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This guy did a small video about the FFVIII gunblade, if you're really interested in the concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBgREV9Ju4I In short, probably doesn't work even on a conceptual level.
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Nov 30, 2014 18:27
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General Specific posted:e: Most characters in the main cast of this game rely on skill and augment their natural abilities with GF use. The gunblades' awkwardness doesn't illustrate the user's skill in the same way that Cloud and Sephiroth using giant swords or Vincent firing rifles one-handed illustrates their superhuman strength. This is an interesting point, and I've not gotten around to talking about it in the LP, but SeeDs are well-trained but still regular people. It's the GF that makes SeeD an elite force, because with junctioning they can become supersoldiers.
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Nov 30, 2014 18:48
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I vote Nothips for Ifrit
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Nov 30, 2014 21:36
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Mega64 posted:Considering that, Squall and Seifer are kinda lucky they didn't shoot one another (or themselves) in the face during their duel. It is actually not possible to shoot anyone with the face with a gunblade, because they don't contain functional guns. "Firing" just sets off a little explosion inside the gun barrel to make the sword vibrate.
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Dec 1, 2014 00:11
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Iny posted:It is actually not possible to shoot anyone with the face with a gunblade, because they don't contain functional guns. "Firing" just sets off a little explosion inside the gun barrel to make the sword vibrate. Which makes it all the more absurd that they styled the grip like a regular pistol. If the "gun" part doesn't actually shoot at people, why not use a modified version of a typical (and easier to hold) sword grip?
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Dec 1, 2014 02:04
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MagusofStars posted:Which makes it all the more absurd that they styled the grip like a regular pistol. If the "gun" part doesn't actually shoot at people, why not use a modified version of a typical (and easier to hold) sword grip? It's used to vibrate. Pretty much, all the rounds are blanks, it's the force of firing that makes the gunblade powerful. (Though, I have to admit, when I first played, I thought the gunblade shot people in the face when the trigger was pulled)
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Dec 1, 2014 02:07
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MagusofStars posted:Which makes it all the more absurd that they styled the grip like a regular pistol. If the "gun" part doesn't actually shoot at people, why not use a modified version of a typical (and easier to hold) sword grip? Because this is a video game and the gunblade looks 
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Dec 1, 2014 02:07
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morallyobjected posted:Because this is a video game and the gunblade looks People tend to forget this part. I'll take 'looks cool' over 'could actually be replicated in real life' in a video game any day.
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Dec 1, 2014 02:31
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morallyobjected posted:Because this is a video game and the gunblade looks
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Dec 1, 2014 03:49
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It's one o'clock on Monday now, and it looks like Mufasa won this round of name voting, so that's what I'll go with.
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Dec 1, 2014 21:01
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I endorse this LP.
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Dec 1, 2014 21:17
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Silegna posted:It's used to vibrate. Pretty much, all the rounds are blanks, it's the force of firing that makes the gunblade powerful. It probably would've been more amusing than just tearing a massive hole in someone.
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Dec 1, 2014 22:39
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Nihilarian posted:This is also why Squall's gunblade is actually better than Lightning's. And Seifer's is better than both of theirs.  I mean, I tend to prefer revolvers over pistols, but something about Seifer's just looks cooler to me. Maybe it's the way he holds it.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:40
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NikkolasKing posted:And Seifer's is better than both of theirs. He holds it like he's holding a gun that shoots swords. I don't know if that'd make more or less sense, but I don't blame him for thinking it'd be even cooler than the gunblade's current design.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:43
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Cool Ghost posted:It does a lot of damage to Ifrit - he only has 1,068 HP (this is fixed - Ifrit is an exception, and does not level up with the player), so summoning IcyNips will tear him up fast. To clarify the underlying mechanics here, normal enemies including bosses - there are exceptions - are either 80% or 120% of the average level of your current party members, or (instead of whatever that calculation and RNG check spits out) the enemy's max level, whichever is less. Random enemies and most optional bosses have a max level of 100 (so a level 100 party will fight level 80 or level 100 enemies, not level 80 or level 120 enemies). What makes plot bosses unusual is that they have max levels below 100, ranging from 6 (Ifrit here) to 65 (final boss), and scaling up gradually in between. Anyway, Squall and Quistis are always high enough level that 80% of their average level (even after rounding shenanigans), let alone 120%, is not going to be less than Ifrit's max level of 6. So he just always ends up being level 6. He doesn't have any special level coding otherwise, his max is just so low that it always kicks in. Later bosses, however, will have high enough max levels that it can make anywhere from a small (early-game) to a big (later-game) difference how much you level up before fighting them. Are you low enough level that your calculated level based on average party level is used, or are you high enough level that the max level kicks in? As a side note, I mentioned exceptions to normal levels. We won't see another one for a long time, but random encounters in the Fire Cavern are one of those exceptions. Enemies here completely ignore party level and will always be level 5.
