|
Getting new characters up to speed really improved in EO4. There's a few neat tricks you can utilise. But really, until 4 I never got much use out of classes you unlock later. The grinding just really put me off.
|
#
?
May 28, 2013 15:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:37 |
|
|
Well, there is one other way I remember grinding my new characters when I retired my old ones, but it's limited in use. But since it involves something we haven't gotten to yet, I'll just mention it when we do get there if 100percentjesusfree doesn't. For those who are curious: Abusing Iwaopeln and its gimmick.
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2013 16:41
|
|
|
McDragon posted:Getting new characters up to speed really improved in EO4. There's a few neat tricks you can utilise. But really, until 4 I never got much use out of classes you unlock later. The grinding just really put me off. Hell, they improved it a lot in EO3 with uh... whatever that one technique was called that lets them passively gain a percentage of Exp while not in use, it's been a while.  I've not actually played 4 yet, partly because it's not out here yet and the 3DS is region-locked.  ...also, I think I may be writing a bit much character dialogue sometimes, Musashi is just fun to write for. I'll try not to go too overboard. Speaking of Musashi, I forgot how much this game seems to want you to use a ronin the second you unlock them - not only do you unlock them when one of the best grinding methods has just become available, but there's a (really easy) quest involving them, that gives them a stupidly good weapon. I never really noticed the first time I played, but it's like Atlus really are doing their best to encourage you to just bite the bullet and grind up a new guy.
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2013 03:01
|
|
|
I just caught up with this thread, and all I can say is I'm glad I caught a good time to jump in--i.e. after the hiatus. I really like the way you've given each party member a unique personality (possibly because that's pretty much exactly how I played it). It's been a really long time since I played and beat this game, and reading the LP is making me want to bust out my copy of EO2 that I haven't touched since getting halfway through the first stratum about 3 years ago. So thanks for reintroducing that particular masochism back into my life.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2013 09:22
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:Hell, they improved it a lot in EO3 with uh... whatever that one technique was called that lets them passively gain a percentage of Exp while not in use, it's been a while. Oh, yeah, that one was helpful too.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2013 16:05
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:Hell, they improved it a lot in EO3 with uh... whatever that one technique was called that lets them passively gain a percentage of Exp while not in use, it's been a while. Combat Study. It's the general tactic used to level a farmer team along side the adventuring team.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2013 19:53
|
|
|
I guess the stats available from equipment don't make as much difference as the stats from levels?
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 02:03
|
|
|
Glazius posted:I guess the stats available from equipment don't make as much difference as the stats from levels? It depends! For attack and defense, equipment is generally the way to go. Levels generally give the largest boosts to health and TP - but that doesn't mean that levels aren't important for damage and such. While they may not boost stats as much as good equipment, having your levels lower than the enemies fucks over both your accuracy (I think, I've not seen anything to confirm this, but low-level characters seem to miss high level enemies a crazy amount) and your damage. Even if a low level character's stats are higher than a high level one due to stupidly good equipment, the level difference will still gimp their damage. According to something I found on Gamefaqs: Level diff. Enemy Damage Party damage ....-20.................219%.....................44% ....-19.................211%.....................46% ....-18.................203%.....................48% ....-17.................195%.....................50% ....-16.................187%.....................52% ....-15.................180%.....................54% ....-14.................173%.....................56% ....-13.................167%.....................59% ....-12.................160%.....................61% ....-11.................154%.....................64% ....-10.................148%.....................66% ......-9.................142%.....................69% ......-8.................137%.....................72% ......-7.................132%.....................75% ......-6.................127%.....................78% ......-5.................122%.....................82% ......-4.................117%.....................85% ......-3.................112%.....................88% ......-2.................108%.....................92% ......-1.................104%.....................96% .......0.................100%...................100% .......1.................100%...................100% .......2.................100%...................100% .......3.................100%...................100% .......4...................90%...................100% .......5...................90%...................101% .......6...................88%...................102% .......7...................86%...................103% .......8...................84%...................104% .......9...................82%...................105% .....10...................80%...................106% .....11...................78%...................107% .....12...................76%...................108% .....13...................74%...................109% .....14...................72%...................110% .....15...................70%...................110% .....16...................68%...................110% .....17...................66%...................110% .....18...................64%...................110% .....19...................62%...................110% .....20...................60%...................110% So, yeah. While levels don't have as big an effect on stats like atk/def as equipment, they're still pretty important. Also, sorry about not updating yet, had a surprisingly busy week for someone with supposedly nothing to do.
100percentjesusfree fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jun 7, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 12:24
|
|
|
Apologies for the lack of updates lately! My Aunt came to visit (all the way from Australia! Considering I'm in the UK, I don't really get to see her that often), and I swear she brought the weather with her. It's been way too hot, and I've not really been super productive lately as a result, so I'm going to try and get on with this to fix that. Should hopefully have an update later today, depending on how long it takes to get everything written up. Lately, there's been another game I've rather wanted to LP, too, but I dunno how well having two LPs at once would go. Plus I'd probably have to make myself halfway competent at video recording/editing before I could do it, anyway. Anyway, yeah, update soon, hopefully!
|
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2013 19:24
|
|
|
I certainly hope so. I read the whole thread in one sitting earlier and I'd really like to see more.
