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Silver Falcon posted:Did you at least get to see folks take on the optional dungeon(s) in Alkydere's place? ALL THE UPDATES. So, aside from how B- THE OPTIONAL DUNGEON whoops, no spoilers here broke Epee Em's rage, I don't know about the thread falling apart in any way.
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Jan 24, 2015 23:04
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RareAcumen posted:ALL THE UPDATES. So, aside from how B- THE OPTIONAL DUNGEON whoops, no spoilers here broke Epee Em's rage, I don't know about the thread falling apart in any way. I really don't care too much about spoilers in this thread. FFTA2's plot is less "insightful" and more just "coherent" without FFTA's "Wait, is the protagonist really trying to blow up the world?" head scratcher. FFTA2's plot is pretty much "kid fucks around in magical world, generic Final Fantasy villain appears because this is a final fantasy game and wants his magical McGuffin that's his only escape to give herself ULTIMATE POWER". I mean, for fucks sake in the OP I spoiled the fact that Mr. Randell the librarian is Mewt Randell from the previous game who probably left the book out because he wanted to gently caress off to a magical land himself during the break. As long as you don't go talking about the sub plots (which have actually good writing in them), I really don't care. In short, don't go too into detail Frimelda and Bowen/Klesta. Alkydere fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Jan 24, 2015 |
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Jan 24, 2015 23:14
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Also is there any word on localization having made this one more cheery? The first was actually pretty dark in Japan, not just in the "Arguably you're the bad guy" way but stuff like the villain kid's dad was a drunk in the JP release.
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Jan 24, 2015 23:31
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Coolness Averted posted:Also is there any word on localization having made this one more cheery? While I don't think they ever stated outright that he was a drunk in the American version, Cid's dad was shown in a scene that can't be taken any other way than he's pretty pathetic and can't keep a job as it shows him being fired for like the third time that month. And then Mewt's imagination elevates him to Judge Dredd on a chocobo. Marche's little brother also had a great reason for wanting to stay since in Ivalice he had working legs and no longer spent more time in the hospital than at home. Ritz on the other hand was all "I'm an albino with white hair in the real world, where here I'm a natural red-head!"  I think Ivalice Alliance (the studio in charge of FFTA/2) wanted to shy away from the fact that the previous game's protagonist's goal was to unmake the world by destroying the crystals, which is kind of a Final Fantasy staple hobby for villains. A world that a lot of people were actually happy and legitimately better off living in even if every third Tuesday the law was "Forbidden: Pants."
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Jan 24, 2015 23:40
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Alkydere posted:I think Ivalice Alliance (the studio in charge of FFTA/2) wanted to shy away from the fact that the previous game's protagonist's goal was to unmake the world by destroying the crystals, which is kind of a Final Fantasy staple hobby for villains. A world that a lot of people were actually happy and legitimately better off living in even if every third Tuesday the law was "Forbidden: Pants." No world that forbids pants and recommends jorts deserves to exist anyway. 
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Jan 24, 2015 23:45
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It only applies during battles anyways, so if you don't get into a fight it's pretty useless anyways. Besides, there's an antilaw card for that. I'm still surprised that I completed all the missions on this game and on Hard no less. I'll be following along and seeing how you handle things.
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Jan 25, 2015 00:01
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I can just imagine the Judge that came up with those laws. Like Forbidden: having money Recommended: Giving Judges money
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Jan 25, 2015 00:05
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Kurieg posted:I can just imagine the Judge that came up with those laws. There's a reason that Ezel's shop never got ratted out to the Judges once he got setup.
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Jan 25, 2015 00:18
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Oh man, I followed the first LP of this from the beginning.  I sincerely hope you have better luck with it this time, Alkydere.Dear God, I had forgotten just how stupid Luso's outfit really is.
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Jan 25, 2015 00:41
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Yapping Eevee posted:Oh man, I followed the first LP of this from the beginning. For reference, this is Luso in fully blown, non-sprite art, complete with the Tactics Glass Pizza-cutter Sword:  The outfit only gets worse the more detail you give it.
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Jan 25, 2015 01:05
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On one hand it fits his silly/childish nature. 'This might be useful! Oh this is pretty cool too! I'll have to wear another belt to hold all this stuff easily!' 'Well if one elbow-buckler is good, clearly two is better! It's not like they get in the way!' 'These gauntlets sure are swank but it kinda sucks to have to take them off every time I want to write or eat with my hands or high-five someone. I know! I'll just wear one!' On the other it is just a disaster. What's with the giant foofy cuffs? Why are his shoes heels instead of shoes? Is his outfit and overalls both one outfit or what? At least it's not belts and zippers all the way down. EponymousMrYar fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 01:17
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EponymousMrYar posted:On one hand it fits his silly/childish nature. Those are heels. Wow. And that's ignoring enough flair to be employee of the month at Chotchkie's and a truly stupid looking hat. I think belts and zippers might work better, if I had to pick.