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Dec 2, 2014 05:24
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I however endorse guns that transform into swords or vice-versa. That is a non-stupid and totally rad idea instead of a bastardization of two different weapons.
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Dec 2, 2014 06:19
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There is a significant advantage to higher-level monsters. Monster item drops are based on their level, and there are a number of items that can only be obtained from high-level versions of the more powerful monsters or via the card game (many, however, require multiples of relatively rare cards, so it is a relatively inefficient means of getting them.) You don't NEED them to complete the game because FFVIII is ludicrously easy even without deliberate effort to break the game, but they're useful from a completionist standpoint, and are necessary if you want to break it.
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Dec 2, 2014 08:11
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Monsters also generally have three (I think) variations based on level, gaining new abilities and spells to draw, as well as improved drops. The mechanic for earning Gil is the other big thing affected by level. Grinding for exp isn't very useful, but going out of your ways to not get levels always struck me as pointless.
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Dec 2, 2014 08:37
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Pretty sure it's three tiers, yeah. The drops are the only thing that really matters, since most stuff won't live long enough to fight much (2 turns, maybe 3 assuming low levels of optimization), and drawing is rarely useful except for fairly rare spells you can't refine yet or that require rare items to refine. Draw points are worth using, especially the world map ones that tend to have nice spells, and there is one little thing you need Draw for, but outside of a gimmick boss or two drawing in combat is usually a waste of time.
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Dec 2, 2014 09:08
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Gnoman posted:There is a significant advantage to higher-level monsters. Monster item drops are based on their level, and there are a number of items that can only be obtained from high-level versions of the more powerful monsters or via the card game (many, however, require multiples of relatively rare cards, so it is a relatively inefficient means of getting them.) You don't NEED them to complete the game because FFVIII is ludicrously easy even without deliberate effort to break the game, but they're useful from a completionist standpoint, and are necessary if you want to break it. Yes, but you don't have to actually level up your CHARACTERS to do that. There's an ability which modifies enemies' levels directly, then you can usually steal whatever items you want. The significant (and more relevant) disadvantage to leveling your characters is that monsters' stats increase more per level than yours, so leveling actually makes your game harder and XP grinding is actually counter-productive.
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Dec 2, 2014 15:15
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Level tiers are 1-19, 20-29, and 30-100 for most things in the game, including all bosses. (Although the bosses may not be able to reach all of their tiers due to max level shenanigans.) Ruby Dragons are 1-34, 35-44, and 45-100. Elnoyles, Imps, Behemoths, Toramas, Turtapods, and Iron Giants are 1-29, 30-39, and 40-100.
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Dec 2, 2014 15:48
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Kajeesus posted:Monsters also generally have three (I think) variations based on level, gaining new abilities and spells to draw, as well as improved drops. The mechanic for earning Gil is the other big thing affected by level. Grinding for exp isn't very useful, but going out of your ways to not get levels always struck me as pointless. Correct me if I'm wrong, but earning gil has nothing to do with your level (other than needing to continue to fight a number of battles to maintain, which will inevitably result in level gains).
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Dec 2, 2014 18:02
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Cool thread keep it up! One piece of feedback I have is to try and reduce the compression levels if possible. I can see clear and gross artifacting in lots of the screenshots. I haven't played this game since it came out in middle school but one thing I recall regarding drawing is that the most important factor was your magic stat. IIRC if you junctioned a powerful spell to magic your draw rates could double or more.
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Dec 2, 2014 21:22
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Drawing magic to full and junctioning it makes the game pretty easy. However, the entire process becomes tedious when you have to repeat it for every spell in the game.
Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 21:35
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I remember during the thread of the LP that shall not be named, some goon posted lots of in depth information about the RNGs used in the game. Would it be worth delving into the archives and trying to salvage them? They give quite a lot of insight into what is happening under the hood of the game, and why child's card games acquire stupid rules like herpes.