|
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2013 19:30
|
|
|
Update 22 - The adventures of Team 'What the hell is elemental damage?' Welcome back! We have a new character to play with, whom I've had to grind up (with apologies to Dr Pepper. ) so that he won't die in one hit. Now! As I showed off in the bonus golem update, we've unlocked a bunch of new quests - let's get on with some, shall we?Bar/Shop theme - The Lounge Where We Speak Of Tomorrow   "Ah! So you'd be the rest of the guild I signed up with? Pah. Back in my native lands, you'd never've even made it out of the wombs, let alone become adventurers!" "...Fantastic. I can already tell adventuring with you is going to be something special." "The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth." "Hmph. Tell me that again when YOU'VE beaten off a horde of elephants." "Actually, we pretty much have. Anyway, enough arguing! If we're going to adventure together, we should get on with it, not just stand here wasting time."   "That poor kid... He'll never be strong, so he wants to meet a powerful adventurer. He's hoping to meet a ronin above level 20. Do this for him, okay?" "Is that it? Hah. Easy."   "Huh. The kid seemed happy, jumping up and down like that. He seemed almost... too happy, you know? You've done three things for him because he's weak, but he doesn't seem so weak to me... Is that kid sick at all...? It's not a very funny joke." "Clearly, just being in my presence was enough to banish any weakness from the little runt." "Oh... So you think he got better because we met all his requests? Aww, that's a sweet thing to think. We'll just go with that theory, then."So, yeah. Some kid is abusing the Make A Wish foundation of Etria, and we get patronised for it. Even so, this quest series is well worth doing. Why? "Hah. How many of you have completed a quest just by standing there?" "Perhaps you should just stand there while we take on some actual jobs, too?"  "Knock it off, both of you."Well, remember that our current strongest katana has 55 power.  Yyyeah. I swear, this game really wants you to use Ronin when you get them - you get a quest right when you get them, that gives them a weapon roughly twice as strong as any (affordable) weapon that we have access to, and we have a perfect grinding spot with those respawning frogs right around the time we get them, too. I'm not complaining, though!   Compare Musashi's attack to Dietrich and Hector, though, despite him being half their level - attack-wise, equipment makes a huge difference in this game. Level also seems to play into damage calculations, as well as accuracy, though, so despite having high numbers on his stat screen, Musashi can still seem a bit underwhelming in terms of damage output, particularly against FOEs. As he continues to catch up in level, things will improve, though.  "Huh. Nice sword." "Eh. S'just a toy compared to the blades they'd smith in my native land - I once had one so fine it would split heaven itself with every swing!" "Then why not bring it with you?" "Do you need your ears cleaned out? I'm not looking to pick a fight with Heaven down here! Last I checked, this isn't Shin Megami Tensei."I missed the screenshot, but I'm taking on the Pest Control quest here.  "The client wants you to gather the pests on the 10th floor and exterminate them all at once. He said the best way to draw the insects to you is to use an Amber Lump. Apparently, its sweet smell attracts the bugs. Good luck... And don't bring that Amber Lump in here. I don't want any bugs in my pub."There are two ways to get Amber Lumps for this quest, for those who don't rmemeber - you can find them in Take spots on B3F, back in Stratum 1... Stratum 2 theme - The Vast Primeval Hidden Grove  Or you can fight these things, on the floor where you're meant to do the quest. They show up in groups of five, and the amber lump has a reasonable chance to drop, so you're sure to get one, right?   "These irritatingWasps will not drop the amber lump. Back to floor three." I apologise for the haikus. I'd do iambic pentameter, as Lazy Programming suggested, but I have no idea how to write in it.   This is what happens if you come to this spot with no amber lump - this is where the big fight will happen! There's actually a warning when you step near the door leading here, but I forgot to screenshot it - it wasn't super interesting, anyway, mostly just going "Yo, look out, there's going to be a big fight here, you should make sure you're ready." Of course, we don't have an amber lump, so it's irrelevant.  "Decided to take the request, have you? Good, I've been hoping someone would. The merchant Ian wants you to bring back samples of everything you can mine on the 10th floor. You've been there before, right? If you've been careful about your map, it should be easy. Good luck, kiddos."Seeing as I'm taking a survivalist back to floor 3, I figured I'd just get this quest done while I was at it.  The quest doesn't take all that long. You only need to mine 3 items - Scrap Iron, a Fossil, and a Thin Shell. I've found that the two mining spots on the floor seem to have different rates of dropping things, with one seeming to hand out lots of scrap iron, one lots of fossils, and thin shells just being generally fairly rare. This shouldn't be taken as gospel, though, it was just how things went for me.   "Scrap Iron, a Fossil, and a Thin Shell... This is everything you can mine on the 10th floor? All right, then I'll make sure to deliver it to the client. Thanks for your hard work." Oh hey, another item that'll clog up an inventory space, and I'll forget exists.  "Alright, shall we?" "No, we just brought one here for a laugh. Of course we should!"You break apart the Amber Lump before applying it to the surrounding foliage. Suddenly, countless butterflies appear, as if drawn by the sweet smell filling the air. A pack of extremly poisonous Toxinflies ambushes you! "Oh boy."Event Battle Theme - Destruction Begets Decay I actually tried videoing this fight, but something went wrong - about halfway through, the sound stopped working, and the video started lagging out, probably because the emulator wound up running at about 1fps. It's... not super interesting, anyway. We fight a few waves of slightly souped-up Venomflies.   