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Jan 25, 2015 01:50
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I spent 5 minutes making the most thorough critique of our MCs fashion. Then I translated it into a terrible paint edit all over his picture. Enjoy!
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Jan 25, 2015 01:55
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I love how the sword is loosely shackled... to itself. "Hell no that handle isn't going ANYWHERE"
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Jan 25, 2015 01:56
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Kurieg posted:I love how the sword is loosely shackled... to itself. "Hell no that handle isn't going ANYWHERE" It is glass. Gotta be able to take it back to the shop to trade it in for a new one every time you break the everything off of the handle when you bean someone with it. Also, the heels could make sense as cavalry heels for sitting in stirrups if a) they were thicker and b) the characters ever actually rode anywhere. In this version of Ivalice/Final Fantasyland everyone but Moogles are too big to ride on a Chocobo and they get around via walking/airships. Lulu's belts had two things going for them: 1) At least a consistent "I'm a blacker than black goth Black Mage. Would you rather I recite my poetry at you or burn you into a crisp?" themw (ignore the fact that she wears furs and lives on a tropical island) 2) Are hilarious because the designer thought them up specifically to challenge/spite the animation team. Edit: Also, love how he's got a gauntlet on one hand and fingerless gloves gripping the hilt of the Tactics Blade. Alkydere fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 02:05
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Alkydere posted:2) Are hilarious because the designer thought them up specifically to challenge/spite the animation team. Who got back at him by only pointing the camera at her from waist up, or at long range, where it was irrelevant! Also, Luso with a Glass Sword almost makes me wonder if he picked one up from Lord British at some point. 256 ATK!
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Jan 25, 2015 02:44
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If they were cavalry heels that would be a different matter. But they're not. Thus  Lulu's belts are fine because it's an interesting take on an established aesthetic: criss-cross paneled long dresses have been done before, but never with belts! Plus it fits her character. Luso's hodgepodge of gear and eclectic mix of accessories work because it fits his character. The underlying outfit is more the problem. That is a seriously garish yellow. My 'belts and zippers' comment was more aimed at the proliferation of that style (and some of the bad examples. Jockstrap on face? Why?) Alkydere posted:It is glass. Gotta be able to take it back to the shop to trade it in for a new one every time you break the everything off of the handle when you bean someone with it. With that much glass I'd say it's the other way around. Gotta get a new handle every time you break it off after you bean someone with it. Alternative explanation: after you break it in half you're supposed to use it like an oversized nunchuck!
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Jan 25, 2015 02:56
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I'm trying to decide if those are rolled up shorts worn with tights or pantyhose, or if he's shoved a pair of flared boots into his high-heeled shoes. I can see all of them, really. Also, I think the hat is a backwards baseball cap with a brooch attaching a turban around it, but it's again hard to be sure. There's a bunch of other absurd details like the ponytail flaring out to a magnificent curly neck mustache and the clover-sash that's positioned specifically to restrict his sword arm instead of over the shoulder. Someone must have challenged the artist to make the most ridiculous outfit they could imagine because that just can't have happened by chance.
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Jan 25, 2015 02:59
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The ridiculous outfit is to hide his ridiculous proportions- I think he's two thirds leg. His pant legs are two times wider than his waist.
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Jan 25, 2015 05:11
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Hey Alkydere, are you planning on doing the completed-all-missions optional mission yourself this time? If not - and if you're happy with the quality of it - feel free to dig my treatment of it from your old thread when the time comes.
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Jan 25, 2015 05:14
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Alkydere posted:For reference, this is Luso in fully blown, non-sprite art, complete with the Tactics Glass Pizza-cutter Sword: He is not the first to have a giant pizza cutter. Thread of Fate had it first. 
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Jan 25, 2015 05:33
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pun pundit posted:Hey Alkydere, are you planning on doing the completed-all-missions optional mission yourself this time? If not - and if you're happy with the quality of it - feel free to dig my treatment of it from your old thread when the time comes. I'll probably be doing all (non-Tor) missions to consider this a "complete" LP. If anyone else wants to show off their take on the Tors when we get there, I won't stop them and will probably archive them as well. Everything else I should be good on. Admittedly, my coverage is going to be a lot more sparse this time. No more writing a play-by-play for every mission which burned me out so much. Most will probably just have their quest card shown with a comment or two. mateo360 posted:He is not the first to have a giant pizza cutter. Thread of Fate had it first. Yeah, I think the Pizza-Sword was the brainchild of some artist at Square that stuck around. Maybe he ended up being one of the artists in the FFT series/Ivalice Alliance, maybe it's just a reference/injoke that's become of the series' art. I know Marche had the Pizza Sword on FFTA's box art.
