|
Epicmissingno posted:Basically fusing gives you more and better skills on your monsters, among other benefits. I was tempted to elaborate on some of those other benefits, but I wasn't sure if that would violate your spoiler policy so I decided to err on the side of caution.
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2017 21:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 21:16 |
|
|
I appreciate that they're willing to keep the card game up. Please tell me monster fusion involves monster-themed playing cards.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 04:26
|
|
|
Did you mean to skip the king slime that spawns in the shrine? Other than that and grabbing Gigantes later I don't think there's any reason to return to Infant Isle.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 05:18
|
|
|
Fusion is, well, other Dragon Quest Monsters games did it better. You'll see when we get to that part.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 07:37
|
|
|
Oh, there are plenty of reasons to come back, just not right now. And please remove the spoilered text - I already mentioned my spoiler policy in the first post. But to answer your question, yes, I skipped it and I'll be doing that later. Epicmissingno fucked around with this message at 11:12 on Jul 16, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 09:12
|
|
|
IAmTheRad posted:Fusion is, well, other Dragon Quest Monsters games did it better. I'm not sure I agree, fusion is basically the same except you don't have to pay to hatch an egg and it's easier to guarantee what gender you end up with.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 14:53
|
|
|
Epicmissingno posted:And please remove the spoilered text - I already mentioned my spoiler policy in the first post. You should remove it from your post as well, then.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2017 05:33
|
|
|
Part 4: The Challenge Begins Last time, Euchre took the Scout's Pledge and headed back to Domus Isle to see the opening ceremony of the Monster Scout Challenge. This time he'll be continuing with that. There's always time to talk to people, though! Let's see what they've got to say. Music: Appearance of the Town   Oh crumbs! I clean forgot to go to Infant Isle and take the pledge! I was too busy lookin' tough!It's not like you really need to take the pledge in order to enter the tournament. It's one hundred percent optional for anyone who isn't a protagonist.  I can't help feeling there's something different about this challenge... Something...dangerous. It's nothing I can put my finger on, but my intuition tells me that something bad might happen...Whatever happens it's inevitably going to have something to do with CELL and Euchre will get caught up in it. He'll just have to deal with it when everything goes wrong.  Well, there's one here on Domus Isle, too. Why don't you visit it after the opening ceremony?It's a little strange that this part of the island was completely closed off until the opening ceremony, actually. How was someone on the other side of Domus Isle supposed to take the Scout's Pledge when they couldn't go through the ceremony site?  Oh, but hang on, deary. Are you in the challenge? Shouldn't you be at the opening ceremony? I think it's about to start.He's right, you know. Euchre's wasted enough time. He just needs one last check to see if he can really go to the ceremony now.  Well, he's not blocking Euchre's way any more. Might as well go up the stairs and see the ceremony. Music: None   Ahem, yes. Well, rather. What a lot of people...haha...The opening ceremony begins with this gentleman addressing the gathered crowd which conveniently can't be seen from this angle.  Right, jolly good... I hereby announce the, er, opening of the seventh Monster Scout Challenge!Music: Colosseum (IV)  There's cheering and applause at this point, unsurprisingly. That's actually a pre-rendered image there, and it's obvious why - there are far too many models for the DS to render without horrible framerate drops at the very least.  My staff tell me that we have more scouts competing this year than ever before. As the Commissioner and as a challenge fan, I must say that is jolly exciting news! This year, we will be awarding the legendary Scout's Mark to the lucky winner! More cheering, more applause. Just like last time this image was used.  Just imaging how marvellous it would be... Oh, yes, yes! It would be incredible...wonderful...truly MARVELLOUS... Ahaha!I think Dr Snap's getting a little overexcited by this Scout's Mark thing. The fact that monsters can be equipped with it implies that it's some kind of weapon, though, and anything that would make Euchre's monsters stronger sounds worthwhile to me.  And don't forget - any one of you is capable of winning it! You know the drill by now: cheering and applause. Funnily enough, some of the NPCs in the picture aren't in the final game - I don't believe I've seen the nun, the green or purple-haired women or the purple-shirted man anywhere.  That is all. ...Oh, er, and may the best scout win!And so the opening ceremony ends. Registering at Monster Scout HQ is Euchre's priority now, and it's better to do it now rather than later. Music: Appearance of the Town  People off the street are invited in without discrimination, by the looks of things. At least this person is helpful for once, unlike some others that Euchre's met on this island.  This lift is the only way up to the main building, which is held up by pillars underneath. It's a bit of a bizarre design choice on the architect's part, and this isn't even the worst of this place. For some reason it holds up fine, though, even with the weight of hundreds of people added to its presumably hefty mass. Music: Contest Castle  You're here for the challenge, is that right? Let me just register you... Okay, Euchre. I've registered you as a participant, so you're all set. Let me tell you about the Monster Scout Challenge. Your first objective is to collect ten darkonium crystals. There are darkonium crystals scattered across the islands. Once you collect ten of them, you're allowed to proceed to the goal. The first five scouts who reach the goal advance to the next round of the challenge. You can always come here later to remind yourself of the rules. Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure about anything.And with that, Euchre has been set free to do as he pleases within the Green Bays archipelago. The main objective of finding ten pieces of darkonium isn't actually that hard - there are in fact thirteen available in all. Remember that blue chest past the bridge on Infant Isle? That contains a piece of darkonium, as does every other blue chest. Darkonium is also obtainable from a couple of other things, and we'll get to those eventually. The problem is that all Euchre's monsters are fresh off Infant Isle and are too weak to even think about fetching the darkonium pieces on the more dangerous islands. That means that some training is in order! But first, talking. Lots of talking.  It's rare stuff. This is the only place in the world where you can find it. (shrug) It's not worth anything, though. No one would care but for the challenge.Why do contestants need to collect it if it's worthless? Perhaps it's just because it's rare and makes for a good scavenger hunt item. Moving on towards the rest of the building, Euchre comes across...  ...a cutscene! These two men are arguing about something.   No one at all? Since when was that the rule? Since I was given my orders. Please step back, sir.Nobody's allowed to see Dr. Snap, eh? There's probably a very good reason for that that we'll find out eventually. Incidentally, those two people never show up again to my knowledge. At least, nobody with those names - there are a couple of nameless NPCs that fit the bill.  Real pros take it slow, sniff around, gather info. We only moe when we're ready. If you wanna make it to the finals, you can't just run around like a headless gryphon.I'm not sure that strategy will work out for you. After all, this is a race - only the fastest five get to the final. Of course it works perfectly fine for Euchre, since the plot can't go on without him.  He has just about every monster there is, but he's always looking for new breeds. 'Course, when the challenge is on, he's far to busy to pursue his hobbies.It's a shame that nobody can get in to talk to Dr. Snap. That collection might be quite interesting to see.  