Yeah, I'm sure throwing the exact same fight, that did almost no damage to us, is going to suddenly become a huge threat. Seriously, their poison hits for all of 25 damage, and targets a single character. This might be a threat if these fights ever lasted more than like, a turn or two, and we were several levels lower... as things stand, they're basically a joke.   "Oh no, three of them at a time, now! How will we ever deal with this?" "I'm sure we'll think of something." Yeah, that result was predictable.   "Pah, these things don't learn. It reminds me of-" "Stow it. Even these things will manage to kill us if we wait for you to finish telling one of your stories." "There seem to be no more toxinflies remaining. You have successfully completed the client's request! All that remains is to report back to the Golden Deer." "About drat time. Swinging a sword at butterflies still feels ridiculous." Obtained Nectar II! "Welcome back, kids. You burn out all those insects? I hate the very thought of bugs... it's a relief to hear you exterminated the pests. I'm sure it was much easier for you than it would be for me? If I ever have insect problems at home, I'll know who to call." "An actual exterminator, so you're not wasting our time?" "Hush, you." The reward for this quest isn't exactly great, but seeing as the task to complete it is basically 'aimlessly wander around B11f', which we need to do to map it out anyway, so it's pretty much just free money.  "You face death every time you enter the Labyrinth. Anyone who goes in has to realize that. For some, death at the hands of the Labyrinth's monsters is the only fitting end... Our client this time says his comrades rest on the 11th floor. He dosen't exactly know where. Find their resting places for him... but be careful not to join their ranks." "Right. Finally, time to stop messing around and get back to actually exploring the new stratum. Honestly, I don't know why we bother with half of these." "Money for easy work is basically the mercenary dream. Even if s'not much, it's still something."Stratum 3 theme - The Thousand Year Old Woodlands  Also, make sure you still check out the areas that those soldiers mapped out for you! Sometimes they leave off important details, like the stairs. "Huh. That was fast. We probably ought to stick around on this floor a bit longer, though, map it out properly and stuff." Meet one of the other FOEs of the floor. Somewhat more intimidating than the ants! "On the other hand, those stairs seem pretty tempting right about now." "See the turtle of enormous girth-" "Pah. I've had pet turtles bigger than this thing!" As well as looking intimidating, they can take a hit! This is using Allslash, a move that normally does ~200 damage.  Plus they have a nasty trick up their sleeve. They did all this damage to the party with one technique - their Blizzard ability hits everyone for a massive amount of cold damage. If you're smart, you'll have a Protector spam Anticold, especially if it's at rank 5. Naturally, I forgot to do that until this happened.  "Everyone! ...Dress up warm, I guess?" "what." "Hey, I dunno how this works either."That's the message you get when someone is hit by a damage type they're immune to as a result of anti*element* abilities. It's pretty satisfying!   Of course, it does still have basic attacks...  Which hit pretty loving hard.  "Christ. How long does it take to kill these things?!" "Maybe wandering around with no-one to lob fire and lightning around wasn't the brightest idea." "Eh, we're managing."  And of course, Musashi dies at the last minute and misses out on the experience.  Not that it's that amazing anyway. Frog murder was better!  You pull it from the earth and see that it's an old wand. Obtained old wand! "Aha. One of the things we'll need for that quest, I'm guessing." And just past it is a mining spot! This isn't super useful to us right now, because we have no miners in the team, but I'll bring some along later.  And if we double back on ourselves, we find some mysteriously coloured ground! Whatever could it be?    "...Yeah, no. I'm not wandering around blind when we don't know where we can get back up."  Also, those various items for this quest are indeed physical items, that take up an inventory space. EO doesn't really have a 'key item' system or anything, it just jams everything into one inventory. 60 slots is still quite a lot, though, unless you're doing an extended mining mission, or, say, wandering around a floor for 5 days.  Oh hey speaking of those, here's another one!    There are a couple more of those turtle FOEs up in those square areas, but they're easy enough to avoid. Their movement pattern, appropriately for a turtle, is to take one step for every two (I think? It might be three, I took these a while ago) of yours. As long as you don't get yourself stuck, you can generally slip past them without a fight. Not that we can't kill them, it's just easier not to have to, when your party has no good elemental attacks.  "Pah, is that it? We slip by some giant turtles and get rewarded with pocket change?" "Yeah, that seems to happen a lot."  "Hm, a small room guarded by an FOE? Surely there has to be something good in there..." "There's air! I suppose that's good." "Ugh."I have no idea why they made a 1x1 room patrolled by an FOE, with only one way in or out. Maybe to trick people to going inside when the FOE is right behind them, so they'll walk out right into its path? Thet world may never know.   "Not merely a rusty sword, this thing is more rust than blade."Bar/Shop theme - The Lounge Where We Speak Of Tomorrow    You hand over the three comrades' articles. "Welcome back. I'll make sure to give these to our client. Thank you very much... I understand why adventurers are drawn to the Labyrinth's mysteries, but... Looking at the things they leave behind... I feel awful, giving requests like this. But your work does save the lives of many people... So all I can do is pray you'll return safely every time you go down there. Promise me you won't do anything stupid, okay kids?" "Who're you calling 'kids'?"  Also, falling onto the next floor unlocked the quests from there. Anyway, I sent a few farmbots along to the new mining spot, to see what new stuff we can get...    ...   "Our client today is planning on making a ring of Corundum. Being proposed to with a hand-made ring... *sigh* It's every girl's dream... But before he can go through with it, he needs your help in finding the ore. I hear you can mine it somewhere in the third Stratum. Make that girl happy, kids." Welp.  "Welcome back, kids... Yep, this is Corundum all right. I'll see that the client gets it. I wonder what kind of ring he's got in mind... I hope we get a peek before the proposal!"I love it when I accidentally complete quests.   Hector's build is a bit all over the place at the moment. Because I seem to leave it so long between gaming sessions, I often forget what I was actually going for. I've been focusing on getting his anti-*element* skills up to the point where he can make the party immune to whatever gets thrown at us, though.I think I'm planning on going for Smite, next, just so he has something he can do when we need damage rather than defense.   Musashi is pretty much exactly what I said I'd do with a ronin - maxed out Midareba, then building up his passive attack boosts.   Now that I've maxed out Allslash, and given him the basics of elemental attacking, I'm not really sure what to do with Dietrich. I think I'm planning on boosting up his passive abilities and giving him War Cry?  Jill is, similarly, a bit all over the place. I've been pumping her Refresh up, because a friend of mine reminded me of how unpleasant this game can get with status effects later. Even if the skill's not 100% accurate, it'll still be handy to have. I'm a bit miffed, actually - I don't think I quite get enough stat points to max out both Caduceus and TP regen. Bah. I can always Rest her to reset her skills, I suppose.   Keyser is Keyser. I went ahead and maxed out the troubadour's best skill already, and I'm probably going to give him the skills that let people's weapons do elemental damage, next. Beyond that, I'm not really sure what to do with him. New Shop Stuff! We've got a bunch of stuff, this time. Some of it I could've actually unlocked a while ago but didn't because I went through the area too fast and missed out on drops.  This requires 5 Gum Throats to make, which we got from our attempt at frog genocide while grinding up Musashi. 70 is a pretty hefty attack boost at this point!  Here's what our party can use Corundum for - making a ring that gives a bit of defense and ice resist. Eh. If I'm fighting something where one of these would be worth it, I'd rather just have Hector spam Anticold.   Oh yes. This sword is ace, it's a huge upgrade over the Rapier, but it can be a pain to get - it requires 1x Sharp Horn, Cernunos' regular drop, and 1x Tiger Fang, a moderately rare drop from, surprisingly enough, the tigers that wander around B10F. Because I'd kind of blitzed through there, I missed getting one, but that has now been fixed! While it pales in comparison to the VIKING, new shoes are pretty good, too. Decent defense and a hefty speed boost are both good things, especially seeing as the squishy Ronin can wear them. It requires 5 Tiger Fur, also dropped by those tiger things, and 3 Steel Lumps.  Oh, and we got another sword already. With even more attack than the Viking... but given that the Viking boosts strength, it's only slightly more, and the Viking boosts vitality, as well... even though it's got more attack, I prefer the Viking. Seems the creators did, too, given that it's the more expensive of the two! It requires 5 elastic, and 5 Steel Bones. Elastic comes from the Meltworms that wander B11f, and Steel Bones come from the ants in the same place.  The bow upgrade is nice, too. It lacks the TEC Boost of the previous bow, but as far as I can tell, no-one that uses bows actually uses TEC for anything, so it's kind of a nonissue. It requires 5x Elastic, so, going by the description, the entire bow is made of elastic harvested from worms... I'm not sure how well that would work.  This is also a godsend. Huge defense boost, with no downsides, that's wearable by just about any class that might feasibly go on the frontline, bar combat medics? Yes please. Also it only requires 3 Elastic to make, so it's easy to get, too.  This, unfortunately, is a bit less interesting. It heals one party member for a unch of health. Handy if you're in a pinch, but generally, the main thing you need to worry about are things hitting your whole party, not single members. It requires 10 rock coral to make, which you can get from mining on B11f, or killing the frogs that wander there. Anyway, sorry again that I keep putting this off! I'll try to stop making a habit of that.
100percentjesusfree fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Jun 18, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2013 21:44
|
|
|
For your Viking weapon screenshot, you're missing the front colon on your black101 emoticon. Also, if you're wanting some advice for video stuff, you can probably check out the Tech Support Fort. Also, I've done a little bit of video stuff before, so you can email me. I'm at generalyeti5@gmail.com. If I can, I'll help you out.
|
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2013 23:03
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:
As the one who came up with Dietrich in the first place, may I humbly suggest giving him points in Tornado and maxing out 2-Hit? If Tornado works similar like in EO2 then it will clear out small groups pretty fast, since it also hits adjacent enemies. And more chances at double hits would be nice, too. War Cry wouldn't be entirely bad, of course. Landsknechte were after all a loud and boastful lot.
|
|
#
?
Jun 17, 2013 23:23
|
|
|
GeneralYeti posted:For your Viking weapon screenshot, you're missing the front colon on your black101 emoticon. Whoops, thanks! I fixed it, and I might just take you up on that offer! Seems the legacy of  may continue even after I'm done with all the class updates and such. Libluini posted:As the one who came up with Dietrich in the first place, may I humbly suggest giving him points in Tornado and maxing out 2-Hit? If Tornado works similar like in EO2 then it will clear out small groups pretty fast, since it also hits adjacent enemies. And more chances at double hits would be nice, too. War Cry wouldn't be entirely bad, of course. Landsknechte were after all a loud and boastful lot. Yeah, 2-hit was one of the passive abilities I was definitely planning on capping out when I can, it's pretty handy. Tornado, on the other hand, sorta sucks - it hits less enemies than Allslash, for less damage, while costing exactly the same. If you still want me to go for it, I will do, though!