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Jan 25, 2015 05:51
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I don't see Akihiko Yoshida or Hiroshi Minagawa involved in Threads of Fate, so it might just be an in-joke. Also, am I looking at that wrong, or does it look like the grip of the pizza-sword in the cover is backwards? The contoured grip is facing towards the blunt end
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Jan 25, 2015 06:17
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I know it won't win and it might just be because I tore thru the better half of a certain other LP over the course of 2 months, but I wanna see Phelan Clemens of Clan Wolf. Also Luso has got to be tripping on that green sash every 3 steps.
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Jan 25, 2015 06:55
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It begins again...again!  As the thread voted, Luso is now Samuel Clemens, and the clan is now Clan Twain.     I promise not to let my dog eat my homework...maybe I can find a cat…Someone actually voted for the early clan bonuses, and since there are worse things to have than very useful AP UP I saw no reason not to go with it. It’s not a huge thing to have, especially super early when you’re more limited by a lack of gear with ability to learn, but it’s still better than the other bonuses.  Since there’s nothing else to do we go back to town and continue the story by checking the pub.  I always pictured a pub as someplace to kick back and grab a snack. What better place? People gather to share a meal, and where there are people, there's talk. Clans pay good money for the sort of talk that leads to work - the quests I mentioned before. So if we need to make money or find something to do, the pub is the place to go. Exactly. Ah, Cid. Looking for work? That's right. We have a new member in need of training. Talk to the barman, Samuel. Find us a good quest. The best way to learn is to do, lad. Okay, leave it to me.  The game gives us only one mission now: A Paw Full of Feathers. The game is rather nice and tells the player all about expected rewards for missions. I got us a quest. "A Paw Full of Feathers". They want us to chase off some wolves. Let's see... That ranch isn't far from the village. No hurry, though. There's no deadline written on the bill. Sounds like they're in a tight spot. I don't wanna keep 'em waiting. I'll go get the others! That boy needs to get his priorities straight. At this rate he's like to stay here forever. Before we go a-battlin’ it’s time to check the shop. Samuel lacks a sword that can actually teach him stuff.  Characters in the Tactics games learn skills based off of their jobs. In the FFT units active in a battle earned Job points (JP) that were used to buy the skills directly. In FFTA JP was renamed AP (Ability Points) due to the Judge Point system, and skills were instead attached to equipment. Want to learn a skill? Wear the armor or wield the sword that taught it to you until you mastered the skill and it becomes a permanent part of your repertoire. The FFTA2 system works almost exactly the same as the FFTA system, only that your entire clan earns AP weather or not they were in battle (in FFT and FFTA they had to take part to get job experience/ability points).  At the very start there’s nothing in the store for jobs that our meager party can use that we don’t already have. As soon as we back out of the shop menu we’re treated to a massive tutorial about the bazaar which is opened up for us. In FFTA equipment was mostly given to the player from stores and quests, with most of the really good stuff coming from the latter after the first third of the game and your clan’s armory was full of the common gear. There was also the clan level-up rewards which, if one doesn’t mind grinding for an hour or two early on, gives you a weapon that breaks the game in an absolutely comical fashion. In FFTA2 the vast majority if one’s armory, even the good stuff, comes from the stores via the bazaar system. Every time you finish a quest or kill an enemy you get a chunk o’ loot. You won’t complete an item in the bazaar after every mission, but it does prevent the store from becoming obsolete like in FFTA  Mix a combination of loot together and you unlock an item! In this case a Broadsword so Samuel can finally learn an A-Ability, even if it is the nigh worthless First Aid which can heal a stubbed toe. The important thing is that Samuel learning an A ability gets him one step closer to equipping him to a non-poo poo job ASAP. The Bazaar system is easy enough to use. Finish a mission, check if your loot will unlock something new. The game highlights new unlocks for you so no banging your head in trial and error. Oh, and always, ALWAYS check to make sure you can unlock a Staff first. Staves and Instruments are notoriously hard to unlock in a reasonable timeframe due to generally wanting rare items. It’s not so bad for Instruments since they unlock generally mediocre skills for mediocre classes. Staves are notorious since not only do they unlock actually really good skills but they’re so rare early on your White Mage skillset will generally languish with 2-3 skills for a frustratingly long time if you have no idea what you’re doing. You’ll get more than enough for all of your gear eventually, but you’ll be kicking yourself for accidentally using that rare rose you needed on yet another Rapier or Bow and not a Staff.  