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Oh huh, I don't think I came here early. I guess I must have built up sidequests for a while. Also Miracle Matter is a medal I promptly ignored. My thoughts were probably along the lines of "Oh, this medal is a safety net for when a bug goes down, if I'm careful I won't need this!" And i mean, i managed to 100% the game without it so I guess I was right. Probably would've made some fights a lot easier though. 
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Jul 14, 2021 09:24
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My thought was that you lost another action relative to using an item and that I was richer than God because I let the bank idle while I was at work.
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Jul 14, 2021 14:17
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Before I get into comment replies, here, have a few articles about bugs I found interesting recently: Here's one about a beetle walking upside down on water surface And one on changing naming conventions in entomology to remove racial slurs Alxprit posted:I absolutely LOVE the Far Grasslands preview here. I was completely floored by it existing the first time I played. There's not much you can do there right now, of course, but it's worth remembering for later! Also that music... oh, it's absolutely one of my favorite tracks without a doubt. Kinda sold me on how much I really loved the game all on its own. So I get sentimental about weird stuff like this, I suppose. It is pretty neat (and the Far Grasslands music is indeed fantastic, this one and one later track I'm thinking of really show Tristan's range as a composer. These calmer ones are not at all what I first think of when it comes to the game's style, but they're wonderful). I was looking forward to showing this area quite a bit, though admittedly a lot of that was because I love the area to the south of this screen and forgot that I couldn't get there right now (we'll be back soon enough). Quackles posted:I'm always down for some Yu-Bee-Oh. drat it, you win again. That's great. Not The Wendigo posted:What happens if you offer Genow the plushie? I don't actually know! We will find out together. The game doesn't actually give menu prompts to show any of the characters in this sequence items right now, for some reason; I'll certainly try the plushie with all of them on the way back once we reach the final link and can start tracing the chain back. Torrannor posted:Yeah, I thought for sure we would exchanger our green ranger toy here, is there no special dialogue? The Ranger plushie is for something else (though I agree it would've been interesting had it been a potential solution here!), but I'll certainly be trying it once the game gives me an opportunity. Torrannor posted:Also, was there really no follow up with Leif? Wasn't he supposed to be scanned by that bee scientist? I really want to know what his deal is! We will eventually get more information about Leif, but it's not going to come via Doctor HB. She offered to examine him again but he isn't willing to take her up on it. Dirk the Average posted:That babysitting line is some fantastic shade. It really is. It's amazing how much mileage they get out of things like this. Arzaac posted:Oh huh, I don't think I came here early. I guess I must have built up sidequests for a while. It could also be that you'd missed talking to Queen Bianca after Chapter 3 ended, the quest doesn't show up on the board if you don't. I missed out on this for quite a while in my first playthrough, I don't think I found this area until I was able to reach it from a different path. Alxprit posted:I've never seen these Miracle Matter strategies before, so I'll be looking forward to exactly what it consists of. Arzaac posted:Also Miracle Matter is a medal I promptly ignored. My thoughts were probably along the lines of "Oh, this medal is a safety net for when a bug goes down, if I'm careful I won't need this!" And i mean, i managed to 100% the game without it so I guess I was right. Probably would've made some fights a lot easier though. FoolyCharged posted:My thought was that you lost another action relative to using an item and that I was richer than God because I let the bank idle while I was at work. I pretty much completely ignored Miracle Matter on my first playthrough also, it's another one I fell in love with on higher difficulties. Hard (or Normal for that matter), for the most part, just don't quite pressure you enough to make you really value it, but I would have really struggled to finish TUFFBUGS without it. It's actually really interesting. I think it's one of those medals where you really need to have a breakthrough about synergies that work with it, because at its base the effect just isn't that good (two turns is a long time to wait, especially if all of your team members are struggling to survive; they may not last long enough for the third to get up!). And if you're willing to carry revival items (or even just rely on Kabbu's Pep Talk), they're faster than Miracle Matter so you tend to value the 3 MP for pretty much anything else. I don't disagree with any of this reasoning! And yet. When you figure out how to take advantage of it, though, Miracle Matter ends up being the centrepiece of quite a few nearly-degenerate (if not completely) strategies. It's really satisfying, honestly, I've had a lot of fun with it.
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Jul 14, 2021 17:51
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If you come around on the right side, this dialog triggers before you can actually see the hole. Mildly confusing!Explopyro posted:Lots of things happen this turn! First off, she launches a delayed projectile, which will land two turns later. This doesn't cost her a turn, and she can randomly decide to do it before attacking. Presumably there's a cooldown on this: it behaves like other delayed attacks and will have at most one projectile active at a time, but I don't know the exact length of the cooldown. Explopyro posted:Then she calls reinforcements. This also happens before she attacks and doesn't cost her a turn, and calls a single Midge. Once again, I suspect there is probably a cooldown, though I don't have more details than that. Explopyro posted:For all that this fight uses the superboss music, it really isn't very tough if you know how to handle it (and it only gets easier if you come here later in the game, I definitely think it's intended to be fought around now). That said, if you let the Midges get out of control (and if you're bad at blocking), it can be a lot scarier: Explopyro posted:As soon as the Broodmother is dead, a few bee soldiers come in to check on us. Explopyro posted:
Explopyro posted:Yeah, we've stumbled into Wasp Kingdom territory. Which in a way explains what their spears were doing in the Power Plant, but, well, does that mean the Midge Broodmother interrupted an invasion? Like if a bunch of thieves tried to tunnel into a bank vault, and accidentally broke into a cave occupied by a bear and her cubs. Explopyro posted:I decided to have Vi use Needle Toss for some piercing damage on the Chomper. That said, I genuinely can't explain these numbers. Normally the second hit deals decreased damage if you hit the same target again, but it didn't here for some reason. Explopyro posted:It could also be that you'd missed talking to Queen Bianca after Chapter 3 ended, the quest doesn't show up on the board if you don't. I missed out on this for quite a while in my first playthrough, I don't think I found this area until I was able to reach it from a different path.
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Jul 15, 2021 15:40
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Oh, that's what I'm talking about!
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Alien Arcana posted:If you come around on the right side, this dialog triggers before you can actually see the hole. Mildly confusing! Interesting! I'm not actually sure if I knew that, I always tend to go around the left side. (That sounds familiar though, I think I might've seen that my first time here?) Alien Arcana posted:There doesn't appear to be a cooldown for either move, though (as you say) she can only have one projectile in the air, and two Midges on the field. This is interesting, I'm honestly a bit surprised (thanks for checking!). Maybe there's something else going on in the AI script that controls when those moves happen; I don't think I've seen her summon Midges two turns in a row, for instance. (The screenshot with two Midges actually took a few turns of sandbagging to set up!) Alien Arcana posted:It can also get really gnarly if you let yourself get Numbed. This is another fight that's all about action economy. I should probably have spent more time talking about this beyond just "hey, put some Numb Resistance medals on", shouldn't I? I keep worrying I'm making all the bosses look underwhelming. A lot of fights in this game come down to action economy, though, it's hardly unique to this one. Alien Arcana posted:It's really weird that they re-use the same dialog each time. I know. Normally I'm trying to avoid showing repeated dialogue to make things a little more concise (ha ha, as if I know how to be concise), but I'm not sure what else to do with Diana. That might make it stand out a bit more than if you were playing the game normally. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably like this because you can avoid talking to her, so any particular location might be the first time you see this conversation? But they could easily just have a flag for that, as they do in other cases to track when you've talked to someone, so I'm really not sure. Alien Arcana posted:Yeah, I'm not sure either. Maybe it's like the situation with Venus' Guardian, where part of the code thinks the damage has 'bottomed out' at 1, but other effects later on are adding extra damage? Something like that would be my best guess too, but I don't know what effects were in place here... I'll have to see if I can replicate it elsewhere. It's weird how many little quirks like this I keep stumbling across in the calculations... Alien Arcana posted:I think I didn't find this quest until the postgame! I had simply never thought to go back and talk to the Queen again. This seems to be a pretty common experience, honestly. I definitely think they could have done a better job of signposting with this one (maybe if you skip talking to the Queen, have the quest appear automatically on the board at some later point, maybe halfway through this chapter or at the start of next one?), to make it more likely players fight the boss at an appropriate point. It's a really disappointing fight if you wait that long to do it.
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Jul 16, 2021 19:13
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Playing to catch up with the LP I did find a neat way of getting the food/Venus quest done around this time without huge RNG. The wave 10 award of the Cave Trials is a Tangy Berry. Just, don't accidentally use it or something.
