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Icon Reference
Guild Lumen's Roster Landsknecht: Logicblade's Zack  Zack is a battle maniac first and foremost, always looking for a fresh new experience and a fresh new challenger to fight. He tends to be soft spoken outside of battle, but doesn't really have a sense of his own limits, so he needs someone to reel him in when he goes too deep. Basically, don't ask him to hold the Ariadne Thread. He worries about his other guildmates, but understands that he can't tackle the Labyrinth without their help. His favorite food is coffee. Survivalist: Crosspeice's Nadia  Nadia hasn't had the best of luck with a bow and arrow; it's hard to, with only one eye. She doesn't like to talk about how she lost it, but it's made her more determined to practice and improve...though she does think everything is slightly to the left of where it actually is. That shouldn't matter for monsters the size of a house, though. Protector: C-Start's Phoebe  A relaxed and carefree Protector who likes to take things slow and doesn't mind the scenic route. She acts nonchalantly toward everything and it takes a lot to get any sort of heightened emotional response from her. Some monster just clawed straight through her torso? Aw, whoops. That's alright, we can patch that up, no biggie. Faced with a horrible Eldritch monstrosity? Eh, just another fight. Let's roll, team. Dark Hunter: Supremezero's Freyja  Despite her class, Freyja's not a sadist at all. Normally, Dark Hunters are sadists, who learn the trade through, er, "ancient teachings," but Freyja just kind of stumbled into it. She's a natural with a whip, and as such became a Dark Hunter. Freyja is actually a shy, polite person. She just happens to be extremely good at tying people up with a whip. Medic: Endorph's Realga  An adventurer-based economy naturally creates a demand for doctors and healers - that's why a fresh out of medical school girl like Realga was running a clinic literally the moment she walked out the door. Incidentally, medical school in High Lagaard is mostly a list of where deer can gore you. Unfortunately, demand creates bloat, and a little clinic literally stuck in a long-forgotten corner of the city wasn't likely to drum up business, especially not from adventurers in search of convenience. So came Realga's next financial move: She'd heal on the front lines! What could be more convenient than that? Besides, it clearly didn't take a PhD to be an adventurer. Frankly, she isn't sure most of them know how to count. And the treasure! As a party member, she'd get a cut, right? That's Realga - a healer more interested in bilking adventurers than helping, and who mostly chose the career for financial reasons. Beneath her cute exterior lies a greedy, self-interested girl. But she isn't heartless! She'll do everything she can to keep her companions alive. There'll just be a big bill at the end, yeah? Nobody ever gives the healer the respect they deserve, so it's only fair. Alchemist: alcharagia's Luca "Stardust" Mathers  A legendary rags-to-riches celebrity whose masterful skill with a fog machine is at #8 on her list of desirable traits on her resume. Born into poverty, Luca distinguished herself from the rest of the homeless urchins by MacGyvering together a pyrotechnical display of massive proportions for a surprise during a royal parade of her country's origin. Naturally, giant explosions 'n poo poo everywhere threw the crowd into a serious panic, but once the disruption was properly investigated, the local authorities, especially the king, were so impressed that a single child could put together something to put the royal parade to shame (and be so smug about it, too!) that at the age of 11 she was put to work as the primary stage director for the king's personal theater venue. Funnily enough, when your theater business starts booming turns out you stop being a homeless urchin pretty quickly! Having quickly become more famous than even her own king, by a few years later entertainers all over the entire world were chomping at the bit for the opportunity to work with the legendary Stardust. Her inspiring tale of the rise to superstardom was a hit with the disaffected youth of the modern era as well, and soon the people in front of a production were being ignored for the tiny wunderkind making the sparks fly and the snowflakes fall. Being that fame is little more than a curiosity to such an individual as the legendary Stardust, Luca decided to use her newfound wealth to take an impromptu vacation for a work study on more practical applications of making lightning bolts shoot out of her palm than THUNDERSTUCKing that shithead Robbie in the junk back in the slums. The world awaits further news with bated breath. An eccentric celebrity to the end, Luca is a shining beacon of ignoring social norms (for instance, she is a special effects expert and not a wizard, which made the Alchemists' University of Etria grind their teeth so hard you don't even know.) She's known to walk off in the middle of conversations because she spotted something else interesting in the distance... like spiders. Spiders are fuckin' cool you don't even know. They don't take kindly to fire, though. (She learned that one firsthand.) She's also developed the ability to sleep basically anywhere based on her frequently messy-but-functional workspaces; "Stardust actually sleeps in a bed!" was a big hit headline once. Still, it's not as though she doesn't try. She doesn't dislike people or anything- actually, she thinks it's neat to hang out with people in large groups- it's just sometimes other people say words longer than they need to, you dig? No need for flowery prose when a "Cool." will suffice. Like that giant tree. It's neat. Troubador: jimmydalad's Milly  A travelling con artist, Milly always looks out for herself and will jump at any opportunity that she sees as lucrative for her. While her singing skills can be described as questionable at best, her ability to dance is unquestionable, while her wit allows her to get herself out of sticky situations. Unfortunately for her, her greed tends to land her in those sticky situations in the first place, and she isn't above dragging people she knows along with her. After hearing about the possibility of treasures in the labyrinth, she decided to join the guild, giving her token support while using the others as meat shields to get as deep as she possibly can. Ronin: Kemix's Asriel  A Ronin from another country, he has traveled what he could of the world, and as such has many (mostly nonsense, probably brain damage-induced) stories from the places he has traveled. No matter what he does, no matter where he goes, he always seems to wind up with more scars, more wounds that don't heal. Upon finding Lagaard and joining with the newest forming guild, he decided that he would help explore the Labyrinth as the last thing he would do in his life before settling down. Though his origins are unknown, he has many stories, mostly nonsense, from his many years of combat...that he, for whatever reason, has not practiced in years, and as such requires "refreshers" in the most basic of Ronin techniques. Hexer: BlackPersona's Sophie  Rumor speaks of a cult that successfully summoned a dark god into this world, an evil being that hungers for everything. Too great a monster to control, the cult sealed it in the most appropriate vessel in hopes to control it. And, yet, even then, the vessel was barely controllable. Soon, the entirety of the cult was lost, and only the vessel remained: one Hexer girl, that uses her dark god's power that hungers for more...and more...and more... Yeah, that's what she claims, anyways. She's just really hungry and tries to eat anything she can get her hands on. That includes the monsters in the Labyrinth. All her curses are, literally, her running up and biting them. It somehow works, so there might be merit to her story... Who knows? Gunner: Dr. Fetus's Jackie  A sharp-eyed, gun-slinging girl who's good at making her shots. Tactical and one to think things through, not a lot escapes Jackie's eyes, and she's very resourceful. Unfortunately, those are all the positive traits she has going for her. After hearing tales of another Labyrinth being conquered, she wanted to join in on the fun. Unfortunately, she didn't bother to do any research, and is completely unprepared for its dangers. She tends to talk big and pretends to know what she's talking about, even if other people can see through all the hot air she spouts. She secretly hopes her guild mates will do a good job protecting her. War Magus: Scrap Dragon's Colette  Having recently gone from a witch's apprentice to a full fledged witch herself, Colette would be perfectly happy to practice her craft in solitude. Though, like all witches, she needs ingredients for her spells, and the ingredients she needs don't exactly grow on trees (well, maybe on the trees inside the Labyrinth). To this end, she's reluctantly joined up with a fledgling guild, offering her services as a healer in exchange for a cut of whatever rare materials are collected inside the Labyrinth. Beast: TKMobile's Ursa  A pretty chill, mysterious woman of few words who just sort of wandered into town one day, and was polite enough that most people don't notice SHE'S A GIANT BEAR. Minds her manners pretty well, doesn't steal pic-a-nic baskets and tips her waiters. Appreciative of this open minded society, she decided to serve the community by signing up with the adventurer's guild, though the guy at the desk ran away when she came in for some reason, so she signed her name on an entry form and it got unknowingly processed. Sovereign: AweStriker's Rheine  A stern, commanding noble from far away. Some time ago, her family was on the brink of disgrace after a series of disastrous love and financial affairs her parents were responsible for, and it was her insight, presence, and action that turned it all around, making them even more successful and influential than they were previously. Not satisfied with that, she embarks for High Lagaard to test her abilities. If she expects something to happen, it gets done, no questions asked - even if she has to step in, as much as she'd prefer not to dirty her hands. Highlander: BlazeEmblem's Tyler  Tyler grew up hearing all sorts of legends about heroes who saved the day, won the princess's heart, and other things that sounded cool to an impressionable kid. However, every story he heard had the hero wielding some sort of sword instead of another type of weapon. Being raised as a Highlander, Tyler was trained to use a spear, so he was a bit annoyed that he never heard any stories about spear users. Thus, Tyler set out to become a new Legendary Hero and show the world just how cool a spear-wielder could be. His first step is to head to the Labyrinth, as he heard that the people in High Lagaard needed help exploring it--a fitting start for a hero. Fafnir: Ranger Referred to as a figure of legend, revered by many for his valorous adventures, feared by the dastardly and the wicked, Ranger (real name: Tim) is...well, not what you'd expect. Neither modest nor boastful, neither cowardly nor courageous, Ranger's adventures are best described by first-hand witnesses as "accidental". Tales of his heroics often follow a pattern: he appears seemingly out of nowhere, saves the day without so much as acknowledging who he's fighting or saving, and disappears without a trace. Truthfully, it is not because he prefers to work this way. Rather, his distant demeanor is due to him being lost in his own thoughts and distractions almost all of the time. He is usually so preoccupied on some other thought that it is often difficult to get him to respond to you. Good luck trying to talk to him. It is said that under extreme circumstances, Ranger will have his moments of clarity and raw emotion. It is also said that these circumstances are enough to awaken an awful power within him. Whether or not this rumor is true, Ranger is still a force to be reckoned with--even if he's unaware of it himself. (The initial idea for Ranger was posted by alcharagia in the EO Megathread, and then my friend oB2Ko Mario and I expanded on the idea.) Fanart  By CapitanGarlic. Asriel's hate of spiders extends to telepathic knowledge of someone mentioning them. By alcharagia. Noted blowhard Bellamy from another timeline is a bit upset he wasn't part of some cheese strats. Rea fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Aug 12, 2016 |
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Nov 14, 2015 23:20
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Update 0: Let's Begin!  Let's get this show on the road, then.  As stated in the OP, I'll be doing a Classic mode run instead of a Story mode run.  A quick primer on difficulties:
We'll be going with Expert, obviously, because why wouldn't you?   SYSTEM: This holy tree, revered by the people, is called Yggdrasil. Legend tells that the tree is connected to an unseen castle in the sky. Then, one day, the people of High Lagaard discovered a mysterious labyrinth within the legendary tree, filled with monsters! The ruling Duke issued a formal decree to investigate the Labyrinth, and to discover the truth behind the fabled floating castle. The legend of the castle and the news of the mysterious Labyrinth drew many explorers from all over the continent... ...But though countless hopefuls tried, none could conquer the Labyrinth, and its depths remained shrouded in mystery. ...You are yet another among the legions of explorers arriving at the Grand Duchy of High Lagaard, after hearing of the legends. Your quest is to reach the floating castle and find your fame and fortune within the vast Labyrinth. The city of Lagaard awaits!    SYSTEM: It appears that the animated city is full of explorers... Since you yourself came to make a name for yourself as an explorer, you should register at the Explorers Guild.  Well, it's easy to tell what the game wants us to do. To the Explorers Guild!      For the sake of this test update, I'll be using placeholder names for guild name and character names. And with this, we can start registering guild members. As is tradition for EO LPs, here's a gigantic summary of all the classes EO2U has to offer, plus portraits.   Landsknechts are as standard a damage class as it gets. Their primary and only job is to hit things, preferably very hard. Landsknechts have access to two different weapon types, and two skill trees for each: swords and axes. Swords have access to area-of-effect abilities, which are very useful in clearing out random encounters, while axes are fantastic for single target damage and generally have bigger ATK bonuses than swords. Investing in both weapon types' best skills takes a lot of skill points, however, so it's best to just pick one type and stick with it. The other big thing Landsknechts have going for them compared to the other physical damage classes is their durability. Landsknechts have several advantages over other classes in this department: they can equip heavy armor, they can equip shields, and their VIT stat (which, and this is paraphrasing a lot, basically helps control how much damage a character takes) and max HP are each the third highest amongst all the classes.   Survivalists are a support class that deal minor damage in battle, though they do have an option for decent burst damage, can inflict a few status ailments fairly reliably, and have access to a variety of useful support skills, both in the Labyrinth and in battle. In random encounters, Survivalists have access to some decent skills that help clear out trash mobs, and their access to Blind and Paralysis can make certain otherwise-troublesome random encounters a breeze. Like mentioned previously, they're also capable of actually respectable burst damage, but it requires a not-insignificant level of setup, and only starts to become available and/or viable in the midgame. One thing to note about Survivalists is their primary weapon, bows, and pretty much all of their damage skills use their AGI stat instead of their STR stat for calculating damage.   Protectors are a support class whose entire job is mitigating incoming damage towards the party, which they excel at. A Protector is capable of reducing incoming physical damage to a given row by up to 70% later in the game, and they're also capable of completely nullifying elemental attacks. They don't really do tanking, outside of a skill that's decent for random encounters and certain bosses, but useless for others. They aren't fantastic at dealing damage, either--their STR stat is mediocre and their "best" damage skill is meh at best. Plus, they usually have better things to do, such as keeping your party from dying.   Dark Hunters are a combination disabler and physical damage dealer class whose damage is tied to binds (a type of disable in the EO series that I'll explain in detail later) and status ailments. There's two primary ways to build a Dark Hunter: specializing in whips, which give access to binds, and swords, which give access to status ailments. I tend to prefer whips due to how powerful that skill tree's "ultimate" skill is, but swords are a perfectly viable way to build a Dark Hunter as well. The downside to Dark Hunters is that while their damage is very, very high while an enemy is disabled, their damage when an enemy isn't disabled is piddly. Additionally, while they're decent at inflicting status ailments on their own, you'd ideally want to pair them with a disabling support--either a Survivalist or a Hexer, depending on how you build your Dark Hunter.   Medics are (well, should be used as) pure supports. They specialize in healing your party and very little else. What they lack in variety, they make up for in expertise--Medics are very, very good at their jobs. In some ways, in fact, they're too good at their jobs, as more often than not they'll heal for far more than anyone in your party needs. In fact, for many people, that was the deal breaker for using a Medic in EO4--you don't need someone THAT good at healing. Fortunately, EO2U devised a way to put that over-expertise to use: Overheal, a charge skill that increases the amount the Medic will heal next turn and, this is the important part, lets any extraneous healing be added to the target's max HP for one turn. Overheal, when used right, can take a lot of the sting out of late and postgame bosses. Oh yeah, Medics also have attack skills. Don't use them. Only one of the three skills in the Staff Mastery tree is worth it, and you need a party built around it, with at least 2 Medics.   Alchemists are all about one thing, and that's elemental damage. They're extremely fragile, having both the lowest VIT and max HP stats out of any of the classes, but they're the single best source of elemental damage, and one of the best damage dealers in EO2U period. Alchemists have two primary attack skill trees: Formula Mastery, which is standard ranged elemental spell stuff, and Palm Mastery, which are non-ranged elemental attacks with a bunch of weird and useful interactions with other skills. Palm skills are integral to several strategies for cheesing very tough bosses, but I tend to stick with the Formula Mastery tree due to one particular skill it contains that propels Alchemists from "decent" to "amazing" levels of damage.   Troubadours are purely a support class. They're all about buffing up your party and accelerating your damage dealers' outputs to ridiculous levels. On their own, Troubadors are pretty bad--low damage output, average durability. In an actual party, however, Troubadours range from "pretty good" to "potentially the most broken class in the game." A lot of the reasoning behind that involves weird mechanics that need to be discussed in depth on their own, however.   Ronin are all about physical damage, with a few sources of elemental damage. Stat-wise, Ronin have the highest STR in the game (albeit by 1 stat point at max level compared to Landsknechts), making them the best physical damage dealers in a stat vacuum. Damage percentages-wise, the numbers on their skills don't reach the ridiculous levels of other damage classes like Dark Hunters, but they're still pretty high. This expertise at damage is offset by the Ronin's primary weakness: they're very fragile compared to most other front line classes. Their VIT is the second-worst amongst the classes, and their max HP is towards the bottom as well. They also can't just go to town from the start of a battle, unlike the original EO2--Ronin need to set up Stances first by using specific skills before they can use their main damage skills. Ronin are best described as late bloomers, relative to the other damage classes. They're pretty mediocre for a good portion of the early game, and just merely good in the late game. Where they shine is the postgame, when you finally have enough skill points to make use of the Katana Mastery tree's ultimate skill.   Hexers are debuffing and disabling supports, and I could honestly end the explanation right there and you'd get the idea. On a serious note, though, Hexers are the best class in the game for inflicting ailments and binds--the base infliction chances on their skills are better than pretty much every other class, and they have the highest LUC in the game (LUC being the stat used in infliction calculations). The downside to this is they pretty much don't deal any damage, and against bosses that resist and/or nullify multiple ailments/binds, Hexers are significantly less useful.   Gunners are backline damage dealers who can do either physical or elemental damage. They're pretty good at that job, and it's entirely possible to substitute an Alchemist for a Gunner if you desire. They also have access to one of the best passives in the game, and can deal some pretty big burst damage between the ultimate elemental Gun skill and their charge skill. Also note that guns, much like bows, use the AGI stat in damage calculations instead of STR.   War Magi are combination supports and damage dealers. They have access to a pretty wide variety of ways to heal the party, as well as a skill that makes bosses that rely on ailments/binds much easier. They also have access to War Edge skills, which are by and large pretty mediocre, aside from the skill at the end of the tree: Ailing Slash, which ignores physical damage resistance on a target and deals very heavy damage if the target has an ailment. It's one of the best damage skills available to you for a large portion of the game, and one of the main reasons you should consider running a Hexer or Survivalist alongside a War Magus.   You know how I said Protectors don't do tanking? That's because tanking is a Beast's job. Sure, they have some damage skills, but they're wastes of skill points--a Beast's true strength lies in keeping everyone in your party alive. The most significant difference between a Protector's damage mitigation and a Beast's tanking is that a Beast can eat every type of attack during a given turn, instead of having to choose what to protect against. They're also very durable, which you'd expect out of a tank class; Beasts have the highest max HP out of any class, and their VIT is second only to Protectors.    Sovereigns are something of a god class. They do all of the following things: healing, buffing, purging debuffs from the party and buffs from the enemy, manipulating Force gauges (which I'll explain later on), and damage dealing with some support from teammates. It's pretty hard to go wrong with them, assuming you don't stack them alongside Troubadors due to how the buff system works in EO2U.   Highlanders are unlocked through $2 DLC, and were previously featured as the protagonist's class in EOU. Highlanders are, much like Landsknechts and Ronin, entirely about dealing damage. A lot of their skills don't really stand out, but the skills at the end of the Spear Mastery tree enable the Highlander to deal some pretty nice delayed burst damage. The fact that it's delayed means their overall DPS isn't that fantastic compared to some of the other classes, but they're still good enough that they have a place in parties that need damage dealers. It's worth noting that most of the Highlander's skills cost a percentage of their current HP, so it's a good idea to keep an eye on their health so you don't end up putting them too close to death from using skills.  For the time being, let's go with this placeholder party of Landsknecht/Dark Hunter/Beast, Medic/Alchemist. (Fun fact: this is the party I used the first time I played EO2U.) For the sake of time, I'll skip all the Grand Duchy mission stuff and go straight to the first battle.  When a battle starts, this effect plays.    Combat in EO games is, on the surface, a pretty simple affair. Here's what each command on the menu does, in order:
 With that out of the way, let's go over actions for this turn:  The Landsknecht will use Tornado, which is a sword skill that deals splash damage to enemies in the same row that are on either side of the target.  The Dark Hunter will use Cuffs, a whip skill that deals minor damage and attempts to bind the target's arms.  The Beast will use Hit Taker, which lets them take damage in place of any given party member for a set number of times per turn.  There's nothing for the Medic to do, so he'll Defend.  The Alchemist will use Fire Formula, the most basic Formula.  New to the series in EO2U is this confirm dialog right before a turn begins. Really helps when you screw up the last party member's action, which I did quite a bit in every previous EO.   Hit Taker activates instantly at the start of every turn, meaning you won't run into bullshit like a party member taking damage before Hit Taker goes off.  Here's what Cuffs looks like. It didn't bind the Hedgehog's arms, which is kind of annoying at early levels due to how arm binds reduce physical damage output.   And here are Fire Formula and Tornado. After one more uneventful turn that wasn't worth documenting:  The battle ends! Anyone still alive at the end of a battle gets EXP, and you are given monster drops and ingredients if you roll for them succesfully. Rea fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Nov 14, 2015 23:21
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BlazeEmblem posted:Also, where are the DLC portraits? Deliberately excluded. I personally don't like a lot of the Yggdrasil Veteran portraits because they're either recycled from EO1 (in which case they're 100% downgrades from the normal portraits) or from box art/extra materials, which means that they are often drawn and shaded a lot differently from the normal portraits, which kind of bothers me.
