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I really wish I could play this game but I haven't been in the mood to play an RPG for more than 30 minutes for years now.  I have it in my Steam library just in case though!
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Dec 2, 2014 15:47
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Yeah, my problem was A. I learned that "collect everything! upgrade everything!" mentality early on and B. I did not grasp the importance of the chaining mechanic/understand BR's importance until it was basically too late. I did complete a first playthrough, though, and had a pretty good time.
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Dec 2, 2014 16:35
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  He’s surprisingly simple, wouldn’t you say? Music: Truths Revealed   - Video: Yamarn Plains Cave Dungeon  Attacked by some flying beast? And protected by the light from your talisman? … Child, do you think I’m senile? It’s all true! *sigh* Whatever. First, things first, we need to get out of here.Music: Into the Depths   Emma has joined the party! Yamarn Plain – A plain bordering Athlum. Many have fought here unsuccessfully in hopes of invading Celapaleis. Hey and we finally get control of our protagonist! Yamarn Plain is a battlefield location, which means that it’s only accessible a single time for a quest/story battle. Once we leave this tiny cavern, we can never come back.You may be wondering what that “Timeshift” meter on the right is. I’ll tell you later. In a fresh game, it gets introduced in a couple dungeons from now, so I won’t use it and save the explanation for when we do get it. Emma has joined the party for this dungeon. This is actually the smallest the party will ever get for combat areas - you can always have at least two party members.  Lady Emma seems interested in that thingee. (No, you can’t run by and ignore it.) What is that? It’s a treasure chest – a type of Remnant. They’re not that uncommon. Remnant, huh? There could be any number of things inside. Find out – bind it. Bind? What do you mean? You have to “bind” a Remnant to use it. In this case, just reach out your hand and ask it to show you what’s inside. It’s simple enough that even you can do it – so long as someone else hasn’t bound it first. The game has to introduce its admittedly unusual concepts to the player, and they’re doing that through the protagonist as usual, but for the son of two world-famous Remnant researchers, Rush is surprisingly ignorant of such a basic thing. If you’re feeling generous, you can chalk that up to him hitting his head when falling into here.You can actually skip this dialogue by selecting the chest directly instead of talking to Emma. “Academy Visistone 8-9” posted:
 This game’s setting is so unusual that they even made such a basic thing as a treasure chest into something unique-looking. Treasure chests in this game are semi-common, they have fixed loot, and they never respawn.Here, Rush gets a weapon so he can fight. A sword, hm? I suppose you can keep that. You won’t be quite as useless. Rush may be a typical JRPG Idiot Hero, but the other characters treat him like an idiot, which is refreshing. Press {P} to open the Party Menu. Check Rush’s Equipment to see the obtained weapon. Save game progress through the Save Menu. Progress can be saved wherever the party menu is accessible. In other words – no save points, you can save anywhere. And you will really want to. Like the typical hero, Rush set out on his journey with just the clothes on his back, and his life savings – a piddly little 4,546,603 G. … Okay, okay, normally you only start out with 800 G, but the high amount is because it’s a New Game Plus. In NG+, you don’t carry over your previous G, but you are awarded some amount of money based on the number of side-quests and quild-requests you do. I didn’t bother finishing up everything, including two really tough bonus bosses, so I didn’t get the full amount, which is supposed to be approximately 8,000,000 G. They never actually say if G stands for anything or not. You can see the list of party groups in the bottom right, which only has Rush’s Troop, consisting of himself and Emma. The stats are a combination of Rush and Emma’s. HP is self-explanatory, and the union generates 12 AP at the start of each turn, and it can hold a maximum of 53 AP.  Each character has four primary attributes. I don’t know all the details about everything stats do, but Strength determines the power of physical attacks, Intellect does the same for mystic arts, and speed determines or helps determine how quickly a unit acts in the turn order. Each character has a fourth attribute with a special name and ABSOLUTELY NO ONE knows what it actually does. No, really. In Rush’s case, his special attribute is Bravery, Emma’s is Love.The second column are secondary attributes, which are largely determined by your weapon’s stats. ATK and DEF are your physical attack and defense, MYS and M. DEF are the same for mystic arts. Each unit also gets a flag for some reason.  Is that what you were fighting before? Yes, monsters. It looks like we can’t avoid them. Let’s initiate a battle before they spot us. By pressing {Space}, monsters within a certain range can be drawn into battle. Monsters with [a red-outline around their mood bubble] are close enough to be encountered. If a monster on the field attacks you before you have a chance to attack it, you will be at a distinct disadvantage in the ensuing battle. Be forewarned. Let’s do this!Music: Flamedrop  A New Game Plus run strips out most of the Tutorial messages and dialogue. A sensible idea, but since I’m showing this game to you, I’m going to do a short parallel run through the first few hours to get shots of that stuff to show you.-Battle-Each entity in a battle is called a unit. These units are organized into groups, called unions. In battle, you will command friendly unions for large-scale assaults. The specific directions you may give are displayed as battle commands. At the top right of the screen is a battle navigation map showing the positions of all unions engaged in battle. Available battle commands change depending on conditions such as the positions and makeup of friendly and enemy unions. Keep these conditions in mind to give appropriate battle orders. -Battle Commands- Pressing {Left}{Right} switches targets, while pressing {Up}{Down} switches battle commands. Pressing {Z} displays the status of the units in the currently selected union. You can check units’ actions and any status ailments.  