Here we have Samuel with his brand new Broadsword. Every unit has 5 inventory slots and 4 skill slots. A unit’s first A-Ability skillset is determined by its class, but can equip any skillset they have learned A-Abilities in their second A-Ability slot. If a character lacks a second skillset you want to use, or are a mage class that needs lots of MP (and therefore Ethers), the Item skillset is always there to give a character access to the clan’s item stash. Reaction abilities are defensive abilities that can range from Counter to Reflex to Critical: Quicken. Basically they activate when a unit is attacked or is at near death. Finally Support abilities are more passive modifiers. Increasing a unit’s attack, allowing a unit to equip shields no matter the class (so a Black Mage with a Lighting Robe and Fire Shield can heal itself with 2 out of its 3 spells), or utterly break the game (Dual Wield and Blood Price).  Our Nu Mou Black Mage who’ll probably be one of the very, very few magical dogs on our team. I want to love Nu Mou but they drew all the short straws this game  Our starting God-Bunny White Mage who’ll be a very solid unit throughout the game because Viera are that broken.  Our Bangaa Warrior who will likely be relegated to a rather punchy role, like all Bangaa.  Our Hume Archer who will likely be fired and traded in for a better Hume as soon we I start recruiting. There’s really just not much one can do with an Archer and by the time I really start recruiting I’ll be able to get much, much better jobs for Hume stat growth rather fast: mainly Fighters and Paladins.  And our adorable Moogle Thief! Kupo!  Anyways, onto questing! Hey, they're kinda cute. Step too close and he'll peck your eye out. Oh, I already knew all about that. A wolf howls in the distance Company. Um... Here, chocobos! Stay in the hutch while we deal with these wolves. The chocobos exit and some toughs enter.  Wheel of Legality, turn turn turn! Tell us the weapon we should spurn! Hey, Cid. What was that Judge saying about some law just now? What do laws have to do with fighting? Ah, I was remiss in my explanations.And I’m going to cut you off here Cid and insert my own explaination to replace your tutorial. Judges are magical constructs designed to make sure adventuring is reasonably safe and profitable. Clans don’t have to be adjudged, but the ones that do have a powerful magical being looking after them, keeping them safe and rewarding them with goodies. I kid you not that is a cliffsnotes version of what Judges are. In return for this protection and free swag, the Judge makes clans jump through hoops when fighting battles. Follow those rules and the Judge provides a perk in battle and extra loot afterwards. Break the rules, the Judge gets pissy, removes your fallen allies from battle so they’re safe but can’t be revived on the spot, and doesn’t give any bonus end-mission loot for that battle and reduced loot for the next two.  Our first actual, non-tutorial battle and we’re allowed to deploy however we want. The game limits each side to 6 units (though there are battles were the AI calls in more reinforcements on a timer if there’s space and sometimes escorts/guests can push you over that limit). Cid’s counted against our six despite him being a guest so we’re left with an odd Moogle out.  Once everyone’s settled in the start field we chose a perk. Since Carbolic Smokeball suggested I take C-C-C option earlier, Clan Twain starts with the AP Up 1 perk, which will gain an extra 10 AP at the end of a battle, which is massive compared to the 2% or so bonus the other perks will give.  I’ll mostly be cutting out battles outside of any points of interest. Which...there’s not much in this first battle. I will say though that any complaints that you hear about this game being slow are, sadly, well founded. I’m not sure if the game was just poorly optimized for the the DS or merely pushed its hardware to the limit, but the game had visible slowdown on official hardware. Especially when several tiles or units were highlighted like you see here. The game doesn’t treat the emulator I’m recording the LP on much better. The fast forward button barely works during cutscenes and might as well not exist during battles.  Every now and then you’ll get a completely random event called an Opportunity. Your dude glows, says a little race-specific blurb before your menu gains a new command called “Action”. Action does different things depending on how many allies or enemies are adjacent to the unit who got the Opportunity. Every now and then they’re useful, but the vast majority will be wasted like this one since I’d prefer my Black Mage to sling lightning.  In FFTA enemies stayed on the field forever, occupying that tile until they were revived or the battle ended. Which was rather nice when you could put your team’s backs to enemy corpses to prevent being hit. In FFTA2 defeated enemies are immediately removed from the battle and you gain a piece of loot. On one hand this means you can’t defend yourself with enemy corpses, on the other hand it means that enemies can’t be revived.  Anyways, the battle is over quick enough. We’re still in the Tutorial stage, if this was an MMO we’d still be at the stage where our first quest giver instructs us to go pet five snuggly puppies.  - And a good day to quest. All we need to do now is collect our pay. So I think you understand well enough what it is we do. You might keep an eye out for quests that promise to lead you toward home. Home... Right. It's all tied up in that book with the blank pages… Figure that book out, and I'll find my way back. The magick book, yes. I just wish I'd been paying more attention to the thing. I remember it was old, real old. The cover was all faded. I didn't even see what it was called. The question is, who wrote it, where, and for what reason? ... Three questions, actually. Hrm? Don't tell me you carry a journal around, Samuel Huh? A journal? *checks pocket* Samuel finally checks the big, giant book hanging off of his belt. Hey, it's a journal. I assumed it was some kind of belt, or tool pouch. You mean... that's not yours? Do I look like the type to keep a journal to you? Besides, you saw the Judge dress me. Does anything I’m wearing look like the school uniform I wore when you first saw me? That you do not. What is it? Has it been written in? Look at this, Cid! This journal talks about me in the library and coming to Ivalice, and getting rescued... Everything I've done is in here! Ah, so you do keep a journal! I think it keeps itself! Look, words are appearing in it right now! Ah, it's recording the fight with the wolves just now. A magick journal? Yet another surprise. You're full of them, aren't you? You think this magick journal's got something to do with that book? Possibly... No, it's certain. You've found your first clue. That wasn't so hard. So, who would know something about a magick journal? Maybe a wizard? What if I can find a quest that'd take me to one? That's it! Cid! Let's get back to town and check out the lists at the pub!And here we have the plot of the story. Samuel fills up the book, charging it with story powers, until it’s full enough he can go home.  The clan returns for the pub for drinks and a meal when they hear an interesting rumor.  My route is blocked? Whatever do you mean? Bandits on the highroad. Several merchant caravans reported attacks between here and Camoa. Purely profit seekers, I hear. They let those who offer up goods and gil they want go free. Little good it does us without two coins to rub together. And that's the only highroad out of this place.These trio are a callback to FFTA where the same trio of gossips would occasionally the plothook to the next story mission. They provide the exact same purpose here and we’ll be seeing them once or twice in the future. Bandits, hrrah? Their timing couldn't be worse. Why's that? I had a mind to take that highroad to Camoa. I'm tired of scratching around in the dirt here for scraps of information. If there are bandits on the road, why not bring 'em in? We can teach them a lesson and open the road... Two birds with one stone. It'll take more than a stone to put that lot in their place, but I don't see as we have a choice. Hey, maybe someone's posted a reward for getting rid of them in the pub, too! Better get there quick before someone else has the same idea!He’s been here less than a week and he’s already thinking like a mercenary. “If I’m going to get stuck doing grunt work, I might as well see if anyone will pay me for it!” I'll have a look into this journal of yours on my own. While I'm away, you'll have to quest without me... but I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle. Don't worry, I'll come back if you need me for anything particularly important. Be safe. Anyways before I clear up the road I grab this quest. This is the game’s very first non-story mission, as well as the very first job unlock quest. We stumble across a quartet of Viera engaging in the Viera version of a book club: creating new magical disciplines in the woods. After a quick and hilariously one-sided tussle they teach us Green Magic and our (currently lone) Viera can become a Green Mage. Which Niena promptly does because she gets so much better stats from the job and I sorely lack the weapons to teach her new White Magic abilities.  Anyways, with that out of the way, it’s time to open the high road and open more of the world map.   Pay? But we're just walking. When people pay, they usually get something in return. How about your lives? Don't tell me you've not heard of our band, the Yellow Wings! Ring any bells, Cid? Not a one. Fools! Hand over the coin, or we'll exact a higher price... in blood! Not that you look like you've more than a pint in you, runt. I like my gil and my blood right where they are, thanks. What do you say we show those guys just who rules the roads, huh, Cid?Five minutes later: Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!To not be entirely unfair to the Yellow Wings they’re your first proper 6v6 fight and they’re not completely worthless. Their own Black Mage and White Monk can do some nasty damage if given a chance, and despite her fresh change to a Green Mage Niena spent most of her turns healing. Their Animist has 100% Wool which he’ll cast on himself first turn, making himself decently bulky with both Shell and Protect upping his defenses. Their Thief isn’t exactly horrible either, or he wouldn’t be if he didn’t move forward and look off to the side, letting Cid get behind him and knock nearly half of his HP off on his very first move.  This will be my first big town in Ivalice... I can't wait! Stay close once we arrive. I don't want to spend all day looking for a lost lamb. No problem! I'm good at remembering streets. I'll just take a quick tour... A tour? Have you forgotten why we go to Camoa in the first place? To find out more about the journal! You didn't think I'd forget that!  Now that the Yellow Wings are out of the way, the little ? sign becomes an arrow and we can move from the region map to the world map.   Of course we can only go to Camoa at the moment.  The shops... the people... I expected it to be different, but this is something else! Camoa is an old town. Her shops are full of relics and her streets full of adventurers. It's an easy place for us clanners to make a decent living. I bet. This way, Luso. A streetear acquaintance of mine works up the hill. The pair approaches a Seeq up in the top right corner of the map..  