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   You owe me a corpse, rear end in a top hat!   After completing Rhagoh’s quest, we can go back there at will. But for now, back to Athlum. Music: City of Heroes    Hey. After we talked before, I visited my sister. Didn't have the foggiest what to do or say to make amends, so I ended up gabbing on about my travels and such. Beautiful vistas, fearsome beasts, good friends... You know, all the things what goes along with a journey. How’d that go? Figured I'd be borin' her, but I look up an' she's staring at me eyes are sparkling, all "Finish the story!" You don't know how long it's been since I'd seen her that happy... That's when it hit me...I'd been going about it all wrong. I'm trying to charm my sis with money and material things... That's not what she wanted at all. Thinking back, it's so obvious it's staring me in the face. I can't help but feel like a bit of an rear end... Rush, might not sound like much, but I was finally able to start making amends for what I've done. That’s great, Baulson! So... how do I put this... I'll be depending on you from now on. She likes stories with you in 'em the best, after all. Yeah, come on, we’ve got a lot of new stories to make! That was the third bonus conversation with Baulson. As I’ve mentioned before, every non-mandatory unique-leader gets some bonus conversations. After you see a few of these bonus talks, they become “chummy” with Rush, getting a permanent bonus to their stats. Baulson’s Parameter Bonus is this: his health increases by 15% - going from 558 to 642 in his case. But we’re not done yet with bonus talks!  Everyone in town said I was cursed...said all I could do was bring bad luck. Only a baby and they completely loathed me. Geez, that’s really rough… So I grew up, and I hated them right back, every last damned person in that village. I beat 'em up, cursed 'em out... By the end, even my own ma couldn't stand me... I’m sorry. I don’t really know what to say to that. So don’t say anything. Now beat it, I wanna be alone. Why did you want to join up with us, anyway? I know you just think I'm some money-grubbing bitch, and to be frank, I couldn't care less. The only things I care about are shiny and gold. Why? Why? I don't think that's any of your business. If you really want to know...it'll cost you. Come on, you can tell me! Do I need a sign saying "Get freaking lost"? Look, I don't want to talk. I want to make money. If you aren't helping me with the latter, piss off. Alright, fine. I’ll take a job, okay? Good. Pleasant Young Man: You know there’s a town without anyone running it? The old ruler’s sons are fighting over the seat of power. …That’s the story, anyway. Bartender: Don’t talk to me about bloodthirsty succession struggles! I fought long and hard to get this pub… Pleasant Young Man: Are… are you serious? Super, let’s go get that job. There’s a guy right here in the tavern. Yeah, that market there is pretty awesome! It's an important hub on the way from the mining city of Royotia. Pretty much all goods going from Royotia pass through Balterossa. From there, they go on to Elysion, then all over the continent. So…? After all that, by the time they make it all the way here to Athlum, goods from Royotia have a pretty heavy markup. So, we've started talks for making a trade route from Balterossa straight to Athlum. We even hired a guy to map out the exact route. But the surveyor's giving us a little trouble... You know the Jhana, right? Annoying, but no big deal? Yeah… Well, they are to him. He says he's not going in there without a bodyguard. So, if you're looking to pick up a little pocket change... Sure, sounds interesting. Alright, head to the Gaslin Caves. If you enter and take the first path on your right, you'll see the proposed route to the Grand Sand Sea. You've just gotta protect the surveyor from the Jhana, okay? Accepted quest: The Trade Route This one has actually been here since we reached Elysion eleven chapters ago, it’s one of the quests I didn’t do before returning there. I probably could have taken it, since done ‘properly’, you can avoid getting into any battles at all, but whatever.  Music: Into the Depths  - Dungeon Video: Gaslin - Ravine of Temptation  Some Athlumian merchant asked me to be the bodyguard for a surveyor down in the Gaslin Caves. Something about trade routes to Balterossa. Remember way back in Chapter 6, I pointed out an odd-looking wall in Gaslin Caves? Well, that was to show that back then, there was a sign of a possible passage through there, and now it’s opened.  Thank you for coming. Rush, is it? Yeah, Rush Sykes. Now that you're here, we can start the survey. Okay, so what do I do? I don't need you to do anything special! I'll make certain this route will take us to the exit, and you make sure we get there in one piece. If we run into any Jhana, I'm no use to anyone. So just tell me what to do, alright? I leave myself in your hopefully capable hands. Okay! (Hopefully this won’t be the last mistake he ever makes.) I met with the guy trying to establish a trade route between Athlum and Balterossa. Now to avoid the Jhana and get out of these caves.  This sounds like an escort mission, but it isn’t really. The surveyor doesn’t join our party as a guest union, we don’t have to worry much about keeping him alive. We just have to walk through this long, straight tunnel, and for this quest, normal monster spawns have been turned off. Every so often though, you’ll run into an event. Wait, I’ll check it out. That one was simple enough, but the choices get trickier. Let's head right.  Obviously, if you head left, you run face-first into it. By the way, after this event, the patrolling Jhana vanishes, so you can’t fight it. Wait, I'll take care of it. … Nothing. Phew... Looks like the coast is clear.  Let's head left.  The treasure chest has the second map for Gaslin Caves.  Oho! What a wimp! Once it saw us - er, specifically, you - it ran with its tail between its legs! Jhana often attack on sight, so it running away seems out of character, which is probably what’ll get most players. If you choose the “wait and see” option, it runs off, then comes back with three more friends. We’re almost done now. Go on, I got your back.  Oh! Ahahah, guess it was nothing. Who knew? This is the final encounter and it’s especially tricky to get right. The first two “I’ll check it out” options normally avoid fighting, but if you choose it this time…  And there’s an easy battle versus 4 groups of 3 Jhana. Hilariously, this one’s Self-Destruct move (which I didn’t even know they had) missed everyone. But this was a bonus thing and didn’t happen.   Here, for you. Reward: Gaslin Copper x6, Iron Ore x4, Jhana Alloy x2, Rough Spriggan Stone x1 The Great Sand Sea is an integral part of the world's commerce. Cross the desert, and even you can find some great new things. Later!" Completed quest: The Trade Route I escorted the guy to the cave's exit. I helped secure the trade routes. Score! Phew, after all that hiking, a drink in Balterossa sounds like just the thing! I don’t think the dialogue or reward changes, even if you blunder into every encounter. The wiki doesn’t mention that, certainly. This quest dumps you in the Searing Cove of The Great Sand Sea. I’ve plotted a route for these quests to do them by location, and so that’s why I did Celapaleis first, it was the most out-of the way location, and it was also close to Atlhum.    That’s the latest news, Daddy.Bartender: Whaaat!? That girl’s poor parents! I hope they find that beast of a man and hang him for the crime of stealing a young girl’s innocence! Daddy, calm down! Now for another quest that we could have done before visiting the Sacred Lands. Yeah, I kicked its butt! Wait, was it the monster? Indeed, I thought it was the resurrected and crazed hero we defeated. Well, one of those, at least. Thing is, it seems like the monster has been brought back. Luckily, it hasn’t started making too much trouble just yet. Still, a bunch of shady-looking out-of-towners have been sulking around lately, and they sure look like they want trouble – monster trouble. Shady-looking folks? Where are they? Over there – look!… …and boom! Ha! Toldja I could beat you in arm wrestling! You buy the next round! No kicking my shins under the table! That’s cheatin’! Quitcher whining and pay up! Nuh-uh, make it best three out of five! You’re on!