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Dec 2, 2014 21:44
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Lavender menace posted:I remember during the thread of the LP that shall not be named, some goon posted lots of in depth information about the RNGs used in the game. Would it be worth delving into the archives and trying to salvage them? They give quite a lot of insight into what is happening under the hood of the game, and why child's card games acquire stupid rules like herpes. I'm using a battle mechanics guide on GameFAQs for reference on some things like drawing in battle, but if there's other info there you think is interesting, go hog wild. As for myself, I never really cared about the rules around cards and even though I like formulas and stuff, I just never gave a poo poo about the mechanisms, so if that's there, feel free to pull it out for the people who do.
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Dec 2, 2014 21:53
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Lavender menace posted:I remember during the thread of the LP that shall not be named, some goon posted lots of in depth information about the RNGs used in the game. Would it be worth delving into the archives and trying to salvage them? They give quite a lot of insight into what is happening under the hood of the game, and why child's card games acquire stupid rules like herpes. Basically, with the card game, just never accept to mix rules from a place that has rules that you don't want to spread and you'll be fine. But some of those goddamn NPCs take forever to stop asking 
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Dec 2, 2014 22:15
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morallyobjected posted:Correct me if I'm wrong, but earning gil has nothing to do with your level (other than needing to continue to fight a number of battles to maintain, which will inevitably result in level gains). Eh, the mechanic will show up before too long. I'd rather not start posting spoilers, no matter how minute.
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Dec 2, 2014 22:47
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MagusofStars posted:Yes, but you don't have to actually level up your CHARACTERS to do that. There's an ability which modifies enemies' levels directly, then you can usually steal whatever items you want. You can't get that ability until fairly late in the game (just getting the neccessary GF isn't easy, as it requires fighting a lot of one of the few dangerous enemies in the game; and it requires a lot of AP to learnm IIRC), it's a pain in the neck to use, and Auto-Junction will render you so overpowered that the level scaling won't even slow you down. That's without abusing St-Atk-J or Limit Breaks, which renders the game far easier.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:47
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Gnoman posted:You can't get that ability until fairly late in the game I don't think there's anything late in the game about halfway to a third of the way through Disc 2. It's pretty much the first thing I ever do once it's available. And as far as the abilities go, he comes with them already learned. you're probably thinking of the shop abilities.
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Dec 3, 2014 02:15
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Lavender menace posted:I remember during the thread of the LP that shall not be named, some goon posted lots of in depth information about the RNGs used in the game. Would it be worth delving into the archives and trying to salvage them? They give quite a lot of insight into what is happening under the hood of the game, and why child's card games acquire stupid rules like herpes. I would be the "some goon" from that thread, so it's probably easier just to ask me directly if you're curious about anything. Use PMs if it's spoilery and you want to know now rather than later. I have the (very dubious) honor of knowing a hell of a lot about this game's under-the-hood mechanics. I'm gonna try to space out my mechanics  posts a bit and share things mostly as they become relevant (e.g. that previous bit about boss max levels).On the subject of RNG manipulation, its practical usefulness is mostly limited to making deliberate changes to card rules not make you want to gouge your eyes out. There are a few other things you can do with it but that's the big one.
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Dec 3, 2014 03:43
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morallyobjected posted:Basically, with the card game, just never accept to mix rules from a place that has rules that you don't want to spread and you'll be fine. But some of those goddamn NPCs take forever to stop asking Just do what I did when I first played this game, abolish every rule except for Open and Diff in every place on the surface of the planet (you can only abolish one rule in space ffs).
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Dec 3, 2014 04:03
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morallyobjected posted:I don't think there's anything late in the game about halfway to a third of the way through Disc 2. It's pretty much the first thing I ever do once it's available. And as far as the abilities go, he comes with them already learned. you're probably thinking of the shop abilities. For some reason I was mixing up that GF with another one Jumbo Cactaur that you can't get until the middle of Disc 3 when the Ragnarok is available. I haven't played the game in a few years, not since I knocked out the third-to-last boss with one attack and got bored. I still maintain that it's better to just level up than waste time bothering with level manipulation, particularly since you can turn off random encounters fairly early on, so you only fight when you want to anyway.
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Dec 3, 2014 04:34
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I agree: even if you're power-gaming in terms of leveling bang for the buck, it's still easier and quite possibly faster to just eat some non-optimal levels and make up for them with permanent stat-up items later (which don't take terribly long to get, late-game), than it is to take extra time to bend over backwards being super careful to avoid any and all scraps of unwanted experience. This isn't FF6 or FF9 where a non-optimal level gained is a permanently lost opportunity. If you're in that situation, the only advice you really need to take away is a. go for Enc-None sooner rather than later and b. don't go out of your way to grind levels before you can level with four Bonus abilities.
