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The Shame Boy
Jan 27, 2014

Dead weight, just like this post.



Wild Knight posted:

I'd say I called the singalong, or the karaoke-style lyrics at least, but...well, it was pretty obvious, especially once Fedule asked about fonts, so. Yeah. Really great work with the subtitles! And I'd also like to second a request for a bonus video of Nidoking singing.

I'm pretty sure Bravely Default is Squarenix's way of saying "we're sorry for how convoluted FF13 got, here's an alternate universe where we expanded on what makes a Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy while not actually naming it Final Fantasy."... If that makes sense? It probably doesn't make sense.

I remember being able to fight those scalebeasts pretty easily, it's just tedious as hell. But I mean, they still follow the basic pattern of "build and maintain stagger then fire everything once it breaks," though Saboteur speeds that up. I guess what I'm saying is I don't really see the need for that full-screen tutorial? Especially since, as Fedule mentioned, there's a later enemy that teaches you that lesson very naturally.

The bolded part being the important one, debuffs are what make that fight turn from a 3 or 4 minute one that Artix had to oh say maybe 10-15 or so. Sticking them to that dude when he's vulnerable is pretty much the only way you're gonna kill with any sort of expediency. But up until around that point you might not have realized how great Saboteurs are, this is when the game will say "hey, if you want to fight these guys you're gonna need a little extra help".

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nine-gear crow
Aug 10, 2013





Rigged Death Trap posted:

Well by wait I mean it doesn't resolve or even appear until 13-2.

Final Fantasy XIII-2: You will believe a fist-sized yellow bird... ... ...will sexually confuse you to an impossible degree.

Artix, if you even make it XIII-2, you need to have everyone sing along with all the background tracks too, because I'm pretty sure that like 90% of the game's soundtrack has accompanying vocals for some truly baffling reason.

Aithon
Jan 3, 2014

Every puzzle has an answer.

nine-gear crow posted:

90% of the game's soundtrack has accompanying vocals for some truly baffling reason.

Final Fantasy XIII-2: The World Ends With Lightning?

FailAtMagic
Apr 11, 2011

Aithon posted:

Final Fantasy XIII-2: The World Ends With Lightning?
drat now you made me sad because there's no way The World Ends With You will have that kind of graphics :(


EDIT:

Shei-kun posted:

I figured it was something like that. Makes sense to do that, too.

I was mostly confused because I saw the number of downloads counter keep increasing when I refreshed the link.

*cough* Mozilla plugins *cough*

idonotlikepeas
May 29, 2010

This reasoning is possible for forums user idonotlikepeas!

Wild Knight posted:

I'm pretty sure Bravely Default is Squarenix's way of saying "we're sorry for how convoluted FF13 got, here's an alternate universe where we expanded on what makes a Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy while not actually naming it Final Fantasy."... If that makes sense? It probably doesn't make sense.

I think they thought of it as a budget game that might please a few hardcore fans. I don't think they ever predicted it would outsell Lightning Returns.

Carousel Of Regret
Nov 7, 2013

nine-gear crow posted:

Artix, if you even make it XIII-2, you need to have everyone sing along with all the background tracks too, because I'm pretty sure that like 90% of the game's soundtrack has accompanying vocals for some truly baffling reason.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN RIDE THIS CHOCOBO!?

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!

nine-gear crow posted:

Artix, if you even make it XIII-2, you need to have everyone sing along with all the background tracks too, because I'm pretty sure that like 90% of the game's soundtrack has accompanying vocals for some truly baffling reason.

Look, I'm all for Final Fantasy 13-2: A Musical Adventure but my ominous Latin chanting is so out of date, I don't know if I could even make it to the point at which you actually get to start playing the game.

theshim
May 1, 2012

You think you can defeat ME, Ephraimcopter?!?

You couldn't even beat Assassincopter!!!

FailAtMagic posted:

drat now you made me sad because there's no way The World Ends With You will have that kind of graphics :(
TWEWY doesn't need that kind of graphics, though. TWEWY was amazing with its own unique artstyle.

What makes me incredibly sad is the continued lack of a followup to that unique and excellent game. :smith:

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Update 16: Weathering the Wilderness (Polsy) :siren:

Music

Lost Hope

Bestiary











Datalogs



quote:

Father and Son

With a heavy heart, Sazh reveals the fate that has befallen his son, Dajh.

