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The best ps2 rpg series (that's not SMT, of course) is the Dark Cloud series.  Yeah, I said it. I would kill for someone make a Dark Cloud clone.
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Jul 7, 2012 21:13
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Not to derail the SH talk, but in FFIV does Edward ever stop being useless? I'm not really that far in, but so far all he seems to do is either hide or get buttfucked before I get him to heal everyone. Or should I just not worry about him? It seems like characters come and go a lot in this so far..
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Jul 7, 2012 21:17
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Teim posted:Not to derail the SH talk, but in FFIV does Edward ever stop being useless? I'm not really that far in, but so far all he seems to do is either hide or get buttfucked before I get him to heal everyone. What version? In SNES, he's useless but when he leaves your party a little bit later he's gone for good. Good riddance. His potion-splitting ability is pretty useful though so just keep his HP up and have him do that. In GBA/PSP, he comes back with a vengance, featuring insane stat boosts at higher levels and godly end-game gear from the post-game dungeon. In DS, I think he gives you some decent augments later so check on that and give him some worthless augments if you can spare any.
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Jul 7, 2012 21:19
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Teim posted:Not to derail the SH talk, but in FFIV does Edward ever stop being useless? I'm not really that far in, but so far all he seems to do is either hide or get buttfucked before I get him to heal everyone. Edward is fairly limited in usefulness. His exact abilities depend on the version you're playing.
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Jul 7, 2012 21:22
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Moldy Taxes posted:What version? Playin' the PSP version (through remotejoy 'cos my PSP is ancient and banged up) so that is good news. Both in that he leaves and that he gets better.
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Jul 7, 2012 21:24
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Himuro posted:The best ps2 rpg series (that's not SMT, of course) is the Dark Cloud series. I could never really get into the Dark Cloud stuff (1 or 2). It just never clicked with me. I did play Rogue Galaxy though (which apparently is very similar), which was okay for the first couple of hours or so, and then they started to grate on me for various reasons. Firstly was the most cliche plot that's ever been devised by man. I mean, I rag on FFXIII's plot, but that at least has a reason why it's hosed up and a mess. It's like playing a game made entirely out of TV tropes. Second was the characters, who are the usual range of offensively bland to offensively kooky. And they are terrible in battle, to the point that they might as well have not been there. And some of the worst dungeons I've played in (sewer level, underground sewer level in a castle, and Pharos tower times two). And one of the worst final dungeons, penultimate boss, and ultimate boss. And I'm not speaking hyperbolically. Basically, I didn't like it that much.  The SMT games are good though. Nocturne/Lucifer's Call is my favourite. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Jul 7, 2012 |
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Jul 7, 2012 21:29
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Himuro posted:The best ps2 rpg series (that's not SMT, of course) is the Dark Cloud series. Finally someone knows what they're talking about. Dark Cloud 2 is my favorite video game of all time. I really want another one but Level-5 seems to be putting out a bunch of other (still cool) stuff all the time instead.
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Jul 7, 2012 21:50
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So I decided to do a solo Cecil run in FF4A. So far, it's arguably been easier than a full party. Died once when a TinyMage countered with Hold and it wouldn't loving wear off. Otherwise, it's a breeze. Just finished the Antlion, though, so things should get more difficult soon at least. But having Cecil actually gaining levels this early on is rather handy, and it's crazy how many enemies hit him for only 1 damage. I'll post more in-depth stuff here (you know, if there's anything actually worth talking about), but I'm posting stuff on my Twitter (in my profile) as well as I play, since I might as well put the thing to use and all.
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Jul 7, 2012 22:30
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Pesky Splinter posted:FFXIII biggest problem is its lack of focus in the writing. What it really needed was an editor to go through the script and get rid of so much of the chaff. It's a small thing, but playing thru 13 I not only got the feeling there was way too much building up of Jihl's little quirks for her not to be intended to be way more important than she ended up being (the fact she's bonus content in the sequel DLC may support this but even her design feels like the modern equivalent of "Unique Sprite Design"), but I really thought they were gonna paint her up to be some sort of C-list adversary character (ie"goddamn I have to fight them thru the whole game six times?" a la Seifer or whatever) to Lightning. A lowlevel female antagonist, especially one who isn't literally a sadist, is pretty rare in Square's canon but it seems like a logical fit to a female protagonist.
