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Think you hosed up a spoiler tag in your quote.
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Sep 29, 2023 15:30
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I enjoyed parts of CS3. But there's a giant caveat to that and I'm going to spoiler it just in case. I got so sick of all the Crow/Rean melodrama during CS2 that while I wasn't happy when Crow died, I felt like it was a decent end to his character arc. Then, CS3 brought him back and every single chapter ended with so much Rean/Crow/Class VII melodrama that it sucked away all the enjoyment I'd had. I really had to force myself to push through to the end of CS3 and through the second half of CS4.
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Sep 29, 2023 16:45
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Some Numbers posted:I enjoyed parts of CS3. Can’t believe you hated the main couple of Cold Steel 😔
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Sep 29, 2023 16:47
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SgtSteel91 posted:Can’t believe you hated the main couple of Cold Steel 😔 The main couple of Cold Steel is clearly Osborne and scheming.
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Sep 29, 2023 16:50
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SgtSteel91 posted:Can’t believe you hated the main couple of Cold Steel 😔 I never found Crow very interesting or likable, so Rean's singleminded obsession with him rang super hollow for me. Also the main couple from CS2 was definitely Rean x Depression
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Sep 29, 2023 16:59
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Regarding Kuro/Daybreak:Ytlaya posted:Another upside is that, as long as you do all your 4spg side quests (which pretty much everyone is), you can do all bond ("connect" in this) events. If you're playing with the English fan translation, I think this may be something that was changed by the patch. When I played it without the patch, there were definitely times where I didn't get enough points to do all the events, even after getting the bonus point for doing all the side quests in the day. I don't remember any NG+ options to give you enough points to do all the events, either, though I haven't looked at that in a while. The patch also added color coding for the alignment choices that wasn't in the original version, so they definitely tweaked a few things beyond just translating the text.
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Sep 29, 2023 20:47
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Sakurazuka posted:Well I found the absolute worst enemy in Nayuta infinite: the snakes that fire apparently unavoidable beams of light at you that do damage every second and if I ever get hit by one I'm dead instantly. Did I mention they're almost completely unavoidable? As far as I tell if they fire you're dead, the only way to deal with them is to keep them in hitstun until they die. Assuming all the beam-firing snakes work similarly, can't you try to guard the beam? When I encountered these types of enemies, I recall guarding a beam's first hit will prevent it from doing subsequent hits.
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Sep 29, 2023 20:49
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Tesseraction posted:Referring to content as "filler" because it isn't relevant to the main story I feel is a little misleading if it only is seen as filler in retrospect. I enjoyed seeing those events unfold and even if you feel the people involved were underutilised I don't see it as the stalling for time that calling them filler implies. Everything in a fictional world has to be created by a writer, and it should serve a purpose. Readers/viewers expect it to serve a purpose. It's loving fair to note that when half a game is spent on a setting and characters and then the second half of the story does essentially nothing with them, that feels like the writers did a poor job utilizing what they set up. There are clear pacing problems with the Cold Steel series. Veryslightlymad posted:If you look at the games in a dry plot beat to plot beat kinda way, maybe that's a bit disappointing. But the emotive core from game to game is stunning in how well it's pulled off. Personally, I feel like the emotions evoked in 2 and 3 ring the loudest, but the whole series is a triumph of an extremely ambitious style of storytelling. The emotive core stops being effective when the writers keep loving around crying wolf constantly. If you want me to feel punched in the gut, then punch me in the gut, and don't just take it back later with "Psych! Fooled you!" (Also, stop breaking verisimilitude with painfully weak contrivances to avoid killing even nameless, faceless NPC's. Breaking verisimilitude also makes the emotive core stop being effective.) Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Sep 29, 2023 |
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Sep 29, 2023 21:44
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Erpy posted:Assuming all the beam-firing snakes work similarly, can't you try to guard the beam? When I encountered these types of enemies, I recall guarding a beam's first hit will prevent it from doing subsequent hits. Maybe, I tend to forget guard exists lol Anyway I'm way past there now and done most of the NG+ extra stuff, just gotta finish the game again, really wish quests carried over so I only had to redo the new ones for the trophy.
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Sep 29, 2023 22:26
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Also lol one of the new game plus 'bonuses' removes the lvl 100 max limit for enemies and makes them scale even more aggressively.