Ah, if it isn't Master Cid! *snort* Been a long time. Aye, you'd be surprised. I'm almost respectable these days. Haven't had reason of late to visit my shady past. Hra hra! *snort* You're too kind. So, Cid, what morsel have you come fishing for today? Know any wizards, Ribs? I don't mean the street conjurors or their kind. I'm talking about upper-crust. Someone at the akademy, or even a Kiltias... a sorceror. An odd request coming from you, that... Aught t'do with the boy, perhaps? *snort* ... I'll take that as a "no" then. So long, Ribs. The pair aren’t exactly impressed and start to head away A very, very special someone, as it turns out. Hra hra hra! *snorts* How special? Name your price. Oh no, no, no. I wouldn't dream of asking for your gil. Though, there is one thing you could help me obtain. One thing...? A tomato stalk. Been a shortage lately, you know. Hard to come by. So you want us to hunt tomatoes and fetch you a stalk? Hunt tomatoes? ... Now that you mention it, I seem to recall seeing a bill at the pub... Well why didn't you say so in the first place? Fine, we'll get you your stalk. Let's go, Cid. We'll pick those tomatoes and be back in no time. You do realize we're not talking about garden-variety tomatoes, here? I don't care what garden they're from. Let's go get 'em. *sigh* I don't know what you're up to, but I'll play along for now. Hra hra! *snort* Always a pleasure, Master Cid. And that’s it for now1 Next time: more sidequests knocked out and we go hunting wild tomatoes! Alkydere fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 09:22
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You got a piece of waltwood from the very first battle? Lucky son of a bitch.
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Jan 25, 2015 10:00
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I thought AP UP gave you an extra 20 AP after battle. Not 10.
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Jan 25, 2015 10:07
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RareAcumen posted:I thought AP UP gave you an extra 20 AP after battle. Not 10. I can't remember for sure, and a halfassed, half awake google search didn't answer the question for me (the three ranks of AP UP give the helpful descriptors of "small" "moderate" and "large"). Since bonuses tend to be on the small side, and 20 AP/level would outright double the AP you get from most generic fights, I'm pretty sure AP UP is +10/rank. Either way, with the entire clan getting AP even when not deployed and 300-ish missions (depending on how you count random monsters blocking you on the map from time to time) there's no shortage of AP. Right now clan Twain is more limited by a lack of members and even moreso by a lack of gear. Fister Roboto posted:You got a piece of waltwood from the very first battle? Lucky son of a bitch. Literally the very first kill of the game, too.  I'll probably burn it on unlocking a rapier when not paying attention to the bazaar. Also, I spent about an hour trying to get that trio of pictures to be a gif instead. The biggest issue is that the recording catches both screen and I couldn't figure out how to cut out the top. I'm honestly really, really bad at video/image editing junk.
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Jan 25, 2015 15:47
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Alkydere posted:
That's easy. There's several programs that can crop out the top or bottom screen for you. Get yourself to the Tech-Support Fort or... hmm. I can't ask you to PM me because you don't have Plat, but I do know a thing or two about editing images for LPs! And hey, I also suggested you get AP Up first.  I just didn't remember what choices led to it.One last thing, I realize you don't want to show the whole battle every time, but can you at least show the pre-mission dialog? A lot of them are pretty entertaining. I remember Green Dominion being pretty great in the sheer weirdness of it.
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Jan 25, 2015 16:15
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I can and I probably will show off some of the more interesting secondary quests, the issue is that there are so many of them, and I was worried the update would be enough talking heads already. Actually, I know I will, especially the Bowen/Frimelda series and such. I just to see Green Dominion as "more interesting." Green Dominion is just a quartet of But, yeah, I'll probably ask in the tech fort. If you do want to contact me, my e-mail's alkydere@gmail.com.
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Jan 25, 2015 16:28
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Alkydere posted:
And the law of today's battle is..! The special thing to note, the biggest difference between this game and the previous one, is that Laws do not depend on the day that you battle or quest on - they depend on the battle or quest itself. So "A Fist Full of Feathers" will always ban Fire-element attacks.
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Jan 25, 2015 16:48
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Alkydere posted:Since bonuses tend to be on the small side, and 20 AP/level would outright double the AP you get from most generic fights, I'm pretty sure AP UP is +10/rank. I remember AP UP doubling the AP I got from early missions.
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Jan 25, 2015 16:50
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Kliff posted:And the law of today's battle is..! The biggest difference is that instead of your characters going to jail and your cool poo poo being taken away forever, breaking the law in FFTA2 just removes some passive bonuses and extra rewards. If you have to set something on fire in that battle, well, you don't have to worry about your special gear becoming a wistful memory.