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Jul 8, 2012 00:16
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From Mt. Hobs on, the enemies actually hit pretty hard, though nothing too scary. MomBomb was tough after splitting, especially since the GreyBombs hit hard and they all decided to Explode at once. Cecil's Darkness attack actually came in handy for this fight, the only time I bothered using it. Fabul was a breeze, and I grinded for Gil around Mysidia to get the Paladin gear and some HiPotions. Ran away from randoms in Mt. Ordeals. First form Scarmiglione, one HiPotion at each cronie to kill them, then stabbed Scarmy while healing up from his Thunder counters. Second form was much easier to deal with. Did my class change, my very first battle against seven ghouls of various kinds bumped me to L10. I left Mt. Ordeals at L15. Hopefully that'll be enough for the next dungeons. It's been easy so far, but I imagine it'll be getting tougher soon.
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Jul 8, 2012 00:40
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Mega64 posted:So I decided to do a solo Cecil run in FF4A. So far, it's arguably been easier than a full party. Oh man I can't even imagine how you're gonna deal with the Magnetic Cave, Cecil ain't poo poo without his sword and his light armor selection is pretty much Prisoner Clothes and Ruby Ring.
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Jul 8, 2012 01:39
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The White Dragon posted:Oh man I can't even imagine how you're gonna deal with the Magnetic Cave, Cecil ain't poo poo without his sword and his light armor selection is pretty much Prisoner Clothes and Ruby Ring. I would imagine he'll deal with it the same way I did when I was six and too stupid to realize what Magnetic Cave meant in terms of my equipment: running away from absolutely everything.
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Jul 8, 2012 01:42
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Moldy Taxes posted:I would imagine he'll deal with it the same way I did when I was six and too stupid to realize what Magnetic Cave meant in terms of my equipment: running away from absolutely everything. It's how I dealt with Mt. Ordeals, and it's how I plan to deal with the Magnetic Cave. At least for Mt. Ordeals you can spam HiPotions to end encounters, though there's absolutely no reason to, as you'd probably end up losing gil in the long run and the levels you gain there as a Dark Knight are wasted anyway. It's not like you actually need to legitimately fight anything while gimped. From my FF3 and TAY Edge solo runs, I've found the extra EXP you gain from having less party members usually compensates for having only one person to control. The main problems are instant death (Trap Doors are going to be a loving bitch) and debilitating status effects like Stop and Paralysis, two status effects that Ribbon doesn't block (at least in TAY, which literally ripped its code from FF4A). I think the loads of extra HP I'll have will make up for most of the challenge in the game.
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Jul 8, 2012 04:58
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Alright, I'm going to be playing through FFIX again. Is there a good guide on what items are missable? I only care about equipment, not so much cards/key items/other junk.
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Jul 8, 2012 18:57
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It depends if you want the Excalibur II or not. You could follow this guide for that, or just use this one instead.
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Jul 8, 2012 19:16
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Mill Village posted:It depends if you want the Excalibur II or not. You could follow this guide for that, or just use this one instead.
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Jul 8, 2012 19:17
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Harlock posted:Alright, I'm going to be playing through FFIX again. Is there a good guide on what items are missable? I only care about equipment, not so much cards/key items/other junk. No missable cards  Basically the best way to be safe about not missing equipment is just to take every dungeon slow and explore to the best of your ability, and make sure to buy like 3+ copies of every armor and weapon; there's pretty much no permanently missable items that come out of dungeon treasure boxes; just nice upgrades, usually. Take special care to grab the Air Racket and the Octagon Rod when you can buy them--Air Racket is first sold at the South Gate Station, Octagon Rod is in Esto Gaza once Eiko gets kidnapped--both of which are limited-time items and tech abilities that can't be found on any other equipment. The latter of the two is your only source of the third-level elemental spells (not that they're THAT important). Oh and make sure to save up 50k-80k gil by the third disc so you can buy the Thief Gloves from the Treno Auction. Starting on Disc 3, bosses get some pretty great equipment (some of which is unique, some of which is exceedingly hard to come by, and some of which will just save you rare synthesis materials) and you'll want to equip Master Thief to make your life easier.
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Jul 8, 2012 21:27
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Anyone who still complains about the minigames in X and X-2 can't have played FFXIII-2. Seriously gently caress slots and gently caress chocobo racing. They are so boring and so pointless and frustrating. I just want the Wild and Hidden Artifacts, is that so much to ask? EDIT: By the way, the final phase of the last boss Three Bahamuts is kicking my rear end. I manage to fill up the meter once, but I can barely hurt him before he recovers after which he proceeds to completely murder me. Does anyone have any tips or strategies? Renoistic fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Jul 8, 2012 |
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Jul 8, 2012 21:49
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I thought a solo Cecil run of FF4 was impossible unless you grinded to high heaven, due to the Trap Doors? Then again, maybe I'm wrong.