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Sep 29, 2023 22:27
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Everything in a fictional world has to be created by a writer, and it should serve a purpose. Readers/viewers expect it to serve a purpose. It's loving fair to note that when half a game is spent on a setting and characters and then the second half of the story does essentially nothing with them, that feels like the writers did a poor job utilizing what they set up. Okay, but you're falling into a different trap here, which is judging 3 purely as setup for 4. It has to be engaging on its own, because 3 is like sixty hours long by itself, and it and 4 were released a whole year apart. You can't only judge them holistically in this case. I was engaged by it, and so were a lot of other people. Like, sure, 3 writing checks that 4 can't cash is definitely a problem, but that's a series-wide problem. Cold Steel 1 does that with 2 a ton.
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Sep 29, 2023 22:43
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Also it’s all subjective because I though CS2 was the perfect sequel to CS1 in every way and CS4 was really good
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Sep 29, 2023 22:48
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Everything in a fictional world has to be created by a writer, and it should serve a purpose. Readers/viewers expect it to serve a purpose. It's loving fair to note that when half a game is spent on a setting and characters and then the second half of the story does essentially nothing with them, that feels like the writers did a poor job utilizing what they set up. Pacing problems, sure, but there's nothing in particular in CS3 that I felt was padding for time so much as trying to make entertaining content - I enjoyed the parts of CS3 that didn't really matter in terms of the greater Trails plot. I don't think this means everyone has to enjoy them, but I also say you can't ignore that other people do enjoy them. I consider it flavour text as opposed to filler text. Games, much like most forms of entertainment, are meant to, primarily, engage us regardless of whether they give us life-changing experiences.
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Sep 29, 2023 22:55
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There's only one thing that could possibly sour me on part of Daybreak 1 (and even then only on part of it). Question for Mr. Fortitude - does Daybreak 2 "undo" a certain thing from Daybreak 1 (should be obvious what I'm referring to)? As long as it doesn't, I'm fine (and I honestly won't mind much if it somehow does in Daybreak 3). Tesseraction posted:Pacing problems, sure, but there's nothing in particular in CS3 that I felt was padding for time so much as trying to make entertaining content - I enjoyed the parts of CS3 that didn't really matter in terms of the greater Trails plot. I don't think this means everyone has to enjoy them, but I also say you can't ignore that other people do enjoy them. I consider it flavour text as opposed to filler text. I enjoyed CS3 a lot, but it doesn't really progress the "greater plot" much at all until the very end (and doesn't really have a coherent "self-contained" plot either). If you asked me to sum up CS3's plot, I'm actually not sure what I'd say. You get into a series of conflicts with little explanation for them (and even the explanation eventually provided is a little goofy (the stuff about trying to simulate Rivalries with the Aeons). Fortunately it's still enjoyable just because it's one of the Trails games that introduces you to characters/areas (which the series is always good at). A lot of my enjoyment came from how hype I was at the end (which ended up being a check that CS4 mostly couldn't cash). I still enjoyed CS4 a lot (more fun overall than CS3 IMO), but mostly "in spite of" its main plot.
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Sep 29, 2023 23:13
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Ytlaya posted:There's only one thing that could possibly sour me on part of Daybreak 1 (and even then only on part of it). Major Daybreak spoilers. If you're talking about what happened to Creil, no. If you're talking to what happened to Dingo... kiiiiiiind of but not in the way you'd think?.
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Sep 29, 2023 23:23
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Last Celebration posted:Think you hosed up a spoiler tag in your quote. My bad. Crow: I like the man but uh, hes absent 70+% of every game barring CS4, so he feels like he got less development than the new kids at times lmao. I like him about as much as I like Ash, and the only reason I'd say Crow is cooler is his Class VI relationship. Also, just thought of this, but I'd have preferred a Class VI game over a N7 game. Towa's one of my favorite characters in the franchise and anything that gives her focus is automatically good, she has amazing chemistry with everyone she interacts with. I appreciate that discussions about Arc 4 are actually being had this go around instead of "game bad" and no one even trying to discuss actual details. About Filler, my use was mostly to counter everyone else using it to describe a similar part of the game.
