good Steel stuff being offered, isn't it? Progress!   This is the last scenario for Eleanor and Julia. Considering she was in about four scenarios, that Flame level is really drat impressive... That HP, too. Eleanor is roughly tied for second-best mage in the game, and she's tied with Wil, whose main advantage is a giant lead in scenario access. That says a lot about her. Julia, I have no real opinion on you, but your request lead to my favorite adventure-based scenario, so you're all right with me. Rich gained +16 HP (444->460), +2 WP (65->67), +4 SP (127->131), +7 Spear (11->18), +3 Flame (17->20), +3 Water (17->20). Eleanor gained +18 HP (452->470), +3 Tree (16->19), +6 Stone (15->21), +3 Flame (25->28). Julia gained +44 HP (250->294), +2 WP (55->57), +3 SP (81->84), +6 Bow (6->12), +2 Tree (4->6), +1 Flame (0->1). Sargon gained +21 HP (339->360), +2 WP (54->56), +1 SP (29->30), +2 Sword (15->17), and +2 Tree (8->10). Sargon's levels are a bit less impressive than they should be, because everyone kept killing things before he could attack; his HP was the only thing that could go up about half the time. Rich's are still a bit inflated by Cannonball letting him always act first, but either way, he's finally coming into his own! 18 Spear is pretty decent, and 20 Flame and Water are enough to make Twin Dragon very strong... And he's certainly got more than enough HP and SP. Good thing, too... I'm going to buck my usual trend now--we're past the point where bonus scenarios pop up, so there's no need to be strictly tied to chronology. We'll be sticking with the Knights side of the story a little longer. Next (chronological): Death of Cantal (1288) Next (LP Order/Knights):  (1290) Einander fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Apr 22, 2015 |
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Apr 10, 2015 01:06
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Wil risked his life to save the world from a malicious Anima-draining Quell, to the point of manipulating powerful and influential figures just to have a chance at destroying it. His son raids ruins in order to get laid.
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Apr 10, 2015 01:18
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Nakar posted:Wil risked his life to save the world from a malicious Anima-draining Quell, to the point of manipulating powerful and influential figures just to have a chance at destroying it. No wonder the two of them don't get along.
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Apr 10, 2015 01:24
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(Field of Battle IV) The first few seconds always remind me of some news show lead-in. The fact that I seem to most remember this incredibly dramatic song when fighting frogs makes it deliciously absurd.
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Apr 10, 2015 01:32
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Segue Frontier 2.
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Apr 10, 2015 16:53
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I love that conversation between Eleanor and Rick, it's very human. Honestly, I'm not sure if it's because of the LP format or what not, but it feels like the gameplay is... really irrelevant overall. Is that a feeling that happens to those of you who'd played it?
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Apr 10, 2015 20:18
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It sounds like the gameplay is a vast mire of unexplaned subsystems, and equipment that you fear to ever use because it'll break unless you only do very specific things with it.
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Apr 10, 2015 20:43
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Keldulas posted:Honestly, I'm not sure if it's because of the LP format or what not, but it feels like the gameplay is... really irrelevant overall. Is that a feeling that happens to those of you who'd played it? When I was a kid, I got through the whole game without using anything but weapon skills. Including on characters like Wil and Narcisse. So.. yeah, a lot of the systems can be kind of meaningless.
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Apr 10, 2015 20:51
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There's a bit of flexibility in how and when you do certain chapters, so I think the game has kind of a lax difficulty sometimes to make allowances for someone doing a scenario earlier than might be optimal. There are a few humps in the difficulty curve later on though. Keep in mind that Saga games are usually designed a bit with you figuring out the system as you go, so your average joe gamer isn't going to go in knowing what "chip circulation" is or which combos to use in duels to force-learn the skills you want. When I played, Tornado Blade (that one that comes with the assassin) was the only hybrid art I ever had. Maybe I just suck, but I think that's a pretty typical experience.
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Apr 10, 2015 21:21
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Ardeem posted:It sounds like the gameplay is a vast mire of unexplaned subsystems, and equipment that you fear to ever use because it'll break unless you only do very specific things with it. It's a SaGa game with breakable equipment, in other words.
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Apr 10, 2015 21:27
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Mootiman posted:There's a bit of flexibility in how and when you do certain chapters, so I think the game has kind of a lax difficulty sometimes to make allowances for someone doing a scenario earlier than might be optimal. There are a few humps in the difficulty curve later on though. I had a pretty similar experience except I didn't notice the Tornado Blade for a while. Hell, I don't even think I knew about the Hybrid Arts combos or the Hahn Ruins skeleton until like... 5-6 years after the game came out.