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Nov 14, 2015 23:38
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I hope [stuff brought up in the EO thread I hoped to keep secret in this thread] Erm, please edit that out. e: Thank you! Rea fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Nov 14, 2015 |
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Nov 14, 2015 23:52
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Decus posted:Wait, do you mean 5 full party composition suggestions per person? 5 party member suggestions (not characters) per person for this round. Sorry if it was worded badly.
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Nov 15, 2015 04:33
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Time for an end-of-first-day tally! Guild name: quote:LUMEN: 3 Initial party composition: quote:ALCHEMIST: 5 Plus votes for whatever the top two picks are. ?/D/B, A/M. That's suspiciously close to my placeholder party. I'll probably leave guild name and character submissions open for like one to three days depending on how many there are at the end of tomorrow. After that, the mystic cabal of myself and like four of my friends will convene and decide on character picks. (I will say it'll take a lot to beat my opinion of Realga, as Medics being unappreciated is a sentiment that resounds greatly with me after years of playing Medic in TF2.) Rea fucked around with this message at 07:16 on Nov 15, 2015 |
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Nov 15, 2015 07:13
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And my friends and I have decided on the winners of character submissions for most of the classes. Note that, for the classes that only had one submission, we decided on those because we figured they'd be difficult to top. Landsknecht: Logicblade's Zack Survivalist: Crosspeice's Nadia Protector: C-Start's Phoebe Dark Hunter: Supremezero's Freyja Medic: Endorph's Realga Alchemist: alcharagia's Luca, aka Stardust Troubador: jimmydalad's Milly Ronin: Kemix's Asriel Hexer: BlackPersona's Sophie Gunner: Dr. Fetus's Jackie War Magus: Scrap Dragon's Colette Beast: TKMobile's Ursa (Bearrymore is just one character over the limit for party member names) Sovereign: AweStriker's Rheine Highlander: BlazeEmblem's Tyler As for guild name, Lumen was the winner, beating Evergreen by one vote. And for party composition: quote:Ronin: 6 Barring me screwing up the tally, it seems like the first party of the LP shall be: Front line: Dark Hunter, Ronin, Beast Back line: Medic, Alchemist Rea fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Nov 16, 2015 |
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Nov 16, 2015 01:49
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Supremezero posted:Name: Freyja Crosspeice posted:Alrighty, I'll make a Survivalist, since I really like the class in this game. And with these, character submissions have ended!
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Nov 16, 2015 02:21
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Dr. Fetus posted:You've got the method to make grinding easier, right? Cause keeping 14 (or more if you're making a farming team) characters up to date seems like it would be a pain. Yes I do; in fact I rebought all of the DLC due to the fact that my recording 3DS is separate from my normal one and I didn't want to transfer all my eShop/Nintendo Network stuff to the recording one. In other news, I just finished recording the first update! Should be up either tonight or tomorrow.
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Nov 16, 2015 04:18
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Update 1: Enter Guild Lumen Mhm. Can't do much until we make one. Good enthusiasm. That's what I like to see, explorer. Just write the desired name for your guild on this line. I'm sure that many in this city will welcome a new guild with open arms. ...Eh, someone else do this. Been a long time since I named anything. I don't think naming is a skill that you'd lose with age, Asriel... Well, in any case, I say we name ourselves "Caduceus!" It's symbolic of both health and power. Um, wouldn't that be a name more appropriate for a guild of Medics...? Lumen. Heyyyy, Luca, don't just sign guild paperwork without asking the rest of us! If we want our guild name to impress others, a term related to light is best. ...You could've asked first. Lumen's a good name. I'm all for keeping it. Rrr! I, um, don't have a problem with Lumen, either. Pick and choose your fights, Realga. Well, I can't complain much if everyone else likes it. I've never heard of that name before. Is it some foreign tongue, perhaps...? Regardless, it has a nice ring to it. ...Well, that aside, it's time for you to register explorers with your guild. Erm, we...don't have the rest of our guild with us. Can we just take registration paperwork with us, get everyone to fill it out, and then come back? That is fine. Thank you!Before we leave, I should note that each facility in Lagaard has a Talk option on its menu. The dialogue for this option generally changes when you reach a new floor, or sometimes conditionally based on sidequests. This is pretty much the only time the dialogue changes for neither of those reasons; each place has dialogue for before you enter the Labyrinth at all. Here's Marion's dialogue for this situation: On paper, registering as an explorer is identical to applying for citizenship in High Lagaard. Put another way, any who are registered in this guild will automatically earn citizenship here. ...Wherever it is you came from, whatever you intend to do, we have no qualms with you. You may use an alias if you need to. Regardless of your circumstance--whether you're a foreign noble, or a wanted criminal fleeing to a safe haven... As long as you are willing to challenge the Labyrinth as explorerse, we will not question your motives. Well, we've got that princess from close to Armoroad. Fairly certain we don't have any criminals, though.When we try to leave the Explorers Guild:  There are inns specifically for explorers in High Lagaard. You can leave your goods there, and prepare for your exploration. But before you head to the Labyrinth, I suggest you stop at the Duke's Palace. I won't keep you further. Farewell. So, anyone remember where everyone else went? We should probably get their registration taken care of before we go to the Grand Duchy. Rr. The bar? Zack, Tyler, and Rheine said they were going to get food earlier. I'll go back to the inn. Rest of 'em are probably resting from the trip over. Aaah, wait for me, Asriel! I'll put down clerical work as a surcharge. Freyja, Luca-- Stardust. ...Freyja, Stardust, and Ursa, can you bring the forms to the bar? Rrhrm!    The name's Cass. I'm the owner of this place, the Stickleback Bar. What? Aren't yeh done with yer first mission yet? Don't lie to me! I see through yeh! They'll let me know once yeh're done. So get to it already, and come back then!Cass won't talk about it now, but the Stickleback Bar is where we'll go after finishing the first Grand Duchy mission to take on sidequests. It's also where you can get hints about conditional monster drops, game mechanics, or other stuff through talking to bar patrons. Um, we're not here on business...we were just told some of our guildmates are here. 'Ey, you guys! C'mere, we're just in the middle of breakfast. Man, I've never had meat first thing in the morning before. This is great! Slow down your eating down, Zachary. We're not going into the Labyrinth today, there's no need to rush. But it's so good! We have paperwork you all need to fill out. Explorers Guild paperwork.  Oh, we already hafta fill that stuff out? Give it here, then!  Put my name down...and done.  Hm, I know I had a royal seal somewhere on me... I-is a royal seal be an acceptable substitute for a signature? I would certainly hope so...ah, there it is. Thank you all. We'll bring these to the Guild.  Like I mentioned earlier, you can talk to bar patrons through Gather information. Some of the conversations are utterly pointless, but the others often contain hints about how to obtain certain drops, or about less-than-obvious game mechanics. Let's talk to the Novice dark hunter.  *sigh*... I bought all these new weapons, but I just can't find one that feels right... At this rate, my adventuring career is over... *sigh* I guess I'll have to go track down my old whip. It must still be in the forest... ...Can we keep an eye out for his whip when we go exploring? It hurts to see another Dark Hunter so down. I don't see why not.Loud caster:  Hey, haven't seen you around! You folks new? Going through some rough times? Don't worry, I know how it is! Lemme help! You taking advantage of the gathering points in the forest? If you raise your gathering skills, you'll find rarer stuff! You need rare materials to make rare items, and improving those skills isn't gonna do you any harm. Why not give it a try? Okay then! Have a good adventure!The caster lies. Don't listen to her; it's a waste of skill points to invest in gathering skills when you can just have a gathering party do it for you. Most material gathering points are fairly close to stairs in EO2U, close enough to avoid running into monsters most of the time. Speaking of gathering parties, I made one:   Five of these guys, all named identically. If you want to know why the hell they're all named "Byeah," here's some context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgGOLvbknow Girl wearing a ribbon:  Ah, here comes a new challenger of the forest! Your equipment gave you away, eheheh. I am Rozsika! I am here to teach...well, varoius things to adventurers. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!Rozsika gives very, very basic Etrian Odyssey advice once you've finished the first Grand Duchy mission. You can talk to her again before completing it, but all she'll say is: Ah, it's the new adventurer. How is your mission from the Palace going? Let's talk when you've finished the job. I'll be waiting here!And lastly, before we go check the Inn, here's what Cass says if you Talk to him before finishing the first Grand Duchy mission: I can only give jobs to explorers that've been approved by the Grand Duchy. Sorry, but I'll have to ask yeh to leave.   Well, welcome to Lagaard! There are lots of inns here, but my place is the best! You're exploreres, right? Great! You'll fit right in. Try to get along with the other guilds, now, okay? Oh, and my name is Hanna. There's no need for formalities, you can just call me Hanna. That's what everyone else does! Bahaha! Pleased to meet you, Hanna. Okay, let's see... Where was Nadia's room again? ...Ah, here we are. Nadia! ...What? What is it? I was having such a good dream... Explorers Guild paperwork! Everyone in the guild needs to sign their own papers. Alright, but I'm going back to bed after this. I'm still exhausted from all the rides I took here...  Thanks! We'll take it back to the Explorers Guild. Mhm. Alright, where's that Protector... Right here, Az. Oh, hello. Thought you'd be sleeping like everyone else. Nope. Not a big fan of sleeping in. 'Sides, I gotta go find where everything in this city is. Better to do it while there's barely anyone out. Ah, I see. We got forms you need to sign, though. Guild stuff? Yep.  A'ight, that look good to you? Seems finished to me. Realga and I'll take it back to the Guild before we go into the forest. Thanks, Az. Be seein' you. Miiiiiiiiilly! Gods, what is it? The sun's barely up... The Explorers Guild asked us all to fill out paperwork for ourselves. Registering for explorer status and all that. Ugh, do I have to? Let me sleep. Milly. We can't explore the Labyrinth until everyone's filled out their papers. Ｆｉｌｌ ｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｐａｐｅｒｗｏｒｋ. Euuuugh, fine. Just, please, don't make that face or use that voice again.  There. Happy now? Yep. Thanks. Hey. Demon girl. There's papers you need to sign.  ...Bison, I guess. I'm partial to bison myself, after that outbreak of poisoned venison back in Etria. The door is open. Oh, thank you Coleeeeeeeeeeeeeette what are those markings on the floor?! War Lore. I need to stay practiced. Please tell me those aren't permanent... Oh, um, I'm not disturbing a ritual or anything...right? Not at all. Are those guild forms?  That should be everything. A-alright, t-thank you. Heyyyy, Realga! Getting ready to go into the tree? Erm, yes. We were just going around making sure everyone filled out their Guild paperwork...in fact, you're the last person who needs to sign.  Dot the i...aaaaand done! So, when is it gonna be my turn to go in? We, uh, don't know yet. We're still trying to decide on how parties will be chosen; we'll let you know when it's your turn. Oh...alright. See you later, then.Let's talk to Hanna before we go shopping: Huh? What's wrong, loves? Aren't you going into the Labyrinth today? Hmph! Lazy children... Are you sure you're really cut out for the Labyrinth? You know, if you lose focus like that in the Labyrinth, some monster's going to eat you whole without so much as a by-your-leave. Hey, everyone! You guys get the barflies' paperwork taken care of? Rrhrm! Here. Alright! I'll run everything over to the Guild, then. Go buy supplies while I'm gone, and get me something nice! Sitoth Trading's our last stop before we accept the Grand Duchy's mission. It's your standard RPG store; buy weapons, armor, and consumables made out of the junk you find off monsters/in the Labyrinth and sell.   Note that Sitoth Trading's one of two places in Lagaard where the bottom screen is switched away from the map editor; instead, it shows you your party members and their equipment.   My name is Abigail. It's nice to meet you. This is my father's shop. He makes the equipment in the back, and I sell them up front. I'm just an assistant here, but I'm always on the job! Don't forget about me!Let's talk to Abigail before we buy anything: Oh, you must be about to enter the Labyrinth, huh? Just wait until you see it! I've only ever been as far as the entrance, but I was still amazed! It's so bright inside. The greenery goes all the way into the depths... Oh, but you have to remember to be careful! They won't come near the entrance, but inside the forest, there's a lot of monsters. They'll eat you if you don't watch out! You all look really strong, so you might be okay, but you still need to be careful, okay?Rather than bore you with all of my purchasing decisions, here's the end result of the spending of our initial 500 ental:  I buy Thick Gages and Wooden Hairpins for both Freyja and Asriel. Especially on Expert, monsters hit very hard relative to your party's HP early on, so it's incredibly important to buy as much defense as you can. I tend to lean towards buying gauntlets and headwear for frontliners; they generally provide better DEF boosts and more relevant stat bonuses for frontliners than boots do. Do note that I did not buy anything for Ursa, as Beasts have a very limited subset of equipment they can buy; they can only buy collars and a very small selection of armor that other classes can wear. Their high max HP generally makes up for this early on, thankfully.  For Realga and Stardust, I buy Wooden Hairpins and Leaf Sandals. Without getting too much into game mechanics, boots provide positive turn speed bonuses compared to other pieces of armor, which is very desireable for Medics. It's less so for Alchemists, but boots also tend to provide TEC bonuses, which Alchemists *do* want. Those of you who have played EO games that aren't EO2U might be paincking and wondering "why didn't you buy any Medicas?!" There's a good reason for that, which'll become apparent once we go into the Labyrinth. For now, just trust me. Alright, that should be everything taken care of! You guys buy me something nice? Y-yes, here. ...A wooden hairpin and sandals made out of leaves. Shop doesn't have much in stock now. They probably need materials from inside the Labyrinth to make better equipment. Well, let's go get our mission from the Grand Duchy, then.    I am Minister Dubois, vassal to the esteemed Duke. I am charged with the governance of High Lagaard. My duties range from managing civic affairs to overseeing the explorers that investigate the Labyrinth. You are, I see, another band of hopeful explorers come to make your mark in the forest... However, only official citizens of Lagaard are allowed past the Labyrinth's 1st floor. I'm afraid you must pass a test of our devising in order to register as a citizen. Are you prepared to accept the mission? It's kind of pointless to say no here. ...Hm, I'm glad to hear it. Helping explorers become stronger is beneficial for us, as well. You see, the Duke himself has given the order to have the Labyrinth fully explored. Our ultimate aim is to find the floating castle of legend. Of course, it may only be a myth... But surely chasing myths and legends is at the very core of an explorer's purpose, yes? If you find the floating castle, you will be greatly rewarded...and if you wish it, even ennobled. ...But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, you must accomplish this mission and prove your ability. Missions are analagous to story quests. You have to do them in order to progress the storyline.   It is essential that you master mapmaking skills before going too far into the Labyrinth. And one thing more... I'd like you to bring back a token from one of the treasure boxes on the 1st floor. Don't fret overmuch. I'm sure you'll stumble upon it naturally as you walk the Labyrinth drawing your map. The guard on the Labyrinth's 1st floor will have more details for you. When you have proven your worth in this challenge, report back to me... I will confirm you as citizens of the Grand Duchy and approve your travel through the forest. Take this parchment. It is blank now...but someday you will fill it with the forest's secrets.One sad omission from Classic mode that's in Story mode is Dubois mentioning that the token is because the Duchy was having issues with people turning in "plagiarized maps"--a non-subtle jab at EO players who just copy their maps from the internet. Oh yes...it may be wise to visit the inn and Sitoth Trading before venturing into the Labyrinth. If you are not properly prepared for exploring, your journey will be all the more difficult.Way ahead of you, Dubois. Finally, if we Talk to Dubois before going into the Labyrinth: There are no time restrictions. You can proceed with your exploration at your own pace. Do not push yourselves too hard, hm? The gates to the Grand Duchy will always be open to you. Feel free to stop by any time you please.Next time: we actually enter the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. Rea fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Mar 31, 2016 |
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Nov 16, 2015 09:33
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Pureauthor posted:Am I the only one who thinks the pictures are a bit too big? I was kind of worried about that. 100x100 is the size Fetus is using for his EO3 LP, but I think the fact that I zoom in closer with the icons makes them look too big. I'll adjust them in the morning, I just finished closing everything and am about to sleep.
