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Gotta go mage, how else is he going to get out that love song?
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Dec 4, 2012 09:07
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You're a wizard Harry.
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Dec 4, 2012 10:59
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Class Acts: Squire Still the most basic warrior-type, Squires get a few buffs and some new toys in 1.3, but their overall value hasn't changed much and their stats are still decidedly mediocre.  Accumulate gains a small charge time, but overall it's value hasn't really changed. +1 PA is a decent self-buff for physical classes. Throw Stone is timeless, flawless, endless. Heal has gotten a buff, adding Stop and Berserk to the list of status effects it can cure. Both skills are dangerous and hard to remove, so having an answer is helpful, if only infrequently. Wish, which was, in vanilla, only available to the special Squire jobs (Ramza, Delita), is now on the generic skillset. Of the buffs to Basic Skill, the addition of Wish is probably the most important. Instant, free revival (albeit at a limited range) is, of course, a powerful sandbag. Cheer Up, which is now just an instant-add Regen, is exactly as useful as it sounds: not at all. Regen was never a good status to begin with, and it's even worse in 1.3 where units drop more frequently and the small HP gain is never enough to matter. Beatdown is new, and is one of the few percentage-based damage skills in the game, dealing a fixed 60%. However, its hit rate is an abysmal 33+MA% and for some reason it's Dark elemental to boot (meaning it won't work on Lucavi). Target is actually occasionally useful since it gets around HP Restore, Hamedo, Blade Grasp, and Critical Quick. Those don't tend to come up very often but when they do it's nice to have a work around for your physical classes. --- Weapon Guard is now free and received an indirect buff in 1.3, as several weapons have had their Evade % boosted, while some other skillsets are now subject to Evasion. A solid default reaction skill for many classes. Counter Throw lets you experience all the pebble-punting, boulder-bombarding, slate-slinging goodness of Throw Stone even when it's not your unit's turn! What more could you possibly want? Equip Axe is more useful because Axes are more useful, with increased PA, Weapon Evade, and a 25% chance to deal extra damage. On the other hand, you'll almost always have a better support skill to use, so this won't see any use. Monster Skill is as gimmicky as it was in vanilla but the gimmick is a lot better because monsters on the whole have gotten stronger. A lot of the "secret skills" are also new, and many have unique and powerful capabilities not found anywhere else. Move +1 does exactly what it says on the tin. --- At the end of the day, there's nothing that a Squire can do that can't be done better by another job, but what do you expect out of a starter class? J. Alfred Prufrock fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2012 11:39
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Class Acts: Chemist Despite a couple of nerfs, Chemists remain very strong. Item is an incredible support command, and offers healing, status removal, and revival, all at instant speed, for no MP, and with 100% accuracy. Given the prevalence of sandbagging in 1.3, the Item skillset is, if anything, even more valuable.  Potion and Hi-Potion are basically identical. X-Potion has had its healing reduced to 90 HP, while the new Mega Potion heals for its former amount. This provides an intermediate step between the 60 HP and 150 HP heals. Remedy no longer removes Petrify or Frog, which doesn't matter in the least. Since Oil actually functions now, I guess removing it might come up once in a life time. Ether and Hi-Ether, like Potion and Hi-Potion, are the same. However, they are slightly more useful in 1.3 due to some abilities (namely Sword Skills) gaining MP costs where they had none before. Eye Drop, Echo Grass, Maiden's Kiss, Soft, and Holy Water function just like always. Elixir is notably absent from the list, as it can no longer be learned by normal means. The item itself has been renamed to Power Source. Phoenix Down will end up being the single most used skill in this LP, I promise you. --- Auto Potion, besides costing more JP, receives a stealth nerf via the change to potions. Because Auto Potion will only use Potions, Hi-Potions, and X-Potions (which now only heal 90 HP, remember) it's maximum effect has been capped at 60 HP lower than before, making it quite a bit less useful in Chapters 3 and 4, though obviously it's still a brick house early on. Throw Item will sometimes net you extra turns on a dedicated support unit by allowing you to Wait rather than Move. It would also be useful on high-move, wide-ranging units like Ninjas, except that those units always have another support skill in mind. Maintenance is just about as useful, just about as often, as in vanilla. Equip Change...I guess if you have literally no other support skill. Move Find Item is still needed to collect some of the best loot in the game. --- In addition to the skill changes, Chemists are slightly faster and make better mages. They can still equip guns, and there are a couple of very nice new firearms available, so even with a low PA they can still make decent attackers. Also, equipment breaks and the Precision skillset work at weapon range, allowing for some long range status attacks as well. Overall, expect to get a ton of mileage out of Chemists and Item in particular. J. Alfred Prufrock fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2012 12:21
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I don't know about you guys but when I hear the name Prufrock, I think of a wizard with really awesome facial hair. Clearly a gentleman of taste and talent in the arcane. (gently caress yeah, whipping out those rusty MS Paint skills.)
