|
FeyerbrandX posted:This is why you need to kill people like Algus early and often. But if you do that, then you don't get to punch their smug, smug adult faces in. Algus was, what, 15?
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2019 07:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 14:16 |
|
|
FeyerbrandX posted:This is why you need to kill people like Algus early and often. Sure they're racist, classist and horrible people when they're young, but then they grow up into this. If nobody has done a mod where literally every enemy is Algus, someone should.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2019 23:36
|
|
|
dotchan posted:Ah, yes, the guaranteed way for a narrative to make the player hate a guy, even if they aren't evil, just give them the maximally Even better: give them plot-related invulnerability. What do you want to bet this bastard will do horrible things JUST to rub it in our faces that we're not allowed to touch him?
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2019 03:56
|
|
reaction to everything and everybody will want to punch that goddamn
|
Update 4: Timber Road Last time we left off with Alphonse becoming one of the Marked. He’s now above the law and is on a pilgrimage to essentially become a demigod. Kyrie determined that we’d best follow him towards Centina (the new blue space on the map). However, before we start off, I want to introduce our new recruits:  First off, we have Bobby the wizard who will be replacing Virgil.  Next up is Sophia. I know a mage was requested, but I really need a mender for now and she’ll be moving on before too long.  Third is Mongo. Sadly, fully bald wasn’t an option, but I picked a hair and skintone that were as close together as possible.  And rounding out this crop, we have Hannah who’s starting off as a Knight. Since he’s injured, Bobby will be sitting out the next fight so we’ll have a bit of a dearth of magic and AOE damage. Still, I should be able to make things work out. With everybody introduced, we start moving towards Centina and quickly come upon a group of people in the woods.   .jpg) More like we went looking for it….jpg) Hmph. When I go looking for trouble, it’ll be… Well, something more dangerous than this lot anway. … Fair point..jpg) Boss! These here travelers is an exact match for the descriptionwe gots from that posh lord!  You there, officer! Are you Kyrie of the Arbiters? I am. Do we have business? Unless it is urgent, I suggest you head to the nearest Arbiter’s Chapterhouse and take your problems up with them. It’ll end better that way, I promise. Oh, no. I’m afraid that will not do. For you see… You are just the person we’ve been waiting for. Wait. I believe I know the rest. Alphonse wishes the “wench” to be dealt with “permanently”, or something to that effect? And you underlings better not bungle this, or else? Sound about right? Not sure if it’s obvious, but he has the “pushed” animation backwards while saying this. Uh, Boss, the lord guy did warn you they was a wiley lot. Bah! I’m not sure how you knew we were coming for you, but that changes nothing! We have both the numbers and the experience in this dirty business, unlike you ceremonial flunkies running errands for the Immortals.   And with that, we’re in another fight.  We start off deployed in one corner, with Sophia and Reiner in the back rows to keep them safe. (I gave Reiner the heavy crossbow we got earlier, so he’s currently our only ranged attacker).   Our enemies start spread out in a general “L” shape. Mostly scoundrels, with a few mercs, a knight, and a ranger thrown in. Notably, both the scoundrel and the ranger up high have ranged weapons, so taking them out should be a priority.   Last thing to see before the fight, is that there are 2 treasure chests on the map. The first one is just a typical, run of the mill chest that will respawn every time you fight here. The second one is a special chest. Most maps have one and they’re unique, but they’re also usually difficult to reach. This one, for example, needs a person with a jump of at least 8 to get it. No one I have can do that right now, so I’ll just have to leave it and come back later.  The battle starts off with this scoundrel moving forward. He already has a secondary ability set as a wizard, and immediately hits Kyrie and Anadine with it.  Thankfully, by doing that he left himself exposed and we can gang up on him  for Anadine to finish him off.  Here’s another move that the AI loves to use. This is a ranger ability that damages and makes it so the target can’t move. It’s not too hard to cure, but can really make a bad situation worse if you’re hurting.  Only showing this because I believe that it’s the first time we’ve seen an enemy with a reaction ability. Most of these just trigger when the unit gets hurt or is targeted and gives them a buff or counterattack of some sort. This just gives the unit a small regen effect (~1/8 of their health) for 3 turns. It’s not too bad on a squishy ranged unit, but can be really annoying on tanky enemies. Still, nothing to worry about right now.  Because Hannah’s a knight, I have her defend (gives her a small self-heal and 50% damage mitigation) to try and take some heat off of Kyrie, who’s been pretty low on health.  However, the AI rudely decides to just steal her money instead.  Despite nearly dying, I have Kyrie chuck a rock at the ranger to take him out. I also have Sophia heal Kyrie and herself (and the full health enemy knight) to try and keep themselves up.  Which was very needed as Kyrie again nearly goes down.  Things continue to be a mosh pit down below, while Mongo takes out the other ranged attacker on the hill.  And then runs down to take out another scoundrel in the pit.  Soon afterwards, Reiner takes out the knight.  While Mongo continues being bloodthirsty and gets an unexpected crit to take out a 3rd enemy.  Since things have wound down, I have Hannah weaken the final merc while I send Reiner to get the chest.  Except I have butter fingers and accidentally have him climb down the vines instead.  