He's an accomplished scout and doctor, and a brilliant scientist to boot! I bet he just plays at being absent-minded to catch his enemies off guard! Of course, I'm only joking! The Commissioner doesn't have any enemies. How could he?Yeah, Snap seems like a pretty chill guy. Still, he probably has some enemies, at least. You can't get into a position of power without making a few.  Did you know that it was Dr Snap who invented the scout ring? With that one invention, he revolutionised scouting.Yeah, before that scouts had to feed monsters meat and hope that they became friends after beating them up. It was a strange time.  ...there are countless smaller uncharted islands. You might come across some of them when you travel on the sea scooter.He's not wrong! Euchre will randomly find islands every so often when travelling between islands. There are actually a couple of monsters which are exclusive to these islands, and there are often very good items there, so it's definitely worth looking for them. Music: Appearance of the Town  That's where the challenge finals are held. Hundreds of chimaeras are harnessed beneath, flapping day and night to keep it afloat... ...At least, that's one theory. But no one REALLY knows how it stays up there.It's a bit difficult to get a good view, because of the limited camera movement that the game provides, but here's the best angle that I could get:  It's that bowl-shaped part of the building with the spike underneath.  It also happens to be the goal of the challenge qualifiers. Only the scouts who've collected ten darkonium crystals are able to enter.Sure enough, if Euchre tries to get in...   Better collect that darkonium, and fast!...he's not allowed in yet. That's about it for inside MSO headquarters. How about the rest of Domus Isle?  Hey, did you hear what happened yesterday!? HQ was attacked by monsters! Can you believe that? Except, there was only one of them. And it was just a little fellow. Some of us scouts got together to, y'know, shoo it away and everything. It soon turned tail.A monster breaking in is very concerning indeed. Remember that Domus Isle doesn't have any native monsters? If something that small can do it, then maybe something more dangerous will make an attempt.   The seventh Monster Scout Challenge is finally underway! Make sure you check it out!Canasta here will have various pieces of news throughout the game, mostly related to the challenge. She seems a little bit crazy, what with shouting out her news for all to hear instead of working for a news channel or something. Do they have those in this setting? I would assume so, since computers exist.  I wonder when it will be open again.Euchre can't go into the department store right now, but it'll be opened eventually. It'll probably conveniently coincide with a point where he has to come back to Domus Isle. The scoutpost next door is open, though, so why not pay it a visit? Music: Scoutpost  I know it's up to the Commissioner to decide the rules... ...but I don't like it none too much. It was better in the old days.The old days of, what, seven years ago? Presumably this is an annual event, and this is only the seventh.  The shop here has different items to the one on Infant Isle. The Moonwort Bulb is a paralysis cure, while the Exodust can be used to escape from a dungeon. We've already seen the others on Infant Isle, just not in the shop. Through the door that was locked last time Euchre was in a scoutpost is the Scout's Den. It's got a noticeboard with various information on it. The main one to watch out for is this:  These are the current standings for the collection of darkonium. As far as I can remember Joker will only meet two of the five listed here, but I could be wrong. There are some other messages on the notice board right now, but they're not too important - something about piracy, some scouting tips and an ad for the department store. Music: Appearance of the Town  But if that's too tough for you, warm up on Infant Isle first.Excellent, a lead on where to go next! Of course we'll be taking this guy's advice and ignoring Xeroph Isle for now. Some more things opened up on Infant Isle after the opening ceremony.  There's a single house on the island that Euchre can enter, and this fellow is in one of the rooms.  I am vorking on a great invention zat vill make ze scout ring look like a baby's toy. Ven ze public sees my creation, ze vorld vill never be ze same again! My name is Igor Folds...but YOU can call me Igor!He's enthusiastic, I'll give him that. Somehow I doubt that Dr. Snap will be too concerned by Igor here.  He's convinced himself that he's Dr Snap's great rival, but he's the only one who thinks so. He hasn't invented a single thing in his life.Especially since nobody seems to take him seriously.  Hmph. You challenge scouts think you own the place!You're the one who left your door unlocked. Maybe you shouldn't do that if you don't want scouts coming into your house.  Legends say that a monster known as the Incarnus saved our world centuries ago. The Scout's Stone on Infant Isle was placed there in its honour. The Incarnus is believed to have first appeared there, you see, on top of the mountain.Back at the Infant Isle jetty, Euchre learns a little bit about the history of the Monster Scout Challenge. By the sounds of it, maybe going back up the mountain could give Joker a chance to find out more about this Incarnus. Perhaps he'll even scout it at some point!  ...but someone's left all these sea scooters lying aroud, completely blocking the way! When I find the person responsible, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind! And maybe a punch.I don't think CELL are very good at this "keeping a low profile" thing. Presumably the jetskis left here are mostly from sending agents like Euchre. In any case, that's pretty much it for Domus Isle. Euchre might as well head back to Infant Isle. Music: Scoutpost  In the Scouts' Den at the back of the scoutpost, Euchre finds this fellow.  Slimon's my name. Nice to muck...er, I mean 'make', your acquaintance. If you're competing in the challenge, you should glop...er, I mean 'drop', in every now and then. If you see people loitering near the wall, like I am, try talking to them. Scouts looking to meet other scouts gather near this table. It's the same in all the scouts' dens. Once you get to know someone, you'll be able to swap monsters with them. Next time you visit a scoutpost, plop...er, I mean 'pop', into the scouts' den and see if I'm around! Euchre has made friends with the gloopy gladiator, Slimon!And with that, Slimon disappears from the Scouts' Den. He'll be in here every so often, looking for trades, and as his name and manner of speaking suggest he tends to specialise in Slimes. Interestingly he was also on the challenge rankings back on Domus Isle, so he's probably collected some darkonium already. It's time to head out and see what's new on Infant Isle, but first Euchre has to rest. You see, back when he was trying to reach the Scout's Stone, he couldn't rest at the scoutpost and the island was locked in perpetual day-time. Now that there's no restriction on resting, it's time to see what monsters come out at night. Music: Ambiance of the Night  The first thing to notice is that there are no more Slimes on the beach. They've been replaced by Drackies, but Euchre already has one of those so it would be pointless to try for more. Moving on a bit, though, Euchre comes across a new monster! Music: Monster Battle  Ghosts, like Lips, can use Tongue Lashing to lower someone's defence. They tend to be in the same spots as the Platypunks were during the day.  Euchre scouts one, because he hasn't got one yet.  Into storage it goes!  This turned out to be my undoing, since I should have kept it for the third question of the Monster Scout Proficiency Test. This one costs 25 gold coins to attempt.  Instead Euchre goes for a Winky to fulfil the request. These things actually have more than one ability that they can use! The first is Frizz, which we've already seen, but the second is new.  Ping here is a stat-increasing spell. In this case...  ...it increases wisdom. Now the Winky's Frizz spells do slightly more damage. Single-target stat-increasing spells have more of an effect that multi-target ones, which is why wisdom increases greatly in this situation.  