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Nov 16, 2015 09:55
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Dr. Fetus posted:You seem to be missing a screenshot here. Not a screenshot, but a block of text. Whoops. I'll resize the screenshots and fix that block of text later (don't have access to the external drive where my LP stuff is stored right now.)
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Nov 16, 2015 18:36
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Well, all of that has taught me a very important lesson regarding proofreading at midnight.  I fixed the missing Cass dialogue and repeated image, as well as resized all the images. Everything seem fine now?
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Nov 16, 2015 20:09
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Update 2: The Yggdrasil Labyrinth   Well, let's get going. No sense in staying in Lagaard. I'll start my tab, then.      SYSTEM: The sight overwhelms all who see it for the first time... The Yggdrasil Labyrinth. This forest maze exists within Yggdrasil, the tree that looms over the city of High Lagaard. It's warm in here. Like summer. Rrrm... It's...really nice compared to the city. I guess the inside of the Labyrinth has its own climate?SYSTEM: As you marvel at its beauty, a guard appears before you.  SYSTEM: The guard is standing in a manner that seems meant to block your passage.  I'm in the Grand Duchy's guard corps. We help explorers like yourself on missions.SYSTEM: The guard takes a hard look at you before speaking again. I'll get right to the point. Shall we begin your first trial to become officially recognized? You can start by taking the path leading east from here. Your task is to bring that token to me. The specific location of the box with the token is here.SYSTEM: The guard then places a mark on the map you hold.  Oh, that's not as far as I thought it'd be. Yeah, seems like something that wouldn't take long. What's the catch? There is one other thing, which is actually important for your survival. You should map the east side of this floor. Include as many details of the red box on your map as possible. The game then pops up a tutorial on mapmaking here, but it's nothing you can't infer from the mapmaking tools on the right side of the touch screen (when not zoomed out like in the screenshot). I'll be waiting here for you to bring back the token and your finished map.SYSTEM: The guard takes a half turn away before looking back at you. Oh, yes... I almost forgot. Something for novice explorers, just in case.SYSTEM: The guard rummages through his pack and doles out a supply of medication to the party.  The forest can be more dangerous than it looks. Always be on your guard while inside it.SYSTEM: With that cheerful sentiment, the guard steps aside, allowing you to pass... You eagerly step forth, ready to commence your adventure! Alright, who wants to do mapping? I, um, don't think anyone on the front line should do it. What if we get ambushed and drop the map? An Alchemist's palms are not tools that lend well to precision. ...Fine, I'll do it. Mapping duty, an extra 500 ental. Rrm?  SYSTEM: However, it appears to be impassable from this side. Rrgh. SYSTEM: As you have some skill at adventuring, 3 Skill Points should be available to you. Oh yes, skill point allocation. Probably one of the most important parts of every Etrian Odyssey; skill investment decisions not only make or break a character, they can make or break an entire party. Especially in the early game, try to think your skill builds through very carefully. There is an option at the Explorers Guild to reset a character's skill point allocations, with a 2 level penalty (which doesn't apply if a character is level 1 to 5, I believe). While that 2 level penalty isn't much in the late and postgame, in the early game that penalty can be pretty harsh. Not as bad as EO1's 10 level penalty, though.  For Freyja, I invest 1 point in Whip Mastery, which, in addition to giving 1% extra damage to whip attacks/skills, unlocks Gag, Cuffs, and Shackles. All of the skills are basically the same: they deal moderate Cut damage (120% at level 1, 235% at level 10, 310% at level 20), while attempting to bind a certain body part with a decent base chance (40% at level 1, 60% at level 10, 80% at level 20). Gag attempts to bind the target's head, Cuffs attempts to bind the target's arms, and Shackles attempts to bind the target's legs. I'll explain binds in a later game mechanics post. My ultimate goal is Ecstasy, which requires lv7 on Gag, Cuffs, and Shackles. It's a whip Dark Hunter's best skill, and one of the best skills in the game period. That skill point requirement means we won't be seeing it for a while, sadly. For now, I invest in Cuffs. Leveling any of the basic whip skills between 1 and 4 doesn't do anything for the bind chance, it just increases the damage. I'll be using Cuffs mostly because arm binds reduce physical damage, so might as well get some extra damage.  Investing in Katana Mastery unlocks quite a lot of stuff. It puts one point in each of the stances (Upper, Clear, and Drawing), and unlocks each stance's activation skill. I'll be primarily investing in the Upper Stance tree, mostly because it does the most damage out of the trees, due to the fact that Upper Stance gives a bonus to the user's attack. It's not much, but it's still something. You could also make an argument for Clear Stance, since its defense bonus helps with the major fragility problem Ronin have. While Drawing Stance has access to the Ronin's only all-target attack, and has a ranged attack for its ultimate skill, I don't find either of these to be that useful.  I put one point in Upward Slash, which is a very basic Cut attack that triggers Upper Stance; it deals 100% damage at level 1, meaning it deals the same amount as an Attack command. Without it, the stance (and Asriel, for that matter) is useless. I then put another point into Upper Stance, which increases its damage bonus from 4% to 6%.  For Ursa, I invested all of her initial skill points in Loyalty Mastery. Loyalty Mastery's actually a fairly interesting passive: it provides a passive chance for the Beast to halve the damage of a given attack. A passive chance to halve incoming damage is great for Loyalty Mastery, because the tree is based entirely around tanking the party's damage. At level 3, it gives a 9% chance to halve an incoming damage instance. 3 points in Loyalty Mastery unlocks: - Lick Wounds, a single-target heal that also dispels binds. Pretty bad early on, but later in the game becomes quite nice with Auto-Lick. - Protect, which allows the Beast to take all of one ally's incoming damage for a set number of damage instances over one turn. Protect reduces the amount of damage the Beast takes. - Hit-Taker, which allows the Beast to take everyone's incoming damage for a set number of damage instances over one turn. Hit-Taker reduces the amount of damage the Beast takes.  For Realga, I invest 1 point into Heal Mastery, which gives a 2% boost to non-fixed healing, in addition to unlocking Cure. If you've ever played an RPG before, you can probably guess what Cure does. I then invest her other 2 points into Cure, so I can get 1 point in Salve before going for some other skills on the Heal Mastery tree. At level 3, Cure heals for 118% healing power and has no speed modifier. The healing formula, incidentally, is ((TEC * 2) + VIT) * HealingPower.  All of Stardust's initial skill points go into Formula Mastery, which gives Formula skills a 3% damage increase, and unlocked Fire, Ice, and Volt Formula. All of these are really basic skills--they just deal TEC-based Fire/Ice/Volt damage to one enemy, and deal 110% TEC damage at level 1. I'm building towards Compression, which you can see down at the bottom right. Compression makes any all-target skills the user casts only be single-target, but also increases their damage to compensate. How much more damage, you may ask? 50% at level 1, 75% at level 10, and 100% at level 20. ...Yeah, it doesn't scale all that well, which I didn't realize until MUCH later. It's better to just leave Compression at 1 point and put more points into the Formulas. If you want to save TP, though, I guess putting more points into Compression early is an option. Fire, Ice, and Volt Formula are all good at one point. We probably won't be investing any more in them.   Do we head right or left? Um...there's a giant, floating box to the left. Left. I need to see how this box floats. ...Why did you open it? It stopped spinning. Medicine that can bring people back from being dead's more important than spinning boxes, Luca.Nectars are very important items in Etrian Odyssey. When used, they revive a dead party member at 20 HP.  That other Dark Hunter at the bar mentioned losing his whip...it can't be that far in. You're looking for it? I didn't think you were the kind to worry about random strangers at a bar. He looked so down about it, though...oh! There's something dangling from that tree.SYSTEM: As you explore, Freyja raises their voice. You look in wonder to find something like a vine dangling before Freyja. You saw no such vines on the other nearby trees... On closer inspection, you realize it is actually a whip. The whip is tangled in the branches overhead. You assume that its owner gave up on it when it could not be extricated. You may try and recover the whip, or ignore it and be on your way.  SYSTEM: Thinking that a good tug might free the whip, you pull on it with all your might! Though your muscles strain, the whip itself is elastic and the supple branch bends as well. It remains firmly in place. It seems you will not retrieve the whip in this way. You must come up with another plan... Ohhh...how did it even get tangled that badly? Oh come on. If it's not coming undone, the only thing we can do is cut the branch off. SYSTEM: Realga grasps the trunk firmly with their hands and feet, managing to reach the base of the branches.  SYSTEM: Realga brandishes their survival knife and begins hacking at the branch. The repeated slashing results in a large cut in the branch. At length, Realga pushes down on the branch's tip, causing it to snap and fall to the ground along with the whip. Though your methods were a bit inelegant, you succeed in retrieving the whip! But as Realga returns to the ground, feeling satisfied with a job well done, they notice something amiss. The loud noise of the repeated chopping has attracted nearby monsters! AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! Rrrgh?! What's wrong?! Hm. Monsters. Guess we don't have any way around this!  Forest Snail HP: 69, STR: 6, TEC: 6, VIT: 7, AGI: 5, LUC: 6 Skills:
Ailment and bind resistances: A small forest denizen that retreats into its shell when in danger. Forest Snails are the least threatening encounter here. They're kind of a pain to kill, especially if they use Hard Shell, but they still don't hit very hard.  Rrreogh! We j-just want the whip! Please... Hup! Ah, I'm finally starting to remember this stance... You went into the Labyrinth without knowing basic stances? My brain's not what it used to be. Hey, come out of there! That's cheating! Ice is just heavily condensed snow. I didn't know whips could send monsters flying...  Whenever you defeat a new monster or discover a new item, the game notifies you about it. SYSTEM: You sigh with relief after managing to thwart the monsters' ambush. It may not have been wise to carelessly cause such a commotion in this dangerous forest. To remain here would be equally risky. The whip is still tangled around the branch, but you decide to leave it as is.  I'm sure the owner'll be able to untangle it... I'unno, that's a pretty bad knot.   What the-- Aw crap.  Rrrow! Ouch... Hedgehog HP: 75, STR: 7, TEC: 5, VIT: 5, AGI: 8, LUC: 5 Skills:
Ailment and bind resistances: A small forest rodent whose body is covered in needles, with which it pierces the unwary. Hedgehogs are annoying. They hit quite hard this early, and Desperate Needle can pretty easily either put someone really close to dying, or even outright kill more fragile classes like Dark Hunters and Ronin. If two of them gang up on a party member, chances are good that party member will die if they aren't a Beast.  So yeah, blindsides. When you get into a random encounter, there's a chance that you can be blindsided, meaning that the enemy gets a free turn on you. Best case scenario, you have an encounter like two Forest Snails that both use Hard Shell. Worst case scenario, you get into an encounter where the enemies kill some of your party members and put you dangerously close to getting a game over. Worth noting about the Untold arranged soundtrack: all of the random battle music have different introductions based on if you enter a battle normally, get a preemptive, or are blindsided. The soundtrack version of The First Campaign, which is the version on Tindeck, starts with the blindside intro. I got off fairly easy here, but I'm still in a pretty bad situation. Both Freyja and Ursa are pretty much one attack each from dying, and I'd really rather not expend my only Nectar if neccessary.   I'm taking a bit of a gamble here. If I had Ursa use Hit-Taker, she'd 100% die on the first attack, and that could also lead to Freyja dying. If I have Ursa Protect Freyja, the worst case scenario is Freyja is attacked first, which leads to Ursa dying, and then the other Hedgehog attacking Freyja. Due to how EO determines targets for non-all-party attacks, that situation is fairly unlikely.   Finally, a chance to put my schooling to use.I'm also going to actually have Realga do something and use Cure on Ursa. Medics tend to be quite slow, but hopefully Ursa can be healed before the Hedgehogs act.  Rrgh... This is really not the time to misstep, Asriel. I'd rather not...die to hedgehogs... There. Feel better? Rrr!That was too close for my liking, but we should be fine now.   Realga's timing couldn't have been better; Ursa would've died to the first attack otherwise. You can also see Loyalty Mastery in action here.   I don't do fake effects. They cheapen a play.  Let's try to avoid rodents getting the better of us next time.  SYSTEM: As you stroll through the forest, you spot brightly hued flowers at the base of a tree. Their vibrant color stands out against the forest green, as if luring you to them. You then notice something shining in the center of those flowers... How could a flower gleam so? You could always approach for a closer look to sate your curiosity...You lean in close to the flowers, noting carefully their structure and color. Ah, how heavenly. Reminds me of some unusual blooms down in ThaaaRRRCHOOO!SYSTEM: Suddenly, the blossoms begin to twitch, as if your reacting to your presence! At so close a distance, you receive a faceful of pollen. You back away quickly... However, Asriel inhales the pollen and begins to sneeze uncontrollably! WaaaAACHOO! AACHOO! AAATTTOO! C-can you stop this, Realga? I wasn't taught about this... SYSTEM: After some time, Asriel's sneezing fit finally stops. You take this as a warning not to be so careless, but then you notice something at your feet. Picking it up, you find that it is a phial of medicine, essential to explorers! It seems to have somehow slipped into this flower. Detecting some kind of destiny at work here, you take the medicine and resume your exploration.  That would've been very helpful just now...  I hear running water.  SYSTEM: The mineral water that flows here is crystal-clear and shimmers beautifully in the sun. You can use the water to quench your thirst, or ignore it and continue on your way.  SYSTEM: You cup your hands beneath the outpouring water to catch it in your palms. Very carefully, you bring your hands to your lips and sip... The natural sweetness of the cold water helps to replenish your stamina!   Green numbers represent HP restoration, while golden numbers represent TP restoration. SYSTEM: Water continues to flow from the rock. You consider noting this place down on the map before departing.   There's another chest... It's also spinning! And it also probably has the token we need, which means we have to open it! ...  Rrr? Huh? What's down here, Ursa?   Oh, I've seen this flower before. Lagaard Hospital uses it to make medicine for badly-injured explorers.Shortly after that:   Mole HP: 80, STR: 8, TEC: 5, VIT: 6, AGI: 6, LUC: 6 Drops:
Ailment and bind resistances: A breed of mole who only surfaces to hunt for prey. Beware its razor-sharp claws! Oh man, I do not feel like dealing with this. Moles hit hard, and could possibly kill Ursa or put her really low. So...  RrrrrEEERRR!I have Ursa activate her Force Boost, which triples her max HP and heals her to that amount, and have her use Hit-Taker. Everyone else defends, except...  Grand finale time already? Boom. Y-you can make that from nothing? Well, not nothing. I have to use a lot of matches, draw a lot from the ice core, and short out the palms for a while.In the big clearing with the treasure box, on the west wall:  SYSTEM: However, it appears to be impassable from this side.   SYSTEM: This is unmistakably the token you were directed to retrieve. You all rejoice with relief upon the fulfillment of one of your objectives. Finally! That was a lot longer than I thought it'd be.SYSTEM: But the moment is spoiled when an eerie cry suddenly echoes from the north!    SYSTEM: Your timing in coming here was poor indeed to arrive at the same time as this enormous deer... But the deer, from the look of it, does not seem to consider you a threat, and shows no signs of charging towards you. But have a care! To pick a fight with the giant deer will be to invite a battle you cannot easily win. If you value your life, then observe the deer's movements carefully and make your escape from here! And the game introduces us to one of the things EO is most known for: FOEs (short for Field-On Enemy in Japan, Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens in the US, and some other Latin in Europe). FOEs are monsters that are visible inside of the Labyrinth and on the map, who make a move for every move you make, and, in battle, range from "can be taken out with some planning" to "don't even think about it." Most of the FOEs in the first stratum fall under that latter category while you're exploring it, and Ragelopes are no exception. Especially at the level the party is at right now, engaging a Ragelope would pretty much be a guaranteed game over. That d-deer is...very large... Rrrrrr... Let's just walk around it. It'll be fine.  Ragelopes follow a pretty simple movement pattern, fortunately. They're all positioned around a one-tile obstacle, and will make a full circle around it. Easy enough to manuever around.   SYSTEM: More monsters with that same fearsome presence are populating the trail up ahead! You will need to plan your movements carefully to avoid them if you are to find a safe path back to town. You mull over how to find an opening, as you did a moment ago, in order to survive this ordeal... Hmph. Knew it wouldn't be that easy.  Take note of the extra bars near the random encounter indicator; those approximate how close you are to an FOE. This was be more useful in the DS EO titles, where your vision range in the Labyrinth was severely limited and the Labyrinths tended to be more corridor-like.   Oh come on, I'm not even 15 seconds from the end.  Screw this.   SWIFT DEATH! I...didn't know Asriel had that in him. Oh hey, our first level up! Level ups in EO can increase maximum HP and TP, along with stats, and also give the character 1 Skill Point.      Not a lot to comment on here. Same rationales as before. Raising Upper Stance to level 3 on Asriel raised its damage bonus from 6% to 8% and, more importantly, unlocked Horse Slash, a pretty basic Cut attack. It's quite TP-efficient for the damage it does in the early game, though, and makes more sense skill point and TP-wise than going for Swallow Strike. It's also a prerequisite to Flame Grater, which is useful for clearing out random encounters.   SYSTEM: It can only be the third of those monstrous deer... This must be the last hurdle! Ascertain your route forward and elude the giant deer as you go!     Let's...try to avoid staring death in the face more than once per exploration...If I'd taken one step forward, I'd have run into the Ragelope, which would've almost certainly been a game over.   We're finally finished... SYSTEM: Before you stands a guard whom you remember well.  SYSTEM: The guard cheerfully welcomes you back. Now then, did you bring the token I asked for? Rhrm!SYSTEM: In answer to the guard's question, you simply show him the token. Hm... Yes, that's the one. I would congratulate you, but the test isn't over yet. Completing the map is another mandatory component of the mission. Show me your map so I can confirm whether you've done that or not. Let's see...ah, here it is. SYSTEM: With that, the guard takes your map and examines it carefully... After looking at your map, the guard's cheerful voice emanates from his helmet. I'd say your mission to create a map of the Labyrinth's 1st floor is a success. The Minister will grant you recognition in High Lagaard and full access to the Labyrinth. My part is done. You may go on from here, but I suggest you report to the Minister first.SYSTEM: With that, the guard begins his trek back to the city. With your mission complete, you suppose his duty is fulfilled as well. Having seen him off, you are free to return to town or continue your explorations.  Please, let's go back. I'm exhausted... I think we all are. When you have a mission or quest ready to be turned in, the game will notify you in the town menu until you turn them in.   I received word of your accomplishments. I congratulate you on your mapmaking skills. I hereby name you explorers of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth, and citizens of High Lagaard. As I mentioned earlier, you have but one goal. Climb the Yggdrasil Labyrinth and discover the lands said to lie in the skies above. I expect great things from you from here on out, members of Lumen. Ah, I nearly forgot. Do you have the proof you were meant to retrieve? Here. Very well. All that's left is to put our seal upon it... And there you are. Proof that you are now recognized by High Lagaard. Take this with you. Lastly, there is this for you: a reward for finishing the mission. There. You are now ready to set forth. Continue the good work. ...That's it? A small stipend? That barely covers my extra mapmaking charge! Looks like you'll be sticking with us a bit longer, then. And here's a change introduced to the series in EO3: EXP rewards for finishing a mission. Mission EXP rewards tend to be very substantial--usually enough for one or more level ups.  In the interest of conserving TP (each of the basic whip skills jump up in TP cost at level 5), I'm going to leave Cuffs at level 4 for now and get Gag and Shackles to level 4 as well.  Invested in Horse Slash; see my previous reasoning for why.    Cure at level 5 not only increases the heal amount and turn speed, but unlocks Salve, which is an all-party healing skill.  Leveling Formula Mastery up to 5 unlocked these Formula skills; they're all-target Fire, Ice, and Volt skills, respectively. They each need to be leveled up to 3 before we can get Compression. Here's Dubois's Talk dialogue after you finish the first mission: Ah, so you've finally entered the Labyrinth, and have begun your exploration. We here at the Grand Duchy do whatever we can to support explorers, to the utmost of our capacity. You are free to keep anything you find in the Labyrinth. We will not charge a single ental for tax. ...Unfortunately, that is the most we can really offer. I do hope you understand our position. We've barely scratched the Labyrinth's surface. For all our years here, there remains so much that is still unknown. We are to live alongside the Labyrinth, we must learn more about it. We at the Grand Duchy send guard patrols in order to investigate the Labyrinth, but we are lacking in numbers as well as skill. Please understand; the work you do as explorers is important--no, vital to High Lagaard.