When Pulse l'Cie invaders attacked the fal'Cie powering the Euride Gorge Energy Plant, it chose the closest human to become its servant and defender: a small boy who had wandered into the facility. Now a Sanctum l'Cie with the ability to sense the presence of Pulsian energies, Dajh has been held in custody and monitored by government officials ever since.

It is thanks to Dajh's unique ability that PSICOM was able to discover the Pulse fal'Cie in Bodhum. However, with his exact Focus yet to be determined, the boy is doomed to become a Cie'th.

This is what prompted Sazh to board the Purge train. Guessing that Dajh's Focus might be to destroy the Pulse fal'Cie, Sazh seized the only means available to him to reach the accursed creature before it could be carried to the world below. If he could slay it somehow, he reasoned, he might just be able to save his son.

So, now that the Pulse fal'Cie is no more, has Dajh gone through the same crystal transformation as Serah? Or was his Focus not to rid the world of the fal'Cie, but of the l'Cie servants it created?

If that is the case, then Sazh and his companions must die to spare Dajh a fate worse than death.

quote:

Chain of Events

Sazh's son, Dajh, was branded a Sanctum l'Cie when he stumbles into the midst of a Pulse attack on the Euride Gorge Energy Plant.

With the help of the l'Cie powers Dajh gained during the incident, the military discovered the Pulse fal'Cie in Bodhum, instigating the Purge. In the ensuing violence, Hope lost his mother, and Lightning and Snow witnessed Serah's transformation into crystal.

The whole series of events that has thrown their lives into chaos and threatens even now to shatter Cocoon's peaceful society can be traced back to Euride.

Had that incident never occurred, could these tragedies have been avoided? Who can say? There is little point lamenting that which cannot be changed.

Yet though the past cannot be changed, it can be forgotten — for a while, at least — and so Sazh and Vanille make their way to Nautilus, 'City of Dreams,' as storm clouds gather overhead.

Meanwhile, Lightning and Hope enter one of the largest cities on Cocoon — as quite another kind of storm approaches...



quote:

People: Sazh Katzroy

A trained civilian airship pilot, Sazh has been raising his son alone since the untimely passing of his wife almost three years ago. His son, Dajh, became a Sanctum l'Cie during the Euride Gorge incident. Without a clear Focus, the little boy will eventually turn into a monstrous Cie'th.

Guessing that Dajh's task could be to destroy beings from Pulse, Sazh boards the Purge train as part of a plan to take care of the fal'Cie himself. His self-appointed mission ends with him becoming a Pulse l'Cie—an existence that puts him into conflict with his son's status as a Sanctum servant.



quote:

People: Dajh Katzroy

Dajh is a boy who loves his father—and chocobos!—unconditionally. Though his mother passed away three years ago, he remains a cheerful and energetic child.

When Sazh lets him out of his sight for a moment during a trip to the energy plant, Dajh is caught up in a Pulse incident that leaves him a Sanctum l'Cie.

Now with the ability to sense power of Pulse origin, the little boy involuntarily discovers the fal'Cie in the Bodhum Vestige. With his Focus still unknown, Dajh faces eventual transformation into a Cie'th.



quote:

People: Jihl Nabaat

Jihl Nabaat is PSICOM officer who graduated at the head of her class, and attained the rank of colonel with unprecedented speed.

As the supervisor in charge of the investigation at Euride Gorge, as well as Dajh's testing after the boy became a Sanctum l'Cie, Jihl is well acquainted with Sazh. She lent an ear to the distraught father, and listened to all his fears and doubts.



quote:

People: Chocobo Chick

Sazh purchased this chocobo chick at a stall in Euride Gorge for his son, Dajh. However, while his attention was on the transaction, Dajh ran into the energy plant and headlong into the incident that changed him into a Sanctum l'Cie.

Though boy and chick have met only once during the brief visit Sazh was allowed by PSICOM in Bodhum, they became fast friends. Dajh is trying to decide on what he wants to call the chick, but for now, the chocobo remains nameless.



quote:

The Thirteen Days: Day 5 - Contact

Sazh took his son to the Euride Gorge energy plant after Dajh begged to see one of the Sanctum fal'Cie. While Sazh was busy buying a Chocobo Chick at the souvenir shop, the little boy ran into the plant alone.

