Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City - Even on the high seas, F.O.E!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City - Even on the high seas, F.O.E!

«‹›95 »

BlazeEmblem: Jun 8, 2013; Uh oh. Do I use Ariadne thread or Goho-M?

Let's go with CalmSeas

For the same reason as before - our goal is to end the raging waves, right?

# ? May 23, 2015 06:35

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 28, 2024 19:02

Kinu Nishimura: Apr 24, 2008; SICK LOOT!

It's called the S.S. Oh No! because that's what monsters will be saying when they see it :smug:

# ? May 23, 2015 06:46

FrickenMoron: May 6, 2009; Good game!

I forgot if Scavenger Toma shows up more than once for those bar dialogues, but you totally should use the guy from Chrono Trigger for that.

# ? May 23, 2015 06:48

Blueberry Pancakes: Aug 18, 2012; Jack in!! MegaMan, Execute!

S.S. Nautilus?

alcharagia posted:

It's called the S.S. Oh No! because that's what monsters will be saying when they see it

Or Joseph Joestar.

Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 15:16 on May 23, 2015

# ? May 23, 2015 06:51

thenightsshadow: May 12, 2013

FrickenMoron posted:

I forgot if Scavenger Toma shows up more than once for those bar dialogues, but you totally should use the guy from Chrono Trigger for that.

No spoilers here, but he shows up WAY more than once.

# ? May 23, 2015 07:01

Reco: Feb 26, 2011; enemy one body to the proximity Zan attack discard the power slap hit.

I've decided on a deeply thought out and creative name for my play-along.

# ? May 23, 2015 07:15

Blueberry Pancakes: Aug 18, 2012; Jack in!! MegaMan, Execute!

That lowercase B bothers me more than the stairs video.

Etrian Odyssey has changed me. :arghfist:

# ? May 23, 2015 07:20

Namingway: Jul 8, 2009

I named my ship the Hesperus. It turned out to be very fitting. As much I'd like to feel clever about coming up with the name, I actually just got it from the Stonecutters episode of the Simpsons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Hesperus

# ? May 23, 2015 07:26

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

Surely our kobune* should have the name Battere**

Really I'm down for something nonsensically Japanese.

*Translator notes: kobune means boat
** Battere also means boat

# ? May 23, 2015 07:28

Strange Quark: Oct 15, 2012; I Failed At Anime 2022

Dr. Fetus posted:

The mapping mission has a few requirements before it's considered finished. First of all, there's 185 tiles to step on, but you need to have at least stepped on 105 of them. This is to prevent cheesing by copying from someone else. The other thing the game checks for is mistakes. A missing tile, a blank tile, an extra wall, or a missing wall all count as mistakes. If you have more than 18 mistakes, you cannot complete the mission until you fix them.

How many walls around stairs count as a mistake.

I need to know.

# ? May 23, 2015 07:53

Reco: Feb 26, 2011; enemy one body to the proximity Zan attack discard the power slap hit.

Well, there's only one staircase during the exam, and it starts you with 3 errors that you have to correct. It's a trick question to make sure you actually know how to properly draw maps

# ? May 23, 2015 07:55

Glazius: Jul 22, 2007; Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.; Clapping Larry

poo poo, let's be Norse. The Heimdall.

I do like that the Lynx is there to warn you that not all monsters are created equal on dungeon levels.

# ? May 23, 2015 08:03

RareAcumen: Dec 28, 2012

Let's call it the Nemo

# ? May 23, 2015 08:18

Rangpur: Dec 31, 2008

Meanwhile, in a paralell dimension... Humprhey the Hoplite, Kumog the Wildling, Hecate the Monk, Lilah the Arbalist, and Jane the... :sigh:

Farmer of guild Dead End set off on their journey.

thenightsshadow posted:

Why democracy doesn't work.

Well poo poo, you beat me to it. It might still be interesting to see the differences in strategy though. So let's talk about why H/W/M A/F is a terrible starting party. There's the equipment issue, as mentioned--I solve it by ignoring weapons for the Wildling & Farmer for now. Neither is useful as a damage dealer, and the Hoplite is marginally stronger. Spears will do the same damage from the back row, but we want him in front. Second, Wildlings require a lot of point investment before they can start landing status ailments consistently & Farmers will never be good in combat--you're effectively taking a 3 man party into the Labyrinth. But there is a way to squeeze out every possible advantage--ignore the optimal leveling strategy and think short term. What do you need to survive the 1st floor specifically?

