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Mraagvpeine posted:Do they talk about Mavoles in the Male Protagonist path? Yes. He misses maybe 2 conversations about them that the heroine hears.
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Jan 11, 2017 19:17
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 00:37 |
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   Ben has the same Cactus House stuff as Kaeli did, so we'll gloss over that and jump into more stuff.  We've got quite a walk to our next dungeon, but I kinda like it because a lot of FFA's strengths lie in its sense of exploration and wonder, and I feel having that sense of exploring a large world outweights the minor annoyances that comes with walking through a bunch of screens.   We also find our first accessory, which boosts agility by 5. No reason not to wear it! Our partners can also equip armor but it's pointless because our partners are pointless.  We can't go to Wendel because there's a stone blocking the way we cannot remove. Guess where we need to go to get what we need to remove the stone?  A few new enemies show up on this path. Death Flora, Needlebeaks...  ...and Tonpoles. Tonpoles in particular are pretty fragile and easy to kill, and everything's really minor annoyances at best.  I thought this animation was worth sharing.  This leads to our next dungeon...   Sword mixes the order we do Marsh and Vinquette. In addition, no red mage helped in Sword, but we've got Phoebe with a large supply of healing magic so it's all good.  Note we cannot progress without Salamander. You can also see the trajectory of magic using the bow, which follows roughly the same arc that arrows fire under.  Lizardons are pretty durable. They're probably most notable in the series for their affinity to chocolate (which is the second HP recovery item after Gumdrops in this game), though this version doesn't drop the chocolate consumable. They're "Pakkun" lizards in the Japanese games.  Finally, the Land Leech is also rather durable but not very exciting otherwise.  So, this dungeon is pretty large with two main paths branching out south and east, the latter being where the bulk of the dungeon takes place.  It may be hard at first to notice these lilypad paths that let you cross the poison, often to treasures.  There's...really not much to say about dungeons in this game. Sword's not nearly as puzzle-oriented as FFA in its dungeon design, going for the more straightforward "explore and kill monsters on the way" approach of most jRPGs. That's not a bad thing (other than the game having a rather wonky balance curve), but as cool as exploration can be, it can get kinda boring when it's a freaking marsh.    Oh, I'm all right... Something's here! Please be careful!There's a one-time thing when you enter a certain room.  As usual, to get out you just kill all the enemies, including Duck GIs.   Our reward is a new weapon. The flail has the same trait as the bow, though rather than using the bow's arc the flail goes straight forward, so it's easier to judge its trajectory. I'll end up swapping between the flail and the bow a lot in this dungeon, since each is better against certain enemies. I kinda wish swapping weapons was easier, though at least if you're in the menu you can press L to automatically go to weapon select (and likewise spirits with the R button).  As you may expect, we need the flail to progress in the dungeon.  Eventually, we reach a golden statue, and you know what that means.  In the final room, we find...  Let's take it back and show it to Ms. Isabella. I think taking it back is optional, and all you get is some exposition and backstory.      Similar to FFA, the boss of this dungeon is the Hydra, though it's been revamped here. But first, I really hate what they did with the music for this one. One of Sword's biggest problems music-wise, besides the technical limitations of the GBA's sound, is the intros they generally add to old FFA songs. It's not a big deal in most songs and even helps out one or two, but that stupid little "intro" thing dominates half the song, making a pretty cool boss battle theme much more underwhelming. Thankfully this is the most extreme example and most other songs aren't as affected, but considering this is a boss theme and thus one we'll hear a lot, it's very disappointing.  The hydra moves in more of a random pattern, weaving in and out between the top and bottom, so it's a bit more chaotic and more difficult to evade damage. Short-range weapons are thus really bad, especially once we factor in the hydra's attacks. Between the flail and the bow, I prefer the bow since the arc actually helps in dealing with the hydra's heads constantly moving around and has a better chance of netting multiple hits, but the flail is not a bad option either. Salamander's attack magic is also quite effective against Hydra if you have the MP for it.   Each head has its own HP, though the blue head has some nasty attacks. The first is a water breath that can inflict Snow Man, which is a rather dumb status where you sit there doing nothing for a few seconds, except you can't be harmed either.  There's also a poison breath which inflicts poison and is much nastier to deal with. Be careful dealing with that.  It's not a bad idea to switch to Phoebe occasionally to trigger Heal Light since this battle can really drain your MP.  And of course make use of Salamander's Power Up ability.   After you kill off both heads, then the battle ends. Not that bad a boss fight if you keep your distance.   It's grown weak from the marsh's poison. Maybe if we give it water it'll come back to life... Isn't there some clean water near Scaly Lair? That's right. Let's find a clean spring around there.So we can't use Undine quite yet, but it's trivial to fix this.  I love when games like this glitch out a bit and have their character run in place during dialogue or scripted events or whatever.    My name is Undine. I'm a girl, and proud of it! I hope you don't mind if I shower you with thanks! My "deep"-est gratitude!On second thought I'm throwing you back in the loving marsh.   