So Mongo gets it instead. It’s another crafting material, nothing too special.  To finish things up, Anadine takes out the last merc  And gets an MVP bonus for her efforts (not sure why it wasn’t Mongo though).  .jpg) Thank you, Captain! My training is proving its worth, just as you said it would. I confess I am impressed at the progress you’ve made in very short time. But once again, please address me by my name. I prefer that we relax protocol while in the field. Yes, of course, uh, Kyrie.  Reiner, you’re insufferable. Alas, I am a man of many flaws, Madam Captain. (sigh). Very well. Report. We eliminated that group entirely. The roads are safe for the time being. Safer, at least. However, it is just as you surmised: the bandits seem to have been in the employ of our favorite nobleman: Alphonse. I recovered a fat purse from the leader, fashioned from purple velvet and embroidered with lace. That is interesting, but also pure conjecture. You have something in the way of hard evidence, I assume? Aww… You know me too well. I figured that the little lordling wouldn’t have enough gold on his person to pay for a major assassination, so I searched the bandit leader thoroughly. And lo and behold, tucked away in his boot was a promissory note for a much larger sum. Said note was signed by Alphonse himself.Quite a gamble for him to take. He must truly hate us. Excellent work, Reiner. Coupled with the thugs confirming that they were in Alphonse’s employ, this should be ample evidence against him. All right, you two take a breather. I’ll read everyone for our departure for the Temple near Centina. Kyrie then walks off down the path.  It’s hard to tell by looking at her, because she keeps her emotions so carefully in check, but…Kyrie is actually very angry, and concerned. The fact that Alphonse murdered a man in front of you two, and appears to have been cleared by the Council… It calls a lot of what we believe into question. But Alphonse is a Marked now, and all the Marked are above the law by explicit Council order… There’s nothing we can do. That was my first thought too, but… Kyrie knows the law letter-by-letter. There is a provision related to the Arbiter’s right of self-defense which supersedes all other laws, even those pertaining to the Marked. By sending those ruffians after us, Alphonse has given us legal grounds to bring him to justice, regardless of his Marked status. Ah, the captain is so wise. So that is the reason we’ve been heading towards Centina this whole time? Knowing the lord was going that way himself, Kyrie was seeking retribution. We may be tasked with enforcing the law, but in the end, justice is what Kyrie seeks above all else. There is no way the woman I know would ever let this go. And with that we pop back out to the world map.  Interestingly, the Highlands Temple gets revealed after this fight, even though we haven’t reached Centina yet.  However, this is where we’ll leave off for now. See you next update!
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2019 03:14
|
|
|
Also, this update seems as good a time as any to start working our way through the different jobs. So, without further ado here is the first group: Job Overview: Starting Physical Jobs Mercenary  Requirements: None Unlocks: 2 abilities (Scoundrel, Druid*) 3 abilities (Knight) 4 abilities (Gunner*, SECRET*) * = Other jobs required Equipment: Maul, Sword, Axe, Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Shield Mastery Bonus: HP+5, Def+5 To start, we have the basic mercenary. They’re a general physical workhorse with some decently balanced growths, though they’re nothing special in any category. They serve as the base for a large chunk of the classes in the game, so you’ll have to at least spend some time as one.  Notable Abilities: Forceful Strike: One of the AI’s favorite abilities. Deals damage with a 0.85x modifier and pushes the target one space. If the target collides with something, it will damage the target and whatever they hit. Can make it very difficult to protect weak units. Counterattack: The basic counter reaction ability. If an adjacent unit targets the user with an offensive ability, they counter with a regular attack. Nothing special, but it can make hard hitting units decently dangerous. Stunning Strike: Deals damage with a 0.75x modifier and delays the target’s progress to their next turn by 60% of its current value. Not an ability I use very often, but it can be incredibly useful to help lock down a particularly dangerous enemy. Scoundrel  Requirements: 2 abilities (Mercenary) Unlocks : 3 abilities (Gambler*, Gadgeteer*) 4 abilities (Ranger, Reaver*) 6 abilities (SECRET!*) Equipment: Dagger, Crossbow, Light Armor Mastery Bonus: Spd+3, EVA+1, Crit+2 This game’s thief class, the scoundrel unsurprisingly sacrifices a good chunk of offensive growths for a higher speed growth. As they’re another early job, they serve as a launching point for the majority of this game’s ranged attackers. Again, not necessarily a job you want to spend a ton of time in, but dipping in for a bit of speed is never a bad idea.  Notable Abilities: Steal/Steal Component: Attempt to steal an item/component from the target. The expected steal abilities, I rarely actually use them, but they do define the class. Attack Expert: Increases the characters ATK value by 24*Level. Considering that Kyrie’s attack at level 4 is only about 100, this can be an absolutely massive damage increase that remains significant for a long time. Sneak Attack: Deals 0.6x damage from the front, but 1.2x from the sides and 1.4x from the back, before applying any of the regular bonuses for attack from the back or side. This is one of my favorite abilities for one simple reason: it works with ranged attacks. Because of that, it can be absolutely trivial for a bowman to run around the sides of the battlefield and throw out massive hits. Knight  Requirements: 3 abilities (Mercenary) Unlocks: 3 abilities (Fellblade*) 4 abilities (Templar) Equipment: Sword, Spear, Robe, Heavy Amor, Shield Matery Bonus: HP+5, Def+5, Res+3 The knight is a tank, plain and simple. They have a massive defense growth and a solid res growth, at the cost of being slow and having low magic attack. They’re all about protecting allies and taking damage, and are honestly one of the enemies I have the most trouble with due to their bulk.  