All of Jane's points go into Lullaby. An emergency measure for Lynxs... Linkses... Linksys? Well, whatever. It still won't land as often as you'd want but this is all about clawing for every advantage you can get. Likewise, Kumog gets one point in Wild Mastery, and 2 in Call Bird, which costs the same as level 1 but will hit more often. Another Lynx countermeasure. The rest are the same as Dr. Fetus' setup but will diverge quickly. Mostly. Giant Kill is really, really goood y'all. Honestly, it's kind of a boring party to use early on. Even for newbie characters, their options are very limited. Things start off well, and I make it to level 2 before encountering the first lynx. Hecate immediately grabs another point in her class skill, since we want the most possible restoration without increasing TP costs. Humphrey takes another level of Provoke instead of Line Guard. You only need to spend TP on it once every 3 rounds, remember.

Kumog grabs Dismiss Beast, which unsummons your animals and refunds the TP you spent on them. Of course you still have to pay the cost of dismissal. 8 TP at level 1. Ouch. But Call Bird costs 15, so if you summon and dismiss it you can eke out a second casting later with those 7 TP you get back. MInd you, if the battle ends before you dismiss it, those TP are gone forever. Guess what happened the first time I tried this? 3 ranks in Lullaby unlocks Strange Seeds, which can potentially bind every body part... but the success rate is godawful and it's 10 TP at level 1. I get Play Possum instead. AND THEN! I get blindsided by a lynx, who immediately bites Hecates face off. Now I've got a problem because A) she was the healer, B) one of two decent damage dealers, and c) she shares the Cross Slice limit with Lilah. If one of them's dead, Lilah can't use it. :argh:

Kumog pulls the party through by binding the Lynx's head so it wastes the next couple turns trying and failing to use Bite Off, but Lilah is now the only one who deals any remotely decent amount of damage and she'll crumple like a wet napkin if anything scores a hit on her. Arbalists define the term 'glass cannon.' So I leave! You can do that, you know. They don't lock you in. So long as the monster bits you picked up will pay for revival and a stay at the inn you can continue after a good night's sleep.

Next Time: Gaming the system

...The ship's name? Man, I dunno. The good ship Endeavor has a nice ring to it.

Rangpur fucked around with this message at 08:38 on May 23, 2015

# ? May 23, 2015 08:34

Reco: Feb 26, 2011; enemy one body to the proximity Zan attack discard the power slap hit.

Rangpur posted:

H/W/M A/F

You are a braver person than I.

I'm only goin with N/H B/Z/M because I'm a huge baby who needs like 3 classes as a crutch.

# ? May 23, 2015 08:39

thenightsshadow: May 12, 2013

Dr. Fetus posted:

So understanding how the Mission and Quest exp is tantamount, especially because of what I'm going to explain.

---

Raising 5 Farmers

Mode 1: The Easiest Mode
So yes, I completed the mission, but that doesn't mean the people that cleared the mission are the ones who will get the experience. One of the easiest ways to train a hard-to-train party, like a Farming Team, is by feeding them all the experience from Missions and Quests. The thing to remember here is that your Combat team won't necessarily need the experience, they can just train to get the experience they didn't get. In all likelihood, a party of five Farmers won't get to combat ready status for a long time. Because of that, it's just super easy to have a Combat Team, then feed all the Mission and Quest EXP to the Farmers.

Mode 2: The Slightly Harder Mode (still easy)
If you want the Farmers to actually be the ones to clear the entire thing, then what you can do is put a Save File after making your five Farmers. Next, select five more adventurers and have them clear the labyrinth and write everything necessary down. Have them die, then save the map data. Each square you've stepped on will still register in the system. Next, reload your game, take your five farmers, equip them with just Armor (and their Dagger), and have them just head on forward to the Guard. Verify the Map, then have one of the Farmers use To Market and get out of there. You can then start to equip your Farmers much more readily and with more experience before ever fighting a single battle in the Labyrinth.

