The "What should I know before I play this game for the first time?" Q&A!

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Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Assassin's Creed

By equipping the throwing knives you can use a dagger in melee combat. The dagger is good because your counterattack is generally a one hit kill. I didn't realize this until I beat the game, and just used the sword for all close range combat. It makes fighting multiple enemies so much easier.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2008 22:53

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 23:17

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Binowru posted:

Okami

The last tree is on top of his head, you'll know when you get there

# ¿ Jan 25, 2009 21:09

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

the littlest prince posted:

-The Wii version does not have the loading screen minigame that the PS2 had.

Derail, but, why don't more games do this? Loading screens are, in general, a necessary evil. Why is Okami the only game ever made to incorporate a minigame into the loading screen? And not just any minigame, one that provides tangible benefits to the main game if you win.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2009 11:08

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

In the beginning you can just use whatever really. As you get farther, you'll probably want to have one guy for each element. One thing that really helps is keeping around a Persona that can use all four elemental skills. A good one to start out with is Lilim. Fuse Pixie x Nekomata to get Forneus (don't get it from Shuffle) then fuse that Forneus (with Bufu) x Angel (with Garu) to get a Lilim with Agi, Zio, Bufu, and Garu. This is a pretty good thing to keep around and update as the game goes on, and can make getting all-out attacks in random battles much easier. For the Answer it's practically required. Other notable personas who can do this easily are Pale Rider and Loki, but experiment.

Having a healer persona is a good idea later in the game. Saki Mitama and Titania are excellent early healers. Saki Mitama learns Mediarama before anyone else. Titania learns Divine Grace, which significantly increases any healing done, and makes her useful until the end of the game. Transferring Divine Grace and Mediarama from her to someone else makes them a potent healer as well.

Don't worry too much about resistances and such until later on. Once you get farther in the game, it will definitely pay off to have a persona or two that's immune to light or dark. Most enemies only use one or two elements, and it should be easy to equip one that isn't weak to those through normal play. What I'm trying to say is you generally don't need to pay attention to your own persona's resistances when creating new ones: if you're up against a boss that uses fire, you probably have a persona that resists fire in your inventory whether you planned it that way or not.

Figure out the 3 people you want to use in your party and don't bother with anyone else. The equipment tax is pretty high in this game. You should try to spread out your elemental strengths, like, don't bring the two fire users to the same party. Also important is spreading out elemental weaknesses: Yukari and Aigis are both weak to lightning, so don't make a party with them both. My favorite party is Yukari, Akihiko, and Mitsuru.
Once you've figured out this party, fuse weapons that make them resist the element that they're weak to. For example, fusing a nihil bow with a Tower persona gets you a bow that's resistant to lightning, which is perfect for Yukari. You can continually update this weapon with new higher level persona.

Salt Block Party fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Jan 26, 2009

# ¿ Jan 26, 2009 21:40

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Arigot posted:

Is there a way you can explain this without really spoiling much?

I'm only like 11 or so hours into the game. I finished my first full-moon cycle and went through the first set of midterms, so I'm obviously not far enough to understand the significance of this, but if there's a way you could elaborate on why you shouldn't hug her without spoiling anything, PLEASE do so.

It's not a big deal. There are two opportunities, I think, when you get the dialogue option to hug Yukari. One is part of a very extended plot sequence - it's very obvious it's a plot sequence, and you will know when you get there - it doesn't matter if you hug her or not. It's one of those meaningless choices that happen all throughout the game during plot scenes. Hug her if you feel like it.

The other opportunity is during an event in her S-Link, if you choose to pursue her S-Link when it opens up later. Hers works just like any other S-Link in the game so it should be obvious when this happens. In this case, hugging her is not the best option and will annoy her. The only effect that hugging her here has is that it will take slightly longer to get to the next rank of her S-Link, which isn't really much of a consequence unless you are ridiculously min-maxing.