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Jul 19, 2021 19:52
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30: Chasing Cards 17 - Ant Kingdom Last time, we learned that in order to get red paint for Jaune, we'd need to complete a chain of trades, and the next link in that chain is on Metal Island. We can get a discount on the trip there if we qualify for the Spy Cards Tournament, which means it's time to hunt down the four Card Masters. Back when Carmina gave us the quest, the hint she gave us was "the first Card Master is old".  Did you think of Chuck? He's not the only old bug around, but he's definitely the one whose age has been brought up most frequently.   Indeed. We are looking for the Card Masters. Ho ho! Been a while since someone came by to challenge me. Wait, really? You're a card master? Carmina did call him old... She best get her eyes checked! I fight like a young champ! Back in the day, they called me the Flash Summoner! (I love how Leif goes into a magic pose even when he's getting serious about a card game.)  If we say no: Hmm. A wise choice. You'd best prepare.But let's accept his challenge. You best not think I've gotten rusty, ye hear? Click me for video! 29 - Team, This One's Stronger! (Miniboss)  We have the Venus deck saved from last time, and I could reuse that (it's probably what I would do if I were playing on my own). But we've already seen that one in action, so let's build a new deck for variety's sake.  Here's what I ended up going with. It's a pretty simple concept overall, mostly just going straight for card power, but there are a few wrinkles: Devourer seemed like the best option among our boss cards (if we rule out Venus' Guardian, which would push us right back to our old deck). It's 4 TP and only 3 ATK, but it gets +3 if the opponent plays any cards classed as "Bugs", which ends up being a huge subset of cards so it's more often 6 than not. The Spider is a bit weak by comparison, and our other options would have been Heavy Drone B-33 or Midge Broodmother, both of which require support from a limited subset of cards (Bots or Midges respectively), and Venus' Guardian does that better. Devourer it is. For Minibosses, I wanted Monsieur Scarlet for healing, though that made the choice of a second awkward. He pairs well with Aria in the Venus deck, but Aria's unimpressive without the potential explosive turns alongside Venus' Guardian, and Mothiva and Zasp both need the other to be effective. I picked Ahoneynation more or less by default because it was the last one remaining. That said, you could definitely make a case for using either Zasp or Mothiva on their lonesome as just an attacker card, or for using the pair of them instead of Scarlet: Ahoneynation is a bit capricious thanks to relying on coin flips, and often disappoints. We round out the deck with an even spread of attackers, 3 of each at 2/3/4. For the last three slots, I dithered for a bit (I was tempted to go for Numbnail or Denmuki) before settling on Weevil. Weevil is an interesting card, it's cheap at 2 TP and, like Devourer, gets a bonus against a common class of enemy: specifically, it's 1 ATK normally but gets +2 against Plants. We'll see how that works out. (It's worth remembering this card when choosing which attackers to use, too, I default to the bandits at least in part because they aren't plants.) That's our deck. Now let's get to the game.   We don't have much choice in this hand, it's Weevil or nothing.  We're seeing results right away! Seedlings are plants.  One fun thing to pay attention to is the characters' poses between hands, the loser generally goes into a shocked pose and some of them are pretty entertaining (it comes through better in the video, there's only so much screenshots can capture). Kabbu and Vi sometimes react from the sidelines too, even though Leif is the one playing. Also, Chuck has a new sprite while playing, you can see him holding his cards!   I elected to play Scarlet, which ended up being a push. It might have been better to hold on to him for later (to trigger the heal alongside one of the Burglars, perhaps?), but I preferred to be aggressive (and as you can see, if we'd played the Thief instead we'd have lost).   Burglar is an obvious play on a 4 TP turn.  We're rewarded for it! This was a bit lucky. Chuck really seems to like Seedlings.   This is an actual choice! The most reasonable plays are either Burglar or Thief + Bandit. I ended up deciding to go with Burglar, I think I wanted to save the Thief to pair with the other Burglar next turn.  And this round comes down to a coin flip! Chuck's Acornling only provides defence half the time, but he won the flip and that's enough to make us lose the hand.   We already knew most of what we'd be working with this turn. Let's go with the Thief + Burglar plan.  It works out.   This is a pretty solid hand! With 7 TP, we can get the full value out of Monsieur Scarlet. The safe play would be Burglar, guaranteeing us the heal regardless of the outcome...  But I thought Weevil might do better, considering Chuck's predilection for Seedlings. And I was correct, although it didn't end up mattering (he lost his coin flip this time around, but even if he'd won it, we could still have won the hand with Burglar too).   A much more straightforward hand. With victory in sight, let's just go for maximum power with two Burglars. If we look at the card backs, though, we can tell Chuck has his Boss, so things might get a bit dicey.  Interesting! He's playing the Seedling King, which is one of the Bounty bosses. We're aware of its existence, but we certainly haven't seen it before, and it's not a card we have access to right now. With its bonus, Chuck's hand overpowers ours.   We have some interesting cards this time around! With 9 TP, we can pair Devourer either with Ahoneynation, or Bandit + Thief.  Ahoneynation was the riskier play, and it went badly: I lost both coin flips, so it contributed literally nothing, and Devourer doesn't get its bonus against Seedlings. Winning even one coin flip would have been enough to end this (and, looking back, Bandit + Thief would have won this hand cleanly, but trying Ahoneynation was fun).   Let's just play as much power as we can, and try to end the match. We can't fully use our 10 TP, but we can get pretty close...  Chuck puts up a valiant fight, but even winning the Acornling flip isn't quite enough, and we win the final hand.  And that's game point! Chuck isn't too hard to beat (although, as we saw, his deck does have a few nasty surprises!), although Weevil definitely ends up being almost a counterpick, we saw nothing but plants from him. I don't know his exact deck (or, for that matter, if he has multiple; I know Carmina at least doesn't always use the same one), but the focus on Seedlings is definitely consistent.  Nonsense, you fought like the best of them! It was good. Best I've had for a long time. I wouldn't give this to just anybody! For defeating the first Card Master, our Blank Card is upgraded to a 1-Suit Card. Excellent. Still three to go, though. You've still got some Card Masters to go, don't ya? Got any good hints? Um, anything more specific? Card Master protocol! I'm sure ye'll find her, though. Thank you, Chuck. No problem, yer always helping me out! Come back for a rematch, will ya? When we settle this business. For now, we must go.I think he slipped up a bit there, the character's gender is a second hint! (Although this is Bugaria, being female doesn't narrow it down that much.) Still, the hint sounds like it's pointing toward the Golden Settlement, and we can probably think of a candidate there...  If we talk to Chuck again, he'll now be up for rematches anytime, in addition to the usual offer of rest. No problem. This bug ain't goin' anywhere.If we were up for it, here's what he'd say: Can't get enough of the Flash Summoner, eh? Ready up!And if we were to win the rematch: Good stuff, Leif! Here's a little something!He'll pay us 10 berries each time we win. It's not much, but it's enough to make it not feel like you're completely unrewarded if you enjoy Spy Cards and want to keep messing around with deck ideas. If we had lost to him, we'd see some other dialogue: Oho! I've still got it! Come on, Leif! Just try again! You can do it!You get this same dialogue if you lose to him on a rematch. I do enjoy how satisfied he is on beating us.  Anyway, that's all we can do at Chuck's, so let's follow up his lead. 26 - Golden Lands And head to the Golden Settlement. The eastern side of town is the first place we should check, since that's where we first saw Spy Cards being played during the festival!  Definitely some familiar faces here. I realised at this point that we hadn't yet come back here after doing the cable car repair quest: this seems to be where the technician comes to rest when he's not working.  Though he doesn't have much to say. Let's check the banter: ...Took him long enough to move around. Are you... upset, Leif? Uh, no. But we do wish he'd done his job sooner. Leif's upset! Knock it off.That's a bit more fun, at least. Anyway, digression aside, let's get back on task and find the person we've come to see.  Arie is still here.  That we are. You too? Heehee! Yup! I'm one of those cool Card Masters! Wow, you're so eager! I can't say no to that! If we decline: Aw. Tell me when you're ready then!But obviously we're not going to.  Time to rumble! Click me for video! 29 - Team, This One's Stronger! (Miniboss)  This deck worked out pretty well for us last time, let's use it again. (I did think about building a new deck each time, but quite frankly there aren't that many different deck concepts available to us right now...)  It's neat that the game uses appropriate background scenery for each match, rather than sending us to some generic minigame arena screen.  Always nice seeing cards we can play in our first hand.  Weevil versus Chomper is a favourable matchup for us (we've even seen this in the wild, Weevils do like eating them). So far, so good.   Some choices here. Scarlet is the strongest and most reliable play, but there's a decent case to save him for later and try Weevil or Thief instead.  I chose to play him, and he won me the hand (though Weevil would have as well).   Three potential plays here! Burglar, Devourer, or Weevil + Thief are all equally valid choices.  I went with Devourer and got lucky: she played Numbnail, but Boss cards are immune (as are Miniboss and Effect cards, Numb only works on the green Attackers), so we sneak through a win anyway.   Once again, a choice: Thief or Weevil to pair with Bandit?  I went with Weevil given Arie's been playing a lot of plants, and it definitely worked out (although Thief would have won here too). We're on a roll!  It's only round 5, and we're already on the verge of winning... can we do it?  With five cards in hand we still have a few different combinations we can try, but given how things have been going, we should probably pick one that includes the Weevil...  It didn't actually pay off here (and, interestingly, Arie's playing Weevils of her own!), but we still managed to win on points. (The miniboss she played was Mothiva; Arie's deck definitely seems to be themed around Chapter 2/Golden region enemies.)  And with that, we win! I'm pretty sure this was a first for me, I don't remember ever getting a clean 5-round win before. There was a lot of luck involved in that, though, don't expect it to be a regular occurrence. I don't know of a way to do it reliably!  You had us by the ropes, um... Heheh, that's Arie to ya. It's my joy to upgrade your card! Yet another card upgrade! Good job, Leif! We're halfway there! My card master hint is: "Taking shade, always cool." That could mean anything! You'll figure it out, I'm sure! Still, thank you. We are closer to the tournament goal. By the way, Leif, if you ever want to play again, just drop the word, eh? Hopefully soon. But for now, we'll be on our way.Like Chuck, Arie will now become available for rematches whenever we want. Her hint is a lot more cryptic, though, this one is going to be tricky.  Proof of concept. If we decline: Aw. Tell me when you're ready then!Accepting has new dialogue: Alrighty! Let's go!And winning the rematch gets: Beat again! It was too fun. Won't you take this?Like Chuck, she'll reward us with 10 berries for subsequent wins. Lose to Arie, either in the original or in the rematch, and you see this exchange: Good duel, eh? Maybe next time you'll win. Tsk...Arie, for better or worse, doesn't have a whole lot of personality in these exchanges aside from being nice and pleasant regardless of the outcome. I guess that's still something?  Anyway, that's all for here. Let's be on our way. 37 - Defiant Root The cryptic clue Arie gave us is actually pointing at this mosquito. I guess this area is in shade now that I look at it, but it's not something I'd really have thought of; it's easier to stumble across him than actually solve the clue, I think. (I put this quest off so I could do the whole thing in one update; if I'd been playing normally, I'd have taken care of Chuck and Arie prior to reaching Defiant Root the first time, and learned this guy was a Card Master in the course of talking to everyone.)  You're quick on the uptake. Ever heard of the Card Masters? You're talking to the one and only. A-Aren't there four? If we decline: Tch. Don't bother me, then.But of course we're going to accept. Feel the sting of a pro player! Click me for video! 29 - Team, This One's Stronger! (Miniboss)  This deck's been working out well so far, let's keep going with it.   Shall we play Weevil, or Weevil?  I guess we play Weevil. It wasn't enough, though. (As you might expect from finding him in Defiant Root, Shay is partial to enemies from the desert.)   I'm never sorry to see Monsieur Scarlet in my hand.  That said, he only gets us a push here. This match isn't going our way.   Out of the potential plays here, I thought Devourer was probably the strongest option, and went with that in an attempt to mitigate Shay's early lead.  It's a close one, but it works out. Burglar counts as a Bug, so Devourer's bonus is online.   I don't think any of our options here are great, really.  I went with double Thief because it was more likely to win than using Weevils would be (Shay hasn't played any Plant cards yet), and at least playing two cards means we'll draw two new cards next turn, instead of one if we played Burglar (there's a maximum hand size of 5 and you don't draw cards if there's no room). As expected, though, we lose.   This hand at least gives us a way to take advantage of all our TP.  Ouch, still a push. Shay's putting up more of a fight than the others.   With 7 TP, we can pair Ahoneynation with another card this turn.  I went with Weevil just to get rid of one of them; it's the weaker play, but that didn't end up mattering. This came down to the coin flips: if we'd won both with Ahoneynation, we'd have taken the round, but only one came up heads and that wasn't enough.   That looks better. We're still behind, though. Let's go for broke and make the strongest play we can.  That's a win. Barely, but I'll take it.   Lots of options here, this is a strong draw.  It turns out Shay does have some plants in his deck! Good thing, too, because we needed all the bonuses we could get to fight through what he played this turn (he won the coin flip on Cactiling for 4 defence).   We can't quite use all our TP this turn (a common problem now that we've reached the cap of 10 each turn), but we can get close. Will 9 attack be enough? We're up against his Boss card...  It doesn't actually matter! This is another preview of a Bounty boss we haven't fought yet. Tidal Wyrm is an interesting card: it's weak attack-wise, but it literally Numbs everything it can. It's pretty close to a silver bullet for the kind of deck I'm playing right now (at least our Weevils and Boss/Miniboss cards could get past it, but that's it, and we didn't have any of those this turn: it nullifies two-thirds of the cards in this deck!).   Now we're into the phase of things where we're drawing 3 cards per turn, and can almost always afford to play them all. We're down to our last HP, we don't have much of a choice.  