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Dec 4, 2012 13:21
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That is a perfect moustache for a dignified fighting man. Whatever the score, Prufrock, can you use your hacking tool to put that picture into the game?
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Dec 4, 2012 14:53
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Is it possible to go Mage primary with a warrior secondary like Oracle/Dragoon?
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Dec 4, 2012 15:22
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Prufrock should be a Mage, for 'tis nobler (in my mind) to make your enemies suffer the slings and burns of outrageous fireballs, not giving them a chance to take up arms to end them.
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Dec 4, 2012 16:55
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Sorites posted:Mime. Seconding this. Mimes are so much fun.
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Dec 4, 2012 18:04
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Go with Mages.
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Dec 4, 2012 22:40
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Let's go with mages.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:22
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Mage 4 life.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:54
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Episode 3: Sweegy Woods At the behest of the thread, Prufrock will be pursuing the path of the mage through Chapter 1. Since our protagonist starts with an even 70/70 Brave/Faith and receives the best stat growths from each gender, he's equally good as a physical fighter or a spellcasting.  We'll start our journey through the wonders of magic as a Priest. 1.3 changed the role of the Priest a bit, presumably so they'd compete (and fall behind) less with Chemist as the best support class. Last time, we made our way to Igros castle. Let's check in with Prufrock's older bros and see what they make of this whole Death Corps situation.    Dycedarg doesn't seem too concerned about the fact that one of the more powerful nobles in the country has been kidnapped by a rebel organization. I'm sure the fact that the Marquis is aligning himself with Goltana has nothing to do with it.  So instead we catch up with Alma, Teta, and Zalbag.  Ransoming a captive noble is not at all out of line; during the middle ages, it was considered very bad form to kill a nobleman, even in combat, while hostage-taking was seen as the appropriate action. On the other hand, the Death Corps is made up of commoners, so the aristocracy's view of the actions is most certainly colored by class prejudice.   I like the implicit *wink wink* Zalbag gives here.  Here's our next destination, Dorter Trade City, where the spy sent by the Hokuten to infiltrate the Death Corps disappeared. Of course, on the way...  ...we encounter some monsters chilling in the swamp. Color me unsurprised. For this fight, Viola steps in for Falstaff. You'll notice that Orlando and Katarina have gotten job upgrades as well, to a Knight and Marksman, respectively.  And here's our opposition: two Goblins, two Bombs, and a Black Goblin. Let's have a peek at their abilities.    The first thing that should stick out is Revive, making that unit a top priority. The rest we'll see as the fight progresses.  Fortunately, the first thing the AI does is rush its only reviver directly forward into our midst. The Tactics AI is very smart about some things (especially timing) but can be pretty drat dumb about others. Archael has cited this as one of the reasons why the enemy formations are given so many advantages: to make up for the AI's sometimes-iffy decision making.  Heartache Strike is a new skill in the Precision set and has a chance to add a random status effect to one unit in weapon range, with decent accuracy. Against humans, it only works on members of the opposite sex (like the Thief's Steal Heart) but it always works on monsters.  Here it adds Oil, which is the least useful effect in the cylinder.  Spirit Surge is another new skill, this time added to White Magic. It's a single-target holy damage spell with a low MP cost and a quick CT, giving Priests more offensive capability, particularly in the early game where Holy is impractical.   In addition to significantly upgraded WP, crossbows in 1.3 now have a 25% to attack twice on a hit. It's nice when it happens, but not something that can be counter on to matter. (Note that the second attack is rolled separately from the first, so it can still miss even when the first hit, as it does here.)   Turn Punch's area has increased by an additional space, so it's better for large groups of enemies. On the other hand, it doesn't discriminate, so it's easier to hit your allies as well.   Bombs are now mid-range units. Flame Attack, their primary offensive ability, has a range of 3 panels and is magic-based.  With the Black Goblin gone, every K.O. we score counts for keeps.   