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Apr 10, 2015 21:28
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Keldulas posted:I love that conversation between Eleanor and Rick, it's very human. I learned basically everything at the start, so my attacks are generally stronger than expected... But if I hadn't, it'd all be the same, it'd just take longer. If everyone has Water available, then you can revive incredibly easily, and the fact that LP-healing is turn-free (and you have so many LP) means that healing is trivial... And even if it wasn't, very few bosses actually do significant damage. I haven't actually healed in ages. It's pretty common for a scenario to have one enemy that's markedly stronger than all the others, but you have infinite quicksaves that load very quickly. And while weapons break, you get a lot of them, and several weapon types have early or easily-available Quells to remove that restriction. Every attack takes SP or WP! ...but you regenerate it anyway, so if you're low on WP and you don't have Hybrid Arts, then just defend for a while (or use one of the dozen Ark Stones you get throughout the game). I love SF2, but when I play through it, I do it to relax. The two branches each end with a much more demanding challenge (and there's a reason people talk about South Moundtop and the last boss), but 99% of the game is utterly trivial.
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Apr 10, 2015 21:29
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I guess Wil's had more Egg-related tragedy to push him on. Wonder if this is going to be Rich's time...
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Apr 10, 2015 22:36
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Return of the Egg (1290) Rich has a child! Meanwhile... 1290 Rich encounters the Egg once again The young girl who possessed the egg has grown up.  (Captain) Another important mood-setting track.   Huh? What're you having? A baby. Agh... You're not happy, Rich?   (vooorm)        You can go after Diana, but...  Rich aged from 30 to 35 and gained +24 HP (428->452), +2 WP (36->38) and +1 SP (114->115). In total, it's been thirteen years since he last saw the Egg.    Just as I suspected. You're that girl from before. You still have the Egg. What're you doing here!? A notable detail: remember Wil on the pirate ship? He doesn't talk to the pirate once after he sees the Egg. Wil looks at the Quell, Rich looks at the person holding it.  A little of this, a little of that. I've just come to try something out. I didn't come here to see you. Just try and pull something stupid! I'll make sure you regret it! Are you going to kill me? Please, no... I haven't done anything. Why do you have to kill me? Errrgh...    Misty--or the Egg, depending on who you ask--has three lines after this if you talk to her repeatedly: Oh please, don't kill me! Do you fancy young women? Don't get in my way!Which one of the three you get is random. Rich has spent a lot of time in his father's shadow... It's probably part of why he's been content to live his life as a mediocre Digger. He's never delved into Megaliths, never searched for obscure Quells, never really tried to make a name for himself... All things reflected in his respectable-at-best stats. His response now tells us everything we need to know about the first time around, thirteen years ago: the moment the Egg shows up, he doesn't doubt, he doesn't hesitate, he is absolutely sure it is a threat and his first priority is to get Diana out of the blast radius. He wasn't really taking a moral stand, then... He just didn't want to become the kind of person Wil did in his pursuit of the Egg. So he ran away. And Rich knows all of that.     Midway through saying that, she turns away and closes her eyes. There's a long pause.  I can't really explain myself. Dad can explain a lot better. If you say its about the Egg, he'll know. Egg? Yes. Now go.    1290 Rich encounters the Egg once again The young girl who possessed the egg has grown up. Next (chronological): Misty's Plot (1290) Next (Knights): Misty's Plot (1290) Einander fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Apr 16, 2015 |
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Apr 13, 2015 01:31
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Lol, I don't think I would take it super well either if the moment I told the gf I was pregnant she stared at some lady then told me to hoof it to my dad far, far away.
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Apr 13, 2015 07:55
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Einander posted:I love SF2, but when I play through it, I do it to relax. The two branches each end with a much more demanding challenge (and there's a reason people talk about South Moundtop and the last boss), but 99% of the game is utterly trivial. The thing about this game is, yes you can, essentially, breeze through the whole game with little difficulty. The problem is, you'll be left with the feeling you're missing something - mechanics, extra scenarios, the one bit of info that ties everything together, whatever. It was that lack of understanding when I played it that always put an end to my playthroughs way back when. And since so much of the game wasn't understood when it first came out, I'd get so far in, realise I didn't have a clue how or why the battle mechanics worked at all, get frustrated and quit.