That round was pretty tight! We barely won, especially when you factor in this depended on a bunch of coin flips: we won one of two with Abomihoney, and Shay lost his for Cactiling. Also, the Weevil's bonus is what pushes us beyond a tie.   It's all down to this! We're both on 1 HP. (Though, as we drew Monsieur Scarlet and enough cards to reach 7 ATK, we could theoretically lose and keep going, the healing applies regardless.)  In retrospect, going with Devourer was the riskier play here. I'm not entirely sure why I chose that over Burglar (which would have guaranteed the heal to prevent a loss), but it worked out. We win the match by the skin of our teeth!  This one was a nail-biter. I definitely find Shay tends to give me more trouble than the other Card Masters; between the fact he consistently puts up respectable numbers with various bandits, and Tidal Wyrm just sometimes saying "you lose", I don't find it too unusual to lose here sometimes. At least if you do, there's no penalty, you can just keep trying until you pull it off.  Your overconfidence was your defeat. I learned a strategy or two, I'll give you that. I, Shay, shall upgrade your card on my duelist's honor. Woah! Only one left! You still need to defeat the remaining masters. But they don't get any better than me, really. Here's a good hint. "Someone shy, but when challenged, changes completely." It pains me to say there's no shortage of shyness in this kingdom. Thank you for your help, however. No problem. If you're up for another game, just say it. I'll give you a good fight. Hmm. Anytime, Shay.Shay's hint is even less helpful than the one that led us to him. We do have a lead, but it's not thanks to him: Doctor HB's assistant Crow mentioned she might be able to help us, so we should check with her.  Like the other two before him, Shay will offer us rematches now. If we beat him: So I lose again... Here's something for your trouble. I did come up with some tricks.A win is worth 10 berries. If Shay wins, either in the original match or a rematch, you'll see this exchange: Ngh... Strong. The title of Card Master isn't given to just anyone. Best of luck next time.That's Shay. He's a bit arrogant, but honestly, he deserves it, he's definitely the one who usually gives me the most trouble. 40 - High Above, Bee Kingdom Let's head to the lab and see what lead Crow had for us.     I quite like how her whole demeanour changes here (even if it's a bit weird that this conversation seems to have started partway through), and that the Doctor reacts in the background. This dueling aura! When it comes to cards... I won't hold back! I won't be defeated! We expect nothing less of a card master! Please be quiet... Prepare as you must. This will be a duel for the ages!So Crow herself is the final Card Master. Shay's clue does make sense, but it's sneaky: we couldn't have seen the change until after already finding her!  If we decline: W-well... Come back if you change your mind.But of course we're accepting. We're nearly finished! Do your worst! Click me for video! 29 - Team, This One's Stronger! (Miniboss)  One last hurrah for this Devourer deck, it's been pretty good to us.   This isn't a promising start, she's got her Boss already (though she probably can't afford it for a turn or two at least). Let's do what we can.  I wasn't confident in Weevil here, but it turns out Crow couldn't afford to play anything and we win by default.  (Where'd all the spectators come from? And did we kick the Doctor out of her own lab? She isn't anywhere to be seen...)  Playing a 3-attacker on turn 3 is usually pretty good.  Bee-Boop is a weird card. It flips a coin to determine whether to give ATK or DEF, but it more or less just counts for 1 either way (I guess DEF is slightly worse since it can't win if the opponent's ATK totals or is reduced to 0, but that's pretty marginal), so it doesn't matter very much. Neither outcome can compete with a simple attacker.   I'm pretty sure the game is trying to tell me to do something here.  It ends up being a push.   Let's go for the most ATK here.  This round was actually pretty close! If Crow had won the coin flip on Denmuki, she could've numbed one of our cards and then won the round (or tied it, if I'd remembered to put the weaker card in front, but I didn't).   Once again, let's just do the obvious thing.  Though this one also came down to chance. Crow's Ahoneynation won one of two coin flips; if she'd won both (admittedly a 25% chance), she could have taken the round. (Also, I keep forgetting to put the weaker card in front, it could definitely matter!)   We're getting close! This could be the winning round.  She just barely squeaks by, though.   I think it's time for the trusty double Burglar, that's usually reasonably reliable.  Though Crow sneaks by once again! Her deck is definitely focused on enemies from the Honey Factory; the Heavy Drone gets bonuses for fellow robots, as you might have expected.   Let's just go for maximum power here (and include Monsieur Scarlet, because we can).  It's enough! (Though once again, I notice now that I put the stronger attacker card in front, and that had Crow won her coin flip, that mistake would have gotten me a tie instead of a win. Marginal advantages matter!)  Regardless, we triumph over Crow. (She usually puts up a bit of a better showing than this, honestly, though to an extent she's at the mercy of playing a lot of capricious coin-flip cards.) We have now defeated all four Card Masters!  You're the strongest opponent we've faced. But that was a great duel! U-Um, I'll upgrade your card now. We've done it. And that's it. You've got a full card! Show it to the old sailor at the pier. He'll take you to Metal Island for real cheap! Really? That's awesome! We can finally test our mettle against the tournament's best. Good luck! You're strong, Leif. B-but you're gonna need it! After receiving the Full Suit Card, we get a message that the quest "Card Masters of Bugaria" has been completed. It turns out the quest isn't to win the tournament, just to qualify for it (though, of course, we'll be participating in the tournament). More importantly, this qualifies us for the discount ticket to Metal Island, which is what we were more immediately after.  Crow also, like the others, offers to rematch us whenever now. She'll give us the same line on declining as before, but has new dialogue otherwise: If we accept: Now you're talking! Time for you to lose!If we win the rematch: Darn, I lost again. H-Here, you won this!After which she will pay us the usual 10 berries. If we lose to her, either in the initial match or the rematch: You're no match for me at all! I liked her more when she was quiet. That really was a great duel, we can't deny it. Come back when you have better cards! T-That should help a little.Crow actually offers some advice after beating us, unlike the others. I do like this conversation (though I suspect most people will never see it). While I chose to face the Card Masters in the intended order for the LP, you don't actually have to, you can approach them in whatever order you like and the game will let you do it. The dialogue is barely altered, and they'll each give the same hints regardless of whether or not you've already beaten the one the hint points to, but you certainly can. Also, Card Master #4 being Crow is the reason the quest can't be completed until Chapter 4: she was previously too busy with the factory core reconstruction project. Now that we have our Full Suit Card, let's head to the pier. 10 - The Sailors' Pier    The sea captain is certainly singing a different tune now! 90 berries is a lot more reasonable than 300. (Were you expecting it to be free?) If, as a player, you balk at paying for this, trust me that doing so does cause the game to give you something of value later, you just won't know immediately. Also, of course, it's necessary to finish Vi's quest for paint, so of course we're paying.  ...That's all berries accounted for. Hop on! Our destination: Metal Island! I'd originally planned to cover Metal Island in this update as well, but I had more to say about the Spy Cards gameplay than I expected and it's already getting quite long, so I'm going to leave it here. Next time... Metal Island! Also, Voting Time! We'll be doing the Spy Cards tournament soon. Do you want to see more of the Venus deck? Did you like the Devourer deck I used here and want to see more of that? Do you have an idea for another deck you'd like to see me try? Tell me what you think! Explopyro fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Jul 22, 2021 |
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Jul 22, 2021 10:16
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Crow? Ok then Yu-Bee-Oh! 5 B's Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 11:02 on Jul 22, 2021 |
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Jul 22, 2021 10:57
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I wanna see a deck built around team rocket - I mean Zasp and Mothiva
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Jul 22, 2021 11:21
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I wouldn't mind seeing the tournament be saved for later when more varieties of deck can be constructed, personally. I'm not sure which variety I would want to go for, but I know there's more content we can probably be experiencing that might give us the upper hand.
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Jul 22, 2021 15:13
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Explopyro posted:
Considering your health goes from 5/5 to 4/5, I don't think it was actually a push. It seems like the only case where Bee-Boop will cause a push is if your total attack (counting enemy defense) is 0 or less, right? It does feel like defense is a bit of a miss in this minigame since it's almost identical to attack. Might have been more interesting if it came in smaller numbers but applied to every enemy card or something.
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Jul 22, 2021 21:40
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Defense is, in a lot of was just worse attack, but at the very least its costed appropriately. The Bee-Boop for example, is an effect card and therefore immune to numb, but the trade-off for that is the coin flip that could give you a defense instead of an attack. (Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure there isn't a bot-killer card either, so that's another advantage.) There's also a later card that's like Denmuki but gives defense instead of attack; to make up for this, it numbs every time instead of needing a coin flip. I played a bunch of different decks in this, but I do think Tidal Wyrm was my favorite. Nothing like sweeping the enemy with a single card, you know? Oh, also, can't you make a bot deck at this point? Might be fun to see.
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Jul 22, 2021 22:56
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Tylana posted:Playing to catch up with the LP I did find a neat way of getting the food/Venus quest done around this time without huge RNG. The wave 10 award of the Cave Trials is a Tangy Berry. Just, don't accidentally use it or something. This is a good tip for anyone at this point, yes. I didn't mention it when discussing the Cave of Trials largely because I didn't want to create any weird expectations around why I'd be revealing one of the prizes but not the other ones. That said, the Cave of Trials becomes available at the same time the Card Master quest becomes completable, so there is also the option of buying them on Metal Island (which doesn't involve RNG but does cost berries), which might have the advantage of being faster (since you don't have to fight 10 waves of enemies). It's still definitely worth keeping in mind. Alxprit posted:I wouldn't mind seeing the tournament be saved for later when more varieties of deck can be constructed, personally. I'm not sure which variety I would want to go for, but I know there's more content we can probably be experiencing that might give us the upper hand. This is certainly something to think about. I personally would prefer to get the tournament behind me so it's no longer something I have to think about fitting in, but if this is the thread's preference I'd be happy to go with it. (For anyone who wants to weigh in on this, do know that the tournament will involve one more deck, it doesn't let us switch partway through.) Everyone with an opinion, please do weigh in on this. It won't affect the scheduling of next update (31), the soonest I'd be covering the card tournament is update 32 so we have some time to figure it out. Qrr posted:Considering your health goes from 5/5 to 4/5, I don't think it was actually a push. It seems like the only case where Bee-Boop will cause a push is if your total attack (counting enemy defense) is 0 or less, right? This is just an embarrassing error on my part, yes, you're absolutely correct. I've gone and edited the offending phrase out of the post. I don't know what I was thinking there (even worse, I had originally made the narrower claim in my first draft of the post, then 'corrected' it to the erroneous version during proofreading). Defence's problem is that it isn't terribly interesting, yes, because winning rounds is just down to the attack score being a number. I'm not really sure how I'd fix it. (That said, there are also some cards that behave differently with it, we just haven't seen them. At least one card has a 'pierce N defence' property, for instance.) Arzaac posted:Defense is, in a lot of was just worse attack, but at the very least its costed appropriately. The Bee-Boop for example, is an effect card and therefore immune to numb, but the trade-off for that is the coin flip that could give you a defense instead of an attack. (Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure there isn't a bot-killer card either, so that's another advantage.) There's also a later card that's like Denmuki but gives defense instead of attack; to make up for this, it numbs every time instead of needing a coin flip. You're absolutely right that, in general, they balance defence by costing it slightly less than attack (although this also usually comes with it being dependent on coin flips, making it frustratingly unreliable). I think the adjusted costs are more to do with the coin flip than defence versus attack, honestly. For instance, compare Numbnail (2 TP) to the (name redacted) upgraded version, which is 3 TP, 1 defence + Numb. You're still paying 1 TP for 1 defence. I think it might just be that Denmuki is slightly overcosted? I'll concede that Bee-Boop is worth it thanks to the immunity to Numb, though. I was going to compare it to Midge (which in previous versions was an Effect card with 1 attack), but they changed Midge to a normal attacker card now because the Unity ability they'd had on it wasn't working as intended. I would probably prefer the old version of Midge to Bee-Boop but that's no longer an option. I probably could try a Bots deck, I don't think I've ever actually used it. We're missing a few key pieces now (e.g. we saw Crow play Mender, but that card isn't available to us until next chapter; also, we don't have any high-TP/high-power cards in Bots right now, we just have Bee-Boop and Security Turret), but it's definitely an option. It would probably play a lot like the Venus deck, where it's reliant on a powerful turn with the Boss, but without the lifesteal buffer.
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Jul 22, 2021 23:23
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I'd like to see the tournament now and maybe a post-game roundup of some other decks that you could build, maybe? Metal Island's been teased for so long, I wanna see it.
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Jul 22, 2021 23:57
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To be clear, my suggestion of saving the tournament is not equal to not checking out Metal Island.
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Jul 22, 2021 23:59
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I vote for saving the tournament for later, but go for Metal Island now.
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Jul 23, 2021 00:01
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Quackles posted:I vote for saving the tournament for later, but go for Metal Island now. Gonna second this.
