|
Ah right. Asashin's, Shadows and puzzles that take up your time more than providing a challenge. This was where I first got really stuck on the game because I had no idea you could lift that grate nor did I know that Rally was the revive spell in this game. Running around here for forever depleted my Miracles and other reviving items and also made me overleveled when I finally figured the secret out.
|
# ? Mar 13, 2015 05:27 |
|
|
# ? May 13, 2024 18:26 |
|
Never had an issue figuring stuff out in the dungeon but I loathe Shadows and Asashins. So. Very. Much. When earlier you mentioned a dungeon that was coming up I knew you meant this one and that...room... in particular. I hate that room. Thankfully the rest of the game is so good (bar a few certain puzzles still to come).
|
# ? Mar 13, 2015 07:26 |
|
That stupid grate and the multi bomb wall tripped me up. I never really noticed that Lexis didn't have anything to say in there, but that is weird for a game so full of banter.
|
# ? Mar 13, 2015 08:58 |
|
"Magical Wife Magical Selan" sounds like one of my Japanese animes. Seriously, I confused this segment for a segment much later in the game, it seems. I certainly didn't forget Asashins and Shadows, though. Not so much for this dungeon, though, where you have the means to tear them to shreds. No, they show up in the Ancient Cave, too, starting at about 40F. The same Ancient Cave where treasures are randomized so you may not have any revival items or Rally.
|
# ? Mar 13, 2015 10:05 |
|
Blastinus posted:Garbost is worse than Cancer That's harsh, man.
|
# ? Mar 13, 2015 13:16 |
|
Ah, invincible doors. The only reason why we can't go kick that guy's rear end.
|
# ? Mar 13, 2015 19:09 |
|
Glazius posted:Ah, invincible doors. The only reason why we can't go kick that guy's rear end. For now. I was hinting at it pretty heavily, but this is not the last that we see of Gratze.
|
# ? Mar 13, 2015 21:31 |
|
Glazius posted:Ah, invincible doors. The only reason why we can't go kick that guy's rear end. Why did Dekar have to die!? Beating down walls with his head was what he did! He'd be through that door in seconds.
|
# ? Mar 14, 2015 15:28 |
|
Robodog posted:Why did Dekar have to die!? Beating down walls with his head was what he did! He'd be through that door in seconds. Obviously so you couldn't break down that door in seconds.
|
# ? Mar 14, 2015 16:45 |
|
Chapter 26: Everyone's a Winner Last time, after some very dumb contrived circumstances, we got this floodgate open. We are now free to explore the entire world, so long as it's reachable by boat. But first! Forfeit Island has two major attractions, both of which are pretty amazing. The first one is the Pawn Shop, where everything that leaves your inventory somehow ends up. And I mean everything! Items you sell, items you feed to your CM's, AND items that were on party members that leave the game forever. Tia and Dekar's gear both ends up here once they leave, which is good, because their departures don't have a lot of warning. Don't you wish that other games gave you a Mulligan like this? There's also the regular weapon/armor/item setup, but since you can go to Forfeit any time during that dumb Dankirk and Auralio plotline, there's nothing especially exceptional here. But enough about that, it's time for the big draw of this island! This warning sounds familiar. Didn't someone at the Ancient Cave say exactly this? Really? The title card claims that this place is called Markao. Oh well, no matter. What's important is: We found the casino! All the games in this place run off of Coins, so we're dropping cash on this setup, whether we like it or not. No worries. You don't gamble to win big anyway. There is absolutely no reason to use the same dinky slot machine from Alunze, but it's there. Instead, let's try out...whatever this is. Flower Slots are a lot more demanding than the regular slot machine, requiring you to use A, X, and Y to stop the individual reels. Theoretically, there's more skill involved, but I never really went too far into it. The major difference is that getting a winning combo gets you points instead of adding back to your coins. You only actually start earning coins back if you get above 50 points. At the same time, playing again requires you to bet your points you've accumulated. In addition, getting certain winning combinations gives you JAC points that deplete every time you win, but boost your chances of winning, and there's a new song that plays and... Man, this is hurting my head. Let's just move on. Here's a game that involves a bit of skill. All games that aren't slot machines let you pick how much you're betting. You ask me, it's 99 or nothing. Go big or go home. In Action Bingo, all the balls except the center one are in one of four grids. When a ball drops down, you can adjust that