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Democracy is the Armoroad way. But I'm not cruel so I vote Princess, Monk, Wildling. I cleared the first stratum with them, and so can you.  I can tell which way the wind is blowing when it comes to naming the guild, but gently caress it: I planned to suggest Tethys when you first announced you were working on this, and by God, I'm following through on it. Name: Delilah Class: Farmer, portrait 2, alternate Some people think farming is a simple, if physically demanding job: plant the crops, water the crops, harvest the crops, repeat. Anyone can do it, right? Delilah would beg to differ, at great length and volume. Botany, butchering, breeding... She is a veritable encyclopedia of agrarian science, and an expert forager--the kind of person who could live full time in the labyrinth by herself. If, you know, it weren't for all the horrible monsters. Just because you know the scientific name of a crab doesn't make you any better at defending yourself if it's the size of a horse and trying to snip you clean in two. But Delilah wants to go deep, all the same. No, she needs it. She's positive there are plants and animals down there that could revolutionize her field, and if joining up with an adventuring guild is the only way in, well, she figures she can pull her weight out of combat. Those plants and rocks underfoot? Delilah knows how to turn that into cold, hard cash. What group of explorers would turn down the chance to get filthy, stinking rich?
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May 19, 2015 04:06
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 23:16 |
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Hulu has it, I believe. Same director as Inferno Cop (which is a similar brand of humor, without the interludes of actual animation). Looking forward to this. EOIII has my favorite first and last strata, and a decent chunk of my favorite music from the series.
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May 20, 2015 02:14
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I kinda feel like playing along too... So, in order that y'all might better appreciate how badly you were going to screw Dr. Fetus (and because I actually believe in the democratic process  ), I will complete the 1st Stratum with the party the thread actually voted for. Expect regular updates on why this is a terrible idea. Because it is.
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May 21, 2015 14:07
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Rigged Death Trap posted:To be honest you could do worse than the Democracy party.
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May 21, 2015 17:21
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Meanwhile, in a paralell dimension... Humprhey the Hoplite, Kumog the Wildling, Hecate the Monk, Lilah the Arbalist, and Jane the...  Farmer of guild Dead End set off on their journey.thenightsshadow posted:Why democracy doesn't work. 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.  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 |
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May 23, 2015 08:34
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In which we learn democracy can be subverted by gaming the system The enemy drops from last time's aborted mapmaking mission scored enough cash to revive Hecate and spend the night at the Inn. Completing the map after that is uneventful. Great Lynxs aren't nearly as scary when you're level 3 and fully rested. Of course they can still easily one shot a character if you're ambushed. I just continue piling points into the skills I've already leveled. They don't really matter at this point. Now when quests unlock, I immediately finish both of them for the sweet, sweet XP. Ordinarily you'd want to set quest XP aside for your farming team near the beginning so you can boost their survivability, but I want to hit level 5 as soon as possible so it all goes to Humphrey, Jane, Hecate, Kumog & Lilah. Which happens in the process of mapping the rest of the first floor. So here's the thing about level 5: Dr. Fetus told you that it costs 5 levels, and lets you reassign your skills. But if you use the Rest option before you reach level 6, you get to reassign the skill points for free. Doesn't even reset the EXP counter. (It does remove all your equipment though, so remember to fix that before heading back in.) Now that I no longer need to build around surviving the first floor, the skill point allocations resemble Dr. Fetus' far more closely. At level 5, you have 7 skill points since you start with 3. Kumog has the Venomfly summon at level 1, and 3 points in Dismiss Beast, reducing the cost to a much more manageable 4 TP. (It costs 1 at leavel 5, which is my next goal.) Wildlings can be very TP efficient, even if it's not turn efficient. Venomfly will do poo poo damage, and the poison rarely sticks but that's less of an issue now that I can start equipping the party properly. Humphrey is going to be alternating between leveling Line Guard and Provoke, until the latter skill reaches 5. Hecate levels Healing until it unlocks Refresh & Unbind and dumps the rest into Form Qi. Efficiency is still important, just not a matter of life and death. Lilah gets more Giant Kill. She is gonna kill the everlovin' poo poo out of some giants, I tell you what. Jane maxes out Harvesting, before putting a point in Earth's Bounty and Lullaby. Lullaby is still a terrible skill, but it's a prequisite for stuff I do want. Harvestry is because if I'm going to be stuck with a Farmer all game, she's at least going to help keep the party well equipped. Next time: We board the good ship Doomhaus because I did the next part before I knew which name would win the LP vote. Rangpur fucked around with this message at 01:18 on May 25, 2015 |
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May 25, 2015 01:15
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I learned to like the way sailing works, but EOIV's exploration aspect works much better. Trouble is, when you're starting out in the game it feels like you're throwing money overboard traveling in random directions. My first playthrought I ended up on the 4th floor before I decided to go back and give it another shot. By that time most of the rewards you get for completing Sea Quests are out of date so it's best to do them earlier rather than later so they can actually save you money. I also realized there's not much point to talking about sailing with team democracy because the classes have absolutely no effect on exploring the ocean. Sea Quests on the other hand...
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May 25, 2015 16:55
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Maybe early on, but by the time you complete the first stratum, and definitely by the time you reach the third (spoilers: there are at least three strata in EO3) the money you lose from wrecking your ship is neglible. Costs for outfitting the thing for voyages don't scale with, say, personal equipment. A wise decision, I think.