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Dec 3, 2014 04:38
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Part Six: Test Prep Well, we've finished with the Fire Cavern. Let's head home.  First order of business: renaming Ifrit. He is now Mufasa.  Nothing eventful happened on the way back.  Thank you, Quistis.  : Let's see... I thought there was something else I needed to go over with you before you take the SeeD exam... Oh yes! Taking care of your GF. This is something you have to watch out for. No thank you, Quistis. : Now change into your uniform and assemble at the 1F Lobby. We're going to do a lot of stuff here, but it's not that.  This is what I'm talkin' about.  Six Cures is not many Cures.  Next on the agenda: makin' friends.  Sure, man. Whatever.  Always be sure to talk to the gatekeeper. It's just good manners.  I absolutely do want to play cards with this guy, but not quite yet.  It's still somehow morning, I guess.  This is kind of an oblique hint at a mechanic in the exam: you lose points if you talk to people, starting as soon as you put your uniform on.  Up to the second floor. There's something important to do here.  It is not listening to this conversation.  But I mean, we're already here. Exam Passer: Th-th-three... 3 times now. Also Here: I see, the third time is always a charm. The SeeD exam is apparently very difficult. I hope we pass.  Exam Passer: What about you? How far along are you? Also Here: Me? At the rate I'm going, I'll take the exam next term. It'll be my first time. My goal is to be like Instructor Quistis Trepe. Quistis is apparently considered to be something of a prodigy. Also Here: She became a SeeD at age 15 and an instructor by 17! It's so impressive. She's my idol. Exam Passer: Yeah, mine too. Like I said, something of a prodigy. It seems kind of irresponsible to have a 17-year-old teaching other 17-year-olds, but I'm not the Garden faculty. Quistis is also well-liked by the students, and a lot of people look up to her because of her achievements. Also Here: Hey, maybe you have a crush on her? Exam Passer: What?! No! It's not like that at all. Also Here: Yeah, right... Exam Passer: Anyway, I'm gonna rock this exam! Well, listening to this conversation was fun and informative, but I can't spend all day eavesdropping.  I have to get helpful advice from my peers, for example.  It's also time to play a lot of cards. Playing cards is very important if you want to break the game, but I'm working towards a more specific short-term goal. It's a good idea to play against the gatekeeper because he uses some good cards and you can build up your deck pretty quickly. For the rest of this update, you can listen to the card music:  Oh, and here's a Triple Triad fact: every time you start a card game, the game takes a few seconds to load it and it's annoying.  For this goal, I will need five Abyss Worm cards.  While I'm here, I also play a game with one of the Trepies.  It's weird that you own this, dude.  I played several games of cards, so I ended up having this guy show up. Card Fan: They're bunch of card maniacs looking for worthy opponents day and night. Consider it an honor to be challenged to a game by one of the CC Group members. This guy is just telling us about a sidequest that'll show up in a while. Thanks, guy.  Next on the card game world tour: these girls in the dormitory hall.  They play Blitz cards. I want 5 of these as well.  At this point I junctioned all three GFs to Squall because I need to grind out a couple of abilities.   The best place to grind at this point is on the beach, where an enemy called Fastitocalon-F (the f is for fake) shows up. They made me level up.  Fish fins turn into something pretty decent.  Here's our real prize. 6 AP is pretty good.  After that fight, I got this. Refinement abilities let you make magic straight from items, and they're really the only sensible way to get 100 spells of any type.  For example, I can turn 1 Fish Fin into 20 Water spells. It would take forever to draw these out of an enemy (once we found an enemy with Water to draw), but here's the thing the game doesn't tell you: drawing spells is only for getting some rare spells or getting a top up, and you should never try to draw 100 spells. Not only is it tedious, but you only need 100 spells if you're trying to junction, and you can do okay only junctioning things you can refine.  Case in point: Water is twice as effective a junction as Fire (or Thunder, or Blizzard) on Strength, and I can get a ton of them from the otherwise useless Fish Fins.  And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Queso learned this after another round with Fastitocalons.  Card is very useful, and will probably always be on whoever has Queso junctioned from now on.  It also unlocks the opportunity to learn the supremely useful Card Mod - this ability is the second part of breaking the game.  I decided to learn T Mag-RF instead.  Anyway, Card.   If you use Card in battle, it puts on a laser show for you. This is very useful if you want to have fun, because laser shows are very fun.  It also turns whatever you hit with it into a card, but who gives a gently caress?  