Moments later, a strange phenomenon rocked the building. When the panicked father rushed inside, he found his son unconscious, lying on a bench. The energy plant fal'Cie, Kujata, had branded Dajh with the mark of a Sanctum l'Cie.



quote:

The Thirteen Days: Day 8 - Questions

After being made into a Sanctum l'Cie, Dajh was taken into custody by PSICOM and subjected to a battery of tests. Colonel Nabaat, the supervising officer, next imparted some unsettling news to Sazh: his son has gained the ability to sense the presence of Pulse beings, but his Focus was still unknown.

Without a defined Focus, the boy was doomed to become a Cie'th. Could his task be to discover lowerworld invaders? To destroy them? Sazh's mind raced as he tried to find a way to save his son.



quote:

The Thirteen Days: Day 11 - Father and Son

Dajh suddenly decided that he wanted to go to Bodhum. Realizing this may be an effect of the boy's new power to detect Pulse beings, Colonel Nabaat permitted a PSICOM-supervised excursion to the coastal town.

It was the night of the fireworks show, but Sazh's mood was not lightened by the beautiful display. The smiling face of his son, oblivious to the fate that awaited him, was more painful than the troubled father could bear.

Meanwhile, the PSICOM team scouring the area discovered the fal'Cie within the Vestige. Dajh must have reacted subconsciously to the presence of the lowerworld entity.



quote:

Locales: Euride Gorge

Euride Gorge is located near the town of Bodhum. The area is best knows for its energy plant, a facility whose output is generated by the fal'Cie Kujata.

Many school students can be found visiting the plant to learn about the role the fal'Cie have in society, but the gorge also see a large number of tourists who come to view the spectacular scenery.

Eight days prior to the Purge there was an incident at the plant involving Pulse l'Cie, But the details were suppressed to prevent civilian panic.



quote:

Cocoon Society: Sanctum L'Cie

During the War of Transgression, a number of warriors were made into l'Cie to engage the forces of Pulse alongside the Sanctum fal'Cie. Since that time, there is no record of a Cocoon fal'Cie taking a human as a l'Cie.

It is possible that there have been unrecorded cases, but even if that is so, any and all accurate information about the nature of Sanctum l'Cie has been lost in the intervening years. Even Sanctum researchers have been able to achieve no more than speculation.



quote:

Cocoon Society: Chocobos

These large, yellow birds are always crowd favorites.

Wild chocobos are almost unheard of on Cocoon, but thanks to the antics of a certain TV program's feathery main character, owning chocobo chicks has become the latest fad among children.

Although the tiny chicks are easy to handle when young, their rapid growth as they approach adulthood has forced an increasing number of families to donate their oversized avian pets to zoos and farms.



quote:

The Fal'Cie: Kujata

The task of this Sanctum fal'Cie is providing Cocoon with the power its advanced urban population demands. From the plant at Euride Gorge, it sates the voracious energy appetites of surrounding cities.

Eight days before the Purge, Kujata detected a Pulse l'Cie presence near the plant and took emergency defensive action. Hoping to use a human instrument to search out the enemy l'Cie, the fal'Cie branded Sazh's son, Dajh, who had wandered into the facility, turning the boy into a Sanctum l'Cie.

Artix fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Jul 2, 2014

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer
I'm really really really starting to really really really hate Vanille. I just hated her before.
It's like any semblance of decent writing immediately disappears once she opens her mouth.

Blaze Dragon
Aug 28, 2013
LOWTAX'S SPINE FUND

HEY GUYS I THINK VANILLE MIGHT BE FROM PULSE. SILLY ISN'T IT.

This game has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face...though sometimes it plays in its favour, Sazh's anger outburst at the bosses was hilarious. It just mostly plays completely against it.

And I agree with the Vanille hate, she could just stop lying to everyone. In fact, said everyone could stop being loving idiots and realize what she's lying about, she's a horrendous liar. Or she's meant to be really good but this game is really badly written, I don't know.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
Man, are these datalogs repetitive. The repetitiveness of these datalogs is impressive. I am deeply impressed by how repetitive these datalogs are.