It gets scouted regardless of its wisdom. Music: Ambiance of the Night  This one goes into the party, since it can't be found during the day.  As a result of bringing a Winky, Euchre gets his reward. This item restores 30 MP to a single monster, and so it's incredibly useful.  The next part of the test is to bring a dragon, and costs 50 gold coins. Unfortunately there aren't any around here, so Euchre will have to come back once he scouts one elsewhere. There's only one more monster available on Infant Isle at night, and that's this thing. Music: Monster Battle  I don't think they have any abilities to speak of, just the standard attack that every monster has.  Regardless of its usefulness in battle, it gets scouted. Music: Ambiance of the Night  Like the Ghost, it gets put into storage. There's only one place left to check, and that's the top of the mountain. The monsters in the cave haven't changed, so let's ignore those.  Surprisingly there's nothing on the summit. Nothing's changed up here. If Euchre comes back during the day, though... Music: Island  ...a King Slime has a chance to appear! Music: Monster Battle  The King Slime comes backed by two normal Slimes. They're distinctly non-threatening.  Unfortunately, the same can't be said of their monarch. It's slightly too strong for the team right now, much like the Gigantes, but in this case it's a Rank C monster instead of Rank A. Also like the Gigantes scouting it isn't going to happen any time soon. And that's all there is on Infant Isle for now! Next time, Euchre will be heading off to Xeroph Isle to find some darkonium. Extra: The Monster Library This time we'll be looking at the monsters that appear at night on Infant Isle. Winky   Winkies start with the skills Seal and Wisdom Boost when scouted, and drop the Wisdom Boost when fused. They have the trait Desperado, which increases critical hit rate when on low HP, and are immune to Whack and Dazzle. Seal gives a lot of abilities which stop enemies from doing certain things. It gets Fizzle and Kafizzle to stop spells, and Drain Magic to get rid of MP. It's also got Breathtaking Bash and Gobstopper to stop breath attacks, and Break-Dance Beat and Ban Dance to stop dances. Finally there's Critical Miss to prevent critical hits and Magic Frailty which lowers enemy resistance to magic. The latter doesn't really fit in with the rest of the set, but it's fine - the skill is already really good at stopping monsters from doing what they want. The only thing that isn't covered is physical skills, which is unfortunate since they tend to be the best way of doing damage. It's good for locking down support, though. Ghost   Ghosts have the skills Graveheart and Attack Boost, losing Attack Boost when fused, and the trait Artful Dodger. Since they're already dead, they're immune to Whack. Graveheart gives a few helpful debilitating abilities. First off there's Poisonous Poke and Venomous Volley, which inflict Poison. Then there's Sleep Sock and Sweet Breath to inflict Sleep. Finally there's Helm Splitter, which lowers defence, and Slowing Slug, which lowers agility. On top of these debilitating abilities there's also Whack Guard and Kamikazee, the latter of which kills the user in order to deal either instant death or massive damage to the entire enemy party. It's an okay skill overall, but others do its job better with more varied effects. Stump Chump   Stump Chumps have the skills Green Finger and Attack Boost, and like everything else drops its stat-boosting skill when fused. It doesn't have any traits, and is immune to Fizzle. However, it is weak to Frizz. Green Finger is primarily a healing skill, but it can also take MP from enemies and share it with the rest of the party. For straight-up healing, Green Finger teaches Heal and Midheal, meaning that it drops off in usefulness eventually without another healer available. It can be used to cure poison and paralysis with Squelch and Tingle respectively, and can revive multiple monsters at once with Song of Salvation (though it does take two turns to cast). As for its MP-related abilities, the skill teaches Weird Dance and Tap Dance to steal MP from the enemy, then Share Magic can be used to hand it around the party. The final ability in the set, Blinding Blow, can mitigate enemy damage by inflicting Dazzle, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the set very well. Again, it's generally outclassed by other healing skills. Epicmissingno fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Jul 26, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2017 14:56
|
|
|
Alright, so what I'm gathering from this Scout's Mark thing is that it's old, shiny and we can stick it on our monsters. So basically somebody could have just taken some old tin foil they found in some cupboard they hadn't opened in years, taken some marker, written "gud scout" on it, and stuck a safety pin through it. Well, sign me up!
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2017 16:18
|
|
|
Snap is the perfect old-timey game for somebody who looks like that.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2017 04:25
|
|
|
Part 5: Going (Desert) Bowling Welcome back to Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. This time, Euchre will be heading off to Xeroph Isle in his search for darkonium. Music: Appearance of the Town  Unfortunately there are two jetties here, and only one leads to Xeroph. Hmm.  It's up to you where you want to go... ...but if it were me, I'd go to Xeroph Isle. Infern Isle is very dangerous, especially for an amateur like yourself.Euchre could go to Infern Isle, but there's very little for him there compared to the danger he would face. It would be better to go straight to Xeroph Isle. Which jetty is which, though?  'They say a terrible catastrophe once befell this island. Beware of zombies.'It's not the one on the left, so it must be the one on the right!  'A bowl-shaped desert island inhabited by a variety of monsters.'That's much more reasonable. Music: None  Music: Island  Welcome to Xeroph Isle! I'll leave the scoutpost receptionist to explain the main attractions. Music: Scoutpost  This island is famous for its ancient battle arena and perilous pool of quicksand. Both are located in the crater valley in the centre of the island. We tell all our visitors that they should go and see them first.The structure of Xeroph Isle is that of two arcs of land on either side of a valley, connected by bridges. The bridges are, unfortunately, up at the moment, so in order to get to the other side of the island where a jetty lies people must go through the valley. Thankfully said valley is where everything important is. Euchre will be ignoring it to start with in favour of checking out the scoutpost and exploring the south arc of land.  I heard that one of the prizes will be a darkonium crystal. Can't wait to find out for sure!Oh, a darkonium crystal! That would be an excellent start to Euchre's collection.  Is that Solitaire? Maybe she'll be nicer to Euchre this time.  I suppose it was too much to ask for.  Euchre, wasn't it!? Well, if you're here... ...I'm guessing that means you're competing in the challenge, right? But anyway, enough about you... I didn't waste any time - I attacked and tried to scout it, but NOTHING worked. Tsk. I just don't understand it. It looks like a complete pushover... You want to take it for yourself, don't you? In your DREAMS, kid! There's no WAY I'm telling YOU where it went!A monster which can't be scouted? That's something new. You'd think that the Scout Ring could scout anything, but apparently it's not all it's cracked up to be.  It's like a hole in the desert - it almost sucked me right in. I reckon once you fall in there, you're not coming out!A quicksand pit seems really dangerous and also exactly the sort of thing Euchre would jump into.  I'm SURE there must be a hidden passageway somewhere. ...I just haven't found it yet.Apparently there's no way to the other side of the island, even through the valley. This might be a problem. No sense worrying about it now, though. Adventure awaits!   