On a first-time playthrough, Rush only knows the Item Art “Herbs”, and he doesn’t start out with any in his inventory. That means that you only get “Attack”, “Attack with Combat Arts”, and “Play it by ear!”AP stands for Action Points. Those are used to perform Combat Arts (physical attacks) and Mystic Arts (essentially magic). AP starts out at zero for everyone at the start of battle, and each unit in the game generates a certain amount of AP at the start of their turn, and each unit has a limit on how many AP they can accumulate. The amount you get per turn and your maximum capacity are the sum of those values for each unit in the union. The game only provides you with options you have the AP to use. Generally, it's best to use the highest AP move you can on your turn, as that will be the most powerful, and you'll usually have some left over to be added to the amount you'll get on your next turn, so more powerful attacks can be done on later turns. Attack costs no AP, and commands every unit to perform a basic physical attack only. The only reason to ever use this is if a party member is trying to learn the basic Combat Art for their current wield style. But almost all most party members start out with at least one Combat Art anyway. Emma starts with some Combat Arts (one-handed, dual-wield), but Rush does not. “Play it by Ear” tells each unit to decide on their own what to do, limited by available AP. It is a bit of a gamble, but in cases when your preferred action can’t be found, this can sometimes be the best option. @@@ Since this is a New Game Plus run, Rush starts out with the basic skill of all Mystic and Item arts learned. I have no items for using Item Arts, and I don’t yet have access to the Rush’s Arts menu to adjust what Mystic Arts he can use. It’s kinda funny seeing Rush start out with arts that took me basically the entire game to get last time. Rush is using Mystic Missile, the basic Evocation. Emma does not know any attack magic - and we don’t have enough AP for her to use it as well even if she did - so she will perform only a basic physical attack.  Before you commit to your actions, you get a summary showing all your unions planned actions and their targets, so you can go back and change things if you want. In this case, Rush’s union will use a Mystic art on Enemy Union A.   -Deadlock- When unions are caught in close combat, it is known as Deadlock. In such situations, the two sides must battle until only one is left. While in Deadlock, targeting is limited. Only adjacent unions may be targeted. When targets are changed to adjacent unions, certain commands can break Deadlock. When breaking free from Deadlock, the opposing union has free chance to attack. Don’t act too rashly in these situations! The visual aid was my creation, don’t blame the game. Arrows represent attacks. The game is warning us that breaking Deadlock with Union C, say to attack Union F - means we are much more vulnerable to another attack from Union C. You should always have a good reason for breaking a deadlock, but don’t be afraid to do so it if means reviving a fallen union or healing a union in trouble. The monsters we’re fighting are Beastmen, specifically Jhana. This one dodges the mystic missile, unfortunately, which means that we’re still deadlocked when the other turn comes up, and the second enemy union gets to move... -Flank Attack-   When in Deadlock, if a union is attacked from the side, it is known as a Flank Attack. It is possible to be flanked by two unions at a time. Unions performing Flank Attacks do extra damage.   In the next turn, Emma finishes off union A. The damage number to the left is the total damage our union sustained, the one on the right is the amount we did to the enemy union.  I was wounded, so I have Rush the “Keep your HP up” command (Attack while healing yourself). That heals your union without breaking Deadlock. Rush is using a Restore, the basic Remedy mystic art. Remedies are the best healing in the game, but it costs AP to use, and like all Mystic Arts, can’t be used when Silenced.  Here’s our first instance of the pretty smart AI at work. Emma also knows the Restore command, and if Rush hadn’t been able to heal the group, she would have done it. But since the group is now in good health, the AI knows that further healing is not needed, so it Reassessed its action to attack with Devil’s Due, the base-level dual-wielding Combat Art.  Battle Rank is the equivalent of Character Level in other RPG’s. It’s a rough measure of how powerful the army is supposed to be. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but explaining the details will take a separate post.Chains / Battle Chains are the total number of enemy units (not unions) that your group has defeated in a row in the current dungeon. Leaving the dungeon or being hit by an enemy resets it. A larger chain boosts art learning and upgrading. Total Number of Turns to finish the current battle. Total enemies defeated is the number of enemy units defeated in the current battle. All party members fully recover after battle, making it easier to undertake consecutive battles. Each battle is its own fight, so if you finish a battle, you are fully healed, all statuses removed, including being dead.  Something’s wrong.  I wasn't expecting this. ... Prepare yourself! Music: Struggle Eternal Even the basic three-room tutorial tunnel has a mandatory boss. Special/story bosses get a special screen-breaking-up-battle-transition. -Morale-The large red and blue bar across the top of the screen is called the Morale Gauge. It measures you and your enemies’ will to fight. As morale rises, attacks become stronger and more effective. Conversely, as morale falls, defenses weaken and unions do less damage. Morale fluctuates based on the performance of both sides in battle. Make it a habit to keep track of your troops’ morale. Morale may not be that important in the early game, but later on, as boss fights start to drag on, Morale management becomes crucial. As your morale lowers, you take more damage, and being damaged lowers your morale faster, which means you take more damage. It feeds in on itself and can quickly end up with your party in a death spiral.Each individual union has its own separate Morale bar – the orange vertical bar marked with “M”. When that maxes out, the leader of the union can perform a Special Attack… assuming they have learned any, and have enough AP for it, and possibly if they have the appropriate equipment... as with many things in this game, “it depends.”  Look at Rush just casually casting the “Poison Gas” Hex in the first tutorial dungeon. In a fresh playthrough, Rush can’t even LEARN Hexes until practically the end of the game. This is not actually a real boss battle. Both sides always dodge any attack for the first two turns.  What… what is this power? Rush releases the power of his talisman.    It’s a second introduction to Special Attacks! Special attacks typically only show up under specific conditions, and they often require the union’s Morale (not the army’s) to be maxed out. Special Attacks come in four flavours:
Special attacks can only be performed by the leader of the union, and they’re pretty rare. Only a few units get a special attack. Rush’s first special attack is Omnistrike. Rush slows down time and hits an enemy a whole bunch of times at once.  It’s quite powerful.  So, your talisman’s more than a fashion accessory after all. The sound of footsteps approaching can be heard.Music: The Young Marquis Huh? Looks like Captain Eyepatch and his buddies caught the Omnistrike show. My lord! You did not have to come all this way for me. Please, accept my apologies. Seeing you safe is apology enough. And who is this? He claims to be the son of Dr. Sykes. (whispers) He claims his sister was abducted by a flying creature. Personally, I think he’s a few components short of an upgrade, but he does seem to have a powerful artifact. I see… (whispers) He could be of use to Athlum. Torgal? I am Torgal, one of Athlum’s four generals. Our lord, the Marquis of Athlum would like to extend his thanks. Step forward. Without even a fade to black, Emma somehow told Blondie Rush’s story, and then he told Torgal that he’d like to thank Rush. I will have you know that your actions have won my gratitude. As for your sister, if the men you seek have entered Athlumian territory, we cannot turn a blind eye. I shall accompany you to Athlum. Huh? Our lord would like to aid you in your search for your sister. Rush steps forward quickly. Torgal takes it as a threat. It’s fine, Torgal. Thanks a lot! I chased that weird flying thing here, but I didn’t have a clue where to go next. But hey, if I’ve got an important guy like you backing me up, I’ve got a whole lot less to worry about. This is ace! The name’s Rush. Rush Sykes. Who are you? I am David Nassau, the Marquis of Athlum. You may address me as David. Sure thing, Dave. … David’s expression here is great, and the reason for it is that he introduced himself as DAH-veed, and Rush called him DAY-ve. You can really see him weighing whether it’s worth correcting Rush or not. He doesn’t.   Rush calling David "Dave" is actually a clever localization. In the Japanese version, Rush's over-familiarity was conveyed by Rush not using honorifics with Dave. Let us return and see what tidings await us in Athlum. All troops, return to Athlum immediately.   Yes, my lord!  Come on Dave, let’s go! Rush is being a little too familiar here, and Emma doesn’t take kindly to it. You whelp! Have you no manners? That is no way to address the Marquis of Athlum. Geez, what’s your problem? He’s surprisingly simple, wouldn’t you say? We have yet to see… The look David is giving Rush’s mysterious talisman suggests that his motives for volunteering to help Rush are not completely altruistic. New Arts Summary learned  Omnistrike (Unique) Video: Yamarn Plains Cave Dungeon Next Time: This yer first time in Athlum? Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Dec 2, 2014 19:07
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Conjurations are a rarer character-specific special. Only three people can get these. David's Gae Bolg is a Conjuration.
Weapon Arts are generally tied to weapon types, not characters, and can be done by any character who has upgraded their weapon to the maximum, including generic soldiers. Some unique specials are classified as weapon arts even though they can only be done by that specific character. 
Arcana are special Mystic Arts performed by three to five units if certain combinations of Mystic Arts are used at once, or if they have learned an Arcana and their union's orange Morale bar is maxed out.
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The fourth stat? Saga games! Everyone. I didnt notice it when I first played it but yes, it totally is a saga game in apl but name.
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Dec 2, 2014 21:18
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Never tried a Saga game. Should I know what the fourth stat do? Does it actually do anything?
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Dec 2, 2014 22:52
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I'm guessing the Sovani are pretty powerful physical attackers.
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Dec 2, 2014 23:59
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Drachir D Nalem posted:Never tried a Saga game. Should I know what the fourth stat do? Does it actually do anything? No one knows. But if you want a taste of what a Saga game entails there are three LPs of Saga games going on right now. Final fantasy Legend 2, (its only called FF in places that are not japan) and saga frontier 1 and 2. If you dont, in a nutshell: Dont expect to understand much of anything about a Saga game's in depth Mechanics. Just rely on either your gut and ability to recognize causation, or a guide. The maths and mechanics for things like skill acquisition and stat levels are almost always obtuse to a fault. And believe me everyone here would instantly recommend g0uide.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:18
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Rigged Death Trap posted:The fourth stat? This was literally in development as "SaGa Frontier 3" and then in the end they decided to call it The Last Remnant
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Dec 3, 2014 00:29
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Onmi posted:
No, that's fine. quote:Despite all the polish their is one thing the devs didn't manage to put in. A second game mode for another character who has yet to appear. If it's the same thing I'm thinking about, I can understand why that wasn't in. It would essentially be an entirely new campaign, and that's a lot of resources, judging by the one in the game already. Nihilarian posted:I'm guessing the Sovani are pretty powerful physical attackers. Really, it depends entirely on the individual character. The Rigged Death Trap posted:If you dont, in a nutshell: For an example from this game, I've played ahead a little on some test runs, trying to figure out how to get Rush to change from a Warrior into a Ranger (the quickest and safest path to Ninja), and even using the Wiki as a guide, two of my attempts resulted in him becoming a Freelancer instead.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:38
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FYI it's just  on Steam... tempting, but I think I'll check one of the used game stores near my house. I'm a console gamer at heart, only playing on the PC with no other real choice.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:53
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Nooooo. The PC version is the definitive one. It fixes and adds quite a few things and is a damned good port.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:57
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To make it even better, the game frequently drops down even more to $2.50 during big sales. Which is a really good price for this goofy game. Also the PC version has a speed up button for battles, which is AMAZING.