In short it doesn't matter and you should probably forget about it and go enjoy the game. As a side note, as opposed to the dialogue options in plot scenes, the dialogue options you get in S-Link scenes do matter - give the response you think the person wants to hear to make the S-Link skill up faster. For example, for the school discipline officer kid, just toady up to him all the time. For the various girls you can date, be charming and try to make them feel good.

Does anyone have some starter tips for Persona 4?

Salt Block Party fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Jan 27, 2009

# ¿ Jan 27, 2009 08:14

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Stumiester posted:

Just got two games from the UK version of Gamefly for the XBOX 360 - Assassins' Creed and Mirror's Edge.

Anything important to know before I get started?

If you equip the throwing knives in melee, you fight with a dagger. This is different from the hidden blade. Unlike the sword, the dagger has an easy counter-autokill. They don't really mention this in the game. I did not realize I could use the throwing knives for anything except throwing from afar until I had beaten the game, and I bet a lot of those fights against a ton of enemies would have been much easier if I had known about it.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2009 03:08

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Let your allies do whatever they want, they're either generally smart enough to do what you want them to do anyway, or too dumb to not immediately die no matter what you tell them. Use your cooldowns basically whenever they're up, there's no downside to using them other than that you won't be able to use that one for the next 45 seconds or whatever and they make things much easier.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2009 03:05

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Other than the OP does anyone have tips for Odin Sphere? I just picked it up and I'm a little overwhelmed with the phozon/psypher/food balance.

Coffee Jones posted:

Seiken Densetsu 3

Get to the town that has the Black Market. I forget which one it is, but you can only enter at night. Inside look for the item shop. One of the items is a green pot, I think it's called Poto Oil though I may be mistaken. Stock up on these, it's an awesome healing item that heals your entire party for a good amount.

Kevin is probably the best character. Look up on gamefaqs for good class changes, some are awesome and some are terrible.

Salt Block Party fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Feb 6, 2009

# ¿ Feb 6, 2009 22:30

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

InsanityRocks posted:

i've just started to play through chrono trigger on the ds, anyone got any tips?

I can't really remember anything super important about chrono trigger, just jump in and have fun. It's a pretty easy game.

-Be nice to Marle at the beginning. Or don't, it doesn't really make a difference.
-Keep an eye out for sparkly blue things, they add to one of your characters stats if you pick them up. For an example there's one in the bottom right corner of the woods I think.
-Also in the woods, you can get infinite free Shelters by examining a bush. Not really worth it but helps at the beginning when you're low on money.
-When you get to the future, go through the sewer dungeon (it's later on) to get some nice equipment
-When you get the ability to open the mysterious black boxes, go to them in the past first, say "no" to opening them, then go to the present and open them. You get an upgraded version of whatever was inside.
-The code in Lucca's dream sequence is pressing the L, A, R, A buttons on the controller in that order.
-When you get to the cape in 12000 BC and are prompted to fight with someone, don't

# ¿ Feb 9, 2009 03:41

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

LorneReams posted:

I'm trying to get back into Legend of Mana because I loved Secret of Mana, but I'm having a hard time. The game seems really disconnected and the plot is strange. Is there anything I can do to make the game more fun, or is it just a different game altogether?

It's a fairly bad game, in my opinion. The plot isn't linear and you basically just do random missions over and over until you chance upon one that has to do to with one of the game's plot threads. While the art style is intriguing I didn't find the gameplay involving at all. If you are looking for another Secret of Mana, try Seiken Densetsu 3 for SNES (translation patch is available somewhere), it's basically a direct sequel using the exact same mechanics.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2009 20:24

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

CloseFriend posted:

Valkyrie Profile

I would say that, unless you're totally sure you're going to play it again, it would be a better idea to just start on Hard and use a guide to get the best ending.