No fanfare, but now we can use Undine! Water attack magic can inflict Snow Man, which is more infuriating than helpful since you then can't attack the enemy.  Bubble Boat lets you move around without sound for a few seconds, thus being able to easily evade enemies that detect you based on sound. You move slower though and it's already trivial to just run past enemies you don't want to deal with and you're generally going to be overleveled anyway since they miffed the leveling curve, so mainly this is only useful if you have a bubble fetish or something.  We couldn't get to these earlier, but with the flail we can grab these things to boost our Strength by 5. Yes, please.  Anyway, this is optional but gives us more dialogue and if there's one complaint I've been making in this LP it's that this game doesn't have enough dialogue so let's get that dialogue!  Ms. Isabella, do you know what this is? Oh, that? Why, it's the Moon Mirror! The Moon Mirror... It's a magic mirror that sees into the hearts of humans. I heard it's from the dowry of a Mavole princess. A mirror that sees into human hearts? You want it? That's fine with us."A mirror that sees into human hearts? Yeah, we won't need that sort of thing to gain an edge into taking down an evil empire or anything. Sure, have this valuable magic artifact for free, not like we could get some money or powerful weapons for it or anything."  ...? Pardon me... I lost my head. Relying on such things... I have no right to belittle humans. Ms. Isabella... You two keep the Moon Mirror. It might come in handy sometime. Next up are the two butlers.   First, we must find the count a bride... But the count has said that he seeks not... Even if he does not, we must tie up loose ends! You have a point. And THEN we can bid farewell to this world! Is there no one suitable? Finally, we can rush through the dungeon and talk to Lee again. The only notable thing here is how screwy the translation is, which is odd since it's perfectly serviceable most of the time.    Just fine. Never underestimate Mavole power. What about Lord Granz...?   I promise I did not miss or change anything.  Now to travel to Wendel!  Yeah, we need Undine to break this stone. The flail magic trajectory goes straight forward, though it looks like it'll stop after hitting an enemy.  This is an Iffish. It uses water attacks, surprisingly enough.  Otherwise that cave is really short and suddenly we're close to Wendel.  Only new enemy here is the Pincher Crab. Otherwise, more Iffishes, Duck GIs, Needlebeaks, and Land Leeches.  Right outside Wendel is Niccolo.  For the first time, he'll act as a salesman. He sells accessories and regular consumables like healing items and meats.  These two expensive items don't boost stats. Instead, they boost the EXP (Belle Bell) or Lucre (Chimpfish Iris) you get when you kill foes.  Next time, Wendel...in FFA.
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Jan 21, 2017 19:41
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The translation's probably bad there because it's such a missable line of dialogue. Didn't get that pass-over that the other lines must have gotten. That's hilarious though, I don't think I've ever seen it. Anyway, in general the support spells for spirits are pretty bad. Heal Light and Power Up are pretty much the only ones you'll ever need. Incidentally, on the Heroine's path, the Hero has exclusive access to Salamander and no other spirits, the same way she has only access to Wisp right now, so you can always have that wombo combo of Fire and Light no matter what you're doing. There's some heavy Hero/Heroine path differences coming up, and it's going to be interesting seeing how you see it. But FFA comes first, I know.
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Jan 21, 2017 20:03
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The Wendel section in FFA is really great, so it's good that it comes first. I forgot, do we need the Moon Mirror for anything in Sword of Mana?
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Jan 21, 2017 20:25
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So Ben is completely ready to give up hope, huh? Not the most protagonist-like behaviour, to say the least.
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Jan 21, 2017 20:54
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I'm pretty sure Flail-based magic can go through enemies, but it does have a maximum range and might be stopped by walls. Pincher Crabs have an interesting drop that they share with a later enemy. Niccolo's existence as a speaking NPC has ended. From now on, he's a randomly encountered Shop. Do you plan to show off a secret related to him? If not, that's fine. Playing through the game ignoring weapon-crafting might be more fun than getting uber-materials early.
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Jan 21, 2017 20:58
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MightyPretenders posted:I'm pretty sure Flail-based magic can go through enemies, but it does have a maximum range and might be stopped by walls. I'll probably show that off in Kaeli's run.
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Jan 21, 2017 20:59
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 00:37 |
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Add another to the pile of abandoned LPs. Sword of Mana is boring to play, boring to talk about, and boring to read. It's not a good sign when your first emotion after posting a new LP is dread. I'm not enjoying it, so I'm ditching it. FFA is still a good game, but it's been done a couple times and I don't really have much new to say on it. Maybe if Adventures of Mana gets a Steam port someday I'll revisit it. Sorry for those following that were enjoying it! Maybe someday someone will actually finish a LP of this game (but I doubt it because it's loving boring). In the meantime, I think I have another LP in mind (of one of my all-time favorite games no less), but no clue if/when I'll get on it. Until next time!
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Jan 30, 2017 23:52
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