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Dec 3, 2014 01:06
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That speed mode is pretty crucial even if you don't grind. Really, truly crucial, because of all the window-dressing for units positioning themselves in big fights.
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Dec 3, 2014 01:27
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:No, that's fine. Still lots of fun since in general missing the exact class you want is not game breaking, just annoying and not even something you would notice on a first run through.
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Dec 3, 2014 01:35
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OneDeadman posted:To make it even better, the game frequently drops down even more to $2.50 during big sales. Which is a really good price for this goofy game. Then I shall wait for that... I've fixed my airflow controller in anticipation.
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Dec 3, 2014 01:37
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FeyerbrandX posted:FYI it's just I wouldn't advise that. The Xbox version is widely considered inferior to the PC version. - You can only use 6 unique leaders on the XBox version, compared to the full 18 (and more in reserve) on PC. - You know all that talk about grinding screwing people too much? That's a bigger deal in the XBox version - The XBox version doesn't have the NG+ I'm using - There are a bunch of new classes in the PC version. - A whole lot more things too long to list: Differences between Xbox and PC versions RedTonic posted:That speed mode is pretty crucial even if you don't grind. Really, truly crucial, because of all the window-dressing for units positioning themselves in big fights. The only drawback is that it makes it hard to hit the Critical Trigger QTE's, although you can set them to auto (80% chance to succeed). I mostly use the Turbo mode for trash mobs. Definitely turn it off for any challenging fights, because the Critical Triggers can make a big difference in those. MadHat posted:Yeah the Class Changes can be a incredible pain in the butt to have any control over in many cases. Some it is pretty easy just "Turn this Attack Off" Like choosing between Weapon types, some it is not just "Turn off" this Ability Line, some are more have only used that ability X many times which is not precise at all with the control scheme used. Yeah, the class you get is based on how you actually play, so most people shouldn't mind. Even in my case, it shouldn't be too difficult in theory to get to Ninja. It'll certainly be easier if I become a Ranger first (if I get that, becoming a Ninja will be virtually guaranteed) but there are other paths. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 01:51
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I would complain about how Rush greeted and talks to David, but considering who his parents are I'm just glad he didn't grow up to be a recluse and awkward around people.
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Dec 3, 2014 04:03
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Mraagvpeine posted:I would complain about how Rush greeted and talks to David, but considering who his parents are I'm just glad he didn't grow up to be a recluse and awkward around people. The other thing is he grows better about it. In the Japanese audio (which the game comes with just in case you're curious) he still calls him David and acts friendly, the problem was not using -Sama, or in translation, calling him Lord David. But yeah, it's a very good thing that he's not super awkward around people.
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Dec 3, 2014 04:09
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Onmi posted:The other thing is he grows better about it. In the Japanese audio (which the game comes with just in case you're curious) he still calls him David and acts friendly, the problem was not using -Sama, or in translation, calling him Lord David. But yeah, it's a very good thing that he's not super awkward around people. Yeah, Rush starts out kinda a reckless and hotheaded douche, but he does get better. I'm hopefully going to have an update tomorrow, which will finish off the last of the prepared content. There will be a vote, though! Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 05:04
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iv. Battle UI Explained The Battle UI is pretty busy, so I’ll highlight each piece individually, and grey out the unimportant bits for each discussion. So, let’s start from the top and work our way around counter clockwise.  The information bar describes what the currently selected Battle Command does.  This is the Army Morale bar. Morale is very important later on, because it affects a lot of things. High morale means you do more damage, take less damage, and get more chances at Critical Triggers. (Critical Triggers will be explained later.) Morale tends to feed into itself, so if you start doing poorly, your morale will drop, which means you’ll do worse. The longer the blue portion of the bar, the better you’re doing. The redder it is, the worse you’re doing.  These are the unions under your command. The currently-selected one is highlighted in blue and offset to the left slightly. It shows their condition and what status effects, if any, they are under. The “Display Unit Status” command toggles between showing you all the unions, and what the individual units of that union will do once the battle starts. (That does not mean that they WILL do it, things can change unexpectedly on the battlefield.)  This shows the union status once commands have been issued. There are now icons and letters (or numbers, for friendly unions). The icon represents the type of action the union will take, and the letter is the union which is being targeted.  To the right, you can see new icons representing the current state of the union. The arrows meeting indicate that the union is deadlocked with the enemy union represented by the letter. The orange glow on the first union means that union is able to execute a special attack.  