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 00:47
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:
You call that a haiku? It doesn't have a season word, and the cutting comes in the middle of a line. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 10:50
|
|
|
FractalSandwich posted:You call that a haiku? It doesn't have a season word, and the cutting comes in the middle of a line. I am terribly Apologetic about My haiku skills. Spring.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 12:58
|
|
|
Why can't you just be grateful that Jesus-Free can count syllables right?
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 15:33
|
|
|
Dietrich Dietrich Diet rich Dietrich Dietrich Dietrich Dietrich Dietrich. Spring.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 15:35
|
|
|
Can we please stop it With the useless haiku posts Spring spring spring fall spring.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 16:09
|
|
|
GeneralYeti posted:Can we please stop it Never. you tarnish my honor, prepare to be cut down by my sword. A two part Haiku All of this happens in spring Cherry Blossoms. Fall.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 17:45
|
|
|
Look at the derail My bad haiku skills have wrought. I'm okay with this. Also, update soon? I have the images I need. Just have to write. Okay, I'm going to stop that now - I'm going to possibly try going for shorter updates more frequently. Or maybe they'll wind up the same size, who knows? Either way, I was thoroughly confused on B12 until I remembered the gimmick that was going on. That was fun. Anyway, update... probably reasonably soon? It's like 2am here, so possibly not tonight unless I surprise myself, but soon! (unless I get lazy again, who knows.)Also, Fractalsandwich, seriously, sorry my haikus kinda suck.  I'm not a poet, and I didn't really know anything about Haiku beyond the 5-7-5 thing. Not knowing poo poo about poetry, or all that much about literature, makes Keyser... interesting to write for, to put it one way.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2013 01:54
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:Also, Fractalsandwich, seriously, sorry my haikus kinda suck. I'm just makin' jokes. No offense to your dope rhymes intended. Strict haiku is hard; I can't write it either, to be clear.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2013 09:11
|
|
|
FractalSandwich posted:I'm just makin' jokes. No offense to your dope rhymes intended. Strict haiku is hard; I can't write it either, to be clear. No worries! I wasn't actually offended or anything, I'm just aware my poetry is terrible. Update 23 - The adventures of team 'oh, so that's what elemental damage is.' Bar/Shop theme - The Lounge Where We Speak Of Tomorrow   "If the Radha sent a notice to all adventurers, something odd must have happened. I don't know the details, but they seem to be having trouble with some abnormal plants. The Radha's soldier on the 10th floor knows more, so ask him about it. Keep your guard up, kids." "Again with the 'kids'!A quick warp to the third stratum, then a trip up the stairs later... Stratum 2 theme - The Vast Primeval Hidden Grove   "Ah, aren't you with the renowned Runaway? It's such an honor to see you here!"Sidenote, the guild's name keeps making me smirk. 'Ah, the renowned guild named after cowardice! It's so good you're around!' It's especially funny because I don't actually have them run away that often, I just plow through combat. The soldier continues enthusiastically. "I'm sure you've heard, but there's a problem with abornmal plant growth on the 10th floor. The weeds are blocking most of the doors on this level. We looked into the cause of it, and concluded that there's a monster making them grow. It's a very strong monster, though -- one beyond our capabilities."Saying this, the soldier takes something that looks like medicine from his pack. "Use this to temporarily wither the grass, so you can pass through the doors. The monster is supposedly somewhere in the northeast. It's in an area past two dangerous Assassin scorpions facing one another. You'll have to pass them to get to the monster... ButI 'm sure you'll be able to do it!"The soldier hands you the powder, then steps back, an expectant look in his eye.  Repeat this image 9 more times.   So yes, sort of puzzle time! We have ten uses of door-un-sticking powder, and a floor full of doors. What a dilemma! Or, y'know, not. It's not really that hard if you know where you're going - there's only one major area up in the northeast, so it's not too hard to figure out where to go.   In an instant, the grass covering the door withers away. The door can be opened now. "One door down! 9 uses of powder left."    Openin' up doors. I'm not really sure what happens if you run out of powder, it's not something I've experimented with. I presume you'd have to go cancel the quest then restart it.  "We probably ought to hurry it up, those scorpions caught our scent." "Pah. I can take them. They're barely the size of insects compared to the scorpions of my hometown!" "That's great and all, but we're here to do a job."  Event Battle Theme - Destruction Begets Decay  "Bah. It's just a slightly tougher one of those plants we've killed a million of. Boring." "Easy money, though."Yeah, despite getting a unique name, and the event battle music, this fight is nothing special. It hits a bit harder, and has more health than the standard versions of itself, but it still dies like a chump very quickly.     I think Musashi has some of our highest single-target damage right now - considering he's a good few levels behind the rest of the party, that's impressive - a boost Apollon from Alex, or a powerful elemental spell that's hitting a weakness are the only things that give him any competition. I still don't think Ronin are amazing in general, because of the setup and such that they require, and their generally abysmal defense, but they can be fairly impressive at the main thing they're good at!  Naturally, the experience sucks, too.  "Pah, see? Told you those scorpions were no match for us." "Says the exhausted, poisoned old man on the cusp of death." "Only by living at the edge of death can you understand the indescribable joy of life."   "I can see from your tired faces that this request was no picnic." "Nah, Musashi's just old, he's already up past his bedtime." "Hey!" "But I think you'll perk up once you see the reward. They say it's an excellent weapon. But no fighting over who gets to use it, okay?" "Somehow, I don't think we will be fighting over who gets to use it." So, yeah. If you're using an axenecht and couldn't be bothered getting the meteor axe, this is great, and not that hard to get! If you're not using an axenecht? It's a bit of cash. Oh well. Anyway, I'd rather not take on the Feat of Strength task yet - we could possibly manage it, but I always feel awkward having one party member wander around by themselves. "Alright. And again, back to mapping out the 11th floor! We've not really seen what's in the southwest yet." "Another pit? Good start."  "Hmph. And some slightly tougher insects guarding something... I guess that should mean there's something worthwhile here?" "I wouldn't count on it."  Second verse, same as the first. Bloodants are still a nonissue - they can hit Musashi for a fair chunk of his health, but they're a lot weaker than most FOEs.  "Well, that was a complete waste of time."Of note, there's a shortcut through the wall to the east one square south of where the party currently stand. I missed it this time, because I forgot it's useful to get, though, as it gives quick access to those pits, which will be useful later.FOE theme - A Sudden Gust of Wind Before Your Eyes  "Oh boy. This'll be fun."  Fortunately, Keyser makes up for this party's crippling lack of elemental damage, with these songs - he can imbue the party's melee attacks with fire or ice damage. "You might say I have a song of ice and fire." Anyway, this is honestly one of the things I love about this game - provided you're not going for post-game content, you can make just about any party work, there are all sorts of ways for covering up weaknesses, using items and such. There are definitely times when some parties are better than others, but you can make a lot of things work.Back in the OP, I joked about an all-medic party, which wouldn't be super viable... but even then, if you could somehow survive early on, and turned 3 into frontline fighters with maxed out ATK-Up and Caduceus, and carried some of those elemental-imbuing items for physically resistant enemies, you might be able to manage. I wouldn't want to try it, though.  "Damnit, Hector! Shelltor us properly next time." "I hate you all."Also, note how little damage Musashi does normally...  And how much he deals on a hit with Keyser making his weapon elementally aligned to hit a weakness. Now, these turtles are water-themed enemies, and armed with ice attacks - I'm sure you can guess what their weakness is.   That's right! They are, of course, weak against ice. The very element they spew willy-nilly at the party. The gently caress, Atlus? "Hah! I knew those skills would be handy." "Only been with the guild a day and you're already riding my coattails to victory?"This was mostly me testing to see if Blazer/Freezer/Shocker - the 'follow up an elemental attack with one of your own' skills will still proc from an element-imbued weapon attack. Turns out they do!  Ooh. The 100 Shell drops fairly infrequently from Shelltors (or maybe I just don't kill them often enough), but it's certainly nice to see.  And that's why. Stratum 3 theme - The Thousand Year Old Woodlands  "Radha Hall will be quite pleased to see your handiwork. If you are done mapping B12F as well, then return to the Radha and show them the results. If not, then move along to the next floor, and complete the second half of your task."  This doesn't look complete to me, somehow. You lied to me, mysterious voice! Actually, the game's just a bit generous with what it considers a 'complete' map, apparently. Oh well, I still plan to fully explore the place.  "Who the hell makes a door that just leads straight into a hole!?" "Perhaps we should just open doors and look through, rather than stepping straight in...?" "No more of that. That way madness lies."    Fortunately, with our magical mapping, we can tell where we are on the floor, at least. Seeing as we have to map this place out anyway, might as well wander around a bit.  Oh, gently caress.   Oh, gently caress.   "Ow! poo poo!" "Does cursing while cursed make the curse worse?"Yeah, the game's starting to get nasty with its status effects now. Hexfrogs try to hit the whole party with Curse, a status that means every attack you make has a (very high, but I don't think it's quite guaranteed) chance of hitting you back for half the damage you just dealt. With, for example, Allslash, and other attacks that hit several times, it treats each hit individually, so you can die halfway through performing a technique as a result of it. It requires level 6 Refresh to cure, too - all in all, it is an incredibly nasty status when used against you. Plus, even when you can use it against the enemies, the Etrian Odyssey games follow the same pattern as most RPGs, in that enemies have a lot of health, while dealing smaller attacks, while the player characters are the opposite, so it has much less of an effect on them than it does on your party - by itself, anyway.   I foresee this happening a lot. On the other hand, treasure!  Nevermind. Back to the previous floor to finish up mapping it, this one clearly hates me.  "Ooh, Amrita! Stuff to help us keep calm and recover our strength is always good." "Not exactly exciting, though." "True, but they can't all be winners." Sadly, the way southwest is blocked off, so we can't really map that area out yet - we won't be able to 'til we can unlock that door, either. Good thing that it doesn't exist, for the purposes of map completion in the Radha's eyes, I guess!  And that's the shortcut I mentioned earlier. We're about done with this floor!   Unfortunately, we can't go anywhere on the next floor, either. Those three little outcroppings look oddly suspicous, though - they all correspond to one of the holes on the above floor, but one hole lacks a matching outcropping.   Bingo. "I'm getting quite sick of these pitsWe fall, like a bunch of tits We all hit the ground With a terrible sound Of Hector exclaiming oh sh-" "Yes, the pits are awful, let's not immortalise them in poetry, please, for God's sake." "At least this one took us somewhere useful!" Speaking of useful, there's a two-way passage here, so we can easily get back to the upper floor, and from there to here, if we fall down the wrong pit for some reason. Red And Black  The prints in the mud and bite marks on the trees indicate that this floor is an ant's nest! Excercise great caution as you venture forth... It's likely that many ants will appear to stymie your passage through this floor. This isn't kidding. Also, I'd make a joke about ants not exactly being super threatening, but uh, I've played Nethack so.  