…  …Well, this is certainly a new experience for me. Hahhh… whassa matter… can… can’t lift…grasp…hold yer liquor? Ha! Hmmm? I do seem to be feeling slightly light-headed. Ha…I knew it… yer just a shoftie… urgle…gar… *thump*… …I’ve never seen those people before in my life. Zombies sound scary…. Bah! Wimp! There’re necromancers goin’ around, I tells ya! I got my boomstick! Good! Then go to the Great Subterrane. Wander around enough an’ you’ll find an island within the shifting sands, and that’s the place. O’course, you muck up and that ancient warrior’ll come after ya. Don’t even think about facing ‘em both! You’d be a zombie sandwich! Accepted quest: The War of a Thousand Years - Boss Video: The Absolute Queen This qsiti in Balterossa wants me to defeat a monster roaming around the Great Subterrane. It's supposed to be strong. Really strong.This monster is in the same place as the one we fought in The Hero. At the time I did that update, I actually didn’t realize that the game takes having both quests activated into account, so I fought them one at a time. Later, I’ll do a bonus update showing that off. There’s no point showing the same dungeon, so let’s skip right to it. Mission: Defeat the Absolute Queen. Music: Struggle Eternal  This boss isn’t hard, so I’ll just show off a cool attack. learned  Double Strike II! learned  Acala’s Wrath! learned  Spark III! I was actually pretty excited when I saw that Loki had learned Spark III, because I thought it was a key step to getting something really awesome… but it turns out that was not the key step.Also, Rush has learned Acala’s Wrath, which is the highest-ranking “generic” Dual Wield Combat art. There are other DW Combat arts, but which you get are weapon-specific. Damage-wise, it should be on approximate par with Third Eye, which is already pretty good.  Yup! … Eh, guess it ain’t anything bad, then. Good job, sonny. Take this. Reward: Rough Elven Stone x1, 2000 G. But yanno, lately some spooky stuff’s been goin’ on in Balterossa. Look out for angry ghosts, sony! Welp, I got a meetin’ so later! Let us hope it is a narcotics abuse anonymous meeting. Did… did you just try to tell a JOKE, Torgal? Ha ha, awesome! I killed the monster! The qsiti seems to think there's some kind of conspiracy, but who cares! The important thing is - I rock! Great, we’ve got enough time for another quest! There’s someone hiding upstairs in the room upstairs.  Just showing some detail of the coat. I can handle two swords at the same time! … Wait, you did mean swords, right? Or was that a euphemism? My name is Hannah. I work as a hired blade, along with my sister, Hinnah. We were clearing out monsters from the ruins to the southwest... Mojcado Castle, I believe it's called. Yeah, I’ve been there. However, just as we finished... Hinnah refused to return. It seems she'd lost something important in the ruins, and remained to look for it. Certainly, I helped her search as well, but... We... argued, and I left the ruins alone. But honestly, for a frail little thing like me to be stuck in such a dank, dirty place full of monsters? I couldn't stand another minute. A girl can only take so much... I'm sure a man like you would understand. Yeah… Still... I can't help but worry about Hinnah, especially all alone in those ruins... She's my only sister in all the world. If anything were to happen to her, I don't know what I'd do... Please, brave traveler, could you find her and bring her back? I'd be so grateful. I'm sure I could find some way to reward you... You'll help me, won't you? Uh, can I think about it? 'Think'... Meaning, no. I see... Come back if you ever change your mind. I promise, I'd be very... very... grateful. Y-yes! Very yes! Perfect! Somehow, I knew you'd help! Retrieve Hinnah from that awful place as soon as you possibly can... Then come back to me for your reward. Oh, and a warning: Hinnah is a very stubborn girl. I doubt she'll listen to anything you say until she finds whatever she's lost. Accepted quest: Blooming Flower, Singing BirdMusic: Creeping Shadows  - Video: Blooming Flower, Singing Bird (Part 1) This cute black-haired girl in Balterossa wants me to get her sister, who's in Mojcado Castle looking for something she lost. No guest union this time, but the map has stayed the same for this quest. Notice the area exits on the east and west sides. I didn’t visit them before, but I will now. This is Phoenix section, on the east side. But we can only get access to a single room, cut off from the rest. learned  Mighty Quad Slice II! class changed to Healer! At this point I remembered that I’d decided to turn off Torgal and Caedmon’s Evocations to get them more focused on Combat arts. I also discovered that Blocter’s Power Grip was off, so I turned it on and single-handed off.The only thing of note in this part is a chest containing some Herbs.  Senecio section is on the west side, and it also is cut off from most of it. This section has two World Map teleporters, one for each section. There’s a chest here which has the Wroth Volcano upgrade to the Mystic Mountain formation. I suppose I could try that out. learned Nimble Bladedancer III! Mission: Defeat the enemy! Time for the obligatory boss battle, although these guys are not much of a boss. has learned  Vivification Herb! has learned Nimble Devil’s Due IV! has learned  Nimble Smash II! has learned  Restore II! About time, Caedmon! What?! Goddammit! I finally find something that maybe might be worth fighting down here and you go and take it out! You owe me a corpse, rear end in a top hat! Mind if I take yours!? You wanna play? Uh, Hannah did send me, yes… I found Hinnah cowering from some huge bugs. I tried to get her to leave, but she won't budge without finding the item she lost. So yeah, now we have to search the ruins to look for what she dropped. And these are BIG RUINS… or at least this would be hard if this wasn’t a videogame. You should know to look in the farthest-in parts for the objectives. Hah. Hey Hinnah, you were looking for a really tough monster to fight?Music: Sliver of Hope - Video: Rare Monster Tsilkali Yes! Go on, ATTACK! Come on, let’s kick some A! Okay, remember that I was excited that Loki got Spark III? For this fight, I was trying to trigger an Arcana, which influenced how I played using David’s union in this fight.I’ll explain what that is specifically when I trigger one. For now all you need to know is that I was thinking that I just needed a lot of AP and three characters who had Spark III or better… but I was remembering it wrong. The leader character (David) needs to have Spark V, and the other two guys can cast any Invocation. But since David only has Spark IV, we’re not quite there yet. So for the rest of this dungeon, and the rest of the others, I’ll be prioritizing actions that lead to David using Spark.     Don’t die, or anything… Dust Devil II will be the biggest danger for this fight. I told Rush to break off and heal, but…  So this is going swimmingly… Emma’s union fortunately went next to heal herself up. For Turn 3, David’s union will bring Rush back, while Emma piles on the damage.   That was a NORMAL attack, and it did nearly 1200 damage! This is why fighting a rare monster is always a risk. It’s hard to be sure if you’ll get your face stomped in.  I’m not going to miss the chance to do a Flank Attack, even though this boss has Dust Devil II, which means that Rush’s union can still take damage from the AoE. Violet is also down in Emma’s union. I ordered David’s union to heal Emma’s and Emma’s union to heal herself. This means the boss wasn’t in Deadlock, so Rush’s flank-attack became a Raidlock instead.  Okay everyone is up and this turn went well, the boss’s Dust Devil only scratched us. For Turn 6, I ordered Rush to do Acala’s Wrath, and Emma’s union to do a full attack of their own. By now, I’ve saved up enough AP, so this is when I tried to get the Arcana to trigger. It of course does not work, because I need David to have Spark V. I was so surprised when this happened that I missed the QTE on Loki’s Critical Offense.  At this point I’m glad that I saved before starting this fight. But man, are the higher-level Combat Arts GOOD! That did 8200+ damage. Too bad I’m unlikely to live through this turn, never mind win the fight.  We’re down, but not out! That was Emma’s union getting intercepted and creamed on their way to revive David’s union.  