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Sep 30, 2023 00:08
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Last Celebration posted:Can’t believe this. No Supreme/V3 versions of all his super rad moves to look forward to… tbf he'd just be Better Machias so I can see why he wasn't included, but still The real gameplay crime is Joshua and Estelle still having neutered craft lists. The ones they do have are good and Estelle never really used hers much because buffing/s-crafting was her roadhouse, but still. Josh gets hit harder because his tools were smushed together but became somewhat anemic as a tradeoff and he forgot how to glare at people. Also he wants to be a dodge tank with 1 counter range? what are you doing man. you can still make him good(his stealth craft is the worst of the bunch but stealth is still super busted so that's like having the worst bazooka) but it takes more doing than Estelle. Tesseraction posted:Pacing problems, sure, but there's nothing in particular in CS3 that I felt was padding for time so much as trying to make entertaining content - I enjoyed the parts of CS3 that didn't really matter in terms of the greater Trails plot. I don't think this means everyone has to enjoy them, but I also say you can't ignore that other people do enjoy them. I consider it flavour text as opposed to filler text. yeah not absolutely everything has to drive the narrative forward, there's value in taking time to see the sights and screwing around for a bit, that's the whole point of the numerous and elaborate sidequests. it helps establish the setting and world and is fun. Most trails games have a good balance of that I think and CS3 is no different. Veryslightlymad posted:And then by the time CS4 rolls around, though the stakes are higher, though you actually fight stronger opponents "for realsies", now not really holding anything back, by this point, the game is about regrouping after an absolutely devastating loss and then almost disdainfully roadhousing absolutely everyone in your way. Not even almost at some points. It's absolutely, incredibly cathartic, and it feels desperately earned. The glacial pace unfortunately seriously hampers any cathartic aspect as it always feels like you're never really accomplishing much. I mean the big counterattack plan was [CS4]"make the enemy's plan go Too Fast" which does kinda end up working but isn't particularly exciting or cathartic. The curse muddling things also ruins the catharsis of most of the final dungeon until the very true final boss. I guess it's still somewhat better than the CS2 bosses brushing you off even though they just died in 2 turns because that game's power curve is ridiculous Yinlock fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 00:15
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3rd is basically filler: the game and it's the best one
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Sep 30, 2023 00:20
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Yinlock posted:tbf he'd just be Better Machias so I can see why he wasn't included, but still I'd like to see his rear end try. Even Juna, who by all rights should be a better Machias fails at being a better Machias. quote:I guess it's still somewhat better than the CS2 bosses brushing you off even though they just died in 2 turns because that game's power curve is ridiculous[/spoiler] I usually don't do the domination -> instant victory cheese in CS2 (I do in 3 for some reason. Oh well.) but the more I think about it, the more the "we were just sandbagging" makes better sense if you win fast. Like, if you have a knockdown, drag-out brawl with a boss and really scrape by, them getting back up feels worse. But if you like, sock them in the face twice and end the fight immediately, them getting back up being all "OK. That was a good shot. But not good enough" seems to actually fit narratively.
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Sep 30, 2023 00:32
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Veryslightlymad posted:I'd like to see his rear end try. Even Juna, who by all rights should be a better Machias fails at being a better Machias. Dudley exchanges accelerate for much better stats and a superior craft list. Of course that doesn't really matter much in CS and especially Reverie where anyone can become a shining golden god come end/postgame but still. Also I will hear no Juna slander here, she carried me through the first third of CS4 on nightmare just by statusing the absolute poo poo out of everything. Not sure why her S-crafts always suck so bad damage-wise though. quote:I usually don't do the domination -> instant victory cheese in CS2 (I do in 3 for some reason. Oh well.) but the more I think about it, the more the "we were just sandbagging" makes better sense if you win fast. Like, if you have a knockdown, drag-out brawl with a boss and really scrape by, them getting back up feels worse. But if you like, sock them in the face twice and end the fight immediately, them getting back up being all "OK. That was a good shot. But not good enough" seems to actually fit narratively. I didn't really abuse Domination(though I definitely used it lol) they just go down real quick because as stated the power curve is insane. If they go down that fast they just seem kinda like chumps rather than holding back. IMO Azure did it best where Sigmund is casually backhanding your team across the battlefield and turning the floor into explosions or Lianne is doing like double your max HP with regular attacks, but if you manage to cheese out a win they acknowledge that you got one on them. They feel like Big Deals but also don't completely eliminate any accomplishment in winning/damaging them by casually getting back up 2 seconds later. They don't all have to be THAT extreme obviously but making them feel strong and making the player feel some level of accomplishment for beating them is good. CS2 definitely leaned a bit heavy on the no-selling, especially when Duvalie can somehow hold off your entire team via temper tantrum. Yinlock fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 01:02
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I appreciate when boss fights have a goal of taking out X% of the enemy HP. It seems like the best answer to me for bridging the gap between giving you a video game boss fight and having the story say that you're not quite ready to fully "win" against whoever you're fighting.
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Sep 30, 2023 01:14
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Certainly much better than the old school solution of having the boss do a 1-shot attack on your entire party after you've spent X turns burning your entire stock of healing/MP items. Lookin' at you, Xenogears.