Eye Gouge now adds Confusion in addition to Blind, a definite upgrade. While not as dangerous as as Charm, Confusion will still frequently cost you at least two turns (one for the confused unit, and one for another unit to remove Confusion).  Flame Attack's animation.  They can't bring units back, but we can, giving us a huge advantage. Honestly, as long as you take out the Black Goblin first, and bring at least two units with revival skills, this is a pretty easy fight.     Here are some of the other effects that Heartache Strike can apply. Charm, Confusion, and Sleep are also possibilities.  Cure hasn't changed.   Douse adds Oil in a 1-square AOE. On maps with a lot of Bombs or other fire-users, it can actually be fairly useful.  As I've mentioned previously, the Oil status now works, increasing fire damage dealt to the target. You can also see that any fire attack will remove Oil after having its damage increased.  Because damage is worked out before removal, if a fire attack kills a unit covered in Oil, the status effect will persist even through K.O. and resurrection. This can make it quite difficult (or in this case, impossible) to get the Oiled unit out of one-shot range without a status cure.  Only one Bomb to go.  Hey! A crystal!  Goddammit, just roll over and die already!  Viola puts the Bomb into critical with a well placed rock...  ...when this happens, immediately followed by...  I love this game. J. Alfred Prufrock fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Apr 14, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2012 04:34
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 That bomb definitely got the last laugh. 
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Dec 5, 2012 05:14
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J. Alfred Prufrock posted:
Giving bombs Critical Quick was genius.
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Dec 5, 2012 06:11
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Did that end the battle? I saw one of your guys was still up on one knee after the blast.
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Dec 5, 2012 06:23
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Sorites posted:Did that end the battle? I saw one of your guys was still up on one knee after the blast. Yeah, one dude was still alive so that's a win, Pyrrhic, but a win. Of course we all know that Bomb was the true winner 
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Dec 5, 2012 06:33
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UmbreonMessiah posted:Giving bombs Critical Quick was genius. That single change is filled with so much spite for the player it's beautiful.
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Dec 5, 2012 06:35
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McGwee posted:Yeah, one dude was still alive so that's a win, Pyrrhic, but a win. But, yes, Critical Quick on an unit with Self Destruct is just brilliant. Cheap, but brilliant.
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Dec 5, 2012 06:49
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Hey! I'm greatly enjoying this LP. You are doing a beautiful job at laying out the intricacies of the mod in an easy to understand and very funny way. I can tell you know your way around 1.3 very well, so that will make for a very good experience for the readers. I have one small request, though. There was one update after the version you're on currently, which was just a really minor bugfix patch (1.3.0.6) however it includes a new NPC that joins up in Chapter 4. Would you mind updating your game to that so people have a chance to look at it later on? PS: Loving the GIFs. I can think of many upcoming things which would make hilarious GIFs. PS2: Hybrid Ramza.
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Dec 5, 2012 06:54
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White Magic is a lot better overall in 1.3, especially as the Item set doesn't have elixir anymore. It also has a cheap melee attack that uses a combination of PA and MA but ignores physical evasion (works with dual wield too). I might be going crazy, but I think Spirit Surge bypasses Reflect too. The WotL version of 1.3 does have some changes to skillsets and classes that the PSX version doesn't have. Corvinus fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 07:11
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Turn Punch was a nightmare early on. That added AoE made it that much more dangerous, especially when you're trying to get into the groove of raising your party. I loved the hell out of the White Mage changes. Having those cheaper offensive attacks made fights with White Magic so much more manageable. I'd get Equip Crossbow just so I had a long-ranged instant Holy attack. Squires having crossbows was a nice touch as well. I didn't use most of the Marksman's abilities besides Timed Strike. They seemed interesting enough, but I wasn't sure about trying them out. Oil combos always seem like they'd be fun.