The real utility of Card is that it lets you end battles with most enemies (not humans or bosses) without gaining EXP.  BUT, you still gain items and AP.  After a dozen or so battles with my beach friends, I get F Mag-RF...  ...And T Mag-RF...  ...And Card Mod. I could do some real horseshit right now, but I don't want to.  Card Mod lets you turn your cards into items.     Some of these items can be useful, like these ones that let Quistis learn Blue Magic spells she can use for her limit breaks.  With Card Mod, you can also get super-early access to powerful junctions like Tornado.  Or Thundaga. I'm not planning on using these two regularly, they're for a specific purpose. This is the test prep referred to in the update title, and we're done with that now.  So we can go back to eavesdropping.  If you talk to this girl, it overlaps her talk text box with the other one, which pops up when you stand near her.  Knows about Exams: Yes. I heard only 12 people qualified for the field exam. Curious about Exams: I wonder how many will pass? Knows about Exams: Oh, the failure rate is quite high. The difficulty of the SeeD exam is quite a belaboured point around Garden, and has given me an idea for a little experiment.  Yes, he is.  Hi.  I'd like to believe that Squall is getting a reputation for walking around Garden, just listening to people talk like a weirdo.  If you go back to the classroom, the Trepie girls have some combat stats for you.  The short-haired one tells you how many enemies Quistis has defeated. (In this run, the only thing she's defeated is Mufasa.)  Well then I don't care about you, either. Hmph.  ...Yes?  Well, that would be bad manners. It doesn't matter what you say.  Yeah, you probably watched our exam because all Trepies are creeps.  Quistis never does anything.  So, anyway, this is the important thing I came up to the second floor for.  Not this guy, I don't give a gently caress about him.  This guy. Curious Guy: You know, on gunblades. I heard you and Seifer are the only students to choose gunblade as your specialty. Important Lore: Squall and Seifer are the only gunblade users at Garden.  This is why we want to talk to this guy.   Squall, always the professional, whips his gunblade out right in the middle of the hallway.   Right on cue, a guy in a suit runs out of the classroom.  ...No?  Wow, gently caress you. I was just trying to be nice to this guy.  Poorly? That was the important thing on the second floor - getting into trouble.  Now we can head to the dormitory, only stopping to tell this Trepie to get hosed on the way.  To the dorm!  I forgot something...  You can get this from the little kid running around the central hallway of Garden.  Too late!  Now, to the dorm!  Once we change, we're locked into doing the SeeD exam.  You're going to lose points if you don't zip that jacket up, young man.  Next time: the SeeD exam! Cool Ghost fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Dec 4, 2014 |
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Dec 4, 2014 02:21
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I...did not know about the whole "Whipping out my Gunblade" thing.
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Dec 4, 2014 02:43
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Cool Ghost posted:For the rest of this update, you can listen to the card music: That's a creative way to tell someone to go violate themselves with a gunblade set on vibrate. I think I managed to go a few months without that abomination playing in my mind. Somehow, despite knowing it was inevitable with another LP, my mind managed to save me from it until now.
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Dec 4, 2014 02:50
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FeyerbrandX posted:That's a creative way to tell someone to go violate themselves with a gunblade set on vibrate. I think Shuffle or Boogie is pretty nifty, simply because it is so bizarre.  (Besides, it's going to take something more extreme to shift my current earworm tune.)Triple Triad is just great in general, aside from some of the optional rules. There are a couple of those you just cannot let spread.
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Dec 4, 2014 03:30
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Cool Ghost posted:
What happened to 100% good manners run? Thinking about it, causing trouble for the teachers is not good manners either! Bad Squall. You're supposed to be a nice person and a gentle soul, looking out for everyone. Also I seriously did not know about how many things you can do pre-SeeD exam, that's a lot of effort put into things that affect nothing and you will likely never see.
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Dec 4, 2014 03:52
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 13:18 |
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Blaze Dragon posted:What happened to 100% good manners run? Quistis is our friend, so it's good manners to stop the Trepies from creepin' on her, and I was just trying to help that guy see a gunblade. And yeah, there is a lot of content in Garden that nobody sees.
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Dec 4, 2014 04:21
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