I wonder what this could be??? A prize if you guess!  I lied, there is no prize.   There are prizes for our team though! One of them is even decent - we can buy Gum Helms, but getting a free one isn't bad. It's a caster-friendly hat that gives 2 defense and 9tp, slightly more than what Jill's currently wearing.  "This won't take long." "It will if they keep on coming like this!"  "Yeesh, finally." "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding."Welcome to the gimmick of the floor! In certain spots, bloodants will infinitely respawn the turn after they die. If you're still in combat, they will continually bumrush you, wearing you down until you can finally kill them, and anything they've summoned, and any other bloodants that joined the fray, and even that's just so that you can get away. They're often patrolling in such a way that it's difficult to just sneak past them and continue on through the floor, and you can't easily just power your way through, because as soon as you kill one, it's back again. So, what to do?   You slip past them, and find one of these buggers. FOEs are identical on the map and such, so it's impossible to identify these without getting into a fight with them, but I think these are generally stationary, while Bloodants actively patrol.    They're not especially tough, though - and when they do go down, all the bloodants that they're responsible for instantly despawn. I think I'll call it an update there - next time, we'll be continuing to explore more of this floor, with this party, who are working out pretty well. I'm not really sure how often I should hold votes for party changes, really.           New Shop Stuff!  The Tabar requires a Bone Shard - a drop from Guardants, the non-FOE red ants. It's also a bit underwhelming - at this point, you will probably have access to the Bardiche from that earlier quest, or even the Meteor Axe if you can be bothered grinding for it, both of which are quite a bit better. Only one class can use Axes, and I find swords a more useful choice for them anyway - this might be useful if you were using an axenecht, refusing to do quests, and didn't want to grind for the meteor axe. That is to say, it's not very useful.  I love the name of this thing, for some reason. It requires one Glass Eye, dropped by Hexfrogs, and 3 Gum Throats, also dropped by Hexfrogs, and their less-hexy cousins. It's pretty good, too, giving a bit more defense than the Hauberk, especially when you take the Vit boost into account. For now, I've left Jill with her Hauberk, though, as the agility boost is important.  I'll be honest, I've never used this thing - ailments are pretty crippling, but can be countered in other, much cheaper ways. It requires a 100 Shell, dropped from Shelltors. I'm not quite sure how much resistance it confers, either! All I know is it gives some - Etrian Odyssey's mechanics are a bit opaque at times.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2013 20:48
|
|
|
What with the 'Shelltor us' joke I'm surprised you didn't immediately jump on servANT. Also, I like Mushashi so far. You're doing a great job.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2013 21:13
|
|
|
GeneralYeti posted:What with the 'Shelltor us' joke I'm surprised you didn't immediately jump on servANT. Also, I like Mushashi so far. You're doing a great job. Hah, can't have too many bad puns in one post! (I did notice that, and apparently totally forgot to comment on it but  Mini Bestiary Update Thing! It's been a little while since we took a good look at our bestiary, I think - I lose track, so maybe it wasn't all THAT long. Either way, let's see what new monstrosities we've run into since we last did!  So basically, if you don't get hit you won't get hurt? Good advice, game.  Eww. So these guys are basically evil hagfish?  What is it with stratum 3 and mucus? I feel sorry for our poor party.  'And adventurers without much experience will soon have a bunch. Also, mucus.'  Hmm. We've not seen the ant queen yet, but I guess that confrontation is inevitable.  HATE. Anything that curses in this game is a bag of dicks.   These are the two 'unique' enemies we've fought - that is, named, non-FOEs and non-bosses. Their sprites and pallettes certainly aren't unique.  And this is the first FOE we fought in stratum 3 - statwise, it's not all that special.  These are a bit nastier, I guess - especially with them being the source for infinitely-spawning Bloodants. Focus on bringing them down quickly and they shouldn't be an issue, though. Also, heh. Servant.  Why are these drat things weak against ice-themed attacks? I just don't get it.  I'm also really not sure what these things are supposed to be. I know we've seen the sprite before, but seriously, what is it? Some kind of chubby little thing? A Sandshrew?  Huh. He didn't use all of his attacks against us, the bastard! Also, it can only fit in 3 skills - if an enemy has more, it just pretends they don't exist, so it doesn't mention his Glare skill.  Also, jeeze, look at those stats, and compare them to Cernunos. You unlock this guy right after you down him, but unless you know what you're doing, and aren't afraid to cheese the fight, taking him on is suicide. Anyway, one other thing worth mentioning! I dunno if anyone here reads the Sandcastle, but I'm (possibly) going to be starting a second LP - definitely not abandoning this one, I'll just be doing two at once. Giving myself plenty to do should hopefully motivate me to work more, I'm kinda weird like that. Either way, feedback on stuff is greatly appreciated! (Also as a plus, I think I've gotten a bit better at video-related stuff, so I might be able to make somewhat better videos for this LP when it requires them. Desmume's built in record, while easy to use, slows the game to a crawl and sometimes completely fucks up)
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 01:14
|
|
|
3 whole speaking parts again  oh and the game and stuff good work. If you are ever stuck on Keyser, just remember he is pretty much just a fantasy PYF poster.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 01:54
|
|
|
(Cu)Rollers are most likely lethal versions of real-life Armadillios. Although Armadillos can give you leprosy and other nasty stuff in real life, so maybe they're pretty accurate!