Also, fal'Cie are clearly idiots. A small child is a useless defense against aggressors that are actively attacking right now. The fal'Cie already sensed a Pulse presence, so why does it need a l'Cie that can also sense Pulse power? How is that power at all helpful in a small confused child when, again, there is an active attack going on right now?

Tenebrais
Sep 2, 2011

Schwartzcough posted:

Also, fal'Cie are clearly idiots. A small child is a useless defense against aggressors that are actively attacking right now. The fal'Cie already sensed a Pulse presence, so why does it need a l'Cie that can also sense Pulse power? How is that power at all helpful in a small confused child when, again, there is an active attack going on right now?

I assume they're evil, and being dicks to people for shits and giggles. After all, they're gods in a Final Fantasy game.

nine-gear crow
Aug 10, 2013





The plot of the game becomes instantly more amusing if you imagine that the fal'Cie were consciously written to be as idiotic as they are malicious, like they're all secretly Joffrey Baratheon or something.

Gensuki
Sep 2, 2011

Schwartzcough posted:

Man, are these datalogs repetitive. The repetitiveness of these datalogs is impressive. I am deeply impressed by how repetitive these datalogs are.

Also, fal'Cie are clearly idiots. A small child is a useless defense against aggressors that are actively attacking right now. The fal'Cie already sensed a Pulse presence, so why does it need a l'Cie that can also sense Pulse power? How is that power at all helpful in a small confused child when, again, there is an active attack going on right now?

The fal'cie knows there is a pulse l'cie within 100 miles, whereas Dajh can point at someone and know they are l'cie, and then presumably Cid Raines swoops in and drop kicks them in the junk or something.

Basically, Dajh became a T-cell?

Precambrian
Apr 30, 2008

Fal'cie are divinities. Why did they take the most circuitous, inefficient way to do something when they could just use their, you know, awesome power? If I may quote the book of Job, "gently caress you, I'm God, you're not."

It's not much to say the game suffers from bad pacing, but Jesus, the game suffers from bad pacing here. VANILLE HAS A SECRET aside, I really like Sazh's plot and it gives some emotional punch to the Act One's central tension: the party being drafted by "the enemy." Really should have gotten to him sooner. Initially, I was thinking of Sazh as "least bad," but now, I'm wondering why he's not the main character. Course, now that I've said this...

Tenebrais
Sep 2, 2011

Precambrian posted:

Initially, I was thinking of Sazh as "least bad," but now, I'm wondering why he's not the main character. Course, now that I've said this...

One thing you can say about this game is that there isn't a real main character. When the party splits up you follow along with everyone's plotlines in turn. The character you control alternates between all of them until you get the chance to choose for yourself. Other than the out-of-game marketing or thinking about JRPG tropes there's nothing to say any of them are the protagonist.

Gensuki
Sep 2, 2011
I want to say Vanille is the least-main-character ish though? She seems to be connected to too many things in the story for it to be her story, if that makes sense.

She is a very, very important NPC, who happens to be playable sometimes.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Tenebrais posted:

One thing you can say about this game is that there isn't a real main character. When the party splits up you follow along with everyone's plotlines in turn. The character you control alternates between all of them until you get the chance to choose for yourself. Other than the out-of-game marketing or thinking about JRPG tropes there's nothing to say any of them are the protagonist.

I'd generally argue that Lightning or Vanille are the main protagonists, with Hope being the 'character that symbolizes the game's corny message/the character that "grows"' character.

Sazh is the supporting character that's cooler than any of the main characters.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!

Tenebrais posted:

One thing you can say about this game is that there isn't a real main character. When the party splits up you follow along with everyone's plotlines in turn. The character you control alternates between all of them until you get the chance to choose for yourself. Other than the out-of-game marketing or thinking about JRPG tropes there's nothing to say any of them are the protagonist.

This is...kind of true. Square would very much like you to believe this is Lightning's story, but it's definitely an ensemble cast, albeit one with some very distinct major and minor characters. Sazh and Hope, despite getting the majority of the midgame all to themselves, are definitely minor characters in the grand scheme of things. Conversely, Lightning doesn't really get a whole lot of development period, but she is the one who really drives the plot forward and at least as far as the main villain is concerned, she's the leader of the group.