Mode 3: The Actual Hard Mode
Obviously, both of those are cheating, in some aspect. So, here's how to do it for real.

Andy/Billy Bob/Carol
Danni/Edgar

Weapon Purchases: 3x Large Hatchet (150) for the Front Row, 2x Pitchfork (120) for the Back Row.
Armor Purchases: 5x Shuro's Sandals (100) for everyone, 3x Bark Gloves (120) for the Front Row.
Item Purchases: None
Selling: 5x Dagger (-50)
Total ental Remaining: 60

There's a lot of dangers to running a five Farmer party.
1) No Skill Healing or Reviving during battle, forcing you to rely solely on Inn Trips to save money.
2) Poor Combat Stats, forcing you to rely on battling weak monsters to survive multiple battles.
3) No Offensive Skills, forcing you to rely on normal attacks for damage. This becomes a problem later.

The few positives you have.
1) You can farm at the same time as you train. You don't need another team; you can stick all of your experience on these guys.
2) Earth's Bounty will let you level up a lot faster, especially because they stack. 76 exp from two Fanged Fish (which translates to 15 exp for everyone) becomes 114 exp (which translates to 22 exp for everyone) at Level 1. You won't want more than one point, due to how many points you need for the rest of your journey, and the high diminishing returns after that first point, but that initial 10% boost from each Farmer really helps.
3) Ariadne Threads are not necessary to purchase and timed events are more or less unmentionnable, as both To Market and Horseplay can help adjust the time to whatever you need it to be.

Because of these, here's what I'm using for Skills.

Andy, Billy Bob, and Carol are all taking 1 in Earth's Bounty, 1 in Lullaby, and 1 in Play Possum. As the front line, they need to go straight for Persistence. They'll pick up Bandage next level, but other than that they're heading straight to it.
Danni is taking 1 in Earth's Bounty and 2 in Lullaby. I'm aiming straight for Rotten Egg here.
Edgar is taking 1 in Earth's Bounty, 1 in Keen Eye, and 1 in To Market. You want to have the option to make it back home without having to walk.

Equip the Cross Slash on the back two, and equip Charge Tactic and Indomitable on whoever you want to in the front row. Don't forget to change around Indomitable depending on who has the lowest HP. I forgot to equip them, though, until I turn the mission in. Whoops.

--Enemies--

You really want to know how much damage each enemy can do with a normal attack to a Farmer in this state.

At Level 1,
Deadly Durian do 8-11 damage to the front row.
Fanged Fish do 11-14 damage to the front row.
Forest Frogs do 16-19 damage to the front row.

Each enemy group you have to follow a specific strategy.

2x Deadly Durian, 2x Fanged Fish
Attack with all party members. If that party member is within killing range, Play Possum or Defend instead, depending on your TP.

2x Forest Frogs
Use Play Possum on all three front party members, and use Lullaby on the first back party member. The fifth should attack. If any fall asleep, attack the one awake if any, and the lowest HP frog if not. If none fall asleep, run. Make sure to use Defend if you're not running away and low on HP.

Take the following Skills until you reach Level 3.
Andy, Billy Bob, Carol - 1x Bandage, 1x Play Possum
Danni - 1x Lullaby, 1x Rotten Egg
Edgar - 2x Lullaby

At Level 3, this is the earliest you can encounter Great Lynx and win. By this time, you should have enough things to sell and ental to purchase Strap Shoes for at least two, three if you've been really lucky, of your Front Row characters. Once you're equipped with three, it's time to show that Great Lynx a what-for! Just pray it's not an Ambush. I almost wish I had limits for this fight.

Great Lynx
Having the Great Lynx Bite Off a Party Member will result in death and a high likelihood of wiping, so run if it does this. Having the Rotten Egg user use it, and the rest attack. Everyone will now be able to survive a normal attack now (front row will have 1-4 HP left), so it's a matter of adjusting aggro with Play Possum, but don't do it all at once. You'll barely kill it if you pull it off correctly and the Great Lynx attacks everyone once, which he is likely to do, though it'll be at least a turn faster with Limits.

From there, To Market, heal up, and begin again. You should be Level 4 or 5 by the time you clear the mission, and you might even be able to afford a Scale Jerkin or two for your front row. Just don't give the back row armor besides the Shuro's Sandals, you need them to have a higher attack to use Cross Slash better.