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Jan 25, 2015 16:54
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:The biggest difference is that instead of your characters going to jail and your cool poo poo being taken away forever, breaking the law in FFTA2 just removes some passive bonuses and extra rewards. If you have to set something on fire in that battle, well, you don't have to worry about your special gear becoming a wistful memory. Outside of a few notable exceptions (Forbidden: Knockback), they also are way, way less dickish and there's only one per battle, not FFTA's endgame 3 per battle. No more stumbling over a random battle with monsters and discovering that, hey, today is "Forbidden: Harming Monsters" day with a side dish of "Forbidden: Status"
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Jan 25, 2015 17:00
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The big thing to understanding FFTA2 is to understand the job system. There are 7 races, each with a minimum of 4 jobs. Humes have the most with 13, though 5 (Black/White Mage, Thief, Illusionist, and with the addition of Gria, Hunter) are shared with at least one other race. Each job brings its own ability set, equipment list, growth stats and job stats, and any of these can be reasons to use or avoid a class. Some jobs may have utterly amazing growth stats, but horrid abilities, some go the other way. Some jobs have skills that are mediocre on their own or even useless to the job itself, but when mixed with other jobs utterly break the game. On example is Blood Price which lets Viera cast from their HP pool instead of MP pool. Utterly useless on a Blood Mage since the job's spells all cost sub-10 MP and are effectively free, utterly gamebreaking on any other Viera caster. Today we're looking at a pair of starting face-punchers. Soldier  Pre-reqs: Plains Monkey Equipment: -Weapons: Swords/Greatswords -Head: Hats/Helms -Light Armor, Heavy Armor -Shields? Yes. Class stats: -Move: 4 -Jump: 2 -Evasion: +0 -Unarmed attack bonus: 18 -Resilience: 40 "Class stats" are the stats that come with the job itself. Some jobs move farther, jump higher, evade more, and are more likely to shrug of status effects than others. Movement and jump are self explanatory, they're how far a unit can move and how high they can jump. Evasion is a free bonus to avoid incoming attacks, and unarmed bonus is the free attack bonus one gets for bare-handed attack. Resilience is a bit tricky, it's how well the unit avoids status effects. It works on a simple formula: 100-Resiliance = Status hit chance against the unit. Growth Stats: code:-(level 0 stat/growth per level) -Attack and Defense stats are divided by 4 for display -Speed growth shows the %chance of gaining a point of speed on level up Pros: -Decent Supports with Shieldbearer and Monkeygrip which should serve anyone well until better Supports are unlocked. -No horrible stats besides speed -Solid equipment lets it be nice and chunky and take a hit Cons: -Stats are not horrible, but outside of physical attack and HP they're mediocre as can be. -"Art of War" is a comically useless A-ability set. Congratulations recruit, welcome to the exciting life of being a mercenary! Here’s your new uniform. Don’t mind the bloodstains on it, and do try not bleed more than you have to on it before we pass it onto your replacement. Soldiers are one of the starting jobs for Humes, and it shows. Decent supports but no action skills worth actually using in battle, and bad to mediocre stats if you want to your unit to have a job outside of taking punches on the chin. Soldiers are slow, which is pretty much the worst thing a job can be in FFTA2. They're not the slowest, and while being slow alone is not enough to make a job bad, a job needs quite a skill set to overcome a 50% speed growth. Sadly, the Soldier does not have such a skill set. The vast majority of the A-ability skills are "inflict a minor stat down", which isn't worth using unless the ability either also does damage or has an AOE. The debuffs are so small they wouldn't be worth spending a turn on even if they had 100% accuracy, which they decidedly do not. Soldiers also have access to the First Aid and Gauge skills. The former self heal that's just powerful enough to fix stubbed toes and lost its ability to at least self-heal status affects since FFTA. The latter displays part of an enemy's loot table. For reference, every enemy has a loot table with five tiers: 1 for items and levels 1 through 4 for loot, each with 4 pieces of loot in them for 16 total loot chunks and 4 items. When a unit dies they randomly drop an item out of the lowest tier they have available, i.e. tier 1 unless you managed to somehow empty it. Gauge reveals what's on the lowest loot tier, i.e. the junk tier. Since you don't have to reveal an enemy's loot table to steal from it, your Thieves don't have to see what a monster's loot table to steal from them and are going to be aiming for the highest tier they have the skill for anyways and no one cares about the bottom tier of the overly complicated loot system, making Gauge comically useless. Due to the worthless skillset and unimpressive stats I'd recommend against ever hiring a Soldier. Hire just about any other Hume job except maybe Archers for better stats and have them learn the Soldier A-Abilities they need on the bench. Meanwhile, since Luso (or Samuel in our case) starts as a Soldier, teach him his abilities and then get him out of the job as soon as possible. Warrior  Pre-requisites: -Banbanga! Equipment: -Weapons: Swords, Broadswords -Head: Helms -Body: Light Armor, Heavy Armor -Shields: Yes Class stats: -Move: 4 -Jump: 2 -Evasion: 0 -Unarmed Attack