Vanille is an odd case because it absolutely is her story. The game makes no attempt to hide that she's our "mysterious narrator", and the game can totally unironically be summed up as "How badly can Vanille gently caress things up for literally everyone over the course of two weeks?" And yet...she's just there. Once we reach the point in the plot where you actually start playing (which is to say, Day 13 of the plot), she literally has no relevance outside of dragging Sazh in the complete opposite direction of the rest of the plot.

Simply Simon
Nov 6, 2010

📡scanning🛰️ for good game 🎮design🦔🦔🦔
Quake is in such a weird place of absolute uselessness that I have to wonder why it's even in the game in the first place. Holdover from some older version of the battle system? The realization of someone on the team that if you HAD enemies weak to earth, you might also want to give the player at least an excuse for an earth spell?

As it stands, it's not only useless for its cost and being tucked away in the Techniques menu to begin with, there is no way you could make it work even with the smallest of enemies. Any poo poo-imp will take at least one ATB's worth of Fire spells from two Ravagers to down. Unless Quake is literally 12 times stronger than a normal spell, it just won't do much which simply attacking couldn't. It having a cost and therefor be limited to two casts max per battle is something that can't even begin to work with the "spam everything forever because we abolished MP wooo" attitude the combat system has.

idonotlikepeas
May 29, 2010

This reasoning is possible for forums user idonotlikepeas!
OK, this LP pretty much has to show off the Quake spell at some point now.

WaltherFeng
May 15, 2013

50 thousand people used to live here. Now, it's the Mushroom Kingdom.

Simply Simon posted:

Quake is in such a weird place of absolute uselessness that I have to wonder why it's even in the game in the first place. Holdover from some older version of the battle system? The realization of someone on the team that if you HAD enemies weak to earth, you might also want to give the player at least an excuse for an earth spell?

As it stands, it's not only useless for its cost and being tucked away in the Techniques menu to begin with, there is no way you could make it work even with the smallest of enemies. Any poo poo-imp will take at least one ATB's worth of Fire spells from two Ravagers to down. Unless Quake is literally 12 times stronger than a normal spell, it just won't do much which simply attacking couldn't. It having a cost and therefor be limited to two casts max per battle is something that can't even begin to work with the "spam everything forever because we abolished MP wooo" attitude the combat system has.

The main and only utility of Quake is to use it after a successful pre-emptive attack as it will reliably push every single enemy on the screen over the stagger threshold. I used it everytime when such situation occured. It is a situational technique, but useful nonetheless.

WaltherFeng fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Jun 28, 2014

Gensuki
Sep 2, 2011

Simply Simon posted:

Quake is in such a weird place of absolute uselessness that I have to wonder why it's even in the game in the first place. Holdover from some older version of the battle system? The realization of someone on the team that if you HAD enemies weak to earth, you might also want to give the player at least an excuse for an earth spell?

It would be cool if it was some kind of event initiator. Like there is a boss with heavy armor, and Quake removed the armor, or there is a giant robot, and quake would make him drop to his knees so you could target his head.

1stGear
Jan 16, 2010

Here's to the new us.
I'm guessing the game about weather control Fedule mentioned is Transistor?

Simply Simon
Nov 6, 2010

📡scanning🛰️ for good game 🎮design🦔🦔🦔

WaltherFeng posted:

The main and only utility of Quake is to use it after a successful pre-emptive attack as it will reliably push every single enemy on the screen over the stagger threshold. I used it everytime when such situation occured. It is a situational technique, but useful nonetheless.
Hm. I actually wonder if you could use Quake to push enemies into Stagger even when using Stagger Lock weapons. Is it too early to talk about these?

Apart from that, I always believe (because there is no way of finding out just by looking at what's happening, like most nitty-gritty things in the game) that my Commando Blitzing preemptive'd enemies once or twice before they're pushed into stagger makes stagger hold longer. Dunno. I'm sure the Quake damage alone could easily mitigate that small advantage that might not even be there.