On Turn 10, Rush’s union was intercepted on the way to bring back someone else. There is no question that on the next turn, Rush’s union will die. The only matter is: will he get to revive someone before he gets killed? Caedmon rocking his new art. Rush follows up with a Restore V on Emma’s union, and Gabriel tosses some Herbs Rush’s way as well. Hell yes! In this game, enemy healing tends to be pretty weak. In this case, it’s a solid bonus because now I can get the chance to bring David’s union back. Bring it home, Baulson. And with everyone still standing. Perfect comeback! learned  Orphic Ward II! class changed to Legendary Ranger! learned  Knee Splitter II! class changed to Expert Freelancer! class changed to Cavalier! I think Emma might be our first T4 class! The Cavalier is a Mystic + Combat hybrid, with Remedies as their highest Mystic. Odds are decent that Rush will become one when his STR hits 41. - Dungeon Video: Senecio + Phoenix Sections I swear, if this is the thing Hinnah dropped, someone’s getting a punch in the mouth. Obtained Mojcado Key! It isn’t what Hinnah is looking for, but it will let us past certain doors so we can access the rest of the ruins now. class changed to Mysticknight! Senecio Section is characterized by a lot of straight corridors. Phoenix Section is full of lots of small rooms. What we are looking for is in here. You should be able to guess where just from looking at the map. class changed to Master Ranger! This room is split in half by fallen debris. On the other side is a chest containing the Pegasus formation, an upgrade to Unicorn. This is the farthest room in, so of course it has the item we want. It’s the shiny dot in the middle. The chest contains the Rosethorn, a Qsiti-specific weapon. The glowing spot on the floor, though, is… Obtained Tarnished Earring Tarnished Earring - A delicate earring with snowflake designs. The studs are old and worn. At the upper right of Oath Section, in this dead-end is the Osteon Morsel to up Mr. Diggs Dig count. - Video: Blooming Flower, Singing Bird (Part 3) I found this in a room in the east wing. Holy hell - that's my earring! Where the hell'd you find that? I've been looking for that thing all over this hole! Okay, that almost makes up for having bogarted my trophy monster before. Guess I won't have to break your legs after all. The Tarnished Earring was snatched away.  Try that again and you're gonna regret it. Now... back to Hannah. She's probably going apeshit by now. Aw, man... I'm covered in dirt and grime. I just know Hannah's gonna throw a bitchfit again... Still, she looked as though she'd been pulled through a pig sty. You know, you ought to be more careful when handling a lady. Uhhh… no, nevermind. Well, she's back safely, and that's what really matters. I really do appreciate it. Say... What was it that she dropped in the first place? She wouldn't say a word about it. It was an earring. Pretty tarnished and worn, too. Hmm? An old, tarnished earring? So that's what it was... Hinnah and I saved up and bought those earrings when we were children. To think, she still treasures them so... Anyway. This is no time to travel down memory lane. It's time for me... to give you... your reward. Yessss… Reward: 2000 G, Aes Salia, Snowflake (A flower.) Huh? This? This is a promise for the next time we meet. Feel free to consider it an IOU. Hopefully, then we'll have the luxury of creating a firmer and... deeper connection. Look forward to it... I certainly am. Until we meet again! Completed quest: Blooming Flower, Singing Bird Hinnah found her earring, so I took her back to her sis. Sadly, they left afterwards, but Hannah promised a "hotter, more intense" meeting next time...I can't wait! Snowflake - A flower from Hannah that represents a new beginning. The pure white flower petals are reminiscent of falling snow. Aes Salia - A red stone known as the roc's jagged talon. Salia Count: 3. Only six more to go before we can save Royotia from going all Pompeii. - Video: Rare Monster Fatalclaw On my test run-through of Blooming Flower, Singing Bird, I encountered this guy, so have a bonus rare monster fight.New Arts Summary learned:
learned:
class changed to Master Ranger! learned Spark III! learned Mighty Quad Slice II! class changed to Healer! has learned Vivification Herb! class changed to Legendary Ranger! class changed to Mysticknight! has learned Nimble Devil’s Due IV! class changed to Cavalier! has learned Nimble Smash II! learned Knee Splitter II! class changed to Expert Freelancer! Dungeon: Gaslin - Ravine of Temptation Boss: The Absolute Queen Blooming Flower, Singing Bird (Part 1) Rare Monster Tsilkali Dungeon: Senecio + Phoenix Sections Blooming Flower, Singing Bird (Part 3) Rare Monster Fatalclaw Next Time: My heart was the only casualty Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Feb 26, 2015 |
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Feb 25, 2015 00:48
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Magical, I think I sold myself short by never reading the quest dialog, because Rush is pretty hilarious in it.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:32
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I really like Hinnah, and that quest is such a pain that when I did it the first time I was 100% expecting her to join the party afterward. No such luck. 
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Feb 25, 2015 02:58
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You labeled the update Chapter XV. Just fyi.
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Feb 25, 2015 04:02
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FractalSandwich posted:I really like Hinnah, and that quest is such a pain that when I did it the first time I was 100% expecting her to join the party afterward. No such luck. Including Hannah and Hinnah, there are several other characters with quests and unique models that don't join you afterward. I didn't really think much of it at the time, though I'm aware of what it is about now.
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Feb 25, 2015 12:11
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Serious Frolicking posted:Including Hannah and Hinnah, there are several other characters with quests and unique models that don't join you afterward. I didn't really think much of it at the time, though I'm aware of what it is about now. They wouldn't be the first, Gabe and Violet also didn't join you, and we still have yet to recruit Paris.
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Feb 25, 2015 12:30
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Serious Frolicking posted:Including Hannah and Hinnah, there are several other characters with quests and unique models that don't join you afterward. I didn't really think much of it at the time, though I'm aware of what it is about now. Judging from earlier talk in the thread on how the Conqueror was meant to be another protagonist leading his own half of the game, some of the unique NPCs are going to be his party members instead of Rush's.
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Feb 25, 2015 12:39
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Mraagvpeine posted:You labeled the update Chapter XV. Just fyi. Fixed, thank you. I also fixed the missing journal entries from "The War of a Thousand Years": This qsiti in Balterossa wants me to defeat a monster roaming around the Great Subterrane. It's supposed to be strong. Really strong. I killed the monster! The qsiti seems to think there's some kind of conspiracy, but who cares! The important thing is - I rock!Onmi posted:They wouldn't be the first, Gabe and Violet also didn't join you, and we still have yet to recruit Paris. Indeed, this happens often. There are many characters you can meet well before they can join your team, so someone not joining you immediately is no tell of allegiance. I have a special section for NYPM's in the third post, and I've just added Hannah and Hinnah to it. That category will be expanding quite a bit during this series of side-quests. I think I'm going to add a map to one of the posts in the OP to help keep the locations straight. World Map Here is a roughly current map of the world location we've uncovered so far. Dungeons are given a number, use the legend below to locate them.  (Click for larger) Dungeons  Orange background and lighter text indicates Battlefields, which are one-time-only locations only used for large battles. Blue background indicates underground dungeons, Green background indicates outdoor dungeons. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Feb 25, 2015 |
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Feb 25, 2015 14:11
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Well, Hinnah sure looks...friendly. Ish. Man, my Battle Rank's in the mid-20's and I only just finished with the Congress in Elysion. Is it better to just avoid most of the mobs for now? Also I managed to make Rush a Marauder, one of the Mystic classes - still not entirely sure how that happened and whether it'll knock him off the path to get the combat/mystic dual classes later on.