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Sep 30, 2023 01:55
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JavaJesus posted:I appreciate when boss fights have a goal of taking out X% of the enemy HP. It seems like the best answer to me for bridging the gap between giving you a video game boss fight and having the story say that you're not quite ready to fully "win" against whoever you're fighting. I somewhat agree. Cold Steel did some really interesting stuff with boss battles to sell plot ideas. The first game had three different unwinnable fights that were unwinnable for different mechanical reasons, and the different reasons were all accurate to the plot. That never ceases to impress me. Yinlock posted:Dudley exchanges accelerate for much better stats and a superior craft list. Of course that doesn't really matter much in CS and especially Reverie where anyone can become a shining golden god come end/postgame but still. There is no superior craft list. You are grossly underestimating how disgusting Mail/Dread Breaker is. And to a lesser extent Burst Drive. (Burst drive has a less impressive extra effect compared to Juna's version, but Machias recovers from using it 50% faster.) Partial boring mechanical analysis: In CS3, Mail Breaker has an A+/A+ rating for Damage/Break. It's a gigantic line (Truthfully, only size S, but a line is a line and can be made to be gigantic) and it has one of the lowest possible delays afterward. I'm pretty sure it's tied for the fastest craft that isn't a Detector. It has a chance to inflict Def down L, which is as low as it can go. Machias has Sigma Operation, which gives Str Up L, which is as high as it can go. Sigma Operation also cuts the already game-lowest (for an attack craft) delay in half. Unlike in CS1 or 2, a craft's delay in CS3 is hidden and works differently with speed than they did before. Put another way, the way the game calculates your actual delay is the hidden delay value of an attack, divided by the character's actual speed. Since crafts that are anywhere near Mail Breaker are significantly slower than it is, this is probably way more significant than you might think. Loading up my file at the end of CS3, and unequipping Machias and Fie of both gear and quartz, Fie's speed is 81 and Machias's speed is 62. He might be a level higher on account of taking an auto save from the final strata, and Fie leaves ever so slightly earlier than he does. Fie using Tri-Cyclone has a delay of 3000. It's an S+/S attack, compared to Mail Breaker's A+/A+, so before taking into account the status trade-off's between the attacks, Fie's attack is a little better per hit. It's also twice as expensive at 60 CP vs 30 Fie's delay using this attack at her speed comes out to 37. Machias using Mail Breaker comes out with a delay of 32. Fie is only functionally as fast as Machias on this particular skill if her delay procs. She is slightly faster than him if she opts to use Cypher Edge, which has an unmodified delay value of 2500. Only just, though, as it winds up with around a 31 delay. Cypher Edge is A/B, so it's somewhat less damaging and significantly worse for breaking a target. The 30% KO is situationally great, though. It is still 10 points more expensive to use than Mail Breaker. Except, again, there's almost literally no reason to not use Sigma Operation with Machias when he's in the party. Which would cut his delay to 16. (Zephyr Wing is the same delay savings. Under that, Fie's Cypher Edge is either 15 or 16, so virtually tied, and her Tri Cyclone is about 18, so still slower. tl;dr version: Despite the superficiality of lowish base stats, Machias is essentially as fast as Fie is and hits much, much harder thanks to his ideal combination of STR+L and DEF-L. Without getting into the nuttiness of S-Crafts and Rean's Spirit Unification, he's hands-down the strongest physical character in the game in an extended fight. 30 CP for what Mail Breaker does is actually loving insane. EDIT Unless you meant he'd look cooler than Machias, in which case I agree. Being uncool is sort of Machias's whole thing. Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 03:01
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And Dread Breaker in CS4 and Reverie just gets stronger while retaining its insanely low Delay and CP cost. Machias is absurdly strong.
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Sep 30, 2023 03:15
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Yeah, that stuff sure sounds clutch, but does Machias have a move where he just ignores his shotgun and runs into a mob to tackle them, or where he does the hardboiled police officer thing of punching someone to get them to focus up only it’s also a heal, or United States of Smash?
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Sep 30, 2023 03:20
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No, but he's actually playable for more than 10 minutes.
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Sep 30, 2023 03:24
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Mr. Fortitude posted:Major Daybreak spoilers. Okay, good! Or I mean, not good in-game, but narratively speaking. Also I'd recommend editing this post just because I feel like it'd be a shame for someone to mistakenly mouse over it and not be kind of blind-sided by it like I was (maybe I'm dumb and missed something obvious, but past Trails games made it catch me off-guard). Normally I don't care too much about spoilers, but since the game isn't released I'm erring on the side of caution. I'm only adding tags to this because otherwise you could still infer "something major happens." I was just expecting your typical Trails "major end-game enemy threat" sequence where they only threaten to do something bad, or maybe they do something bad that only has like 1-2 casualties.