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Dec 5, 2012 07:44
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Ohhh, I missed this for several days. I have definitely had my entire team wiped out by a critical-quicked bomb. 1.3 Content continues to be challenging in a lot of ways like that- mostly because of how beefy a lot of monsters were in comparison your puny skilless starter units. Did the bosses in 1.3 get nerfed in some later version? Your OP says easier bosses, but I played with (one of?) the first version(s), and I'm pretty sure they all still had innate Def Up and Mag Def Up, as well as the ludicrously inflated health and offense values. It seemed like the only way to beat some of them was to just stat-break them (but not TOO much, or they'd start using 100% accurate instant-death moves!).
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Dec 5, 2012 07:47
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Schwartzcough posted:Did the bosses in 1.3 get nerfed in some later version? Your OP says easier bosses, but I played with (one of?) the first version(s), and I'm pretty sure they all still had innate Def Up and Mag Def Up, as well as the ludicrously inflated health and offense values. It seemed like the only way to beat some of them was to just stat-break them (but not TOO much, or they'd start using 100% accurate instant-death moves!). In 1.305/1.306 it's only the Lucavi and a select few late game bosses that have ??? stats, which includes HP into the thousands. Most regular human bosses in the story just have jobs with good multipliers/growths and some combination of Def/Mdef UP and immunities to most status effects. Fortunately no one is immune to having their CT reset.
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Dec 5, 2012 08:24
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Zeikier posted:Turn Punch was a nightmare early on. That added AoE made it that much more dangerous, especially when you're trying to get into the groove of raising your party. Marksmen follow the pattern that they did in vanilla as Archers. They're neat early on (and their new skills are definitely more useful) and start to fall off hard around the middle of the game and never really have the ability to hang with the other units due to unexciting abilities and a lack of powerful weapons.
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Dec 5, 2012 09:03
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Sketchie posted:Actually, I believe Viola is still alive - but mysteriously absent from the GIF - so even if Orlando was knocked out as well, Prufrock would've still won anyway. Quick increases the unit's CT to 100 and gives its next turn precedence, effectively placing it at the top of the turn list. This means that any unit currently taking its turn when Critical Quick triggers gets a chance to finish that turn before the Quickened unit acts.
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Dec 5, 2012 09:38
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Declan MacManus posted:Marksmen follow the pattern that they did in vanilla as Archers. They're neat early on (and their new skills are definitely more useful) and start to fall off hard around the middle of the game and never really have the ability to hang with the other units due to unexciting abilities and a lack of powerful weapons. Yeah, sounds about right. Range is incredibly important early on. I always liked the simplicity of Marksmen; long range and Concentrate is safe, and you get to focus less on hoping an attack hits and just making sure not to make dumb mistakes. Granted, Marksmen get some decent range competition later on that more or less puts them out of a job. Also, I discovered that (kinda spoilers for an upcoming job) Timed Strike doesn't blend with a Monk's fist, so no skullcrushing blows.
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Dec 5, 2012 18:00
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A while ago, I went on and tried out this other FFT romhack, LFT. At the time, a bunch people praised it to be superior to 1.3, and considering how the former incarnation of 1.3 was a real bummer, I had to check the other hack. Fast forward to a couple of days ago, I went on and took another gander at LFT. Apparently, in the sewers, the Bombs there not only had innate Reraise, but they also have this skill that not only damages in an area around the Bomb, the skill also healed it AND granted Reraise. It was really a pain in the rear end to deal with those. Not only that, but the Black Goblins (if my memory serves me right), also had the monk skill Secret Fist that also inflicts Don't Move on top of Death Sentence. Compared to what FFT 1.3 in its current form has for the swamp battle, I'm sorta glad I've bailed on it in favour of 1.3. Thwack! fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 18:10
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Class Acts: Priest I like Priests a lot in 1.3. Their new attack spells make them a more balanced unit, mainly oriented towards support but also capable of mounting a solid offense, and their many support abilities have also been improved.  