This has the unit number, a portrait cutaway of the unit commanding the union, and the name of the union (the name is almost unique for every possible leader). The dots and their colour represent the individual units and that unit’s status. Blue means the unit is healthy, purple means that the unit is alive, but has a negative status afflicting them, and red means the unit is knocked out (KO) and cannot take any actions. I’ll tend to use the term “dead” interchangeably with KO. To the right are three gauges. HP is the union’s health. It is the addition of the total health of all the units comprising it – ignoring whether or not all the units are actually still alive. Situations where four units are alive, but the union only has 1 HP, and situations where all but one of the units are dead, but the union is at full health are both possible in the game. Below is the AP counter. AP is Action Points. It represents the actions a union can perform. A union’s AP is comprised of the initial AP each individual unit gains per turn. Leftover AP is added to the pool. The more AP, the more powerful the actions you can perform. The orange M bar represents Union Morale. If it caps out, the union leader can use a special attack. Assuming they’ve learned one, which tends to have specific conditions. And that’s not counting special attacks which have “low health” trigger conditions.  These are the enemy unions on the field. The currently targeted union is indicated by an arrow and a vertical offset. You can switch targets to other unions (but in some cases, you may not be able to target them). The meeting arrows and the number indicate that they are in a deadlock with an allied union. The red double arrow means that the enemy unit is performing a flank attack on an allied union. Unions at critical health (30% or less), like D flash red.  These are the Battle Commands, the orders you give to each union. The currently selected command is indicated with an arrow and horizontal offset, and has a short description saying what it does. Combat arts, Mystic arts, and Special Arts cost AP to perform. You can only get up to five commands per target, but switching targets can give you different possible orders, so if you don’t like what you see, try switching targets.  Pressing the “Display Unit Status” command key will show you exactly what units will perform what actions. Units which haven’t got enough AP or the right arts to act will default to either a basic attack or to Stand by and do nothing, depending on the command.  The battlefield minimap displays the relative positions of all enemy and allied units. This is mostly helpful when trying to target unions when trying to avoid getting intercepted. The current union is indicated with a pulsing blue circle, and the targeted union is indicated with a pulsing red circle. A dotted line will go to a targeted union if you are not currently deadlocked with it. Deadlocked unions have a solid circle.
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Dec 3, 2014 05:15
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Nice to see TLR getting an LP. It's a pretty great game. Just wish I could figure out how to hack UE3 into letting me tinker with it.
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Dec 3, 2014 12:52
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Rubix Squid posted:Nice to see TLR getting an LP. It's a pretty great game. Just wish I could figure out how to hack UE3 into letting me tinker with it. There is a trainer you can use to do fun stuff with the game  So... much fun (Faces of future leaders blanked out)
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Dec 3, 2014 13:05
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I bought Last Remnant for the 2.50 sale when SE was having a blowout sale on Steam, and I played it all of once and got literally to this point in the game. I couldn't get further than that because 1, the main character's name is Rush Sykes, 2, the main character *should* have been Emma and I am completely afraid that the game will make her out to be the "evil frozen bitch" (or eventually realize how *wrong she was about Rush's greatness Nyoron*) and 3, The Main Character's Name is Rush Freaking Sykes. That said, I am hoping this LP tells me how the game works because while I can handle Saga 1, 2, and 3 when I played them on the Game Boy as a 12 year old, I was very much intimidated by the UI and the battles in this game. Maybe I can see that I was wrong about my first thoughts and enjoy it like others have.
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Dec 3, 2014 13:39
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Charlett posted:I bought Last Remnant for the 2.50 sale when SE was having a blowout sale on Steam, and I played it all of once and got literally to this point in the game. So you only got this far and you think the main character should be Emma and you're basing this off a total of... like 5-7 minutes of gameplay. To be frank, you sound like you didn't want to play the game. Especially if your main problem was "The relationship between two characters who have just met MIGHT be one of one of them being cold towards the other and the other being 'Great' in spite of his beginning of the game stupidity." followed by "The protagonist is named Rush Sykes" Seriously, the game hasn't even begun yet!
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Dec 3, 2014 13:49
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Rush owns and that's a fact, and I don't know why the intro's so disjointed and dumb outside of the writers having no idea how to introduce him to the rest of the game. He's upbeat, proactive, and even when things get him down he bounces back in short order. I hope you go into union strategy a bit, because I love the system but it's one of the biggest stumbling blocks early on, especially against bosses like giant loving birds. When it finally clicks and you start rotating unions in and out it's really neat.
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Dec 3, 2014 14:26
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Stelas posted:Rush owns and that's a fact, and I don't know why the intro's so disjointed and dumb outside of the writers having no idea how to introduce him to the rest of the game. He's upbeat, proactive, and even when things get him down he bounces back in short order. Also formations, I have beaten the game and I really need help to understand formations.
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Dec 3, 2014 14:32
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Onmi posted:Also formations, I have beaten the game and I really need help to understand formations. why certainly, let me jus- Wedge Formation Wiki (paraphrased) posted:Wedge formation improves the (physical) attack of the lead ranks (positions 1-3), but significantly reduces the defense and mystic defense of the back ranks (positions 4-5). NO NO NO Sorry, nobody has the kind of time it takes to actually understand Formations, and into that dark mire, I shall not venture. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 15:01
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This game is goddamn huge if you intend to do all the sidequests. I burned myself out past the half way point and never finished it. I liked it though, the game has nice open areas, pretty graphics and some catchy music.