Notable Abilities: Protect: Choose a friendly unit to protect, then jump in the way of any hit that might target them. It doesn’t work on AOE abilities that would hit both the protector and protectee, but otherwise is a great way to keep a weak unit safe. No Flank: A passive ability that just makes you treat every attack as if its from your front. Pretty simple, but it just adds to Knight’s tankiness and is a very annoying ability to see on any other unit as well. Heavy Hit: Deal damage equal to 1/3 of the target’s HP. An incredibly useful ability, it lets you start weakening bulky enemies with a huge hit. While it gets less useful as fights progress, it’s super useful to start things off. One for All: End your turn. Until your next turn, whenever an ally targets an enemy within your weapon range, follow up with a regular attack (1x for melee weapons, 0.75x for ranged). Useful for players on a ranged attacker, but really dangerous in the hands of the AI. Because they outnumber you, the AI can use this to easily get 6-7 attacks per round from a knight, turning them into strong damage dealers as well as big walls. (Also, spears have a 2 square attack range, which the AI loves abusing with this).
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2019 03:16
|
|
|
OOrochi posted:To start, we have the basic mercenary. They’re a general physical workhorse with some decently balanced growths, though they’re nothing special in any category. They serve as the base for a large chunk of the classes in the game, so you’ll have to at least spend some time as one. You need to go into more detail on Sturdy Grip, but it's pretty good too.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2019 04:30
|
|
|
I do like Kyrie and Reiner's banter. Maybe a bit hammy, but it fits the general tone.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2019 04:31
|
|
|
Mongo smash! Why is he wearing only underwear?
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2019 04:51
|
|
|
Notable here is that the knight's heavy hit ability is a great ability to mix into magic classes early on. Don't want to burn a spell against something? Have your mage tap it on the head with a rod for 33% of their health.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2019 07:05
|
|
|
Mongo?! Santa Maria!
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2019 18:01
|
|
|
It is worth mentioning that Forceful Strike can be used to push people into water and instantly kill them if they can't swim. You can shove people into all kinds of unpleasant places and dodge counterattacks too!
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2019 04:03
|
|
|
OOrochi posted:
I love how savvy our protagonist is. It's refreshing to not want to yell "You idiot!" at your own character. quote:
On the other hand, I'm a bit disappointed the plot gave us an excuse to nail Alphonse so quickly. The writing in this game has been clever enough so far that I think it could have done a lot with the idea of a strict law-and-order hero and a legally untouchable villain.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2019 09:17
|
|
|
DGM_2 posted:On the other hand, I'm a bit disappointed the plot gave us an excuse to nail Alphonse so quickly. The writing in this game has been clever enough so far that I think it could have done a lot with the idea of a strict law-and-order hero and a legally untouchable villain. Eh, give the plot time. If this game is truly written in the spirit of FFT, sooner or later we will have the choice to go full renegade cowboy cop, take the law into our own hands, and get an entire army's worth of unlucky saps who are just following orders to cut down with minimal guilt before the narrative remembers that we're supposed to be the good guys and gives us a quiet, contemplative scene in the rain where we're very, very sorry about having to kill so many people but that's what those fellows get for not being the main characters. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2019 15:06
|
|
|
I bought this game yesterday because the LP made it look fun and suddenly my weekend is gone, thanks jerks  The game really does play almost exactly like FFT in the best possible way. The only bad thing I can say is that there are some very samey abilities and some of the classes are really awkward to build into due to having crazy prerequisites (there's still classes I only just got the 'silhouette' for and I've played for like 20 hours!) Also I really miss equip abilities.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2019 20:49
|
|
|
DGM_2 posted:I love how savvy our protagonist is. It's refreshing to not want to yell "You idiot!" at your own character. I wouldn't say she's overly savvy if she hasn't asked herself 'how did he have the influence to get Marked, and what does this mean about my current attempts to pursue him by legal means?' I doubt it's going to be as simple as finding proper evidence he's done something wrong she can technically prosecute for. She's definitely not stupid, but she's acting like it's a 'one bad apple' kinda situation when this random important murderer gets an 'above the law, sacred quester, go free' ticket and a chance to become an Immortal; that speaks of much larger systemic rot.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2019 20:52
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:I wouldn't say she's overly savvy if she hasn't asked herself 'how did he have the influence to get Marked, and what does this mean about my current attempts to pursue him by legal means?' Reiner pretty much stated that she has asked herself that. She just hasn't discussed it aloud yet: quote:
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2019 21:53
|
|
|