IIRC the differences are:

-On Hard you can create or transmute or whatever more things with that creation gem from lezard's castle
-Hard has several extra dungeons
-Hard lets you get the best ending
-Hard has the Seraphic Gate dungeon after the last boss
-Enemies might be a bit more difficult, but nothing you can't handle

I dunno who was asking, but if you're going to try to get the best ending, you absolutely must use a guide as it's probably the most confusing and opaque method I've ever seen in a game to get a best ending. It seriously makes no sense and then bam best ending.

The normal ending is you send up people as necessary, at the end you fight the leader of the enemy forces (it's not very interesting, compared to the good ending), then you get a "CONGRATULATION" and back to the title screen
The bad ending is you fail to send up people or do dungeons or whatever, so Freya comes down and kills you

So it's not really worth playing blind, especially if you're only going to play through once.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2009 02:51

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

PantsBandit posted:

I just started playing Tales of Phantasia and am very confused with the battle system. I thought I was doing ok, but I'm getting torn apart in the first real dungeon when you have to fight two golems at the same time. Anyone have any advice?

If you're having trouble then try walking up to the enemies and blocking a lot. If you do the thing where you run up to the enemy and hit him and run all the way back you sometimes risk getting stunlocked while turning around. Also, I don't think this is spelled out, but you can do variations on the basic attack by pressing up or down at the same time as attack, and also pressing the attack button twice does a jumping attack which can knock the enemy away.

Also, try to avoid using your TP in dungeons until you get a TP accessory. To level up your moves you'll usually grind them on the overworld next to an inn.

Salt Block Party fucked around with this message at 05:05 on May 21, 2009

# ¿ May 21, 2009 05:03

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

McKracken posted:

I'm trying to play Persona 4 and I was really liking the game until I got to the first dungeon...

Can someone give me some tips because if I die after spending another 2 hours replaying the dungeon for the 3rd time I'm going to punt my PS3.

I'm attacking whatever weaknesses I can but that doesn't seem to matter. Most enemy attacks do vicious amounts of damage and despite all the leveling I'm doing it doesn't seem to have any impact on either my defense or attack power. By the 5th floor of the drat castle I'm all out of healing items, revive items and stuff that restores soul points. Some of the enemies don't appear to have a weakness.

Am I doing something wrong or is the game just that loving hard because I don't have the patience for this.

The first dungeon is the hardest in the game because your characters don't have many skills, you don't have very effective personas, and the battle system is new to you. Keep at it, once you get it done you'll be fine for the rest of the game.

Leveling isn't as useful as it is in most RPGs. The PC's stats are entirely determined by his equipped persona. The only thing you get from grinding a high level are higher health and mana (as well as the ability to use higher level personas). However I wouldn't try the boss until the late teens. Spend some time in the velvet room and fuse some useful personas. Don't be afraid to fuse your personas because once you've got it once you can always get it back in the compendium. If you're fusing a persona and the preview shows a skill you don't like, back out to the persona choosing screen and try fusing again. Also, focus on S-Links when you're not dungeon crawling! They provide extremely useful free levels to the personas you fuse.

As for how you deal damage: Weaknesses, if you've played persona 3, aren't really as crucial. I usually only use attack magic on enemies that are resistant/immune to physical damage, or ones that are weak to magic and are particularly annoying if you let them live for a while, or like a big group of weak enemies that I can wipe out with an all-target spell. In addition, using attack magic on regular enemies is a good way to quickly run out of SP in the early game. Physical persona abilities are strong and inexpensive (and just meleeing isn't that bad either).

The dungeons are not designed to be completed in one go: expect to spend up to 4 days or so in the first one if you're having a lot of trouble. Later dungeons, once you have more powerful persona, can be completed in one day if you prepare well and know what you're doing. Going home will restore your health and mana. The other ways to restore SP in a dungeon are with restorative items (expensive - but get in the habit of buying Tap Soda from the vending machines downtown), the Hermit s-link (a dog that recovers SP for money, also expensive), and persona abilities (you aren't far enough to get persona that can do that). Keep a good stock of Goho-M's from the store as they are very cheap and send instantly send you to the entrance of the dungeon to fuse persona or save or heal up or go home or whatnot. Once you get back to the dungeon you can start on the highest floor you've been to.