Rea fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Mar 31, 2016 |
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Nov 17, 2015 10:48
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Update 2.5: First Mission Cleanup Alright, let's go offload the junk we found off monsters at Sitoth.  Oh, I almost forgot! Have you received a Citizenship Card from the Minister? If it's alright, I'd like to just check that first... Here it is. Freshly pressed. Thank you very much! There's a special product that I can only give to customers that have a Citizenship Card. It's called Ariadne Thread, and it lets you come back to town from the Labyrinth any time you want. You should always make sure you have one when you enter the Labyrinth, just in case!Ariadne Threads (known as Warp Wires in EO1 and 2) are a series staple, and they do pretty much exactly what Abigail says: use them in the Labyrinth, and you are instantly warped out back to Lagaard. They're less useful in EOU and EO2U than they are in previous games due to a game mechanic we haven't seen yet, but you should absolutely still have one on you whenever you go into the Labyrinth in case an emergency occurs, like most of your party dying without any way to revive them.  I sell off everything we found in the Labyrinth, aside from the Rat Needles (I have a good reason for this), and:    New items become available for sale. Green Leaves, unlocked by selling 1 Carapace Piece, are light armor that provide +7 DEF, while Medica IIs, unlocked by selling 1 Small Flower, are consumables that heal for 100 HP. Very useful, but overkill for right now, especially given that we have a Medic in the party.  Green Leaves, on the other hand, are much less useful. They only provide +2 DEF over the Tweed that Realga and Stardust came with, which is not going to save them from anything; if either of them die with the back row damage reduction in effect, they would've died even with the Green Leaf.  I buy an Ariadne Thread, because I'd be a massive hypocrite if I didn't. Some people swear by buying two Ariadne Threads at all times, just in case they forget one before going exploring, but I find that a quick inventory check before going into the Labyrinth suffices. Abigail's Talk dialogue after you've finished the first mission: Oh, welcome! How's the exploration going? Um...is everything okay? It's really dangerous inside. Maybe I'm asking too much, but...try not to get hurt, okay? I'll be praying for your safe return! Remember how Cass told us to leave the bar because we hadn't finished the first mission? Let's go see what he has for us now.  Now, let's get down to business. I get a lot of requests here, and I put 'em all up on that bulletin board over there. Usually, it's stuff like, "Go get this thing," or "Defeat that monster." Pretty drat lazy bunch, if yeh ask me... But the reward is usually worth the trouble. So it ain't a bad way to pick up a little somethin' here and there. Got it? Like I said in the last update and Cass said just now, the bar is where you go to take on sidequests. Unlike the original EO2, where a lot of the quests were mind-numbing busywork you often had to interrupt your normal exploration for that gave very little reward, quests in EO2U tend to be stuff you would've done normally anyway, or at least stuff that isn't that far out of the way of your normal routine. The item rewards you get from quests tend to vary in quality, but every quest gives EXP much like missions do (albeit considerably less due to how many quests thare are compared to missions), so it's in your best interests to do them. Blue quests are normal quests that are given through progressing through the game, while orange quests are repeatable DLC quests. All of the DLC quests have floor requirements are attached, and the earliest point at which we can start a DLC quest (all 3 of the grinding ones) is 4F. Aside from that, most of the DLC quests are quite a ways off; the recommended levels for them start at 65, and the floor requirements range from the 3rd Stratum to after the end of the game. As I said, we won't be doing these for a long time. I, of course, take on every non-DLC quest. Cass's dialogue for Pure mineral water: Ah, yeh'll take that quest, then? Great, great, good to hear it. This one's from the restaurant down the way. The man there's in powerful need of Rock Water. It's bracing stuff, but yeh can only find it in the Labyrinth. Yeh don't have to go too far in, mind. Should be able to get some on the 1st floor. Just bring back some of that water and the job's done. G'luck! Oh, that water we drank from the rock?All we have to do for this quest is go to the tile where we drank the water that healed the party for 35 HP/10 TP. For The leathersmith's request: This comes from a local craftsman. He's been in High Lagaard since the old days... Kind of a loon, but does drat good work. Fella uses tanned leather to make clothes. But the leather's all though, see, so he can't stitch it without good sturdy needles. ...And the only way t'get these needles is to get 'em off spiny monsters. Yeh gettin' the picture now? Need yeh to track down some forest Hedgehogs, and pluck maybe three Rat Needles off 'em. G'luck! We still have a bunch of those in our item pack...Lastly, for The item trade I: Haw! I knew yeh'd take the bait on this. Just say "weapon" or "equipment" and the explorers come running! Yeh know Sitoth Trading, of course. The dry goods store just out front...exactly. Never seen Sitoth myself, as the man's obsessed with his job. He never leaves the workshop. Nah, this one's from his girl Abigail. She wants to help yeh lot out by making new weapons. To be honest, I wasn't listening too close. Yeh'll have to go ask her what she needs.Remember how I mentioned I didn't sell off the Rat Needles?   That's why. Oh, done already? Let's see... Awright, that's everything! This is yer reward. Go ahead and count it if yeh wanna make sure, eh? Haw! Oh, nice! I won't have to worry as much about you all dying. ...Please don't say that. Rr.  3 Nectars is a very nice reward this early on; they give you a lot of leeway in case someone dies during exploring.  And as I said, quests give EXP. We're close to a level up, but not quite. Note that, for both quests and missions, you can't just have one party member turn in the quest and get a mountain of EXP; quests and missions give each party member a set amount of EXP. The number at the top of the results screen is just that number multiplied by your current party size.  Well, the list of bar patrons has certainly changed since we turned in the mission! Let's start with the depressed Dark Hunter. Um...we have something for you. Uh, what? A branch? Sure, it's...cool, for a branch. I don't know what you-- A-Ah! Wait, that branch...there's a whip tangled on it! Did you find this in the forest!? The other day, I was fighting monsters, and my whip got stuck on a branch. I couldn't reach it... I'm so lucky someone managed to get it for me! Yay! Thanks so much--I'm really grateful! Mm... I can't just take this for free. Here--in exchange for finding my whip, I'll give you this fancier one in exchange! It's a little too hard for me to use properly, but I think you'll be able to use it just fine. I'm just happy to have my old one. I'm so glad to have my old whip again! But...geez, it's really tangled up on this branch, huh... Maybe if I loosen it with some hot water...? I know that works for opening jars... Oh, but this is amazing! Thank you so much for getting it back to me! Well, it's...unique, but it feels less powerful than even this plain whip.The Binding Whip is our introduction to something completely useless: disabling weapons. Every one of them has only +10 ATK, but also carries a 30% base chance to apply a status effect or a bind (with the exception of two of them that only have 10% base chances). It's not worth giving up pretty much all of one party member's offense for a small chance to inflict a disable with normal attacks, especially someone you depend on for damage, like a Dark Hunter. Knight in shiny armor:  Gaaah! I got wrecked again! Why are the monsters in the forest so strong!? Especially that bug! Crawler, or something? Even if I use my deadliest strike, the drat stubborn thing doesn't even care! All my friends say there's other ways to beat it, like Guarding through its attacks, since it's so thick and tough... But I mean, c'mon! I'm all about the deadly strikes! Who ever heard of beating a monster by defending? ...I mean, I'm probably making my life harder by being stubborn... But still.We didn't run into Crawlers during the first mission, thankfully. Like Not-Hector here says, Crawlers can very easily ruin your day; they hit very hard and can take quite a lot of punishment. They don't resist instant death, however, so Issen will take care of them, and even at level 1, Eschaton will kill them as well. Bizarrely-dressed merchant:  Ah, so much to do! I need to go forage at the forest to stock up on ingredients! What's a delicate thing like me to do? All the customers want different things...but different things are gathered from different points... Citron to the east, Rye to the west... I have to remember or this whole trip is doomed! Finished! You're also going exploring, right? Do your best out there!The merchant's referring to the fact that different gathering points give different ingredient drops. We already found the Citron gathering point on 1F, but we have yet to find the Rye one. Tired hero:  *sigh* Lend me an ear, would you, brother? I...I ended up creating yet another legend. The forest is full of dangers, but I don't think there's a single guild that's faced down as much as I have. And this time I...I actually...forgot my Ariadne Thread... No way to heal, and nobody to back me up... Even the elite guild Esbat's probably never had to deal with anything like this. Heh. But it's only natural. Not many people can drag themselves back from the brink of death, but me...? Well... ...I'm a GODDAMN LEGEND. ... Someone's certainly full of themselves.Yes, this guy seems like a cocky prick, but he brings up the same point I mentioned earlier: you really want to always have an Ariadne Thread on you in case an emergency pops up. And finally, Rozsika: The first step of forest exploration is to know yourself! Is there anything you're unsure about? Go ahead, ask me whatever you want!I wouldn't be doing an LP if I needed Roszika's advice. ...I see. Well, if there's anything you want to know, don't hesitate to ask. I'll always be here for you, alright?Cass's Talk dialogue after you finish the first mission: Oi! Getting used to the Labyrinth yet? Eh? Why the long face? Ahh... Well, all I can say is, take it slow. If yeh die, it's curtains for yeh. The Labyrinth's huge, but it'll keep. Take it easy, and go at yer own pace. Let's make a quick stop at the Explorers Guild to see Marion's Talk dialogue after you finish the first mission. Hm? Ah, you're the ones who established a new guild the other day. How's your exploration of the Labyrinth going? Are you using the guild to its full potential? Depending on the task at hand, you may want to choose different team members. For example, for when you aren't aiming to climb higher, you could assemble a team of specialists that can Chop, Mine, or Take. Taking along the right allies for the right jobs could help you maximize their potential, and improve your versatility. Well, that's all I have to say for now. Try to avoid unnecessary risks.Well, that's what I have the Byeahs for. If we go to Sitoth Trading after accepting The item trade I, Abigail will tell us this when we enter:  Whew! I'd never made a request with Cass before, so I wasn't sure if anyone would take it... My dad's very busy, so I'll have to give you the materials list myself. Umm...here it is. 3 Carapace Piece, and 2 Small Nail! Once you have the materials, sell them to me. The reward is on top of the sale price. Hanna's talk dialogue after you finish the first mission: Oh, were you looking for mama's advice? Well, don't worry. As long as you're under my roof, you're like my own family! Don't worry, you can tell mama anything. Bahahahaha! ...Quite certain I'm older than you, Hanna. Man, I'm exhausted after that. I'd heard stories of how deadly the Labyrinth is, but never actually seen just what the monsters there are capable of. Speak for yourself. Freyja and Ursa are the ones who came close to dying. W-well, some sleep will do us all well. Good night, everyone. Night. Rrrrrrrrr...Resting at the inn restores all of your party's HP and TP, as well as sets the clock to 7 AM or 7 PM, depending on when you choose to wake up after pressing Stay.  If you have auto-save enabled, as well, resting will automatically prompt you to save your game. Might as well show it off once (pay no attention to the other save):  Saving sure goes by quickly when you save to the SD card. To make up for the fact that this update is short (even if it was formerly part of another update), expect a game mechanics post later today. Rea fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Mar 31, 2016 |
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Nov 17, 2015 22:01
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theshim posted:Huh. Until the portrait now, I never noticed that one hair sticking out on Abigail. Yeah. It's kind of hard to see with the shop background behind it, but it's much more noticeable in the artbook (which is where I pull portraits from):  You can also see Abigail and Cass's Japanese names here: Eclair and Antonio.
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Nov 17, 2015 22:35
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Speaking of Force, that happened to be the game mechanics post I was writing up! Game Mechanics: Force, or "Atlus balances something smartly for once" Let's go back to the original EO2 for a second. In that game, there was a specific mechanic called Force. Basically, every action a party member did would slowly fill up a gauge at the bottom of their command menu. When that gauge was fully filled, that character would gain access to their class's Force skill, a one-use-per-filled-gauge skill that ranged wildly in usefulness depending on the class. Some Force skills, like the Landsknecht's All Out, the Survivalist's Airwalk, or the War Magus's Invoke, were very useless and would not affect a battle that much. On the other hand, you had Force skills like the Protector's Painless, which completely nullified all damage and status ailments to the party for one turn, the Dark Hunter's Dominate, which was a guaranteed bind on every body part of the target, and the Gunner's Riot Gun, which was a guaranteed stun on one target, all of which could be used to completely snap the game's difficulty in half. So, when the time came to make EO2U, Atlus decided to heavily rework the Force system to be less tedious and difficulty-breaking. Instead of having to slowly fill up a gauge that resets when you leave the Labyrinth, every party member starts with a fully-filled Force gauge, which is fully restored upon leaving the Labyrinth. Additionally, instead of just having one Force skill that resets the gauge, Force is now divided into two different commands:
The big takeaways from this are: Force is much less tedious to manage, benefits pretty much every class instead of just a select few, and opens up quite a few unique ways to utilize the system. Let's go over each class's Force Boost and Breaks. Note that while Force Boosts do not require any body parts, Force Breaks do, and can thus be disabled by binds. Landsknecht:
Full Gain's also nice too, although it's pretty plain as far as Force Breaks go. Survivalist:
Summer Rain is a pretty nice Force Break. It fills the niche a lot of Force Breaks do of being an effective panic button for encounters that are going badly or encounters you just don't want to deal with. It's also incredibly useful for certain boss fights later on, but that's for another time. Protector:
Perfect Defense is where it's at, though. Even if it's not as obscene as Painless was (which completely cancelled status ailments and binds in addition to damage), it still has a lot of utility. Dark Hunter:
Rose Prison is meh. While the chance to inflict the binds and poison is quite high, bear in mind it's still subject to enemy resistances, meaning it's not guaranteed and, more importantly, cannot bypass enemies that nullify a given bind type or poison, unlike Dominate in EO2. Medic:
Oh boy, Medical Miracle. Medical Miracle is an incredibly powerful Force Break; proper use of it can very easily turn around what would've otherwise been a crushing game over. Its only downside is you have to be very, very sure when you use it; using it at the wrong time will most likely result in bad things, and you probably kicking yourself as a result. It's worth noting that if you have Overheal active when you use Medical Miracle, and revive someone with it, they will be healed up to the maximum amount Overheal allows. Alchemist:
Eschaton is, much like Summer Rain, mostly useful as a panic button for random encounters. Note that it's incredibly slow, however, and it's possible for your Alchemist to die before Eschaton goes off. Troubador:
Crusade is incredibly loving powerful and enables a lot of really cheesy strategies where you can burst down a very high HP boss in a turn or two. Note that it's not a buff, just a temporary modifier, so it interacts without any caveats with buffs and Force Boosts. Ronin:
Issen is...interesting. It's pretty bad in boss fights, but is a pretty much guaranteed "get out of jail free" card for random encounters, and the <20% HP proc chance can even reliably kill FOEs. Hexer:
Black Mist is similarly powerful. If you can somehow fully bind an enemy and maybe throw a status ailment on, then throw Black Mist at them, you've pretty much won the fight; the enemy won't be recovering from those disables any time soon. Gunner:
Supreme Bolt not only deals significant damage, but the chance to inflict stun is high enough that unless an enemy completely nullifies stun, you can generally expect to stun them, giving you a free turn to do whatever you want. War Magus:
Fairy Robe...well, just read the bolded bit and you should get why it's powerful against a lot of bosses. Beast:
True Endurance is very useful for enemy attacks that are either designed to overkill your party, or have high-chance ailment/bind inflictions attached. Sovereign:
Proof of Nobility's useful for sustain in both exploration and boss fights. Do note that's it not a heal on the level of Medical Miracle or Fairy Robe, however; it's fairly minor in comparison. Highlander:
Yes, Gae Bolg is bugged, in a good way though: it's untyped damage instead of stab damage. While this means you don't get bonus damage against enemies weak to stab, it also means it can't be resisted at all. Aside from that, it's another Force Break useful for clearing out groups of enemies.  Fafnir:
If you're looking at Accelerate and thinking "that sounds so incredibly loving broken," you have no idea. Transform turns Fafnir into...not even one of, he flat-out is the best damage dealer in the game (once you give him enough skill points in everything). Ignition Ray/Akashic Nova are kind of boring by comparison. The only neat things about them is that they're Fire/Ice/Volt damage; whatever element deals more damage to a given enemy is what the attack is treated as. So yeah, that's the Force system. Much improved from EO2 overall, even if it is basically balanced entirely around one class that's exclusive to Story mode. (thanks to Hobgoblin2099, who reminded me that Meteor Smash is only once per Transform too) Rea fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Dec 2, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 00:35
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Accelerate: Next turn, Fafnir will act first, and be able to perform 3 actions at once. Can only be used once per Transform. 15 TP.