Sorry for the delay between updates. I'm aiming, for now, to try and do them twice-ish a week, which should be pretty doable. I should have the next one out later this evening.ulmont posted:You need to go into more detail on Sturdy Grip, but it's pretty good too. You're right, I should probably edit it into that post. Until then, a quick description of it is that it lets you use a 2H weapon in 1 hand and use a shield, no matter what class you are. It's great for getting extra damage or survivability, and can be especially fun if you combine it with dual wield from a later class. Definitely a very solid choice for a passive slot. Deadmeat5150 posted:Mongo smash! Pretty much because I forgot to give him an outfit, and then it just seemed to fit. RabidWeasel posted:I bought this game yesterday because the LP made it look fun and suddenly my weekend is gone, thanks jerks Awesome! Glad to hear you're liking it! I totally agree that the prereqs for some of the higher classes can be weird, though the vicarious learning can help a lot with that.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2019 02:00
|
|
|
This game is currently $20.99 on GOG, which is the cheapest that I have seen so far.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2019 03:13
|
|
|
Update 5: Alpine Woods Hello again! This time we’ll be continuing our journey towards the city of Centina. However, there remains one area between us and our destination. We move towards it   And are immediately thrust into another battle. Though, this time it’s only against monsters rather than any people.  We start off in a small rectangle in the southwest corner. Since Mongo did such crazy work last time, I’ll have him sit out for Bobby’s debut. Notably, that ledge above our starting position is 5 levels high, meaning that most weapons can’t attack across the elevation difference. If I’d been more in control of the situation, I would’ve tried to use that as a wall and pick the enemies off with the spear, magic, and ranged attacks.  All of our enemies start off in a rough line, and are an even mix of Vangals, Komainus (upgraded Vangals), and a totally new enemy type: Daodrenners. Daodrenners have decently high hp and mind, some elemental resists, and an annoying AOE magic attack that hits the 8 surrounding squares. It will hit enemies as well, but can still be a pain to deal with since they love running right into the middle of your party.  Komainu are basically the same as Vangals but come with some extra skills. Lick wounds is just a small heal that hits the user and the 4 adjacent squares, but snapback is the really annoying one. It’s entirely unavoidable and uncounterable, so the AI will use it very often. It only hits as hard as a regular attack, but can really screw up your positioning.   Everyone be on guard! Vangals are quite agile, and in their own way just as dangerous as a seasoned warrior.After Kyrie’s warning, the groups start closing, with a focus on the area just above the ledge.  Anadine gets the first hit in, taking a solid chunk out of one of the Daodrenners.  After which, I realize I miscalculated and Hannah can’t make the leap up. Instead of being smart and moving her to hold the square, I have her start trudging around to the right.  Which leaves Sophia open to get whacked by one of the Vangals. Because of that Vangal holding the path open, the rest of the enemies start rushing down. One of the Daodrenners gets a good AOE off, hitting a majority of my team.  To make sure that Sophia stays up, I have Hannah protect her.  While Bobby gets the first KO, taking out a Vangal with a cast of Fire II.  Reiner soon follows up by taking out the weakened Daodrenner.  Though the second one promptly takes its place and hits nearly everyone on the map with another AOE.  Kyrie promptly makes him pay for the shot, but does not take him out fully. Now that most of the enemies are down or weakened, we can start cleaning up.  Bobby gets another big hit and nearly takes out both enemies with a Fire II, though he does take a decent chunk of damage from their thorns in retaliation.  And Anadine is able to finish off the Komainu with another forceful strike.  Kyrie chucks a rock at the near-dead Vangal  Who drops another crafting fruit. We’ve gotten a good number of these, so I’ll probably show off the crafting system pretty soon.  Later in the round, Anadine finishes off the last Daodrenner. He gives us another crafting material, a snakebite oil. It’s at this point that I remember the chest that was behind the enemies’ initial spawns.  It takes like 4 rounds of stalling the last Komainu, but Anadine eventually reaches the chest and gets us a shiny new Silver Spear, which is a very solid upgrade over Hannah’s weapon.  After which, Bobby finished off the Komainu (with a bit of friendly fire).  At some point (I think it was during the stalling when I wasn’t really thinking) Reiner went down, so he’ll be sitting out the next fight. Still, overall this was a pretty easy mission.  After the fight, we’re free to proceed to Centina.  However, when we arrive at the city, a new scene starts. (also, a neat thing that I’m a huge fan of is that your party members will show up in the backgrounds of most non-battle scenes. It’s small, but I think it adds just a bit of life to the scenes.) We should overtake Alphonse’s party by midday tomorrow. I want us to keep a low profile until then. You’re sure you want to do this? I understand the finer points of the law place us in the right, but you’re being quite literal about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Immortals had a problem with it. Especially whichever one is responsible for nominating that walking pile of dung as a Marked. We’re doing this. Whatever the outcome, I will take full responsibility before the Council. … All right. If that’s the way it has to be. I cannot believe anyone on the Council would choose Lord Alphonse as an Immortal candidate. What if he is actually selected in the end? It’s a terrifying prospect. I doubt there was any mistake. The timing is too convenient for our lordling. No, this