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Jul 23, 2021 04:39
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I honestly would prefer to see the tournament now, to get it out of the way so to speak, because I find the rest of the game quite a bit more interesting than the card game within.
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Jul 23, 2021 12:01
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I'm really appreciating the opinions on this, it's a trickier decision than I'd thought. (Again, if people want to weigh in, there's a bit of time to work it out still because the soonest I'd do the tournament is two updates from now.) Regardless of the thread's decision on the tournament, next update will be covering Metal Island and the rest of Vi's Request (I've already recorded most of this, my original plan had been for that to be part of update 30, but I wasn't sure how to truncate coverage of the card game and that ended up running too long), and will be unaffected. The tournament, for better or worse, is self-contained and will get an update of its own. The pros of postponing the tournament seem to be mainly these: 1. More deck variety involving later enemies. (I have a potential idea that would be feasible post Chapter 5, and involves zero or nearly-zero overlap with the decks we've seen so far.) This would probably make the gameplay itself more interesting to read/watch. 2. Spread out Spy Cards content relative to the overall LP, rather than clustering it now. I realise the minigame makes some people's eyes glaze over, and this way is probably better for overall pacing. Whereas the pros of doing it now: 1. Deck variety argument only goes so far, since the tournament requires us to use the same deck for all rounds, we'll get to see one more deck either way (and I could combine the thread suggestions and try Zasp and Mothiva plus Bots, which would be pretty different). 2. There isn't really a natural time to address the tournament, other than "the first time it's available". Any other place I try to fit it in will probably feel arbitrary and random. Getting it behind us now means I don't have to worry about where to place it. 3. I won't have to play coy about the rewards, which might be helpful for anyone trying to use the LP as a guide for the game (I'm mostly thinking about future readers here), and weighing this same question for themselves. Does that seem accurate to anyone else? I've convinced myself both approaches have value, but that's not exactly helpful.
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Jul 23, 2021 20:25
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I understand both points. Getting it over with is certainly an option, and I think as an author it makes sense. When I personally played the game, I didn't feel "ready" to win the tournament immediately. But that's just me. I just went back to the tournament when I felt more inclined to, there wasn't really a rhyme or reason for it. But, you should do what makes sense for the LP, and not for emulating how someone casually would be playing the game, because that's not really what you're trying to do here I don't think.
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Jul 23, 2021 22:01
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I'd say knock it out now and then have a bonus episode towards the end where you let loose with all the cards. Especially if stuff from the endgame dungeon gets its own card that most people wouldn't see. I can't remember if there's a point of no return there or not.
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Jul 24, 2021 01:48
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Maybe it would be worth throwing in Spy Cards updates as we go as well, to detail what the enemies we've fought in the last, like, 5 or so updates' effects are for cards if you want to do the tournament now. That way you could at least hypothesize about how things might play together, and people who aren't interested wouldn't need to have it in their main update.
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Jul 24, 2021 01:56
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In case anyone isn't aware, I am maintaining an appendix of all the Spy Cards (among all the other appendices), adding enemies to it as we encounter them. I'll keep doing that regardless; admittedly I don't always remember to update it the same day as I post new content, but at any given time it should be mostly current. I don't know if that changes the calculus in any way, but at bare minimum anyone who's interested will be able to go read what all the cards do.FoolyCharged posted:I'd say knock it out now and then have a bonus episode towards the end where you let loose with all the cards. Especially if stuff from the endgame dungeon gets its own card that most people wouldn't see. I can't remember if there's a point of no return there or not. There aren't any true points of no return in this game (only a few temporary ones, like we saw with the Honey Factory lockdown), and Spy Cards remains playable in the postgame (the final boss does get a card, as do the postgame superbosses). A postgame update where we try out various silly decks using lategame enemies is certainly something I could do.
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Jul 24, 2021 04:26
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Explopyro posted:A postgame update where we try out various silly decks using lategame enemies is certainly something I could do.
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Jul 24, 2021 11:49
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I'll put in another vote for doing the tournament now, and if needed, an update later to discuss any interesting cards that come up later.
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Jul 25, 2021 03:34
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31: Metal and Paint (Part 1) Last time, we finally got on the boat to Metal Island. Let's get off and see what awaits us. 72 - Summer Holiday at the Metal Island (TM)  The captain drops us off at a dock. It's hard to tell from this view, but the island seems to be some kind of metal dish, or maybe a wheel or hubcap? Which suggests that this body of water probably isn't very deep, it doesn't seem to be floating.  Don't take all day.The captain will wait to take us back whenever we want. That said, do not say yes here. He specifically sold us one round-trip journey, and he'll charge us to come back. There's an area banter to start things off: Goodness! They've truly created an artificial island! Is that... safe? Well, everyone seems quite calm, so... Sorry guys. If it sinks I'm flying away! No you're not. You're drowning with us. Nooooo!Let's have a look around! It's a new area, there are lots of people to meet and things to see. And we need to find a toy shop of some kind, so Vi can finally get the paint for Jaune.  A new town-type area means there are lots of people to meet; let's start with this person.  There is a general theme that emerges very quickly from the NPC dialogue around here. That's all this person has to say, but the banter will elaborate: Hmph. If you're going to complain, you should stay firm and skip the food. ...Well, have you TASTED Master Slice's food!? It's... it's exquisite! I thought you were the one with, like, dignity and stuff, Kabbu. E-Err... I-It's just food...We'll have to investigate this Master Slice person. Though I'm curious how Kabbu knows this, or would have had an opportunity to taste it before. I guess he's never explicitly said he's never been here before, but you'd think he would have if he had? (Maybe this banter was written assuming we'd see it later in our visit?)  There are a few ant soldiers about. This one warns us not to fall off. Hmm. Does a place like this truly need guards? Feels like the price of the ferry weeds out troublemakers already. They're insurance. If a rich evildoer came along, who would protect Metal Island!? ...Us! We'd get rich!The banter reveals that Vi views altruism and extortion as inherently linked.  Let's head onto the island proper.  Another guard here has only this to say (and we get the same banter for all the guards).  To our left is this little stall. Could be promising, but let's check in with the soldier first.  She's apparently managing the area's quest board. Yes, there's one here too (but no, there aren't any new sidequests for us yet).  Let's check the banter before talking to the merchant. That's a lot of Mothiva dolls. Ew. ...What's that other plush? Looks a bit like Venus. Perhaps it is another culture's harvest goddess! Huh. Wonder if this one's real, too...Interesting question. It's hard to see, but if you look closely, there do seem to be flower dolls in the chest with all the Mothivas. Anyway, let's chat up the merchant.  Hey! This must be the place! If you sell any toys, we demand that you show them to us. What a cute little trio! This one's just for you all! Hmm, well. It's no Bug Ranger merchandise, but... Shut it, Kabbu. It's perfect! How much is it? It's at half price today, for 400 berries.  Vi really doesn't like hearing this. You can tell by the dramatic zoom the camera does.  You've got, uh, anything more accessible? This one's on sale! My prices start at 600, you know. Welp. We've hit a dead end. There must be some other merchant... None as good as I, I assure you! ...... Y-You tried, Vi. It's going to be okay. We'll figure something out.   This is one purchase you won't regret! Pleasure doing business!Uh...  Our funds are fine, so... It's my savings. So no one can say I can't do something! But it takes a really long time... And you've taken such a great chunk of them for this? But I've known her all my life, so... I want to fix things. We're an awesome team! So I'll raise the berries again. But friendship is priceless, right? We're impressed. I'm... I'm moved to tears... Let's get back to Ann so we can do all the trades!And there you have it! I always enjoy this scene. We've already had plenty of hints that Vi is (unbeknownst to us as the player) gathering things for herself, she has her own stash of items for her healing move, etc, so it's not a complete surprise she has her own money. (For better or worse, this scene is unchanged even if you come here able to afford the item, Vi always buys it herself.) Character development! We'll deliver this soon, but first, we have an island to explore.  Talking to the merchant again just gets this line. Also, if we'd talked to him without progressing Vi's Request first, we could have seen this brief exchange: Hello! I've got the coolest merch of all! No Bug Rangers... hard pass from me.Kabbu, you already have one.   Across the way is a stall that sells tea. We've seen these items before; it's cheaper to make them yourself if you know how, but this can still be convenient.   Are you fellow tea lovers? While tea is easy to make from boiling leaves... You have to mix them properly to bring out their true flavor. Would you fancy some? Press (A) near a brew to let me know.The shopkeeper's dialogue hints at the recipe, to help us figure it out if we didn't already know it. Also, I can't help thinking "Tea Heaven" is a reference to Teavana, a now-defunct chain of loose tea shops (which personally tickles me to see, I actually worked for them at one point). Teavana survives today only as a Starbucks product line. Her stock is pretty straightforward:  Burly Tea (32 berries) Spicy Tea (32 berries)These can be useful (if sometimes awkward: they can get in the way of status-based strategies, if you just want a status cure with upside, they're great), but I don't feel the need to buy any. Let's check the banter: The smell's nice. We don't come across tea this high quality often. Ah... it's true. A nice, relaxing brew would do wonders for my wings! I want a super spicy one! To get me all pumped up!This is in-character, but I wonder if it's meant to be a vague gameplay hint too, suggesting it'd be a good idea to give Vi things that boost her attack? Also, hey, Kabbu does know he has wings.  Moving right along, we can find this interesting fellow. That's a very round beetle! Kinda looks like a big Tangy Berry! I heard that to the far east there is a land where bugs are shaped like fruit. Perhaps he came from over there. We must visit that land sometime. Do you think they have bug shaped fruits there? I'd rather not find out...Bug-shaped fruits? I can't even imagine it. (He's obviously from the same region as Tanjerin.) Let's talk to him.    Shiver me timbers! These are really rare an' not found anywhere else! Well, yer loss.Skirby (get it?) sells Tangy Berries! Look at them all in the crate behind him. He's not lying about the exclusivity either, this is the only place to buy them. This is easily the most reliable way to get them in bulk if you want to make a lot of Queen's Dinners. Or, of course, if you haven't had luck finding Golden Seedlings, you can get one from him to complete the cooking quest line. I've bought so many in prior playthroughs I lost count. 40 berries is expensive, but it's reasonable for how useful they are, and we'll be rolling in berries soon enough. I don't buy any now, but I'm sure I will soon enough. Getting access to Skirby is one of the main attractions of coming here.  Samira's here too. She doesn't have anything new to say, just her usual offer to play songs, but there's a new banter: Woah! Samira's here!? Did she get a discount!? She must be doing incredibly well! These are really high profile clients. It's thanks to you, Vi. Nah. It's all 'cuz she worked hard!That's a cute one. (If she is doing well, it's not because Team Snakemouth have been paying her... I haven't been buying songs.)  Let's check out this building. 27 - Kut it Up! Coming inside, we can see a mantis chef making dishes to go on a carousel (I guess Bugaria doesn't have a sushi equivalent, that's usually what I'd expect to see served in this style).  This is Master Slice! Although there isn't any way to actually get food here, or interact with him in any way, which is a bit strange. It's just a set piece. That slicing technique... it's like Kut's. They look alike too. He's probably, like, his master! I heard Kut and his master got into a fight... There's many things I'd love to ask him, but he seems quite focused. Let's let him cook peacefully!Some interesting little tidbits here, though as far as I know there's no way to follow this up or try to resolve the conflict. It's just background detail. I've said before how much I appreciate the way these things make the world feel bigger than the game (but then sometimes it's frustrating, because it piques curiosity and then does no more). Let's see who else is in here.   ...They're saying I'm missing a "boss card"!? Hello!? My "Spuder" card's legit! All a conspiracy, I tell ya. Everyone's trying to keep Jerry down! Bleh... time to eat the rage away...Heh. That again. "Spuder"? Did he mean... the Spider boss card!? No way, that card's got the wrong colors. It's a fake. People care enough to make fakes of these...?Oh, Vi, you have no idea. I do think it's quite cute they put in a reference to the boss's name change by having it be a counterfeit card.  There's food around, so of course so is Dan.   But here I am, pondering how they would taste mixed with other rare berries, or even rare seeds. Maybe they can be mixed with some explosives to really blow out the flavor!That's a pretty explicit hint to some recipes that we've yet to make. Rare cherries? We haven't seen those yet, we'll definitely have to keep an eye out so we can try them. He's here, too? Now we know he's a true gourmet. What, just 'cuz he spends money to eat? Many people boast being refined but wouldn't make the sacrifice to travel here. Truth be told, I do believe I enjoy eating... But if our travels hadn't brought us here, I wouldn't have tried to eat Master Slice's food! You two think about this way too hard... Last up is this fellow.   I may be far from the ol' Golden Hills, but I still thank good Venus before each meal!