As long as you consider shopping an adventure, that is. There's some new stuff here, most notably the Exodust. This allows Euchre to escape from a dungeon when used. It's pretty good and he should always be carrying at least one when going on dungeon trips. Everything else new is a weapon, and most of them are too expensive at the moment. Actual, non-shopping adventure awaits! Music: Monster Battle  It awaits in the form of a Healslime. Healslimes are probably one of the best monsters to scout right now. Get one immediately if you're playing along, unless you really like spamming Medicinal Herbs. The reason why is clear when you're fighting them: they can cast Heal, which heals around 30 HP to a single allied monster.  Of course Euchre gets one. Of note is that other Healslime in the fight. Whenever you scout a monster...  ...everything else runs away. It's quite handy, but not often seen since it's generally best to get rid of anything that's stopping you setting up for the scout. Music: Island  It gets put in the party immediately, replacing Mr. I.  After the very next battle, Healix hits level 5 and learns Heal from the Healer skill. I believe this is the best source of Heal in the early game, compared to Stump Chumps and regular Slimes who learn it later. Another reason why Healslimes are so good early on is their trait: Health Professional. This increases the power of healing spells and reduces their MP cost. The result of this is that Heal now costs 1 MP instead of 2, allowing Healslimes to heal for double the length of time that any other early healer can, to say nothing of their great maximum MP. Oh, and if you put them into AI control and give them the tactic "Focus on healing" they actively cheat and heal injuries on the same turn that they were inflicted. In short, Healslimes are great. Get one immediately and don't look back, but watch out for their squishiness - they die really easily.  Now that that's over with, Euchre continues along the beach to find a brown treasure chest.  This one contains a Wizard's Penny, which increases one monster's resistance to magic temporarily. They're not too bad, and Euchre can't buy them yet, so it's nice to have one now. Music: Monster Battle  Around the same area as the chest is the hiding place of Scorpions. These guys have a few tricks.  Firstly they can use Poisonous Poke to do damage and attempt to inflict Poison. Poison is an ailment that does a percentage of the afflicted monster's maximum HP. It's pretty bad when enemies use it, but in Euchre's hands it can be a boss-killer since they have such inflated HP values.  Next, they can just skip their turn. There's nothing special about this other than a free turn for Euchre.  Finally, they can paralyse with their normal attack. It's not particularly likely to land, but if it does it's a pain. Paralysis disables a monster entirely until it wears off.  Music: Island  Into storage with you!  Soon enough, Ducktor Cid hits level 8 and gets some more skill points. They all go into Naturalist, giving him Sandstorm, which inflicts Dazzle on the whole enemy party...  ...as well as Dragon Slash, which does increased damage to Dragon monsters. This being Dragon Quest, expect plenty of those.  There's nothing left on this part of the island, so Euchre heads over to one of the pathways down to the valley. This is the western one, and they both have these pillars on either side.  This one has a slide down, so it's one-way. Euchre will have to come up the other way if he wants to go back to the scoutpost.  Sometimes other monster scouts can be seen wandering around. They appear randomly, but I think they have set spawn points. They also have random teams for Euchre to fight! Music: Boss Battle  This incarnation of Team Wilhelm consists of two Orcs and a Demonrider. Note the names displayed on the screen - these are some of the default names that you can pick for your monsters. All monsters have multiple default names - usually themed around the first few letters of their species name - and these NPC scouts use those names for their monsters. We'll be seeing both of these monsters later, and they act differently in tamer battles anyway, so I'm not going over their moves here. What is interesting, though, is the scout behind the monsters. They can use items, just like Euchre, and will even attempt to scout his monsters sometimes! I've never seen what happens if they succeed, but apparently they take your monster permanently. Thankfully you can take their monsters, too, and allegedly they're better than wild ones. Music: None  Eventually Euchre is victorious. These fights give out a ton of experience points and gold.  They also give out some incredibly nice items, like this Oomph powder. This is the spell Oomph in item form, increasing the target's attack temporarily. Oomph is probably the best stat increasing spell in the game, so this is very welcome. Music: Island  Another result of the fight was Moley learning Slowing Slug. This ability does damage and attempts to lower speed. It's a pretty good debuff, but it costs 4 MP. Look at Moley's maximum MP and you'll see the problem with this.  Close to Wilhelm is this blue treasure chest. Opening it triggers a cutscene! Music: None  Five shards come out of thin air and float around Euchre.  They join together...  ...forming a darkonium crystal! He now possesses 1 crystal.We're helpfully told how many darkonium crystals Euchre has after every one he collects. It's nice to be able to keep track when he gets a new one. Music: Monster Battle  The most common monsters in the valley are Komodos, who aren't interesting in the slightest. I don't think they have any special abilities.  They are the first Dragon monsters, though, so it's worth picking up for the proficiency test back on Infant Isle. Euchre doesn't go back there yet, though. Music: Island  Into the substitutes it goes.  One of the few attractions in the valley is this tent.  This guy is inside. He's got a few things to say. Havin' this year's scout challenge start off with a wussy scavenger hunt... I dunno! The challenge is s'posed to be about guts 'n' glory an' fightin' stuff! This new rule's for wimps! I just need to finish settin' up an' we'll be back in business. So hang on a tick, awright!? We should be up an' runnin' by the time ya get back!Yes, this is the site of that battle arena that Euchre heard about in the scoutpost. It being closed means that he can't get the darkonium crystal yet. It's at this point that Euchre goes back to the scoutpost to heal and buy a weapon for his monsters. That scout that he beat gave a good chunk of cash, after all. Music: Scoutpost  This'll do nicely. It goes on Moley. Music: Monster Battle  Going back down to the pit gives Euchre the chance to find another monster: the Funghoul. These things pop up out of holes in the ground, like Mischievous Moles did on Infant Isle.  They have Sweet Breath, to send the entire party to sleep...  ...and Poison Breath, to poison them all. Neither is all that dangerous.  This one joins up without much hassle.  It gets sent to storage, like most monsters that Euchre scouts.  This monster, the Dancing Flame, appears in the same places as the Komodos. They're a bit rarer, though.  This is a good opportunity to show off Ducktor Cid's new Dragon Slash. It's a pretty nice damage increase.  Sandstorm is also used, though the Dazzle isn't all that accurate. It's nice if Cid's got nothing better to do.  The Dancing Flames can use Fire Breath to do damage to the entire party. Interestingly enough, this is not the same element as Frizz despite both being fire. Breath attacks and spells are completely different elements. In both cases, though, the damage isn't mitigated by defence.  Their other ability is Flame Slash, which does Frizz-elemental physical damage. It's also slightly more powerful than a normal attack.  Music: Island  It's scouted and put in storage.  The final point of interest in the valley is this pool of quicksand. If Euchre runs into the centre... Music: Seeking Treasure  ...he'll fall down into this cave. There's no way but forwards.  Hey, it's that monster that Solitaire was looking for!  It's not particularly happy to see Euchre.  I can do...no more...Really? You lost to an orc? Euchre's already beaten two of those.  The orc charges at Euchre! This'll be easy. Music: Boss Battle  Welcome to the first boss fight of the game, the Orc! Being the first boss, it's not particularly threatening for a well-organised team. Euchre's team composition here will be Ducktor Cid for disabling the Orc, Healix for undoing all of its damage and Moley for actually killing it.  