was very deliberate. And I wonder what it portends… It’s futile to pursue this line of thought. Our lot is to ensure the law is respected, not to decipher the motives of the Immortals. True. And yet, anyone with ears can see that conditions have grown steadily worse in recent years. Arbiters skirting their duties without consequence, bandits roaming the lands unpunished, and vulnerable people left unprotected. As you know, each Arbiter Captain is fully independent, answering only to the Council. There isn’t much we can do. Well said. Although I’m not certain capturing Alphonse will further that goal. As I understand it, a Marked is quite likely to die or disappear during their pilgrimage, usually at the hands of other Marked. Be that as it may, I witnessed Alphonse’s filthy crime firsthand. I’m not leaving anything to chance, especially now that the law is on our side. Everyone pauses for a second, seemingly deep in thought.  Ah, yes! You are in luck. Tonight, you get to try my wilderness stew! It’s from a recipe of my own devising. The secret lies in my method of condensing the different flavors. Come closer to the fire and I’ll tell you about the process… Here we go again.And the screen fades to black.  Finally, we arrive in Centina. In and of itself, its just another town, with some upgrades available in the shop. However, there’s also the arena, which has this little graphic representing it. Trying to enter it just leads to it saying that they’re closed until the Tournament.  And they’re not very helpful about clarifying that.  Finally, I stop in and upgrade gear for most of the units. (I really like this merchant’s portrait, which is the main reason I’m showing this).  And with that, I think we’ll end the update here. Next stop, Gyaum Tor.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2019 03:32
|
|
|
Man, the Daodrenners look like something that ought to be speaking prophetic riddles at you all the time.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2019 05:16
|
|
|
Keep an eye out for this merchant and his wife. FFT's NPCs have their own stories going on in the background while Ramza's running around doing his thing. Since this is not an FFT LP, I'll only post links: Chapter One, the weapon/armor/item store's shopkeep has a daughter playing house behind him. Chapter Two, Ramza is at least one year older than he was as a Cadet (and probably older because most people don't speedrun the game), the little girl's hit a growth spurt and is now old enough to assist in moving boxes about. Chapter Four, the girl is now a young lady capable of handling the dangerous weaponry, and has started to become curious about the things outside the shop, especially the handsome, distinguished warrior who's been visiting the shop ever since she was a preteen... (I'll also be uploading the other locales into a folder for your perusal. Everybody except Fur Shop has interesting stories; Fur Shop is just Torture Dungeon, Torture Dungeon 2: Electric Boogaloo, and Temper Prison 3: Backstroke of the Temper Prison.)
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2019 15:42
|
|
|
dotchan posted:Keep an eye out for this merchant and his wife. FFT's NPCs have their own stories going on in the background while Ramza's running around doing his thing. Since this is not an FFT LP, I'll only post links: Oh that's really cool! Thanks for pointing those out. I don't think that there's anything as long term as those in this game, but now I at least now to keep any eye out for them!
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2019 15:46
|
|
|
I should have the next update ready later today, but before then let's go over the other half of our starting jobs in: Job Overview 2: Starting Magical Jobs Mender  Requirements: None Unlocks: 2 abilities (Wizard) 3 abilities (Druid*, Gambler*) 4 abilities (Plague Doctor) 5 abilities (SECRET!!*) 7 abilities (SECRET!!!*) *= Other jobs required Equipment: Staff, Robe, Light Armor Mastery Bonus: HP+5 As the name implies, the mender is this game’s white mage equivalent. They’re the base of all of the magical classes in this game, so any mage will always have the option of throwing out a heal or 2 if you pop the skillset on them. Like the mercenary, they have decently rounded growths but with a slant towards Mind and Res instead of Attack and Defense.  Notable Abilities: Heal I/II and Mass Heal I: The basic healing spells. Regular heal is single target, while Mass Heal has a small AOE. They’re simple, but absolutely indispensable and I almost always have at least 1, sometimes 2 people with Mender as a secondary set to keep my people healed. Mana Font: A passive ability that gives you 1 MP for every square you walk. You only gain 10 MP a turn, but can usually move 4-5 spaces, so this can give a massive boost to spell-spamming. Plus, most non-basic abilities cost more than 10 MP, so this can let you throw them out on turn 1 while enemies are still clumped up. Revive I/II: The equivalent of life spells from FFT. They let you revive your fallen units with 25% or 100% HP respectively. They’re also both decently expensive MP-wise, but they’re absolutely crucial to later fights if someone important gets downed. Once the AI unlocks these, they love to use them as soon as someone goes down, so this makes it super important to take out any Menders ASAP or fights can really drag out. (Reviving someone does not prevent injuries, but they don’t get inflicted until after the fight). Rebirth: Gives the Rebirth (effectively reraise) status effect to the target, making them auto-revive after falling in combat. Very useful for ensuring your guys stay up and fighting, though it only revives them with 20% HP. Also does not prevent injuries. Still, a nice skill to have and one I use pretty often. Wizard .jpg) It’s a wizard. You know what they do.  Requirements: 2 abilities (Mender) Unlocks: 3 abilities (Druid* Gadgeteer* Fellblade*) 4 abilities (Alchemystic) 5 abilities (SECRET!!