(Why does John talk like this when nobody else we met in Golden Hills did?) Let's check the banter.  Oh dear. Are you going to start speaking like that? Maybe. It's not like I mind, but... it'd be a bit weird?  I have to say I'm with Leif on this one  72 - Summer Holiday at the Metal Island (TM) Heading back outside the restaurant, I want to briefly draw attention to this fence. There's a secret here, but we don't have the necessary ability to get past it yet.  There are a bunch more people to meet in this little park area.  More hints about cherries. (You can see him holding them.) Drew here is the son of Tee, the tea shop proprietor. Woah! Dark Cherries are super expensive, y'know!? And he's got tons! He doesn't seem too excited about it. Bleh... rich kids don't know how good they have it.Now that I think about it, it's a bit strange Vi is so familiar with the dynamics of inherited poverty. She's from a eusocial species that doesn't exactly have family units, the bees more or less live in a commune. Maybe she spent a lot of time watching visitors?   I never thought I'd see the day! Everything is GREAT!This person, by contrast, is very impressed with everything. She has literal stars in her eyes! Heheh. It's nice to meet other first time visitors! Yeah. Everyone else seems used to the glamour. I don't think I'll ever get tired of eating fancy stuff! ...You think she will?Vi asking the hard questions.  There's also a statue we can inspect in the centre here.  As you may have predicted, it's a Discovery.    It doesn't tell us much we don't know (though the fact the spectators apparently enjoy watching a game they don't understand is interesting; wouldn't be the first time). Interestingly, there's no conversation to go with this discovery like there has been for most others, and checking the statue again just shows us the inscription again.  Our slacker friends are here (you might've seen them peeking into one of the prior screenshots). They've certainly been moving about; last we heard, they were supposed to be headed to the desert to investigate the Sand Castle more (if we went there, we'd see them too). Let's see what they have to say.  It's doing us much good. Are you vacationing as well? Nah. We're trying to get a boat! A-A boat? What for? There is more to Metal Lake than this resort. We've heard a powerful monster lies hidden in a nearby island's cave. Anyone who's gone after it ended up missing! Woah... As if lakes weren't bad enough already. Thanks. We'll keep it in mind while traveling. If you find a boat, please be safe! That we will. If you find a boat, be safe as well.They're serving in their usual role of giving hints toward the Bounties. Specifically, one of them is on another island in the Metal Lake, and will be accessible once we have a ship of our own (the captain won't go there). I point that out because I've seen people misinterpret this hint and scour Metal Island itself, assuming they must be missing some secret. This is also, of course, a bit of tantalising foreshadowing that we will at some point be able to get our own vessel and explore the rest of the sea.   They each have a brief line if we talk to them again. Both of them are very self-aware, aren't they? (How'd they get here without a boat, though?)  Tucked away on the west side is this fellow. Let's see what he's about.   He's another merchant. His seeming speciality is selling items with incredibly vague descriptions; let's not buy this.  Oof. Don't just say that to an old bug!Let's see the banter. You can't sell items with vague descriptions! It's bad business! B-But what could they be!? Are you not curious!? Hand over your berries, Kabbu. We'll handle the funds. Heh, this guy's got Kabbu's number. It is at least somewhat intriguing, though we're unlikely to make out well from this. Still, let's find out. (Please ignore inconsistencies in my berry count, I came back later to buy these and am splicing the footage in here.)  Oh! Thank you. Here it is. Oh. That definitely wasn't worth it. I still have something to sell that might interest you. Come back later if you want to know what it is, will ya?In for a penny, in for a pound. Let's keep making bad decisions! Ooooh... Oh, hm. Hello. Do you want some other trinket I have? A "weird berry". Sure. How could this go wrong? Oh! Thank you. Here it is. A bit overpriced, but that's a useful thing at least. I still have something to sell that might interest you. Come back later if you want to know what it is, will ya?Let's keep going!  At least this should be the last one, hopefully. How bad could it be? Oh! Thank you. Here it is. And this one is actually respectable! Shell Ointment is a tricky item to use well, but it's interesting, and this is the second and last one we can get for a while (they will eventually become renewable, but that's in Chapter 6). You sure got everything I had! Thanks for coming all the way over to talk to me. No one seems to care about an old bug anymore... Bugs these days are always so busy betting on those card games, I don't get the appeal at all! Oh, here I go rambling again. Please make sure to visit in the future!He gets quite a bit more talkative after we buy his last item. That said, there's a bit more to this, because we can talk to him again: Ooooh... Oh, hm. Hello. I don't have anything else to sell, but you lot remind me of this fly lad I met once. I wonder what became of him after that... Last I heard, he headed north or something... Oh, don't mind me. Just going back to my memories! Go on, you lot! Have fun with all that stuff!This speech is the main reason to buy this guy out; you won't hear any of this otherwise. There are some tantalising backstory hints in there, though it pertains to a character we haven't met yet so I don't want to say anything else.  There's one last person to meet out here.   You won't get much enjoyment here unless you have many berries to spare.That's all he has to say. Yes, I think we've gathered this, thank you very much. This beetle exudes... a business aura. Importance! Hey, those medals he's wearing... "VIP"! You seem to be right, Kabbu. This must be a very influential bug. Heheh. Hope he posts a quest. Think of the reward!I don't quite know what to make of this speculation, because nothing ever comes of this. He's just here. Maybe there was originally a quest line planned that got cut?  That's all for the exterior portion of Metal Island, so let's see what this building is about.  I've never seen such a massive inn! Bugs travel across the sea just to stay here... Can it be that great? We won't know if we don't stay, right?Hmm. Looks like this is an upscale hotel of some kind. Amber's here, too, if we need to access our storage. There's a banter about her too: I wish Ms. Amber could enjoy the resort... She's probably getting paid a billion berries to come here, it's fine! You're sure it's not a billion berries to GET here...?Anyway, let's see what this is.   One room for three costs 40 berries for the night. It includes a hand-made dish by the one and only Master Slice. That is very expensive, can't say I'm interested right now. If you do choose to stay, the item you get is a  Tangy Jam. This is not a bad item (12 TP and cures Numb), and you're more or less getting it at cost, but it's still expensive for what it is. ... The innkeeper really doesn't like that we declined. Let's check the banter:  Vi, what's gotten into you? I can tell he only treats others nice if they've got berries! It's disgusting! Since getting here is so expensive, he probably just thinks we're being cheap...There are definitely two sides to this one, it's interesting to see them discuss it. Anyway, let's have a look around.   They say you need to prove yourself by defeating the four masters to enter... But even before challenging them, you need an invite card from someone who's already defeated them. It's so alluring! So exclusive! Ohohoho!Should we tell her? Seems like a bit of a missed opportunity for her not to have new dialogue if we've already done this, but clearly she's meant to hint at how the quest works for people who didn't find it yet (if they somehow managed to get to Metal Island first). There's also a banter, of course. What's that in her hand? Oh, that's a fan! They've become quite trendy lately. You wave them quickly to blow refreshing air into your face! Interesting invention... It's not hot in here, though. She's probably just showing off...Fans are a recent invention, apparently.  When we approach the door on this side, the guard bars the way with his staff. What's going on here? Let's see the banter first. Is that... custom made armor? To guard a card game? Are you implying Spy Cards does not deserve such a thing? Ah, um... Of course it doesn't! It's just a children's card game! Tch. You're so clueless...Vi, those are fighting words. (I think she knows that, too, and is trying to get under Leif's skin.) Let's talk to him.  Let's ask what he means, even if we can guess.  Only those who have defeated all Card Masters of Bugaria and obtained the proof of their skill may pass beyond this gate! Begone if you have no proof!(You know, this raises questions as to how the spectators get in...)  Without proof, you may not pass! Begone!Okay, okay.   Let's show him some wrong items first, as you do. How about an Explorer Permit? That's proof of something, surely? What is this!? This is not proof! Don't waste my time!(You get this for almost every wrong item.)  We have to try this, of course. ...That girly doll is not proof! Woah! Brutal! Don't waste my time! Bring me proof or you shall not pass!This one's fun on several levels (though I don't exactly approve of the gender-shaming aspect, I can't say it's an unrealistic thing for someone to say?); admittedly, mostly I enjoy the guard doing a Gandalf impression.  Obviously, the card is what we need to show him. ... You are welcome in the great hall of the Spy Card Champions! Please proceed. He will now allow us to pass by and enter the card tournament arena. I have no intention of completing the tournament right now, but let's head inside and check the place out. Incidentally, I've checked and the guard has no special dialogue for being shown intermediate forms of the card (e.g. Blank Card, 1-Suit Card, etc), he just treats it as any other item. 34 - Dodgy Business Fancy! It's a big theatre. There's also a save crystal here, which is actually quite helpful if you want to reset rather than lose your entry fee if the tournament goes badly. This is it. The Card Master tournament. Bring out your strongest cards! You've got our support, Leif!A bit premature, since we're not playing just yet, but that's a cute one.  Let's see who's in here.   I haven't been back to the homeland in decades. I wonder if life is better there nowadays.He's from the same region as Kabbu. Let's check the banter. ... Kabbu? What's wrong? N-Nothing... Huh...There's definitely something he's not telling us about his journey here, judging by the strength of that reaction. But we already more or less knew that.  Who's this fellow?   My grandpa used to be the best Spy Cards player there was! He never lost a single battle! Before he retired, he gave me his deck, something he has been building for years! And with this... Watch me, Gramps! I will win using this special deck!That's a bit of a pointed reference. If you had any doubt, this character's name is Bu-Gi. Yeah. There's also, of course, a banter: It seems we're not the only ones with a lot of support. Everyone here fought hard for their spot. It won't be easy! You've got this, though! No problem! ...It seems our support may just be the best in the hall.This one's cute. It's nice seeing the team support each other.  There's somebody else on this side.   Unless you are a champion, you and I have zero business between us.This person wants nothing to do with us. How rude. Who does she think she is!? We'd do well not to pay her dismissiveness any mind...Moving on.  This person has even less to say. This Ladybug has suffered so much... We can feel it. We must not let our guard down. That pain's carried over to his deck. It's just cards!That's at least a bit more interesting.  Over on this side, we have someone else.   Don't get in my way, then. I will win, you hear! That reward is MINE!The other competitors certainly span a range of temperaments. What a poisonous aura... toxic, even. I do get a feeling of condescension... It's gonna make winning much sweeter!Honestly, people like this aren't much fun to play with, win or lose.  Closer to the stage, we have a few more people. Finally, someone nice? We hope to match with her in the tournament. What a good aura. Is it really ok to be so relaxed? Some battle for glory... She seems to only want a good match!You know, I'm genuinely not sure if Leif's supposed to be doing anything magical when he refers to characters' "auras", or if he's just speaking metaphorically. (I also wonder whether he wants to play with her because she seems nice, or because he thinks she'd be easier to beat as a result...)  We're getting closer to the stage.  Did you think the devs were only going to reference one card game? This one's a bit subtler, though: we'll eventually learn this bug's name is Johnny. "Johnny" is Magic: the Gathering slang for a creative or offbeat deckbuilder. We admire creativity, but... there is a beauty in playing optimally. If you're trying to win, you can't waste time showing off! This coming from you, Vi? Oi! I always try my super best!Leif and Vi are definitely closer to the Spike side of things.   I can't stand this, it feels like anything can just crawl out of there! Maybe I should take my business elsewhere.This person draws our attention to the big crack in the wall. This is worth remembering for later, though we can't do anything about it now. This guy's right to be mad! We pay way too much for the wall to be cracked! Ngh... For some reason I... want to see what's under it! Okay...?We can't satisfy this curiosity now, but no doubt we'll be back.  Finally, onstage is the tournament MC.   Here we hold down the Spy Cards Championship. You probably already know that, since you managed to defeat the Card Masters. Let's cut to the chase. If you win the tournament, you can get many, many berries. You will have to fight 3 battles in a row with the same deck. No changing in between. Only one of you can participate, however. So decide who it will be. Hm. Who should play then? ...Uh, Leif. Duh! Mhm. We are ready to start whenever. If you are ready, just say the word. Don't leave our sponsors waiting.If we talk to him again, he'll offer to start the tournament:  Then don't waste my time!I wasn't planning to do this right now anyway (we have more exploration to do), but I don't even have enough berries on me! The tournament costs 25 berries to enter, and you can play as many times as you want (though there's a special reward the first time you win). We'll be back. There's also, of course, a banter: He's got class, we'll give him that. In a high-end establishment, even the staff must look the part. I bet the outfit cost more than the ride here...Anyway, that wraps up what we can see in the Spy Cards arena for now. Let's head back and check out the rest of the hotel. 72 - Summer Holiday at the Metal Island (TM) This sign next to the front desk is quite intriguing, wouldn't you say? Let's head east.   If only they knew it's nothing special... So depressing...This person seems tailored to poke at Vi's issues. Complaining that she has everything... There's no way I'm gonna feel sorry for her. Her problems are... not relatable, yeah. We will probably never understand how she feels, but... Does that truly mean we can't try to empathize...?"Try" is the operative word there, I suspect.  There's also a bee working here as a maid. ... What's up? Fancy a bowtie too? I just think it's weird. Leaving the Hive just to work for someone else... She seems quite proud and content. Perhaps it was her dream? Maybe... I don't get it, though...As you might expect, Vi has a reaction to this. This is a bit awkward, but I'm running up against the character limit and need to split the post here. Back momentarily.