grid's positioning. The center ball just automatically drops into position. Your objective is simple: arrange the balls so that you get at least one line of five going horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Compared to the other games in the Markao (or perhaps Pegas) Casino, this one is the easiest to win at. If you have even an inkling of how to do this, you can get a winning combo 9 out of 10 times. Sometimes several at once. The big downside is the time that it takes to play a full game. It's not an efficient way to get more coins in the slightest. If you're feeling especially daring, you can go double or nothing on one last ball that you can't control. However, you lose all your winnings if the Ball of Chance doesn't get you a winning combination. Don't use the Ball of Chance, is what I'm saying. Blackjack is the absolute opposite of Action Bingo, since you're more likely to lose, but it's a heckuva lot faster. If you don't know the rules of Blackjack, your objective is to get as close to 21 as possible with your cards without going over. For that reason, when they give you a choice, you want to always pick 10's or royalty, since they also stand for 10. Well, that's just dandy. You can stop drawing cards at any time, but you want to keep "hitting" to get as close as possible. This is where the risk comes in, because the closer you get, the higher the risk of going over 21 and losing as a result. I should note that your only objective is to beat the dealer. It doesn't matter what these two schlubs to your left and right are doing. Just like in regular Blackjack, a tie between you and the dealer will always count as a loss. The most ideal card to pick at the start of a game of Blackjack is an ace, since it stands for 1 or 11, depending on your other cards. Considering that a disproportionate number of cards in the deck stand for the number 10 and your objective is to hit 21, that is a pretty big deal. The game actually calls that Toppin' and will award you extra for managing it. If you manage to get an Ace AND Jack of Spades, the proverbial Blackjack, you get 128 times your bet, or a max of 12672 coins. Blackjack can be pretty lucrative, dont'cha know. That's it for the first floor. Let's see what's down below. Big money, that's what! Numbers! Winnings! But wait, there's more! If you were wondering why the Prince is running Auralio, it's because the rest of his family is busy playing Poker. Maxim's stat sheet would suggest otherwise. But you're playing against your parents. Doesn't that just mean that the same money is going around the table? We'll have time to worry about that after we win big. Fortunes can change fast in this place. If I was so inclined, I could make hundreds of thousands by leaving this for about 15-20 minutes, but I didn't feel like it. I'm not so sure I like Five Card rules compared to, say, Draw or Texas Hold 'Em rules. I guess it's easier to program. Long explanation short: in Five Card Stud, you start with two cards and get the other three by matching bets around the table. Once everyone's settled on a bet, the next card is dealt until everyone has five cards. If you've got utter trash like I did, you can Fold at any time and avoid having to bet more of your coins. Or you can bluff other people into folding like they did. Seriously, look at that. That's terrible. I should note that the AI's behavior doesn't necessarily indicate the power of their hand. They ARE programmed to bluff, after all. I got lucky this time and all the AI players had was an Ace. That could have been a disaster. Incidentally, just because you have a good hand doesn't mean that you should get greedy with your bets. After all, if your opponents fold, that's a lot of betting that you're missing out on. As you might expect, a high-stakes game of Poker can get you some amazing winnings. If it wasn't for the speed-up key, this would be the de facto way to make bank. One of the downsides to emulation, I guess. The easy answer is always the better one. And what is all this gambling for, you ask? Prizes. Odd, but perhaps useful prizes. The Fortune Whip may be terrible stat-wise, but it has a 50% chance of critting. It's still not great. There's also an entire Bunny line of gear. That's because the girls in the casino used to be dressed like Playboy bunnies, but Nintendo of America happened while simultaneously leaving the Bunny gear unchanged. I don't know either. Of course these days they'd axe the casino and leave the bunny girls, but I digress. The theme of the Bunny gear is weak stats but strong IP's. Really strong. For instance, the Bunny Sword has one of the immensely rare fractional damage attacks in exchange for not doing nearly as much damage as its stats suggest. There's also this thing. If it didn't make Selan into the eggshelliest of eggshells, this would be friggin' awesome. This will come in handy very shortly, since we'll be coming across a sub-quest that requires us to seek out chests. Last but not least, the beautiful Dragon Sword. For a whopping 500,000 coins, we can have one of the best weapons in the game. There might be dragon-themed superbosses in our future, but I'll come back for it later. Thus concludes the Markao or perhaps Pegas Casino. There will be something resembling a plot next time, I promise. Next Time: It's time to see the world, or a very small section of it. Plus a new Capsule Monster! Always fun.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 04:18 |