*) Equipment: Rod, Robe, Light Armor Mastery Bonus: HP+5, MND+5, RES+5 In all seriousness, wizards are great. They’re all about hitting enemies with AOE elemental damage, and are the basic offensive magic job. Combined with the Mender, they offer access to pretty much every magic using job in the game. They have good growths for a magic user and some very useful skills. Because res is generally lower than defense, they usually hit pretty hard, and are typically my 2nd priority after taking out any healers.  Notable Abilities (All of their abilities are good, so this is more of a general overview): Water/Fire/Earth/Thunder I/II: The basic elemental attack spells. All of them hit a 4 square AOE, with the level IIs hitting 50% harder than the level Is. They’re very nice, especially because having all 4 of them means that wizards can easily take advantage of any elemental weaknesses an enemy might have. Water/Fire/Earth/Thunder Locus: Single target, stronger versions of the elemental spells. Though they are strong, they’re pretty expensive MP wise so I don’t normally spam them until late game skills become available. They’re great for knocking out specific enemies. Smart Casting: Makes it so that your unit targets people more intelligently. Beneficial abilities only hit allies; offensive abilities only hit enemies. There are lots of situations where this can be useful, so it’s often my default choice for a mage passive for most of the game. (It does work on physical abilities too, despite the name). Magic: A counter skill, with which you retaliate against any spell with a non-elemental version of the same attack (so no counter healing yourself). The attack scales off of your magic stat, so a strong mage can do crazy damage against enemy mages by having this. There are a few classes based around huge magic AOEs, so it’s always hilarious to see them kill themselves by hitting multiple units of yours with this skill. Boon: A passive that, upon killing an enemy, grants the unit a guaranteed Critical Hit on the next action. Unless you have a specific passive, spells and abilities can’t normally crit at all, so this can give a unit a huge snowball effect. One of the stronger offensive passives in my opinion, and can see good use on both physical and magical units.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2019 15:46
|
|
|
I find most mages are gonna go through both of those classes, because everyone needs Mana Font (at least to get through the early game) and Boon is really helpful for one-shotting people with the locus spells.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2019 18:04
|
|
|
Mages can be frustrating to use due to their poor range compared to most other ranged options, especially when they're such a squishy class. Especially with Mana Font they do push out probably the highest and most consistent damage you can get in the early game especially considering that you can hit most elemental vulnerabilities at will.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2019 18:17
|
|
|
Update 6: Gyaum Tor Last time we fought some wild beasts in the forest and made it to Centina. After re-equipping, we’re going to continue chasing down Alphonse as he heads towards the Highland Temple. (Also, buckle up because this is a pretty long one.)  As you should expect, heading into Gyaum Tor starts another battle up. Hopefully this won’t be as horrible as the “Tors” in other games.  We join in on Alphonse and his crew of generics.    Yes, what? Spit it out, man! Your lordship asked to be notified in any of them interpoler… interlopters… them “intruders” showed up. They have done showed! I am again amazed at my ability to communicate with lesser lifeforms, especially the incoherently babbling kind. Tsk. I suppose that band of buffoons I sent to deal with you have bungled it. Never send a common thug to do a nobleman’s work, that’s the lesson here. Then you freely admit to contracting a group of brigands to kill us? Yes, I most certainly did. How embarrassing for them, to have fallen to your little band of ne’er-do-wells. And now what, wench? Your precious law forbids you from so much as barring my path. Or are you planning to BORE me to death?  Oh yes, I am going to savor this, my dear. I am going to put you down like the cur you are. I was hoping you would say that. I hereby invoke the right of self-defense in the face of mortal danger, bestowed by law upon all Arbiters! “Whilst their life is at risk, Arbiters have the right to defend themselves under any circumstances, against any foe”, eve be they Immortals or… Marked.  That’s not how it was supposed to be! I… Hmph! I haven’t time to spar with my lessers. Underlings, I shall proceed to the Temple. Remove the interlopers for me.And Alphonse promptly runs past the ranger and out of the field.  There are more of them up on the ridge as well, Captain. Well spotted, Anadine. It appears we must go through his henchman to get to Alphonse.  And we’re in another fight.  We start off down at the bottom of the hill. Since Reiner got injured last battle, we have Anadine, Kyrie, and the full generic crew for this fight.  Facing us is a variety of enemies. Up on the hill we have a wizard, a ranger, and  A new class, the Reaver. Where knights are full defense, these guys are pretty nearly full offense. Thankfully, since we’re early he doesn’t have access to all of the reaver skills because some of them are nasty.  And then down on the other side of the hill we have a mender (always a pain to deal with, especially once they get revive), a scoundrel, knight, and a basic merc.  The fight begins with the ranger sprinting down to get a shot off on Bobby.    Who promptly gets punished for his eagerness.  Meanwhile, a merc rounds the corner to whack Hannah for a pitiful amount of damage  As Mongo whiffs a 98% chance to hit the wizard and then gets stabbed by the Knight for his trouble.  Thankfully, things are going better down at the base of the hill. After attacks from Kyrie and Billy, Hannah is able to finish off the merc before the AI mender can heal him.  