If you still can't beat the dungeon in the time limit, getting to the limit will give you the option of going back in time a week. Obviously not preferable but maybe next time you'll get more prep time and suck less. It is always a really bad idea to leave the dungeon until very late, I usually try to do it asap if I don't have any social engagements.

Salt Block Party fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Jul 9, 2009

# ¿ Jul 9, 2009 02:16

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

You can basically think of your main character's personas as your Pokemon. Persona is a fancy version of Pokemon.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2009 02:21

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

ConanThe3rd posted:

Just got persona 3:fes after playing Persona 4. Any points I should watch out for? Also, when do I get my Persona Compendium (And hence, should start fusing Persona)?

Though the battle systems are similar on the surface, P3 battles revolve around using elemental weaknesses on enemies, all-out attacks, and making enemies lose their turn by knocking them down to a much larger degree than in P4. You have much more SP available than in P4 so it's more effective to just use every character as a mage at least until you get some of the special fusion weapons. Physical damage kind of sucks. Note that the all-target spells work differently than in P4 for knocking poo poo down.

Also you can't control your characters but you can modify their AI. It can be really clunky, especially if you want other people to heal, so keeping the MC as the healer can be useful. But for most characters you can put them on "full offense" (use their strongest spell every turn regardless of the circumstances) or "knock down enemies" (use elemental weaknesses, do nothing if the enemy is down) and they'll be fine. "Act freely" leads to characters using useless status spells sometimes but requires less micromanagement as they generally know what needs to be done.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2009 21:37

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

What are some more tips for The Witcher.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2009 22:49

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Anything for Titan Quest and expansion? I mean, it doesn't look too complex, but what are some good skills to take and masteries to avoid and such.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2009 18:13

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Anything good to know for Bully?

# ¿ Aug 18, 2009 23:03

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Cactus posted:

I'm about to start playing Prototype. Any tips/things to avoid that'll lessen the game experience?

The quickest way to get points is to hijack a helicopter and fly around and shoot infected water towers. Good to know for when you want to max everything out in the endgame. Also get glide asap.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2009 07:45

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Anything for Persona 2? Innocent Sin if it matters, but I think both it and Eternal Punishment share similar mechanics. I'm mostly worried about how to go about using personas, random battles, and the monster interrogation thing.

Salt Block Party fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Sep 6, 2009

# ¿ Sep 6, 2009 05:26

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

I might regret this, but any tips for Legend of Mana? I really like the SNES Mana games but this seems so obnoxious to get into.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2009 07:26

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

Sentient Toaster posted:

Salt Block Party posted:
I might regret this, but any tips for Legend of Mana? I really like the SNES Mana games but this seems so obnoxious to get into.
I had to resort to using a guide to see all the sidestories. Same goes for special pets which become available based on mana levels in specific areas. Forging didn't make any sense to me even WITH a guide. Honestly, the whole drat thing is a guide dang it. So get reading if you're worried.

Alright gently caress that then. Can you get through the game having a somewhat enjoyable time without using gamefaqs?

# ¿ Sep 13, 2009 22:21

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 23:17

Salt Block Party: Jan 1, 2005; by Fistgrrl

When you're on the cape in 12000 BC don't fight the boss when he asks you to.

When you get the ability to open those sealed doors and chests, don't open any chests you see in 600 or 1000 AD. Instead first go to 600 AD, use the chest, and when it asks you to open it say no. Then go to 1000 AD and open the same chest and the item that was inside earlier will get improved to a more powerful version. Then, if you want, you can go back to 600 AD and get the lesser item.

When the person in 12000 BC asks you if she should burn the plant or not say no.

Use the L A R A buttons to save Lucca's mom.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2009 02:12

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