The first thing to note is that the Orc does a lot of damage. That's more than 2/3 of Healix's maximum HP. Thankfully it can only attack once per turn, so it's unlikely to kill anyone. Just keep HP topped up. There is an exception, though: randomised turn order. While Agility does indeed affect the order in which monsters act, there's always slight variance. It tends to get really annoying when an enemy moves last in one turn and then first in the next, two-shotting one of your team. That can happen here and it tends to ruin an attempt at the fight. The only other thing that the Orc can do is cast Heal, but it only does that at low HP and is pretty much a free turn for Team Euchre. .png) The chances of the Orc actually hitting are much lower now, though. It's practically harmless now.  The final nail in the coffin is that it can be shocked by Heart Breaker. As I said when Ducktor Cid learned it, it's nice for fights where there's only one enemy like this one. During all this, Moley has been psyching up to 100 tension.   To further supplement its attack, it's fed the Oomph Powder that Euchre got earlier.  That's one dead Orc. Its maximum HP was only 235. Music: None  As a reward for Euchre's victory, he receives a weapon that's ahead of the curve in terms of attack power.  Euchre takes the unconscious monster in his arms and carries it back to the scoutpost.Music: Unknown (I couldn't find the actual name anywhere)  It's not a species I've seen before. I have no idea how to treat it.Suddenly...   ...Commissioner Snap appears in the doorway! Why is he here?  How did he know about that? Has the monster really been at the scoutpost long enough for him to be called in? Did Solitaire alert the Monster Scout Organisation when she found it?  Now, let's have a look at the little fellow, shall we? If he can't help the monster, no one can... The screen fades to black, and healing sound effects play. Music: Scoutpost  With that, Euchre is free to move around again. There's only really one place to go - the Scouts' den.  Unfortunately, Euchre seems to be interrupting a conversation between Dr Snap and the monster. It can't hurt to listen in, though, can it? I heard the rumours about you, but now I see they were quite unfounded. ...? Hey, it's that legendary monster that Euchre's been told about! I though perhaps that you might be the one. But the Incarnus is a more powerful beast - majestic and awe-inspiring. Solitaire seemed to think that this monster was like that. Maybe it's the Incarnus, then! It is a problem that has long obsessed monster scientists, myself included... So my little fellow. Do you know where the mighty Incarnus might be?  Well, that's that I suppose... Oh, look, I do believe this is your master?Euchre would be happy to take the definitely-not-Incarnus off Dr Snap's hands.   Duty calls. Mustn't leave HQ on its own for too long, what!Well, it looks like Euchre will be the proud owner of one definitely-not-Incarnus. What does it think about this, though?  I was weak and defenceless. You could have captured me. Yet instead you brought me here to be healed. I sense you are on a mission, one that you cannot reveal. Well, so am I.It's not exactly a mission at the moment. Euchre hasn't received any instructions other than "participate in the Monster Scout Challenge", after all. Listen to me, human. I want you to help me. It leads to a shrine by the sea. I would like you to escort me there. Though it shames me to admit it, I have not the strength to reach it on my own. Help me, human. Euchre? Very well. As for me, you may call me what you will.You know what this means? A new monster to name!  Now, what to call it... Extra: The Monster Library There are five monsters to go through today! Let's get started. From now on assume that fused monsters don't receive their stat-boosting skill. Healslime   Healslimes' Skills are Healer and Agility Boost. They have the Trait Health Professional and are immune to Fizzle. Healer is a very one-track skill. All the abilities that it teaches heal a single ally, except Buff which raises a single ally's defence. On top of the basic healing abilities Heal, Midheal and Fullheal, it also has Zing and Kazing, which are revival spells, Reheal, which gives an ally regenerating HP, and Meditation, which heals the user. If you're just going through the story, it's unquestionably useful. Where it falls down is in the lack of multi-target healing, but there are other skills for that. Komodo   Komodos have the Skills Defender and Attack Boost. They have no Traits and are immune to Dazzle. Defender is a skill that focuses on buffs and debuffs, as well as a bit of healing. It teaches Buff and Kabuff, for single- and multi-target defence increases. Heal and Midheal are also present. There's also Dazzleflash, which inflicts multi-target Dazzle, Defending Champion, for lowering damage taken on the user, Weakening Wallop, for lowering enemy attack while doing damage, and Sap Guard, which reduces the chance of being inflicted with decreased defence. This can be a useful skill for tankier teams, who rely on lots of setup to do damage. Unfortunately there's no defence against magic or breath attacks, but against a purely physical enemy it's pretty good. Scorpion   Scorpions get the Skills Hive Mind and Defence Boost. They have two Traits: Critical Massacre and Paralyser (which gives attacks a chance to paralyse). They're weak to Frizz-element attacks, and immune to Poison and Paralysis. Hive Mind is a weird skill. It seems to focus on ailments, but it can't seem to decide whether to go with pure ailments or damage with ailments. There's Snooze, Kasnooze and Sleep Sock for Sleep, Heart Breaker for Shock, Paralysing Punch for Paralysis and Fuddle Dance for Confusion. The skill also grants access to Buff, Defending Champion and Hustle Dance, a multi-target healing skill. Overall it's probably not a great choice. Dancing Flame   Dancing Flames get the skills Fire Fighter and Defence Boost. They have the Trait Frizzmeister, which increases the power and decreases the MP cost of Frizz-element spells. They're weak to Crack-elemental abilities, but are healed by Frizz- and Fire Breath-elemental abilities. Fire Fighter teaches Frizz-element and physical attacks. Firstly there are Frizz and Frizzle, the tier 1 and 2 Frizz-element spells. There's also Flame Slash and Inferno Slash, which do Frizz-element physical damage. There's also Helm Splitter, which I've already extolled the virtues of, Body Slam, which does heavy physical damage with recoil, War Cry, which tries to inflict Shock on the entire enemy party, and Frizz Guard, which lowers damage from Frizz-elemental attacks. It's not a bad skill, though it's more suited to physical attackers than mages due to the lack of the best Frizz spells. Funghoul   Finally, Funghouls have the Skills Graveheart and Attack Boost but don't have any Traits. They're weak to Frizz and immune to Poison. Graveheart is exactly the same as it was on Ghosts back in Part 4. Epicmissingno fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Jul 26, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 19:31
|
|
|
We'll need a name for Wulfspade here. Eight-character limit, and please Bold suggestions. Voting will close on the 24th of July at 1:00 GMT.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 19:33
|
|
|
Dogpaddle
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 20:24
|
|
|
Wildcard? I feel like we have a thing going at this point.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 21:12
|
|
|
Poochie
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 21:31
|
|
|
I second Wildcard.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 21:33
|
|
|
When I first played this game, because I didn't really get what I was doing, that Orc gave me so much trouble. I don't really remember how I beat him. Also, Wildcard is a good name for our friend.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 21:41
|
|
|
Wildcard
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2017 22:36
|
|
|
AltaBrown posted:Poochie This.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 00:44
|
|
|
Uncarnus
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 02:12
|
|
|
I like the name Scooby
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 06:19
|
|
|
2nding Scooby
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 06:42
|
|
|
Leraika posted:Wildcard?