The Reaver (who doesn’t hit that hard thanks to his basic equipment) moves into a very annoying spot. Due to all of the ledges surrounding it, you can pretty much only hit him from Anadine’s square. I forget this multiple times as other enemies move there during the fight.  Down low, things converge as Kyrie and Hannah whack the mender while the scoundrel gets a sizable hit off on Kyrie.  Meanwhile, Anadine’s been getting bullied a bit by the wizard and knight so I top her off before she goes down. I did try to mitigate some damage by lowering the knight’s attack and the wizard’s mind stats, but it didn’t really work. The knight just swapped to using defensive hit (which uses def instead of attack), and Anadine’s res is low enough that weakening the wizard only saved about 5 damage.   Kyrie chucks a rock at the mender, and then Hannah uses the spear’s extra range to finish her off.  After a round of chasing him around, Mongo is able to take out the wizard  And soon afterwards, Kyrie’s able to kill the knight.  Bobby comes in at the end to take out the last scoundrel (and nearly kill Hannah again as well. I really need to get the smart targeting skill).  On the victory screen, I somehow missed the MVP. I’m pretty sure it was Hannah, but not 100%.  Winning that fight puts us back on the world map. However, when I head back towards Centina to buy some more equipment, a new scene starts.  Don’t trouble yourself about it, Anadine. Alphonse is cornered. This is the only path in or out of the Temple. Now that we have a moment to talk, I wanted to commend you for spotting those additional enemy forces up on the ridge. If we had rushed ahead and gotten flanked, things could have turned ugly. Thanks, Kyrie! What are we going to do next? We’ll camp here for the night and keep guard over the approach to the Temple. I don’t want to risk him slipping past us in the dark. At first light, we’ll strike out for the Temple and end this once and for all. Suddenly, there’s a sound and everyone starts looking around. A reddish circle forms on the ground just above Bobby.  And in its place, someone teleports in. What the…?  I wish to speak to the Captain. Privately.  Everyone moves off, but Reiner stays behind for just a second. You have always inspired great loyalty in him. We are family after all. Yes, now I remember. His parents adopted you at an early age. Well. Would that I had come simply to engage in idle chit-chat The Council was convened this evening for another surprise meeting, where I was told a Marked by the name of Alphonse was attacked by your group. There was an altercation earlier today, that’s true. I wonder tha all news concerning this particular lord travels so quickly. I took note of that myself, but leave it aside for the time being. I was informed you invoked the right of self-defense in the face of mortal danger as a means of skirting our earlier prohibition against interfereing with any of the Marked. An accurate, if creative, interpretation of the law. And from what I know of this Alphonse, I have no doubt your claim was justified. In that case, I confess I do not understand why you are here, Quntus. Ever so direct. The issue is that while I personally agree with your interpretation of the law, the Council took a vote and the majority are against it. I am here in my official capacity to “curb your enthusiasm.”… However, I wish to propose a different direction for your, uh, zeal. Primus, Tertia, and myself have attempted to take things in hand, to correct the current course, but it seems as though our efforts have been constantly stymied. Though I have been unable to uncover the guilty party hindering our work, the trail circles back to the Council itself. The protection afforeded this unsavory Alphonse character is but one more sign that things have gone terribly awry. And I suspect it is part of a greater, more sinister plan. I understand, Quintus. I will support you in whatever course of action you deem best. Good! I am glad to hear you say that, as I don’t think you will particularly like my solution. Captain Kyrie, I have not yet nominated my own Marked, but I believe I have found just the right candidate. To have a reliable Immortal candidate on our side would certainly be welcome. My thoughts exactly. I need someone who champions doing the right thing above all else. Someone with intergrity. Someone incorruptible. Me?! I am flattered you would trust me with such a grave responsibility. But I must decline. I have no desire to join the ranks of the Immortals. I know. And that is another reason why you are so perfectly suited to the task. I will speak plainly. I sense a growing corruption within the Council. As you can imagine, rooting out this evil, and quickly, is of the utmost importance. I need an ally, Kyrie. As a Marked, you will no longer be bound by the law. You will be free to pursue Alphonse and investigate the situation in any fashion you see fit. And once the conspiratprs are brought to justice, the Council will have a worthy member to fill the void of Primus stepping down. There is a certain sense in your plan. But surely there must be someone else, another candidate you could select. … You are trying my patience, Kyrie. I presented this duty in the form of an offer, but no one may refuse the candidacy of a Marked. Especially not an Arbiter. … I see. When I became an Arbiter, I pledged to obey the Immortals in all things. I am glad we are finally in accord. Come, come, being a Marked isn’t some kind of curse. You will find yourself even more powerful than before.Quintus approaches Kyrie, holds his hand out, and a bunch of energy pours out around Kyrie.  It might not be clear in the screenshot, but Kyrie’s sprite now has a few blue lines running down from her eyes to the middle of her jaw. You are now able to enter the Temples, something impossible to anyone but a Marked, forbidden even to we Immortals. The goal of the Marked Pilgrimage is to visit the four Temples and… commune… with the Relics housed therein. With the Mark upon you, the Relic will confer some of its energy to you. Visit the relics at all four Temples and return to Illuster. That, in essence is what the pilgrimage entails. Oh, and keep your wits about you during the journey. I have a feeling some skullduggery is afoot within the pilgrimage, and you don’t get to be my age without listening to your hunches. Now I shall leave you in the care of the worried Reiner.   