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For the record, Fafnir is absolute garbage without Transform. His damage is mediocre at best, and while he's not fragile on the same level as Ronin and Alchemists, he's still about as fragile as Dark Hunters. Without Transform, Fafnir also has a skill tree dedicated to basically nothing (Force Mastery). You know how much Fafnir's basic Sabre skills do at level 10? 255%. For comparison, Horse Slash reaches that exact same percent at level 5, and costs considerably less TP.
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Nov 18, 2015 02:13
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Supremezero posted:Sabre's tap weaknesses and proc the absolute monster that is Link Order. Horse Slash doesn't. That was mostly a response to Dr. Fetus jokingly saying Dr. Fetus posted:Oh yeah, Transform is also gained through the plot. He can't use his Force Boost until later in the game. In his base form, he's decent, I guess. Just want to make sure no-one tries to do something stupid like an Expert runthrough without using Transform.
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Nov 18, 2015 02:43
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Tyty posted:Are you ripping the character portraits yourself? Just kinda curious because I'm having an absolute hell of a time finding EO2/3 character art for making bar convo portraits. I'm getting character portraits from the EOU/EO2U artbook. I crop pages to 100x100, then resize appropriately and manually take out any backgrounds. If you want, I'd be willing to make portraits for you (I also have the EO3 artbook on hand). I'd love to dig around in EO2U's innards, but if it's anything like what I read EOU is like, all of the game's contents that aren't the executable or Home Menu stuff are stored in one giant compressed file that I'm reasonably certain uses some ungodly Atlus-made scheme. Junpei posted:Is the Grimoire stones mechanic in classic as well as story? Ditto for that cooking/diner place mechanic? Yes; we'll be introduced to the Ducal Restaurant next update. Grimoires will come later. Rea fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 05:41
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Tyty posted:Actually, I looked into it, and the thing I'm using to convert EO4's textures already has support for that compression format. I'm grabbing textures from EO2U right now. My assumptions about EOU were just based off what I read from some dude on the internet. Whoops. Since it seems like you can't get data from EO2U, do you want me to just make some portraits from the artbooks I have? The EO3 one isn't scanned as well as the EOU/EO2U artbook, but it's usable. I can also give you my collection of EO2U portraits: 
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Nov 18, 2015 07:04
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8974580/eo2u_party_portraits.zip Since you don't have PMs, might as well post it publicly. Includes all the normal EO2 portraits and the Sovereign alternate colors. In other news, expect another update sometime in maybe an hour or two. (Can you tell my normal morning class got cancelled this week? )
Rea fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 07:16
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:Seriously, Frederica was so overpowered, they had to make one of her abilities into the Gunner's Force Boost in EO2U. The same is the case with the Alchemist's Analysis. Atlus then turned right around and gave Alchemists Compression to make up for nerfing Analysis, which I'd argue is more overpowered than any version of Analysis ever was.
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Nov 18, 2015 07:53
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Update 3: Yggdrasil Cuisine Alright. New day, new parts of the Labyrinth to explore. ...Asriel, it's 7 in the morning... Labyrinths wait for no one. Exploring while tired seems like a bad idea. Well, we're not getting any less tired standing around. Let's go. ...Wait, do we still have that whip the other Dark Hunter gave us? Rrm. We still have two Hedgehog needles, too. No sense in hoarding. Let's go sell them. Yeah, I forgot to sell the 2 Rat Needles that Cass didn't need. Whoops. Selling them unlocks:   Now that that's over with, into the Labyrinth.   Alright, we're entering unmapped territory. Let's be careful that we don't run into--  More deer. Of course there're more deer. Why wouldn't there be more deer? These, um, don't seem that difficult to walk around though.Just wait for the Ragelope trailing behind the first one to pass by you before you walk forward here.   Rrrm? Hm? You hear something, Ursa? Oh. SYSTEM: Wondering what it could be, you look closer and discover it's one of the hedgehogs you see often here. The spines on its back seem to be caught in the roots, preventing it from escaping. Under most circumstances, it would be safest to leave it where it is. Even if you were to render aid, it would not feel indebted to you--it may even attack out of instinct. Please, let's just leave it. It could be related to the hedgehogs that nearly killed Ursa and I... Rr-rrm. Ursa? What're you doing?! SYSTEM: Ursa carefully tugs on the hedgehog to pull its spines from the tree's roots... Surprised by your actions, the hedgehog squirms even more frantically, scratching Ursa's face terribly!  RRRRRGH!SYSTEM: But Ursa remains undeterred through it all and successfully frees the hedgehog from the tree. The hedgehog immediately retreats to a safe distance and bristles threateningly. You hardly wish to fight, since you just saved the creature. You keep your weapons sheathed and stare at the hedgehog. When it realizes that you intend it no harm, the hedgehog scrambles away. Satisfied with your success, you return to the task at hand.  You stupid bear, what did you do that for? That thing could come back and try to kill us later! Rrr. I don't know what that means!  Another shortcut we can't use yet.   Uuuuggh. I know how these deer move now, but looking at them still stresses me out. Can I put down "emotional distress" as a surcharge? We've gotten around them fine so far, Realga...I'm sure we'll be fine. Big caterpillar approaching, everyone. Wha?  Crawler HP: 200, STR: 12, TEC: 5, VIT: 8, AGI: 6, LUC: 9 Skills:
Ailment and bind resistances: A caterpillar of unusual size that relies on its spinnerets to ensare adventurers. Crawlers are massive pains in the rear end, especially if you run into one while you're doing the first mission. Remember how the Hedgehog and Mole had HP in the upper double digits and still took over a turn each to take down? Yeah, say hi to 200 HP. Running isn't even a very reliable option, because Ensaring Web can bind your party's legs, which disables Escape. On its own, one Crawler isn't that bad, but you can run into 3 of them at once. Your best option at that point is to just use a big all-target Force Break, because that's a fight you are unlikely to get out of unscathed.  P-please don't spit web at us. That's my job... Spitting web is your job? N-no, tying things--you know what I mean. Rrrf!Crawlers hit HARD. Bear in mind that's after the Hit-Taker damage reduction. A Crawler's basic attack would kill Asriel and probably Freyja if Ursa wasn't tanking.  Caterpillars are as flammable as spiders. Good to know. Another level up.      Not a lot to comment on. I'm building towards Flame Grater on Asriel so he can contribute some multi-target damage (which our party is sorely lacking at the moment). I also took one point in Salve on Realga, and that's all I'll invest in it for now. Stardust's also building towards Compression.  SYSTEM: Perhaps some sort of key is necessary to gain entry... RrrrRRRRRRGGGGHHH! Don't think it's gonna open. I've seen these things in Tharsis before.  So how do we go through here without the deer catching us? Let the group on the right go up the middle. Then we run.  I think the group on the left are catching up to us! Oh gods oh gods-- Calm down, Realga. They move as fast as we do. We're fine.  Rrr. Think she wants us to go up here.  Wholly unnecessary for us. I guess if you didn't take Abigail's advice to buy one back in town this'd be nice.   Alright, we should be safe. Go!  I...hah...hate...these stupid deer... Why are you terrified of them? They aren't aggressive towards us. We spent an entire month at school talking about the dangers of FOEs as a frontline medic. Lots of illustrations of explorers and their medics gored by deer. ...How does that help you heal us at all? Why would they teach you this? Got into a random encounter shortly after that. It's completely unremarkable, so let's use it to demonstrate Horse Slash.  Hyah!  The stairs must be over there. Rrr, rr! Ursa wants us to go the other way, I think...  'Nother materials point. Let's grab what we can and mark it down for the Byeahs. ...What ARE those...things, I guess, anyway? Marion said they're some primitive type of automaton. Hence why they repeat "byeah" incessantly. Mm. Heard some stories that there's an underwater city in the ocean to the south with a bunch of intelligent robots. Maybe they're related. Um, are you sure you should take that story at face value? The other ingredient you can find from 1st Stratum Take points.   Ignore the fact that I marked the stairs with a door; I fix it soon enough.  Rr! Ursa...? Hey-hey-hey, wait! Ursa? Realga? We're fine! We're in the room where we got the token before. Mark this on the map. Could be useful. When you've drawn what the game considers a sufficiently complete map and reach the stairs, Floor Jump for that floor and that particular stairs becomes enabled. Essentially, Floor Jump lets you freely travel between floors you've completely visited. See this GIF:   Alright, new floor, new monsters... I say we go back to town first. I'm tired after running from the deer... Rrrrghh...rrf.  And this is why Ariadne Threads are less useful than they used to be. If you're on a Floor Jump-enabled floor, you can just jump to the 1F down stairs and be back in Lagaard. When we return to Lagaard:  Yes. What is it? I am a member of the ducal guards. I have a message from the Minister to relay to you. There is something that the Minister would like you to do. If you could, please come to the Duke's Palace immediately. I haven't been told the details, but it seemed as thought he Minister was very troubled about something. He would appreciate it even if you come merely to hear him out...or so I'm told. I will be taking my leave now. Is it another mission? We could use more funds. Doubt it, but we don't have much choice. I've been hearing a great many rumors about your guild. Now, I would ask your assistance on a specific matter. And that would be...to help run the Lagaard Cafe! Now, I'm not asking you to throw aside your weaponry and equipment in favor of the humble skillet, of course... What I would like you to do is colelct ingredients for certain recipes. These recipes were created long ago by a man named Apicius. He was a gourmet that revolutionized the culinary arts. High Lagaard's harsh climate is hardly suitable for agriculture, so Apicius had to turn to the Labyrinth for his ingredients. His cooking had a curious effect on his diners, energizing them and sparking unprecedented progress in High Lagaard. ...Unfortunately, everything was lost upon his sudden passing. He was a secretive man, and he ensured that all his recipes were hidden... Until recently, it was believed his recipes were lost to the ages. But only the other day, we stumbled upon a portion of his recipes by a happy coincidence! We wish to use these recipes to encourage the growth of Lagaard and the happiness of its people. But we require your help. I have already arranged for a cook... Ahem. Please enter. Eep. Regina, what are you looking so cross for? Come now, introduce yourself. ...I am Regina Dubois. I have been given the chance to run my own cafe. U-um, did we do something to ups-- Shush. It's nice to meet you. The pleasure's mine. I've heard about you. You sound like trustworthy explorers. ...I still have some preparations left for the cafe. You should come by the place once you're ready. I'll explain the rest there. Now, Regina, don't be so rude to the explorers! ...I must apologize for my granddaughter's behavior. What can she be so cross about? She's usually not like this, I assure you. Allow me to give you directions to the cafe. I'll be entrusting the cafe and my granddaughter in your care, then. The Renovating Shop's opened up now. And no, it won't be called that for long.   Impressive. This...actually looks really nice to eat in. ...But first things first. I may be the granddaughter of the nation's Minister, but I'm a chef before any of that. There's no need for you to put on airs or act respectful for my sake. Just make use of me however you see fit. Sure, Regina. Thanks. Let's get down to business, then. First off, let me give you this. What I just gave you...yes, those are the deciphered recipes that Apicius left behind. Coffee beans don't really work in High Lagaard's climate, so Apicius created this recipe so people could recreate the taste. I need two ingredients--Rye and Sugar Beet. I'd like you to find some for me from the Labyrinth. According to the recipe, blending these two ingredients together creates a drink that's identical to coffee in taste and scent... ...Of course, I plan to do my best in order to reproduce Apicius's recipes. Don't forget, Rye and Sugar Beet. I'm counting on you to get them. There's also one more thing that I should probably explain to you... From now on, I'll take responsibility for storing any ingredients you find in the Labyrinth, within the Ingredient Storage. Don't worry about it too much. Just stop by after you've gotten some ingredients. Well, we got some Rye, but I think Sugar Beets are on the second floor. Oh, I almost forgot. I need you guys to think of a name for this place. I want something good. Memorable. It's going to be the first thing people see when they come to the cafe. You got it? Hm. I read this story about a human who fell down a hole and befriended some talking skeletons once...why not use that? ...Huh? NYEH HEH HEH!!! SANS!!! I'M FINALLY POPULAR ENOUGH TO HAVE A RESTAURANT NAMED AFTER ME!!! In all seriousness, though, this is yet another time to vote on something! In this case, the name of the Ducal Restaurant. Post your ideas and votes in the thread and I'll decide on a name sometime before or when the next update is ready.  Since we can't really do much at Papyrus until we can get some Sugar Beets, we might as well take the one quest that opened up from getting to 2F. Oh, that one. That request comes straight from the Palace, so listen close. Yeh see, to decorate the roads near the Duchy, we use this pretty little ore called Amazonite. But those roads got damaged a while back. Needs repairin', but of course we don't have any Amazonite just layin' around... The Duchy's guards usually mine the stuff, but they're all tied up right now. So that's where yeh come in. Now, accordin' to the guards, yeh can mine Amazonite from the 2nd Floor of the forest. Yeh just need 1 Amazonite. Just pick it up, an' bring it back. Easy. Besides, yer Lagaardian citizens now, too! Jus' think of it as community service. G'luck! But none of us know even the first thing about mining. Again, we'll let the Byeahs take care of it.And onto Sitoth Trading, where Abigail starts talking to us once we enter:  We're actually selling a new product today at this store! The product is called...um...the Blast Grenade! That was it! Um, it's used for... Just a moment please, it should be somewhere on this note that my dad wrote... Oh, here it is! Let me read it to you. Some of the monsters you'll encounter take a moment to prepare themselves before unleashing a powerful attack. If you throw this Blast Grenade while they're preparing, the blast will shock them out of their focus and leave them open! ...I'm not sure I completely get it, but...did it make sense to you? I think so. Wow, you explorers are so amazing! Oh, right! Here's some samples, so you can try them out first! Dad told me to just give them to you, so don't worry about a thing. And besides, Dad says sometimes you've got to spend money to make money. I don't really get what that means, but knowing my dad, I bet it's a phrase that'll make everyone happy! Oh, um, sorry for talking so long. That's all I had to tell you. Please, take your time and look around! I pawn off all the crap we got while finishing up 1F, which results in the following stuff being unlocked:      Remember that The item trade I was to unlock the Targe, which means the quest is done! Abigail will let us know when we leave the store.   I buy a Wakizashi for Asriel due to how much of a boost it gives his ATK, and nothing else. Ursa has not used Attack once since the game started, so I'm not buying her a Mole Claw. Leg Guards are also a) unnecessary at this point, and b) very expensive at 1000en.   Oh yeah, remember the Binding Whip we got from the Dark Hunter at the bar? Remember how it's completely worthless? Abigail will gladly take it off our hands for a small amount of en. A change introduced in EOU and carried over to EO2U is the ability to sell unique weapons back to the store, which also puts the weapon in the shop's stock for a very low amount of en. And like I said, when we leave the store:  I'll put it on the show floor today, so please have a look. It's my father's masterpiece! Oh, yes! I left the reward with Cass, so you can collect it at the Stickleback Bar. If I need anything else, I'll leave a request for you all on the notice board!  Hey there! Great work! Sorry to give yeh all the runaround. I've heard the whole story!  Shields can, by default, be equipped by Landsknechts, Protectors, and Sovereigns. We don't have any of those in the party at the moment, so it's useless at the moment. While we're on the topic of quests, let's go take care of that Rock Water quest.  SYSTEM: It seems that water from some natural source has found an outlet, creating a small stream. After draining your flask, you fill it with the water flowing from the spring.  Aaaaand bottled.SYSTEM: You have completed the quest! When you have the time, you should visit the bar to report your progress.   Well, well, look who's back. And yeh've got the Rock Water. It doesn't look like much, but I s'pose eve this is a blessing from the Labyrinth. We're a small town here, and I s'pect we'd lay over and die if it weren't for Yggdrasil. Another job well done, all of yeh. Here's the reward.  