Cure is a combination of the old Cure and Cure 2, taking the best elements of either. It's a fast, cheap AOE heal. Not much else to say. Holy Strike is sort of an oddball. It's a weapon attack that uses both your PA and MA but not your WP. It could be useful on a hybrid class (like a Geomancer or Samurai) that has a weapon with lower power but strong stat bumps. Rejuvenate replaces Cure 3 and Cure 4. It heals a wider area than Cure, and for MA*30, but obviously takes longer and costs 10 more MP. It's big AOE can make it a little hard to target, but if you don't mind the risk of healing enemy units it can top off your whole team with proper positioning, Spirit Surge is another new offensive spell and makes a solid basic blast until Holy becomes viable, and even then it's nice to have as it charges in half the time. Usually you'll be able to fire it off before anyone gets a chance to interrupt it, which is very important, tactically speaking. Life, like all revival skills in 1.3, is more useful as part of a sandbagging strategy. It's also been improved, with a significantly higher hit rate and reduced CT. Full Life got pretty much the same bumps that Life did, but its usefulness hasn't increased as much because it's still pretty slow in a game where time matters more than ever. Reraise has its ups and downs compared to Life/Full Life/Phoenix Down. The big benefit of Reraise is the guarantee that the K.O.'d unit will not miss a turn, something that can easily happen with other revives, depending on the timing. The downside is, of course, that Reraise can be removed by dispels, so against formations with lots of Oracles, Sages, or Mediators you're probably better off waiting for the K.O. to cast Life. Regen still sucks. You'll rarely get enough value out of it to make it worth the action casting it, and even when you do it'll rarely be when you need it most. Protect and Shell both had their CTs slashed, making them among the fastest spells in the game. Preapplying defensive buffs is somewhat superior to after-the-fact healing, provided you know which kind of protection you'll need. Wall likewise has a lower CT, and requires no guessing, but it loses the AOE effect that makes the single-prot spells more useful. Esuna, like other White Magic skills, is more likely to hit. Importatnly, AOE status removal is almost exclusive to White Magic (the exception being Stigma Magic, which doesn't hit as many conditions) which helps the Priest cling to a niche in the face of the raw reliability of Item. Holy has had its damage multiplier decreased by 10, but is also commensurately cheaper. It's still a fantastic damage dealer, especially against Lucavi and Undead. --- Regenerator still just applies Regen, so it still sucks. Magic Defend UP hasn't changed. FFT 1.3 gameplay tends to favor offense more than defense (aside from sandbagging, which doesn't really care about defensive boosts). Typically the X Attack UP supports are better because you can control what kind of attacks you'll be using but not what kind of attacks you'll be taking. --- As spellcasters go, Priests are tied for the lowest MA but also for best PA and Speed, and they have the second best HP, so they can also make passable physical fighters. That and their new offensive skills expand their utility beyond that of a pure support class, which is important because they'll be eternally compared to the Chemist on that front, and it's drat hard to beat Item there. On the other hand, its AOE capability and the ability to revive units with more than 19 HP can make White Magic potentially more powerful, but definitely riskier. J. Alfred Prufrock fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 20:15
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Class Acts: Knight Knights got a big boost in 1.3: their equipment breaks are much more reliable and their status breaks are now all ranged (at the cost of MP), giving them some reach and making them even better at disabling enemy units.  Power Ruin and Mind Ruin both come in from Zalbag's old Destroy Sword skillset. Three points worth of attack stat is pretty powerful, and it adds up quickly, potentially leaving an enemy unit crippled into swinging for single digits. (Note that you cannot reduce either PA or MA to less than 1.) Speed Ruin, like every speed reducer, now adds the Slow status instead of attacking the Speed stat directly. Slow is still a strong effect, is only temporarily. Magic Ruin is now ranged as well. Though it might not seem as useful at first glance, there are many times when destroying an enemy caster's MP is actually preferable to K.O.'ing them, since depending on their side's support units, total MP loss can be harder to come back from than Silence or K.O. Weapon Break, Head Break, Armor Break, and Shield Break have the same functionality, but their hit rates have been increases by 10%, increasing their usability. --- Counter hasn't changed any. It's still a solid reaction in the early game but is quickly eclipsed by others (notably Hamedo, which replicates Counter's effect but better). Defend is still a poor choice. If it didn't cost you a support skill I could see using it every so often, but as is, it's rarely worth both your support slot and the action required to use it. Equip Armor and Equip Shield are both good choices for increasing the resiliency of otherwise-squishy units like mages and Thieves. While Equip Armor is usually stronger, Equip Shield often lets you fill an otherwise-empty slot, allowing you to keep all the lovely stat boosts from your favorite clothes or robe. The best choice between them depends on the unit in question and on your available gear. Equip Sword will see comparatively less use given the major buffs to other weapon types. Pity it doesn't allow for knight swords. --- On top of their high defense, Knights also have the best PA in the game, making them great Two Swords or Punch Art users. Battle Skill can be used to circumvent sandbagging, causing HP loss that can't be recovered with head/armor break, or crippling a unit's offensive with unhealable PA/MA damage. Against Lucavi, stat breaks are often the best way to begin the fight, reducing their obscenely high attacks to more manageable levels. Compared to vanilla, Knights are stronger and more useful, despite losing one of their best tricks in Speed Break. J. Alfred Prufrock fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 6, 2012 00:01
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J. Alfred Prufrock posted:Counter hasn't changed any. It's still a solid reaction in the early game but is quickly eclipsed by others (notably Hamedo, which replicates Counter's effect but better). Eh, Hamedo and Counter are different- Hamedo is undoubtedly better when it works, against weapon-based attacks in your own attack range. However, Counter works on about a million more kinds of attacks; notably it works against monsters, where Hamedo is useless.