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Jul 28, 2021 02:35
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31: Metal and Paint (Part 2) Toward the far end of the corridor, we start seeing Ant Kingdom workers, as well as rougher terrain. What have they even been doing here? (Did the hotel extend further before they started construction, or was it built right into the bedrock or something?)   I heard she paid over a million berries to get the tunnel done here... Kinda wish they'd gone to our city.We don't know why Elizant II directed this project, only that she did. All these Ant Kingdom personnel disrupt things a bit, don't you think? Yeah. They still gotta pretty up stuff around the tunnel. It's a small sacrifice. Surely the guests will understand!That will probably depend on whether they're allowed to use the tunnels, honestly.  We had to patch for leaks pretty frequently... I hope we never have to do that again!This also makes me wonder about the overall structure here (as I said earlier, this makes me think the body of water surrounding Metal Island must not be very deep?).  The shortcut back to the mines is already open when we get here. This is, actually, our reward for coming to Metal Island "early" via the boat: if you wait until much later in the game to come here, Diana will be waiting and charge a significant price to open it (I think it's either 120 or 150 berries? I'm not completely sure, I just know it's more than the discounted boat ride). Anyway, once you've come here once, this shortcut means you never need to pay for the boat again, which is good if you want to come back for Tangy Berries or the card tournament. (Also, I lied earlier. If you go back via the boat accidentally, you can totally go into the mines and get back via this shortcut for free. You just wouldn't have any way of knowing you could do that, and would probably be very frustrated.)  The shortcut lets us out here, on a different side of this room than we're used to seeing! You can see the symbol for Metal Island on the sign above the exit.   This miner asks some interesting questions about Elizant's motivations for opening the tunnel. (The real answer is, no doubt, to facilitate the game's fast travel system...)  Well, we've had our fun on Metal Island for now, let's start making some deliveries! 17 - Ant Kingdom First up, of course, is Ann. We can choose items to give her now. Of course, we have to try some incorrect things first, now that we finally can.   Uh, sorry. I think I'm a bit too old for the Bug Rangers... ...Ignore him, he can get very sensitive.I suppose the Bug Rangers never came up when Kabbu was babysitting her? If we try other incorrect items: Um... I wouldn't call this "cool". Try again?Fine, enough dawdling.  Let's give her the Eastern Doll Vi spent so much of her savings on.  Touch this petal. TOUCH IT! Pretty cool, right? You wanna trade? Heck yeah! Thank you so much! Please take care of it. It's more expensive than we want to admit. I'll treasure it forever! Now we can bring this toy to our fellow bumblebee in Defiant Root!Well, seems like that worked out well in the end at least.  If we talk to Ann again, she'll just thank us. Let's head to Defiant Root. 37 - Defiant Root Talking to Genow now also gives us an item prompt. We have to try the plushie first, of course.  Weirdly, he doesn't have a special reaction. This is the same line he says when given any incorrect item.   A little ant toy! It's adorable! It's the cutest, right? Mhm. It's going to look wonderful in my room. Can't wait to tell my teammate! Here. The cloth you wanted. Thank you so much! Excellent. Our goal is finally within reach. It was nice to meet you!Nice and painless. One step to go, we just need to take the cloth to Dashy in the Golden Settlement and we'll have the paint.  Talking to Genow again just gets this line. Let's go. 26 - Golden Lands  As is tradition, we'll try giving her the plushie.  Like Genow, Dashy doesn't have a special reaction; this is what she'll say for any incorrect item. I'm not sure why Ann has one but they don't.  Let's give her the cloth.  Oh yes! Feel it... So soft. The patterns flow through me! Uh, glad you liked it. Time for your end of the deal! In a hurry aren't you? You should appreciate art a bit more! Indeed. Or at least Jaune's... But I won't delay you, I'm very grateful after all. Here. I hope she likes your gift. ...Me too.And we have it at last.  If we talk to Dashy again, this is all she'll say. Let's go deliver the paint!   There's no music playing in Jaune's room when we enter, and cutscene mode takes over immediately.  Are you sure you don't need backup? We've got your back! It's ok. I think I gotta do it myself. Just wait a bit!   It seems I wasn't clear enough during our last exchange!    You've gone and gotten it to rub your riches in my face!?  I'll get going now...  Y-Yeah? Red paint is off season, and hugely requested as it is. I know you didn't just walk into a store for it... Why make an effort after I've gone and shouted at you? ... I AM sorry I said you draw like a weevil. And all the other stuff. You weren't believing me, so I had to go EVERYWHERE for the darn paint! (Aha! Finally the game reveals it! Yes, her full name is Violet. But given the context of Jaune's name, it's likely pronounced as in French, 'Vee-oh-lay'. Hence why Vi rhymes with bee.) B-But if I can say something, you were mean to me too! I had dreams and you stomped on them! I'm doing great! I've gone to many places and beat up huge monsters! If... if you had any faith in me I could've done it sooner! I... ...... Please forgive me. Only if you forgive me back! ... ...It's settled then. Welcome home. Jaune! Aww. (Aside from everything else, this spritework is just wonderful.)  I don't wanna be a jerk, but I didn't miss the Hive at all. ...I did miss you just a little bit. There's something I've got to finish. And that I want to show you. Oh, uh. Okay. I'll go tell them!After that heartwarming scene, we fade out and resume with Team Snakemouth waiting outside.  Yup. Let's go back in whenever! That's a relief... Let's meet your sister properly, then.  We regain control now, but of course we'll just be heading right back in. Presumably some time has passed? 22 - Fine Arts  What's the thing you were finishing? The Queen's present? I've had this project for a long time, but not the heart to finish it... I'm grateful I get to show it to you. Stop hyping it up! I wanna see it! Hehehe. Oh, what a great audience. Get ready!  (Here's a static shot so you can see the painting better, my GIF software washed out the colours a bit in the animated one.)  S-Sniff... Hohoho! Its beauty moves you to tears! Jaune...  And you its best explorer! Let's not fight again, alright? Never!   And that's the quest resolved, finally. Vi gets a new skill for this, which we'll check out in a moment. First off, though, what's this achievement?  For completing Vi's personal quest, we get this. Leif and Kabbu will each have similar ones.  If we talk to Jaune after completing the quest, she'll let us rest for free here. We're rapidly accumulating locations like this, between Chuck, the house we bought, and now Jaune. If we say yes: Just make sure not to knock anything over!What are we doing, sleeping amidst the art supplies? And if we say no: Alright. Stay as long as you want, if you wish to see me working!(Despite saying this, we can't actually see her working, she just stands around.) There are also a couple of new banters. First, for the room: All's well that ends well! You did it, Vi. We're extra happy for you. Heheheh. It was worth every berry!Aw. There's also one for Jaune: So... yeah. Jaune's my sis. All bees are sisters, aren't they? Well, yeah. But I grew up with her! So we're special sisters! In a way, it seems bees do choose their family...We get a better understanding of bees' family dynamics. Let's check out our new skill.  Sharing Stash is the second (and final) healing skill Vi gets, and it's a huge upgrade over Secret Stash. The description here is a bit misleading: it heals the entire party 2 HP (and cures poison) immediately, and on top of that gives everyone HP regeneration for two turns. Vi can absolutely serve as the party healer if that's a role you want someone in, and she's quite good at it (the main downside is the opportunity cost of her not attacking, honestly). It does cure poison, though, so think carefully about when to use it if you're relying on poison strategies. Also, if you want it to heal more, you can equip Heal Plus on her, that medal works with her skills too. Let's do a quick demonstration.  After getting hit a bunch deliberately so there's damage to heal, let's try this out.  Like Secret Stash, there are a few different items Vi can throw here, though they're functionally identical. It heals immediately on use.  At the start of the next turn, you can see the icons for HP regeneration. It's also worth noting, if we used Sharing Stash again before the buff wore off, the durations will stack. This seems like a good place to wrap things up for now. We've finally taken a big step toward solving Vi's family issues and reconciled her with Jaune. See you next time! Explopyro fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Jul 28, 2021 |
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Jul 28, 2021 02:36
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Explopyro posted:And there you have it! I always enjoy this scene. We've already had plenty of hints that Vi is (unbeknownst to us as the player) gathering things for herself, she has her own stash of items for her healing move, etc, so it's not a complete surprise she has her own money. Explopyro posted:
Explopyro posted:Skirby (get it?) Explopyro posted:(You know, this raises questions as to how the spectators get in...) Explopyro posted:Leif and Vi are definitely closer to the Spike side of things. Explopyro posted:This also makes me wonder about the overall structure here (as I said earlier, this makes me think the body of water surrounding Metal Island must not be very deep?). Explopyro posted:This miner asks some interesting questions about Elizant's motivations for opening the tunnel. (The real answer is, no doubt, to facilitate the game's fast travel system...)
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Jul 28, 2021 03:11
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I used Sharing Stash quite a bit, because I didn't have any major cohesive strategies that involved Vi's power other than some fairly standard buff and debuff items and abilities. It really can help with sustain over a fight. Though I think you said it heals 3 HP to everyone when the gif clearly shows 2, unless I misread that. Metal Island is cool as a change of pace, too. Even in low-tech environments I like seeing a bit of modernity and ingenuity in these kinds of settings. (And yes I know about later, don't worry.) And the Tangy salesbug was very important to me and my infinite money late-game. I really liked seeing the hug between Vi and Jaune in-game, but it always reminds me how limited the actual spritework is for the game. I don't remember if I've talked about this before but I'm not the biggest fan of this game going for the more N64-based artstyle aesthetic. I think that it would have a lot more fans if it went for a more modern style. I don't know how much of that is because of budget or what, but I often think about how much cooler it would be if the characters had like 16 frames of animation for walking instead of 2.