Analysis Scopes are consumables that adds the target to the Monstrous Codex, without you having to actually beat them. It's not that useful. Yeah, you can look at a monster's Info before you beat them, but there's very few instances where that's useful, especially given it requires using someone's turn. Now that we've opened Papyrus, everyone in town has one-time Talk dialogue in response to it. Here's Cass's: Yeh lot hear the news!? Sounds like they're openin' a state-operated shop, and it's a cafe to boot! The hell's the matter with 'em...? I know this place is a bar, but we make a lot of our cash from the food we serve at lunch. ...Hey, yeh lot. What say yeh go do some investigatin' fer me? Yeh don't want the old Stickleback to shut down... Yeh'll help, right? What!? The minister asked yeh to help at the cafe? Oh, c'mon! Who's more important to yeh, the Grand Duchy or old Cass!? ...Okay, yeah, the Grand Duchy. Dumb question. Dammit...! Guess I better start addin' some more dishes to the menu!And here's Cass's normal 2F dialogue: How're yeh? Seems yeh made it to the 2nd floor! I guess yeh're better than I thought... But yeh know, kids... I've seen plenty of explorers, and yeh lot still have a long ways to go. Well, let me tell yeh one piece of good advice to become a strong explorer. Don't die. ...And that's it. Pretty wise words, don't yeh think? Haw haw haw!And since we reached 2F, the list of bar patrons has been updated! Let's talk to the new ones. Adventurers in matching gear:  Hey, c'mon! You drinkin'!? Have a drink. We jus' got back from being burned to a crisp!  ...Y'know? Okay, list'n up. There's that thing. *hic* Sunflower thing! Right? Y'see, that thing, is...friggin'...dumb. We thought "Oh, it's takin' a stance or something," but then it started to spew burnin' flames! We got *hic* roasted! A plant. Breathin' fire. 's ridiculous! Right?  Well, we eventually managed t'cut it down with swords, but seriously...it was rough. ...Duly noted.We'll see Sunflowers once we go further into 2F. Weary protector:  Gh...uuurrgh... W... Wa...ter... Rrer. Huh...w-w-water!? I-It's water!!! Yes! ...Thank you. You got me back on my feet... I'm Tramonte, a protector. I'm looking for rare things in the forest. For example, this thing. A Perfect Thorn! It drops if you defeat a Sunflower with an attack that's not physical, but... ...It's tough for me, of course, since I'm a protector. But I tried my hardest, because it's gonna make someone happy! Heh heh... Hope Lilly likes this.Statuesque man:  I work, and work, and work...but I keep getting fired... ...Was it really that bad a mistake? It was just one wrong calculation... Bah, I'll think about it later. I need to find some food...right, then, I'll go defeat some Venomflies. ...Hmm? Why, you ask? It sounds unlikely, but Venomflies are actually edible. Although it doesn't look the prettiest. The Forest is a scary place, but even if I have no money, I can at least eat. It's not really that bad a place...Venomflies are also a 2F enemy. Girl in a white sundress:  Did you hear the rumor that the Duchy is financing a new restaurant? I...I'm really looking forward to it! ...After all, the restaurants in the area now are just bars and pubs for adventurers, so they're not the best for family dining... I hope that it's a place where everyone can sit down, relax, and enjoy a meal... Please, Grand Duchy, make it happen!Over at the Explorers Guild, here's Marion's cafe dialogue: Ah, I've heard the news. You're assisting with...a government-funded cafe, is it? The Minister's put a lot of trust in you. I know your exploration of the Labyrinth is difficult, but do the best you can. If you ever feel overwhelmed, you're always welcome to stop by. I don't mind taking a tea break now and then.Her normal 2F dialogue: Hm? Ah, you're the ones that established a new guild the other day. How's your exploration of the Labyrinth going? Hm, so you've made it to the 2nd floor. I'm pleased to hear that your exploration is proceeding well. Many explorers underestimate the Labyrinth and slink out of High Lagaard in shame. Then, too, many explorers vanish into the Labyrinth, never to return. Under no circumstances forget the ease with which the Labyrinth can claim your life. Well, that's all I have to say for now. Try to avoid any unnecessary risks.Since I forgot to talk to Dubois before leaving the Grand Duchy earlier, here's his cafe dialogue: Regina can be rather shy, but at heart, she is a very caring girl. I will be counting on your support, Guild Lumen. Um, are you sure that "shy" is the right word?Dubois's normal 2F dialogue: Hm, explorers. Can I help you in some way? Ah, so you have reached the next floor. That is good news indeed. It looks as though you have proven yourselves to be capable explorers of the Labyrinth. Perhaps I may yet see the floating castle in my lifetime, eh? I am expecting great things from you.Abigail's cafe dialogue: Did you hear they're making a new cafe!? I heard they're planning on reviving a certain kind of cooking from a long time ago... Forest cuisine, or something? I really wish I could go... Their food must be so good...!Her normal dialogue: Oh, hello, everyone! It's great to see you all again... Hee hee, thanks for stopping by! Is your equipment still okay? If anything needs repair or gets dull, just tell me. I'll ask my dad to take a look at it! Um... My dad always says, "Adventurers' lives rest on their equipment!" Have you heard that before? We work hard to make things that everyone can rely on!And to close out the update, Hanna's cafe dialogue: Hey, did you hear? The Grand Duchy is apparently starting up a new store! Huh? You already knew? Well, that's disappointing. I thought I was going to be the first one to tell you! Now, it's just gossip, but I heard they're going to serve strange and delicious food there. If I wasn't busy running this in, I'd take Quona and go have a look myself! Bahaha!And her normal 2F dialogue: Look at you, you're all filthy! You've been out in the Labyrinth again, haven't you? Tch, you kids! Oh, stop being so lazy! Go back to your rooms to get changed and wash up for your dinner. And why don't you try touring the city instead of rushing to the Labyrinth next time? It might be a nice change of pace!And a reminder that the name of the Ducal Restaurant is up for voting. Just post the name you want in the thread and I'll tally them up sometime before the next update. Rea fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Mar 31, 2016 |
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Nov 18, 2015 08:58
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theshim posted:Huh. Shows what I know. I thought I remembered later on one of the other NPCs mentioning Tramonte as a dude. That's a screwup on my part then!
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Nov 18, 2015 16:01
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AweStriker posted:I say we add more Nick deaths to the tally. Guild Firefly isn't doing so hot in this alternate dimension. I didn't even realize that I accidentally picked Nick, Fedot, and Gilbert's portraits till after I posted the update. I just chose portraits I give my friends in EO2 (in every EO game I just use my friends' names and try to make the jobs/portraits match up as much as possible from one game to another) Also I replayed the update up from when we're told the cafe's open, but before we name it, and Tramonte's short voice acting clip (every bar patron has one) is a male voice. I thought it'd be fun to switch up the bar portraits, though. Rea fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 18:20
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Well, FOEbucks seems to be the consensus, so that'll be the name of our Ducal Restaurant. Expect the next update sometime between now and late tomorrow. In the meantime, have a preview: 
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Nov 18, 2015 21:06
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Update 4: Jurassic Labyrinth True to my word, Papyrus is now named FOEbucks, a name initially suggested by Tyty.  Yeah I don't know why I didn't just have donuts. Byeah.Meet our gathering party, 5 Survivalists with 3 points in Natural Instinct. Natural Instinct is a gathering skill, and basically acts as having Take, Chop, and Mine all at once. When a gathering skill is activated, this message pops up.  And here you can see why gathering parties are a neccessity. Rolling for uncommon drops from gathering points isn't that annoying, but rolling for rare drops (the purple-colored materials) without gathering skills is a massive waste of time. While gathering is pretty boring busywork (and, later in the game, potentially really frustrating if you don't keep your gathering party at-level with where you are), it's very profitable. We've made a lot less than that amount so far from what we've gotten off monsters. Note how Nectars have a gold icon--this means that they are limited stock items. Sitoth Trading can only sell as many Nectars as you've sold them Dew Shards; once they run out, you can't buy any more Nectars until you sell some Dew Shards again. So yeah, get very familiar with the Take points on 1F, because you'll be visiting them a lot over the course of the game. You can't unlock Nectar IIs until 27F, which is in the postgame. SYSTEM: You can see at a glance that this is not an opponent you can defeat at your present strength! You look around you, trying to think of how you might avoid this monster. SYSTEM: It would appear that many of these monsters dwell on this floor... Once more, you must devise a way around this serious threat. You take care to look around the room for any promising avenues... Another shortcut we can't use yet. SYSTEM: The requested Amazonite has been gathered. All that remains is to deliver it to the bar to complete the quest. I got kinda lucky here. Amazonite is the uncommon Mine item for the 1st Stratum. One more shortcut we can't use before we go back. Freeze Oils are items that add an element to the targeted party member's basic attack. For example, if we used it on either Freyja or Asriel, their basic attacks would become Ice/Cut attacks. It's pretty worthless, but provides an excellent segue for me to talk about a weird game mechanic! When a damage type is composited like Cut+Ice, the game picks whatever element would deal the most damage to the target and counts it as that. It's worth noting, however, that even if a given element in a composite damage type isn't what the enemy takes the most damage from, composite damage types can still count for conditional drops that rely on what damage type you defeat an enemy with. For example, if you have an enemy that takes only 1% damage from Ice, but has a conditional that requires defeating it with Ice, and you use a Fire+Ice+Volt composite attack to kill it, the conditional drop will be awarded to you. I raise Gag to level 4 (damage goes from 134% to 141%), where I'll leave it for the time being. I'll get Shackles up to level 4, then work on getting the basic whip skills up to level 7 to unlock Ecstasy. I put a third point into Horse Slash (damage goes from 157% to 164%), which unlocks Flame Grater. Flame Grater is a composite Fire+Cut attack that hits an entire row. It's quite useful for clearing out mobs, and will give Asriel access to a bit of elemental damage. I leveled up Loyalty Mastery to level 4, which increases the halve damage chance from 9% to 10%. Same for level 2 Heal Mastery--2% heal bonus to 3% heal bonus. Cocytus Formula is now level 3 (145% damage to 150% damage), which we need for Compression. I'll level up Inferno Formula to 3 next, and then Thor Formula.  With the Rye and Sugar Beets, I can test out this recipe! Let's move on to the next step, then. Alright, let's try making a new dish! I was able to make it. This should help the restaurant prosper. I thank you for your cooperation. If you think this dish would be useful to your exploration, feel free to order it from me. I'll treat you.Cooking is an entirely new mechanic, although EO4 and EOU both had variations on the idea of "food that gives you in-Labyrinth benefits". Different foods give different bonuses, some more situational than others, and some so immensely situational I have to wonder what the thought process was for them at Atlus. Hi Lagaar Coffee restores 15% of each party member's maximum HP every 10 steps. Some might say it's mediocre, I say it's garbage. I'll stick with the Escargot Citron for now, which doubles the amount of ingredients we get from gathering. It's not the best food, but we can't make either of the others yet: gently caress. Another status ailment weapon; this one has a 30% base chance to inflict blind. Yawn. Just circle the Raptor around the rubble in the top left of the room and you're good.  Venomfly HP: 96, STR: 6, TEC: 6, VIT: 7, AGI: 10, LUC: 9 Skills:
Ailment and bind resistances: Do not underestimate the deadly poison this creature carries... Venomflies don't really hit that hard on their own; they don't need to, though. They're perfectly capable of killing you with this: Yeah, Poison can be really dangerous in EO. Had anyone but Ursa been poisoned and hit on the same turn, they'd be dead. Thankfully, Cure at level 5 is fast enough that Realga can patch Ursa up before most enemies so far can act. Oh yeah, here's a game mechanic I haven't brought up yet. Enemies can do the same front and back line thing our party can do, a feature introduced in EO4. And, much like our party, when the monster's front line dies, their back line becomes the front line. The only status ailments that persist after battle are Petrification and death. SYSTEM: Recalling something like this happening once before, you walk closer to see what it is, and find a hedgehog there. Once again, the hedgehog's spines are caught in the tree, keeping it stuck fast. Could this hedgehog get itself into these situations often...? Though you know that there is no reward in helping it, you still have a choice to make. SYSTEM: Reasoning that you have already rescued it once and may as well do so again, you lend the hedgehog your assistance. Ursa carefully pulls on the hedgehog to dislodge its spines from the tree's routes. The hedgehog is initially surprised at your presence, but once Ursa takes hold of it, it calms down. Ursa, seeing this, succeeds in extricating the hedgehog from the tree's roots. But the moment the hedgehog realizes that it has been saved, it nimbly leaps from Ursa's arms! To add injury to insult, it makes sure to launch itself at Ursa's face as it does so. SYSTEM: As the party stands stunned by this turn of events, the hedgehog darts away without so much as a glance back. Though you are incensed by its ingratitude, you remind yourself that this was not an unexpected outcome as you go on your way. SYSTEM: Closer inspection reveals them to be a number of shining coins piled beyond the rubble. Could another explorer have dropped them? You're tempted to retrieve them, but you have to wonder about the circumstances... SYSTEM: You reach into the rubble and pick the coins out from within. Their total worth is 100en... A careless adventure must have smiply dropped them here. Heartened by the lucky find, you return to your investigation. A few steps later...  Sunflower HP: 86, STR: 5, TEC: 10, VIT: 7, AGI: 7, LUC: 7 Skills:
Ailment and bind resistances: A floral monster that grows in the outer areas of the woods. It absorbs power from sunlight! You know how Abigail gave us some Blast Grenades that knock enemies off-balance, and the drunken adventurers in the bar warned us about a plant spewing fire? This is that enemy, and it's basically a tutorial in how to use Blast Grenades. When a Sunflower does this, that's your cue to use a Blast Grenade the next turn. Items with yellow icons and yellow backgrounds on the results screen are conditional drops. Some shortcuts aren't really shortcuts, but entrances to secret areas, usually with one or more treasures. In this case: Wisdom Earrings provides +2 TEC, which is very helpful for casters like Stardust. Wait...is that a Mole? It looks different...SYSTEM: You deduce from this that the specimen is much more powerful than its brethren! When the monster discovers your presence, it immediately turns to you and attacks, giving you no time to think! Rare breeds are, as their name implies, fairly rare events.  Rare breeds, aside from absolute priority actions like Hit-Taker, pretty much always go first in the turn order. They also hit harder than a normal monster would. They go down just as easily as a normal monster, though, and... Rare breeds provide quintuple the EXP that the monster would normally give. While they're kind of a pain to deal with, especially given that they will also randomly try to run away, the reward is very much worth it. SYSTEM: Should you come across more of these shining monsters, you must judge carefully whether or not to fight them. SYSTEM: You can easily imagine the juices of the plump fruits overflowing into your mouth as you bite into them... If you wish to eat one, they can be easily plucked from the tree. The fruits look safe. Couldn't hurt.SYSTEM: The moment you bite into the ripe fruit, a delicate sweetness washes over your tongue. I feel renewed!SYSTEM: You look to the tree to see if there are any of these delectable fruits left, but all the ones you see are unripe. Though if you happen to pass by here some other day, it is comforting to know that the yellow fruits will be here. Shortcuts. Yes. And here's the other Mine point on 2F. This one gives out Rock Salt for its ingredient. Is that...stone pavement? In the Labyrinth? RrrrrERRR! Settle down, Ursa. He seems friendly.SYSTEM: But after an appraising stare, the beast shifts its gaze to a point behind you. Could it be trying to convey something? SYSTEM: You have seen stone pillars on occasion elsewhere, but this is the first time you've seen a floor tile like this. If the patch of pavement piques your interest, you can examine it closer. Hmm...SYSTEM: You decide to investigate the pavement and kneel down, feeling it with your hands... But your inquiry yields nothing more than an ordinary stone pavement. Bah. Nothing.SYSTEM: Frustrated by the waste of time, Asriel gives it a light jab before standing. The game plays a sound effect here. Pretend you knocked on a large, hollow stone cube, and you have that sound effect. What was that?SYSTEM: You are surprised to hear a sound much different than what usually happens when you walk upon this pavement. Curious as to what this might mean, you strike the pavement once more and notice that the sound echoes within. The implication would seem to be that the area below this pavement is hollow... But if you were to tear up the path to see what lies beneath, it would hinder any exploration, including yours. The wiser course would be to not tamper with this stone pavement. Note the stone pavement icon I put down. There's an extra panel on the mapping screen, pictured here, which has numbers, pointless icons (I don't even know what that yellow one or the sign are supposed to be for), holdovers from older EO games (the item gathering point icon from EO1 and EO2, along with the clover icon used to denote treasure from EO1 to EO4), a special icon we'll see later on (that bridge thing), a pit (which doesn't really show up in EO2U), and the aformentioned stone pavement icon. You'll see why it has its own icon soon. SYSTEM: Could it consider its duty to be over now that it informed you of the pavement's peculiarities? You doubt you will get any answers by standing here and pondering, so you elect to leave it here and proceed onward. Well, that was...nice of it, I guess.And another level