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Dec 6, 2012 00:09
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Hamedo isn't useless against monsters, you just have to work a little harder to set it up. Everyone uses ATTACK while berserk, even if they have a skill that replicates that functionality. Also re:LFT: I haven't played a hack yet that doesn't have a ridiculous hump to get over at Mandalia and Sweegy due to buffed up monsters. LFT is one of the worst offenders, since there's so much confusion and charm being tossed around (eye gouge confuses, red panthers have steal heart, plus there's some bugginess related to all monsters having Monster Skill which lets goblins bust out Stop Bracelet out of loving nowhere) but I've seen worse. CCP has sirens, which have a huge aoe poison + frog move as well as a long range charm. It also has adamantoise with over 100 hp at level 2, defense up, crazy damage and a chance to break your weapons. A fun hack, but there was a lot of resetting involved in just getting a couple fights in before Dorter. I actually did an LFT Ramza and 4 monsters game a while back that was quite fun. I even managed a win on one of the super fights without losing any, though that was more a matter of having ninja Ramza pile on the scream cheese than anything the monsters were up to. They did work real well for the rest of the game, though. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Dec 6, 2012 |
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Dec 6, 2012 00:14
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Schwartzcough posted:Eh, Hamedo and Counter are different- Hamedo is undoubtedly better when it works, against weapon-based attacks in your own attack range. However, Counter works on about a million more kinds of attacks; notably it works against monsters, where Hamedo is useless. Hamedo works on practically every attack that isn't magical, with some exceptions. And in 1.3, Counter Throw is more effective than Counter due to the ability to return throw at any range. Hamedo also has the bonus of being useful to exploit the AI routines with Hamedo bait.
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Dec 6, 2012 01:29
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Episode 4: Dorter Trade City Last time we set out to discover what happened to the missing Hokuten spy sent to infiltrate the Death Corps. On the way, we got jumped by a pack of monsters in the swamp. There was fire, explosions, some punching, ya know, nothing exciting. Now we can head into Dorter and see what's going on with that whole kidnapping deal, but first, let's see how Team Shakespeare is coming along.    One thing to keep in mind about this fight is that you aren't afforded a back line; all your units are going to come under fire pretty much right away, so it's important that they can all take some heat. Viola switches to Knight, and Prufrock learns Equip Shield to provide a little extra protection.  It seems we've interrupted something. Don't mind us, we'll just come back another time.   Well, I guess we know our next destination. Thanks guys, see you later!  ...or not. Like we could get away without a fight.  The enemy is led by this Knight, whose skills are set. Item here is annoying, since you'll want to drop him first, but doing so means chipping through his high defense.   Southerland is backed up by three Marksmen and a pair of Wizards. With their long bows and high elevation, the Marksmen have ridiculous range.   Delita starts our team off. It's very important to make sure that both Delita and Algus have a good jump going into this battle. Ranged attacks help too. Their AI will charge directly up the tallest building to get at the archer on top, but if you go in with 3/3 they won't get there until the fight is pretty much over, having done nothing useful at all.   Cursed Strike adds Oil and Blind, which is marginally useful at best.  Kate, you heartbreaker. (I was hoping for Sleep or Don't Act or Confusion, but this gives me a chance to show off how goddamn powerful the Charm status is.)   Like Precision, Black Magic has received a total overhaul, with all-new skills.  Prufrock busts out Chain Lightning, probably the best of the Black Magic set.  The enemy Wizard comes back with Explosion, the base single-target Black spell. It deals okay damage but it's cheap and fast, and has a 25% to add Oil.   Southerland goes for the Shield Break. It wouldn't have been a big deal even if it did connect.  Team Death Corps scores the first K.O.   