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Jul 8, 2012 21:54
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Saigyouji posted:I thought a solo Cecil run of FF4 was impossible unless you grinded to high heaven, due to the Trap Doors? Then again, maybe I'm wrong. I'm already at my first big roadblock, Cagnazzo. Once you get him down to low enough HP, he'll move to healing mode and heal for over 500HP. Currently I'm hitting around 300HP damage. Thing is, this thing can trigger immediately after I hit him, so it ends up becoming a stalemate. Berserk doesn't help things either. Not sure how I'm supposed to do this one without tedious grinding, as I only have L1 spell items which do no damage, and his tsunami does much less damage late in the fight. As for the Trap Doors, I just have to hope I can outspeed them, I guess. That or amass a shitload of Light Curtains somehow, which I doubt I'd be able to do.
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Jul 8, 2012 22:00
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Mega64 posted:I'm already at my first big roadblock, Cagnazzo. http://www.garath.net/Sullla/FF/SC1.html This guy did a pretty interesting playthrough of the same challenge (though it was on the SNES using a translated hardtype rom). He even managed to find methods to beat certain bosses at a much lower level than most FAQs recommend. If you're really stuck and don't want to grind you should take a look.
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Jul 8, 2012 22:06
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Renoistic posted:EDIT: By the way, the final phase of the last boss Three Bahamuts is kicking my rear end. I manage to fill up the meter once, but I can barely hurt him before he recovers after which he proceeds to completely murder me. Does anyone have any tips or strategies? Bahamut Trio I found really difficult during my first attempt. They seem built for a team at a specific level, and if you're under that point even a little they'll turn your team into black marks on the floor. I think it is doable at lower levels, but you gotta be fast with certain paradigm shifts.
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Jul 8, 2012 22:17
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I finally finished my FF5 Fiesta and it was not easy. Okay, my classes were Blue Mage/Time Mage/Samurai/Ninja (which is a pretty easy combo), but FF5 is such a chore to me. The story's stupid, none of the battles are very interesting, and the level design is mostly bland. Buuuuuuut chances are I'll be doing the Fiesta again next year. v  v
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Jul 8, 2012 22:21
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Moldy Taxes posted:His friends spawn with less max HP every time they pop back up, and I think they're vulnerable to some debuffs such as Deshell/protect that'll make taking them down much faster.
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Jul 8, 2012 22:31
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Srice posted:http://www.garath.net/Sullla/FF/SC1.html Nice find, thanks. Though it's pretty irritating to find that the person had success with a strategy that isn't working for me. Wonder if it's to due with ATB differences between the SNES/GBA versions (playing the European version of FF4A since the US version had issues with its ATB). Maybe I'll try to nullify Caggy's Haste once he gets to the healing stage?
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Jul 8, 2012 22:31
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Allan Assiduity posted:Although your Auto-Hinder will select it for you, the one that's immune to physical attacks is vulnerable to Deshell and vice-versa. I don't think anything else is notable for their debuffs, but it does help in getting them down quickly. Ah, I guess I should mention that later in the fight, the friends whip out some area attacks. I usually take out the green one first in this situation, because Garnet's area attack only hits in front of him, so with proper timing your party leader can avoid it completely.
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Jul 8, 2012 22:36
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Mega64 posted:Nice find, thanks. Do you have any ice magic items? Sulla's playthrough is incorrect with Caig's weakness: He's a reptile and has the reptile ice weakness except when he was the water shield up where it shifts to lightning. Throw those at him and see what happens.
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Jul 8, 2012 23:22
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Thanks for the FFXIII tips! I'll try again tomorrow. I'll also buy the Chaos Crystal and see if I benefit from the weapon. (I've got 106 fragments).
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Jul 8, 2012 23:30
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GreatRedSpirit posted:Do you have any ice magic items? Sulla's playthrough is incorrect with Caig's weakness: He's a reptile and has the reptile ice weakness except when he was the water shield up where it shifts to lightning. Throw those at him and see what happens. All I have is Ice-1, and that also does only 1 damage during his shell phase.
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Jul 8, 2012 23:35
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Don't they sell a Thunder Rod in Baron? Maybe Mist? Run out, grab one from the store, use-as-item; I'm pretty sure there's no "class" restriction for spell-use items in FF4. I'm also pretty sure Thunder will scare him out of the shell? That might only cancel Tsunami, though.