Gensuki
Sep 2, 2011

Simply Simon posted:

Apart from that, I always believe (because there is no way of finding out just by looking at what's happening, like most nitty-gritty things in the game) that my Commando Blitzing preemptive'd enemies once or twice before they're pushed into stagger makes stagger hold longer. Dunno. I'm sure the Quake damage alone could easily mitigate that small advantage that might not even be there.

That is correct. Enemies pushed to stagger by the preemptive strike have shorter than maximum length clocks. Therefore, staggering them with a commando makes it last longer, saboteur by slightly less longer, and ravager by not very long at all.

The stagger clock is actually done on a move by move basis, but it's something like commando abilities add 1 second to the base clock, sentinel and saboteur abilities add .8 seconds, and ravager abilities add .5 seconds. I used to have a chart of those somewhere... I'm sure someone else has better numbers than I do though.

When an enemy is staggered, its clock is doubled and then increased by 8, with a maximum of 45 seconds.

If this is another instance of you talking about this stuff next video, I can erase this post, no problem.

Fedule
Mar 27, 2010


No one left uncured.
I got you.

Gensuki posted:

That is correct. Enemies pushed to stagger by the preemptive strike have shorter than maximum length clocks. Therefore, staggering them with a commando makes it last longer, saboteur by slightly less longer, and ravager by not very long at all.

The stagger clock is actually done on a move by move basis, but it's something like commando abilities add 1 second to the base clock, sentinel and saboteur abilities add .8 seconds, and ravager abilities add .5 seconds. I used to have a chart of those somewhere... I'm sure someone else has better numbers than I do though.

When an enemy is staggered, its clock is doubled and then increased by 8, with a maximum of 45 seconds.

If this is another instance of you talking about this stuff next video, I can erase this post, no problem.

TBH I didn't even know that.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Yet another example of a mechanic that would potentially change how you play the game and make it a bit less "Press X to win" if only the game ever bothered to tell you how it worked.

Indeterminacy
Sep 9, 2011

Excuse me, your Rabbit parts are undetached.

Artix posted:

Vanille is an odd case because it absolutely is her story. The game makes no attempt to hide that she's our "mysterious narrator", and the game can totally unironically be summed up as "How badly can Vanille gently caress things up for literally everyone over the course of two weeks?" And yet...she's just there. Once we reach the point in the plot where you actually start playing (which is to say, Day 13 of the plot), she literally has no relevance outside of dragging Sazh in the complete opposite direction of the rest of the plot.
I think Vanille is probably meant to be this game's version of Vaan - more an inserted characterization of Square's intended target audience and an (unreliable) narrator to keep them reminded of what's going on than an active participant in the events and conflicts of the story.

If they see the audience as basically a passive teenager making squee noises and keeping a distance from actually influencing anything out of a fear of messing things up, that might make sense of a lot of the design choices.

Simply Simon
Nov 6, 2010

📡scanning🛰️ for good game 🎮design🦔🦔🦔
Yeah, I've defended Vanille before as actually driving the party along, but this segment is absolutely terrible for her. She is driving Sazh, but in the wrong direction (away from the plot! There's Palumpolum over there but PSYCHE we're going somewhere completely different!), and her tip-toeing around the most obvious secret in history is almost as painful as the resolution of the forced drama will be.

I think she could actually work fairly well because the concept is not too bad, but the writing is absolutely abysmal for her and Sazh's time together. Probably the worst example of it we've seen so far.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!

Gensuki posted:

That is correct. Enemies pushed to stagger by the preemptive strike have shorter than maximum length clocks. Therefore, staggering them with a commando makes it last longer, saboteur by slightly less longer, and ravager by not very long at all.

The stagger clock is actually done on a move by move basis, but it's something like commando abilities add 1 second to the base clock, sentinel and saboteur abilities add .8 seconds, and ravager abilities add .5 seconds. I used to have a chart of those somewhere... I'm sure someone else has better numbers than I do though.

When an enemy is staggered, its clock is doubled and then increased by 8, with a maximum of 45 seconds.

If this is another instance of you talking about this stuff next video, I can erase this post, no problem.

I wish I had that kind of knowledge lying to bust out for the LP. That said, while the specifics are new, the overall picture is the same as before - you need commandos to make a stagger last and saboteurs can serve in a pinch, but you're better off with the real deal.