|
This is the point where I broke one of my save games once. I bought the Jewel Sonar, Something® happened, and when I reset the SNES my save was gone.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 04:26 |
|
Texas Hold'em didn't really enter the public consciousness until well after this game had been released. Back when I was a kid my family would have occasional poker nights (with chips only) and we were basically stuck with Stud, Draw, and a few oddball games like the one where you have to hold your card to your forehead (facing out, and you don't get to look at it) and then bid based on what you see on everyone else's head.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 04:45 |
|
I remember spending an unhealthy amount of time playing the flower slots; it's a shame it's been so long, as I remember having puzzled out how they worked back in the day. I do vaguely recall the music being nice though.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 06:03 |
|
I spent far too much time playing blackjack. I remember grinding for the stupid bunny stuff only to discover those weapons sucked...I never relied on the IP's.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 08:33 |
|
Wow. I expected the casino to be like in the earlier pokemon games, just a simple slots game and that's it. But they fully programmed in both Poker and Blackjack. Impressive. And unexpected for a Nintendo game.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 11:42 |
|
Blastinus posted:Just like in regular Blackjack, a tie between you and the dealer will always count as a loss. Where are you playing blackjack?
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 11:52 |
|
Carbon dioxide posted:Wow. I expected the casino to be like in the earlier pokemon games, just a simple slots game and that's it. Well the way I see it a lot of developers made the gambling games before hand as proofs of concept/game engine tests. And then at some point they just slotted them in since the code was there and ready to be used.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 12:41 |
|
Carbon dioxide posted:Wow. I expected the casino to be like in the earlier pokemon games, just a simple slots game and that's it. I think you're confused...Nintendo only published this game in Europe. Speaking of gambling... From Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver on, Nintendo has abandoned slots-based minigames due to European/Canadian(?) law regarding the presence of gambling minigames. It's the main reason you don't see Game Corners in Gen5+ games.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 12:43 |
|
Forfeit Island is a lot better in this game than the original, where it just had it's 'anything you sell you can buy here!' gimmick. Also some annoyances that forced you to buy things IIRC. I didn't break the Casino for the Bunny Blade/Dragon sword but the Jewel Sonar's unique and handy. Shintaro posted:Where are you playing blackjack? Aerdan posted:I think you're confused...Nintendo only published this game in Europe.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 13:01 |
|
EponymousMrYar posted:Casino rules make the game in the houses favor. I understand this, but the casinos I've been to (not that there have been many) just push on a tie.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 13:06 |
|
I never bothered with the casino, I took all my chances on overworld roulette (aka trying to random encounter cores and actually kill all of them)
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 13:16 |
|
Aerdan posted:I think you're confused...Nintendo only published this game in Europe. I definitely played it on my SNES in America - it was published here, it just had a different name in Europe.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 13:21 |
|
Shintaro posted:Where are you playing blackjack? Shintaro posted:I understand this, but the casinos I've been to (not that there have been many) just push on a tie. Huh, guess the rules are different other places, but playing Blackjack around where I live, they do the "dealer wins" variation. That's the rule that I grew up with playing with my family as well.