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Feb 26, 2015 07:04
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I just finished writing and screenshotting updates 25-A and 26. I'll see about getting 25-A up soonish. The next one will need to wait a while. I also went back and added in the descriptions of the items we got from Hannah. Snowflake - A flower from Hannah that represents a new beginning. The pure white flower petals are reminiscent of falling snow. Aes Salia - A red stone known as the roc's jagged talon.Verant posted:Well, Hinnah sure looks...friendly. Ish. MID-20's? I'll reach BR 20 in the next update, which is two mandatory dungeons and a bunch of side-quests farther than you are, so you're probably fairly high. Where does the morale bar start when you enter a fight? If it starts way over to the right, you're at a higher BR than expected. A Marauder is one who has INT as their highest stat, at least 35, and their Invocations are their highest Mystic art. Rush became only a Master Ranger (STR 35) in this update, so you've probably been fighting a lot. The Mystic/Combat classes require either STR/INT to be at 41 - it doesn't matter which. But my current playthrough isn't exactly a model. The first time I did The Great Subterrane on this run, I started out at too low a BR, but fought a lot in that dungeon and gained a lot more BR than I wanted. It wasn't until the Catacombs before the morale bar indicated I was in the expected BR range again. Right now, a lot of the encounters still seem to think I'm underleveled, so...  *** My question is how have you been playing? Do you hunt down and clear everything? Repeatedly? Have you cleared out all the sidequests (Not a bad thing, I just want to know if you're at that BR BEFORE finishing all the side-quests.) The class you'll end up in depends on your playstyle and weapon style. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Feb 26, 2015 |
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Feb 26, 2015 14:00
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:
Generally hunt and clear except for the Sand Sea, though my bar's been starting in the middle for everything except rare monsters, so I may be off on the BR. Not that I could check, since my copy of the game seems determined to not load at all for whatever reason, no matter how many times I verify the files on Steam.
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Feb 27, 2015 04:22
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Bonus update coming today. I also recorded Chapter 27, which has a bossfight which while shorter, gave me even more trouble than the one in Chapter 26. The game seems to think it's harder too, as you get an even larger reward.Verant posted:Generally hunt and clear except for the Sand Sea, though my bar's been starting in the middle for everything except rare monsters, so I may be off on the BR. Not that I could check, since my copy of the game seems determined to not load at all for whatever reason, no matter how many times I verify the files on Steam. Each time you enter a dungeon? Hunting and clearing is generally not the right approach. I'm not an expert by any means, but I think a better approach is this: The bar in the middle might think you're okay, but if nothing else, getting to that high a BR before you are able to recruit new unique leaders means that you're effectively hiring weaker people than you should have for that BR - and even then, it's better to be a lower BR than who you recruit, because units you level yourself get better stat gains than units that come at the higher level. Violet and Gabriel are BR 15, so if you can only pick them up at BR 25, they'll be noticeably weaker and take longer to catch up.
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Feb 27, 2015 14:48
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How tall is Hannah? The screenshots make her look shorter than Rush by like half a foot.
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Feb 27, 2015 21:48
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  Bonus: “The Hero of a Thousand Years” I didn’t actually know this at the time I recorded it, otherwise I would have done this then. As has been pointed out, the quests “The Hero” and “The War of a Thousand Years” reference each other, and the bosses of both these quests can be found in the same place. Normally, you can only have one side-quest active at a time, and the other one overwrites it. But for this quest, the designers built in an exception. - Video: The Hero of a Thousand Years Let’s travel back in time to Balterossa, just after finishing “The Silent Soul”. Both quests are now available. To get the special event to trigger is simple enough:  I ain’t afraid o’ no ghost. Accept the quest… Exiting to the World Map will suspend the current quest. Exit to the World Map? Yep! Then immediately leave the dungeon to suspend it. Go back to Café Moondust. Call me the Stopmaster! Accept this quest now… And once again leave. Now we have activated both quests at least once. Keep your pants on. Hey – you sure you’re okay? Haven’t been thirstin’ for qsiti flesh, right? Well, Albic qsiti meat is pretty tasty… er, or so I’ve heard. … I’m going to stop talking now. (Will wonders never cease.) He’s dead, he can wait. …Come on, just hurry up and do it. I’m on it! The ghost warrior haunts a small island in the shifting sands in the Great Subterrane. But if you cannot find a way over the sands, you won’t be able to pass to the island. Some other monster has been raised from the dead, it’s said, but you probably should just leave well enough alone with that one. Re-accept “The Hero” quest. (Or the other one, it doesn’t matter.) If you see across the pit, you can see the monster from “The War of a Thousand Years” waiting, even though “The Hero” is the active quest.  There’s a special cutscene which has two of them now!  Defeat the Mantroskylo!  There’s a new mechanic in the fight, too! That yellow colour means that it is a Neutral union – it will not attack us unless we attack it first. So let’s not fight it. The Absolute Queen will single-mindedly target the Mantroskylo in this fight. So do we, and in short order, it is in critical condition.  Once the Mantroskylo is defeated, the Absolute Queen dies immediately – even if it was killed by ‘her’ itself. The dialogue changes if this is how you did the quest. What could possibly be the reason to carry such a grudge for so long? I really want to know… Er, ahem. This is for you. Reward: Rough Elven Stone x1, 5000 G. Obtained Honor of Determination! Obtained Vanguard! You’ve learned a new formation! This combines the rewards for both quests AND grants you an extra 500 G on top. Whoo boy, yer a legend o’ yer own, sonny… This should end the thousand-year conflict. Stubborn gets, ain’t they? Don’t know one need to be fightin’ for a thousand years straight anyhow. Sure, before becomin’ a ghost, he must’ve had something he was real hung up on… Enough to not get around to dyin’ for… That said, Balterossa’s gotta be doin’ somethin’ to deserve it, yeah? I smell a conspiracy, and a big one! Welp, I got a meetin’ so later! Actually, the one you didn’t do the quest from leaves after the first quest is done. So I did it a second time to get the alternate dialogue. Here are the new journal entries for doing the quests together: The hero-turned-monster is dead. No one really knows how he transformed into that thing. Not my problem, I guess. I killed the monster and the ancient hero. I don’t know why they kept fighting all these years. Isn’t there a better way to spend time…? That’s it for now. Next time we fight a battle we really shouldn’t be fighting this soon.The Hero of a Thousand Years Next Time: My heart was the only casualty Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Feb 27, 2015 |
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Feb 27, 2015 21:54
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Ah, that's cool! I didn't know about that. Very sneaky.
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Feb 27, 2015 21:57
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That was a great bonus.
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Feb 27, 2015 23:56
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wdarkk posted:How tall is Hannah? The screenshots make her look shorter than Rush by like half a foot. She is exactly as tall as her twin sister.  Also, all the videos are uploaded, so the next update is basically done and can be posted fairly soon. So while I'm replacing the tags with actual links,  your guesses about what the two new dungeons and the brand new OPTIONAL city we'll visit on this road trip (in Chapter 28) will be like, or what the common theme between several of these sidequests will be, or anything else about the game/LP so far that's seemed interesting.
Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 28, 2015 19:15
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Bonus update coming today. I also recorded Chapter 27, which has a bossfight which while shorter, gave me even more trouble than the one in Chapter 26. The game seems to think it's harder too, as you get an even larger reward. Did notice that the Rush/Emma dungeon was a bit on the easy side, so I suppose I'll be playing keep away a bit more in the dungeons now. Never knew you could do those two quests together either, so that was pretty neat to see and then use for my own playthrough. As far as the next optional diversion, I want to say I remember one of the barkeeps mentioning some sort of scientist resort town. Melphina, I think?
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Mar 1, 2015 01:06
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 My heart was the only casualty  More girlfriend troubles, right? East of Balterossa, deep below the Great Sand Sea, lives a very kind old seer. Charlotte and I would appreciate it if you would escort us to him. No prob! I hate to involve you in our personal intrigues yet again, but you have my gratitude. Our parents refuse to acknowledge our love. Throughout the time we've been kept apart, we've communicated in secret. But now...we are tired of all this cloak-and-dagger - keeping our true feelings in the shadows, as if we are shamed by such a thing! We've decided to elope. (Uh-oh.) (This could indeed end badly.) The seer has agreed to keep us for a short time. Afterwards, we'll flee to some place far, somewhere we may be together. Not Athlum. We’re… er… we’re full. Full? You mean the whole city of Athlum is full? Yes, that’s right. You know how things go, paperwork gets lost or confused, and the next thing you know, an entire city just gets filled right up! Sorry. It’s really embarrassing. Never mind that now. Let us make our way to the Great Subterrane. You are the only man I can trust, Rush... Know that I appreciate this. Okay, just no more random rocks as payment, please? Accepted quest: Goodbye, Sweet Love Woah, spoiler alert, game!Music: Into the Depths - Video: Goodbye, Sweet Love (Part 1)  Paris...wait, please. I... I'm worried, Paris. Is running away like this truly the right thing for us to do? Charlotte, what's come over you all of a sudden? This was your idea to begin with! I know... And I deeply believe as the seer says, that with you I will find true happiness. But...but still, Paris... What about Mother? Will she be able to share in our joy? Or will it be the opposite? What of your father? Who's there?  By ridding the world of the two of you, our organization will be able to spread joy to many, many people. Ouch. That’s kinda harsh. Augh! Charlotte is suddenly whisked away. That voice - that's the seer... We've gotta go after 'em! Right! Thank you. The seer's home is further in. We must hurry and save Charlotte! A guest union has joined the party. Paris hired me as a bodyguard again. I was about to meet with him and Charlotte in the Great Subterrane, when Charlotte was kidnapped! This should be a snap now that we’re at a higher level AND have Paris with us. This time, our destination is the Tranquil Springs. The corridors are way too narrow to dodge all these guys, never mind the Rare, so I’ll just fight my way through. Music: Clash of Opposites  It’s best to clean up the trash before dealing with the tough enemies, so I’ll let the Rare stay alive for now.  Nicely done, Torgal. Yeah, you just keep working at that, Spiders. I’m sure that you’ll wear him down eventually. Stench seems to inflict Silence and Paralyze when it hits. This was fun, but I don’t have time to play with you, there’s a damsel to rescue.Music: Reversal    has learned Mighty Quad Slice III! has learned Spark II! That fight just bumped us up to BR 19 for reference. I know I’m not keeping track of that much, so I’m just letting you know now. With the cutscene and that fight, it was long enough for me to break up the second part of the dungeon into its own video. - Video: Goodbye, Sweet Love (Part 2) This is another irritating section with lots of narrow corridors, so I fought my way through. The video has been increased to 4x speed until the important part. class changed to Expert Mysticknight! I decide to try out the Mystic Mountain formation. It lowers some of David’s stats to half, but everyone else gets a benefit. class changed to Master Monk! I hate these narrow corridors. There’s no good way to dodge, so I basically fight my way through this section. has learned Thunderclap! has learned Double Time! has learned Resonance Edge! Still, that does have some benefits…   Hmph. There is no need for me to explain. All I'll have to explain is how I found the two of you - victims of lovers' suicide! Mission: Defeat the Seer! Are you making GBS threads me? No… just why? Yes, I'm fine. Paris...I'm sorry, I can't do this. I tried, but...I need to be at Mother's side. Why? You believe that the times we spent together, the feelings we shared were nothing more than illusions created by the seer? (Wait, where did that come from?) (How should I know?)  I just - I can't... I... I see... ...It's alright. I knew that someday, we would have to face the cruel truth of our situation. I only hoped our borrowed time would have lasted longer... Paris, I still - Let us return... Back to where each of us belongs. Ahh...forgive me, Rush. I'm sorry you had to get mixed up in this. I’m not. This is much more entertaining than Celapaleian politics! The guest union has left the party. Don’t ask me dude, I don’t even have a girlfriend. ...At the very least, it's due to your assistance that Charlotte is unharmed, Rush. My heart was the only casualty... Forgive me, my mind wanders. Here, a small token of my gratitude. Reward: Bracelet of Grafting, 3000 G. Sweet! They say that given enough time, a broken heart becomes inured to the pain... I suppose all I can do is wait... Completed quest: Goodbye, Sweet Love We saved Charlotte, but she ended up dumping Paris because it was upsetting her mom. Seriously? I think it's time to leave the nest. No, Paris is STILL not recruitable yet. The Bracelet of Grafting he gave us is pretty good though, it gives +10% to Max HP, and +2 to Maul-type attacks… which do me no good as the Katanas I’m using have Slash-type attacks. That’s only this type of Katanas, though. There are types which do maul-type damage. This bracelet is going on Rush soon to replace his +5% HP thing. So there's supposed to be something the Imperator sealed out in the great swamp, but now the seal is broken. Maybe it's the entrance to another world... That's the latest news, Daddy. Bartender: Once one enters another world, most likely they can’t return. Alright, beloved daughter, don’t go to the swamp until I say so! O-okay… Definitely mystic arts! Mmm, you have a point, mastering mystic arts is a powerful and useful skill. Hmmm… The spell Invocations… Is it worth the time to learn it? Or ought I just stick with what I already know? Oh hey, it’s our first New Arts. Upon reaching certain BR, party members and unique leaders can get the opportunity – at Rush’s discretion – to learn new categories of Mystic or Item arts. Generics do not ever learn New Arts, which is one reason why they are inferior.On the Xbox version, you want to pick and choose what you want leaders to learn. For instance, Emma should NOT learn Invocations, because her stats are pretty crappy for them. On the PC version, though, you may as well just say “Yes” to everything, and turn off the arts you don’t want them to use, because you have that freedom. I forgot to turn off Emma’s Invocations. Don’t run from a challenge! A challenge, hmm? Fine, I’ll give it a shot. So I was thinking of learning Remedies… Think that’s a good idea? Yeah, go for it! Alright, then. The more you know, eh? More magical healing is never a bad thing. Hey, you think I’m trainin’ in the right things? … Ridiculous, ain’t it? A bandit worrying about this type of stuff… Mystic arts, for sure. Yeah, I saw the usefulness of mystic arts firsthand when I was actively banditing. How should I focus my training from now on? I’d value your opinion, Rush. Combat arts, for sure! An unerring judgment. Of course, I expected nothing less. Say, Rush, you look unoccupied. How about we pick up some battles, hmm? Just a little something to work the kinks out. Sounds like a plan. Oho? You surprised me. I didn’t think you’d be up for any fun. Hey Rush, you look bored! Let’s go find some Vackel Iron! Okay… Sheesh… by the way, I will NEVER cut these sections out of an update. I want you to have the full experience of what it’s like, after all. Let’s go to Mojcado castle and talk with Charlotte and the court.  