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 02:46
|
|
|
So are cursing frogs a thing in japanese lore or something? Dark Souls had them too.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 09:48
|
|
|
I like that one of the treasures down here is a Bravant.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 14:53
|
|
|
McDragon posted:I like that one of the treasures down here is a Bravant. It wouldn't be Etrian Odyssey if it didn't keep giving us lovely treasure. Speaking of Bravants, though, I had a list I found which was interesting - it mentioned how almost all usable items are basically replicateable by skills (with the main exception being TP-recovery things) - Medica I is basically Cure I, a Bravant is equivalent to a low-level Bravery, etc. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced it.  E. Also, that armadillo thing seems plausible! I wonder if real life armadillos also have magical healing powers.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 20:06
|
|
|
I think you missed the joke. You got a Bravant.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 20:48
|
|
|
BlazeEmblem posted:I think you missed the joke. You got a Bravant. I am not sure how I missed that. Oh dear.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2013 21:10
|
|
|
Good lord. A million sighs were uttered, Those massive assholes. loving formic puns.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2013 00:21
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:Also, that armadillo thing seems plausible! I wonder if real life armadillos also have magical healing powers. Not really, no.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2013 16:32
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:Either way, feedback on stuff is greatly appreciated! (Also as a plus, I think I've gotten a bit better at video-related stuff, so I might be able to make somewhat better videos for this LP when it requires them. Desmume's built in record, while easy to use, slows the game to a crawl and sometimes completely fucks up)
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 20:52
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:Yeah, 2-hit was one of the passive abilities I was definitely planning on capping out when I can, it's pretty handy. Tornado, on the other hand, sorta sucks - it hits less enemies than Allslash, for less damage, while costing exactly the same. Well, I found Tornado useful, since it always will hit its contingent of the same 1-3 enemies you aimed at. With using Allslash on enemy groups I often found that hits kept landing on enemies I didn't want to harm yet, or concentrating on the wrong one. It was a mess! Mind you, this is all my experience with EOII. It could be that both skills are working quite differently in the first game, which I never played. So in short, I wouldn't mind if you didn't spend your skill points on Tornado. It could be a nice alternative to using the same skill over and over again, though.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 21:20
|
|
|
theshim posted:I haven't had it wreck anything yet but the massive slowdown when recording lossless (I use Lagarith) is a big part of why I've been putting off working on my EO3 LP (seeing about upgrading my computer, for one thing). Do you actually have a better option for capturing the footage from Desmume? I've got FRAPS, but the two don't seem to play together nicely. I've actually had the most success with HyperCam2, now that it's freeware, and super simple to use. Seems to play just fine with Desmume, too. What was FRAPS doing? Libluini posted:Well, I found Tornado useful, since it always will hit its contingent of the same 1-3 enemies you aimed at. With using Allslash on enemy groups I often found that hits kept landing on enemies I didn't want to harm yet, or concentrating on the wrong one. It was a mess! Mind you, this is all my experience with EOII. It could be that both skills are working quite differently in the first game, which I never played. Aha, I see! Allslash in this, sadly, doesn't hit the same target multiple times, it just tries to hit up to the max number of targets it can. Still, I will put some points in Tornado for the sake of variety, after I get his Atk-up and 2-hit maxed out! 100percentjesusfree fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Jun 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 23:07
|
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:I've actually had the most success with HyperCam2, now that it's freeware, and super simple to use. Seems to play just fine with Desmume, too. What was FRAPS doing? FRAPS, as far as I can tell, doesn't even notice that Desmume exists. It's been causing me no small amount of grief.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 23:17
|
|
|
GeneralYeti posted:FRAPS, as far as I can tell, doesn't even notice that Desmume exists. It's been causing me no small amount of grief. Hypercam2 definitely doesn't have that problem. I just clicked the 'select region' thing, and quickly recorded this as a very brief example of how it looks, if you encode it in Xvid. (Also, yes, you can disable the mouse pointer, I didn't because I'm an idiot.) It also seems to cause no slowdown/lag whatsoever for me, even using the Lagarith Lossless Codec (which I did, then used Virtualdub to do lossy encoding), whereas using Desmume's internal recorded reduced the gameplay to about 10fps, and would sometimes gently caress up horribly. e. That's select 'window' not region.
100percentjesusfree fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Jun 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 23:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:37 |
|
|
100percentjesusfree posted:Hypercam2 definitely doesn't have that problem. I just clicked the 'select region' thing, and quickly recorded this as a very brief example of how it looks, if you encode it in Xvid. (Also, yes, you can disable the mouse pointer, I didn't because I'm an idiot.) Thanks! Time to go get Sidney and co. killed again. 
theshim fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Jun 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 23:44
|
|