This Chain Lightning is intended to both hit Algus and to snap that Marskman out of Charm. Unfortantely (for them) he's already started charging.   Katarina is on sandbag duty. Take note of Prufrock's CT (the green bar on the bottom next to his portrait). Notice how it's full? This means that his turn has come around in the AT order. I could have revived him a couple turns earlier with Viola, but I chose not to, because (a) he wouldn't have gotten to act until his CT filled up anyway, and (b) a Wizard and a Marksman had upcoming turns and would have just knocked him down again. Proper sandbagging requires you to pay close attention to the AT to minimize wasted turns. Poor sandbagging is worse than no sandbagging at all, as you spend all your effort trying to get back on your feet while the other team slowly grinds you down.   Back on his feet, Prufrock uses his immediate turn to fire off another Chain Lightning. Though he catches Viola along with two of the enemy, the damage the rest of my team has dealt to Southerland means that this spell drops both him and the Wizard behind him. Now, remember that charging archer?  Yep, Charm totally owns. I was already in place to win (the second C.L. sealed it) but man did watching that weedy bastard take an arrow to the face feel good. That's what you get for shooting at Prufrock, rear end!  Magic Ruin's animation. That Wizard no longer has enough MP to cast spells.  Prufrock drops the de-charmed Marksman with an Explosion of his own. Having only moved once so far, his turns are coming up a little quicker.   Delita finishes the Marksman on top with style.  Nice stick, bookworm.   gently caress bitches, get crystals.  And there's the killing blow.  The Parrying Sword replaces the Iron Sword as one of our prizes. It's got an extra WP compared to the Long Swords we've got, but more notably boasts a whopping 40% W-Ev.  Unlike Gafgarion, we take prisoners.  He doesn't seem to want to talk...  ...so Algus kicks him in the face.  This guy is a true believer. Personally, I have a hard time not sympathizing with the Death Corps.  They've been royally screwed (  ) by the aristocrats they just finished protecting. Sure, they're violent in method, but it's not as though peaceful protest would accomlish anything. I really enjoy that morality gets a little grayer in Tactics, especially compared to other RPGs. (At least in the first couple of chapters, anyway...)  Seems there's a bit of a schism going on among the Death Corps. We saw Wiegraf, their leader, asking about Gustav earlier, too.  Algus is kind of an rear end.  Well, we already knew we were heading to the desert.   But now at least we know just where to look. Next Time: Holy AOEs Batman!
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Dec 6, 2012 09:40
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I love the idea of Algus shouting "What did you say?!" after each of the Fencer's lines. I mean, I know that's just his old text box still there, but it makes him so much more fun.
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Dec 6, 2012 17:04
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Wow, you sure made Dorter Trade City look like a cakewalk. I applaud you. O_o
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Dec 6, 2012 18:54
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In battles like this, I'd bring Throw Stone to knock the enemy off high areas. The knockback got a huge boost in this, I think 100% chance or thereabout.
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Dec 6, 2012 18:58
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Dorter is practically the same as vanilla. That's wonderful. 
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Dec 6, 2012 19:42
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:Dorter is practically the same as vanilla. That's wonderful. Dorter was the best designed map in the game, I'm not surprised it stayed the same.
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Dec 7, 2012 00:54
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 13:37 |
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:Dorter is practically the same as vanilla. That's wonderful. Many maps are actually the same wrt enemy class composition. They just usually have better stuff (the two archers didn't forget to bring their bow this time) and better skillsets.
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Dec 7, 2012 00:58
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