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 13:32 |
|
Blastinus posted:Huh, guess the rules are different other places, but playing Blackjack around where I live, they do the "dealer wins" variation. That's the rule that I grew up with playing with my family as well. Same. As far as I know that's the common rule, in casinos and at bars. I prefer this version of poker, I'm afraid to say... though my family prefer the stupid two cards with river version. Who ever heard of 7 card poker? Seriously. Defies the whole 5 card dealio. :/ I've never bothered to actually buy back anything in this game because I don't sell what I'm sure of. That said, it's a really nice feature, even if I never used it. More games should allow something like this or at least, allow certain kinds of items to be refound (sort of like certain cards in FF8 where, if you lost them in a duel they'd make their way to certain parts of the world where you could find and win them back.)
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 13:48 |
|
silversatyr posted:I prefer this version of poker, I'm afraid to say... though my family prefer the stupid two cards with river version. Who ever heard of 7 card poker? Seriously. Defies the whole 5 card dealio. :/ It's mostly an east-of-the-Mississippi thing, honestly... or more notably, on the Mississippi. A lot of riverside casinos (and riverboat casinos) seem to prefer 7-Card Stud for... whatever reason. Me, the one I could never wrap my head around was Omaha Hold 'Em. Wasn't Texas Hold 'Em complex enough?
|
# ? Mar 19, 2015 14:18 |
|
I think when you trip the jackpot in the Flower Slot, you've got a giant chance of winning? I could be wrong though.
|
# ? Mar 22, 2015 22:09 |
|
Chapter 5: Hideous Statues and a Guy with a Hammer We left off last time after an unfortunate mining accident. I suppose we now know why the mines were shut down. : Beats me. But I'm pretty sure we came out ahead in that race. : But they still had the ruby apple when they fell! : Oh no! This is bad... : AAAHHH! : Don't move! We're coming! And so here we are again, fortunately free of the minecart menace. These nerds are the same armadillos we've been fighting in this dungeon, as well as the bosses from Gordovan bridge, so Maxim makes short work of them. It's not a notable fight, but again, you need to watch out for their berserk mode and spinning attack. : No problem. Are you okay? : Yes, I'm fine. : So you're still here collecting rubies? : Yep. Mr. Rochy loves his rubies... : You're working on rubies for Mr. Rochy? You're not the person who made the ruby apple, are you? : Yes, that's right! You heard about it? : Or plummeted to their doom. But either way, I don't think we'll be getting the ruby apple back. : Oh then, come by my place, I'll give you a ruby apple as a token of thanks for saving me. : You have another ruby apple? : Well, it's actually a practice piece I made from glass. But it looks identical to the real thing. : Made of glass, huh? : Yes. But no one will know the difference. For a very loose definition of okay, sure. : But... : As long as Mr. Rochy is happy with it, who cares if it's the real thing or not? : Well, you do have a point there. : Alright then. Let's give it to Rochy and grab the reward. There is actually a fairly interesting ethical debate that you can bring up about this entire conversation, but I blame finding it interesting on the fact that I had to write a massive paper on it for my finals. : My store is past the left bridge when you just enter Parcelyte. Well then, I hope to see you there soon! He leaves, and it's about time for us to head back too. I'm still not sure we found the right solution here, but I suppose it beats going back to Rochy and being like uh well you see they launched themselves into the depths of a mine in a speeding minecart... : They got away. : Did you at least get the ruby apple? : Not exactly. But we've got a backup plan. : That sounds a little fishy. But maybe I'm better off not knowing. Yay, inventions! : Ugh. I hope it's not something weird again like "Escape" and "Reset." Shh Maxim just let him invent things : How can you call them weird? Both "Escape" and "Reset" have been useful, right? : I guess so. Well, hit me with it. What's your new invention? : The Mystic Stone Board! You can place mystic stones on it to boost your abilities! : Boost my abilities? How? : Well...I'm not really sure. I don't quite understand how it works myself. : See? It's weird, just like I said. : Well, just try it. Choose "Mystic Stones" from the Character Menu. : Okay. : If you don't know how to use it, I recommend that you ask Jaffy. We have a new option unlocked in the menu now and it is pretty great. The Mystic Stone Board is the game's nod to character customization, and is basically a...board that you put mystic stones into. What is a mystic stone, you ask? Remember when we picked up that reward from stacking