Raise: 18 -Resilience: 40 Growth stats: code:-Literally best HP growth in the game, everyone is either worse or tied. -Better skills than a Soldier -Shieldbearer and Monkey Grip Cons: -Once you’ve seen a Hume Soldier, you know most of what to expect from a Bangaa Warrior. The in-game blurb describes the Warrior as “a master of melee combat”, but it’s nothing but a starter job so we all know that’s a load of dragon poo poo. A warrior’s main claim to fame is being a starting unit that can to out onto the field and take blows to the face all day in nothing but the cheapest armor around. The highest HP growth in the game along with access to the Greatswords, Helms and Heavy Armor equipment classes means a Warrior will hit like a truck and shrug off physical hits like nothing else. Magical hits are another matter, but Mirror Mail exists for a reason. The first half of the Warrior skillset reads just like the Soldier one: Same decent S-Abilities mixed with the worthless First Aid and Rend skills. Then you get to the fun stuff. Body Slam does increased damage in return for taking 1/4 of the HP back as recoil which a Warrior can shrug off with no issue. Greased Lightning bypasses enemy R-Abilities. Oh, and Lifetap which inflicts damage equivalent to half of the Warrior's current HP. It doesn't burn the Warrior's HP, it just takes the HP value, divides it by half and says that's the damage it will inflict. Which isn't a bad deal at all considering the HP growth of the warrior. Make the Bangaa a Cannoneer and Lifetap from across the map, or a Dragoon and Lifetap 2 targets at once for comedy. Alkydere fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 18:13
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Yeah the law system is less dickish here. But I still don't see how having missions like "forbidden: 20 > damage" is a good idea. Personally I'd rather have the Law system have a disable law option or some side goals that you can do to get even more exp. Stuff like "kill leader in x turns" or "poison all enemies". Just something to encourage play in ways other than "you can't do that". When it comes to the Judge I imaging him being bored and thinking exactly what to tell these jokers what not to do.
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Jan 25, 2015 20:26
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The speed thing is one of the most significant nerfs coming from FFTA. It used to be that each class had a guaranteed amount of speed they'd get each level and a chance for an additional point. Most classes would only get 1 guaranteed, while speedsters like ninjas or assassins would get a guaranteed 2 and a chance for a third, and really slow classes like paladin or sage wouldn't get any points guaranteed. This led to situations where units that started as assassins and trained as assassins could double-turn other units, and you'd want to avoid slow units like the plague because speed was the be-all end-all stat. Making it so that no class gets a guaranteed speed point each level makes it so that a) speed is not as important anymore and b) no class can get a significant lead over others.
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Jan 25, 2015 20:30
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I'd like to thank Artix for showing me how to make this: Anyways, go watch Artix's LP if you're not already. It has both Falafel and Balaclava. Fister Roboto posted:The speed thing is one of the most significant nerfs coming from FFTA. It used to be that each class had a guaranteed amount of speed they'd get each level and a chance for an additional point. Most classes would only get 1 guaranteed, while speedsters like ninjas or assassins would get a guaranteed 2 and a chance for a third, and really slow classes like paladin or sage wouldn't get any points guaranteed. This led to situations where units that started as assassins and trained as assassins could double-turn other units, and you'd want to avoid slow units like the plague because speed was the be-all end-all stat. Making it so that no class gets a guaranteed speed point each level makes it so that a) speed is not as important anymore and b) no class can get a significant lead over others. The speed thing really is one nerf that I actually appreciate. The Viera were powerful enough with Assassins and doublecasting Summoners, but them having 2:1 turns to everyone else just broke the game. With the new speed system (which I'm pretty sure has a cap) you'll still notice a difference but the worst you'll get is generally 3:2. Managing your sped is more about managing movement now since even a Nu-Mou who manages to get in place and stays stationary as he casts fireball after fireball can take advantage of shorter turns timers to get a lot more actions done. Of course, the AI his horrible at this and likes to do things like move to make sure they're attacking at max distance. Alkydere fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 20:48
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Yeah, Speed cap in this game is 149, which is a far cry from the previous game and the potential to have over 250 speed on an Assassin. At least there's some variety in the broken as gently caress builds this game!
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Jan 25, 2015 22:33
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 15:19 |
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I think AP UP goes up by twenty every rank. Because doing story missions with the highest level version gives you 140 AP after the fight instead of 80.
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Jan 25, 2015 22:43
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