Lady Bertrude is quite stoic about it, but this business with her daughter really pains her.  Thank heavens, the Lady Charlotte has returned safely. The Duchess is very relieved. To think, the Lady Charlotte was exposed to such danger… This is a blight to the honor of Balterossa. My daughter has made the right choice in returning to me. I will not accept her dallying with that man. Mother only wants what’s best for me. She raised me herself… I cannot betray her trust. If only he could understand… You know what… I’ve saved my game after doing Paris’s quest, I might as well give The Ancient War another shot. If I get creamed, I’ll come back later, like the usual plan.   A thousand years ago, there was a great kingdom in the desert. Its military was renowned around the world. And within that force was the queensguard – the Mantroskylo. Their prowess in battle is still sung in legend today. They were heroes who sealed countless wild monsters. A brotherhood who protected their queen like an iron wall. Skilled warriors who could win while outnumbered a thousand to one. However, they were eventually destroyed by their own strength. They turned into monsters, and turned upon the Imperator. The Imperator immediately struck back. After a fierce battle on both sides, the Imperator took the Tao Tie and sealed the Mantroskylo. Sounds like an old story. What’s the big deal? Young traveler, this is no simple nursery-tale. After a thousand years, the Mantroskylo have returned. They assemble against Balterossa to take back the Tao Tie. This cannot be allowed, no matter the cost. Somehow, the force that was strong enough to even plague the Imperator must be defeated. Sure, I’ll help! Yeah, but I gotta try! Then go, traveler! Accepted Quest: The Ancient War I have those formations already from my previous playthrough. Before coming here, I put Rush and Emma’s unions into Batwings formation, and David’s union into Vanguard. The benefit for these formations is supposedly that they spread your units out enough that the boss’s AoE attack won’t hit all of them.Now here’s an interesting thing about these formations. Vanguard is easy to get (“The Hero”). Batwings requires you to complete a quest you can get later (“Wisdom’s Echo”). The thing about “Wisdom’s Echo” is that some people like to put it off until Disc 2, because it can be used to grind stats. However, “The Ancient War” expires at the end of Disc 1. Anyway, let’s get to it. I hope you’re sitting comfortably, because this battle will last the remainder of the update. This is a tough battle, and I’m attempting earlier than expected. Tough battles in this game can last quite a long time. Music: Sliver of Hope - Battlefield Video: The Ancient War Salamander's Belly - Flatlands found northeast of the Great Sand Sea. The heat and lack of moisture cause many to lose their lives. It is also called the Salamander's Belly. Mission: Defeat the enemy! We have 800 more HP and much better stats and arts from our previous, doomed attempt at this. Rarely, in battlefields, you can sometimes be too far from any union to attack them and have to march to reach an enemy. Rush’s union is in that situation, so I order him to stand by, building up some AP. More AP never hurts. David’s union is sent to attack some Xi plants on the left side of the map, Emma to target some Xi’s on the right side.  This start is much improved already. I think that guy must be at like 1 HP. Mantroskylo is content to stay on Standby until it gets attacked or takes damage. That’s fine, I’m glad to clear out all the lesser enemies first – it’ll let me build up both morale and AP. One good thing about this fight is that there are no waves of reinforcements. What you see on the field is what you get. That does not, however, mean that it will be easy to win. The enemies were the ones who moved closer, so now Rush has his pick of targets. I go for the ones who look to be trying to flank Dave’s union. Better hit harder than that! The downside to hitting dodge-counters is that it reduces the XP that units could get for using arts… but in a fight this long and hard, that’s okay.  Sometimes, you’re even too far to target an enemy and march towards them. All Emma is in range to do is pile onto union D. Most of our unions have a buttload of AP. AP tends to pile up faster than you can spend it, especially in battles which last more than three turns, so the main reason for using less AP-intensive actions is to practice specific arts. At the end of this turn, union D is dead, and no one is in range, so I have everyone move on the next closest target, Omicron (E). Music: Struggle Eternal  Dave! End it with the Gae Bolg! Oh, hell yes.This is, I believe, the first time we’ve had a chance to see the Gae Bolg in action since the first update. The main reason for that is because it requires a lot of conditions to be met: 1. There must be at least three enemy unions on the field. That’s the minimum, although more unions will increase the chances of it being available. 2. David’s Division must not be in Deadlock 3. David’s Division must have high or low morale. 4. David’s Division must have at least 80 AP (PC version only – Xbox version has no AP requirement). The hardest one is to not be in Deadlock. That means it’s very rare to see it as an option in normal in-dungeon battles. That’s actually fairly appropriate, as it serves to keep use of it rare. Once you do get the command though… it usually does not matter at all what you tell your other unions to do.  Gae Bolg, I call upon thee!   I think that it does more damage the more enemies are on the field. It’s usually enough to wipe out any non-boss instantly, and as a unique art, it scales with you throughout the game. Also, despite what the warning in the opening cutscene implies, the Gae Bolg does no damage to allied units. That scratch woke the sleeping dragon and seemed to knock 1/16th off its health. The Mantroskylo has a base BR of 40-42, and no less than 98,000 HP. It’s immune to Blackout and Poison, but susceptible to Silence and Paralyze. (No one has any arts that do that enabled.) It’s not the dragon’s HP which will be the problem in this fight, though.   It’s a new art bonanza! None of my unions has the option to march to the last enemy. So once the Mantroskylo is defeated, we’ll have to kill that too.  One of its normal attacks is a tail swipe.  Uh-oh. Didn’t think… you had it in you… This isn’t over! OUCH. Vulcanbreath is the real killer for this fight. It’s a very nasty AoE that does enough damage to potentially one-shot my toughest union from full HP (at least at low morale). You might want to make sure you have a good stock of Herbs. Do NOT go into a long dungeon or battlefield with your herbs depleted. I could have activated Talisman’s Gift, but I didn’t think it would be that helpful. (As it turns out, both Deathly Fang and Vulcanbreath are considered Combat Arts, and so Protection is effective against them.) Instead I decided to sacrifice Rush’s union to bring back someone else. Rise and fight with us once more! Rush’s union is so badly off that the AI decides to heal it instead of Emma’s union. Gabriel tosses some Restorative Herb III Emma’s way. Ha-HA! Good, that helps. Next turn, I have Rush keeping his HP up while Emma goes to revive David. Hmmm… Life Powder heals a small amount to all units in a union. Strong… ain’tcha…? I just thought Violet blocking a freakin’ DRAGON with her puny staff was a cool image to include. This is gonna be a thing with you, isn’t it. At least David’s division took no damage. I tell David’s division to Save Emma’s Squad, ‘no matter what’, while Emma goes to bring Rush back. Well, at least she brought Rush back first. Stand, soldier! The AI is flexible in this game. Even though at the time it was given, that command was to HEAL Emma’s union, it is smart enough to try and revive her if she got killed first. It’s not related, but one other nice thing about this game is that even if you die, your AP is preserved, so once you’re on your feet again, you can use your best stuff.  