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Sep 30, 2023 03:25
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Last Celebration posted:Yeah, that stuff sure sounds clutch, but does Machias have a move where he just ignores his shotgun and runs into a mob to tackle them, or where he does the hardboiled police officer thing of punching someone to get them to focus up only it’s also a heal, or United States of Smash? He does say you failed your inspection and starts blasting guns akimbo
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Sep 30, 2023 03:38
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SgtSteel91 posted:He does say you failed your inspection and starts blasting guns akimbo I mean, he also shoots a hole through the concept of time.
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Sep 30, 2023 03:49
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Veryslightlymad posted:Despite the superficiality of lowish base stats, Machias is essentially as fast as Fie is and hits much, much harder thanks to his ideal combination of STR+L and DEF-L. Without getting into the nuttiness of S-Crafts and Rean's Spirit Unification, he's hands-down the strongest physical character in the game in an extended fight. 30 CP for what Mail Breaker does is actually loving insane. Fie can also turn invincible and spd/str(both L in it's final form) buff herself in one move which also gives her 2 guaranteed crits. Stealth moves are nutty as hell. But while I don't think he's Fie-level you've nonetheless convinced me that he is in fact good. Also I dunno if it was in 4 or Reverie but Sigma Operation's strength boost got knocked down to 2 turns of M Last Celebration posted:Yeah, that stuff sure sounds clutch, but does Machias have a move where he just ignores his shotgun and runs into a mob to tackle them, or where he does the hardboiled police officer thing of punching someone to get them to focus up only it’s also a heal, or United States of Smash? He also has a move where he just pulls out a magnum and kills someone. At a 100% chance(in practice less because of deathblow resist but still). Doodles doesn't gently caress around. Yinlock fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 05:34
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Machias also has the most S-Craft hits of anyone in the entire Reverie party, so he's incredibly great for Sepith farming.
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Sep 30, 2023 05:38
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Some Numbers posted:Machias also has the most S-Craft hits of anyone in the entire Reverie party, so he's incredibly great for Sepith farming. While i'm happy Tiger Charge is back in Reverie it's worse as a normal craft because I can't just hit it whenever I see the sepith up icon and be set for life that said the 90cp faux s-crafts generally aren't too bad. e: the standout being Elie's obviously, yeah let's just make an enemy(s) weak to every element for a few turns that sounds fine. also it can't be resisted. Yinlock fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 05:43
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This Azure Chapter 4 ending sequence  I've never seen a protagonist group get this outclassed, plus the enemy also power-up in an overwhelming way, it was so extreme I almost stopped taking this whole poo poo seriously lol I'm also glad this guy is still kickin', reminds me of good times in Zero when antagonists were less god-tier 
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Sep 30, 2023 05:50
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frajaq posted:This Azure Chapter 4 ending sequence At least Sigmund gives you a "wow you actually kicked my rear end" if you win, Arios is just like "no" and kills you. rude. But it's all worth it for *motions at screenshot* that. also everything else. azure whips rear end.
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Sep 30, 2023 07:40
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frajaq posted:This Azure Chapter 4 ending sequence Holy gently caress Zemura actually has a prison.
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Sep 30, 2023 07:54
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Yinlock posted:While i'm happy Tiger Charge is back in Reverie it's worse as a normal craft because I can't just hit it whenever I see the sepith up icon and be set for life I believe it can, bosses who resist it are just extremely rare.
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Sep 30, 2023 09:47
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Erpy posted:I believe it can, bosses who resist it are just extremely rare. oh my bad then, tbf i don't use it too regularly but it's always worked when i have. when the enemies don't dodge it anyway.
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Sep 30, 2023 10:39
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Yinlock posted:oh my bad then, tbf i don't use it too regularly but it's always worked when i have. Like I said, it's rare, but I recall (Reverie finale spoiler) Dusken Dancer Ilya (when she fights alongside fake Rufus) resisting the effect, even though I used Towa's Detector craft to apply it, which cannot be dodged.
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Sep 30, 2023 11:09
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Veryslightlymad posted:Holy gently caress Zemura actually has a prison.
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Sep 30, 2023 11:33
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Veryslightlymad posted:Holy gently caress Zemura actually has a prison. Unfortunately, though, no one has come up with the concept of handcuffs or restraints yet.
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Sep 30, 2023 13:22
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