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May 25, 2015 20:00
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I usually find it easiest to start with the single ally quests, though I guess it depends on level. But as a rule, while the AI is reasonably competent, it will struggle to turn the tide if things go poorly. Plus, more limits. Oh you have not even begun to see how broken those can get.  Well, not with my democratically chosen party. Thanks a lot, jerks. But I have completed the first strata at this point. Conclusion: the boss (spoiler: there is a boss), and the first three sea quest locations can be completed at a reasonable level with a party of H/M W/F/A. It is, however, kind of boring. You mostly use basic attacks, or have the Hoplite defend & the Wildling summon for difficult fights. Lilah the Arbalist is definitely MVP--even basic attacks hurt when you have Giant Kill maxed out. Also for another reason I'll mention later. Now that I'm reaching the point where I can land status ailments consistently, Jane the Farmer has a good debuff in Rotten Eggs. Eggs and elephants are how I plant to get through the next stratum... unless you have yet another terrible party setup to stick me with, I suppose. I'll talk about strategy in more detail as the LP reaches those points.
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May 27, 2015 15:38
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Greedy Lizards. Hoo boy... Let me tell you about fighting Greedy Lizards with Team Democracy. So, for starters, the only ability Farmer Jane gets that will conceivably do anything is Rotten Eggs. And even then the offense debuff is miniscule without a status ailment already on it. Which is a problem because Kumog's Call Insect has an equally miniscule chance of landing. Again, this is effectively a 3 person party until I get some more levels on these guys. There are two things you want to get from the first Sea Quest before you try this. First is the Mumyouken limit, the second is Albert's Mace which gives Hecate a chance to do some damage. It's true that forging usually isn't a worthwhile pursuit, for all the reasons Dr. Fetus mentioned, but I can't afford to ignore it because forges are the only consistent elemental damage I'll have for a long, long time. Albert's Mace gives you two ice forges for free, making it a top priority. Poison Charms are nice too, but you'll have to kill a lot of platypi to get one so I didn't bother. (This was a mistake.) The first time I fought one, it blindsided my party despite the fact we were staring each other down not five seconds before. This is a risk you take when fighting FOEs, with their elevated stats, when you're at low levels--it takes AGI and level into account, among others things I believe. It immediately bit Humphrey, which he survived, and Poisoned him, which he did not. I made yet another mistake in wasting a Nectar to revive him despite not having access to them at the store yet. I queued up a heal on Hecate to top him up once he was revived. Humphrey stood up annnnnd was immediately creamed again, causing the heal to go to waste. This is when I started trying to retreat. Jane finally succeeded after watching the rest of the party (and one butterfly) get eaten. My first successful attempt (after two more failures) actually started off the same way, with me getting blindsided from the front again but this time Humphrey didn't get poisoned, which makes all the difference in the world. First turn, he provokes, Hecate heals, Jane uses Rotten Eggs (and charge tactic), Kumog summons his butterfly to the empty space in the front row. It's vanishingly unlikely to posion the lizard, and does about 5 or 6 damage per attack, but any turns it gets attacked instead of the party means free damage for me! With Charge Tactic in place, I open next turn with Lilah using Mumyouken. From that point onward, it's kind of dull. Humphrey spams Line Guard and refreshes Provoke; Hecate, Lilah & Kumog spam attack; Jane feeds a medica to any human that gets injured until I run out and Hecate has to take over. This strategy is no guarantee of success. Wrong person get attacked and/or poisoned? You're likely hosed. But in the end it does succumb, after exhausting everyon's TP and all healing items. Whereupon I walk calmly back upstairs and exit, because I remembered to rest until evening instead of picking a fight at noon like some scrublord n00b.
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May 28, 2015 21:34
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RareAcumen posted:I'm so glad you're doing EO3 now. Having someone around to guide me through the game is just what I need because by the third Stratum I'm really paranoid over if I'm doing as much damage as I should be by then or not.
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May 29, 2015 11:39
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Manly Passion all the way, baby. It wouldn't be an adventure on the high seas without torrid romance! Anyway, I'm pretty sure all the Wildling summons are based on monsters from the previous two games, albeit with their names changed. (Or a different translator, whichever.) Venomflies are infamous and need no introduction. 'Mad Cow' is likely meant to be a Warbull from EO2:  Whereas 'Plague God' I can only assume is an Armoth:  Mostly because there really aren't that many elephant based enemies/FOEs to choose from. I can't prove any of it, but all the summons do have a close analogue in the first two entries. Along similar lines... Sea Quest 1, with a party of Alice, Megaqueen for support. Plus Akatsuki & Fang for offense. 
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Jun 6, 2015 04:13
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Hivac posted:I think he's actually the innkeeper's son, it gets mentioned by Edie(?) during a quest. For the record, the way you deal with Raging Tyrants with team democracy is ignore them until you finish Ayuhatta's sea quest.
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Jun 6, 2015 21:10
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 23:16 |
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Yeah, he's not kidding about the Farmer thing. Trust me. On a related note, I hate everyone who voted for this team: (huge, also very vague spoilers for 2nd stratum; leave thumbnailed if you want to avoid them.)
Rangpur fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Jun 16, 2015 |
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Jun 16, 2015 23:04
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