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Dec 3, 2014 15:14
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Stelas posted:Rush owns and that's a fact, and I don't know why the intro's so disjointed and dumb outside of the writers having no idea how to introduce him to the rest of the game. He's upbeat, proactive, and even when things get him down he bounces back in short order. That's what I personally like about Rush. He isn't the moody stereotype that people like Squall have set out, nor is he exceedingly chirpy like, I dunno, Tidus? Like you said, he's actually quite independent, and there are plenty of scenes in the game which show him to be a determined (if not really wise) hero. As for the names, if I can stand Star Wars's Dooku (it's the name of a fruit in my country), Rush Sykes shouldn't bother anyone  WaltherFeng posted:This game is goddamn huge if you intend to do all the sidequests. I burned myself out past the half way point and never finished it. I liked it though, the game has nice open areas, pretty graphics and some catchy music. I burned out trying to do some of the optional boss fights- there's this one against seven bosses (hope that's not a spoiler) which slaughtered me evey drat time. And with a party that could take on the BBEG without really breaking a sweat to boot!
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Dec 3, 2014 15:21
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Sorry, nobody has the kind of time it takes to actually understand Formations, and into that dark mire, I shall not venture. Bah. If you're going to go SaGa, you've got to go full SaGa. Stelas fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 16:23
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So, a good guide or trainer is better than trying to figure out all this formation poo poo, right? How hard is it to find trainers that enhances the game instead of trivializing it?
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Dec 3, 2014 16:33
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Stelas posted:Bah. If you're going to go SaGa, you've got to go full SaGa. Everybody knows you never go full SaGa! But seriously, I was going to discuss formations a bit when the LP gets there. It's not at that point yet, the first few parts are the game introducing the mechanics slowly. But when it does get there, can I borrow that post you made (giving you credit) and adding in images for the section on unions and formations? I'm just not going to get too into depth about racial union makeup and positioning. As far as I'm concerned, most of what you need to know about formations is already visible in-game, there's no need to go deep into a guide for normal play. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 17:35
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Onmi posted:So you only got this far and you think the main character should be Emma and you're basing this off a total of... like 5-7 minutes of gameplay. To be fair, I went into this game assuming the story would be terrible. I went into the game assuming it would have a typical JRPG story, despite people claiming it would be different than most. I didn't know it was SaGa until I saw this thread either, so I couldn't look to how much I enjoy the old SaGa games and go from there. With my assumptions, I can see from about 15-20 minutes of story, the part I focus most on in a video game, that it is *very* JRPG. Rush is socially awkward, he acts differently around people of high standing, and Emma tells him off despite the fact that it's obvious David and Rush are going to become friends. Thus, I assumed off the bat that Emma was going to be either "a person who learns how wonderful it is to throw off social standards", or is mean and antagonistic towards Rush for a large portion of the game, perhaps even using her as a poster (girl?) for how the "old ways" are bad or whatnot. This is, of course, just me assuming because I really don't trust JRPG stories much anymore. So yes, you're right, I did go in expecting to dislike it, but I also want to give it a fighting chance through this LP and the discussion.
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Dec 3, 2014 18:23
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:But when it does get there, can I borrow that post you made (giving you credit) and adding in images for the section on unions and formations? Feel free. For the moment I'll toss it into the SSLP thing so it's not a huge infodump in the middle of everything.
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Dec 3, 2014 18:44
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 This yer first time in Athlum? Music: The Known World - Video: Welcome to Athlum We get dumped onto the world map, but the only place we can go is to Athlum. Also, have the world map music.Music: The Young Marquis  A proud city ruled by David Nassau. Positioned at the outskirts of Celapaleis, it has become known as Celapaleis’s first line of defense. You get a title card and a short location shot the first time you enter a new location (and each time you are sent to a place by a side quest). Anyway, Athlum is your pretty standard JRPG small-sized city. You’ve got your shops, your taverns…     Your half-kilometer-long GIANT SWORDS sticking out of the middle… We can waste no time in sniffing out the rats who kidnapped Irina. Torgal? Rush, we have prepared a room for you within the castle. After your journey from Eulam island, you must want to rest and recover from your presumably arduous journey. So I just sit on my butt and do nothing? Yeah, right. I’ll go find those guys myself. Someone in town might have seen something. Fine. Do as you like. But try not to do anything too foolish. …Well, that was a waste of breath. We shouldn’t let him have free run of the castle until after we’ve verified his story. I’ll get on it. Okayyy, I’m going now. Hello? If it is information you speak, there is a certain pub in Virtus Parish that you might care to investigate. Come to the castle if you need anything of us. All right, I’m on it! Rush comes across here as a more of a dick than I think was intended. It’s like something was slightly missed in the translation. From the context, it seems like Rush is saying “I don’t want to wait around in a comfortable palace, I want to see if there’s anything to learn in town”, but it comes across in game closer to “I don’t need your help!” I’ve noticed a couple other places where characters know things which weren’t actually said onscreen.Music: City of Heroes - Video: Wandering About Town Athlum - Xiphos Way. A quaint, bustling street leading from the main gate to the Town Square. It is lined with shops for the people of the town to enjoy. Press [Backspace] to open the City Map when in towns. That works from anywhere in town (except in-town dungeons), and is a handy way to move quickly.I included a video of wandering about town for some context, but I’m not planning to include one all the time. By default I won’t include town-wandering videos. If you want them, speak up in the thread.  