up! Shackles now deals 127% damage, up from 120%. I take one point in Flame Grater for now, but I'll be leveling up Horse Slash some more after it. Level 5 Loyalty Mastery unlocks Self-Defense, which lowers the caster's attack in exchange for raising its defense. It's a very nice buff, but we won't be leveling it up or using it for a while. Level 3 Heal Mastery unlocks Unbind and Refresh, which remove one ally's binds and status ailments, respectively. Leveling them up increases their range (from single target to row to all-party) and decreases the TP cost. I probably won't be leveling these up more for now, usually because lots of status ailments and/or binds tend to be all-party, meaning your Medic can get disabled as well. There's better ways to deal with them. Inferno Formula now deals 145% damage, up from 140%. Oh, we still have two Ariadne Threads. We got that spare from the first floor, and haven't used either yet.SYSTEM: You can barely make out a squirrel-like animal in the shadow of a large plant. The rodent doesn't seem to fear your party, and it chirps brightly as it approaches. It seems as though it wants you to pet it. You wonder if you should oblige the creature... Aww, it's kinda cute. C'mere...SYSTEM: You reach out to the small animal... But it takes the opportunity to run up your arm and onto your body! Hey-hey-HEY! Get off me!SYSTEM: From there, it jams its head into your backpack and runs off with something in its mouth. You hurriedly rummage through your pack to see what it was the thieving rodent stole... It was an Ariadne Thread, one of an explorer's most essential tools! It's too late for you to catch the animal by now... You sigh, and move on with your journey. Nice. W-we have a spare, anyway...SYSTEM: There may be no other way but to use something in this room to help you avoid combat with the monster. Desperate times call for desperate measures... This is one such time, and you must act wisely or perish! How many of these dinosaurs are there, anyway? Hmm... Everyone. Move behind that pavement.SYSTEM: You determined previously that there is a hollow space beneath the pavement. You resolve to factor the stone pavement in before acting again... Th-this'd better work, Luca... Pffffffhahaha! Heh. These things REALLY aren't that smart... RrrrrrRROOORRRR! N-no, Ursa! L-let's at least see how strong it is before we fight it! :  Get away get away GET AWAY! RUN! Quickly!: Hah, hah...we're safe... It got out of the hole, but... It's injured. See? It's kind of limping.Raptors that you trap in the pavement traps will only take one step for every two steps you take after getting out of the hole. If you trap them twice, they won't move at all. Also note that, while I failed to screenshot it here, the stone pavement icons on the map automatically change into holes when a Raptor falls into them. This is change actually introduced in Persona Q: context-sensitive icons--icons that react to changes in the Labyrinth dynamically. Who's there?!SYSTEM: You hurry to draw your weapons, but a figure appears before you can do so! SYSTEM: The man clad in fine armor raises both hands to show he intends no harm before walking towards you.  Now then... I should introduce myself properly. I am Hrothgar. Wulfgar and I are members of the Beowulf Guild. Oh, another explorer. Hello.SYSTEM: The friendliness of his manner allows you to relax and lower your weapons. I'm glad you trust me. Are you new explorers in the Duchy? W-we just finished properly registering two days ago, actually... I see. Then you may find navigating the Yggdrasil Labyrinth a bit trying. Though coming as far as you have shows promise. Really? Of course. You would have had to avoid that bloodthirsty beast to reach here. The list of explorers who fail to escape its clotches is long, and growing longer.SYSTEM: Hrothgar stops speaking there to look you over, sizing you up before asking a question. Tell me, how did you get through the room just before this one? Those stone pavement traps--we lured it into one. Our bear wanted to get into a fight with the thing, though... Rrr...SYSTEM: The protector's expression brightens a tad and he nods. I see. In that case, I'd say you have the observational skills to survive in the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. You've probably seen already how this Stratum has areas where the stone pavement is hollow underneath. When a heavy weight is placed on these sections, the pavement gives way, trapping the monster in the hollow. It seems to have been done long ago to prevent monster incursions. It's quite functional, for such an old trap.SYSTEM: Hrothgar's expression becomes apologetic and he scratches his cheek. Listen to me, going on and on. I'm sorry, I just can't help but give advice when I meet new explorers. I suggest you keep a cautious eye out as you traverse the forest. It's the surest way to survive your forays. Well... It's time I was going, I musn't keep Wulfgar waiting, after all.SYSTEM: The man calls the beast by name before walking away from you... As you see them off, you resume your trek to explore more of the forest. Seemed nice enough. He looked like he had something on his mind, though... How many dead ends can this place have? Geez.The Labyrinth has a ton of dead ends that do nothing except put you closer to a random encounter. And we're finished with this floor. Rr-rr. Can't get through. Let's just go back to town, then. Hm...now might be a good opportunity. You all should come by the cafe when you can. There's something I want to tell you.Might as well oblige her. Maybe it's a new game mechanic! It was left here so you could use it however please, which is why I was carrying it in. I have a message for you from Grandpa as well. ...Oh, the Minister. Go on. It appears as though the Midard Library has decided to help the explorers of this nation. These things the Library developed... Grimoire Stones, or something? Anyways, they've been approved for use here. The Grimoire Stones are apparently items that can record the skills of those who equip them. By using these stones, anyone in your party can use anything from healing skills to elemental attacks... ...It's not really my field, but it sounds like something that would come in handy for explorers like you. I'm not really an authority on anything besides cooking. I mean, I can tell you anything you want to know about gluten. In any case, I've received a number of these for you to use. I'll set up the facility for them here, so do what you want with them.Hoo boy, Grimoires. I'd say they were introduced in EOU, but frankly the system's gone through such a massive rework since that game that it's basically entirely different, aside from some very basic things. The basic idea behing Grimoires is something like subclassing, only a lot more complicated. Every Grimoire in EO2U contains one skill of a particular level, with maybe an extra added effect. Any character can equip any Grimoire, whether it be of their own class, another class, or even a Grimoire from a monster. Equipping a Grimoire can also provide the ability to equip weapons that character normally can't; equipping Medic Bullet on Realga, for example, gave her the ability to use guns. Grimoires in EOU were only one per character, but contained many skills in one stone. Grimoires in that game were a massive pain in the rear end, and frankly, trying to make the most efficient use of them was actively detrimental to the game itself. Aside from the fact that Grimoires only contain one skill now, the biggest change is this: Equipping a Grimoire of a skill a character has learned will increase the level of the skill on that character by whatever the Grimoire's level is. This is how you get skills above level 10, and...well, to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of this system. Grimoires were initially intended to be a substitute for subclassing, but the whole overlapping levels system in EO2U means you're only ever going to want Grimoires of skills the class already has. In fact, a lot of EO2U seems to be balanced around the idea that you have Grimoires such that you have skills beyond level 10, which is not okay, in my opinion at least. The midgame and lategame become significantly harder if you don't have good Grimoires, and the postgame ranges from frustrating to pretty much impossible without them. Enough about Grimoires, though, let's go offload what we got from 2F. Falcatta is unlocked by selling 5 Rat Needles, Amud Staff is unlocked by selling 4 Small Nails, Nail Whip is unlocked by selling 3 Small Nails, Breastplate is unlocked by selling 5 Small Nails and 2 Ray Flowers, and Fire Talisman is unlocked by selling 1 Perfect Thorn. I buy Amud Staves for both Realga and Stardust, due to the TEC bonus and +8 TP, and a Nail Whip for Freyja. The Nail Whip's not that big an upgrade to her damage, but it's cheap (150en), so why not. I also buy a Nectar, because we have the money and it couldn't hurt to have one more. Abigail's Talk dialogue for 3F: Cass's 3F dialogue: Well, none of us have died yet... We're taking it fairly slow, though.And here are the bar patrons. Note that a few of them aren't actually new, due to some recording mishaps. Knight in shiny armor: Gaaah! I got wrecked again! Why are the monsters in the forest so strong!? Especially that bird...! It's a bird, right? Seemed like a bird. Birdlike, anyway. But yeah, that drat Wild Wing! That beak is just...unfair! It's so quick that even reaches the guys in the back line! I mean, I stand on the front line, so I'm used to it, but the poor guys in the back... Oh no...Bizarrely-dressed merchant: Hey, hey, you guys! Have you heard!? You know what's goin' on!? Hm? Well, if you don't know, then I have no choice! I'll tell you, so keep your ears open, yeah!? There's this thing popping up 'round the forest sometimes, called an Yggdrasil Bud. Got no idea when or where they appear, but I do know one thing... An old veteran told me that you can make tea out of those buds. And he's not the kinda guy to lie about this kind of thing! I mean, he does exaggerate a lot, but...Well-informed man:  Hahaha, everyone's got completely the wrong idea... Hmm? About what, you ask? Well, everyone's speculating about which guild is closest to the flying castle. Sure, a lot of amateurs think that it must be the oh-so-famous Guild Esbat, but I know better! The guild that's closest to the flying castle... That would be Guild Beowulf! Sure, they're just wandering around the bottom floors, but they were pretty big back in the day. They're just lying low right now! When they're ready, they'll spring up to the second Stratum. Guild Beowulf's got this!The only quest unlocked when you reach 3F. Let's stop in on Marion, first. Dubois, too. And Regina. Her Talk option is, incidentally, under the Guild House option. Trial and error is essential to cooking new dishes. You can't give up just from one failure. You have to try again and again. ...Of course, there's a limit to how many ingredients we have, so that's annoying.Now, let's start that quest. Aww... Well, we DID accept the quest.You can take this opportunity to rest up, save, or whatever else here. When you're ready to start the quest, just Talk to Hanna. The quest is actually of fairly decent length, however, and the update's already nearing SA's character limit. So, we'll be seeing it later! Rea fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Apr 25, 2016 |
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Nov 20, 2015 06:57
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Additionally, it's also time to vote on a new party composition! I'll try to do one of these either when we reach the 3rd floor of a stratum, or when we pass it. 3 votes per person. Damage dealers Zack: Zack can deal pretty decent multi-target damage with Tornado, and his extra survivability compared to some of the other classes will be useful against some of the monsters in the latter part of the Ancient Forest. He's not particularly fast, though. Freyja: Binding some of the enemies on 3F and beyond can help immensely with staying alive; although, do note that Freyja's fragile enough that she will be pasted really easily if she can't get binds off. Stardust: There's multiple enemies where having elemental attacks can help immensely in taking them down quickly, along with an enemy or two who have conditionals tied to specific elements. Do note though, like the Protector at the bar said, there's one particular, somewhat common enemy that can very easily kill Stardust. Asriel: Asriel still doesn't have much AOE to speak of, although Flame Grater is decent. His big problem is how easily he's killed, especially given some of the upcoming encounters that deal a lot of physical damage. Jackie: Jackie's good for the same reasons Stardust is good, although she doesn't have all-target skills she can use in a panic like Stardust. She does have access to Stab damage, however, and is considerably quicker at attacking than Stardust is. Colette: I'm not actually going to build Colette as a support just yet; instead, I'll be trying to go for Ailing Slash as soon as possible. If we want that to really work, she'll need to be accompanied by Nadia or Sophie. Tyler: Highlanders are actually pretty durable, and Tyler also has access to row-target abilities that can make encounters with multiple enemies quite a bit easier. Gae Bolg's also a nice panic button, especially given that it doesn't have the same slow turn speed that Eschaton does.Defense Phoebe: A lot of the more annoying enemies that are coming up rely a lot on physical damage and splash damage, which Front Guard really helps with. Phoebe also has the HP, VIT, and armor choice to survive quite a lot of punishment. Ursa: Ursa's actually fairly squishy in the upcoming floors with all the splash damage and line-piercing attacks being thrown about, all of which she tanks at once. She's still useful for keeping the hurt off our party in other fights, however.Supports Nadia: Having access to Blind really helps with a lot of the upcoming floors, especially given that one of the more problematic enemies is weak to Blind. Summer Rain can also get us out of a jam if need be. Realga: Having Realga around means we don't have to regularly spend money on Medicas. She doesn't do much outside of casting Cure yet, though, and Salve's currently low speed means she can't respond that effectively to the multi-target attacks coming up. Milly: Milly doesn't have enough skill points to really do much of anything yet. Crusade isn't that useful for random encounters, either. Sophie: Sophie can either Blind a row of enemies to try and shut them down completely, or Poison them and hopefully have them die at the end of the turn. Neither of her Force options are that great for random encounters, though. Rheine: Rheine's Orders actually heal whoever she buffs, and she's actually really quick at casting them compared to Milly (at the moment anyway). Proof of Nobility can also extend explorations, if need be.
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Nov 20, 2015 07:31
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Clarste posted:Shortcuts are also dynamic icons, aren't they? They light up when the path is opened. I thought that was introduced in EOU, but maybe I'm misremembering. One problem with this system though is that the game doesn't really draw attention to the fact that there's an appropriate icon. Personally, I never noticed that the pit traps had an icon (I thought it was a wall or something) and just marked them with Xs. Likewise, if you're in the habit of using the clovers instead of the treasure boxes, you won't get the indicator of whether they've been opened already (although this rarely matters). Oh, yeah, shortcuts are dynamic too. They're not like they were dyanmic in PQ (where there's one generic shortcut icon you plop down that tells you where a shortcut is and if it's opened or not), but they light up once they're activated.
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Nov 20, 2015 08:04
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Currently, the poll results are:quote:Phoebe: 9 A lot of votes for Phoebe and Nadia. I wasn't exactly expecting that, but I'm not going to complain about the party being harder to kill.
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Nov 20, 2015 19:12
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Dr. Fetus posted:The way context sensitive icons are programmed is that there are context sensitive tiles and context sensitive icons. The context sensitive tiles will trigger once you do something there, like opening up a chest or an FOE pitfall. So if you placed the actual chest icon on an opened shortcut, the icon would be an opened chest. Kind of a weird, but efficient way of coding things. I imagine it's probably easier to just set a bit value on a given tile for whether or not it's had some kind of action triggered rather than keep track of "is_treasure, is_treaure_opened", "is_trap, is_trap_triggered," etc. Remember that an Atlus employee said that EO games were single save slot-only for the longest time because the maps take up so much data relative to everything else. I wonder if the programmer who finally got the idea to offload save data to the SD card (starting with PQ) got a raise The only exception is the bridge tile I mentioned, which has a total of 8 possible states; not a bit value, but still pretty small (a byte).
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Nov 20, 2015 21:18
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I'll probably be closing votes in 7 hours in order to get started on the next update. If for some reason you want to vote but haven't yet, now's the time. Current results are: quote:Phoebe: 10
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Nov 20, 2015 23:59
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I'm fairly certain offloading stuff to the SD card is something Nintendo intended only for "extra content," for whatever that nebulous term is worth. EO4 and EOU both write their "Extra Data" to the SD card using this. PQ was where they started using that "extra content" feature for core game stuff--namely, it's where all map data (even for cartridge saves) is written to. EO2U then started using it for full-on game saves, with one save slot on the cartridge itself; map data for this save is written to the cartridge, unlike PQ. I think every map is stored on the SD card in PQ due to how much information that game stores in its maps compared to other EO games; there's a LOT more icons you can use, color variations for each icon, a bunch of different states for dynamic shortcuts, etc. Also I'm exercising my divine right as an LP'er to shorten the voting deadline by one hour! So there's only one hour left to vote. Rea fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Nov 21, 2015 |
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Nov 21, 2015 05:07
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And our party for the rest of the 1st Stratum up to its boss shall be:quote:Phoebe: 11 Landsknecht/Protector, Survialist/Gunner/Sovereign. Pretty decent party!