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Jul 8, 2012 23:39
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The White Dragon posted:Don't they sell a Thunder Rod in Baron? Maybe Mist? Run out, grab one from the store, use-as-item; I'm pretty sure there's no "class" restriction for spell-use items in FF4. I'm also pretty sure Thunder will scare him out of the shell? That might only cancel Tsunami, though. You have to be able to equip a rod to use it, apparently. Bought one at Baron, didn't work for Cecil. No matter, as a combination of actually moving to the front row and throwing a Spider's Silk to cancel out Haste let Haste + Berserk work. That's one major obstacle down for now, at least.
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Jul 9, 2012 01:29
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Mega64 posted:You have to be able to equip a rod to use it, apparently. Bought one at Baron, didn't work for Cecil. It's been years since I've done this challenge, but basically you need to weigh all factors and use the proper combination of items, equipment, and row positioning to get through. Every enemy can be beaten with the right tactics. Don't throw away or sell anything. IIRC, even the Prisoner shirt gives immunity to sleep and that's basically required to beat a Golem enemy that inflicts sleep on every attack (and who guards the Blood Sword, I think, which is extremely important to get). Stuff like that. But yeah, with Trap Doors you'll just have to level to 57 or so and use the Avenger sword. Not much getting around it. Edit: I'll also say I remember a doll enemy in the Tower of Zot dropping items that cast Blink. I remember the drop rate being OK. You may want to get some of these. Beaumains fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jul 9, 2012 |
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Jul 9, 2012 03:17
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All this talk about FF4 reminds me of the first time I ever played it. I had so much trouble with Baigan because I relied heavily on casters. That Wall was a gigantic roadblock for me. Then I got to Kainazzo and I was all "oh no he's a superboss, I hope I don't die! I didn't save after Baigan or anything!" And then I wiped the floor with the guy because I could actually use my magic.
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Jul 9, 2012 03:25
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The White Dragon posted:All this talk about FF4 reminds me of the first time I ever played it. I had so much trouble with Baigan because I relied heavily on casters. That Wall was a gigantic roadblock for me. Oh man, you're telling me. That was tough the first time I played it, and after that long trek through that sewer, too!
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Jul 9, 2012 04:10
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Baigan's where I learned the duration of Wall. Once you have that down it's just a matter of waiting and hitting with a Fire 3 when the time's up. Can't remember if it was that fight or the Magus sisters that made me realize spells can only reflect one time.
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Jul 9, 2012 06:23
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Evil Fluffy posted:Baigan's where I learned the duration of Wall. Once you have that down it's just a matter of waiting and hitting with a Fire 3 when the time's up. Can't remember if it was that fight or the Magus sisters that made me realize spells can only reflect one time. Oh man those Magus Sisters, I was stumped on them for a good half a week--y'know, go to those super-cheap-because-they're-sponsored-by-a-local-religious-group summer fun programs and then they only last about half the day so I'd spend the rest of the day at my dad's workplace, which was at the community college in the distance education media center. They had a huuuuuuuuge TV there (normally used for the inter-island courses so the students could see whatever the teacher was putting up on the Elmo or writing on the whiteboard) with an RF plug in the back and no classes, I used to play FF2 on that, and that was pretty much the highlight of that summer. well, ff2 on a tv taller than two grown men standing on each others' shoulders, I mean I had to stand on a table to see properly. Well, a giant TV, and pneumonia, no clue where I picked that poo poo up Eventually I realized that you absolutely HAD to kill the fat one first, but she kept Wall up quite a lot and bouncing spells off yourself, which I HAD learned from Baigan, was way too unreliable for me. I ended up just unloading on her with physical attacks (and going for a quick Bio or Fire 3 at the start of the fight to prime the pump) and hoping that neither of the other two sisters would ruin it by casting Life 2 on fatty once I was done with that. And then Odin, oh man, fuckin' Odin. I didn't realize he had a weakness to Bolt, so what I did was I hit him as hard as I could at the beginning of the fight... ... and then timed Kain's jumps once he went into Zantetsuken mode. It was such a great feeling when I finally downed him. It's like, we talk about how games are super easy and poo poo, but it's because these days we know what grinding is. If we still approached them from the perspective of our childhoods--"I'm sure I can do this if I try something else this time"--they still have quite a lot of strategy and thinking outside the box involved. I mean, it's how I'd design a game: if a player wants to grind, let 'em! For everyone else, there'd be a clever strategy or three for every boss if you just charged in with nothing but a save file at your back--plus of course y'know a really cheap-rear end cheesy way to do it--and I wouldn't doubt that players would formulate their own no-grind methods to best an enemy. It's how we all did back in the day! Fur20 fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Jul 9, 2012 |