crystals and I was being coy about the mechanic involved--that is a mystic stone. Placing mystic stones into these slots boosts stats as listed on the stone. Board squares with symbols on them confer extra bonuses if you can get a stone on them. The arrow, and the line flowing from it is the start point, and you have to be connected to the start point in order for the stones to work, so it turns out to be a nice little board puzzle when you want to get as many stones in as possible while also getting the bonuses. Each character has their own area on the board with their own starting points. Personally I like to fill up the board for the character I'm using completely since I don't really switch much in combat, but it's up to you how you want to go about it. So now that we're done with this tedious as hell segment of the game, let's go back to Parcelyte and deal with Rochy. : It's really beautiful. : Wow. It really does look like it's carved from a ruby! : It was hard to get this color with glass. I'm probably the only one in the world that can make this. : You really don't mind if we take it? : Absolutely. You saved my life. It's the least I can do. : Thanks! We can talk to Jaffy again after this. : Oh yeah. The professor said I should ask you about the mystic stone board. : Ah, so Professor Lexis finally finished that! I'm the one who designed the blueprint for it, you know. : Professor Lexis is the only one who could have built it. Anyway, allow me to explain. He proceeds to explain exactly what I did earlier. : As you get more mystic stones, you may want to combine them into more powerful stones. I'll start a mystic stone combining business soon. Stop by some time and check it out. Considering that we are likely the only customers, calling it a business seems somewhat premature. --- Mr Rochy's house is to the left here, on the way to the President's quarters. Hey, it's our buddy from the tutorial! : Hey, I remember you. Have your wounds healed? : Yes, I feel stronger than ever. I'm practicing hard to improve my skills. Maybe next time I meet Gades... : Well, glad you're feeling better. : Well, I never would have made it off that island if you hadn't stopped Gades. I can't thank you enough! : You really should thank Iris. She was the one who actually chased off Gades. : Oh, it was nothing. : No, it was my life. Thank you very much. I actually rather like this line. Oh good lord, why. : Is it bronze? : Hahaha! Nothing so common and vulgar. It's pure gold! : Gold! How much did that cost?! : Oh, about enough to buy the entire city of Parcelyte, I should think. Hahaha. : What a waste of money. : No kidding. : Y-Yeah. No problem. : (See? I told you this would be fine!) : (Shh.) : Very good! Here's your reward! That's it!? Jesus man if you have all of that dosh you could at least bankroll our mission or something. : Only 1000 gold for returning his most precious family treasure? What a cheapskate! : People don't become rich by throwing away their money recklessly. : I see. I guess that makes sense. More commentary on capitalism by Lufia 2 DS. : I guess next time we should negotiate a price before we take the job. : Excellent work! I'll certainly hire you again if I need any more help. : More help? Is it that dangerous around here? : Well, I've heard strange things about that priest Idura lately. : Idura? : He's this town's priest. Ever since Gades appeared, though, he's been acting...odd. Unstable, you might even say. : I'm just worried he might try to liberate some of my wealth in the name of the church! : I see. : That's why I'm glad you're around! Let's get out of here now that we have our money. gently caress you Rochy I hope you drop the apple and it breaks : Sure, I guess so. And who are you? ???????? : It's Maxim! : Hey, you're pretty strong, Maxim. : That means I can really cut loose! HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ??????????????????? : Hey, wait! : Wait? This is a battle! : This is no time to be sparring! Jessy got kidnapped! : What?! Who took her?! : Idura! : Idura?! That wackjob? Where is he? : The Tanbel Abandoned Mine! : I'm gonna pulverize that priest! Sorry, Maxim, we'll have to finish this later. : We'll go with you! : Yeah? Well, she's got a better chance if more of us go to rescue her, right? Think of her safety! : You got it! Before we leave, it's a very good idea to quickly pop to the store and pick up some antidotes and whatnot. The next dungeon has a lot of enemies that can debilitate you with statuses. --- : Wow! Are you Dr. Lexis of Elcid by any chance? : Why? Do you know me? : Of course. You're the expert on energy cores! Your inventions are super important! : Wow, Professor, I didn't know you were so famous. In Elcid, everyone just thinks of you as an eccentric weirdo. Plebs. : Are you kidding? This guy's a world-famous brainiac! He used to live in Parcelyte, too. : Is that so, Doc? : Well, that was a long time ago. Anyway, what's your name? : Oops, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Guy. I'm really strong. : And you look it, too! So, why are you joining us? : Guy's girlfriend has been kidnapped by Idura, so we're going to rescue her. : There's not time to waste! Where are we heading? : Tanbel Abandoned Mine! : Before we leave, Maxim, do you have any antidote potions? There're many monsters in Tanbel Abandoned Mine that are poisonous. Be prepared! Lexis is on the same page as me. Next time we'll be heading back into the mines, but rest assured, we are quite, quite done with exciting mine cart action. SC Bracer fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Mar 23, 2015 |