Are you all right? Don’t underestimate them! That did 1600 damage and overkilled Loki. The damage penalty from Ultra-low-morale is a big pain. I think I should re-enable Psionics on Rush. Caedmon gets an upgrade, and his blow knocks Mantryskylo into critical HP. But it’s not like we’re in great shape either. This is a pretty dangerous stage of the fight – you have to prioritize keeping yourself alive ahead of finishing him off, because he still has a quarter of his health left, and that’s a lot to try and take off in one round. I have everyone break deadlock to heal. Mantroskylo can only Raidlock one of us, and he’s much less likely to use Vulcanbreath if he’s only deadlocked with one union than with two or three. After taking his sweet time to get Vivification Herb, Caedmon’s Item arts are improving rapidly. Petrification makes you unable to defend (with use of the “Defend” command), and any damage taken has an 80% chance of causing a KO. You can still dodge and attack just fine, though. Next turn, I order Rush to bring Loki back. Why? Gird yourselves, men! That was more damage than Emma has total health … but our other unions were totally untouched, probably in large part because they weren’t in deadlock with the boss. Looks like the formations are working? I send David to get Emma back on her feet. Long fights are pretty great. This blow does 4200+ damage. Mend restores 30% HP. Looks like the fight will last a little longer. I order Rush to break deadlock to heal, the other unions will continue the attack. Finally, we’ll get to make use of Rush’s Ranger ability to engage in flanking. This is good largely because of the morale bonus I get. I probably won’t be able to do it forever thanks to Vulcanbreath, but I’ll go as long as I can. Emma will break off, David will keep fighting while healing. I’m getting good luck with avoiding petrification-based-death. Pagus clears that status immediately afterwards. Oh boy, a flank attack, plus the pretty powerful Third Eye II, plus a successful Critical Offense chain guaranteeing a critical hit…  7640 damage with that one hit.  That knocked a visible chunk out of Mantroskylo’s HP and kicked it back into critical health. More! Pile it on! This is our big chance to end it, right here!  Watch this!   3612 + 10119 + 15028 = 28759 damage in that round. So long Dragon! Suddenly that bird is looking a little lonely. The great thing about having a bird left until last is that if I had any downed units, I could get them up before finishing the battle, so they wouldn’t miss out on all that art XP.  Battle Rank: 20 Total Number of Turns: 21 Total Enemies Defeated: 9   Oh yeah! I see, you struck without hesitation. Then, I give you this. Reward: 20000 G Balterossa's crisis has passed. Still, why would the Mantroskylo betray the Imperator to begin with? Perhaps some day the truth will come to light. Until then, be well, young traveler." I destroyed the royal troop of Mantroskylo, protectors of the ancient desert kingdom. We'll never know its history, but at least Balterossa's safe. That reward might not seem like much for all that work, but it’s tied for the fourth-largest quest reward in the game. Of course, it’s a DISTANT fourth, as the first and second-highest ones are really substantial.Phew, that was long. The video clocks in at 21 minutes, 20 of which was the battle. Most of that - 14 turns and 14 minutes was spent on the Mantroskylo itself. Next time, we’ll have a slightly shorter battle with an even harder boss. There will be bloopers. This also won’t be the only Dragon we fight on this road trip. New Arts Summary has learned Mighty Quad Slice III! has learned Spark II! class changed to Expert Mysticknight! has learned:
has learned Restore! class changed to Master Monk! has learned Thunderclap! has learned:
has learned:
has learned:
class changed to Adept Monk! has learned Cutting Lunge! has learned Switchback!... I think it's time for me to fully update the stats and arts in the third post. Goodbye, Sweet Love (Part 1) Goodbye, Sweet Love (Part 2) Quest: The Ancient War Next Time: Ice burrrn! Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Apr 5, 2017 |
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Mar 1, 2015 16:05
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Focus Strike II!
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I do like that the AI is a little reactive. I like that about the later Dragon Warrior games, that you can leave things to your party members and they'll react where you could not.
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Mar 3, 2015 09:01
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Over 48 hours since an  update and only one reply. Am I the worst screenshot LP'er ever, or what? At the very least, I'll do no more weekend updates ever again.I've recorded material for another couple of chapters, and I'll start using "Previously On's", because the lore and backstory in this game keeps building on itself, and it can be difficult to keep things straight.
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Mar 3, 2015 16:47
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I love the really long battles in this game. One of the biggest strengths of the Last Remnant is how the easy of reviving and healing plus the damage output of many bosses allows battles to feel really intense and swingy; I've have lots of fights were I thought I was cruising for an easy victory, only to have a single bad turn cause everything to go to poo poo. On the other hand, if you're properly supplied, you can "sandbag" to use the FFT terminology through some really difficult fights. It's always a fun decision, when to go all out and try and finish off the boss, and when to heal/which union to sacrifice. On the other hand, going into a tough boss fight and discovering you're out of ingredients for vivification herbs is really frustrating.
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Mar 3, 2015 17:11
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I've been following this thread with interest since the third update or so, but I didn't think to post, or that you might enjoy the feedback. Sorry. I don't always have something to say (I've seen most of the game already, so the plot twists don't provoke much of a reaction), but you've been showing of dialogue that I hadn't seen before, and your additions to the script,(plus the Visistones, which I never read) bring a bit of fun and extra coherence to the tale. All that to say... Good job, and I hope to see more!
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Mar 3, 2015 17:39
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I didn't have anything even remotely entertaining to say, but I am enjoying your LP, Stabbey!
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Mar 3, 2015 17:52
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Look at all those wonderful numbers going up. 
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Mar 3, 2015 18:57
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Sometimes I forget who's got what backstory. Any chance of a cheat sheet?
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Mar 3, 2015 22:27
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Emma's battle chatter is the best. I hope we hire that Emma junior person we've seen before and I hope she's more of the same.
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Mar 3, 2015 22:40
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wdarkk posted:Sometimes I forget who's got what backstory. Any chance of a cheat sheet? That's a really good idea. Okay, this game has a great deal of lore and world-building, which is tucked away mostly in NPC chatter and quest dialogues. It can indeed be a lot to keep track of, especially since each town has its own backstory, and lore. You will be surprised in the end how much content revolves around the ancient desert kingdom destroyed a thousand years ago (and basically none of it has to do with the main plot). So to help clear things up, I'll be putting together a post which will hold all the lore we've learned, organized by category and chapter number - with spoiler tags for the benefit of future readers (so they know how far its safe to read). I have this for rough categories so far: - Remnants - Town Legends - The Marshalls - The Old, Lost, Desert Kingdom - The Sykes - Quest Chains EDIT: I do have some bios for people in the third post - updated after this latest update, including stats and arts. I can expand on those as well and keep track of those things. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Mar 3, 2015 |
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Mar 3, 2015 23:11
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Count me in on someone who'd benefit from a lore cheat sheet. I was pretty much going 'why should I care about this sidequest? Why's everything called Mantroskylo?' after reading.