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 11:31
|
|
|
I dunno, if were giving a doggo a card name Ace just feels right
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 11:35
|
|
|
I think Wildcard is a very fitting name. There's some good fusion components you can get here, even just in the bowl part of the island. I remember grinding here for hours just getting certain critters in large supply to serve as fusion fodder to make some of the higher tier monsters. Can't wait until you start the fusion train a-rollin'.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 15:23
|
|
|
Wildcard is good enough. It's so obvious what he really is it's actually suspicious that Snap didn't notice. Then again, he got rocked by an Orc so...he probably isn't the Incarnus. No way it would be so 
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2017 20:19
|
|
|
I'm all in for Wildcard. But geez, running around on a giant island of nothing but desert? What are we, some kind of cactus?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2017 14:00
|
|
|
I think there's a clear winner here. Wildcard: 8 Poochie: 2 Scooby: 2 Dogpaddle: 1 Uncarnus: 1 Ace: 1 Wulfspade's name will be Wildcard. I suppose it's only fitting.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2017 13:05
|
|
|
Anything's better than Speagle.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2017 22:13
|
|
|
Part 6: Desert Roundup This update, Euchre will finish exploring Xeroph Isle and get all the monsters currently available for scouting. But first, some unfinished business... Music: Scoutpost  ...naming his new Wulfspade. Wildcard is the obvious choice, and he replaces Moley on the team.  Now, we shall return to the passage where you found me. It leads to the shrine I seek. That is where we must go. Remember its location. Wildcard joins Euchre's team. And with that Euchre is once more set free to do as he wishes. First things first: talking to people! Only the people in the Scouts' Den have their dialogue updated, though.  I couldn't hear what it was saying exactly... But that little thing certainly does talk posh, doesn't it?Apparently it's weird for monsters to talk around here. Talking monsters don't tend to be all that rare in the rest of the Dragon Quest series, so it's a little strange for this guy to be so incredulous.  Maybe I should have tried scouting it for my team...It's a good thing that Wildcard can't be scouted, otherwise someone like this would be able to steal him. I doubt they'd be as open-minded as Euchre is about Wildcard's request. Incidentally, it's possible to confirm that Wildcard is indeed the Incarnus.  First we go into Euchre's menu and look in the Monster Library. This is where I've been getting the monster bios at the end of each update.  See there, on the bottom screen? Wulfspade's monster family is "Incarni", the plural of Incarnus. Of course that begs the question of what the others are. There's only one Incarnus, isn't there?  Another thing to do now is check the save menu. The stars that were empty before now have one filled in. That's because these are an indicator of how much darkonium Euchre has.  In any case, it's time to continue on in the cave Euchre found last time. Music: Seeking Treasure  The first thing to note is that there are Winkies here! They have exactly the same spells as they did on Infant Isle, but with more stats. There's no point in going over them again. The second thing to note is that the cave is just a wiggly line to the end with no detours. There are no interesting sights here, either. The third thing to note is that there's a new monster here! Music: Monster Battle  Muddy Hands are another monster that doesn't really do much. I didn't see them use any spells or abilities other than what's shared with every other monster.  That makes them easy to scout. Music: Seeking Treasure  This update I'm outsourcing all my monster-naming. The Egyptian god of the Earth goes into storage, as usual, but there is something of note about it - it's Euchre's first Rank E monster. Monsters have ranks from F to X, with F being the weakest and X the strongest. Wildcard, however, is Rank ???, which doesn't really fit anywhere. Music: Island  The exit to the cave spits Euchre out on the north side of the valley, which would otherwise be inaccessible. Heading down the side of the bowl...  ...produces this treasure chest. Seeds are used to permanently increase one of the stats of a monster. They come in seven varieties:
Seeds of Magic increase MP. Seeds of Strength increase Strength. Seeds of Resilience increase Defence. Seeds of Agility increase Agility. Seeds of Wisdom increase Wisdom. Seeds of Skill increase Skill Points.  Wildcard gets a level off one of the north side fights - mostly Scorpions and Komodos - and gets Zap from his Wulfspade skill. Sometimes, mostly on boss monsters from previous Dragon Quest games, you get skills named after the monster they come on. They tend to be full of top-tier abilities. Wildcard, coming so early, does not have such abilities in his skill. However, it's one of the few skills that doesn't need 100 points to max it out, only needing 75. This is because if you fuse Wildcard away while it has it at maximum skill points it upgrades to Wulfspade II, and then to Wulfspade III if it's maxed again at 100 points. These give progressively better abilities, but we probably won't be seeing them any time soon. We've actually seen a few of these types of skills before - all the stat-boosting skills that scouted monsters have max at 50 points and have II and III variants. II maxes out at 75 and III maxes out at 100, and each gives progressively better stat increases. In any case, it's time to go exploring.  Heading up the valley and then west on the northern arc of land leads to this bridge. It can be kicked over, giving a shortcut back to the Scoutpost and the jetty to Domus Isle.  We still have much to do here.Speaking of jetties, there's one at the very north of Xeroph Isle leading to parts unknown. Wildcard doesn't want Euchre to leave the island until his task is complete, though. Even Domus Isle and Infant Isle are off-limits right now, meaning that Euchre can't hand the Komodo in to Scoutmaster Shuffles.  Heading to the far west results in finding this door. It's at the exclamation mark on the map, so it's what Wildcard's looking for. That means it's progress. Euchre doesn't like progress, so he's going to put it off for as long as possible.  Right next to the door is a chest and another bridge, which is a much more convenient shortcut than the one on the west. The chest coughs up an Antidotal Herb for Euchre, which will probably never be used. Poison isn't very good, after all, and all ailments are removed after battle. Music: Monster Battle  There's only one more monster that can be found on Xeroph Isle during the day, and those are Spitniks.  Spitniks love to spam Dazzleflash which, like Sandstorm, inflicts Dazzle on multiple monsters. It appears to be more accurate than Sandstorm, too. It's really annoying when trying to scout the thing because scouting relies on physical attacks. Dazzle makes these miss a lot.  This one is scouted nonetheless.  It should be easy to guess where it goes. Music: Ambiance of the Night  For the other monsters on Xeroph Isle, Euchre has to rest until night-time. Music: Monster Battle  The first new monster, which appears in similar places to the Healslimes on the south side, is the Crabid. Their gimmick is that they like to defend a lot, which doesn't tend to come up much. It's annoying for scouting because, again, scouting chance is based on attack damage. If they defend this is lowered and they become harder to scout.  Luckily this one doesn't defend at the critical moment and promptly joins Euchre.  This is probably the best game featuring a character named Rabies being Let's Played. Sadly this Rabies won't be featuring for long, since he goes into storage.  