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Apr 13, 2015 11:52
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Misty's Plot (1290) A mysterious epidemic befalls the townspeople of North Gate, putting them into a coma... 1290 Rich battles the Egg in the dungeon of fossils Rich stops the Egg's plan and shows his power.  (Novel)   This is one of the very few times the scenario changes without at least a year passing.    It seems that the Egg(-wielder) is being subtle now... It's not just eating people. Which is probably part of the point. If Misty was seriously endangering people, he would have acted on that by now. Rich's moral qualms aren't so strong that he'll just stand by while she kills people. (The ambiguity in who's in control makes referring to Misty and the Egg much harder, but I'll stick to Rich's perspective on things.)   (thinking) The cave...? What business does she have in there?If you talk to him again:  Considering that he's probably known as a womanizer, it's really hard to a) keep tabs on her and b) warn people away from her without looking really, really suspicious.  Especially since, well, that.   (Fairy Tale of Magic)  Battle music is Feldschlacht III. Rich is going it alone from here on out, so you want some method of dealing with multiple enemies. Both Swords and Spears are good at this, with Tornado Blade and Wide Swing good for taking out most of the extra enemies. This is the last chance to get a Granite Staff.  The path through is a little more complicated this time--rocks are blocking off the easy path to where you need to go. I didn't actually go down here last time.     If not for the fallen skeleton from the last visit providing a way up here, Rich would be SOL.   Misty absorbs the skeleton.  You're the one that sucked the Anima away from the townpeople, aren't you? What's your intent? What's your real purpose!? You're correct. I've taken a little bit of Anima from all of them. I'll ask you otherwise. What's your reason for living, Knights? What do you mean, reason...?    Either the Egg is lying through its teeth or Misty still possesses some of her own will--knowing what I know, I can fairly confidently say that the Egg doesn't really care about any of that.        Wait, the Egg can create Quells? That is way, way more scary than anything it's shown the ability to do so far. In-game, Quells are just stronger Tools, but in-universe they're an order of magnitude stronger. A Quell that can create Quells is serious business. The screen starts to shake.   (Obsession)  The Anima Beast has nearly 4600 HP, and... Basically all it can do is Fang. code:Like, seriously, that's it's whole move selection: Fang, Feint, and Scream. Fang does 30 damage to Rich when he's not defending, and Rich has nearly 500 HP. "Feint->Fang" leads to Run Through, but that isn't as strong as two Fangs and Rich has enough magical defense that Scream does nothing at all. This doesn't win the "saddest boss" competition only because I'm counting the three Merman fight in Anima Faith Fiasco; Wil could kill three ~1000 HP enemies in a single Hymnal. At least that one has the excuse of being calibrated for people that jump straight in after doing all the Gustave scenarios.   No special drops this time around...  ...though it doesn't show up as dropping these chips in the ripped monster Scene list, so who knows.    1290 Rich battles the Egg in the dungeon of fossils Rich stops the Egg's plan and shows his power. Next (chronological): Deadly Battle with the Egg (1291) Next (Knights): Deadly Battle with the Egg (1291) Einander fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Apr 19, 2015 |
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Apr 16, 2015 01:07
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So Misty's the one that's doing all the horrible stuff. You've hinted that the egg does have some will of its own but it's not in line with what's happening here. It's a neat game in how it leaves so much up to the imagination. This is a lot more compelling than if they'd just told us outright all the nasty powers the egg has and displayed them in sequence.
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Apr 16, 2015 02:06
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Super Space Jam 64 posted:So Misty's the one that's doing all the horrible stuff. You've hinted that the egg does have some will of its own but it's not in line with what's happening here. Keep in mind Misty's had the Egg since she was about 6-8 years old. She's held onto it almost as long, if not longer than Alexei, and while he was already a twisted man made worse by an external influence, she was a child molded by it. The two are almost interchangeable at this point, Misty has the creativity, but the Egg has the powers.
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Apr 16, 2015 03:02
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Super Space Jam 64 posted:So Misty's the one that's doing all the horrible stuff. You've hinted that the egg does have some will of its own but it's not in line with what's happening here. Well, if you'd kept a corrupting soul-sucking artifact on you at all times since your childhood, you'd grow up a bit twisted, too, wouldn't you? TARDISman posted:Keep in mind Misty's had the Egg since she was about 6-8 years old. She's held onto it almost as long, if not longer than Alexei, and while he was already a twisted man made worse by an external influence, she was a child molded by it. The two are almost interchangeable at this point, Misty has the creativity, but the Egg has the powers. The interesting thing to pick up on here is that Misty has had the egg since she was a child. Much like the Firebrand, children taking ownership of Quells seems to be much safer since their anima isn't fully developed and thus the power surges of the Quell has far less possibility to do damage to them as they adapt to each other.
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Apr 16, 2015 03:33
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While I'm thinking about it, since I'm playing way ahead for buffer... Informal vote. Pretty much every character so far has had one clear choice for "best weapon type," but the third Knights protagonist has two viable ones. Staves are their greatest talent, and they're best-in-game with them by miles, but the Arts aren't amazing and the weapons aren't either. At endgame, they're stuck using the 40-attack Limstokes, and that's if you really know what you're doing with Circulation and Custom Tools and all that. They're also pretty good with Swords, and Swords have the most Arts and the best weapon, the Cinderforge Sword. The main downside is that the final party already has a Swords-user with two locked-slot weapons, so using Swords on the protagonist gives you a two-Sword party and weakens your combos a bit. This matters more than it seems, because four-person combos are where damage gets really crazy... And Painful Beat, the workhorse Staff technique, is amazing for combos. So what're you all interested in seeing? Staves, so the best character gets their best weapon type, or Swords, so the best weapon type gets its best character?
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Apr 16, 2015 04:53
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