And now we’re finally free to roam around town. There are a lot of NPC’s, but they’re mostly just set dressing and can’t be interacted with. You’ll see a lot of re-used faces and models. Even the ones you can talk to don’t have names. Nothing in town has any voice acting or is worth any videos. Nonetheless, I’ve made one anyway, just as a sample. I’ll point out any especially interesting NPC’s, but otherwise, I’ll probably find better things to spend my screenshot budget on than which nameless NPC stands where and says what.  This is Xiphos Way. Keep going down this way, an’ you’ll hit the Town Square. Veer off from there an’ you can head out to Virtis Parish.  Xiphos Way has it all. This is the place in Athlum to shop!Sky-Gazing Woman: That large sword is this town’s Remnant. It’s looked after the people of this town for centuries, you know. When I was just a little girl and I was feeling down, I’d go out to the Town Square. It sounds strange, but just looking at the Remnant always made me feel better. “Academy Visistone 4” posted:
 This shop sells components for the Herbs and Lotions Item Arts. Item arts work by combining at least two components from a category. You can’t always get every component for every Item Art in each city though. Almost every city in the world has one store that sells all components for a certain category of Item Arts. The Athlum store (will eventually) sell all possible components for Herbs. I’ll pick up 40 of each Herb, because I’m rich enough to afford it, and Herbs are the cheapest way to revive fallen unions – and in fact the only way for a long time. The weapon shop sells a few varieties of basic weapons. Each city has a different selection. You should only shop for Rush, though. He is the only one you can directly equip (unless you tweak a config file). Other party members have their own upgrade paths and divergences, and will only really ask for a weapon in your inventory is if it is both substantially better than what they have, and is on their path. It can happen, but it’s pretty rare, and not really worth the effort. (It’s also not worth the effort to tweak the config file to directly equip party members, because you’ll have EIGHTEEN at once eventually.) I pick up a pair of Katanas for Rush (the 800G-Rush can only afford one for now). You can view the model of every piece of equipment in the game, and the cutscenes use what your party members have equipped. Which means that I can’t use the cutscene video I recorded for my test post. I’m not an expert on the subject, but I don’t think that’s what a normal Katana looks like. I don’t think I’ll be showing off what every model or variation looks like, there are tons of the suckers.  Shops also have some “sold out” items. Those are Trade Goods, which only appear if you have enough Commerce Points. You get those by selling captured monsters to stores. Each monster is worth a different amount of commerce points. Not even the wiki knows the exact quantities you have to sell, just the order in which you can unlock them. More on captured monsters later when it happens. Anyway, the only other things on Xiphos Way are a shop that sells cheap and unimpressive accessories, and the town’s Customization shop, which is closed for the moment. So let’s move on to the Town Square. You have to talk to certain people, or certain things have to happen before new locations open up on the city or world maps. Athlum - Town Square. Many travelers visit this open area in front of Athlum Castle just for a look at the Valeria Heart. I can see why…  This is the Town Square, where the proud people of Athlum come to relax and unwind. Anything you need, from accessories to weapons can be acquired here. I recommend you take a look around. Liar. Athlum’s stores pretty much suck – at least for now. Especially the ones in the Town Square. The one shop open sells two common Monster Components you can get a billion of anyway. Later on he’ll sell better stuff. That strike on the monsters on the Yamarn Plain was a big success. Lord David and his Gae Bolg knocked off those monsters in one fell swoop! Yep yep, no one can stand up to good ol’ Athlum! Heck, I think this calls for a celebration! Hey, pops! Gimmie a cut of your finest meat!  Long ago, this town was victim to many disasters. But one day, a massive sword fell from the sky, and from that moment on, nothing else troubled the land… or so the legend goes. Thus, as long as the Valeria Heart exists, Athlum will not fall. If you are ever discouraged, pray to the Valeria Heart. Your spirit will be set at ease. Athlum’s ruler, Lord David, genuinely cares about his people and listens to our needs with a caring heart. The former Marquis died when Lord David was still really young, but even so, he’s grown to be a great ruler in his own right! He’s even bound the strongest weapon in all of Athlum, the Gae Bolg. I can’t think of anyone who’d be more appropriate for the job. Hello, what’s that? It’s so… shiny…Comforted Yama: I’m not gonna move – even if you ask me to! This’s my favorite spot in town… I feel so close to the Valeria Heart – it’s almost like we’re one.  Dick! Athlum - Virtus Parish. Many townspeople gather in this residential district. The latest gossip is always available. If there’s anything – or anyone – you’re looking for, head over there to the pub. You’re sure to find someone there who can help you out.  We probably haven’t noticed it thus far, but perhaps the use of all Remnants comes at a certain price… Hello, what’s this?Music: An Open Mind  It’s no place for fresh-faced kids who barely know how to hold a blade. Run on home and play stickball or something. What’s this? Don’t tell me a kid like you’s trying to take on some guild tasks! You’re greener than a seasick piece of broccoli! Gahahah, impossible, you’d never make it! These aren’t for kiddies who’re gonna get beat up by monsters and go home crying to mommy! Save yourself the trip and go home how. Oh yeah? These jerks don’t know who they’re talking to! I’m gonna go take on a whole bunch right now!Guild Officer: This is a guild. Sorry, the person in charge isn’t here right now. Try back later.  