Quintus selected me to be his Marked candidate. The magic takes a toll. The feeling is… strange, and not entirely pleasant. But I will get used to it. I must. Oh. This is big! You could become one of the Immortals! Indeed. I am going to need some time. To get used to this. Now that I am undertaking the Pilgrimage, our new objective is to visit the Temple. Though I’m sure we’ll still have Alphonse to deal with on the way. All right. But for now, get some rest. You look exhausted. You can fill me in on the details later.And with that, the scene fades out.  Back on the map, we find that Quintus wasn’t lying about Kyrie gaining new power. She’s unlocked an entirely new and unique class called the Marked. Because it’s unique, I’ll give it its own mini job overview next update, after we see it in action. However, the long and short of it is that it’s a great class with strong growths, good skills, and some absolutely bonkers passive abilities.  But for now, I’ll end this update here. Next time we’ll be exploring the Highlands. OOrochi fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Oct 7, 2019 |
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2019 03:41
|
|
|
Interesting little plot we've got going here.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2019 03:54
|
|
|
Not so nice when the protagonist is also above the law, is it fuckers?
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2019 05:34
|
|
|
I've "made" a portrait for Bobby. Think we can slot this in? I had to guess with the color for his skin since it's basically entirely obstructed by the hat and beard, and just went with a close approximation to the existing portrait.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2019 06:46
|
|
|
Multiple factions of your mighty leaders recruiting and empowering competing Above The Law proxies to achieve their goals and stack the council is a sure sign of a healthy and stable organization. Which is the point, obviously, and makes for a fun concept for a plot.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2019 14:49
|
|
|
I like the fact that even in the protagonist essentially receiving a Knighthood+ they have no loving choice: "I don't want to be immortal!" (And why would you, it sounds loving awful) "Tough poo poo; now accept this incredible honour and shut up literally forever"
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2019 23:07
|
|
|
Iamgoofball posted:I've "made" a portrait for Bobby. Oh my god, I love it! I'll definitely figure out how to put this in for his portrait.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2019 00:57
|
|
|
Welp, I called it, we're starting the indiscriminate guilt-free minion slaughter. I hope one of these poor motherfuckers will be smart enough to see the light and join the winning side. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2019 01:14
|
|
|
I'm still trying to think of how "give a few people total immunity from the law and have them compete against each other" is a good way to choose who gets to be granted with great magical powers and political influence
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2019 07:57
|
|
|
Marked vs. marked? Gotta admit, I didn't see that coming. I wonder if Alphonse will even last much longer now or if he was just the writer's excuse to rope Kyrie into the pilgrimage...
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2019 09:57
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:I'm still trying to think of how "give a few people total immunity from the law and have them compete against each other" is a good way to choose who gets to be granted with great magical powers and political influence Given their society is descending into infighting and their law enforcement is overrun with corruption, I think the story may agree this seems to have been poorly thought out as a means of choosing rulers.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2019 13:53
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:Given their society is descending into infighting and their law enforcement is overrun with corruption, I think the story may agree this seems to have been poorly thought out as a means of choosing rulers. Yeah but I mean at what point did the Council get together and decide that this is a sensible method of succession, that meeting must have been wild
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2019 20:05
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:Yeah but I mean at what point did the Council get together and decide that this is a sensible method of succession, that meeting must have been wild Well, it seems like the core of it was a pseudo-religious test of worthiness-go into the mysterious temples and do magic stuff. Then, presumably somebody decided to screw with a candidate by locking them up on trumped up charges. Which leads to marked being above the law, which then lead to people treating the entire pilgrimage like a game of fortnite.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2019 23:49
|
|
|
Kyrie is the last woman of integrity in a sea of bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2019 01:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 14:16 |
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:Yeah but I mean at what point did the Council get together and decide that this is a sensible method of succession, that meeting must have been wild If this game is anything like the political infighting seen in FFT, I'll bet the "logic" went something like this: "I have Math Skill*, your argument is invalid.  "*Or whatever the equivalent of the "fine, you've struggled long enough, now have your gamebreaking I Win Button" is in this game
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2019 21:58
|
|