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Jul 28, 2021 04:11
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Part of that was due to a smaller budget and scope. The Bug Fables dev team is really small, like a single digit amount of staff? Also the artist said the uneven line art for the characters was the result of faulty drawing tools.
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Jul 28, 2021 04:52
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Jaune and Vi got back together again 
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Jul 28, 2021 05:24
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Alien Arcana posted:I kinda wonder where she's getting this money from, though. It's not like she has off-screen time that would permit a side hustle. My assumption was that she was skimming a little off the top whenever the party found things, and we just don't see that due to the gameplay abstraction. Alien Arcana posted:Only those who have defeated all Card Masters of Bugaria and obtained the proof of their skill, or are able to pay an outrageously high membership fee, may pass beyond this gate! Haha. No doubt that's it. Alien Arcana posted:And Kabbu's more of a Timmy. He really is, isn't he. I wouldn't have thought to say it but that absolutely fits. (Now where are Vorthos and Mel?) Alien Arcana posted:Maybe Elizant is secretly a Card Spy anthusiast? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it were something like this. Alxprit posted:I used Sharing Stash quite a bit, because I didn't have any major cohesive strategies that involved Vi's power other than some fairly standard buff and debuff items and abilities. It really can help with sustain over a fight. Though I think you said it heals 3 HP to everyone when the gif clearly shows 2, unless I misread that. drat it, yeah, the 3 was a typo (maybe it stuck in my head from the description saying '3 turns', or maybe I just assumed she had Heal Plus on, I think I've used it more with that medal than without). I'll go fix that. I used Sharing Stash a lot on my first playthrough also, it's really quite a good skill. There are some tricks you can do with it, too, with Heal Plus and some later medals, if you want to go all in on building Vi as a healer. I like the way this game gives every character multiple potential roles in the party. Alxprit posted:Metal Island is cool as a change of pace, too. Even in low-tech environments I like seeing a bit of modernity and ingenuity in these kinds of settings. (And yes I know about later, don't worry.) And the Tangy salesbug was very important to me and my infinite money late-game. Yeah. Although honestly, I think it can come off bit lacklustre after the way the game's built it up, there's not very much to do there aside from buying Tangy Berries and playing Spy Cards. Alxprit posted:I really liked seeing the hug between Vi and Jaune in-game, but it always reminds me how limited the actual spritework is for the game. I don't remember if I've talked about this before but I'm not the biggest fan of this game going for the more N64-based artstyle aesthetic. I think that it would have a lot more fans if it went for a more modern style. I don't know how much of that is because of budget or what, but I often think about how much cooler it would be if the characters had like 16 frames of animation for walking instead of 2. Araxxor posted:Part of that was due to a smaller budget and scope. The Bug Fables dev team is really small, like a single digit amount of staff? Also the artist said the uneven line art for the characters was the result of faulty drawing tools. I'm not sure if this was a stylistic choice or to make the art more reasonable to implement, yeah. As far as I know, the art and spritework was all done by a single person. They got a lot of mileage out of it and the style works for me, but yeah, YMMV. I'm very much not the sort of person to complain about the way a game looks, and no doubt they could have polished it further with more animation frames had they wished to, but I enjoy Bug Fables' aesthetic and personally don't notice the lack of it. (Also, as I said, they manage to express a lot with the frames they do have.) It is also possible that the way I'm screenshotting and recording things makes it look worse than it does ingame, I might not be capturing every frame of animation in the gifs for instance (which is unfortunate but there's only so much I can do, it's tough getting them to fit under 2mb as it is). Slaan posted:Jaune and Vi got back together again It's so cute.
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Jul 28, 2021 18:23
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32: Victory is in the Cards 34 - Dodgy Business Last time, we explored Metal Island and the Spy Cards arena, and reconciled Vi with her sister Jaune (finally!). Today, let's do the tournament. We had a bit of discussion in the thread about whether now was the best time for this, or we should come back later when we have a broader range of cards and decks to choose from. I weighed the options for quite a while (this wasn't an easy decision), but ultimately I think it's better to do it now, and revisit it later (maybe in the postgame) to show off more varied decks. For anyone reading who is bored by the Spy Cards minigame: be forewarned this is another update dedicated to it, but it will be the last one for a while.  Let's do this. Let us start then. Click me for video! (Entire tournament) The screen fades out briefly and opens on the MC alone on stage, as well as a clear view of the big Spy Cards icon behind him (if we couldn't quite see it before.)  Here are today's competitors... We get to see a full tournament bracket here! There are seven competitors in addition to Leif, and their positions on the bracket are determined randomly, so we could end up facing any three of them (it's a single-elimination tournament). There are some familiar faces there, in addition to the people we met in the arena last update. We'll be going up against Carmina first. But also, look next to her - that's Janet! (Did you forget Janet?) We met her in the Ant Kingdom plaza as a completely forgettable NPC, complete with dialogue about how forgettable she was, but she gets a cameo here and that's pretty neat.  The MC introduces Leif and invites him on stage.  Every opponent gets a brief introduction by the MC before they come on stage.  And each opponent gets a line before starting the match, with various degrees of smack-talking. Carmina, of course, gets to remind us she taught us the game. And now... Let's start the fight! 29 - Team, This One's Stronger! (Miniboss)  As usual, we start off with the question of whether or not to use a previously saved deck. Let's not. This decision's a bit more impactful than last time, because we're stuck with whatever we choose for all three rounds - no switching decks or sideboarding in between!  That said, I'm not changing things around too much. I've swapped out our previous minibosses for Zasp and Mothiva, for variety and since some commenters seemed interested in seeing them (I do prefer Monsieur Scarlet, but Ahoneynation was disappointing and we don't have any other good standalone ones to go with him). I've also swapped out the attackers for other enemies of similar strength, so at least they'll look different (I'm still avoiding plants, though, Weevils will get you if you don't). I did try a Bots-based deck first, since that was suggested and it would've been nicely different, but I just couldn't get it to work with the cards we have now. I also thought about bringing back the Venus deck for a last hurrah, but rejected it since it tends to create longer and grindier games (I didn't feel like having to commentate that and I doubt you want to slog through it either; I'd probably have used it if I were playing casually, though). We'll be going with this.   This isn't a great opener, but at least we have a valid turn one play, so let's do that.  Lucky. Her play was just slightly worse than ours, I'll take it.   I have a choice here, I could play either Psicorp or Weevil. Neither is ideal, really (I'd prefer to be able to spend all my TP).  I went with Psicorp, thinking it was the safer play, and got punished for it. Weevil would've ended up being a push. Oh well, it's still early, and losing an early trick or two isn't unexpected.   A decent spread of cards here, but there's not much of a decision, our play is obvious.  Carmina just played a couple of Bee-Boops, that really isn't enough to contest us here.   Look at that, both Mothiva and Zasp are here! The pair of them is probably the best turn 4 play we could make.  Pairing the two of them gets an additional +2 attack and Heal 1, both of which are just great. Carmina basically threw the hand, but even if she hadn't, there's not much that can beat this. (Also, she lost her coin flip for Denmuki, but even if she'd won, Miniboss cards can't be Numbed.)   There are a few different combinations we could play here...  That said, looking back at it, I'm not entirely sure why I chose this one. It worked out, but I could easily have played a 4 attacker with the Weevil instead, and then paired the other with Arrow Worm the following turn; that's just better sequencing.   Still, we drew another one, so I didn't get punished for it. Let's play our 7 attack.  And that's game point. Simple enough. These matches can sometimes take a lot longer than this, I'm not sorry to see one go quickly.  So far, so good. One round down, two to go.  When we return from the minigame, our opponents generally have something to say. Some are more gracious than others; Carmina just seems proud of Leif.  Here are the current standings... We can get a preview of who we'll be facing here. I suspect it's just random who wins the other matches, but I suppose it could be possible they're simulating them in more detail?   We're up against Bu-Gi next. Let's see what Grandpa's deck has in store for us. And now... Let's start the fight! 29 - Team, This One's Stronger! (Miniboss)  (We don't get asked any questions about our deck here, it's right into the game. Hope you like your deck!)  Weevil isn't my favourite turn 1 play, but it could work out.  Seems like Bu-Gi had the same idea, though, so that's a push.   Fairly straightforward, let's press the attack.  That didn't go well. Denmuki might flip a coin to see if it numbs, but since it has attack, if it wins the flip against a single attacker card, it'll get a win instead of a push.   This is a choice, at least. Abomihoney or Devourer?  Devourer seemed more likely to get a win instead of a push, but it was also more risky - and here Bu-Gi managed to thread the needle with cards that don't count as bugs, and just barely overtake it. We're falling behind!   Let's see if we can get back in this. At least we have two cards totalling 5 TP this turn.  I actually remembered to order them with the weaker card in front this time! That made the difference between a push and a win, too.   Once again, there's an obvious play if we want to use all our TP. Will the Weevil come through this time?  Yes it will! Although, of course, it didn't actually matter, we'd have won this without its bonus anyway.   Let's spend all our TP, but save Zasp in case we draw Mothiva later.  I got careless here and didn't remember to order my cards properly; if he'd won the flip on Denmuki, this would have been a push (but not if I'd put them in the other order). I'll take the win, but I'm not pleased with myself for forgetting. At least we're finally pulling ahead.   This is an interesting choice. We could play Zasp and Mothiva together, or we could use all our TP with Abomihoney and both Psicorps. They're both good plays, but the minibosses are better (it's 1 point stronger despite costing less TP).  It ended up being the right call, we'd have ended up with a push the other way. The healing is appreciated too, of course.   Can we win this turn?  Looks like it! Sometimes all you need are big numbers.  That's round two down!  Bu-Gi is pretty disappointed to lose.  A refresher of the current standings! Looks like we're going to be up against Johnny in the final.   And now... Let's start the fight! 35 - Reckless for Glory! (Bonus Boss) We do get different music for the final match! If you didn't fight the Devourer and/or Broodmother yet, this might well be your first time hearing this song.   Looks like we'll be playing Weevil turn one again.  That was more interesting than it might have been! Johnny wins the coin flip for Acornling, and we get the bonus for it being a plant, but the two of them come out a wash.   We have a nice basic play for turn two, at least.  Looks like he had a similar idea. Neither of us are making any progress yet.   Choosing between Devourer and Abomihoney is a toss-up, really. Devourer didn't work out last time, so let's use Abomihoney I guess?  It worked out. (Devourer wouldn't have won here, robots aren't bugs.)   We both have our boss cards this turn. Interesting. I don't think it's right to play ours, though; we don't really have an optimal play regardless this turn, but at least if we play two cards we can draw two fresh ones.  Looks like Johnny had a similar idea. That's another push.   Now I think it's time for the Devourer, since we can pair it with another card.  That works. Amusingly, both of our bonuses ended up triggering here given what he played.   Mothiva and Zasp together is almost always the correct play if you have them.  Amusingly, he played Zasp too. The set bonus pushes us over the line to win.   It's correct to play 8 TP worth of cards this turn since we can, but which one? I ended up going with Weevil, since we have seen some plants from Johnny...  It ended up being the right decision, though we'd have won either way.   It's game point. Can we win? May as well play all these cards...  Johnny finally plays his boss card, though it isn't enough to save him. I'm not really sure what he's trying to do with Venus' Guardian here (did we see any Venus' Buds from him? I don't think so...); I've seen him play a couple of different boss cards in different runs.  Anyway, we win!  Johnny is a Johnny to the end.   You gave the crowd the show of a lifetime! Here's your prize, Spy Card Champion!   