WaltherFeng
May 15, 2013

50 thousand people used to live here. Now, it's the Mushroom Kingdom.

Artix posted:

I wish I had that kind of knowledge lying to bust out for the LP. That said, while the specifics are new, the overall picture is the same as before - you need commandos to make a stagger last and saboteurs can serve in a pinch, but you're better off with the real deal.

This Game Mechanics FAQ goes into the really nitty gritty details of the battle system and gives the raw numbers involved which is pretty nice:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps3/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/faqs/59246

Gensuki
Sep 2, 2011

WaltherFeng posted:

This Game Mechanics FAQ goes into the really nitty gritty details of the battle system and gives the raw numbers involved which is pretty nice:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps3/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/faqs/59246

Yup, attack and ruin add 3.33 seconds per use and blitz adds 5.33 seconds. Sentinel taunts actually add 5 seconds to the duration of the pre-stagger bar, and the counters add as much as the commando Attack command. Basically every Saboteur skill adds 2.2 seconds and every ravager adds .9 seconds. With regards to Simply Simon's original notice, (each) Blitz adds 10.66 seconds to the stagger duration of the enemy. Not sure how much Quake adds though...

None of that is necessary to beat the game because it is absurdly easy, but it is neat how much control you can actually have in a given fight.

Gensuki fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Jun 29, 2014

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
So we recorded two videos over the weekend, but we already had to scrap a take of the first video, and the second video is going to need a lot of work to the point where we might end up scrapping that take as well. No promises on an update until late this week.

Fedule
Mar 27, 2010


No one left uncured.
I got you.
God help me, it was just so boring!

Yapping Eevee
Nov 12, 2011

STAND TOGETHER.
FIGHT WITH HONOR.
RESTORE BALANCE.

Eevees play for free.
Boring? By this game's standards?

Wow, this next chapter must really be dull. :psyduck: It gave you that little to talk about, huh?

Fedule
Mar 27, 2010


No one left uncured.
I got you.

Yapping Eevee posted:

Boring? By this game's standards?

Wow, this next chapter must really be dull. :psyduck: It gave you that little to talk about, huh?

It's not like... The chapter is fine. It's, just, the first video just packs in a whole bunch of precision enthusiasm-dampening nothing. It has one or two moments, but two moments isn't much when it's a fraction of 20 minutes.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
Yeah, not to go into too much detail, but basically the beginning of Chapter 7 is a sewer level. So in and of itself, you're already looking at trouble. This is compounded by the fact that nothing actually happens during this section - there are a couple cutscenes of note, which are awkwardly broken up by short walkways with one fight on them before you reach another awkwardly broken up cutscene.

Making matters worse was the fact that we were supposed to record with Nine-Gear Crow, but poo poo happened and he wasn't available, so we took a stab at it ourselves. That lasted approximately 30 seconds after finishing the video before it got deleted and we kinda grabbed someone on the fly as a guest because it was either that or sit down and come up with some meticulous plan for the video where we plotted out what we were going to talk about and when.

We did manage to get a hold of Crow yesterday, but I think it was still in that kinda awkward "first time talking to each other" phase and the second video didn't really come out that great. We'll see.

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FeyerbrandX
Oct 9, 2012

Artix posted:

Yeah, not to go into too much detail, but basically the beginning of Chapter 7 is a sewer level. So in and of itself, you're already looking at trouble. This is compounded by the fact that nothing actually happens during this section - there are a couple cutscenes of note, which are awkwardly broken up by short walkways with one fight on them before you reach another awkwardly broken up cutscene.

Making matters worse was the fact that we were supposed to record with Nine-Gear Crow, but poo poo happened and he wasn't available, so we took a stab at it ourselves. That lasted approximately 30 seconds after finishing the video before it got deleted and we kinda grabbed someone on the fly as a guest because it was either that or sit down and come up with some meticulous plan for the video where we plotted out what we were going to talk about and when.

We did manage to get a hold of Crow yesterday, but I think it was still in that kinda awkward "first time talking to each other" phase and the second video didn't really come out that great. We'll see.

I'm sure :siren: going off every :siren: 3 seconds :siren: doesn't help :siren: your pacing.

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