(to be continued...)
----

# ? May 23, 2015 09:18

NewMars: Mar 10, 2013

I say, we call it the Jumpjet. It's the least fitting name for a sailing boat that I can think of.

# ? May 23, 2015 10:10

8_Escape: Dec 26, 2013

I will admit I looked up puns for boat names and I think we should go with Tug Life.

# ? May 23, 2015 12:57

Pureauthor: Jul 8, 2010; ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST

I vote we name it Kunkka because we might as well continue the theme naming.

# ? May 23, 2015 13:58

W.T. Fits: Apr 21, 2010; Ready to Poyozo Dance all over your face.

I say we go with Calamity. I'll elaborate later when I'm not stuck phone-posting.

Edit: Okay, so the Calamity was responsible for the devastation of Armoroad, the creation of the Labyrinth, and the end of the sea trade industry, right? But with Guild Tidehunt at the helm, the Calamity will be a force for restoring trade and revitalizing the city's economy. What better way to announce our future mastery of the Labyrinth and calming the raging waves than by taking the name of the force that spawned them both, and making it work for us? Names have power... let us take the name of something powerful and claim that power for our own! :black101:

W.T. Fits fucked around with this message at 16:33 on May 23, 2015

# ? May 23, 2015 14:16

Crosspeice: Aug 9, 2013

Honestly, you're all making it way to complicated. It's just A ship. :v:

# ? May 23, 2015 15:07

thenightsshadow: May 12, 2013

Crosspeice posted:

Honestly, you're all making it way to complicated. It's just A ship.

I'm gonna second this just because that was the name of my ship in my fifth and onwards playthroughs. Might as well make one of these get a second vote.

A Ship.

# ? May 23, 2015 15:19

Onehellofaburrito: Oct 6, 2014

Rangpur posted:

...The ship's name? Man, I dunno. The good ship Endeavor has a nice ring to it.

I'll second this

# ? May 23, 2015 15:31

Endorph: Jul 22, 2009

Shimakaze (Translator's Note: Shimakaze means Island Wind)

# ? May 23, 2015 15:35

BearDrivingTruck: Oct 15, 2011; You see the most shocking sights sometimes

How about HunkJunk?

I don't think HunkOfJunk fits.

# ? May 23, 2015 16:13

Crepuscule Adepte: Feb 21, 2008; Why is my hair purple? It's from the blood of everyone that lost a bet against me.

I'm goign to support the Torrent myself.

# ? May 23, 2015 16:42

AweStriker: Oct 6, 2014

I support the Battere.

# ? May 23, 2015 16:46

Lotus Aura: Aug 16, 2009; KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

I'm all for the Torrent.

# ? May 23, 2015 17:22

Bacon In A Wok: Jan 27, 2014

Dr. Fetus posted:

So come up with or vote on a name for our ship. Please bold both the name you've came up with and the choice you're voting for. The default name will be Torrent if no one comes up with a name. Because that's what I went with in my own playthroughs.

We tried to paint this on, Ms. Zodiac, we really did. But, well, you see, young Lug over there really wanted to do at least one letter, and, well, he's sort of, you know, a bit simple. In the head. And this is why your ship is now the Forrent.

... please don't electrocute me or set me on fire or...

# ? May 23, 2015 17:31

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

BearDrivingTruck posted:

How about HunkJunk?

I don't think HunkOfJunk fits.

Yeah, there's only room for 8 letters, like the Guild name.

Ship Names so far:

Torrent: 3
Battere: 2
Endeavor: 2
A: 2
CalmSeas: 1
Oh No!: 1
Nautilus: 1
boat: 1
Hesperus: 1
Heimdall: 1
Nemo: 1
Jumpjet: 1
Tug Life: 1
Kunkka: 1
Calamity: 1
HunkJunk: 1
Forrent: 1
~~Shimakaze:~~ Doesn't fit. Sorry.

Next update isn't gonna have any Labyrinth exploration. Instead, it will cover a different major part of the gameplay in EO3. Also the sooner I get to show off one of the best tracks in the game, the better.

# ? May 23, 2015 18:57