Similarly to the Crabids, these appear on the south side of Xeroph Isle.  They cast Frizz and are generally boring. They have really low defence, too.  It's so low that this one had a 100% scout rate.  To storage with you! I swear one day Euchre will put something into substitutes, but at the moment it's all full up with monsters I want him to train.  To the north, Demonriders appear. We've seen these before when Euchre fought that other scout, but I didn't go over them then. They've got a pretty diverse moveset.  They have Gust Slash, a Woosh-elemental physical attack...  ...Helm Splitter, which attacks and lowers defence...  ...the Trait Counterstriker, which allows them to make counter-attacks sometimes...  ...and finally Poisonous Poke to inflict Poison while doing damage. Music: Ambiance of the Night  It's scouted and put into storage. Much like the Muddy Hands from before, Demonriders are Rank E.  While wandering around and looking for more new monsters, Euchre finds one of these spots in the air. They only appear at night, and always cough up a Seed of Skill. They refresh every night, and spawn in semi-fixed spots, so they're easily farmed. Music: Monster Battle  Down in the valley, the Komodos have been replaced with Chimaeras. There's no counterpart for the Skelegons, though, and for good reason - like the Gigantes and King Slime on Infant Isle they're really not meant to be fought at this point.  Unlike those two, their attacks are a little more manageable. Both Chimaeras and Skelegons have the bottom tier Fire Breath skill.  Skelegons also have its ice counterpart, Cool Breath.  They hit pretty hard physically, too, but Euchre's monsters can withstand it.  Here's a tip for dealing with them, though - use Wildcard's Zap. They're weak to it, and magic damage can't be mitigated by their absurd defence stat. Slimes can also have it at this point, but they're so fragile that it's a terrible idea to bring one for this. Also, because of said defence stat, scouting is probably not going to work out. Even with 100 tension, Wildcard was barely increasing the scout chance at all.  Chimaeras like to heal themselves when on low HP. To go with this, I have a correction to make to one of the things I said about enemy Healslimes. They do not, in fact, heal for 30-ish HP with Heal, and instead heal for a value closer to 15. Enemy healing skills are considerably worse than the versions that Euchre gets, for some reason.   More friends for storage.  The final monster on Xeroph Isle's exterior is the Frostburn. You'd expect it to be an icy counterpart to the Dancing Flame, and you'd be right. It even appears in the same place at roughly the same rate.   It has the Crack-elemental slash and Cool Breath similar to the Dancing Flame's Frizz-elemental Slash and Fire Breath. AllNight.png)  It'll be warming - or rather, cooling - the bench along with its firey counterpart. And that's about it for the monsters of Xeroph Isle. Next time, Euchre will be heading into the island's shrine at the behest of Wildcard. Extra: The Monster Library Because this update was mostly monster collecting, there are more than usual to go through. Crabid   Crabids have the Skills Defender and Defence Boost, have no Traits, and take extra damage from Frizz. Defender is that same as it was on Komodos back in the previous update, so nothing new there. Chimaera   Chimaeras have the skills Cleanser and Defence Boost, and the Trait Artful Dodger. They're immune to Confusion. Cleanser is a healing skill that focuses on getting rid of status ailments. It gives Heal at 4 skill points, so it's a good early source of healing if you don't want to use a Healslime, but it never gets any Midheal or Fullheal. It gives Squelch for healing Poison, Tingle for healing paralysis, and Zing and Kazing to cure death (the latter of which is only a 50% chance). It's also got Amor Seco Rain for delayed multi-target healing, Wave of Relief for getting rid of all ailments on the party (invalidating all other ailment-curing skills in the process other than Kazing) and finally Disruptive Wave. Disruptive Wave gets rid of all buffs on the enemy party which is extremely useful in multiplayer but not so much in single player. Overall Cleanser doesn't seem to be all that good because the only three worthwhile abilities (Kazing, Wave of Relief and Disruptive Wave) can be found on other skills with other useful abilities. Frostburn   Frostburns have the Skills Icemeister and Defence Boost and the Trait Crackmeister, which decreases the MP cost and increases the power of Crack-element abilities. They're weak to Frizz but are healed by Crack and Ice Breath. Icemeister is essentially the Ice counterpart to Fire Fighter. It teaches the tier 1 and 2 Crack spells, the two Crack-element slashes, and Crack Guard. The other abilities it gets, however, are fairly different. Tongue Lashing, Breathtaking Bash and Meditation are the other abilities, which have been gone over before. Here's a reminder, though: Tongue Lashing inflicts Shock and lowers defence to 1 if it succeeds, Breathtaking Bash does damage and stops an enemy from using breath attacks, and Meditation is a self-heal. Just like Fire Fighter, it's not too bad, but the non-ice skills are a bit of a mixed bag - Meditation is pretty awful, Breathtaking Bash is situational and Tongue Lashing is pretty great. Spitnik   Spitniks get the Skills Frizz & Bang and Defence Boost. They have the Trait Bangmeister, increasing damage and lowering MP cost for Bang-element abilities, and they're even healed by the element. They're weak to Crack, though. Frizz & Bang is another of those skills that can be upgraded through spending skill points on it. In fact, every "element & other element" skill can be. It caps at 50 skill points, the second version caps at 75, and the third caps at 100. Each one gives only Frizz and Bang abilities at increasing levels of power, both magical and physical. Other than that, there's Frizz Guard and Bang Guard at the third tier of the skill. This is a pretty good skill, and the elements complement each other nicely. The Frizz spells (Frizz, Frizzle, Kafrizz, Kafrizzle) are all single-target, whereas the Bang spells (Bang, Boom, Kaboom, Kaboomble) are all multi-target. Definitely worth getting for mages once it's got to the higher tiers, and it's one of the components in the ultimate magic skill too. There are only two physical abilities to use, though, which may be a problem for anyone who wants to use those. Firespirit   Firespirits have the Skills Fire and Defence Boost. They have the Trait Frizzmeister, which should have an obvious effect based on the last two monsters, are healed by both Frizz- and Fire Breath-elemental abilities, and are immune to Water-elemental abilities. Fire, like Frizz & Bang, comes in three tiers: Fire, Fire II and Fire III. Fire gives the abilities Frizz, Frizzle, Fire Breath, Flame Breath and Flame Slash, as well as Deep Breath. Both tiers of the Skill above this increase each of these abilities by a tier, so Frizz becomes Frizzle and then Kafrizz, and Fire Breath becomes Flame Breath and then Inferno. Frizzle eventually becomes Kafrizzle, and Flame Breath eventually becomes Scorch. Flame Slash only gets upgraded to Inferno Slash in Fire III, though, since there are only two tiers of the ability, and Deep Breath never gets an upgrade. On top of this, Fire II adds Frizz Guard into the mix, which lowers Frizz damage taken by 25%, and Fire III adds Fire Breath Guard, which does the same for Fire Breath. Overall this is a pretty good offensive Skill, similar to the dual-element Skills, though it's not purely invalidated by Magic Barrier thanks to the breath attacks. Consider picking it up. Muddy Hand   Muddy Hands have the Skills Materialist and Attack Boost. They have no Traits, and are