# ? Mar 23, 2015 02:05 |
|
SC Bracer posted:: I'm Guy. I'm really strong. Sounds like the kind of description the Let's Player would write instead of actual dialogue
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 02:26 |
|
I really never used Guy much in this version. He's just too slow. I generally stuck with Tia and Maxim through the game. There's one boss later on that Tia absolutely slaughtered in about 30 seconds. I couldn't repeat it with anyone else.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 02:42 |
|
I appreciate that we have different body types in the DS version, at least. They could easily have made everyone have either Basic Male Body Type or Basic Female Body Type, in which case Guy's strong-guy image would have suffered a bit. And let's face it, there's no way Guy wouldn't have gotten the strong-guy image, considering that he was the only main party member (i.e. not counting Dekar) who couldn't use magic in the original.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 02:44 |
|
Remake Guy is...definitely not what I expected. He looks more like what I expected Dekar's remake design to look like (yes, I know Dekar's remake design was posted earlier). And...it seems their personalities also got flipped around, too. Unless Guy gets a little less meathead-like as we go on and Dekar is thicker than solid concrete.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 02:52 |
|
Really the best thing about DS Guy is that grin. It reminds me of someone... Someone... Dogly.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 04:54 |
|
SC Bracer posted:Chapter 5: Hideous Statues and a Guy with a Hammer I too would've bargained for a prince. I like how they take their time to admire how famous Lexis is and casually introduce each other while SOMEONE HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED! Rabbi Raccoon posted:I really never used Guy much in this version. He's just too slow. I generally stuck with Tia and Maxim through the game. There's one boss later on that Tia absolutely slaughtered in about 30 seconds. I couldn't repeat it with anyone else. He is really too slow. His hits do a lot of damage, but Maxim is much better.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 10:41 |
|
Darth TNT posted:
They just know they're on RPG Time: nothing dire will happen until they advance the plot.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 17:04 |
|
Darth TNT posted:I like how they take their time to admire how famous Lexis is and casually introduce each other while SOMEONE HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED! To be fair, the travel time to get where they're going has just been decreased significantly since they're now going by rather than foot.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 17:13 |
|
Well, Guy is everything I expected him to be, having seen his character art in advance. There really is only one way a design like that can go. Apologies once again for the slowness of updates. I should have at least two for you guys over spring break, assuming that real-life circumstances don't slow me down.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 21:10 |
|
Darth TNT posted:I too would've bargained for a prince. Oof, I thought I'd caught all the typos this time too. quote:He is really too slow. His hits do a lot of damage, but Maxim is much better. I have to agree with this assessment. I love Guy in theory but he's so slow that Maxim does the same things he does in half the time. I tried to use him for the boss fight this time because of ~thematic reasons~ but half way through I decided that flailing around with him wasn't working out.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2015 22:39 |
|
EponymousMrYar posted:Really the best thing about DS Guy is that grin. Who is this, what are they from?
|
# ? Mar 24, 2015 03:02 |
|
curiousCat posted:Who is this, what are they from? Scias, dog headed super stoic swordsbuddy from Breath of Fire 4.
|
# ? Mar 24, 2015 03:10 |
|
|
# ? May 13, 2024 18:26 |
|
Rigged Death Trap posted:Scias, dog headed super stoic swordsbuddy from Breath of Fire 4. Well I guess I need to get further in it and quick. Thanks.
|
# ? Mar 24, 2015 03:21 |