Oh. ‘Course, Lord David’s cleaned most o’ the real bad trash out of town. But ya still can’t be too careful. Historically, there’s been a lot of tectonic activity around here. That’s why there’re so many caves in the area. That sign behind the hoodlum looks suspiciously like a guild sign, but you can’t interact with the door. The only shop here doesn’t open for a long time, so there’s nothing else to do but go to the pub.Music: A Friendly Ear  We can’t advance the plot until we talk to the bartender with the red dialogue bubble. This is basically the game suggesting that you regularly talk to the bartenders. Pubs are a great place to pick up information and sidequests, and talking to bartenders can tell you if there are any active sidequests available and where. Let’s talk to everyone else in the bar first. That’s the legend of the Valeria Heart. When I was young, my father would tell me the story over and over. But he usually followed it up with something like “you’d better be good, or the Valeria Heart’s gonna get you.”Pub Regular: East of town is a huge stretch of fiends, the Yamarn Plain. The place has been a battlefield for years and years. People’ve fought everyone from monster hordes to the Ghor army. Seriously, if an average Joe like me were to even step into that place, I’d be coming back in a pine box! Seen it. Okay, now to talk to the guys behind the bar.Pleasant Young Man: Nothing much has been going on lately… That means there are no sidequests we can do right now. Bartender: Welcome to the Warrior’s Honor! …He-llo, you aren’t a familiar face. And trust me, I’d remember a …face like yours. You must be new to Athlum, hmm? You bet! It’s my first time here, and I gotta say that huge sword in the middle is pretty neat.Bartender: So I want you to know, if you have aaany questions at all, come straight to me. I can give you a …personal tour. Well uh, have you heard anything about a flying beast that can carry people?Bartender: Not really. The closest we get around here is people who’ve had too many Gae Bolg Blasters seeing pink greerhorses, but I don’t think that’s what you mean. Anything else, handsome? Well, I guess I’ve gotta go see Dave now – you know, that Marquis guy? But I don’t know where he is.Bartender: … Whaaat, you’re trying to meet Lord David? Well, he receives visitors in Athlum Castle, that’s further into the city. That said, it’s not like just anyone can walk in and get an audience. Of course, for a cutie like you, he may make an exception… Thanks, barkeep dude!Bartender: Shimmering blond hair framing that well-made face… Lord David certainly cuts a striking figure. You just can’t keep from looking at him… I mean, looking up to him…  With the bartender talked to, we can now advance the main plot.Music: The Young Marquis - Video: Two Leads Young Master! Rush Sykes has arrived! Did you learn anything about Irina? Pagus. I am Pagus. One of the four generals of Athlum. … As for Miss Irina, I regret to say that we have yet to uncover any new leads. Nevertheless, we have learned two interesting facts. One, some suspicious types were spotted escorting a young girl to the Gaslin caves. That’s gotta be - *shakes his head negatively* And the other thing? We’ve also received reports of nocturnal activity near the Robelia Castle ruins. The ruins have long been a den for petty thieves. What’s to say this is any different? Not what – who. A trusted source informs me that Athlumian soldiers have been seen leaving the ruins. That certainly is interesting. Hey thanks, Pagus. I’ll go check out those two places right away! Not so fast, Rush.  My generals shall accompany you there. Maintaining the peace and stability of Athlum is our duty. We cannot stand idly by while she is threatened. What’s more, Master Rush is the son of the world-famous Remnant researchers. Naturally, we will do our utmost to aid such an important family. My apologies. We had your background checked. Torgal has a fantastic “I’m sucking up” inflection in his voice here. It’ll become clearer later on why David is being so helpful to Rush. I’m used to it. Having famous parents isn’t all bad, you know. Emma stares at Rush with the implied question “should I give my report in front of him?” It’s all right, Emma. Go ahead.  Yes, my Lord. I was able to contact the Academy branch in Celepalais. I informed them that we would be taking care of Rush. You talked to the Academy? That’s a relief and a half. I’d given up trying to get in touch with them. I mean it’s like shouting at a brick wall. It is a group prone to secrecy. You’re a life-saver, Emma. Still, it’s uncertain when or if the message will get to the headquarters in Elysion. Of course it will! Come on, my sister was kidnapped! Even the Academy suits wouldn’t keep that from Mom and Dad! Bear in mind the Sykes are presently involved in top-level research. It may take some time for them to respond. Until then, I will assist you by any means necessary. Sounds good to me! So we learn that Rush didn’t just run off after Irina all on his own, he actually did try to contact his parents and the authorities, but was either unable to get through to or convince anyone.  Decision time! This is a pretty meaningless choice since we have to do both anyway, so it’s a matter of whether we want to go with Blocter to the Gaslin Caves and work on our physical combat arts, or Pagus to the Robelia Ruins and work on our mystic arts. Please post your vote in bold. Voting will close in about 24 hours (maybe sooner if there’s an overwhelming lead).Video: Welcome to Athlum Video: Wandering around town Video: Two Leads Next Time: -OR- I suppose there’s naught we can do but fight. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Apr 13, 2017 |
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Dec 4, 2014 00:28
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hit dudes with swords with bloctor.
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Dec 4, 2014 00:44
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In a vanilla game, I tend to go with Pagus to unlock magic sooner. So do that. Also yeah at times I feel the translations, while mostly good, had some tonal problems, like with Rush essentially saying "Actually I wanna go investigate around the town" and it comes off as "I'm going to go charge off again on my own." He is very goal oriented though.
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Dec 4, 2014 00:45
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Tankfish is made of tank! Go hit stuff with Bloctor.
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Dec 4, 2014 00:46
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Pagus gets my vote.
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Dec 4, 2014 02:22
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The best thing about your weapon showing up in cutscenes is that I don't think the developers REALLY expected anyone to give Rush, say, big two-handed hammers. Some cutscenes look REALLY silly if you're using bigger weapons. It's kind of a shame that Ninja is pretty much objectively the best class to try to push Rush into, because I really enjoy giving him the unrealistically huge hammers.
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Dec 4, 2014 02:34
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