vulnerable to Frizz. They also cannot be Dazzled. Materialist gives a mix of ability types, with a focus on physical skills and buffs. To start with there's Buff and Kabuff, the single- and multi-target defence increases. There's also Bounce, which reflects spells and is great for dealing with enemy mages. Not so much when you need to heal or buff, since those spells reflect too. Helm Splitter, Metal Slash and Hatchet Man are all pretty useful. Helm Splitter is pretty much universally great, whereas Metal Slash and Hatchet Man are best for dealing with Metal Slime monsters, the experience point pinatas of the series. Metal Slash simply adds 1 to the damage dealt to these (they all take 0 or 1 damage most of the time) and Hatchet Man either gets a critical hit, ignoring defences, or misses entirely. Finally Materialist teaches Kerplunk and Kamikazee, which both kill the user. The former fully heals and revives the other monsters on the team and the latter attempts to inflict instant death on all enemies or huge damage if that fails. The skill in general isn't half bad for what it is, giving some useful abilities for defence, offence, or when you're backed into a corner. Demonrider   Demonriders have the skills Diminisher and Attack Boost. Just like their wild variants they have the Trait Counterstriker, which enables counter-attacks when struck physically. They're vulnerable to Zap and immune to Fizzle which is really weird since they're primarily physical monsters. Diminisher is very similar to Guerrilla in that it gives abilities that do damage while either inflicting ailments or debuffs. Slowing Slug, Weakening Wallop, Stupefying Strike and Helm Splitter lower Agility, Attack, Wisdom and Defence in that order. The most useful of those is probably Weakening Wallop, which neuters most monsters and allows for easier setup. Then there's Breathtaking Bash for getting rid of breath attacks, Break-Dance Beat for stopping dances, Blinding Blow for dropping accuracy with Dazzle and Assassin's Stab for killing monsters instantly. Diminisher is incredibly good and a must-have for any debuffer you want on your team. It has an answer to everything that could possibly get thrown at you other than physical immunity, which doesn't exist in this game. It does exist in the sequel, though...on a single monster. Wulfspade   Wulfspade is unique. There is only one in the game. There's also no way to get a second through tag battles on multiplayer, since it's immune to scouting. The bright side is that there's no way to lose it! Its skills are Wulfspade and Agility Boost and it has the Trait Psycho. It's also healed by Lightning, which isn't very common, weak to Earth, which also isn't very common, and immune to having its attack lowered. The Skill Wulfspade teaches Zap and Zapple, the tier 1 and 2 Zap spells. It also teaches Lightning Slash, the tier 1 Zap slash. The other attacks it gives are Spark and Lightning, Lightning-elemental attacks which hit one or all enemies respectively. At least, I think they're Lightning - they might be Zap. Elements in Dragon Quest can be confusing. Lightning Guard also features. The final abilities that Wulfspade teaches are Oomph and Sag, the single-target attack buff and debuff respectively. Both are incredibly useful, and Oomph only takes 11 skill points. It's definitely worth your while to get that, at the very least. Wulfspade II, gotten by investing 75 points into Wulfspade, is essentially "Wulfspade, but better". Everything that was learned in Wulfspade has now gone up a tier: Zap and Zapple become Zapple and Kazap, Lightning Slash becomes Thunderbolt Slash, Spark and Lightning become Lightning and Lightning Storm. Lightning Guard is back, and is joined by Zap Guard. Finally Oomph and Sag have been replaced by their multi-target variants, Oomphle and Kasag. Their usefulness is more questionable, though, since their strength is decreased to compensate for the improved targeting. Since each has to be cast twice to get the effect of one single-target spell, they're only useful if there is more than one ally or enemy who needs the buff or debuff. Kasag is especially guilty of this, since the debuff is most useful during bosses which generally only have one target. Overall Wulfspade and Wulfspade II are pretty good skills. Kasag is pretty much the only weak link here, but it's still situationally useful. Epicmissingno fucked around with this message at 15:09 on Nov 18, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2017 01:35
|
|
|
I've gone back through all the updates so far and added monster art in all the Monster Library sections. It should be easier to see what some of them are meant to look like now.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2017 01:53
|
|
|
Demonrider seems like a really nice monster to have right now.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2017 05:43
|
|
|
Demonrider would seem good but when I've tried using it, they seemed to just have anemic stats. They don't deal good damage, but their bulk isn't awful. You could use one, but you'd probably be better off fusing one and using that. Crabids are kind of meh, but they have some surprisingly decent stats. You going to be covering synthesis after this island? That's around the time I usually start fusing monsters. Synthesis in this game is pretty interesting, makes up for a lot of flaws in this game.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2017 06:22
|
|
|
Mysticblade posted:You going to be covering synthesis after this island? That's around the time I usually start fusing monsters. Synthesis in this game is pretty interesting, makes up for a lot of flaws in this game. I'll be covering that either in the next update or the update after. I've mostly been holding off until I've got a couple of monsters at level 11, since that's the best time to do the first synthesis.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2017 10:58
|
|
|
I wish the game weren't so dependant on monster ranks to keep the team up-to-date and allowed you to keep using your favorites, I know I'd use Spitnik for a long time, love that smugass face. I also noticed you're giving unique names to every screenshot, even making jokes in there, now that's dedication. Still, don't burn out with it (unless you do it to keep yourself track of which screenshot is which).
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2017 21:06
|
|
|
Something about the spitnik's summary sentence seems suspicious.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 03:49
|
|
|
The demonrider's description does duplicate that denouement.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 20:53
|
|
|
Petiso posted:I wish the game weren't so dependant on monster ranks to keep the team up-to-date and allowed you to keep using your favorites, I know I'd use Spitnik for a long time, love that smugass face. Technically there's a way to keep low-rank monsters viable. Technically. It involves using an item found on the next island and intended abuse of the monster synthesis mechanics - something I'll be going over next update (just need to write it up now). Higher-rank monsters will always be overall stronger because of their higher stat growths and caps, though. Also... Glazius posted:Something about the spitnik's summary sentence seems suspicious. Surely seeking sinister sentiment seems silly? Seriously, stop searching.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 21:15
|
|
|
I have an update ready, and there are already three on this page. Would people mind moving over to the next page?
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2017 17:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 21:16 |
|
|
Be a power player and change number of posts per page down to 10 or 20 and you'll never have the problem again 
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2017 17:48
|
|