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Jul 9, 2012 06:45
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Beaumains posted:It's been years since I've done this challenge, but basically you need to weigh all factors and use the proper combination of items, equipment, and row positioning to get through. Every enemy can be beaten with the right tactics. Row positioning is huge. It took me until the Baron Waterway to realize that if I went to the back row, I wouldn't get my poo poo kicked in, and I'd still be dealing close to normal damage. Of course, enemies didn't really start doing damage until Mt. Hobs. Of course, this also means I was stumped on Cagnazzo until I realized, "Hey, he doesn't really physically attack until the end. Maybe the extra damage would be enough to get through his healing!" A Spider's Silk probably helped. quote:Don't throw away or sell anything. IIRC, even the Prisoner shirt gives immunity to sleep and that's basically required to beat a Golem enemy that inflicts sleep on every attack (and who guards the Blood Sword, I think, which is extremely important to get). Stuff like that. I found such a Golem in Eblan that guards the Sleep Blade, along with four Skuldiers. I used Hourglass to cheese that fight, then managed to chip away at Mad Ogres with much healing to snag the Silver Apple. Screw the Blood Lance, though. I kind of regret not bringing more Gold Needles for Barbariccia, though. I have Esuna, but that means I'll be burning through Ethers instead of Needles. Then again, it's not like I'll ever use White Magic outside of free out-of-battle healing soon. quote:But yeah, with Trap Doors you'll just have to level to 57 or so and use the Avenger sword. Not much getting around it. Considering I'm already L30 or so, I'll probably be at 57 anyway by the time I reach there. Good to know the Avenger will work with them, though. quote:Edit: I'll also say I remember a doll enemy in the Tower of Zot dropping items that cast Blink. I remember the drop rate being OK. You may want to get some of these. I actually noticed this. It'd be tedious, but I probably should get 99 of them since I don't think these guys appear outside the tower. Might as well while I'm at Zot. I'm loving this challenge more than I was expecting. For someone who can only attack and cast weak White Magic, a solo Cecil game requires a lot more strategy than a usual full party. The White Dragon posted:All this talk about FF4 reminds me of the first time I ever played it. I had so much trouble with Baigan because I relied heavily on casters. That Wall was a gigantic roadblock for me. I used to have trouble with Baigan and the Magus Sisters as well, because gently caress Reflect. Of course, now I realize that Cecil and Yang are more than enough to rip through Reflect, plus Cid gets the Gaia Hammer which casts Quake on them for decent damage. And yeah, Cagnazzo is a huge joke when you have Thundaga and Blizzaga available. It was nice to actually have him be challenging for once, even if the challenge was through his bullshit healing. Odin's still tough as hell for me, though. I struggled with him during my LP of the game, and I ended up having to kill Rosa just because she was useless and I needed every second I could get. Of course, part of this was because I didn't have Kain to dodge his Zantetzuken. Speed-based battles kind of suck in this game because the ATB can be so wonky. The White Dragon posted:It's like, we talk about how games are super easy and poo poo, but it's because these days we know what grinding is. If we still approached them from the perspective of our childhoods--"I'm sure I can do this if I try something else this time"--they still have quite a lot of strategy and thinking outside the box involved. I mean, it's how I'd design a game: if a player wants to grind, let 'em! For everyone else, there'd be a clever strategy or three for every boss if you just charged in with nothing but a save file at your back--plus of course y'know a really cheap-rear end cheesy way to do it--and I wouldn't doubt that players would formulate their own no-grind methods to best an enemy. It's how we all did back in the day! That's why I'm enjoying these challenges I'm doing. I've memorized a lot of the games I've played a kid so well that I know many ways to cheese a boss, though I'm always learning new ways. But these challenges force me to do things like use spell items that aren't Slow/Haste, or to use the row system to my advantage. Grinding is a big part, but that alone won't stop an enemy unless I grinded to insane levels, and screw that.
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Jul 9, 2012 12:11
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As a kid I knew about grinding because Pokemon Red was my first RPG and I called it "training" until I was like 15. For me it was the opposite where I would just grind if a boss was kicking my rear end instead of actually having a strategy or buying items.
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Jul 9, 2012 12:18
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Teim posted:For me it was the opposite where I would just grind if a boss was kicking my rear end instead of actually having a strategy or buying items. That was pretty much my line of thinking as a kid too - "it's not dying, obviously I need more levels " - and then brute force the fuckers.
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Jul 9, 2012 13:18
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I am pretty sure most people did that, which is why the common perception of JRPGs is "grind to win" despite the fact that there are a billion non-grinding solutions even in something as basic as Final Fantasy
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Jul 9, 2012 13:28
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