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Mar 4, 2015 00:30
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booksnake posted:Count me in on someone who'd benefit from a lore cheat sheet. I was pretty much going 'why should I care about this sidequest? Why's everything called Mantroskylo?' after reading. Yeah. The big post will cover this fully, but this update actually did explain their deal (mostly). Stabbey_the_Clown posted:
Basically, the Mantroskylo was what the Royal Guard of the ancient kingdom was called. They were apparently pretty tough badasses. Most, if not all of them apparently were transformed into monsters (by who is unclear), and the Imperator (the first God Emperor), apparently unable to defeat them through force, somehow sealed them for about 1000 years, and so they seem to have come back. I'll go into more detail in the full post about how that ties into The Hero/War of a Thousand Years. Also, this doesn't come up much, but the old kingdom actually has a name, even though apparently very few people know it these days: Stabbey_the_Clown posted:
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Mar 4, 2015 00:54
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The desert’s plenty dangerous, but it’s worth bravin’ it for all the treasure hidden out there. Rumor going ‘round the guild is that beneath the Great Sand Sea is the ruins of the greatest of the Old Kingdoms – the Kingdom of Glenys. What I’d give to get even a look at that loot…
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So what does and does not count as a flank attack? There were a few moments where your dudes clearly attacked from the side but the game just went "lol no it's a Multi-lock" And Raidlocks seem like the biggest bullshit.
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Mar 4, 2015 06:28
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I find this game interesting in it's lore and non-standard fantasy races (man-cat-hulks with four arms heck yeah) but I find it hard to commentate/get into simply because of how labyrinthine the battle system seems. However last update you fought a dragon that used to guard the God-Emperor and even after shooting it with a Magical Nuclear Cannon it was a hard fought battle. Dragons are mean  And then everyone's numbers went up 
EponymousMrYar fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Mar 4, 2015 |
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Mar 4, 2015 06:38
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There's a least one thing that if Stabbey didn't directly point it out the average player likely wouldn't notice. But TLR comes across as a labor of love.
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Mar 4, 2015 07:03
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SSNeoman posted:So what does and does not count as a flank attack? There were a few moments where your dudes clearly attacked from the side but the game just went "lol no it's a Multi-lock" Getting raidlocked is punishment for failing to control the battlefield. Sometimes that's because you're already losing, but more often it's an intentional trade-off. In either case, it never happens unexpectedly, so you can always plan around it.
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Mar 4, 2015 07:27
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After the current sidequest session is done, I'll be taking a moment to go pick up a bunch of materials for my party members upgrades. I'll be taking that opportunity to switch around some leaders and show off new characters.SSNeoman posted:So what does and does not count as a flank attack? There were a few moments where your dudes clearly attacked from the side but the game just went "lol no it's a Multi-lock" I try and explain some of this in the second post. If an enemy is big enough - or in the case of a boss, powerful enough - it can deadlock multiple unions at once. Unions in deadlock can attack each other, so a large union which can multi-deadlock can retaliate against up to three unions which deadlock with it. This also means you don't get the morale boost from performing a flank attack. Raidlocks are when you stop attacking and retreat from the fight to do something else, like heal or revive another union, or attack a different union, and the enemy you had been fighting pursues you to continue attacking. Raidlocks can also occur when you do a long-range mystic attack (or a spoiler mechanic), and get attacked at close range. Raidlocks aren't quite the biggest bullshit, that would be if you break off to do something else, and instead of just getting Raidlocked, you get Rear Assaulted instead... Or maybe that only happens if you break and then go deadlock another union and then are attacked by the one you ran away from? The actual orientation of units doesn't seem to affect flanking or raidlocking, which is not unreasonable because you have no way to predict, plan, or alter your orientation. The Multideadlocks and Raidlocks are there to make you think about how you want to approach the fight, so you're not just mindlessly hitting the attack button, but are trying to think about the possible consequences for your actions. EponymousMrYar posted:I find this game interesting in it's lore and non-standard fantasy races (man-cat-hulks with four arms heck yeah) but I find it hard to commentate/get into simply because of how labyrinthine the battle system seems. Yeah, the battle system is confusing, I try to provide the interpretation through my commentary. The dragon didn't used to guard the God Emperor, it used to fight against the God Emperor (the first one, not the current one). Onmi posted:There's a least one thing that if Stabbey didn't directly point it out the average player likely wouldn't notice. But TLR comes across as a labor of love. Do you mean that there's something I forgot to point out, or something that I DID point out? But yes, the game definitely seems like a labour of love. There are tons of little details, things that most people wouldn't notice. For instance, when Rush sends Mr. Diggs to go gather materials, he has some lines, and his model's mouth actually moves, even though you're rarely likely to see that. Other details are hidden in and left as clues for the player to find. There are things you need to read between the lines to understand, it's not spelled out anywhere. One future party member in particular has a unique history which you can easily miss unless you pay attention. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Mar 4, 2015 |
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Mar 4, 2015 14:39
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I'm following the thread, but this game remains pretty daunting as gently caress to me so I don't know what to comment on. I really liked that dragon fight video. I hadn't been watching them and that really helped me to get a better understanding of how play actually works.
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Mar 5, 2015 00:43
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I have a bunch of progress on Chapter 27 today, which has a battle which surprised me by how hard it was. I actually lost the first two times, and won by being really careful. Blooper videos will be included. Apparently I am underleveled again. Not sure how that happened, but I'm not going to complain (except to say that "Sliver of Hope" is getting really tiring to hear.)Smiling Knight posted:I love the really long battles in this game. One of the biggest strengths of the Last Remnant is how the easy of reviving and healing plus the damage output of many bosses allows battles to feel really intense and swingy; I've have lots of fights were I thought I was cruising for an easy victory, only to have a single bad turn cause everything to go to poo poo. On the other hand, if you're properly supplied, you can "sandbag" to use the FFT terminology through some really difficult fights. It's always a fun decision, when to go all out and try and finish off the boss, and when to heal/which union to sacrifice. Yeah, you've pretty much nailed it. You start every fight at full HP, but each fight can be a struggle. The first half of the game goes easy on you, but it gets a lot harder later on. Your union health is capped at 9999, but damage isn't capped for anyone, and this game will cheerfully murder you if you get too greedy. Each fight is a bit of a gamble. Lotish posted:I'm following the thread, but this game remains pretty daunting as gently caress to me so I don't know what to comment on. I've noticed a trend of people not understanding the gameplay and hence not knowing what to comment on. The post on the lore and legends will help clear up some of the plot confusion, but additionally, maybe it would help if I added possible topics for discussion at the end of updates. And yeah, if you're not watching the videos, you might want to do that, at least for the bosses. The highlight of the game is the combat, but as much as I try, it doesn't come across well in screenshots. It is really fluid in motion.
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Mar 5, 2015 01:41
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:And yeah, if you're not watching the videos, you might want to do that, at least for the bosses. The highlight of the game is the combat, but as much as I try, it doesn't come across well in screenshots. It is really fluid in motion. It might help to emphasize a couple of the fun quirks of TLR's combat: a) The huge different between the generic "Attack with combat arts" commands that might be a single Knee Splitter that start off the battle and then the massive "Give it all you've got"-style ones that can show up. The random nature of commands makes the latter a really exciting moment; there is nothing like unleashing 60+ AP of top-tier moves on a boss that has been kicking your rear end. b) The surprise move upgrades in battle. Similar to the above, when a new move just pops up in a tense fight, it is can be a game-changer or at the very least a morale boost. Anyway, I'm really enjoying the LP.
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Mar 5, 2015 02:21
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:One future party member in particular has a unique history which you can easily miss unless you pay attention. that was the thing I was referring to, if you don't bring attention to it, most people wouldn't notice it.
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Mar 5, 2015 05:31
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EDIT: Update moved to the top of the next page, because there was no sense keeping it here.Onmi posted:that was the thing I was referring to, if you don't bring attention to it, most people wouldn't notice it. Hell, I didn't even notice it the first time. But oh boy, do I ever have plans for that now. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Mar 6, 2015 |
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Mar 6, 2015 03:18
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