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Nov 21, 2015 06:04
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Update 4 conclusion: Around Town with Quona Before we swap over to our new party, let's take care of The shopkeeper girl. Alright, we're ready. Rrr! Well, we'd be pretty bad caretakers if we just wandered off...Fade to black. Yes? Ngh. You guys are adventurers, right? Sorry to bother you just after meeting you, but I need to find something... You all have a Citizenship Card, right? It's that identification document you got when you completed your first map thing. It's real important. Can't stay in High Lagaard without one of those. But, uh... See, I think I might've dropped it somehwere...and I was wondering if you could find it for me... ...you're serious, aren't you. W-what she means is, of course we will. Oh! That'd be great--hnnghk...! When I get excited, my head starts throbbing again... Rrr? No, I haven't looked anywhere yet... I wonder where I should be looking in High Lagaard...? Why does everyone but me understand this bear perfectly... Oh! Right! You're right! I do remember drinking at the bar...! Gah...my head hurts even from talking... Well, if you think the store will be okay while you're gone, then yes. If you'll only be gone for a little bit, then I guess I'll watch the shop. Sorry for having caused all this...Fade to black, followed by: You already checked?Another fade to black. You two seem like good friends. ...Did I do something wrong? ...she's just like this. Hmm, is that so. I guess it takes all kinds. So, what brings you all the way to my store?Yet another fade to black. ...Wow. That's one clumsy guard. Sorry, but no guard that stupid came to this store. Hmm...if it's related to citizenship, then maybe you could ask Grandpa. ...It's probably not exactly his field, but he might have some clue. Oh, okay. ...Hope you find it soon.Fade to black. Make it a mission, then. We have exploring to take care of.Pretend I put in a fade to black here instead of telling you about it. We'll go look somewhere else, then. You're doing a, um, great job so far, Quona. ...you can do that. We just wasted 15 minutes of our time?: Rrr. Hey, you're right! I totally forgot you could do that. It's like an epiphany. Alright, I got it. I'll rush over to the Explorers Guild, then. Thank you guys so much. Now that I'm not so stressed, my hangover's getting a lot better! Bye now! Thanks a lot! You did well just now.Last fade to back, I swear. Um...wait, how did it go again...oh, yeah. We always fulfill our quests!My period key is screaming in agony right now. In any case, Hanna's talk dialogue for 3F: Amritas are godly consumables. They restore your TP when you consume them. The only big problem with them is that they're in limited supply until the 4th Stratum. Rea fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Dec 8, 2015 |
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Nov 21, 2015 06:47
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Update 5: Dinophobia I gathered up a lot of stuff while training up the rest of the guild. A lot of stuff. Leather Whip is unlocked by selling 1 Gum Hide, Papillon Collar is unlocked by selling 3 Venomous Wings, and Leather Hat's unlocked by selling 3 Soft Furs. Here's the new party's starting equipment. I opted for Leaf Sandals on Nadia and Jackie due to the fact that bow and gun damage works off AGI, and Leaf Sandals provide +1 AGI. The 2 DEF difference between them and the Papillon Boots is insignificant at best. Zack's starting build. I put 4 points into Tornado, which is a Cut attack that deals 50% splash damage to enemies around the primary target. It's also a prerequisite to Hurricane, which I will want later on. My reasoning for only putting 4 points in is while the damage goes up by around 30% from level 4 to 5, the TP cost also goes up from 7 to 12, which will strain Zack's TP pool. I opted to put that point in Sword Mastery, which unlocked Blinding Slash. Without talking about it too much, Blinding Slash is a decent skill that requires a pretty large skill point investment to make work. I won't be using it. Phoebe's starting build. Front Guard is a very useful skill that reduces physical damage to the front line for one turn. Rear Guard does the same thing, except for the back line...which already has a damage reduction in place, making Rear Guard really bad. Leveling Shield Mastery up to level 3 unlocked the elemental Walls, which received a huge nerf compared to EO1-3 in EOU that's carried over to here: they only activate once per character during a given turn. They're still very much worth leveling up for certain bosses, and I want Fire Wall to be at least level 5 by the time we reach the 1st Stratum boss. Nadia's starting build. I leveled up Bow Mastery to 3, which unlocks the disabling Arrow skills, which are a Survivalist's bread-and-butter skills for pretty much the entire game. Sleep Arrow is of questionable usefulness due to the status ailment it inflicts, but Blind Arrow and Paralysis Arrow are very much worth maxing out. I prioritize Blind Arrow here due to the enemies we'll be encountering. Jackie's starting build. I leveled up Gun Mastery to 3, which unlocks the elemntal Rounds skills (Element+Stab attacks), then leveled up Ice Rounds to 5, and put the last point into Charged Ice (a line-piercing Ice+Stab attack that lowers the user's defense until the skill is activated). I'll want Burst Shot eventually (pictured on the right), but the skill point investment needed for it is very large, so I'll just level up Charged Ice some more; it'll be useful until the 3rd Stratum. Rheine's starting build. I leveled up Order Mastery (which actually provides a unique Mastery bonus: whenever Rheine uses an Order on someone, they are healed for a small amount + a percentage of their max HP), which unlocked: Attack Order, Guard Order, Holy Crown, Ad Nihilo, and Negotiation. I'll want at least one point in Prevent Order soon, which will require 2 more points in Order Mastery. I level up Attack Order to 4, stopping short of 5 due to the TP cost increase from 5 to 10. Oh yes, I should explain Grimoire Chances (because I skipped showing the tutorial Marion gives you ). During battles, there is a random chance your character may get a Grimoire Chance, which will then roll for your character generating a Grimoire when they act that turn. If they roll successfully, depending on the Grimoire Chance you got (yes, there are multiple types), you will be given:
The different Grimoire Chance types are:
The only condition for Grimoire Chances happening is that the character must have at least one Grimoire equipped. A nice change to the Grimoire system in EO2U: when a character generates a Grimoire, you are told immediately instead of having to wait until the end of the battle to see. You're also told what Grimoires were generated during the battle, what level they are, and what added effects they have, if any, at the Results screen. In EOU, you were just told a Grimoire was generated, and given a vague "quality." Medic Bullet is granted with level 1 Gun Mastery. It's okay in the very early game due to how low everyone's max HP is, but Gunners don't really have the TEC or VIT to make effective healers. Medic Bullet is also single-target only. Basically, don't level it up past what you're given by leveling up Gun Mastery. SYSTEM: It's said that things happen in threes, and lo and behold, when you approach you find a hedgehog there. Just like the previous times, the s pines in its back are lodged into the roots, and it cannot move without aid. This seems to be a rather dull-witted hedgehog... You are free to help the hedgehog or leave it to its predicament. SYSTEM: Deciding that you can't start ignoring the hedgehog now, you lend a helping hand. Phoebe volunteers and cautiously pulls on the hedgehog's spines to pull them from the roots. The hedgehog, seemingly used to this by now, shows no signs of resisting. But that is when you recall that the last two times, the hedgehog struck the moment it found itself liberated. It may be docile now, but you have your suspicions... Given past history, it may be wisest to have a plan, just in case. SYSTEM: You've been hurt by it twice already; what's the use in worrying about another wound or two? Phoebe rescues the hedgehog from the tree without hesitation. Despite Phoebe's decisive action, the hedgehog does not thrash about this time, and allows you to place it down. It may have slowly come to understand that you have no intention of harming it. But no sooner is Phoebe's guard lowered than the hedgehog hurls something at their face! SYSTEM: Though you're worried for Phoebe, who is writhing in pain, the injury seems superficial with only a bit of swelling. But by the time you have ascertained this, the hedgehog is already long departed. You share a chuckle at how things played out just as you anticipated, but then you notice a rare commodity at your feet. It must be what the hedgehog threw at you. At least the pain incurred wasn't for naught, you reason. You put the item in your pack before resuming your investigation. Clumped Sap is a rare find from Chop points on this floor.  Roller HP: 97, STR: 8, TEC: 6, VIT: 9, AGI: 6, LUC: 6 Skills:
Ailment and bind resistances: A critter with a tough hide, it curls up in a ball to ram enemies! Rollers resist most types of physical attacks and that's the most interesting thing about them.  Giant Ladybug HP: 100, STR: 8, TEC: 8, VIT: 7, AGI: 11, LUC: 8 Drops:
Ailment and bind resistances: An enormous ladybug. If it is in danger, it can emit a smell to attract ferocious monsters! Giant Ladybugs, on the other hand, are more interesting...because they summon a loving monster from 5F if they're the last monster left alive in a battle. Take them out first if at all possible. Here's what Front Guard looks like when it activates.  Wild Wing HP: 167, STR: 13, TEC: 6, VIT: 10, AGI: 10, LUC: 8 Skills:
Ailment and bind resistances: A carnivore who soars through the sky. You would be wise to use cold attacks... Wild Wings are dicks. Beaked Rush is a line-piercing attack that really hurts on the front line, and can realistically kill one of your back liners if you're somewhat unlucky or have a very fragile class like an Alchemist. Thankfully, they are very susceptible to blind. Victory Vow cuts the TP cost of Order skills in half, and makes them target the entire party instead of just one row. Dammit. Just barely undershot getting the conditional drop. Oh well, Wild Wings are pretty common encounters; there'll be other opportunities. From here on out, FOEbucks recipes can be found in either the Labyrinth or as rewards for quests, with one exception. Some of the recipes are hidden behind shortcut-accessible secret rooms, making them something of a pain to track down if you notice you're missing them (like what happened to me on my first playthrough). Like I said, Wild Wings hurt. Blinding them really helps, but blind isn't a 100% miss chance. Chop point. The ingredient for this one is Walnuts, which I actually really want because they're a component in a very useful food. Got a level up from an otherwise unnotable fight. Refer to my starting build comments for my reasoning behind all of these. I went back to town at this point to make that food I mentioned at FOEbucks. Stopped by Sitoth Trading to unload everything I'd gotten so far: Wyvernbone Blade requires 1 Frozen Bone, Ladybug Hairpin requires 1 Spotted Carapace, Wooden Shoes require 1 Hard Root, and the elemental Oils require 1 Clumped Sap. The Wyvernbone Blade's a nice upgrade for Zack, but I can't buy it at the moment. And now, we stop over at FOEbucks, to develop... Walnut Rye Bread! This is pretty much my go-to food if I don't have a situation that specifically calls for any of the other foods. The max TP boost is small but nice early on, and can really significantly bolster TP pools as the game goes on, even for low TP classes like Landsknechts. I'm pretty sure the bonus it gives is 1.5x a character's normal max TP. I also equip Rheine with the Order Mastery Grimoire I got. The boost to the amount she heals is really small, but it does more for her than the Horse Slash Grimoire I had on her before does. One rest at the inn later, and... I'll be glossing over a lot of how I lure Raptors into pits now. I'm sure you get the idea behind it now. Yes, you can run into rare breed FOEs too. Yes, they give metric boatloads of EXP. No, it is not a good idea to fight them until you are past the point where you can reliably take down a normal breed. Yessssss. Return Flutes are the best "oh poo poo I need to get out of this fight NOW" item in the game. I'll demonstrate it later. I opt to map out what's up of our position before triggering Hrothgar's dialogue, and... This is something of an annoying enemy formation. The Ladybug takes reduced damage in the back row, but you still want to kill it first--giving the Wild Wing theoretical free reign for a turn or two. Perfect Defense completely cancels all damage to the party for one turn. It's a very powerful Force Break, and I'm only using it because I'm about to head back to town anyway. This message pops up when Perfect Defense is activated. Charged Shot is very useful for encounters like this, thank to its line-piercing ability. I forgot to screenshot it, but the Chop point right up ahead's ingredient is Asparagus. SYSTEM: The sharp cry comes from Hrothgar, the protector you met earlier. SYSTEM: The man looks at your party members in turn, a troubled expression on your face. SYSTEM: The protector remains in place, blocking the door with his head hung low. It seems that he won't let you pass just yet. You should return to town and visit the Duke's Palace for an explanation. Dubois also has Talk dialogue for after you finish The shopkeeper girl: So does Marion. And Abigail. We're near the end of 3F, but I stop by the inn to rest up anyways. It's cheap, might as well. SYSTEM: He seems to be addressing this to the beast beside him as he moves away from the door. SYSTEM: With these last words, Hrothgar and his companion walk away. You can continue through the door and face the chaos within, or return to town to prepare. SYSTEM: The ground is stained crimson with blood, and corpses are stacked on the field. The bloodcurdling sight reminds you of the mission you accepted at the Duke's Palace... You agreed then to find the soldiers who never returned from their posts in the forest. The gruesome open grave before you may be the final resting place of those very soldiers... A sudden roar startles you. You know now what caused this slaughter. SYSTEM: The instant the monsters catch sight of you, the menace in the air becomes palpable. If you charge in heedlessly, you may succeed only in adding your bones to the pile of corpses here... You do, however, see a door beyond the monsters. There could be surviving guards beyond it. Having accepted the mission, you are obliged to check the region for any survivors. You must make your way past the monsters somehow and get through that door! Yep. The Terrible Hunter (the FOE staring us in the face) is considerably better at hunting than its compatriots. Unless you position the Raptors just right, it'll jump over any pits in front of it to get to you. Yes, you can start a fight with it that way, and no, it's not a fight you're going to win. If you try to go to the stairs before finishing the mission, the game gives you this message: SYSTEM: The terms of the mission dictate that you must carefully search this floor before moving on. Got into an otherwise unremarkable random battle literally the step I took after that last screenshot, but I did get this. Here's what added effects look like when you get them on Grimoires. The Sleep Arrow Grimoire here has Cut Up 1, which increases Cut damage on whoever equips it by...I believe 1 or 2%. Complete garbage on a Survivalist Grimoire, though. Once you reach the tile in front of the door, the Terrible Hunter de-aggros. SYSTEM: You tense, but the sound is not that of a ferocious beast. Rather, it sounds like a human's cry for help. The voice is coming from the south... You must proceed in that direction in order to discover what the sound is. SYSTEM: Judging by his uniform, there is little doubt that this is one of the missing guards. SYSTEM: You tell the soldier the fate of that monster and how to return to town safely. Unless the game somehow assumes you can kill the Terrible Hunter at level 7 or 8, I'll assume this is a mistranslation. SYSTEM: The guard stumbles to his feet and staggers to the exit. Your mission is complete! Return to town and report to the Grand Duchy. Here's one of the alternate Grimoire Chances I mentioned earlier, before we go back to town. A very nice EXP reward. That was almost two levels worth. Uninteresting level ups for the first four members of the party. Rheine, on the other hand, unlocked Prevent Order, which will nullify one status ailment per cast on a character. It's a very fantastic skill, especially given that a lot of bosses and FOEs utilize status ailments to the point where I'd almost call it abusing status ailments. Leveling it up decreases the TP cost, and getting it to level 5 increases the duration to 4 turns. Neither of these are really worth investing skill points for, especially if you know when to time Prevent Order, so I'll leave it at level 1. I also made a very brief trip back into the Labyrinth to trigger Floor Jump for 3F, and open up everything that comes with 4F. When we leave the Labyrinth after getting to 4F: Dubois's 4F Talk dialogue: So here's how Advertising works. You pick a region of Lagaard, and look at whatever groups happen to be there at the time. Each one will request a type of food, and you have to determine what food you have available fits that description best. Also note that starting an ad campaign will only use up one measure of ingredients for that given food, no matter how many of the food you actually sell. You also can't sell food you don't have enough ingredients for. Advertising takes 20 in-game hours in the Labyrinth to finish. You can't just sleep at the inn over and over again until the campaign is finished. Regina also has post-The shopkeeper girl dialogue: And her normal 4F dialogue: Rea fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Apr 27, 2016 |
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Nov 23, 2015 09:48
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Update 5 part 2: Cervidaephobia Moving on over to the Stickleback Bar: Let's chat up the bar patrons, now that they've changed for 4F. Loud caster: Poor old man: And now for the 4F quests. The item trade II: Supply lines: Supply lines is a really easy quest. You're going to visit both spots anyway while you're going through 4F. Volunteer service I: Volunteer service I is a quest you can maybe do as soon as you get it, depending on your party composition; I'd say you can do it at about this point if you have any class that deals Cut damage, along with a Sovereign. Otherwise, I'd wait until the end of 4F to do it, to be safe. Stopping by the Explorers Guild to Talk to Marion: As soon as you enter Sitoth Trading, Abigail starts talking. And because took The item trade II, she starts talking to us again: Wood Bow's unlocked by selling 1 Bent Twig, and Framea's unlocked by selling 2 Spotted Carapaces (thanks, Crosspeice). I buy a Wyvernbone Blade for Zack now that we can afford it. We'll need him to be outputting as much damage as possible to take down a Ragelope. Whoops. I should note that I was really badly panicking here. I hadn't saved since the start of the update, and I would've been really goddamn upset if I had to restart because of this. Then I remembered I had a Return Flute. A Return Flute instantly exits you out of a battle (with one or two exceptions) and returns you to the last stairs or Geomagnetic Pole (we'll see those next stratum). They are very, very handy "oh poo poo" buttons, and unfortunately are in limited supply for a while. Reviving someone or curing Petrification at the Inn costs (5 * the patient's level) ental. After that nearly diastrous and stupid gently caress-up, here's what our gathering yielded: Spiked Axe is unlocked by selling 5 Shell Warts and 1 Aragonite, Power Ring is unlocked by selling 1 Garnet, and Analysis Scope is unlocked by selling 1 Garnet. The game also didn't list it for some reason, but we can also buy Wisdom Earrings now after selling Garnet. I considered buying a Power Ring for Zack, but forgoing an entire armor slot, especially early on, for +3 STR is very dangerous for a front liner. After resting at the inn:  Ragelope HP: 1680, STR: 18, VIT: 13 Skills:
With its magnificent horns, it can mesmerize adventurers! Welcome to our first FOE fight of the game! The Ragelope isn't to be hosed with early on, especially at this level. Baffling Step is a single-target skill that has a very high chance of Panicking someone, which locks you out of controlling them and makes them attack either the enemy or your own party. Knockdown is a straight-up hard-hitting attack that's pretty much guaranteed to kill whoever it hits; the only person in our party that could maybe survive it is Phoebe if she uses Front Guard or Defends. Here's my initial strategy. I have everyone but Phoebe use their Force Boosts; I need as much damage as possible out of Zack, Nadia, and Jackie, while Rheine will cast Prevent Order on everyone to prevent Baffling Step from loving up the fight. And right off the bat, I get very lucky. You can tell if Prevent Order nullified an ailment by the text at the top of the screen. Ouch. Volt Rounds is not the skill to use here, evidently, even though the Ragelope is weak to it. The second hit did around 20 damage. Now that's some good damage. Keep in mind the Ragelope has 1800 HP though. I switch to using Charged Ice here, and have Rheine buff everyone's damage. Are you loving serious, game? That one's technically on me for not re-applying Prevent Order, but still! That's more like it. I need this thing dead ASAP with Phoebe panicking, so I have my damage dealers use their Force Breaks. Aw poo poo. A) The thing's not dead yet. B) Blind wore off. I'm not making the same mistake twice. Okay, this is getting bad. Phoebe's still panicked, so she can very easily die here. Nadia'll try to paralyze the Ragelope, while I try to get Zack alive again. This is the luckiest I've ever gotten with status ailments. Really close loving call, there. If Rheine had died, I would've probably gotten a game over. On the one hand, the thing's nearly dead. On the other, all of this will have been for naught if Nadia or Jackie kill it. To that end, I have them both defend for one turn. Getting really down to the wire here. Goddammit. What a waste. UGGGGGHHHHH. The amount of random chances that I had to get lucky on there is insane. Whatever, I got the Severed Antler. Fade to black. Fire Wall now completely nulls fire attacks once per turn on a character. It costs 16 TP, however. And here are the DLC grinding quests. Cass's dialogue for each of them is the same: SYSTEM: There is a plant in front of you, and oddly enough, it moves continuously--as an animal might. Baffled, Zack peers at it, and leans closer to the plant to determine its true nature... The plant moves slowly for some tense movements...and then leaps at you! There is no point in showing you the fight. The thing went down in 2 attacks. SYSTEM: There's no mistake--the monster you defeated just now is the plant that was requested at the bar! The request has been completed. Here's what the other two look like. The first mission gives us a variable amount of money based on what Stratum we've reached, and the other two give 2 Nectars each. Very handy. The EXP is pitiful, though, and for good reason. Let's take Cass's suggestion and go to FOEbucks: Alright, the Yggdrasil Teas. These are each designed to cut down on the amount of time you need to grind for certain resources. The Yggdrasil-Bud Tea massively increases the amount of drops you get from battles, and gives you around 5 of whatever rare material can be found at a gathering point. The Yggdrasil-Sprout Tea turns basically every Grimoire Chance into a Premium Grimoire Chance. The Yggdrasil-Clover Tea, however, is truly the most broken of the 3, and its DLC was released last. It triples the EXP your party gets, and distributes 1/3 of that to your entire guild. You can get the Teas through normal gameplay; each of the Yggdrasil enemies will show up very rarely when you enter a floor (including Floor Jump). However, the normal versions only give 1 ingredient when defeated; you'll notice that we got 38 from just one of the DLC fights. Also note that each Tea only lasts until you leave the Labyrinth. After you leave the Labyrinth with a Tea's effect, the effect is dispelled. And to wrap up the update, the Flaus Inn's Talk function now shows this. We can have Quona replace Hanna at the front desk, which I prefer because Quona's voice acting is less annoying than Hanna's. Hanna's 4F dialogue: Quona's cafe dialogue: And her normal 4F dialogue: Rea fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Nov 23, 2015 |
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Nov 23, 2015 09:48
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BlackPersona posted:Geez, I know you only covered the entirety of one floor, but it feels like you're really trying to go through the game at a fast clip. Might have been better to have just made it two separate updates instead of parts, haha. I was considering that. I probably could've cut the update after getting the missing guards mission, which didn't occur to me while I was writing it. If it seems I'm going too fast, bear in mind we're still only in the 1st Stratum. Things will probably slow down considerably once we're past the first boss. Hivac posted:I didn't mean you specifically! i just meant like folks can still have challenge in the game, they just gotta know when to -stop- using it I don't think I've ever had issues with needing to grind EXP for bosses, even on Expert. What I have had issues with is Grimoire grinding, because even by the 2nd Stratum boss, not having >lv10 abilities ranges from making fights incredibly frustrating to making them near-impossible. Rea fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Nov 23, 2015 |
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Nov 23, 2015 18:39
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