That's quite a haul! This was definitely worth it.  34 - Dodgy Business Show's over! Let us meet again! We could see ourselves coming back quite a bit.He's not joking, and Leif honestly has the right idea here. We can come back and challenge this tournament again whenever we want, for the same 25 berry entry fee. We can only get the trophy and Crystal Berry once, of course, but each subsequent win still yields 150 berries. This is a very quick way to grind berries if you're so inclined (especially if you enjoy the minigame anyway), and basically means money problems are a thing of the past. Now that we've won the tournament, a lot of the NPCs in the room have new dialogue. Before we go check that out, though, I replayed the tournament a whole bunch to see every competitor's introduction and lines. (For each competitor, there's the host's introduction, their challenge, then a line when they lose to us, and a line for if they beat us; they'll be in that order.) Bu-Gi: From the other side... His bonds brought him this far! Bu-Gi! (Challenge) For grandpa... I'll defeat you! (Leif wins) N-No... everyone... I... (Leif loses) GRANDPA! I DID IT!Carmina: From the other side... The mysterious, the charming, the one and only, Carmina! (Challenge) I brought you into the scene... But I'll crush you nonetheless! (Leif wins) ...The potential I saw in you was true. Good game. (Leif loses) Good showing. Let us play again.Janet: From the other side... Um... Janet? It's JANET! (Challenge) Oh, hey. I'll do my best, so you do too. (Leif wins) Oh. Hey, you're pretty good. I'll try again later. (Leif loses) Hey, you tried. It was a good try.Johnny: From the other side... A deckbuilding innovator! Johnny! (Challenge) You better get ready! My deck's unpredictable! (Leif wins) Aww, that worked out better in playtesting... (Leif loses) You didn't see it coming, eh?Kage: From the other side... A pained soul with a battle-forged deck! Kage! (Challenge) You will feel true despair... when you face my cards! (Leif wins) ...Tch. Have I not suffered enough to earn victory? (Leif loses) You lack hatred, if you're to defeat me...Ritchee: From the other side... A nomadic bee with exotic power! Ritchee! (Challenge) Hmph. You're my opponent? A shame for the spectators... (Leif wins) WHAT!? HOW... HOW DARE YOU SULLY MY RECORD!!! (Leif loses) ...As expected. Out of my sight.Serene: From the other side... A good sport, win or lose! Serene! (Challenge) Let's have a good match, alright? (Leif wins) Aww... What a good game. Shame it had to end! (Leif loses) That was so fun! Let's go again!There's some fun character in those, running the gamut of card player tropes. I'm not sorry to have compiled all of them, but please don't ask me how long I spent grinding through the tournament to see all of them. On the other hand, we're flush with berries now, I guess that's a plus? Ironically, Serene, the friendliest player, was the only one I managed to lose to (it took me three attempts to get her defeat quote with this deck; hers is pretty similar, I saw her use Devourer and Weevil at least). Now let's check out what everyone has to say.  Johnny's planning new decks, of course.  Serene is staying positive.   Ritchee is very angry.  Kage is still edgy.  And Bu-Gi is determined to make a comeback.  Well, not really. ...Vic is certainly singing a different tune now! She wasn't interested in talking to us at all before. (She's not a player, she seems to just be here as a spectator.) This one also gets us a new banter: ...Hmph. Now that you won she's all over you, huh. ...Let's go.Leif is really not impressed. Anyway, there's nothing else to see here right now, let's get going.   This time you have 28 Discoveries, last time you had found 25... Sorry... It doesn't seem you have enough for the next reward tier... But don't give up! Keep trying and come back when you do!On the way back, since we pass through the Ant Palace anyway, I decided to see if we had enough discoveries for the next reward, but we don't quite (I couldn't remember the exact number we had). I don't remember if I've shown this dialogue before, but here it is now regardless. Anyway, I want to make a quick stop in the plaza.  Specifically, at Team Snakemouth's house! You might notice something different already... (also, hi Janet!)  That's right! The empty plaque on our wall now prominently displays the card trophy. That's what it was for. This is entirely cosmetic (and it's all the trophy does, though it also lives in our key items menu still), but hey, it's a reward. This seems like a reasonable place to end the update. We're done with Spy Cards for now (until much later, when we can play around with new enemies); next time, we'll get back to our main task. Kind of, anyway. We were given the hint that Leif's Bubble Shield will let us traverse brambles... let's see where that takes us. See you then! Explopyro fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Aug 31, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 07:46
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Kabbu remains my favorite character. Meeting another bug from the north is super interesting, as is Kabbu's reaction! First I thought that maybe Kabbu was exiled or something, and that's the reason he reacted so strongly about meeting another fellow northern bug? But then the mention of "I haven't been back to the homeland in decades" makes me think that something might have happened to the north, some kind of disaster? But Kabbu doesn't seem like he's looking to gather aid for his troubled homeland, so that doesn't seem that likely, either. I'm still super intrigued about his backstory, and about what's Leif's deal. The game (and your LP!) are really good at keeping me engaged.
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Aug 2, 2021 10:43
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That was a good hug, and I'm glad the game acknowledged that Vi wasn't the only one at fault and had Jaune apologize too. e: wow I missed an update somehow double e: Spy cards is one of those games I could see myself spending way too much time on, like the card game from Xenosaga 1. Leraika fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 12:50
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Nothing better in a game than a trophy to make your house look sweet 
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Aug 2, 2021 14:24
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I'm on Chapter 2 in my game right now. I've completed the festival. What are the best recipes/medal loadouts currently available to me? I'm having a hard time feeling like I'm fully prepared, even though I've not really gotten myself in a hard spot yet. I appreciate that enemies stay defeated until you move out of a zone to a hub. It makes progress much faster.
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Aug 2, 2021 14:31
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To start and in short : Feelings a little unprepared is normal. Blowing through your consumables feels like kind of expected play. Just keep going and see how it goes, IMO. But, here's some rambling about systems and options. I've ended up mostly going for the 'stack all the attack on Vi and then use her multihit attacks' especially if you can use the weirdness of Defense Down and the +1 damage vs defense from Hurricane Toss. But there's a lot of ways of approaching stuff. Spicy fries + weak stomach +poison attack is definitely a solid combo if you need to buff someone's attack for a specific fight. When exploring around, Frigid Coffin and then not breaking them out can easily save you more HP than the 3 TP would heal. Heavy Sleeper and a drowsy cake also makes for a surprisingly good tank on Kabbu if you've got some HP Plus on him. But obviously he can't taunt while asleep (but can taunt then be put asleep). Also, don't look down on the basic Honey + Leaf for 5HP and 5 TP. Or Glazed Honey for 8 TP. A sleep bomb is useful for Mothiva/Zasp but far from required.
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Aug 2, 2021 14:52
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Yeah, I love the tournament! This was my favorite grinding spot for money. I'm sure there are some faster ones, but I had a lot of fun with spy cards so I mostly just ground this out with a bunch of different decks. My team ate like royalty off of the winnings.
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Aug 2, 2021 16:41
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Torrannor posted:Kabbu remains my favorite character. Meeting another bug from the north is super interesting, as is Kabbu's reaction! First I thought that maybe Kabbu was exiled or something, and that's the reason he reacted so strongly about meeting another fellow northern bug? But then the mention of "I haven't been back to the homeland in decades" makes me think that something might have happened to the north, some kind of disaster? But Kabbu doesn't seem like he's looking to gather aid for his troubled homeland, so that doesn't seem that likely, either. As per usual, I want to talk about this, but basically anything I could say would be spoilers. We will definitely learn more eventually. I'm glad the game (and the LP) are working out for you, I'm really glad to hear that. Give the game most of the credit, I'm trying to let it speak for itself as much as possible. Leraika posted:That was a good hug, and I'm glad the game acknowledged that Vi wasn't the only one at fault and had Jaune apologize too. The reconciliation scene is really well done, and I always enjoy it. (And yes, it's important that Jaune admits fault, the scene would have landed very differently if she hadn't...) In fairness, don't blame yourself for missing the update. I often post at weird times and don't maintain a consistent schedule, it's probably my fault. Spy Cards is a really well-designed minigame. Slaan posted:Nothing better in a game than a trophy to make your house look sweet It's a nice touch. OPAONI posted:I'm on Chapter 2 in my game right now. I've completed the festival. What are the best recipes/medal loadouts currently available to me? I'm having a hard time feeling like I'm fully prepared, even though I've not really gotten myself in a hard spot yet. Medal loadouts are tricky to give advice for right now as your options are still a bit limited (and I don't know how heavily you've been investing in MP), but there are a few things I can say. I'm partial to Favorite One at this point in the game (as seen in the LP, I like it on Kabbu), if you can deal with the defence penalty on one bug then it gives you a lot more damage output than you'd have otherwise, plus managing the charges is fun and you can save up for explosive moves. I tend to stop using it in the latter half of the game, once more options open up (and other sources of charge become available), but it's great early on. If the defence penalty is giving you trouble though, take it off. Back Support will show up in the next area, and that's one of the better defence medals, it can take a lot of the pressure off if you're able to fit it in. If nothing else, it can nullify the penalty of Favorite One if you put Kabbu (or whoever it is) in the rear. (If you really want to tank, stack Poison Defender + Weak Stomach on top of this for important fights, very little gets through that.) Don't neglect your 1 MP utility medals. They may not look like much, but Crazy Prepared and Quick Flea (and maybe Secure Pouch, in a bit) can give you a lot of peace of mind. You can always back out of an encounter and use items in the field (or maybe try to get a first strike) if it looks scary, then re-engage. For the most part, though, the best advice I'd give on medals is to be flexible and try different things out until you find something you like. The game gives you options. I'm pretty sure it's even possible to finish the game without using medals at all, though obviously I don't recommend you try this. As far as items go: one thing I'll say is don't skip TP recovery. Vi's Secret Stash can turn TP into HP if you need it, but you can't go the other way. Also, don't be afraid to use them, items aren't hard to replace. I don't know if any of this is actually helpful, and I think most of it is a retread of things I've already said in the LP... Tylana posted:To start and in short : Feelings a little unprepared is normal. Blowing through your consumables feels like kind of expected play. Just keep going and see how it goes, IMO. This is good advice. Spicy Fries and Burly Chips are the premium stat-boosting items for a long time, they just have so much going for them (though the main selling point is that they trigger Weak Stomach). Getting Danger Spuds can be a pain before Defiant Root, though, so I wouldn't worry too much about not having them. Drowsy Cake is the most efficient healing item for its price, as long as you use it with Sleep Resistance medals (I prefer this to Heavy Sleeper, though you can only equip them on two of the three bugs, so the third either gets Heavy Sleeper or needs to use other healing items), or use it outside battle. It can be really convenient, but if you don't like them, some combination of Leaf Omelet, Honeyed Leaf, and Glazed Honey will do just fine. (Leaf Omelet is cheap to make and at 9 HP it's the strongest single-target heal.) Arzaac posted:Yeah, I love the tournament! This was my favorite grinding spot for money. I'm sure there are some faster ones, but I had a lot of fun with spy cards so I mostly just ground this out with a bunch of different decks. My team ate like royalty off of the winnings. Weirdly enough, I think this playthrough is the first time I've used it to grind money; in previous playthroughs I just tended to put on Hard Hits and go kill monsters (I don't dislike Spy Cards, but I think I enjoy the combat more). Although I rarely really needed to do even that, once you get a bit of a buffer in the bank money problems tend to just go away. The tournament's definitely very efficient, though, it might well be the fastest way (at least for this point in the game). It's also quite convenient, considering Skirby's right outside to convert all your winnings to citrus.
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Aug 3, 2021 02:09
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